Three let his eyes open. He was still on the same mat, staring at the same ceiling. The searing pain from… before, however long ago it had been, was gone now, replaced instead by an low-intensity but widespread ache, as if every muscle in his body had been bruised or strained in some way. He shifted and felt his elbow bump something that sent a jolt of pain through his ribcage on the left side, forcing a reflexive inhale. Glancing down, he noticed a clear tube inserted between his ribs. A long hose, snaking away. Before he could follow it, he realized the singing had stopped.
His eyes instinctively flicked to the corner of the room, and he saw her there. For a moment, she was Cass. But then, no, taller, lighter hair, fairer skin. Blue-eyed, blue as a glacier. She didn’t approach.
“I’m sorry, did I wake you?”
Three swallowed, and realized his mouth was painfully dry. He settled for shaking his head.
“Do you think you could take some water?”
He nodded. The woman dipped her head slightly and disappeared. A few moments later she returned holding a small blue bowl. She set it on the floor beside Three, and knelt. He curled himself up, clenching his jaw against the onslaught of his senses, forced himself through the discomfort and disorientation. The woman seemed surprised, and as he raised himself to a sort of hunched sitting position, he realized she’d intended to lift his head to help him drink. After a moment, she just handed him the bowl.
“Thank you,” he choked out, surprised by the hollow sound of his voice, like the wind through rusting beams. He raised the bowl to his lips and sipped tentatively. The water was cool with hints of mint and citrus, and though his body screamed for him to drain it all in one breath, he forced himself to take it slow. Testing. A little bit at a time. The woman watched intently, hesitant. Or expectant. Maybe she was waiting to see if he’d collapse backwards. He wouldn’t.
As he sipped the water, he traced the tube from his side, followed it to where it punched through some rubbery membrane down into a jar half-filled with water. The end of the tube was submerged. He watched as the hint of a bubble bulged, released, and floated to the surface. The woman followed his gaze, anticipated the question.
“Your lungs collapsed,” she said. “But they seem to be stabilizing. Chapel thinks we should be able to pull the tube out tomorrow, maybe.”
Three meant to respond, but only an exhale escaped, and even that seemed to take more effort than he’d expected. He closed his eyes and took another sip of water.
“Shall I bring your son?”
It took a moment to process. Wren, of course. Three didn’t have the energy to explain. He nodded. At least, he felt like he did. There was no telling how perceptible the movement had actually been. He heard her rustle, and knew she was standing. Three opened his eyes in time to see her slipping out. Almost floating. She had an easy grace in her movement that made him think of silk and falling snow.
Gravity seemed to have tripled since Three last noticed it. His body started to sink slowly back to the floor, but he refused its motion. Instead, he turned, slowly, painfully, until his back was against the wall, and crossed his leaden legs. It wasn’t even slightly comfortable. He sipped the water again, longer this time. Two, three swallows. The room was smaller than it had first seemed. Long enough for him to lie down, but not much longer. And not as wide. Wooden walls, wooden floor. Simple, but well-fashioned, and well-maintained. A craftsman’s work. He noticed as well the door was on a track, with neatly-hidden rollers that kept it nearly flush to the wall when opened. Clean, efficient, space-saving.
Three’s gradual evaluation was interrupted by Wren’s sudden appearance. The boy slipped in quietly and stayed close to the door, in the corner. Like a child expecting punishment. Or at a funeral. His eyes were wide, expectant. Hopeful. But far too heavy for a boy his age. The woman did not return with him.
The two waited in brief silence, neither knowing what to say, or if anything should even be said at all. Finally, Three motioned with his head to the space next to him on the mat. Wren slipped over and sat down with him, and for a time they just sat together in the dusky gloom. Three offered his bowl of water to Wren, but Wren shook his head. Three nodded, and sipped again, and struggled to find the words. But it was the boy who broke the silence.
“They thought you were dead,” he said. “At first, I mean.”
Three grunted. “Not too far wrong, I’d guess.”
Wren looked down at his hands, tugged on the fingertips of one with the other.
“How long has it been?”
“Five days, I think.”
“And they’ve been taking care of us?”
Wren nodded, and looked up at Three with unexpectedly bright eyes. “They have tomatoes.”
An odd detail, and a surprising one. “Real ones?”
Wren nodded again. “And some green things too, but they don’t taste very good.”
An underground farm, perhaps. Could explain the small room, the use of the lantern. But no, they’d need UV lights. That would mean generators, electric light. Three took another swallow of water. Still about half the bowl left.
“What happened?” Three asked. “When they came? The last I remembered, the Weir were…”
He trailed off, unsure of Wren’s state, suddenly concerned of waking memories that might have been best unmentioned. But while Wren dropped his gaze back to his own hands, he answered readily.
“The Weir ran away.”
“What do you mean, ‘ran away’? They didn’t follow us?”
“Oh, no they found us, but they ran away.”
“Was there a fight?”
“No,” Wren shrugged, but answered matter-of-factly, as if it was no big deal. “I think the angels scared them.”
“Who are the angels, Wren?”
“Lil. And Mister Carter. And Mister Chapel, I guess. They’re not really angels, I don’t think. But they can look like them. When they want to.”
Three’s mind swirled, still off-balance from the damage he’d suffered, the time he’d been under. He drank more deeply. Steadied himself. Ravenously hungry, but daunted by the idea of trying to stand. Real tomatoes. That would be something.
Angels. Something else entirely.
Twenty-Five
Three jerked awake, not realizing he’d nodded off. The bowl sat in his lap, empty now of its water. Wren hadn’t moved, just sat motionless, hugging his knees and staring at the wall, sea-green eyes dull and unfocused, somewhere far away. Three stretched his legs out in front of him. The motion drew Wren’s attention back to reality.
“Think I dozed off,” Three said. Wren nodded. “You hungry?”
Wren nodded again. Three looked again at the tube inserted in his chest, and wondered what would happen if he stood. He’d never had a collapsed lung before, let alone two. His list of injury firsts was growing ever shorter. “Well. Why don’t we see what we can find, huh?”
Three reached out tentatively and took hold of the jar of water that held the other end of his chest-tube, moved it gingerly as if just touching it might somehow reignite the pain. He lifted it and brought it closer. Another bubble had just begun to form. Like a bead of glass. It made sense. Pressure from his chest cavity forced air through the tube, relieving the strain on his lungs and enabling them to re-inflate. The water jar acted as a cheap one-way valve, letting pressure out, but not allowing any back in. Clever. Three couldn’t help but wonder if he ever would’ve thought of that on his own.