I shivered, sitting with my back to the glass bars of my prison cell. Sometimes I tried—I tried so hard—not to break anything. But it was like the Talent welled up inside of me when I did that. And then, when it burst free, it was even more powerful.
A tear rolled down my cheek. After moving from family to family enough times, I’d realized that they would all leave me eventually. After that, I hadn’t worried as much about what I broke. In fact … I’d begun to break things more often—important things. The valuable cars of a father who collected vehicles. The trophies won by a father who had played sports in college. The kitchen of a mother who was a renowned chef.
I’d told myself that these things were simply accidents. But now I saw a pattern in my life.
I broke things early, quickly. The most valuable, important things. That way they’d know. They’d know what I was.
And they’d send me away. Before I could come to care for them. And get hurt again.
It felt safer to act that way. But what had it done to me? In breaking so many objects, had I broken myself? I shivered again. Sitting in that cold Librarian dungeon—faced by my first (but certainly not last) failure as a leader—I finally admitted something to myself.
I don’t just break, I thought. I destroy.
Chapter
12
At this point, perhaps you feel sorry for me. Or perhaps you feel that my suffering was deserved, considering what I’d done to all those families who tried to take me in.
I’d like to tell you that all of this soul-searching was good for me. And perhaps it did help in the short term. However, before you get your hopes up, let me promise you here and now that the Alcatraz Smedry you think you know is a farce. You may see some promising things developing in my young self, but in the end none of these things were able to save those I love.
If I could go back, I’d drive Sing and the others away for good. Unfortunately, at that point in my life I still had some small hope that I’d find acceptance with them. I should have realized that attachment would only lead to pain. Especially when I failed to protect them.
Still, it was probably good for me to realize that I was driving people away on purpose, for it let me understand just how bad a person I am. Perhaps more young boys should be captured by evil Librarians, forced to sit in cold dungeons, contemplating their faults as they wait for their doom. Perhaps I’ll start a summer camp based on that theme.
The weirdest part about all of this, I thought, is that nobody yet has made a joke about a pair of kids named Alcatraz and Bastille getting locked in a prison.
Of course, we weren’t in a very jokey mood at that moment. I couldn’t know for certain, since the hourglass—along with my jacket—had been taken from me, but I figured that our remaining half hour had passed, and then some. I tried very hard not to look at the latrine bucket, in the hopes that it wouldn’t remind my body of any duties that needed to be done.
Yet as I sat and thought, some very strange things were happening to me. I’d always kind of thought of myself as a defiant rebel against the system. However, the truth was that I was just a whiny kid who threw tantrums and broke things because he wanted to make certain that he hurt others before they hurt him. It was that dreaded humility again, and it was having a very odd effect on me. It should have made me feel like a worm, crushing me down with shame. Yet for some reason, it didn’t do that.
Realizing my faults didn’t make my head bow but made me look up instead. Realizing how stupid I had been didn’t cause me grief but made me smile at my own foolishness. Losing my identity didn’t make me feel paranoid or worthless.
The truth was, I’d secretly felt all of those things—shame, grief, paranoia, insecurity—for most of my life. Now that I wasn’t covering them up, I could begin to let go of them. It didn’t make me a perfect person, and it didn’t change what I’d done. However, it did let me stand up and face my situation with a little more determination.
I was a Smedry. And while I wasn’t quite certain of all that meant, I was beginning to have a better idea. I crossed the room, passing Sing, and crouched down by Bastille.
“Bastille,” I whispered. “We’ve waited long enough. We have to figure a way to get out of here.”
She glanced up at me, and I could see that her face was streaked with tears. I blinked in surprise. Why has she been crying?
“Get out?” she said. “We can’t get out! This cell was built to hold people like you and me.”
“There has to be a way.”
“I’ve failed,” Bastille said quietly, as if she hadn’t heard me.
“Bastille,” I said. “We don’t have time for this.”
“What do you know?” she snapped. “You’ve been an Oculator all of your life, and have you done anything with it? Never! You didn’t even know. How is that fair?”
I paused, then reached up to touch my face. I hadn’t even noticed—my glasses were gone.
Of course they are, I thought. They took my jacket with the Tracker’s Lenses and the Firebringer’s Lenses in the pocket. They took Bastille’s and Sing’s Warrior’s Lenses. They would have taken my Oculator’s Lenses.
“You didn’t even notice, did you?” Bastille asked bitterly. “They took your most powerful possession, and you didn’t even notice.”
“I haven’t been wearing them for long,” I said. “Only a few hours, really. I guess it felt natural to me for them to not be there when I woke up.”
“Natural for them to not be there,” Bastille said, shaking her head. “Why do you get to be an Oculator, Smedry? Why you?”
“Aren’t all Smedrys Oculators?” I asked. “Or at least all of those in the pure line?”
“Most of them are,” she said. “But not all of them. And there are plenty of Oculators who aren’t Smedrys.”
“Obviously,” I said, glancing over my shoulder, toward the room where Blackburn and Ms. Fletcher supposedly were.
Then I glanced back at Bastille, cocking my head. She stared at me defiantly. That’s it. That’s what I’ve been missing. “You wanted to be one, didn’t you?” I asked. “An Oculator.”
“It’s none of your business, Smedry.”
But it made too much sense to ignore. “That’s why you know so much about Oculator auras. And you were the one who identified the Lenses that Blackburn used on us. You must have studied a whole lot to learn so many things.”
“For all the good it did,” she said with a quiet snort. “I learned that studying can’t change a person, Smedry. I’ve always wanted to be something I wasn’t—and the thing is, everyone supported me. ‘You can be anything you want, if you try hard enough!’ they said.
“Well, you know what, Smedry? They lied. There are some things that you just can’t change.”
I stood silently.
Bastille shook her head. “You can’t study yourself into being something you aren’t. I won’t ever be an Oculator. I’ll have to settle for being what my mother always told me I should be. The thing I’m apparently ‘gifted’ in.”
“And that is?” I asked.
“Being a warrior,” she said with a sigh. “But I guess I’m not too good at that either.”
Now, you’re probably expecting poor Bastille to “learn something” by the end of this book. You probably expect to see her overcome her bitterness, to realize that she never should have given up on her dreams.
You think this because you’ve read too many silly stories about people who achieve things they previously thought impossible—deep and poignant books about trains that climb hills or little girls who succeed through sheer determination.
Let me make one thing very clear. Bastille will never become an Oculator. It’s a genetic ability, which means you can only become an Oculator if your ancestors were Oculators. Bastille’s weren’t.
People can do great things. However, there are some things they just can’t do. I, for instance, have not been able to transform myself into a Popsicle, despite years of effort. I c
ould, however, make myself insane if I wished. (Though if I achieved the second, I might be able to make myself think I’d achieved the first.…)
Anyway, if there’s a lesson to be learned, it’s this: Great success often depends upon being able to distinguish between the impossible and the improbable. Or, in easier terms, distinguishing between Popsicles and insanity.
Any questions?
I wanted to say something to help Bastille. After all, I’d just undergone a life-changing revelation, and I figured that there should be enough to go around. I reached out. Unfortunately, Bastille wasn’t exactly in a “life-changing revelation” sort of mood.
“I don’t need your pity, Smedry,” she snapped, swatting my arm away. “I’m fine as I am. There really isn’t anything you could do to help anyway.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but at that moment I heard a door open. I turned as Ms. Fletcher strolled into the hallway outside our cell.
“Hello, Smedry,” she said.
“Ms. Fletcher,” I said flatly. “Or ‘Shasta,’ or whatever your real name is.”
“Fletcher will do,” she said, obviously trying to sound friendly. She couldn’t quite pull it off. “I’ve come to chat.”
I shook my head. “I have little to say to you.”
“Come now, Alcatraz. I’ve always looked out for you, despite how difficult you made my life. Surely you can see that I have your best interests at heart.”
“Somehow I doubt that, Ms. Fletcher.”
She raised an eyebrow. “That’s all you have to say? I expected something a little more … scathing, Smedry.”
“Actually, I’ve changed,” I said. “You see, I just had a life-changing revelation and don’t plan to make snide comments anymore.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is,” I said firmly.
Ms. Fletcher cocked her head, a strange look on her face.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “You merely … reminded me of someone I used to know. Anyway, I don’t care what game you are playing today. The time has come for us to deal.”
“Deal?”
Ms. Fletcher nodded, leaning in. “We want the old man. The crazy one who came and got you this morning.”
“You mean Grandpa Smedry?” I asked, glancing at Sing, who was watching quietly. Apparently he was content to let me take the lead in the conversation.
“Yes,” Ms. Fletcher said. “Grandpa Smedry. Tell us where he is, and we’ll let you go.”
“Let me go? Let me go where?”
“Out,” Ms. Fletcher said, motioning with her hand. “We’ll find you another foster family, and things can go back to the way they were.”
“That hardly seems compelling,” I said.
“Alcatraz,” Ms. Fletcher said flatly. “You’re in a Librarian dungeon, and you have Oculator blood. If you aren’t careful, you’ll end up as a sacrifice. I’d be a little more friendly if I were you—I’m likely the only ally you’ll find in this place.”
This was, of course, the first time I ever heard about a ceremony involving sacrificial Oculators. I dismissed the comment as an idle threat.
Foolish, foolish Alcatraz.
“If you’re the best ally I have, Ms. Fletcher,” I said, “then I’m in serious trouble.”
“That sounded a bit snide, Alcatraz,” Sing said helpfully. “You may want to back off a little.”
“Thank you, Sing,” I said, still watching Ms. Fletcher with narrowed eyes.
“I can get you out, Alcatraz,” Ms. Fletcher said. “Don’t make me do something we’d both regret. I’ve watched over you for years, haven’t I? You can trust me.”
Watched over you for years … “Yes,” I said. “Yes, you have watched over me. And every time a family gave up on me, you told me I was useless. It was like you wanted me to feel abandoned and unimportant.” I met her eyes. “That’s it, isn’t it? You were worried I’d come to understand and control my power—you worried that I’d learn what it meant to be a Smedry. That’s why you always treated me like you did. You needed me to be insecure, so that I would trust you—and distrust my Talent.”
Ms. Fletcher glanced away. “Look, let’s just make a deal. Let me get you out, and we can forget about the past for now.”
“And these others?” I asked, nodding toward Sing and Bastille. “If I go free, what happens to them?”
“What do you care?” Ms. Fletcher asked, looking back at me.
I folded my arms.
“You have changed,” Ms. Fletcher said. “And not for the better, I’d say. Is this the same boy who burned down a kitchen yesterday? Since when did you start caring about the people around you?”
The answer to that question was actually “About five minutes ago.” However, I didn’t intend to share that information with Ms. Fletcher.
“Okay,” I said. “We’ll have an exchange. You want to know where the old man is? Well, I want to know some things too. Answer my questions, and I’ll answer yours.”
“Fine,” Ms. Fletcher said, folding her arms.
Businesslike as always, I thought. “How did you know about the Sands of Rashid?”
Ms. Fletcher waved an indifferent hand. “Your parents promised them to you at your birth. It’s a custom—to pronounce an inheritance upon a newborn and deliver it on the child’s thirteenth birthday. Everyone knew that you were supposed to get those sands. Some of us are a little surprised that they actually made their way to you, but we were happy to see them nonetheless.”
“Did you know my parents, then?”
“Of course,” Ms. Fletcher said. “In fact, I studied under them. I thought they might be able to train me to be an Oculator.”
I snorted. “That’s not something you can learn.”
“Yes, well,” Ms. Fletcher said, looking a little flustered, “I was young.”
“Were you friends with them, then?” I asked.
“I got along better with your father than your mother,” Ms. Fletcher said.
“Did you kill them?” I asked, teeth gritted.
Ms. Fletcher laughed a flat, lifeless laugh. “Of course not. Do I look like a killer?”
“You sent a man with a gun after me.”
“That was a mistake,” Ms. Fletcher said. “Besides, your parents were Smedrys. They would be even harder to kill than you.”
“And why do you want Grandpa Smedry?” I asked.
“No, I think I’ve answered enough questions,” Ms. Fletcher said. “Now, fulfill your end of the bargain. Where is the old man?”
I smiled. “I forgot.”
“But … our bargain!”
“I lied, Ms. Fletcher,” I said. “I do that sometimes.”
See, I promised you. Life-changing revelation or not, I never was all that good a person.
Ms. Fletcher’s eyes opened wide, and she displayed more emotion than I’d ever seen from her as she began muttering at me under her breath.
“Enough!” a new voice said. A dark-suited arm shoved Ms. Fletcher away, and Blackburn moved over to stand in front of the cell.
“Tell me where the old fool is, boy,” Blackburn said quietly. He stared at me, his monocle glistening with a reddish color. Even without my Oculator’s Lenses, I swear that I could see a little black cloud rising from him.
“If you don’t talk willingly,” Blackburn said, reaching up to take off his monocle, “I will make you.” He pulled another monocle from a vest pocket. It had green and black tints. “This is a Torturer’s Lens. By looking through it and focusing on a part of your body, I can make you feel intense agony. Your muscles will begin to rip, and while it probably won’t kill you, you will soon start to wish that it would.”
He reached up, putting the monocle in place. “I’ve seen men permanently paralyzed by these things, boy. I’ve seen them break their own bones as they thrash about on the ground, crying out with such pain that they’d have killed themselves to stop it. Does that sound like fun? Well, if not, you should start
talking. Now!”
It’s funny what a little taste of leadership can do to someone. A shade of responsibility, a smidgen of self-understanding, and I was ready to stand up to a full-blown Dark Oculator. I gritted my teeth, jutted out my chin defiantly, and stared him in the eye.
So, of course, I got my heroic little self blasted with a beam of pure pain.
This is supposed to be a book for all ages, so I won’t go into details about how it felt to get hit by a Torturer’s Lens. Just try and remember the worst wound you’ve ever felt. The most agonizing, most terrifying pain in your life. Remember it, hold it in your head.
Then imagine if a shark swam by and bit you in half while you were distracted. That’s a little what it felt like. Only, add in swallowing a few grenades and suffering through a night at the opera too. (And don’t try and tell me I didn’t warn you about the sharks.)
The pain let up. I lay on the floor of the cell, though I didn’t remember falling. Sing was at my side, and even Bastille was moving over to me, her face concerned. My agony faded slowly, and I looked up, seeing Blackburn as a dark shadow standing before the cell.
There was a small twist of pleasure on his lips. “Now, boy, tell me what I want to know.”
And I would have. This is your hero, Free Kingdomers. I broke that easily—I hadn’t ever known pain; I was no soldier. I was just a kid trapped by forces he had no hope of understanding. I would have told Blackburn anything he wanted to know.
However, I didn’t have a chance to spit it out. At that moment, you see, Grandpa Smedry poked his head into the dungeon hallway, smiling happily.
“Why, hello, Blackburn,” he said. Then he waved to me, holding up a pair of hands that were manacled together. He wasn’t wearing his Oculator’s Lenses, and a pair of beefy-looking men in dark robes and black sunglasses stood behind him, holding his arms.
“It appears that I’ve been captured,” Grandpa Smedry said, manacle chains clinking. “I hope I’m not too late!”