“He wanted to, I could tell, but he told me your mother had information on him that would get him killed. And if he went near you, she would report him.” I sighed. Of course, my mother knew what he was. And maybe, in her own weird way, she was trying to protect me. Dead wishes surfaced. She could have been here with me now.
“I wish he’d tried harder, found a way to see me, at least let me know he was alive,” I said, staring up at the reflective, black ceiling.
“I’m sure he regrets it.” Joseph sounded unsure. “But maybe there was no way to protect his secret and see you.” I folded the thoughts because they were useless to me now. There was always a way. Sometimes it was harder but if you wanted it enough, you just found the answer. If he had given up being a Spider he could have seen me, saved me from Paulo.
I leaned my head on Joseph’s shoulder and remembered the good. “I guess it doesn’t really matter now, does it? Tell me what he was like as a teacher.”
“Passionate, animated, unpredictable… like his daughter,” Joseph said, and I heard his lips pull over his teeth into a smile.
Like me. Could I take that as comfort? I took the similarities between us and used them as a flimsy string bridge. I just hoped it was strong enough to broach the gap between our past and where we were now.
Joseph told me stories of Pelo’s classroom antics, his genuine affection for my father rubbing off on me a little.
“I remember once we were learning about aviation. Rather than just stand in front of us talking, he had us construct paper planes. We had a competition to see which ones could fly the furthest and hit a target.” Joseph bowed his head and laughed. “You know what the target was, Rosa?”
“What?”
“The principal’s open window. I heard when she walked in and found her office full of paper planes he was suspended. But somehow he argued that the knowledge we gained outweighed the mess.” Yep, that sounded like me. In Joseph’s eyes, that was a good thing. In my mind, I wasn’t so sure. Joseph was lucky to have him as a teacher. I missed a lot.
“I’m pretty sure he just charmed his way out of that one, though…” Joseph muttered. Well in that sense, we were nothing alike. I couldn’t charm one of those monkeys out of a tree if I were made of bananas.
When we reached our hovel, Orry was still asleep. I put thoughts of my father aside. The relationship would either grow or wither, one way or another. I just had to resolve to see through the red when I looked at him, to see the flawed man who had made some mistakes but was trying. We had precious little time with our son now. I needed to lap up every image of him, his breath, his half-closed eyes, and the noises he made when he was sleeping, burying them in my heart until they were pressing painfully out of the chambers.
The monkeys drummed the cave wall, the floor, whatever they could find. They shrieked in excitement as Salim threw food and talked to them like they were people. I hung back, half-hiding behind a pillar, watching from a considerable distance. Joseph and Orry liked watching feeding time and exercise time, fascinated by the animals’ behavior. I just thought they were smelly creatures that were slightly more intelligent than rats.
When feeding time was over, Salim caught my eye from the back of the crowd and motioned towards me. “Coders, please, please, I have a gift for your journey.”
I moved slowly, suspiciously, towards him, the seas of monkeys parting as they grabbed their food and searched for a quiet corner to eat without another one stealing it from them. I got to him, Joseph and Orry behind me, and looked up at his dark, freckled face, noticing a black smear on his usually pristine coat. “Shouldn’t you be talking to Gus? He’s the one coordinating the mission.”
“Oh, in due course, young coder, in due course,” he muttered, almost to himself. “Now,” he hopped up and down, “follow me.”
We left Orry with Pietre and Careen, and followed the hopping, skipping former Superior out of the train station.
The world outside was crunchier. The frosted leaves underfoot no longer squelched and caught your foot, they snapped. Salim strode in front of us staring straight ahead with purpose. Joseph grabbed my hand and pulled me along the wide street that bordered the train station. Blasted-out shop windows shone in the filtered sunlight like sharp, angry fangs. I heard a can skittle and twisted my head back. My heartbeat picked up. Salim didn’t react. Joseph scanned the area carefully, but then shrugged and continued to move.
“I’ve been working on something,” Salim shouted back to us as we struggled to keep up, his tall frame expertly picking its way through the debris and shattered glass.
We turned the corner and entered an alley between two tall buildings, dark shadows hung heavily over the overturned trolleys and rubbish cans.
“Where are we going?” I asked, hugging myself against the sudden chill.
“Sh! It’s a gift, a surprise,” Salim said, holding his hand closed over his head like he was grabbing the words from the air.
“Yeah, shh!” Joseph chuckled, elbowing me in the ribs. I laughed loudly, and it was like a thousand netted butterflies escaped my chest and soared into the sky. We were laughing, running, focusing on something fun and exciting. It was such a welcome distraction.
We came out of the alley, and the sun hit me in the eyes like a torch. I lifted my hand to shield them, stepping forward, but my legs were tangled in something and I fell forward. Joseph caught me before my face hit the pavement in a cloud of dirt and dust.
He jerked me up by the elbow and knelt down to untangle my feet from the rope, and rainbow-colored triangles that were attached to them. We both looked at the brightly colored flags in puzzlement and followed the length of it, which lifted from the ground to a low-lying fence. They decorated several fenced-off yards. Colorful signs hung high overhead, pictures of families grinning next to vans and cars. In their pristine, pressed clothes, smiles stretched unnaturally, they were a funny contrast to the peeling edges and faded backgrounds.
“Here we are!” Salim exclaimed suddenly, pushing through a metal gate. He stormed through, instantly swallowed by a garden of rusty cars that looked more like boxes on wheels. I instantly loved them. They looked strong, sturdy, painted in dark colors of green and black. Shiny bars hung across their fronts like big, metal smiles. I searched for the dark Superior and caught a flash of white as he disappeared into the belly of one the giant machines.
Joseph hung back, gawking at all the machinery. I followed Salim and jumped in, the plush seats enveloping me as I slid in next to him.
“Is this the surprise?” I asked, bouncing up and down like a child. He nodded his large, bun-dotted head. He leaned over me and put his hand to the left of the steering wheel, and the whole thing shuddered to life like a bear grumbling out of hibernation. I gasped, grinned, and asked if I could drive.
The door creaked open, and Joseph climbed into the back seat with a thump. He looked apprehensive as Salim showed me the various controls and pedals.
“I managed to find fuel in one of the underground car parks, untouched, already in tanks.” He gestured to the cargo hold of the car where, tightly packed together, were twelve red canisters emitting a strong smell. “I worked out how to start it. The only problem is that I don’t know how to exit the grounds.”
I smirked, pushing down on the accelerator pedal, feeling the engine rev and whir in front of me, just begging to be free. In front of us was a meter-high cyclone wire fence. I eyed the bar protecting the front of the machine, a shine glinting through the rust speckles. He must have guessed because Joseph’s arm was already wrapping tightly around the headrest in front of him, bracing himself.
“Hold on,” I muttered as I released the brake and pushed down hard on the pedal. We sped into the fence. It strained for a second, and it felt like we’d be snapped back towards the other cars like we’d been caught by a rubber band. But the wheels squealed, the car struggled, and soon it was ripping the post from the ground. The fence dragged up the hood and over the front window. I gritted my teeth and kept pushing forward until it lay on the ground behind us, and the car was idling in the street.