Chapter Nine:
I didn’t leave the city right away. I attended to my duties the next day, standing guard near the Supremist’s fortress as she gathered the townspeople to the market square. She gave some speech about equality and the need for educational reform. I didn’t listen to her.
Instead, I watched the people. They shifted in nervous clumps. No one spoke, and when the Supremist finished her speech, they all turned and headed to work. The merchants set up their stalls and opened their wagons. The people shopped, though little was said beyond the discussion of prices.
Not a single Elemental attended the meeting or lingered in the square. I didn’t know if there had been any survivors, but I knew if there were, they wouldn’t have hung around here. Clearly, the Supremist did not want Elementals in Tarpulin anymore.
I wished I knew why. In the past, I’d have asked my brother for his speculations. Now, I regarded him with a wary eye, tensing when he moved closer to me. “Care for a sticky bun?” he asked. His voice grated against my eardrums, because I’d heard him speak softly, lovingly even, to Alex.
He’d been keeping secrets from me, and that was something we’d vowed we’d never do. I felt something inside me wither, but I kept my face impassive. “Sure, I haven’t eaten yet.” I followed him into the market to his favorite baker, telling myself I needed to play the right part.
I’d been trained in the art of espionage. Three of the best months of my sentry education were spent as an undercover agent inside the Elemental Academy. I labored as a training partner during the day, and at night I snuck around the school. My assignment had been to find out which instructors were performing well, and which weren’t.
It was while I was hanging out in the rafters of the Earthmover’s lair that Isaiah spotted me. His instructor had noticed nothing, but he was an excellent Elemental. I’d given him high marks, and as I bit into my sweet bun, I wondered if the Earthmover instructor had been killed in the Academy.
“What have you been doing the past couple of days?” Felix asked.
“Playing cards,” I said. The lie sounded smooth coming off my tongue. I was a gifted liar too, and I knew I could participate in the game Felix had apparently been playing with me. “It was boring. I hate cards.” I tossed him a half-smile, and he returned it.
“What about you?” I asked, glancing into the square for no reason. I just didn’t want him to think I cared where he’d been or what he’d been doing.
When I met his gaze again, he shrugged. “The same.” His voice wasn’t choked or scared. He could lie better than me, and I didn’t know why I expected any less. Maybe he’d been lying to me about a lot of things, for a long time. I’d never know. Sentries made sure of that.
#
That night, I took twice as much food as I normally ate. I wrapped it in a paper bag and brought it back to my room. I had decided to leave, but I knew I couldn’t just flee into the night. I needed to plan, to carefully consider what I’d find in the wilderness that would aid my survival. There were wild animals, but they were hard to catch without the right equipment.
I knew a river ran north of here, all the way through the United Territories. It had been deemed too dirty to drink about fifty years ago, but I hoped maybe I could filter or purify it somehow.
The next morning, I asked for a fresh set of sentry uniforms, claiming one of my sets had been damaged during the burial of the Academy. I usually had two. One to wear while the other was being laundered. With this addition, I’d have three—enough to travel with and have a clean set when I needed it.
I gathered food for five days, choosing items that would keep for a while like bread and cheese and the rare roast chicken. I knew how far apart the villages and cities lay, and I knew I’d need days of food to reach my destination city: Gregorio.
The city of Gregorio was the second largest in the Union, and it was several hundred miles north of Tarpulin. If I rationed correctly, I could probably get there in five days. And if I use my Element, maybe sooner.
But I didn’t want to use my airmaking too close to Tarpulin. Alex had said she could feel something wrong in the Territories, something about being able to feel more Elementals than had registered. Every Elemental had to register in Tarpulin when they Manifested, so Alex knew of those. I obviously hadn’t registered, and I certainly didn’t want to alert her of anything she wasn’t already aware of, especially my Element.
The night I had decided to flee was a Saturday. Sentries got an extra hour of free time on Sunday mornings, so I wouldn’t be missed for those sixty minutes—and I needed every second I could get. I’d stolen a pack from the sentry supplies, as well as an extra pair of boots. All I needed to do was fold the blanket from my bed and place it on top, and I was ready to go.
I sensed the air pressure in my quarters as it changed, and I quickly pushed the pack under my bed with my foot. I stripped my sentry shirt, waiting for the person who’d entered to cross my living area. I suspected it was Felix, and I made my emotions hard and cold.
“Wondered if you wanted to play cards with the boys tonight.”
I turned as Felix spoke, unsure about how to answer. Then I remembered that the sentry Adam of last week—before the burial, before I knew Alex was a woman—would’ve declined. I needed to be that same person.
“Nah,” I said. “I’m ready for bed. It’s been a long week.”
He laughed, the way he usually did. “You need to have some fun, brother.”
“I have fun,” I said, repeating a conversation we’d had many times. “Just not your kind of fun.”
He nodded to the boots at my feet. “Have fun polishing your boots.” He chuckled as he shook his head and turned to leave.
I exhaled as the door to my chamber closed. If Felix was playing cards tonight, he’d be awake until as least midnight. But I couldn’t wait another four hours. I had a long way to travel tonight, and I needed to get going. Still, I waited an hour. Then I folded my blanket into my pack, put on my polished boots, and stepped onto my balcony.
I leapt to the ground and ducked into the shadows. I followed the spokes of streets toward the wall, which I had to go over. All the gates—Tarpulin had six—were locked until morning. I had to use my Element to get over the wall. I couldn’t help it and I hoped Alex was otherwise detained tonight, though I knew she wasn’t with Felix.
I cupped my hands and invited the air to build me a cushion. It obeyed easily, and I directed it up and over the wall. I landed softly on the other side, took one last look at the only home I’d ever known, and turned my face north.
I took the lesser-traveled mountain path, though these hills weren’t anything like the towering giants near Hesterton. These were sloping hills, but still required quite a bit of physical effort to climb. I pushed myself past the point of exhaustion, past the dawning of the day, past the hour when I’d be missed.
At that point, I allowed myself to pause and look back the way I’d come. I’d been walking for over twelve hours, and I’d made good time because of my physical conditioning. I stood above Tarpulin, which was a distant dot on the horizon. A sizzle of discomfort let me know that I wasn’t far enough away.
I took a deep breath and turned north again. Deciding I needed more distance over secrecy, I formed a pillow of air and held my hand in front of my body to direct it over the terrain. I blinked and had a hard time re-opening my eyes. I was glad the plains only had low bushes and the occasional rock.
I rode the wind until I couldn’t keep my eyes open a moment longer. I disembarked near a pod of trees that grew next to a sliver of water. Fall was fast approaching, and the late summer sun had stolen most of the water from this stream. It was enough to quench my thirst, and all I could do was hope I wouldn’t wake up violently ill. I leaned against a tree trunk and slipped into an easy sleep.
#
Another night of walking and another couple hours of air travel and I saw the outskirts of Cornish. I took my place in the abandoned warehouse and ate a piece of stale bread and a chicken leg. I wasn’t getting enough calories to match the physical exertion, but for now, I felt satisfied.
Two days later—exactly as I’d predicted—I reached Gregorio. Orchards surrounded the city, but no wall. There was a flimsy fence anyone could’ve gotten past, but most wouldn’t go unnoticed by the orchard guards. I knew they functioned as the city’s wall as well, and I steered clear of their watchful eyes.
As a sentry I knew how to hide as well as they knew how to look. I made it past the fence and through the orchards by nightfall, just in time to see the market close. I followed the merchants as they headed to the only open establishment—the city tavern.
I had precious little money, and only that which I’d stolen from the sentry store. I ordered a bowl of stew and a pint of beer, salivating just from being in the tavern. Before my food arrived, a searing pain tore through my back.
I abandoned my table, swiping my pack from the floor as I flew outside. I could not have a transmission episode in public. Everyone would know what I was, and I couldn’t afford to alert the sentries here in Gregorio.
I made it to an alley between two buildings before the pain became so unbearable I couldn’t take another step. I fell to my knees, gritting my teeth against the lightning bolts shooting from my shoulders into my hamstrings.
“Adam Gillman, former sentry to the Supremist, is a wanted fugitive. Do not engage if found. Mr. Gillman is extremely dangerous and is believed to be heading north for unknown reasons. Alert authorities if sighted. Repeat: do not engage.”
My limbs shook from the exertion it took not to scream as the electronic parts of my tattoo rotated. I could call in my whereabouts right now—I was connected to the sentry system. But I fought. I raged against the machines in my back, and I kept that transmission from going out.
I didn’t need a mirror to know the blood vessels around my eyes had burst. My whole body felt like it had been turned inside out, rinsed with alcohol, and then flopped back to a new normal.
Combined with hunger and fatigue, I didn’t have the capacity to deal with so much pain. I closed my eyes and let unconsciousness take me.