I awake with a start from the dream I don't remember having. The movement sends a jolt of pain through my head, pulsing against my temples. I squeeze my eyes shut again and press my hands firmly against my head, hoping it'd stop the pain. I stay like that until the pain subsides a bit and open my eyes again. Someone leans over to me, their face blurry to me. I blink and wait for my vision to clear. Tess.
"Finally awake, yeah?" she says nervously. "You were out since you came back yesterday. I think you got a concussion. There's a nasty bruise on your forehead."
Carefully, I move my arm to touch it, brushing hair out of the way to drag it across my skin. Sure enough, I feel a big lump on the right side of my head. I don't remember what happened yesterday that could've caused it.
"You told me you were going to Arcadia to do something. Then you came back half-conscious and all beaten up. What did you do there?"
That jogged my memory a bit. The details are still fuzzy…I know they'd come to me eventually. Hoarsely, I answer, "Nothing."
"Nothing?" she repeats skeptically. She opens her mouth again to ask me more questions but chooses against it. She shakes her head and moves out of sight. She comes back with a bottle of water and a piece of bread. "Here. Found the bread yesterday while you were gone. The water I got from an officer."
"What, you finally picked someone's pocket?" I say weakly, trying to lighten the mood. I try sitting up but it sends another wave of pain through me. I wince and Tess motions me to lie back down. I let my arms stretch out down the side of my body and Tess feeds me scraps of bread and sips of water. When I finish, I close my eyes again and start drifting off to sleep.
I remember why I went to Arcadia yesterday. Before we left Lake for the winter, I went to visit my family for the last time. The floorboards are loose with small holes here and there; nothing too bad to patch. I managed to sneak in beneath them and watched them from there. Nothing was changed- everything was the same as it always was. Mom was in the kitchen at that time and John was helping Eden with something he was making. Except, he needed batteries to make it work and there was no way they could spare any Notes to buy him some lousy batteries for something that might not even work.
When we came back a week earlier, I snuck out and checked on them again. Eden was goddy serious about the batteries and John and Mom were trying to talk him out of it. I knew I had to include those in my next delivery to them so I went to Arcadia to loot some.
I managed to do that, all right. And managed to get hit on the head by the store owner in the end. I don't think he'd report me. There wouldn't be a lot for the police to track me by. Tess doesn't know this but I used some of the Notes in our stash to buy some chalk to make my face, arms, and legs completely white. I had an old T-shirt tied around my mouth and nose. My hair was tucked in an old cap I found and threw out on my way back. It wasn't my cleanest theft but at least I got what I wanted and got away with it.
Night's fallen when I wake up again. Tess is asleep beside me, arms wrapped around her body. It's early spring but Lake's winters last longer than other sectors. Slowly, I sit up without much trouble and toss my jacket over here. I'm tempted to crawl to the window and see what's happening down there but don't. I watch Tess sleep instead.
She wakes up suddenly. She sits up, blinking rapidly, noticing me fiddling with my knife. It was the cheapest one on the black market- not the best, but sturdy. Good for cutting food but not good enough for accurate slicing. I notice her looking at me and put my knife away. "Awake?" I ask.
"For now. Thought I shouldn't let you wander off and get hurt again," she says with a small smile. "I should test your memory. Concussions can sort of twist things up there. How old are you?"
"Thirteen."
"Where were you born?"
"Lake." Good thing she's asking me questions I have answers to.
"How did we meet?"
"We met in Nima. I patched up your injuries and you started following me. Then you stuck around."
"Do you remember your name?"
"My name? Yeah. It's-" I cut myself off before I could answer truthfully. Daniel Altan Wing. He's dead, supposedly. I'm not Daniel. Not anymore.
She looks dejected. "I thought that'd work."
"You really want to know my name, kid? You can just give me one," I point out. I tried giving myself names in the past but none of them sounded right. "Yeah, if you had a choice, what'd you call me?"
For a long while, she thinks about it. "Thief," she answers.
"That's not a name. 'Hey, Thief, pass the bread'. Those trots would take both of us down if you ever say that out loud."
"Then, I won't," she says simply. I still don't think she's serious and she smiles. "I'm kidding. I don't know what to call you. Whatever. Water. Cheese. Note. Night. Day. Elector."
She goes on and on, listing words she knows. I know she isn't taking the question seriously anymore and turn to glance out the window from the corner of my eye. I see lights in some of the houses but I can't tell if my family's light was on at this distance. Nighttime made things harder for people to see but daytime meant you were completely vulnerable if you weren't careful. There's no balance. It's just a cycle of light and dark. A cycle of the unknown. A cycle that can let you make things right.
She stops talking and fixes the jacket over her shoulders. An object falls out from the pocket and rolls a few inches from of her. I recognize it as the battery. She reaches for it and examines it. I can tell she doesn't know what it is and she holds it up for me. "Is this what you got yesterday?"
I try nodding but my head protests, sending a fresh wave of pain through me. "Yeah," I say through gritted teeth. "I'll drop it off for them myself."
"Not tonight. Or tomorrow. Wait until you're better, yeah?" she says. I let out a sigh to agree. She urges me to go back to sleep and she lies back down beside me. I think I fall asleep before she does.
A week later, I'm on my feet again and walking around Lake, testing to see if all my limbs are working and if my head is really okay. Tess barely got any sleep while I was recovering so I left her with some food I traded Notes for and water. I left her my jacket too since rain's planning to hit hard and it always bring cold wind with it.
As always, my hair is tucked in my cap, my shirt hidden beneath a sweater I found in the trash bins of Ruby sector. I still have my boots and pants were pants without holes or rips in them. I keep my head low, not making eye contact with the officers patrolling the area, but still apologizing every once in a while when I don't notice someone up ahead and bump into them. I help pick up a woman's basket of vegetables and catch a wad of paper in the air when it flies at me. A kid runs up to me to apologize and get the ball back. I smile and hand it to him, recognizing him as the brother of someone I knew. We took our Trial together and he never came back.
I reach the end of this row of the market and raise my head to figure out where to go to next. I hadn't gone to my family yet- I plan on doing that tonight. I scan the area for officers and see none. Instead, I see someone else, someone familiar. The distance between us is a couple feet- ten, at most. I was so close to him but I know I can't go to him. I want to shout his name and run to him and cause a commotion but I can't. It'd get the officers' attention for sure.
John. He stands at a vendor, picking out something. From where I am, it looks like a bunch of wires and screws and buttons. Then he holds an object up and examines it. A battery. The exact same as the one I got a week earlier.
My heart sinks a bit. I wanted to be the one to deliver something Eden's been wanting for so long but if John is out buying them, that must mean they have a little bit of extra spending money, which is good. If they save enough they can buy good stuff for themselves. I hope the Notes I slipped them last time helped.
I hear the officers' voices behind me. They're a long distance away but I duck into the crowd and slither in between two stalls to get behind them. I crouch, watching the pair shoulder their way through the crowd roughly, bumping shoulders and jostling others. They shout at them to get out of their way. They shrink back reluctantly.
A building blocks my view of them and of John. I stand and examine the building, noticing its exterior was worn from misuse. There are plenty of cracks and dents to make good footholds of them. I look around to make sure no one is watching me and jump, slipping my foot into a low crack. I hoist myself up to the roof in no time, I keep low and watch what happens.
"Hey." The officers approach the stall John is at. The shorter one shoves him to the side and he stumbles, falling to the ground. I push down a surge of anger, resisting from reaching for my slingshot and shooting rocks at them. I tell myself to wait and watch.
The taller officer asks the vendor, "My radio's busted. You got any batteries for this?" he shoves the device at him. The vendor is an elderly man with more white hair than blond. He accepts the device and examines it. Shakily, he puts it back on the table and rummages through his box for a few minutes. He takes out two batteries and hands them to the officer.
"Took you long enough," the officer grumbles. He replaces them, putting the old ones on the table. He clips the device back on to his belt and starts walking away. I'm about to turn away as well when another voice is raised.
"You can't take them without paying," a man yells. He's tall, probably the same age as Mom. He has long hair like the rest of us, tied into a tail. He wears overalls and a greasy shirt. He's barefoot, skin tanned from being in the sun for too long. John turns his head at me and tries to shake his head. The man ignores him. "You want something, you pay for it."
The officers immediately round on him. "What makes you think you can talk to us like that?" the tall one shouts. He has a knife out, ready to strike. The shorter one tries stopping him- he's obviously greener than the rest of them- but the tall one lunges forward. The man braces for him.
"Stop!" John intercepts him. It's not much, just a light shove, but it's enough to make the officer stagger to a halt. He turns and glares at John. I don't like the way he looks. I reach for my slingshot and fit a rock in the rubber band. I aim it on the officer. He raises his arm to strike John and my brother raises his arms to defend himself. I fire.
The rock hits the officer on the head. It's impactful enough to make him drop his arms to clutch the spot that hit him. His partner opens his mouth in surprise and I hit him as well for good measure. Then I reach into my pocket and take out the dust bomb I made while I was down. I toss it. Then I jump over the ledge of the building, land on my feet, and roll with the impact. I grab John's hand and start running.
"Hey, what-" he cuts himself off. I don't know why he didn't question me, just kept running with me. I lead him around the market and toward the lake. Tess and I have a little hiding spot we go to sometimes, underneath a pier, hiding under the shadows so no one would see us. It's as safe as it'll ever be for us.
We collapse onto the sand, breathing hard. John looks at me but I don't look at him, my head facing the other direction. He doesn't say anything for a while. When he does, his words are quiet. "Why did you save me back there?"
There is no way for me to get out of this. I let out a breath and take my cap off. Hair tumbles down from its hiding spot and flows past my shoulders. I turn to look at him. John takes in a sharp breath, his expression turning into a mixture of surprise and relief. "Daniel," he whispers. "I knew it. I knew you were still alive."
We embrace, slap each other on the back. A huge grin is plastered on my face, mirroring his. "You can never get rid of me that easily," I say.
He shakes his head. "I wouldn't ever want to get rid of you. That day…your Trial…you never came back. The officers told us you were sent to a labor camp and that we'd never see you again…Mom and Eden couldn't stop crying for the longest time. I knew…I knew we'd see you again."
"It's…a long story. But I escaped. I'm here now."
"Yes…you should come home," he urges. "Mom and Eden…they'll be so happy to see you again. They-"
I shake my head this time. It hurts so much to say it but I have to, for their sake. "I can't. If those trots find out I'm still alive then anything can happen. Prison. Death. Going back to those goddy labor camps. I can't risk it."
"But…you just risked it today. You…you came to me. Saved me, even. You could've just let me take that officer's blow, and-"
"You're no good to anyone when you're injured, let alone dead. Mom and Eden need you, John. Don't be so stupid. I had to save you because…" my voice falters for a moment. "You're my brother."
For a moment, John looks at me, smiling sadly. "And you're mine. And it hurts to see you like this, living in the streets when you can come home any time you want."
"I'm fine with it. I've been doing this for three years, looking for food and shelter. It's something I'm good at."
"True," he agrees grudgingly. "Out of the three of us, you were always fighting something, or someone. You're smarter out here than you were in school. I'm sure you can survive." He pauses before adding, "I know you can survive."
We sit in silence for a while. I wish I could be with him forever but I know he's itching to go back home and I have to check on Tess. The first raindrops start to fall. I turn to him. "Don't tell Mom and Eden about me," I say quietly. "Keep me a secret. Okay? I'll...I'll still come by to drop off things I find once in a while. Whatever you need, just tell me and I'll get it for you."
"I knew you were the one who dropped off that package during the winter," John murmurs. "Mom bought a new coat for Eden with that money. Thank you."
I nod and reach into my pocket to hand him the batteries. His eyes widen a bit when he recognizes what it is. "Here. I got these for Eden. Tell him to stop fussing over them."
"I will." He takes them and slips them in his pocket. He lets out a breath. "Daniel, I'm not going to ask you how you got these or the stuff you dropped off or the Notes. I know you're not sorry for anything you do and…I guess it can't be avoided. Just be careful, all right? You be the soldier, and I'll be the worker. We'll do this together."
We embrace again. "I'll stop by tonight and see how things are going," I whisper into his ear.
"I'll look forward to it," he whispers back. He pulls away and I tuck my hair into my hat. We slip out from under the pier and start walking back. For him, towards home and Mom and Eden, and for me, towards Tess and our pathetic stash of food and Notes.
You be the soldier and I'll be the worker. I can't help but think this means more than what John thinks he means. I have all these skills and I only use them to steal enough for me and Tess and for my family. I think it's about time for the Republic to know what I'm capable of.
Author's Note: Here's the second shot of the three. Thank you so much for the kind reviews! Feel free to R/R this time around as well. Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: Legend belongs to Marie Lu. I'm just a huge fan of Day and love him to bits.