I caught up and barred the doorway with my arm. “I had to think of somewhere we can go.”
Quietly, I led Gemma past the kitchen. I heard my parents talking softly in the living room. All that separated us from them was the opaque wall of the stairwell. Before I could even make out Ma’s words, her tone told me she was riled up.
I waved Gemma down the stairs ahead of me.
“The outlaws nearly killed Lars today.” Ma kept her voice low, but it crackled with anger. I didn’t have to peer around the corner to know that her hands were on her hips and her eyes were shooting sparks. “Who knows what happened inside that derelict sub. The territory isn’t safe anymore and you know it, John.”
Gemma descended halfway down the stairs, then noticed I hadn’t followed. I needed to hear Pa’s reply.
“It was never safe, Carolyn,” he said, sounding weary. “But what’s worse? Living with the threat of danger or living safe and secure with no land to call our own? Is that what you want for our kids? To be hemmed in by millions of other people, without room to explore or dream?”
“Our dream is failing,” Ma said sharply. “Instead of settlers, we get drunks and gamblers passing through. And outlaws who steal from hardworking folk.” She grew angrier with each word. “What if Ty had gotten trapped inside the house when it collapsed today?”
I gritted my teeth. When was she going to realize I wasn’t a little kid anymore? I could swim better than both of them and sense danger faster. And I sure as heck could judge when a house was about to cave in.
“Subsea houses don’t come down that fast,” Pa replied. “There’s always time to get out.”
Ma made an exasperated noise while Gemma’s beckoning grew more insistent. I considered bursting into the living room and offering to scrape scum off the house for the next decade if my parents would just get off this topic.
“I don’t want to raise my children in a place where there’s no doctor,” Ma whispered fiercely. “Not when Ty ignores our rules and takes more risks every day — like exploring derelict subs.”
I winced. I should have known she wasn’t going to let that misdeed slide by. Oblivious to the hushed argument in the next room, Gemma headed back up the steps. As she passed me, I caught her hand and pressed a finger to my lips.
“So that’s it?” Pa snapped. “You want to abandon everything we’ve worked for? Give up?”
I waited for Ma’s reply, but when her footsteps clipped halfway across the living room, I realized she wasn’t going to answer him. She was walking away from the argument — heading directly for us. Dragging Gemma halfway down the stairs, I pressed us both to the wall. Ma stormed by the stairwell without looking down. I relaxed, only to realize I’d flattened Gemma against the wall with an arm across her chest. “Sorry!” I whispered, releasing her.
She hurried down the stairs. This time I followed her, Ma’s comment about ignoring rules ringing in my ears.
As soon as I closed the greenhouse door behind us, Gemma asked, “Will you help me sneak into the Saloon? I want to see if my brother is there.”
“What? No!” I sputtered. “Did you hear anything my mother just said? If I break another rule, she’s hauling our whole family Topside.”
“At least you’d be together.”
“Yeah, all crammed into one room. Sounds like heaven.”
Gemma’s brows drew together. “I can’t even remember my parents. And I haven’t seen my brother in three years. If we could all be together, I wouldn’t care if we lived in a closet.” She marched past me and disappeared into the foliage.
Okay, now I felt like total chum. “You’ll get kicked out of the Saloon faster than a card shark can shuffle.” I pushed through the stalks of corn to find her. “No one will let you step off the elevator unless you’re eighteen.”
She stopped shoving through the plants. “Not twenty-one?”
“Like I said, you can start a homestead at eighteen. They consider you an adult then.”
“I look eighteen.”
“Yeah, and I don’t know how to swim.”
“I bet you could get me in.”
“No,” I said firmly. She didn’t know what she was asking. She hadn’t seen the knife fights I’d witnessed on the Service Deck alone.
Gemma sat on a tank of filtered water by a large window. Apple trees, ripe with fruit, swayed overhead. “I didn’t have permission to come to Benthic Territory,” she said.
I wasn’t surprised to hear it. Already I knew that Gemma wasn’t the kind of girl who asked permission.
“You ran away?” I said.
She nodded as she traced a starfish that was climbing the window. “The director, Ms. Spinner, is probably bursting an artery right now.” Gemma’s smile was grim. “She wants a bigger apartment. But every time a kid goes missing from her boarding home, she gets dropped down the housing waiting list, which is really demeaning to an adult. Space being the ultimate status symbol. Anyway, I go missing a lot, so Ms. Spinner’s chances of moving get worse and worse. Most of the time, I just sneak up to the tower roof. It’s broiling hot and smells like tar, but it’s the only place where I don’t feel trapped.”
I understood what it meant to feel trapped, only the whole Topside made me feel that way. A sun-baked roof would be just another cranny in hell.
Gemma met my eyes. “Ms. Spinner said if I disappeared again, she’d send me to a reformatory for juvenile delinquents.”
“Just for looking for your brother?” I asked skeptically.
“She sent Richard away for less. All he did was sneak into a quality-time room after hours.”
“A what?”
“You sure don’t know much about life Above.” She gave the ceiling a disparaging wave. “When parents come to see their kids, they rent a quality-time room with couches and games and a kitchen. When I was younger, I’d spend every Saturday walking up and down the visitors’ hall, peeking in the windows. I’d pretend I was shopping for a family.”
My throat constricted at the image of her alone in a corridor that rang with other people’s talk and laughter.
“Anyway,” she went on, “sometimes late at night, Richard would pick the lock on one of the rooms and I’d meet him there. I was really little, but I always managed to sneak out of whatever dorm I was in. We’d eat together and he’d read to me — like other families. Then we’d clean up so no one would know we’d been there. Richard made that part fun, too.”
“Why couldn’t you meet in one of those rooms during the day?”
“We didn’t have money. That’s why, when we got caught, Ms. Spinner called Richard a thief. He stole space—a serious offense. So she shipped him off to a reformatory and wouldn’t tell me which one.” Gemma’s voice cracked but her eyes remained dry.
Did Gemma blame herself? “I’ll bet he never regretted spending the time with you,” I said.
She shrugged like she wasn’t so sure. “I didn’t hear from him for four years. Finally, when he was eighteen, they let him out.”
“Was he different?”
“He used to laugh a lot, but he hardly smiled at all when he came back. After six months, he took off. Said he couldn’t stand the crowds. I think that’s why he ended up down here.” She touched my arm. “Ty, please. Help me find him.”
How was I supposed to say no to that?
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
“When I said I’d help you, I didn’t mean this,” I whispered angrily. We were on the Service Deck, standing in front of the elevator shaft that ran down the center of the Trade Station. I wanted to help her find her brother but had a sneaking suspicion I might ruin my own life in the process.
“You promised,” she reminded me. “Anyway, it’s day. The Saloon is going to be empty. We should have snuck out last night.”
“Day. Night. Doesn’t matter. The Rec Deck will be packed. The miners and tide-runners get paid on Friday and bunk in the Hive all weekend, so the prospectors show up for the gambling. Rudder-rook
ies and swabbies, too. Put your money away.” I pushed her hand toward the pouch on her belt. “You can’t bribe some ooze-digger to take you down to the Saloon.” Everything about her was asking for trouble, from her cavalier attitude to her long, loose hair.
“But I’ve shown Richard’s picture everywhere else,” she said, pushing her money back into the pouch. “The general store, library, computer lounge —”
“Okay. We’ll hang out on the Access Deck. You can look over the prospectors as they dock their rigs and come aboard.”
“But what about all the ones already in the Saloon?” She had that look I was beginning to recognize: jaw set, her mouth a firm line of determination.
“Listen,” I said, trying another tact, “there’s something I didn’t tell you or anyone last night. After the house collapsed, I was out in the field alone. I saw Shade.”
Gemma’s eyes widened.
“He was so white he looked like a dead man.” I paused, then admitted, “I followed him.”
“Did you find their lair?”
I almost rolled my eyes at the drama she was laying on it. Lair. “No, he attacked me and took my mantaboard.” At her gasp, I went on. “I’m telling you because that’s the kind of man who’s in the Saloon.” I pointed at the floor, indicating the level below us. “You’re picturing your brother, but that’s not what you’re going to find.”
“Were his eyes pink?”
“Shade’s?”
She nodded. Her excitement reminded me of Zoe whenever Pa made up a story about a sea monster.
“He didn’t even have eyes. Just gaping black holes.”
Gemma clamped her hand to her mouth.
“That’s what it looked like anyway. I’m sure he was just wearing dark contact lenses.”
“Probably because his eyes are sensitive. I’ve read that a lot of albinos are nearly blind.”
“He saw me well enough. He managed to shoot a harpoon right into my mantaboard.”
She dropped her hand. “You’re trying to scare me.”
Just then the elevator doors opened and an unsteady miner sauntered out. Gemma backed away, only to bump into me, which caused her to stumble forward, right into the miner. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“No problem, pretty lady.” The man’s leer revealed his yellowing teeth.
When the man continued on his way, I turned to her. “See what I’m saying?”
She grinned and held up a green ID card. An adult ID card.
I couldn’t believe it. “You picked that miner’s pocket!”
Not even a tinge of guilt crossed her face. “My brother taught me that trick.” She pushed the elevator call button.
“Stealing isn’t a trick.” I stepped between her and the elevator doors. “Listen to me. You’ll be an angelfish swimming with eels down there.”
“Eels don’t scare me,” she said as the doors slid open. She wasn’t really going down to the Saloon. She was bluffing. I was sure of it. But then she stepped around me and into the elevator. “I’ll tell you what it’s like when I get back,” she said with a wave.
I grabbed her by the hand and tugged her out before the doors closed. “If you’re going to do it, at least be smart about it.” I dragged her down the hall. “You can’t go in as a girl.”
“What am I supposed to go as? A jellyfish?”
I opened the door to a storage room. “A boy.” I pulled clothes from a large bin. “It’s the Trade Station’s lost and found.” I thrust a crumpled red sweatshirt at her.
She wrinkled her nose. “No way.”
“Right. You’re used to fancy dresses.”
“All my dresses are hand-me-downs, but they don’t stink like cigars and sweat.”
“Dirty is a good thing considering the company you’ll be keeping.” I pushed the hooded sweatshirt into her hands. She made a pained face but pulled it over her head. I studied her as she smoothed the sweatshirt into place and tugged its hood down so that most of her hair was hidden from view. With her long bangs falling into her eyes, she might pass for a boy. Then I took in the whole picture and groaned. This wasn’t going to work.
“Stop staring at my chest,” she snapped.
“It’s a problem.”
“Excuse me?”
“We have to do something to hide it or else the men in the Saloon are going to go way past staring.” For the first time, Gemma looked uncertain. “You find some baggy pants in there.” I pointed at the clothes bin. “I’ll be right back.”
She stepped into my path. “Where’re you going?”
“To get a bandage so you can flatten everything out.” My worry had pushed me way past embarrassment. Her cheeks, however, blazed like a sunset over the ocean. “When we’re in the Saloon, don’t do that,” I told her.
“Do what?”
“Blush. It makes you look like a girl.” I headed for the infirmary.
“I am a girl!” she called.
As if I hadn’t noticed.
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
I hesitated in the doorway of the infirmary. Everything about this room sickened me — the smell, the spotless cabinets, and, most of all, the medical equipment. Just seeing the crash cart in my peripheral vision made my stomach flop like a hooked cod. Still, I forced myself inside.
“Doc, are you here?” I called out.
I tacked toward his office at the back where the door stood open, passing stacks of boxes along the way. I couldn’t believe the ‘wealth was recalling him. What if one of the settlers got seriously hurt? As much as I loathed the smells and sounds of an infirmary, if a shark tore up my leg, I’d still rather have Doc stitch it up than Raj or some other unqualified settler.
Doc wasn’t in his office, which looked almost entirely packed up. As I turned to leave, I knocked into an open box and sent it toppling. I bent to pick up the scattered files, only to freeze when I recognized a title: “Dark Gifts: A Subsea Phenomenon” by Dr. William Metzger. It was the stupid article that Gemma kept asking about. I scanned the page, picking out: … conducted brain scans on adolescents who have resided subsea for extended periods of time. The results reveal that they have more areas of active brain use … in theory, the intense water pressure stimulates the brain’s development and results in abnormal abilities … many of these adolescents display traits associated with marine life. I got to my feet, still clutching the page when Doc strode into the office. He didn’t seem at all annoyed to see me standing amid his scattered files.
“Looking for me?” he asked.
“I need a bandage,” I managed to croak. When he looked me over, I added, “Not for me. No one’s hurt. I just need it.”
“Okay,” he said and pulled open a drawer.
I relaxed. He wasn’t going to make me explain. “Why do you have this?” I asked, holding up the paper.
He tossed me the rolled bandage. “When I took this job, I downloaded every article I could find on the territory so I’d know what I was getting into.”
“Did you believe everything you read?”
He grimaced. “I’ve been a government employee too long for that. I know better. The ‘wealth has a whole department devoted to pushing its agenda on the public.” He rubbed his scarred palm. “Or discrediting anyone who’s viewed as a threat.”
“Like the scientists who say the oceans have stopped rising.”
“Exactly. If the Commonwealth isn’t in the midst of a crisis, there’s no reason to operate under Emergency Law. The state representatives aren’t about to give up that kind of power.”
I placed the article back in the box and bent to retrieve the rest. As Doc knelt to help me, he asked, “Does that article bother you?”
With a shrug, I turned for the door. “Thanks for the bandage.”
“I entered a sample of the blood we found on the derelict sub into the main computer,” Doc said.
Curious, I faced him again.
“If the man’s DNA is in the government’s data bank,” Doc went on, “
I’ll know his name by tonight.”
“So it was human blood?”
“Yes,” Doc said grimly. “And whoever bled out in that sub won’t be stopping by to collect his gear. No one could lose that much and live.”
I winced. Why would the Seablite Gang murder a prospector? What could he have owned that they wanted so badly? “Thanks for the bandage,” I said, turning to go.
Doc touched my shoulder. “I need to talk to you about your friend Gemma.”
Feeling more than a little uncomfortable, I watched him cross to his desk.
“This was sent to me this morning.” He rolled back his chair so that I could see what was on his screen: a photo of Gemma in a high-neck caftan, probably taken from an ID card. “It went to all the staff at the Trade Station. It’s a missing child post, filed by a boarding home.” He studied me. “It says that she stole money from the director’s office.”
My heart sank like an anchor. “Are you going to report her?”
He considered it. “No,” he said finally. “But someone else might.”
“Then Gemma and I don’t have much time.”
Doc raised a brow. “For what?”
“Thanks,” I said, and sprinted for the door.
“It’s my money! Richard sent it to me and Ms. Spinner took it,” Gemma fumed. “She said she’d give it back when I wasn’t her responsibility. But how is that going to happen unless Richard signs my emancipation form? I needed the money to get here.”
“How did you get here?”
“Like I want another lecture.” She plucked the bandage from my fingers and ducked back into the lost and found, leaving me to wait nervously in the corridor.
When she finally stepped out of the storage room, I said, “The hall is empty. Let’s go.”
“So I pass?”
“Yeah.” If you looked closely, you’d still be able to tell she was a girl. But I didn’t think the denizens of the Saloon ever looked at anyone too closely. Some lowlife might take offense. I checked around the corner and beckoned her over my shoulder. “If we’re going into the Saloon, it’s got to be now, while no one is here.”