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As shady as Dr. Carl had revealed himself to be, he was a good teacher. By the end of breakfast, I was ‘acceptable’ at proper table manners. He cleared away the plates and brought paper and pens and asked me to write the alphabet.
Jade had taught me and Malik a long time ago, if only so we could read signs and know what shop was what. That didn’t mean I’d ever written anything in my life.
My letters were shaky at best, and I accidentally flipped a few. Then he made me do it again, all the letters facing the right way. Then I did it again. And again.
He only stopped because I crumpled up the paper and threw it in his face, and he agreed to move on to math.
This wasn’t as annoying. I knew the basics of addition and subtraction –any street kid could figure out that much. Multiplication and division weren’t as obvious to me, and it challenged me for the rest of the morning.
He sent me to the den while he prepared lunch. Large windows ran up to the ceiling, bordered with heavy dark red curtains. One wall was floor to ceiling bookshelves, with heavy tomes crammed into every space. The binding on some looked like it was falling apart, and I was scared to touch any of them to find out what they were about.
A large radio stood next to the couch, and I gravitated towards it. Some shops I’d been to had smaller versions, and when I was younger, I would spend hours listening to the music they played. My favorites were the stories they’d occasionally broadcast.
“Do you mind if I turn on the radio?” I called.
“Just don’t break it.”
I rolled my eyes. It was so nice to be believed in. Really.
There were a lot of dials and knobs, and I twisted a few with no effect. When I twisted one and static shot through the speakers, I almost jumped out of my skin. I scrambled to find music, and eventually the static was replaced with violins.
I collapsed onto the couch, heart still pounding. Dr. Carl stood in the doorway, toweling off his hands and shaking his head at me. He left without a word and I sagged into the cushions.
I didn’t mean to fall asleep, but the next thing I knew Dr. Carl shook me awake.
He gave me a history lesson about Wingomia Kingdom and the provinces we lived in while we ate steamed green beans and pork. The only reason I didn’t fall asleep again was because I was eating. I think he planned it that way.
The worst was when he quizzed me on everything he just said when we finished eating. Since I answered almost everything wrong, he went over everything again.
After I finally answered a few of his questions, he sent me back up to bed, and I gratefully let myself fall asleep.
He hadn’t given me any hints yet as to why he wanted my help specifically, and I still didn’t know what he even wanted to do. He ignored any question I asked and switched the subject.
Clearly, this was not going to be legal. Since he hadn’t sent for the guards yet, I could only assume his plans were worse than getting shipped to the air force.
Days went by. He taught me how to write and do math in the morning, discussed the kingdom during lunch, and then sent me to bed for the rest of the afternoon. He gave me books to read after dinner, and with nothing better to do I read them. Slowly. The language in the books was a struggle, sometimes, and I kept having to ask what words meant. He was always willing to explain, though. He seemed to like when I asked questions.
I was getting stronger, too, able to walk without help again. I didn’t have to nap for so long in the afternoon, and my cough was all but gone. I only took medicine at night, now, and the dose was getting smaller and smaller.
That gave me my chance to spy on him. Skipping my afternoon nap, I crept down stairs and peeked into the den, where static had replaced the piano music we’d been listening to. Dr. Carl fiddled with the radio. Then the lights dimmed, or...or something passed in front of the bulb, something that threw a shadow over just the radio.
The static cut out.
Dr. Carl raised the wide end of some kind of funnel to his mouth. “General? Are you there?”
General? He knew someone in the army? Or maybe it was the air force, and he was about to ship me out.
“This is General Jenus. Lord Basil, your report is a week late.”
“Apologies. An opportunity arose I couldn’t pass up.” Dr. Carl glanced up at the ceiling, and I had the feeling I was that opportunity.
Why did the general call him Lord Basil, though? What was going on?
“Does this opportunity involve feeding my people?”
“Indeed, it does. I need a few more days before I can move forward with it, keep your ships out of sight.”
A few more days...until I was healthy again? Was that what he meant?
“What do you expect my men to do out here while we wait?”
“I expect you to follow orders. Or did you want your entire country to collapse on itself?”
“We can’t sit out here forever.”
“I’ll be there in a few days with more provisions. Entertain yourselves until then.”
“You promised us results, Lord Basil—”
“And you’ll get them,” Dr. Carl interrupted. “Have a little patience, general. This plan is decades in the making.”
“We’d better, or you’ll find your next visit will be your last.”
“Yes, yes, threaten all you want. You know I have more power than all of you combined, so do as I say and wait for my signal. Goodbye, general.”
He shut the radio off, and then turned directly to the doorway.
I ducked out of sight.
The lights in the hall had the same problem as the den. A shadow formed on the wall beside me, and when I noticed it, it jumped and everything around me went dark.
I woke up in bed.
Confusion stunned me for several minutes. I had just been spying on Dr. Carl, right? It hadn’t been a dream?
He knocked on my door and let himself in, carrying a tea tray. “Good, you’re awake. I was getting worried you might have relapsed.”
“Who’s General Jenus?” I demanded.
“Beg pardon?”
“I heard you, on the radio.”
He set the tea tray down on the nightstand. “I’ve never been on the radio in my life. Maybe you are relapsing.” He placed the back of his hand against my forehead.
I knocked his hand away. “They called you Lord Basil. Why?”
Dr. Carl frowned. “Ace, it was nothing but a dream. I don’t even know any generals.”
“I’m not making this up.” Maybe I’d made up the shadows jumping at me, but all the rest had to be real.
“I believe you think it’s real,” Dr. Carl said. He poured the tea and handed it to me. “Perhaps I’ll give you a stronger dose tonight.”
“I don’t need more medicine.” The cup burned in my hands, but I clung to the pain, to the certainty that this was real.
Dr. Carl huffed. “I believe I’m the judge of that. Drink your tea. I’m going to start dinner.”
He walked back out, leaving me to sit there with more questions and even fewer answers.
Maybe it really hadn’t been real. I couldn’t explain how I’d gotten to bed, after all. Maybe...maybe I had dreamed the whole thing up. I was worried about whatever Dr. Carl was planning. It would make sense.
It would also make sense if Dr. Carl realized I’d been listening and was pretending it never happened. I’d have to watch him closely and see what else I could find.
Of course, from that point on, Dr. Carl added even more lessons into the day, and I barely had time to think. The etiquette lessons were the worst. Now I had to learn how to properly bow and address people, and anytime I said something he deemed ‘street language’ he slapped the backs of my hands. I figured out pretty fast what he didn’t want me to say, and made myself sound more like him. Any time I corrected myself he’d nod and smile.
He gave no indications that the radio conversation ever happened, and I never caught him doing it again. The incident slipped to the back of my mind, not forgotten, but put aside until I had more information.
My time here was...nice. Living in a house with regular meals, not having to worry about the weather. Not being covered in dirt all the time. There was still the worry about whatever he wanted me for, and I knew I had to leave soon, but it was hard to be worried about that when he taught me math or history, or when he pulled out a map to show our city, Gallen, not even a half a day away from the palace in Chiari.
Five days after I first came down for breakfast, a stray thought passed through my mind.
This was what having a father would have been like.
I dropped the book I was reading.
A father?
“Ace?” he asked, looking up from his own book.
We were both reading in the den together. He had reading glasses perched on the edge of his nose.
I swallowed. “Nothing. Just sleepy, I guess.”
He pulled out a black pocket watch and checked the time. “It’s still a little early, but perhaps you’d best go up to bed.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I think I will. Um, goodnight.” I brought the book with me and took careful steps up the stairs, down the hall, into my room.
A father. Did I really think of him that way? I couldn’t. He was only doing all of this for his own selfish reasons. Whatever he wanted a street rat for, it probably meant bad things for me. No one would care what happened to me, after all. Only other street rats.
I had to get out of here. I was becoming attached.
The thought made my heart sink. The food...and the bed...It was almost worth it to stay just for those.
Almost.
He didn’t go to bed for a few more hours. I dozed while I could, but when his steps passed by my door, I was wide awake. I waited another two hours after that, just to make sure he’d fallen asleep and was going to stay that way. Then I carefully snuck out of my room.
The stairs creaked, so I slid down the banister. The front door was only feet away, but I glanced towards the kitchen. Was I terrible person if I stole food from him? He’d been feeding me for over a week now, plus medicine was never cheap. And he wasn’t asking for money in return.
Then I remembered why I was running away in the middle of the night in the first place and I didn’t feel so bad. I grabbed a sack and stuffed it with bread and salted meats.
Slinging the sack over my shoulder, I bolted for the front door. The locks clicked noisily and the hinges squeaked. I winced and slipped through the smallest gap.
As I shut the door, I saw Dr. Carl sitting in the stairwell, elbows on his knees, fingers laced together in front of his face.
I hesitated, but when he made no move to come after me, I shut the door and ran for it.
The street was unfamiliar. That was pretty impressive since I usually prided myself on knowing every nook and cranny of Gallen.
I kept running for as long as I could, which wasn’t nearly as long as I was used to. I wasn’t at full strength yet, and the sack of food on my back wasn’t the lightest thing in the world. Dr. Carl didn’t seem to be coming after me, so I slowed to a walk.
By dawn, I was ready to pass out. My arms ached from carrying the food. My feet dragged on the sidewalk. I listed from side to side. Worst of all, I still didn’t know where I was. I hadn’t realized this city was so big, or that there was so much of it I hadn’t explored.
I sank down on someone’s front steps, hunched over my knees. It physically hurt to keep my eyes open. Maybe I could get a little bit of sleep here.
It was a terrible idea, bound to go wrong, but before my mind could convince the rest of my body, I was asleep.
A guard shook me awake. I didn’t recognize her, but she recognized me.
“Hey, kid, come on. There are better places to sleep than this,” the guard said. She was smaller than me, with a high-pitched voice. I didn’t think I’d run into her before. If I had, I would have escaped her easily. She was far too small to hope to hold onto me.
But right now, I was exhausted. Running away before Dr. Carl released me had been a bad idea. I doubted I could even make it down the street before passing out again.
She placed a hand against my forehead and frowned. “You’ve got a fever. That explains it. Come on.”
She helped me stand and took the bag of food out of my hand.
“Don’t.” I tried to hang onto it, but I’d reached my limit. The world tilted under me.
“Where in the world did you steal this much food from?” she asked.
Her voice sounded distorted, and her features blurred.
She swore and caught me before I hit the ground. That was the last thing I remembered.