Beneath

Chapter 2

I know my best bet for breaking in will be during the nighttime. There’s no way Nolan and I will be able to break into the System during the day since the staff and Mayor Naise will be working.

I spend the rest of the day with Avus in our shackhouse, waiting for Nolan’s school to end. Sometimes I wish I could go to school. Of course, I can’t, because every student needs a home address, and while I live in the shackhouse with Avus, it’s a dilapidated poker house far from qualifying as a residence. Even though Nolan always complains about the tedium of school, I find that difficult to imagine. For me, the absence of an education curses me with a voracious appetite to learn.

Sometimes I head down to the bookstore and leaf through the pristine pages graced with the depths of knowledge. I ask Avus to teach me about the subjects he learned when he used to go to school. He tells me he learned about empires of angry seahorses in the deep ocean, and massive legions of cannibals that try to eat each other. Sometimes I think he’s crazy.

When the sun becomes unbearably hot and the flies start bothering Avus and me, I know school is about to end for Nolan. I scamper to the school to wait for him to come out. When I get there, I see him emerge from the school building with Jack and Finn. Nolan fistbumps a goodbye to the both of them, then walks toward me. He smiles at me, but I can feel Jack and Finn sneering.

“Hi Ebs.”

“Nolan! Was school fun?”

“Exhilarating as always.”

We begin walking down the road. “I was thinking. I went to see my father again this morning, and I really want to find more about him.”

“Are you thinking about talking to him?”

“Talking to him? Nolan, He got rid of me when I was a baby. I highly doubt he wants to talk to me.”

“Are you going to talk to one of the daughters, then? The older one transfered into my class today, as a matter of fact. Her name’s Lilia. She’s supposed to be three classes below me, but she got to skip since she’s so brilliant.”

“Lilia,” I repeat.

“Yes, Lilia. Maybe I could get her to talk to you, if you’d like.”

I pause. “No. When I said I wanted to know more about my father, I meant through... the System.” There. I have said it.

A silence creeps between us.

“Ebs, the System.”

“I know.”

“You know it’s incredibly difficult”

“But we’ve done it before!”

“But we almost got caught, remember? I had to bribe Thayer big time to keep him quiet about finding us in his father’s office in the middle of the night!”

“Nolan, I’m serious. I need to find out about my father. My mother as well!”

“I’m being serious too.” Nolan’s voice is stern. “This isn’t like stealing potatoes from some clueless merchant, Ebs. This is the System were talking about!”

“Please, Nolan. Please, please understand. You have a mother who cooks for you every day, and a father who does puzzles with you. Your mother loves you and cares for you, and so does your father. My mother is dead, and my father abandoned me from day one. I need to know why.” I am pleading with Nolan.

He sighs. “Fine. I understand. But you have to know that breaking into Naise’s mansion isn’t going to be easy. Thayer and I aren’t exactly on the best of terms right now. If we’re caught, that’s it. I don’t think a bribe will keep him quiet this time. But if you truly need to know about your past, I understand. We’ll go tonight.”