The Named

Chapter 16: FYI, you're a freak

            Aiolos and Rell glower at me through the gloom.  Our new companion is huddled beneath a tree with his head between his knees, trying to regulate his breathing.  None of us enjoy the dark nor the chill that came with it but we can’t risk a fire.

            Coughing, I try to break the heavy silence.  “So, uh, what is it they called you then, in place of a name?”

            The emaciated man lifts his head slowly and squints at me.  With a dry, thin voice he answers, “The guards merely called me scum.  My fellows, however, called me by whatever number was printed on my cell door at the time.”

            “At the time?  Did you switch cells at some point?”  Strange, I’d never heard of anyone changing cells.  For most, the only way out of their first cell was to die.

            “Hundreds of years that prison has operated and in all those hundred of years a mere boy put them to shame and escaped as easily as water through a sieve.” He shrugged, “I just happened to be in the same hall and to avoid further attempts they scattered us all amongst the others.”

            Rell slid a sideways glance at me, probably wondering the same thing I was.  Still looking at me, she asked, “And what was your number before all that then?”

            “I don’t see as it matters, but I was in cell 3491.”

            Tears prick my eyes as I really look at the frail man before me.  Blinking quickly to stop them from falling, I laugh brusquely. I never told Rell about 3491 but I never forgot the man who taught me my numbers, the alphabet, gave me hope, and, in the end, my purpose.

            “It is good to finally see your face old friend.  I am sorry if I caused you trouble back then.  I was that ‘mere boy’, as you put it.”

3491 blinked slowly at me while the information set in.  “You?” I nod and his posture relaxes as his hands fall to his side.  Incredulous he asks again, “You? But you were so… small.”

Rell laughed loudly, “Yes, yes he was, but food and sunlight can do wonders for a child who’s known only nightmares his whole life.”

Smiling, 3491 slowly reaches out to shake my hand.  “I’m glad you made it.  We were all told you’d been caught before you reached the surface but they were so defensive about it, I had my suspicions.  I have to ask though, have you found your name?”

“That’s actually what we’re doing now.  On my way out I stole my file which, miraculously, has information on my father.  We’re going to the last place he was seen before disappearing.  I do, however, have a temporary name.  When we met Rell named me Quinton Marine.  Having a name to train with helped a lot living with a gypsy troupe of Named.”

Rell laughed lightly while Aiolos looked thoroughly confused.  I suppose we should have told him my story before but neither of us thought to bring it up.  The most shocking reaction to my lighthearted comment came from 3491.

“What!?”  He practically hissed the word at me as he dug his heels into the ground and shoved his back harder into the tree behind him.  “You’re saying you can use your name?”

“Uh, yeah.  My mother never gave me one so I guess I can pick up a temporary one until my father can officially name me.  Why do you seem to be more freaked out by that than the telepathy thing?”

Now it was Aiolos and Rell’s turn to freak out.

“What telepathy thing?”

“Telepathy?  Like, mind readin’ and stuff?”

“Quin, this is important, why didn’t you tell me?”

“That is fine as cream gravy!”

“Are you even listening to me glacier brain?  When were you gonna tell us?”

“Would you both shut up!?”

Both their jaws snapped shut in surprise at our frail comrade’s outburst.  Glancing back at me he gulped before continuing.

“It’s not uncommon for Named ones without named to develop abilities.  However, they are always specific.  Without a given name, a Named becomes what the government likes to call a reader.  One of the men you saved me from was a reader which is why this is all very important information right now.  A reader has many ‘psychic’ abilities per se.  They can track a Named purely by sensing a sort of residue people leave in a place they’ve been.  There have been reports of readers capable of telepathic communication but the only living readers capable of such a feat are the reader I escaped from earlier and you Quinton.”

“So, I’m a reader then?”  Oddly enough, the whole thing wasn’t overly surprising.  There were many things I could do that Rell and I could never explain that now made perfect sense.  But, “3491, if all this weird stuff I can do is normal, why did you freak out about my name?”

Running a shaky hand through his greasy black hair he continued, “That is something I’m afraid I won’t be able to explain as well as any of us would like.  Throughout history, every reader has had one unwavering thing in common.  They can never have a name.  If a parent names them at birth, they are just like any other Named.  If they are not named, they become a reader.  If someone else names them later, they lose all their reader abilities but never develop the powers associated with their name.  They basically become a normal human that carries the Named gene but are never able to use it themselves.  Your name is supposed to be who you are and that is the curse of the reader.  In order to be themselves, they must never know who they are.

“You Quinton, are something completely outside of possibility.”