The morning sun woke Jack with its heat. He opened his eyes and lifted a hand to scratch his face, feeling as he did so the formation of new scars there. All at once the day before came rushing back to him- meeting Kylie's parents, listening to his father's music, getting attacked by the true Diamond Dogs… Jack sat up, and found as he did so that his shoulder no longer hurt. His healing abilities had worked their magic. Jack's shirt and jeans were dappled with pink and green from blood and grass, and his hair was a mess. Running his fingers through his hair to get the grass bits out, Jack looked over the hill to see if anyone had come to join him in his sleep. But he was alone, just as he had been last night, and Jack's heart fell. What had happened to Kylie, her family, and the false Diamond Dogs? What had happened to Kylie and her family? What had happened to Kylie?
Just as Jack was debating whether or not he should get up and go home to find his mother, he caught sight of a person advancing up the hill from the side that faced Hunger City. As the figure came closer and closer, Jack caught sight of his sun-bleached blond hair and the fur on his coat, and knew immediately it was Jagger. He called out to his friend. "Hey, brother!"
Jagger did not look up in response to Jack's call. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, and he trudged up the hill with his head down. Once Jagger had gotten to the top, he eyed Jack from above for a few moments before plopping down himself, doubling his knees up to his chest. Jack stretched his own legs out and observed Jagger- the new open cuts on his face, arms, and legs, the bloodstained fur coat, and the dejected look in his eye.
"Hi hi hi there, brother Hallowe'en Jack," Jagger mumbled, his eyes still downcast. He tugged at the laces on his skates.
"You are looking quite the like worse for wear, brother," Jack said. "Did you ookadeet the bitva all right?"
Jagger said nothing in response to this as he continued to mindlessly pluck at his shoes. Then he spoke in a low voice, looking out at the ravaged Hunger City skyline. "Aladdin Sane has snuffed it. I viddied his plott with my own glazzies, razrezzed to bits by those vicious, vonny dogs…"
Jack froze. Not Aladdin Sane! Not the man who had introduced him to music. Not the only living full-blooded member of his race. Not him. Not here. Not now.
"He was oobivatted?" Jack whispered, feeling like a candle that had been blown out. "By who? The Diamond Dogs or himself?"
Jagger shook his head, his face twisting up in pain. He hugged his knees to his chest and laid his head down on them, trying and failing to suppress a sob. Jack scooted close to Jagger and wrapped an arm around him in comfort. Together they mourned Aladdin Sane, Jagger choking on his tears and Jack letting his sorrow leak out silently through his body and into Jagger's. Finally Jagger pulled away from Jack and wiped his eyes, dragging the palms of his hands down his face.
"It was the dogs, oh my brother," he whispered to Jack, his voice trembling. "The cally, grahzny dogs…"
Jack nodded, looking out at the Hunger City skyline. So Aladdin Sane had let the Diamond Dogs kill him in the end. It gave Jack a strange relief as well as sadness to know that at long last, Aladdin Sane had finally found peace in death.
"If the great and powerful Bog has snuffed it, who is going to lead us?" Jack said.
Jagger gave him a look. "You are the Child of Bog, Hallowe'en Jack. You must lead us."
They sat for a few more moments in silence, Jagger waiting for his false Diamond Dogs and Jack waiting for Kylie. But no one else showed up, and so Jack bid Jagger farewell and walked off in the direction of his home.
All the way down the old asphalt road to the Manhattan Chase building, Jack grew more and more apprehensive about what he would find there. Had the Diamond Dogs gone as far as to launch an attack on his home? What would his mother think now that he had stayed out at night for a second time without telling her? He was shaking with nervousness by the time he reached his home. The front door was still closed, which gave Jack hope- if the Diamond Dogs had been here, they would have knocked the door in to get inside. Approaching the door, Jack opened it and stepped inside, looking around the main room. "Mom?"
His mother was standing at the kitchen sink, a glass of water in hand and a bottle of some kind of pills in the other. As she always did when Jack came in, she whirled about to face her son, relief lighting up her face. "Jack," she murmured breathlessly, throwing the pills down and setting the glass on the counter before rushing up to him and taking him in her arms. "Where the hell were you?!"
"I'm sorry, Mom," Jack murmured, holding her tightly in return. He was surprised at just how good it felt to be hugged. He didn't want her to let go of him, ever.
"I was in the city," he whispered. "I went to meet my friend Kylie's parents."
Jack's mother started to pull away, but Jack gripped her tighter, and with surprise, she complied and continued to hold him, rubbing his back.
"You know how I told you about Aladdin Sane?" Jack murmured. "The last living Aresian? There's something else he told me that I forgot to mention to you."
Jack pulled out of his mother's arms and stared into her eyes. His stress was reflected on her face. She silently urged him to keep talking.
"There's this pack of dogs," he said. "They're called the Diamond Dogs, and they're an entirely different species from humans, Aresians, or Mercurians. I think they have some kind of vendetta against Aresians, and they're trying to kill me. They nearly did last night. They've taken over the city completely."
Silence. Jack's mother bit her lip.
"What do we do now?" she said.
Jack knew exactly what his mother meant. They had plenty of food supplies to last a week in their kitchen, but when the week was over… And what if the dogs figured out that Jack wasn't in the city before then, and came looking for him at his home?
"I don't know," Jack said, backing towards the table and pulling up a chair. "We'll starve here if the siege doesn't end before the week is over." He sat down heavily, thinking about the false Diamond Dogs and about Kylie and her family. Worries consumed him- had Kylie gotten out of last night's battle okay? Was she at Poacher's Hill that minute, waiting for Jack? Where had her parents gone to that was safe? What would happen to the false Diamond Dogs?
Thinking about his friends reminded Jack of what Jagger had told him that morning. You are the Child of Bog, Hallowe'en Jack. You must lead us. Clearly Jack was now to be hailed as Bog in Aladdin Sane's place, but he was reluctant to accept that title. Jack had no idea how to lead the Diamond Dogs. He had no idea how to lead anyone. What could he possibly do to ensure his friends' safety?
As an answer to his ponderings, an idea began to form in Jack's mind. The false Diamond Dogs were most likely still up on Poacher's Hill, or at least Jagger was, having found no safer place to be when the true Diamond Dogs were laying siege to the city. Right now Jack's home seemed like a good place to hole up and wait out the oncoming siege, even if inviting guests meant that the food supply would be running lower. Jack played with the idea of taking the false Diamond Dogs to the Manhattan Chase building. It was the least he could do to protect them and to repay them for saving his life the night before.
"Mom," Jack said. She had turned her back once more and was rolling the white plastic bottle of pills around in her hands. Jack caught the name ASPIRIN on the label, and was momentarily distracted. "Um, what were you doing with that medicine?"
His mother set the bottle down. "It's just something to ease my pain." She turned around to look at Jack, her eyes reflecting the soul that was on fire inside her.
"Mom, I have something else to tell you that I didn't before," Jack said. "When I first starting going into the city by myself… I met a group of boys. They're about my age, and they helped me get food. I didn't have a job or anything like that."
His mother nodded, knowing that there was more. Jack tugged absently on his fingers as he spoke. "They worshipped Aladdin Sane as God, and… and now Aladdin Sane is dead." His voice turned strangely flat as he said it- it didn't feel real to him. How could Aladdin Sane have let the Diamond Dogs kill him in the end? Didn't he have more dignity than that?
"So," Jack continued, "because my father was a rock musician, and I have Aresian blood like Aladdin Sane did, my friends are calling me the Child of Bog- I mean, God. They want me to be their new leader, and- and I have to help them out."
Jack's mother ran her fingers through her long black hair, sighing. "Oh, Jack…"
"What are you 'Oh, Jack'-ing me for?" Jack protested indignantly. "It's all true, what I just told you. Do you think it's not?"
"No, I believe it," Jack's mother said. "There's just so much you've been doing behind my back that I wasn't aware of…"
"It was for the better," Jack tried to convince her. "Mom, will you let me go back to Hunger City and try to rescue my friends? I want them to stay here with us."
"Jack, that's not a good idea," his mother tried to plead. "You said it yourself that we don't have enough food to last a week. How are we going to feed more than two mouths?"
Jack shrugged. "They might have food with them, or I could go shop-crast- I mean, stealing. Please, Mom, just let them stay here. It's the least I can do for them after everything they did for me last night."
She passed a hand along her face, closing her eyes and finally giving in. "Okay. You can go find your friends and bring them back here. But there's one condition…"
Oh Bog, please don't let it be anything bad… Jack squinted. "Yes?"
"I'm coming with you," his mother said. She marched over to the door and knelt down to put on her shoes. Jack was shocked. His mother was going back into civilization after condemning everything to do with it a few years before? Jack pinched himself to know if he was dreaming or not, but the pain didn't wake him up. In fact, it was only made worse as Jack had accidentally dug his nails into a scratch on his arm that he had received the night before, one that was scarring over now. His eyes watered.
Seeing that her son wasn't being as productive as usual, Jack's mother paused in tying her lace to look him piercingly in the eye. "Well, Jack? You said you wanted to find your friends. I'm here to help you."
"Sure," Jack mumbled, getting up. "Let me get my shoes…" How odd it would be to wear normal shoes again, instead of roller skates. He retrieved them and as he was slipping them on, his mother spoke.
"No matter what happens, I am not letting you out of my sight again. Ever. You understand?"
"Yes, Mom," Jack muttered, tying his shoes. "Let's go."
The sun scalded Jack's skin as he walked down the familiar asphalt road with, bizarrely enough, his mother by his side, blinking in the brightness. Jack sighed quietly to himself, making sure that his mother didn't hear him. Of all things in his knapsack to barter, the sunscreen had to have been the least important one…
As they approached Poacher's Hill, Jack felt a smile come to his face when he realized that there was more than one person on top of the hill. The figures rose to their feet when they caught sight of Jack- Jagger bounding to his feet, instantly recognizable by his fur coat, and Sledge came sidling up next to him, his slouching demeanor identifying him. The last two figures were undeniably Widdy and Dice, as they were shorter and lankier than the other two and were holding hands. Though Jack was overjoyed to see that all of his friends had gotten out of the fight all right, he was also disheartened by the lack of Kylie. Where in the world was she?
"Oh, Mom?" Jack murmured, suddenly remembering a feature of the false Diamond Dogs that he himself had gotten used to, but that his mother would find strange. "There's one more thing you have to know about my friends. They speak a language called nadsat-talk that all of the teenagers use."
"Including you?" his mother said.
"Yes, including me," Jack confirmed. "It might be hard for you to understand them, but I'll translate if you have to."
"Brother Hallowe'en Jack!" the false Diamond Dogs called in unison. Jack pasted a smile on his face and waved, and they raised their hands together and waved back in unison. After Jack had reached the top of the hill, the Diamond Dogs descended on him, heaping him with hugs and cheers of "Thank Bog you made it!"
"It's great to know that you all are still like alive, oh my brothers," Jack said happily, stepping away from the Diamond Dogs. He gestured to his mother, who was standing off by the side with a hesitant look on her face. "This is my em."
"Oh, em of the Child of Bog!" Jagger cried. He waltzed up to Jack's mother and, before she could protest, lifted her hand to his lips. "Fair soomka, it is like a great honor and pleasure to meet you at last! I am Jagger, and these are my droogs- Sledge, Day-viddy-widdy, and No Dice Bryce." He pointed to each of the boys with a terrific smile. "We are here to protect you with our jeeznies, oh-" A frown stole over Jagger's face as he tried to work out what to call Jack's mother. "Em of the Child of Bog!" But the title wasn't satisfying. Jack's mother recoiled from the boys a bit.
"Uh… it's very nice to meet you, too," she offered, and every boy broke out into a smile. Jagger started to speak- "Hallowe'en Jack," he said, and the rest of the boys repeated him- but Jack cut into the statement.
"Have you all slooshied the news that the great Aladdin Sane-"
"Aladdin Sane," the boys echoed despondently.
"-was oobivatted?"
"We have indeed slooshied such slovos, oh my brother and Child of Bog," Sledge admitted sadly. "His having snuffed it can only mean one veshch now."
Jack was wary of asking, but he had to. "What, brother Sledge?"
"You are our Bog now," Widdy said softly, he and Dice staring up into Jack's face with an emotion that could only be described as reverence and devotion, much to Jack's disgust. He tried to protest. "I can't-"
"Child of Bog, do not try to deny it," Jagger said with conviction. "You are an Aresian like the great and powerful Bog was, and your pee was one of Bog's Holy Angels. You must be our Bog now." They assembled in a circle around Jack, and chagrin bit into him.
"You must lead us from now on," Jagger finished, his gray eyes showing the first spark of life that they had all morning. "You and your choodessny em." He gestured to Jack's mother, who hung even farther back from the group with a warning look in her eyes. Jack, she seemed to be saying silently with her face. These boys are your friends?
Jack tried to shake his head against them, but with every shake there were four more expectant nods from his friends, the false Diamond Dogs. Finally Jack threw up his hands. "Never mind. There's no time to argue about this right now, oh my brothers. My em and I will privodeet you to my domy, as we cannot go back into the city. How much pishcha do you have, my droogs?"
"You're taking us to your domy?" Dice squeaked, while Sledge answered Jack's question with, "Not much at all, Child of Bog! Just some lomticks of kleb that Jagger brought with him is all- no jammiwam or maslo to go with it, even!"
It took a while for Jack to understand what Sledge had said, but he nodded when he did. "I guess that has to be enough. Come with me, oh my brothers." Jack motioned the group forward, and they all followed him eagerly.
"The Manhattan Chase building is big enough to fit a hundred people," Jack's mother said to her newfound guests, an awkward edge to her voice. "You should all be comfortable there."
"Thank you, Em of the Child of Bog," Jagger said, and Dice suddenly snorted, having noticed Jack's feet. "Where have your skates gone to, oh my brother?"
Before Jack could answer, a new voice rang out from behind him. "Jack? Haushinka?" Jack, his mother, and the false Diamond Dogs turned around as one, and Jack stared with a mixture of surprise and relief. On the other side of the hill that they had just been standing on, Xyloto was walking towards them, his black, bushy eyebrows arching upward and a suitcase in his hand.
"Xyloto!" Jack cried, and ran forward.
"Xyloto," his mother hissed from behind him.
Xyloto and Jack met in the middle of the hill, and Xyloto sized Jack up and down. "Thank God you're alive!" he said, laying his hands on Jack's shoulders. "We were so worried about you after you and Kylie went back to fight the dogs…"
"Where is-" Jack tried to ask, but his question was drowned out by another. "Who is this chelloveck?" Jagger asked from behind Jack, crossing his arms, his voice rich with disdain.
Jack turned to explain. "This is Kylie's pee, oh my brother. He used to know both of my parents."
Xyloto tipped an imaginary hat. "How do you do, boys…" His eyes roamed over the group, to fall on Jack's mother, who looked as if she was about to cry, or start running away as fast as she could in the opposite direction. "Haushinka…"
"Don't you dare hurt my baby boy!" Jack's mother cried. "I won't let you take him this time!"
"Haushinka, I'm not-" Xyloto tried to tell her, stepping forward with his hands in the air, but she bared her teeth at him angrily. The false Diamond Dogs appeared to take that as a command, and they slid in front of her, withdrawing their Bowie knives and glaring at Xyloto.
Xyloto sighed and turned to Jack. "Jack, can you call off your friends?"
"We will not let this veck vred the Em of the Child of Bog!" Jagger shouted hostilely. "We wll oobivat you if your nogas like move another step!"
"It's all right, oh my brothers," Jack said wearily. "My em is overreacting. Xyloto is dobby."
"What a strange language," Xyloto mumbled, as if in a trance. "It sounds… Russian, almost…"
"Jack, you don't know what you're saying!" Jack's mother cried. "This man is the one who tried to steal you away from me when you were just a baby!"
"No, Mom," Jack sighed, irked by her childlike behavior. "You don't understand- just listen to me!" he cried, as she made a movement indicating escape. "Xyloto told me about what he did back then. He wasn't trying to take me away from you! He just wanted you to come with him so that you would survive Earth's destruction. Right, Xyloto?" he finished, looking to the man for help.
"Hm?... oh right, you're exactly right, Jack," Xyloto muttered, seemingly distracted. "Haushinka, I'm sorry if I ever appeared to have threatened you. I didn't mean it in the way you took it. I understand if you didn't trust me then, but for the love of God, you have to trust me now. The dogs have taken complete control of Hunger City, and the only way to fight them is if we stick together."
"Wait," said Jack, suddenly suspicious himself. "How did you manage to survive and get to this hill without being attacked or killed? How did you even know this was the planned meeting place?"
Xyloto gave a humorless chuckle. "You sound just like me at your age," he said. "First of all, Kylie has been talking about meeting you here every morning, so I would have gone here anyway. As it is, I didn't know that this was the planned meeting place for you and your… friends." He gave the false Diamond Dogs a sweep-over with his eyes distastefully. "The tunnel system- well, actually, you have to see it for yourself. I came up here this morning to retrieve some items from our house, only to find that the place was surrounded by dogs. I still managed to get some supplies though." He held his suitcase up triumphantly. "Take my word for it, Jack- there is a hiding place, and I can show it to you, your mom, and your friends if you'll only trust me for a few moments." He gazed willfully at Jack, his eyes begging Jack to accept everything he had said. Jack folded his arms across his chest.
"Xyloto," he said. "I'll gladly go to your hiding place with you if you can tell me two things. Just two, it's not hard."
"Anything you ask," Xyloto breathed.
"First, are you certain that your hiding place is safe?" Jack asked. "As in, safer than my home over there?" He hooked a finger in the direction of the Manhattan Chase building, and Xyloto responded with a quick nod. "It's a far safer place than you could ever believe. What was your next question?"
Jack took a deep breath and a step forward, leaning into Xyloto's face as he spoke. "Is… everyone okay?" He meant for the question to come out clearer, but couldn't bring himself to ask exactly what he wanted to ask. Is she okay…
Xyloto understood immediately what Jack meant, but he didn't give an answer right away. Jack sucked in a breath, praying to the departed Bog that there was no bad news.
"Mylo and Eva are alive and well," Xyloto said at last, and Jack felt his heart begin to sink. He moved in closer to Xyloto, jabbing his finger into his chest. "Xyloto. What about… her? What about sodding Kylie?!"
Xyloto inched away from Jack's accusing hand, shaking his head in regret. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you anything about that. The last I saw of Kylie was when she went running back out to fight the dogs… Nearly gave me a heart attack." He clasped his hands together, tension running across his face, and Jack instantly felt bad for his harshness. It couldn't be easy not knowing where one's child was, if she was even alive or dead. Then the alive or dead thought caught up to Jack, and the breath was knocked out of him. His stomach plummeted to the bottom of his feet. What if… what if Kylie was…
"So what should we do now?" Jack's mother called, startling Jack out of his nightmare. The false Diamond Dogs added their wonderment, all eyes glued to Jack. Jack sighed, trying to dispel his stress. Kylie was alive. She had to be alive. Jack couldn't take it if both she and Aladdin Sane were… killed in the same night…
Why was it his decision to decide what to do? Jack turned to Xyloto, scratching behind his ear and sighing softly. "I say we follow Xyloto to his hiding place. Are you with me, oh my brothers?"
"Of course-" Jagger began.
"Hallowe'en Jack," the group finished.
Jagger dipped his head. "We will follow you to the ends of this planet and back."
"Mom?" Jack's mother was still standing behind the wall of boys, though they had lowered their defenses, her teeth clenched together and her nails digging into her palms. She stared with wild eyes at Jack before finally giving a curt nod. "I told you I would never let you out of my sight again," she hissed. "So be it. For the love of God, so be it."
"Then it's settled," Xyloto said calmly. "Come with me, everyone. You might want to have your knives out- this could get messy." He began to walk quickly down the hill, and the boys came along after him, Jack's mother bringing up the rear. On their way down the hill, Jagger gave Jack a nudge.
"Child of Bog, you have just like lead us," he said. "You made a decision for our shaika all on your malenky oddy knocky, with no like help from me or the rest of your brothers."
Jack went cold. "I did?"
"Yes," Jagger said, a soft smile playing about his lips. "You did, Child of Bog. You are a like natural leader."
Jack said nothing, running his fingers through his hair so violently that he nearly tore a few strands out.
"Do you know what you're looking at right now?" Xyloto asked his motley ensemble, scuffing a circle of metal on the ground with his feet. To Jack, it looked a lot like a lid of some sort. The boys all shook their heads, but Jack's mother spoke up. "It's a manhole cover, Xyloto. What's the big deal?"
"It's not just any old manhole cover," Xyloto explained. "Look." He knelt down and lifted the cover up, and the boys crowded around to peer down the dark, dank hole. All that was visible in the grainy half-light was a ladder that snaked its way to the unseen ground below.
"Whoa," Dice breathed in shock. "There- there's a ladder under the street!"
"Shut your rot," Sledge grumbled. They backed away and looked up at Xyloto together.
"Care to explain what's down there?" Jack's mother said.
"Later," Xyloto said, checking behind him and beside him with nervous jerks of the head. "The dogs might be coming back here anytime now. Just because the streets are currently quiet doesn't mean that they're all gone."
"They're probably zasnooting," Jack said. "I mean, sleeping. Digesting all the lewdies- I mean, people- that they ate last night."
"Way to bum us the sod out, Child of Bog," Widdy said.
Xyloto held up his hand for silence. "Look, I know this doesn't seem like the best option for escape, but once again, you have to trust me. Come with me, I'll go first." He slid down the manhole and stepped onto the ladder, ducking down to descend it. The boys looked at each other with interested expressions. "Who's gonna go first?" Sledge asked.
"I will," Jagger announced with a flourish, stepping down the hole and onto the ladder. "I am not poogly of anything, oh my brothers!" He soon disappeared from sight, and with a silent shrug, Sledge descended the ladder. "I believe that Jagger is not telling the truth, oh my brothers," he murmured confidentially under his breath to Jack, Widdy, and Dice. "He was quite spoogy of the Diamond Dogs last nochy." Then he too disappeared, and after he was gone Jack was about to volunteer to go down, when a voice blasted him in his head.
We are watching you, Aresian!
Jack whipped his head up and drew his knife, whirling about to locate the hidden Diamond Dogs. "Widdy!" he hissed. "Dice! You need to get underground now, my brothers! The Diamond Dogs are here!"
"The dogs?" Widdy and Dice stated as one, and then the sound of growling filled the air. Jack shoved against Widdy's back, though not too hard. "Yes, the dogs! They're here! OUT OUT OUT!"
Stunned, Widdy shoved himself down the hole. "I don't think you pony what 'out out out' means, Child of Bog! It means-" He disappeared, and Dice took up the speech for him, balancing on the ladder. "It means to run away very skorrily, not to crawl down a hole!"
"Well, you have to crawl down the sodding hole!" Jack snapped. "OUT OUT SODDING OUT!" A second later his mother let out a bloodcurdling scream that caused the hairs on the back of Jack's neck to stand straight up, and with wide eyes, Dice disappeared down the ladder. Jack turned on his heel to find one of the Diamond Dogs clamping their jaws around his mother's shoulder. Flash- Aladdin Sane's soft, ragged voice came back to Jack as clear as day. The Diamond Dogs must have been named for their teeth- those fangs are so sharp they could cut open anything, as unbreakable as diamonds. And his mother, of course, had no Aresian blood in her, and wouldn't heal as Jack would. All of Jack's wits were driven out of him, and he charged forward with a cry. "Let GO of her, you sodding animal! Let GO!"
The Diamond Dogs launched themselves forward as Jack came up to meet them, and as his mother moaned in pain, one dog latched itself onto his leg and tugged him to the ground, right beside the manhole. Jack planted his shoe into its chest, but he wasn't strong enough to drive the animal away. Another dog loped up as Jack managed to tear his pants leg free, ripping a patch of denim off in the first dog's mouth. The second Diamond Dog lunged onto Jack's chest and pinned him down under its sheer weight. Claws shot out of its paws, to Jack's horror. He hadn't known the Diamond Dogs had retractable claws… whatever next? Then the dog angled its head, and though Jack flailed with his Bowie knife, blindly lashing out and trying to jerk away, its teeth still managed to close around his throat. Jack screamed, strangled, and ripped his head out of the Diamond Dog's jaws, rolling and somehow managing to throw it off. "MOM!" The scream turned into a gurgle as Jack began to cough up blood, crawling closer to the manhole. He had to get out… but he couldn't leave without his mother… Then his body dropped and he found himself falling, falling, falling through blackness, until the cement embraced him with a gentle thud and he knew nothing more for a long while.
"Looks like he's waking up."
A moan escaped his lips, and somewhere inside he was surprised at the force of it. He wondered if he could repeat the sound, and tried out of interest, but nothing formed in his throat.
"Can you hear me?" The voice sounded awfully familiar. He stirred and blinked his fuzzy eyes open to find that things were no better than when he had had them closed. The darkness still surrounded him, although it was alleviated a bit with orangey light that brought extensive shadows out to play. Slowly his vision adjusted, and he stared into the eyes of the person kneeling over him.
"Jack." The person was clearly relieved to see Jack awake, but Jack was not content. This person's voice belonged to a man. Even before he could clearly see the man's face, he felt his raised spirits lower. It wasn't her. Where the hell was Kylie…
"Wha- wha', wha' happened?" Jack mumbled, and as he did so his twitching fingers rose to meet the skin of his throat. He pressed down, feeling sticky blood retreating from beneath his touch, and the jagged flaps of skin that were sewing themselves up. Pain radiated out from his wound when he tried to speak, and his sides hurt when he tried to take a breath.
"Lie still," Xyloto said. "You're going to be fine." It was then that Jack noticed the cool touch of a person's hand resting on his forehead. Lifting his eyes a little more, he caught a shadowy sight of a Mercurian bent over him. Every cell in Jack's body was instantly alert, screaming at the unfamiliar sight, but he forced himself to stay calm, lest he offend the Mercurian.
"The Diamond Dogs got you in the throat," a new voice said from somewhere in the shadows beside Jack. Turning his head the slightest bit, Jack could see Mylo sitting beside him, and suddenly felt her warm pressure in his hand. Beyond Mylo was Eva, aiming her unsettling stare at him.
"Good thing you have Martian- I mean, Aresian, blood in you, or you would have died," Mylo said. "You also fell down the manhole- might have bruised your ribs there."
"I've never seen anything like it," Xyloto murmured, examining Jack's wound with straining eyes. "Ziggy never got the chance to show us his healing power, and even when Floyd had the opportunity he never got a chance to do it…"
"My- healing pow'r isn't asstrong asa normal Aresian," Jack slurred. "A Lad- A Lad Insane told me…"
He blinked, searching the room with his eyes. "Where am-" Then a more demanding question answered his brain, and Jack sat bolt upright, scaring the Mercurian away from him. "Where's Mom?!"
Mylo reached for Jack and laid a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "It's all right, Jack. Your mother is alive and well." Jack let his breath leave his lungs in one big whoosh. His mother was alive- that was all that mattered. Of course, it would have been just as relieving to hear about Kylie's current state…
"The Diamond Dogs got her in the shoulder. She's pretty badly wounded," Xyloto said. "But she'll heal. A strong woman, that one." He chuckled once, and Mylo mock-glared at him. "Your mother couldn't have cared less about her wound. All she wanted was to know that you were safe and alive. She's with the Mercurians now. They're treating her wound, but she'll be over shortly, we think."
"Where am I?" Jack asked at last, making an effort to sit up properly. His throat was all that had been hurt- there was no reason to act like an invalid. Besides that, the bruised ribcage, and the torn skin on his leg, Jack had gotten out of the scrape lucky once again. How did these things keep happening?
A smile danced across Xyloto's face. "We are in Mercury City at the moment. Located directly below Hunger City."
Looking around, Jack saw a few misshapen bodies of Mercurians, and several lit candles. The room he was in didn't appear to be heavily furnished, except for a few bedrolls here and there and a dim, square doorway. He wondered what exact kind of building he was in.
"Mercury City?"
"Yes," Mylo said. "The Mercurians built it belowground after the humans came to colonize this planet. It's still somewhat of a work in progress, though, which is why a lot of Mercurians lingered aboveground in Hunger City to eventually drink themselves to death. They left behind manholes and trap doors all over the place as entryways to their underground city."
"And we've known about them ever since we came here because there's a trapdoor ever so conveniently located in our bedroom at home," Xyloto said dryly. He wagged his head in disbelief. "Who knew we'd ever need it for an escape! I tell you, Mylo, there's a reason I'm writing a book on all this. A story this contrived would become an instant bestseller."
"If there were publishing companies on this planet, any story could become a bestseller," Mylo retorted.
Jack sat in silence, listening to Mylo and Xyloto bicker in a friendly way with each other, and felt a sudden tug at his heartstrings. They were such a good couple together, and it made him both miss Kylie (wherever she was) and long for someone to fill the hole in his life that he hadn't been completely aware was there until the day before. Why did he have to die? Jack wondered. Why did it have to be a one-night-stand…
Then a new thought popped into his mind, and he called out. "Xyloto?"
"Yes?"
"Do you know what happened to my dad's album?" Jack asked, knotting his fingers together. "The Rise of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. The record. Do you have it with you?"
"Uh- no, I'm sorry," said Xyloto. "It wasn't our first priority when we were leaving the house, and now that the place is overrun with Diamond Dogs, we can't exactly go back…"
At that moment, a darkly lit figure came crouching through the doorway, moving snakelike away from the Mercurians scattered across the room and making a beeline for Jack. "Oh, Jack!" his mother called out, shuffling her way across the floor to stand over him. She pressed her cool fingers to his forehead, and Jack both shied away from and delighted in the touch.
"Jack, I thought you were going to- when I saw you down here, unconscious, it looked like you were- it looked for sure like the dogs would-" She embraced him tightly. "Oh, I'm just so glad you're alive!"
"Same here," Jack breathed, the air rushing out of his lungs with the force of his mother's one armed hug. "Oof! Uh, Mom… you're hurting me…"
She let go of him instantly. "What? Where does it hurt?"
"My ribs," Jack groaned, rubbing his sides. "It's okay… I think they're just bruised." He blinked in the murky light at his mother, noticing for the first time the bandage on her left shoulder. "Are you okay?"
His mother loosely fingered her bandage, as if she had forgotten it was there. "Oh. Yes, I'm fine. I'm okay." She sat down next to Jack and laid her hand on his shoulder. "It matters more to me that you're all right."
"Are you finding Mercury City to be at your liking, Haushinka?" Xyloto asked. Jack's mother glared coldly at him. "It's all right. I prefer the Manhattan Chase building."
"The what?" Xyloto said, and Jack's mother let out a combination of a snort and a sigh. Jack slowly inched away from her arm and stood up, brushing himself off.
"The Manhattan Chase building," his mother responded to Xyloto in a steely tone, her gaze level with his and her eye flaring. "It's where I live with my son. By myself."
"I think I'll go now," Jack mumbled, making for the door. No one seemed to hear him, but as he passed Eva's watchful eyes, she stood up and followed behind him through the door. Once outside, Jack couldn't stop himself from gasping.
Mercury City was filled with one-story, square houses with holes cut into them that looked a lot like boxes to Jack. Yellow streetlamps burned on every corner, not using electricity, but candles. The ground was smooth and paved, and on the streets was the familiar sight of none other than teenagers on roller skates. Jack caught sight of a familiar face and ran up to join his friends.
"Jagger? Sledge?" They skated past him, grinning goofily. "Widdy? Dice?"
"Child of Bog!" Jagger yelped. "You are alive!" He broke free of the pack and skated to Jack, giving him a friendly bump on the shoulder with his fist.
"But you still have no skates!" Widdy complained. "You need to join in the ultraviolence, oh my brother!"
"The great and powerful Aladdin-" Jack began, and then waited for the boys to catch up with his train of thought. "Aladdin Sane!"
"- never wore roller skates," Jack finished. "If I am truly Bog now, I do not like need them." He felt uneasy about admitting to his friends that he was Bog, because he hadn't truly accepted the role yet. Aladdin Sane's shoes were too big for Jack to fill. But Jagger had told him he was a natural leader…
The boys nodded with the sensibility of this statement, though Jagger didn't seem to relish it. "Even though you are Bog, oh my brother," he said, "you still need to move skorrily when the vonny, grahzny Diamond Dogs attack us." He slowed to a stop and persuaded the rest of the group to follow suit. Soon a large line of teenagers had formed, both male and female (though the boys outnumbered the girls), and all of them staring deferentially up at Jack.
"These are our droogs now, my brother the Child of Bog," Jagger said, sweeping his hand across the line. "These are all the nadsats that lived in Hunger City who have like survived the siege of the Diamond Dogs. Once upon a time, they too were called Diamond Dogs. But now we will not like accept that eemya. We look to you, Child of Bog, brother of ours, and great-"
"Hallowe'en Jack," the mob said as one.
"- to lead us now, to choose a new eemya for us. We are forever under your power." Jagger knelt down to the ground, and together the rest of the teenagers sunk down too. They made the sign that Jack had seen them make before, the one that resembled the sign of the cross and that had been made at Aladdin Sane's concert. He was horribly fascinated, and astonished.
"Brothers!" Jack cried. "Get up on your nogas! You do not have to like kneel for me because I am Bog. Would Aladdin Sane-"
"Aladdin Sane," his worshippers echoed.
"-have wanted this? Please stand up."
Slowly and reluctantly, the teenagers got to their feet. Jack surveyed their faces, impressed by how many of them had managed to survive the dog attack, even if it was only a handful. How many teenagers had been in the city to begin with? Thinking back on the Diamond Dogs' attack, Jack remembered how so many of the teenagers had thrown themselves in front of him to protect the "Child of Bog," and his heart burned. Had he inadvertently caused any deaths? All of these teenagers had been so loyal to him…
"Brothers, and sisters," Jack said, and the group of teenagers hushed up. Jack wanted to groan when he realized why- he was making a speech. But there was nothing to do but continue with it.
"I want to thank you all for protecting me during the Diamond Dogs' attack. Appy polly loggies for not being able to protect you."
"We forgive you, Child of Bog!" one of the boys shouted. Assenting voices were soon added to his declaration. "It was not your like fault that some of us snuffed it! Don't feel baddiwad!"
"I have thought of a new eemya for us," Jack said. He had been kicking the idea around in his brain ever since Aladdin Sane had first told him what the true Diamond Dogs were called. "From this moment on, you will no longer be Diamond Dogs. From now on, you will be called the Nadsats."
There was at first a general mumbling of "that's the best he could come up with?" and "why didn't we think of that?" before Widdy spoke up. "I like it, Child of Bog!"
Soon everyone was agreeing. "All hail the Nadsats! All hail the Child of Bog!"
"And," said Jack, feeling that leaving the group with a new name wasn't enough, "I will be glad to lead you in combat between the terrible Diamond Dogs! We will oobivat each one of them, once and for all!"
This was met with a huge cheer, and the Nadsats rushed forward to praise Jack and touch him in wonderment. Jack finally broke free of the throng after a few minutes and waved goodbye, then walked off by himself to explore his new surroundings.
Shortly, Jack became aware of the sound of feet pattering along after him. He slowed down warily; none of the Nadsats could be following him, because he would hear squeaking skate wheels rather than footsteps. He turned around to find that Eva was coming after him, determination glowing in her brown eyes.
"Can you stop doing that?" Jack asked, stopping in his walk to let her come to his side.
"Doing what?" she asked, smoothing her skirt and biting her lip.
"Oh, it's nothing," Jack sighed. "You're just staring at me a lot, and… it's getting uncomfortable. I'm sorry."
"Oh." Eva looked down at her feet, a red blush slowing approaching her skin. "That- that scene back there… that was very impressive."
"Thanks," Jack mumbled. "You don't think they're going to hate me for it later, do you?"
Eva blinked. "Hate you? Why?"
"Well, in nadsat-talk, the word 'nadsat' means 'teenager…'" Jack rolled his eyes. "I'm horrible at thinking up names, okay?"
"Well, you've never had to do it before," Eva pointed out. She took a few steps forward. "Come walk with me, Jack. I've been wanting to talk to you since yesterday."
Interested, Jack followed Eva, trying to keep up with her long strides. She stared right ahead, her back ramrod straight, seeming to know exactly where she was going, although Jack hadn't gotten the feeling that she had been to Mercury City before. Mercurians huddled and slouched in dark corners beside the squat buildings, and as Jack looked at their inhuman features, trying to accustom himself to them, Eva began to speak in her oddly-accented voice.
"I don't know if you've figured this out already, but Mylo and Xyloto are not my parents, and Kylie's not my blood sister."
"I did figure it out," Jack said. "Kylie told me how old you are."
Eva nodded. "I don't like people to talk about it, or to talk about it myself, really. It's just important that you know who I am."
"Who were your real parents?" Jack asked, having the sneaking suspicion that he would recognize one or more of the names.
Eva ran her fingers through her long, tangled hair. "My father was Pink Floyd, or Floyd Pinkerton, the rock star that Xyloto was talking about who told him about you and your mother. I was seven years old when he died."
"I'm sorry," Jack said. "I… I know how you feel." He wanted to touch Eva to comfort her, but she seemed hardened and closed up, and her hands were clasped tightly together in front of her.
"No, you don't," Eva said. "At least you weren't born yet when Ziggy died. At least he didn't deliberately take himself away from you…" She breathed deeply, trying to keep her voice steady. "My parents dragged me along on some trip to America- that was a country on Earth, we used to live in England-"
"I've heard of it," Jack interjected, wondering now if that was where Eva's accent came from.
"-under the pretense that we were visiting some of my dad's old friends," Eva continued. "The next thing I knew, he had dumped me off with Mylo and Xyloto to go into outer space with my mum. They were trying to bury Ziggy's body, or so Mylo and Xyloto told me… They were headed to Mars. I mean, Ares." She fiddled with her fingers and bit her lip even harder, so that blood began to flow out of it. Jack was alarmed. "Are you all right?" He reached in to take Eva's hand, but she moved them violently away from Jack.
"No," she spat. "No, I'm not all right! What do you expect me to be? When my parents came back to Earth, they told me they were going to kill themselves! Right after I had spent two years wishing they would come back… Who would tell a little girl that?" Eva's voice choked off, and she hastily brushed away the tears that were forming in her eyes. "They went away that morning, and I never saw them again." She stopped walking suddenly and hung her head, pressing her hands to her face and shaking with a suppressed sob. Jack, unable to control himself, reached out and laid a hand on Eva's shoulder, but she shook him off violently and turned away from him. "Don't touch me! I- I c-can't have you t-touch me." She hid her face in her hands as Jack, at a loss, stood by her awkwardly, trying to think of soothing things to say but only about to come up with the eternal, "I'm sorry."
Finally Eva turned back to Jack, her eyes red and swollen. She wiped her damp face and sniffed as she spoke. "I'm sorry, Jack. I get emotional when I talk or even think about them." She gave him a cracked smile. "I didn't mean to tell you all that."
"It's fine," Jack said, and then, aware that he might be treading dangerous waters to set Eva off again, but still wanting to know himself, he asked, "Did your parents know my father? You said that they went all the way to Ares to bury him."
"Yes," Eva said. "I knew him too. Ziggy was actually the first man I ever loved." She laughed. "Imagine that- me at five years old with a crush on a guy in his millions!"
In his millions? Of course Jack had known that Aresians could live for a very long time, but the thought that his father had been at least one millions years old when he had sex with his twenty-year-old at the time mother gave him the creeps. But then again, Aladdin Sane had lived for about the same amount of time, and he had appeared to be no older than his thirties when Jack had met him.
"How did you meet my father?" Jack asked. Eva answered, "My family was the first to meet him when he came to Earth, actually." She began walking again, and Jack picked up the pace. "He landed in our backyard. Well, really my parents' backyard."
Jack raised his eyebrows- there was an addition to the story that Xyloto had forgotten to tell him about. Another question popped into his brain. "Do I remind you of him?"
Eva turned her head and looked down her nose at Jack, and even in the bad lighting Jack was startled by the force and intensity of her eyes. Dark and brown, they seemed almost to belong to another person, not quite matching up with her quiet demeanor. They stared viscerally into Jack, mentally tearing him apart.
"Yes," Eva murmured, her soft-spoken voice contrasting the power of her eyes. "Yes, you do remind me of him a bit. You've got the ears right down pat, and the eyes…" She peered deeper into Jack's, unnerving him with her stare even more. "Goodness, but Ziggy had such lovely eyes! Dark blue on one side, light blue on the other."
"Actually," Jack said, "one of his pupils was permanently dilated, and the other one wasn't."
"Oh." Eva pulled away from Jack. "Well, there goes my vision, then. Good thing I haven't gotten a chance to paint it yet." She giggled. "Mylo and Xyloto have no good photos of Ziggy, and of course I'm not eidetic like you Aresians… it means having a flawless memory," she clarified, seeing Jack's blank expression.
"I'm not eidetic," Jack said. "I can remember things pretty well, but only when I need to."
"Ah, well supposedly Aresians can remember everything that's happened in their life after their birth," Eva said. "I wish I could remember Ziggy better…" She blinked in Jack's face, and then reached out to stroke his cheek. Jack shuddered involuntarily.
"You have his nose," Eva said. "As far as I know, anyway. The cheekbones aren't exactly right, though…"
Jack pulled away. "I thought you said Mylo and Xyloto don't have any good photos of my father."
"Oh, they have good photos, but not for what I want to do with them," Eva said. "I want to paint a portrait just as I've done for all the other members of my family, but none of their photos are suitable for the kind of portrait I want to do. I want to show Ziggy candidly as he was, not posed for some publicity shot or…" She sucked in a breath and looked away, not finishing her sentence.
"I have a photo," Jack began, and started to reach for the knapsack on his back- before realizing that there was no knapsack on his back. He must have left it in the building that he had awoken in. "Never mind for now. Maybe I could model for you- if I look enough like my father, you could just fill in the blanks from your memory."
Eva shook her head. "It doesn't work like that. When I paint a person's face, I have to paint the person that I'm looking at, not someone else, no matter how similar they look. Even if they were identical twins, I'd still notice at least one difference in their expression. My mother has always taught me that every person is different, and when I paint, I can't help but present their uniqueness." She smiled, and Jack was surprised to find how becoming she looked. "Of course, you're welcome to come and sit for your own portrait any time you want. I suppose you're a part of the family now that Kylie is dating you."
"We're not dating," Jack said.
"Oh? Then why did you have sex with her?" Eva countered.
Jack shrugged hopelessly. "It was spur of the moment. Can we not talk about Kylie right now?" Bringing up Kylie had brought up the memories of the last time Jack had seen her, fighting with all her might against the pack of Diamond Dogs that could very well destroy her…
Eva nodded, understanding, and a flash of pain came to her eyes. She changed the subject and turned around to walk the other way with Jack. "There's something I have for you back at the house. Not our house, I mean, but the house that you were treated in a few moments ago." She cocked her head sideways and ran her hands over her skirt again.
"Do you mean a present?" Jack asked.
Eva inclined her head. "I suppose so. When we were fleeing the Diamond Dogs, I grabbed The Rise of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars off of Mylo and Xyloto's bed. I couldn't bear to leave without it, and I thought you might want it too."
"You thought right," Jack murmured, and a smile came to his face. "Thank you very much, Eva."
"You're welcome," she said, smiling back, and then her eyes grew tight around the edges. "I've been listening to that album for so many years now, ever since I was five. I love Ziggy's music, but remembering who he was and what he did upsets me. I mean, he was so bloody beautiful, and brilliant as well… He didn't deserve to die. He could have saved the entire planet Earth with his music, were it not for those three sick bastards of bandmates that he had…" Her hands balled into fists, and her eyes turned murderous. "Your father was loved by so many people, Jack. Including me. I- I wish he could have survived just long enough to meet you… maybe make another album…" She patted Jack's shoulder. "It must be hard for you to have grown up without him."
"Not really," Jack said, and his heart sang with pain. "I've only just started missing him, but how can you miss someone you never knew?" Eva had no response. She and Jack walked along, silently comforting each other for the respective losses of their fathers (and in Eva's case, her mother). Then Eva spoke up again.
"It's incredibly odd to be here with someone who is so closely connected with the man I loved." She looked down at Jack. "Now that I'm older, I've begun to seriously fall in love with Ziggy, or with his memory, anyway. And to have his son here… It's a bit spooky." She laughed softly, chastising. "I'm sorry if that sounded weird. Actually, I'm also sorry for staring at you so much yesterday… I just couldn't believe you existed."
"It's okay," Jack said. He couldn't understand the falling in love with his father part, but the staring part made sense to him. "It's nice to hear from someone else who knew my dad when he was alive."
"Not that I can really tell you much," Eva sighed. "I've got only the fuzziest memories of him in my head. If my dad were still alive, I know he could tell you the most about Ziggy that any of us can. He was very close to Ziggy back then, or so Mylo and Xyloto have said. They even lived in America together for a short while."
She sighed and kicked at the concrete ground. "He never told me he was a musician, did you know that, Jack? My father kept it a secret up until the very last minute. I know Kylie likes his music, and it's been played often in our house, but I've never listened. I've heard it about a thousand times, but I've never listened. I- I just can't think about him, or my mother, without…"
Eva sucked in a deep breath and fell silent. Then she prodded Jack in the side. "What's your favorite song of Ziggy's, Jack?"
"Um…" Jack racked his brains for the song titles. "I liked 'Starman' the best, I think. And 'Memory of A Free Festival.' That was pretty horrorshow." He smiled apologetically for his use of nadsat-talk, and Eva burst out laughing.
"Horrorshow! That's a wonderful word. Kylie's been using it all over the place." Then, with the unpleasant thought of Kylie looming in her mind, Eva said quickly, "Those songs are actually my two favorites of Ziggy's. They're rather hard to listen to now, though."
The talk lapsed as Eva and Jack returned to the main square they had just left several minutes ago. Up ahead, Widdy, Dice, and Jagger were skating in a tight circle, while Sledge stood by smoking a cigarette. The other Nadsats appeared to have fled, and several adults were coming out of the buildings, blinking at their surroundings as if they still hadn't gotten quite used to it yet. Though the majority of humans moved lethargically, one woman froze in place as if she had been zapped with a lightning bolt, and then took off running towards Widdy, Dice, and Jagger in their skating party. "Bryce!" she shouted. "David! BRYCE!"
Widdy and Dice were startled apart and broke out of the skating circle as the woman rushed forward and grabbed Dice, pulling him into her arms. "Oh, Bryce-!" she gasped. "Where have you been all this time?!" Dice struggled to get free at first, but then the woman started crying and he held her in place, murmuring, "It's okay, Mom… It's okay!"
"Where have you been yourself, Aunt Lila?" Widdy asked, his eyes wide with shocked. "We haven't viddied- I mean, seen you in so long!"
Eva and Jack exchanged glances. "Friends of yours?" Eva said.
"Yeah- Widdy and Dice are. I mean, David and Bryce." He watched as the woman let go of Dice, and Widdy came to her side and patted her hand soothingly. Abandoned, Jagger glowered in the shadows, and went off to Sledge's side, whose cool expression remained unchanged. They walked off together.
"It's nice to know that this siege is bringing people back together," Eva said, her voice and spirits lifting the smallest bit.
"It's nice to know that this siege is tearing some of us apart," Jack muttered, sarcasm dripping from his voice. If Widdy and Dice had found their family, why couldn't Jack find Kylie?
When Jack returned to the building he had started out in, he was surprised to see his mother lying asleep on a bedroll on the left side of the room. Her breathing was coming rapidly, and a Mercurian was kneeling over her. Jack broke away from Eva and rushed to his mother's side. "What's wrong with her?"
"It's nothing major," Mylo replied. "She went hysterical and tried to attack Xyloto. We had to give her a sedative." Her voice was filled with contempt- for who, Jack's mother or Xyloto, Jack couldn't tell. He stroked his mother's hair gently, watching her eyelids flutter.
Xyloto grimaced. "You were right, Jack. Haushinka really doesn't like hearing about the past. I should have kept my big old mouth shut…"
"You handled it fine," Mylo said, but her voice was worn out. "We'll just have to deal with this."
Jack turned his head to glance at Mylo and Xyloto, and noticed that Xyloto was holding a leather-bound notebook. "What's that?"
"This?" Xyloto glanced down at his hands. "It's something that your mother, and you, absolutely needs to read. I'll wait until she wakes up to force it on her."
"Xyloto," Mylo said strappingly. "Maybe you should hold back from forcing her and let her decide if she wants to read it."
"What is it?" Jack asked again, but before he could get an answer to his question his mother stirred and moaned on the bedroll beside him, and Eva paused in her walk across the room, holding Jack's father's record out in front of her. Jack leaned over his mother, watching her blink groggy eyes. "Mom? Are you awake?"
"That sedative didn't hold for very long," Xyloto commented. "Must be what comes of having to make our own medicine, though the Mercurians do a great job of it."
"Jack?" Jack's mother reached out her hand to brush his knee. "What…"
"Haus-" Xyloto started to say, but Mylo shushed him. "I don't think you should talk to Haushinka right now, Xyloto. Leave it to us."
"Jack?" His mother struggled to sit up. "Did they give me a drug? Jack!"
"It's okay, Mom," Jack said, taking her hand. He looked back at Mylo and Xyloto. "Did the sedative have alcohol in it, by any chance?"
"No," Mylo said. "Why?"
"No reason," Jack muttered, remembering the way his mother had pounced on and consumed the entire bottle of wine he had brought back from Hunger City. He supposed it was for the better that the sedative wasn't alcoholic.
Jack's mother raised her hand to her head, wincing as she did so, for the hand she used belonged to the arm that the Diamond Dogs had bitten. "Fuck- oh, I'm sorry, Jack," she apologized right away.
"Don't worry about me," Jack said, rolling his eyes mockingly. "I'm aware of that word."
His mother gripped his hand tighter and turned her head to stare accusingly at Mylo and Xyloto. "What are you still doing here?!"
"Calm down," Mylo said softly. She plucked the notebook right out of Xyloto's hands and stood up to move over to Jack's mother. "Haushinka, there's something I think you should read right here."
Jack's mother blinked and narrowed her eyes warily. "Why should I trust you? After you used a drug to knock me out…"
"Who else are you going to trust down here?" Mylo said. "You refused to come with us then, but we need to stick together now." She knelt as Jack's mother tried to sit up and held out the notebook. "You and Jack need to read this right away. It's not exactly relevant to our situation, but it will give you a few insights about the man who fathered your child."
"What is it?" Jack's mother asked right away, while Jack said at the same time, "My father?"
Mylo clutched the book to her chest. "It's an account of Ziggy Stardust's time spent on Earth. A friend of ours- well, Floyd Pinkerton, you know him, Haushinka- gave it to us back on Earth." Jack looked over at Eva questioningly. Of course he knew now that Eva's father and his own father had known each other, but where had the notebook come from?
Mylo continued, as Jack's mother looked on skeptically, "If you want to know more about Jack's father, and about Jack as well, I would suggest you read this right away." She came over and handed the book to Jack, who in turn set it beside his mother, afraid in some way of the potential power it held. His mother stared at the notebook at if it were a dead rat.
"Mylo… Oh God." She briefly put her head in her hands. "Please tell me why this is so important. It's not like learning any more about Ziggy freaking Stardust will help us with… whatever situation we're in now." She frowned and gestured loosely with her right hand. "I've spent years trying to forget the past, as I told you. All I've wanted is to provide a good home for my son and not have to remember everything that happened on Earth all those years ago. I didn't even want to remember there was an Earth to begin with. And now… now you're asking me to go back and think about this man whom I barely had a relationship with, for sake of- what? What is it that you're hoping to gain from my reading this?"
"It's not what I'm going to gain from it," Mylo said softly. "It's what you'll gain from it. The Diamond Dogs, as we know from what Jack's told us, mainly go after those who have Aresian blood in them. Seeing as Ziggy was Aresian, and we're trying to protect the one Aresian left standing, I think it's vital that you try to learn more about them, for your son's sake. His life might be in danger if you don't find out what it is about the Aresians that the Diamond Dogs so hate." Jack knew, and he could tell by a quick sideways glance Mylo gave him that she knew that he knew, that Mylo herself didn't know why the Diamond Dogs hated Aresians, and that the answer was not in the book. She just seemed convinced that in order for Jack's mother to face her demons, she would have to read this notebook.
Jack's mother said nothing for a bit, staring hostilely at Mylo, before snatching the book and climbing to her feet. "I'll read it," she said. "But it won't be because you told me." With that childish statement, she whirled out of the building. Jack watched her go, and then looked back at Eva and Mylo. Mylo sighed and returned to Xyloto's side. "Well, I tried. Happy now?" Eva walked over to Jack as he stood up and thrust the album into Jack's hands. He cradled it as if it were made of gold, unable to keep the smile from lighting up his face.
"There you go," Eva said unceremoniously. "Now, if you'll please trade me something for it…"
Jack instantly went on guard, backing towards the wall to protect his knapsack. "What?"
"I believe you said you had a picture of Ziggy Stardust that could work for a portrait," Eva said hesitantly. Jack relaxed and slipped his knapsack off, letting it fall to the ground. "Here." He rummaged around in the pack before drawing the newspaper article about his father and giving it to Eva. She took it with a concerned expression hovering on her face, which gradually smoothed out at she stared at the photo. Her lips turned up in the faintest of smiles, and her bleak brown eyes began to glow with love before she caught sight of the headline and they dulled immediately, her smile vanishing.
"I think this will do," Eva said. "Goodness, but he was so lovely. Don't you think so, Mylo?"
"He was handsomer than I am," Jack muttered, while Mylo said carefully, "Yes, Eva. Ziggy was quite good-looking, but of course I already have Mr. I'm-Going-To-Write-A-Book-And-No-One-Can-Stop-Me over here." She playfully mussed up Xyloto's hair, though there was a hopeless look in her eye, and Xyloto swatted good-naturedly at her hands.
"What's that you have, Jack?" Mylo said, looking at the album in his hands. "The Rise of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars? Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, her hands flying to her temples. "That reminds me, there's something else I need to give you, Jack." Mylo went over to the corner of the room, and Jack set the album down and watched as she rifled around in her suitcase before emerging with what looked like a dark lump. Coming back towards Jack, Mylo held the lump out and showed him that it was really a leather jacket, with flaps around the neck.
"This is a bomber jacket, circa World War II era," Mylo said. "Oh, I know that won't mean anything to you, but basically this jacket is very old. It belonged to a dear friend of mine and Xyloto's." Her forehead creased in remembrance as she handed the jacket over to Jack, who slipped it on and turned up the flaps automatically. "Fits like a glove." He tried to grin to cheer Mylo up, but the jacket had reminded him of Kylie and her penchant for leather. Besides, it didn't really fit like a glove. The jacket had obviously been designed for someone who had more meat on his bones than Jack did.
"I'm glad you like it," Mylo said, though the sadness hadn't completely drained out of her eyes. "I thought you should have it to prevent any more nasty Diamond Dogs bites on your arms." She turned to Xyloto and sat down next to him, and Jack stood by himself in the middle of the room, wondering what to do and starting to be overcome with thoughts of Kylie. He looked around at Mylo, Xyloto, and Eva's calm faces. How were they not panicking? Why weren't they aching to get back out aboveground like he was? Where could Kylie possibly be?
Shut your rot, Jack, Jack's unsympathetic mind spat at him. No need to like worry so much about this devotchka, even if she was your droog. But that was just it- Kylie had been Jack's best friend. How could he not worry about her?"
"Jack, are you all right?" Eva asked from behind him. He snapped his head towards her to watch as she passed him. Her wide brown eyes bore into him. "You look a bit tense."
Jack grumbled something unintelligible and mindlessly paced the floor. Why wasn't anyone starting a search party for Kylie? Now that he had gotten all settled in to Mercury City, what was he expected to do?
"Jack." Xyloto looked up from the floor where Mylo was preening him. "Is anything wrong?"
Jack burst out with, "Yes, of course something's wrong! My best friend- your daughter- is still missing back in Hunger City, and none of us are doing anything about it? What's wrong with all of you?" He felt himself start to tremble with rage that was slowly slipping over his soul.
"That came on quickly," Xyloto muttered to himself. He stood up and looked Jack in the eye. "Jack, I'm sorry if you feel that we're not doing anything to help you or Kylie. Trust me, I know how you feel. I'm being torn apart without her too. But we simply can't do anything of importance right now. I'm sorry, but it's true. The only reason I could come aboveground this morning was that most of the Diamond Dogs were napping after their wild night. They're going to come back on the streets by tomorrow, Jack, now that there's no one to stop them, and if any of us goes out there we'll be dead."
"But Kylie is still out there," Jack recapitulated stubbornly. "You can't leave your daughter behind like that, Xyloto. You can't leave behind…" He coughed, aware that was he was going to say had the possibility of sounding very sappy. "You can't leave behind the girl I…" No, he couldn't follow through with it. Jack burned with shame and awkwardness as he faced Xyloto, the L-word prominent on his mind.
"I know how you feel," Xyloto repeated, "but there's really nothing we can do. You see those guys?" He swept his hand towards the Mercurians, who were crowded around the ladder that led down from the manhole, their faces turned expectantly upwards. "They're guarding each and every entryway to Mercury City. The dogs know we're down here, of course, but they can't lift the lids because they don't have opposable thumbs. So we're safe down here for as long as it takes for either the siege to end, or the Mercurians to initiate peace talks. They know how to communicate with the Diamond Dogs, you know. It's physically impossible for them to speak our language, but they can talk to the Diamond Dogs because they communicate telepathically."
Where did you learn all of that from? Jack wondered, his anger starting to ebb away. Disgusted, he clung to the anger harshly, because he knew if it slipped away he wouldn't be able to speak about Kylie anymore. "Sure, we're safe under here, but what about the people who are still up there? What if Kylie's alive aboveground and waiting for us?" Jack took a step forward, his anger mounting back to its rightful place. "What if she d- di- what if the Diamond Dogs get her because you refuse to go out and find the person who means the most to you?" He snorted loudly in contempt. "How can she really mean that much to you if you'd rather stay safe than risk your life for her, Xyloto?"
This time, it was Mylo who spoke first, and she gazed gently into Jack's eyes, pain showing in her own. "There's nothing I would love more than to go back to Hunger City and find my daughter again. Honestly, Jack, you're not the only one who's feeling this pain. But we can't allow even the slightest chance of getting killed by the Diamond Dogs. Did it occur to you that this is all that's left of the human race, Jack? The population of this city was greatly reduced after the attack last night. We need to protect and save as many people as we can."
Jack gazed into her eyes coolly before turning away. He went back to the bedroll his mother had lain on and slid his father's album into his knapsack, and then headed out towards the door. He kept a tight grip on his anger the whole way, afraid of letting it go and allowing the lump in his throat to take over. Up ahead in the distance, he could see his mother standing in the doorway of one of the square buildings, holding his father's leather-bound notebook in her hands.
How long can we stay underground? Jack countered Mylo in his imagination. How long can we go before the Diamond Dogs break in, or even worse, until we run out of supplies?
He reached the building and shrugged at his mother's careful greeting, flinging his knapsack down on a bedroll. Then Jack covered his ears and vented all of his rage in the form of a long, shrill scream. If there had been glass in the windows, it would have shattered. His mother, having gotten used to Jack's outbursts, plugged her ears with her fingers.
Fed up with everything, Jack sank to the ground and curled up on the bedroll, staring blankly at the room around him. His mother took her fingers out of her ears. "You know," she said, "I never told you before, but I swear to God you sound so much like Ziggy when you do that."
From Jack's vantage point, he could see Mercurians traveling about outside, blowing out the candles in the streetlights to signal that it was time for the sun to set.
"He used to scream when he came," Jack's mother said, looking out the window as well. "At least that's what I saw." She tapped the notebook in her hands with a pained expression. "Maybe this book will have something to say about that."
After dinner, which was regulated by the Mercurians and consisted of food that had been pilfered from Hunger City, Jack retired to his bedroll to sleep while his mother lay down on her stomach and lit a candle, prepared to read the account of Ziggy Stardust's final days on Earth. He dozed while she strained her eyes in the half-light. Eventually Jack was woken up by the sound of sobbing.
"Mom?" Jack sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes, looking over towards the bedroll where his mother lay, her head bent over the leather-bound notebook and her hands cupping her face. "Mom?" Jack crept towards her on all fours and knelt beside her, stroking her heaving back. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, God, Jack," his mother choked, tears pouring down her face. "How did I not know this?! How did I not know any of this…"
Jack lay down next to his mother and draped an arm around her, waiting until she had stopped crying. He snuck a peek at the book- his mother was on the very last page.
"You need to read this," she murmured when the tears had dried up. "I can't believe I didn't know anything about your father. Read the book, Jack. Read it and weep."
He kissed her salty cheek, took the book, and went back to his bedroll to sleep uneasily the rest of the night.
