Daughter of Zeus ✔

4

Even though she finished packing everything else, Ada still needed one more thing from her mother's room. Every Prominent party member, no matter how destitute, made sure to purchase the same item.

When she entered the room, the wall interface switched on, set to "television" mode. Surprisingly, the volume wasn't blasting-her mother's usual preference. Even at low volume, the speaker's voice rang out clearly, with an even clearer agenda. "...double murder downtown. Prominents rally... Everyone must take up arms!"

Ada was barely listening. Without intending to, she responded to the announcer's last heard proclamation. "Everyone must take up arms." Her words were punctuated by the Nolecet .58 she pulled from her mother's nightstand drawer. The gun was an older model, at least five years past its prime.

Safety was on. No bullets in the chamber. Ada grabbed the box of ammunition from the same drawer. Like her mother, she had learned how to use a firearm in public school. Even with the youthful immersion, she detested guns. Which is part of why she felt every bit the hypocrite for wanting to carry the Nolecet.

Did it have anything to do with Kressick? He was hiding something, and couldn't be trusted; Cybil had hinted as much. She did not yet know who was a "for definite" on her kill list. She only knew the gun was essential to her plan.

In the drawer, she found a Clean and Clear. She recognized the clear tube affixed to the filter from the few times she had seen other people use it. The first time she had seen someone use one was on the street as a young girl. A mother and son were stepping into their home, but before they did, the mother stopped the boy and held the tube to his face. He complained, but she insisted, "for his safety". The tube was turned on, and the walls of it went from white to gray.

"Now you're clean, and you won't get sick", the mother said, looking around her as if people were listening-as Ada was.

Her eyes caught Ada's, and they filled with what Ada identified as pity. After, she had asked her mother question after question: "Why don't we use that machine? Don't you want me to be safe? What was the gray stuff in the machine? Why'd the lady look at me like that?"

Gemina didn't answer the questions. Instead, she told her daughter the world was filled with certain slots, and they hadn't fallen into a good one. Without surety came unfairness, Gemina said, and Ada hadn't understood her mother at all. Now she did.

That still didn't explain the Clean and Clear. Gemina had never mentioned owning one, not that the origins of the magic tube meant anything.

She picked up the Clean and Clear, only to discover the damn thing was still sealed. After picking off the polycarbonate seal, she put the tube to her mouth and waited.

Press the green button, you dummy!

One press of the green button, and she felt as if her soul was being sucked from her body, but the horrible sensation ended quickly. She removed the tube from her mouth to see it lined in black soot, and in some places, red phlegm. No wonder people drop like flies for no reason in this neighborhood. How had her mother afforded the device?

The answer came a second later. Kressick. Ada would ask him about it later, and why her mother never used it. Another mystery about the man she was about to trust with her life.

If anything happened to him on the way to Atlanta, she would have a back-up plan in the form of five thousand dollars and the Nolcelet.

Using her wristlet, she checked on the status of her mother from the hospital mainframe. Gemina was listed as: no change. If and when she changed, the wristlet would send Ada alerts.

A car door slammed outside, and she checked to see if Kressick had come back. He was busy loading the bags from his car into hers. They would be able to leave soon.

~ * ~