The White Lilac

  Chapter Sixteen: Kai

  “What did the mayor want?” Kai asked when they were alone in the taxi.

  Caryn’s eyes were troubled. “She showed me some people who have mental disabilities. She said the Compound did this, that they did this on purpose.”

  “Did they?”

  “They wouldn’t destroy lives. Their purpose is to save people, to give people a better life. What we do, the Compound’s purpose, is more important than anything. We’re more dedicated than the average labs, because we are striving to be the best. That’s the only reason I am even here. I had to be the best.”

  Kai shrugged. He didn’t know much about the Compound. Only that they did stuff with science and lately it seemed that everyone else was passionately picking whose side to be on. But he didn’t need the emotional baggage.

  “Do you think the Compound is deliberately messing with the cure?” Caryn didn’t look up. She twisted her fingers around the fabric of her shirt.

  “Why would they do that?”

  She nods. “It doesn’t make sense, unless they were trying new experimentations.”

  “Do they do that often?”

  “No,” but she paused. “I don’t know.”

  She looked out the window at the passing buildings, but the wonder that had marked her face the day before was replaced by a thoughtful sadness.

  Kai leaned back against the plush seat and scratched his stomach. It was pleasantly extended and didn’t hurt at all, unless his overstretched stomach counted as pain. His head was still a little sore where it rested on the seat, but that was healing. He could get used to this kind of life.

  A man Caryn introduced as Dr. Vos met them when the speeder landed and this time Kai was allowed to follow her inside. But after walking down several halls, he was told to wait outside of the check-up room. Again Kai figured it was probably for the best and wouldn’t cause him to lose his payment.

  He leaned against the wall wondering how long this would take. Being confined by all these walls made him feel trapped, like he could be caught or surrounded, and he wished he could be out on the streets. Somewhere near the water perhaps. All this food was making him lazy. He hadn’t had to run or swim in almost a whole day and he wondered if he could still elude the T-Man’s gang if they decided to come after him again. Not that he had succeeded the last time, but he’d come close. And now he would be smarter about where he went to hide.

  Down the hall there was the sound of metal grating against a carpet in one of the rooms down the hall. A man swore followed by a loud crash, a short yelp and another curse word.

  “Is anyone out there?” the man called. A deep thump made the floor vibrate and the man yelled, “Help!”

  Kai glanced down the silent hallway and then at the door Caryn was behind. He could probably help the guy and rush back before she was done. Pushing away from the wall, he started to jog looking in the open doors for the man. Four rooms down Kai saw a metal table turned over, pinning a man against the wall. The man held a computer screen tightly to his chest, even though his neck was pushed forward by the bookshelf at his back and his shoes peeked out under the fallen table. The top of his head was bald and red from straining and a single vein bulged down the center.

  “Can you move the table?” the man asked, through gritted teeth. Kai walked across the room and stepped around an overturned box of black rocks and several thick reference books, either of which could have been the source of the last thump.

  “What happened?” Kai tried to lift the table and discovered that it was a heavy, solid metal as it only shifted a bit. Instead of lifting again, he pulled the table away from the man and was rewarded by a small jerk when it slid off the man’s toes. It was easier to drag when the whole side was level and Kai pulled it for another three feet before stopping.

  “Thank you,” the man said, as he gingerly placed the computer screen on the floor. “This computer is three hundred years old and the only one with some of the information it contains. I don’t know what I would have done if it had fallen too. I’m Dr. Kendal, by the way.”

  “I’m Kai.”

  Together Kai and Dr. Kendal were able to right the table, although Kai was sweating, despite the cool temperature of the building, by the time they were done.

  “So what happened?” Kai asked.

  Dr. Kendal bent to pick up a book. He showed the cover to Kai. A picture of some kind of blown up DNA strand was on the front along with some words Kai didn’t bother to look at.

  “All the best books are on the top shelf,” Dr. Kendal pointed to the bookshelf and he shook his head. Kai quickly judged that the doctor was not tall enough to reach the shelf without something to stand on and the fallen table spoke for itself.

  “You know none of this would happen if I had help,” Dr. Kendal said, picking up another book and placing it next to the computer on the table. “First, the mayor told me I would have a team. Then I was told I would be the only one to have permission to access the material. And now they just informed me that I would only have access until the day of the gathering. I’m supposed to be looking for an antidote that can save a life, but there is a mountain of information, some of it nearly ancient and requires at least one doctorate in ancient technology just to recover it. They force me to move all the information out of the Compound. I haven’t even had the time to look through a fraction of it. And then all the books I need are on a shelf I can’t reach!” Dr. Kendal sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I haven’t slept in two days.”

  “Sounds like they don’t really want you to do your job,” Kai said.

  “It does, doesn’t it,” Dr. Kendal said.

  “What are you working on?”

  “A cure for the white lilac anemone’s poison.”

  Kai nodded.

  Dr. Kendal leaned over the computer screen and pressed a few buttons. The screen came to life and several files popped up. Dr. Kendal sighed, “Good, everything is the way it was.”

  At the bottom of each file was a light gray outline of a flower with four petals.

  “What’s that?” Kai asked, pointing to it.

  “What?”

  “The flower thing at the bottom of all the files.”

  “I don’t know. It might be a lilac logo or something.” Dr. Kendal picked up the last fallen book and flipped through it. Kai heard a door click open in the hall and said a quick bye before he hurried out. Dr. Kendal didn’t even seem to notice. The noise wasn’t Caryn, but her door opened almost as soon as Kai reached it.

  “So, I will see you day after tomorrow to double check these test,” Dr. Vos said. He didn’t look at her, but kept his eyes on the handheld computer he was typing on.

  “Okay,” Caryn said. She didn’t seem too concerned and she smiled when she saw Kai standing there. Between the two of them they remembered how to get out of the building and were greeted by a slap of heat as the door opened.

  “What would you like to do now?” Kai asked.

  “What do you do?” Caryn asked, looking up at him. “When you want to have fun or relax.”

  Kai thought about that a moment. “Swim in the lake.”

  “You swim in the lake? Malte Lake? With the jiggers, anemones and poisonous eels?” Caryn looked surprised.

  “They leave you alone if you leave them alone,” Kai said.

  “Aren’t you afraid you could die?”

  “I guess I never really thought about it. The lake’s always been the one place I felt safe, protected. And it is a great way to cool off in the summer. You want to take a quick swim?” Kai asked. The words had popped out before he had been able to think through them. It could’ve been the heat from the suns or the fact they were so close to the lake. He could smell the moisture in the air.

  Caryn stopped. Her eyebrows were pressed together and she bit her bottom lip.

  “We can go to a quiet spot I know where it’s too shallow for the anemones to grow at the bottom. Jiggers really aren’t that dangerous and if I see any ee
ls we’ll get out,” Kai said, he was starting to feel warm and sweaty and the thought of the cool lake sounded wonderful.

  “I--I don’t like water,” Caryn said her voice quiet.

  “Do you know how to swim?” Kai asked.

  “Of course, but.”

  “But what?”

  She turned her face away from him. “I really don’t like large pools of water.”

  “Why? There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

  “You wouldn’t say that if you had someone holding you under for a long time.”

  Kai frowned. The water was probably his favorite place. He had been stuck underwater before, like that one time in the barrel, but the kids would give up after five minutes which was easy for him to wait out. It became the safest place for him to go. He loved being surrounded and weightless.

  “If you really don’t want to swim in the lake, you don’t have to and I’m definitely not going to make you, but there are all sorts of cool stuff down there. Bright colored fish, flowering water plants and sunken ships.”

  “There are sunken ships in Malte Lake?” Caryn asked. She glanced at him then back down, but not before he saw a spark of interest in her eye.

  “Yep.”

  “Are the ships too shallow for anemones?” she asked. Her head bent with her eyes studying the ground at such an angle Kai couldn’t see her expression.

  “Yeah, and the eels prefer the darker, deeper places in the lake, so we should be fine.” It seemed to do the trick, too.

  She ducked her head and twisted a strand of hair behind her ear, but he could tell she was considering it.

  “I promise I won’t let you die,” Kai said. Ignoring the startled look on her face, he grabbed her hand and started to run. She kept pace and spent more time looking up at the architecture than she did at the street.

  To Kai’s pleasure, she gasped when they turned the corner and saw the full view of Malte Lake. It did look beautiful. The duel reflection from the suns caught ripples and waves making the surface shine. Far off in the distance a jigger spouted water up into the air. A breeze hit them with a fresh water scent combined with the stink of the jigger, but Caryn’s face showed no sign of irritation.

  “Over here.” Kai led her to a tree near the beginning of the rocks and gravel leading to the lapping water of the lake and a small abandoned dock. He immediately began pulling his shoes and socks off. “They used to dock old fishing boats here, some of them sank and you can swim around them. Some people have even found old coins and gadgets that are thousands of years old.”

  “Really?” Caryn took a step closer to the dock, her eyes lighting with interest.

  Kai shrugged out of his shoes and socks and rolled up the legs of his pants before walking over to the dock. Caryn sat down under the tree and placed her shoes and socks next to his.

  “I’ll show you where they are,” Kai said. “I’ll check it out and be right back.”

  He walked to the end of the dock, the planks creaking and swaying under his weight, and jumped off the end. The water was gray with brown specks floating around him and he swam in a straight line from the dock to where the lake floor dropped off. He angled his body to follow the drop until he could make out three small vessels and the shadow of a larger ship. With several strong strokes Kai dove to get a closer look. It would not do to find out this was the home of an eel. The first two boats looked abandoned by most underwater life. Perhaps it was the nets and fishing hooks littered across the decks that kept them away.

  Kai swam between two of the smaller boats and was about to swim over the larger ship when he saw something shiny flickering through the water. He dove for a closer look. It was a coin, or half of a coin, since the other half was lodged under a small metal mast. Kai could hardly believe his luck. His fingers found the edge of the coin, but when he tried to pull it out he couldn’t. The mast had pinned it to the deck. Kai tried pushing against the mast with one hand while the other pulled on the coin and he felt the coin move. This time he pushed harder and the coin slid an inch, not enough to pull it free, but with one more push it came loose. The mast popped and groaned as it readjusted.

  Quickly pocketing the coin, Kai turned to swim back to the surface. A muffled creak reached his ear and Kai looked up to see the small mast falling toward him. He backpedaled against the side of one of the smaller boats, his back smushed against an inch of algae. The mast landed on the boat and a shower of dirt, broken algae and pieces of boat filled the water. Kai pushed away from the side and began to swim for the surface.

  Just then he felt a heavy weight land on his back. An old net draped around his shoulders and a large, metal tackle box tangled in the net began to weigh him down. Kai tried to yank the net off, but it seemed the harder he struggled the more it wrapped around him. He hit the lake floor in a cloud of dust and the box landed on his feet. It pinned his ankles between rocks and the net prevented him from twisting enough to move it. He struggled, but no matter how hard he tried he could not free himself. Minutes passed and Kai’s head began to pound. He had lost some air when he landed on the bottom of the lake and he had been under for ten minutes. Black spots swam before his eyes. He wanted--needed--to breathe. His consciousness was slipping away and all he could think about was that he would never know who his mother was.