The Photo
Caden held the photo delicately in his fingers, as if it would disintegrate if he dropped it. The edges had grown yellow and warped from years of humidity, mildew, and finger oil. But Caden didn’t care about the border of the picture, only the person in the center of it.
His dad looked exactly like him, only a few years older. He had the same shaggy blond hair, lanky body, and was even tanned all over, just like Caden. The only difference was his father’s piercing blue eyes, which put Caden’s gray ones to shame. He was wearing a simple white cloth shirt, and behind him was what Caden imagined the heavenly afterlife inside Metl looked like: a mountain of Iltech. It didn’t seem like his dad was using any of it though. The Iltech was piled randomly, as if it were garbage. Caden could even recognize some of it—a computer there, a camera here, a CD there—but there was so much more he had no clue about.
The part that Caden found the strangest was his dad’s expression. He didn’t look happy. If Caden had been around all that Iltech, without any Mothers to hold him back from touching it, he’d be happier than Deber on apple day. But his dad simply looked surprised, eyes wide and brow furrowed, as if he was gazing outside the photograph, confused why Caden was still looking at him after all these years.
When Caden had turned five, Mother Mildred took him aside outdoors, far away from all the other Nobodies. Caden had assumed she was going to lengthen his punishment for touching the spoon. Instead she pulled out the wooden box and photograph from her robes and showed it to him. She told him that when he was dropped off as a baby, this was the only thing that had been left with him. The other Nobodies were usually brought in with nice clothes or money from their old families, which the Mothers held onto for adoption days and emergencies, but all Caden had was this—safely blessed—photograph.
Caden was mesmerized by the photo. Mother Mildred had shown off a camera in religion class a few days prior, so he kind of understood what a “photo” was. But it could’ve been a drawing of his dad made with charcoal and he would’ve loved it just the same.
Mother Mildred had intended only to show Caden the photo for a minute then put it back in the Mothers’ room for safekeeping, but Caden didn’t want to part with it. He held it close, refusing to let it go. Mother Mildred told him he couldn’t keep it; Nobodies weren’t allowed possessions. And even if he tried to hide it, the others would find it and destroy it. The picture may have been safely blessed, but it was still Iltech, and the Nobodies would want it gone.
That was when Caden made a suggestion: what if he slept in the stable? He would be all alone and could hide the photo there so nobody would find it. Mother Mildred laughed at the idea, but Caden was serious. She let him try it, expecting him to give up and come back inside after a night or two. Eight years later Caden was still in the stable.
At first the other children pestered Caden about why he slept outside, and with him never explaining the reason, rumors spread. It was common knowledge that Caden wasn’t a Nobody, so everyone assumed that was it. They didn’t know the truth, that Caden was happy to spend every night in the drafty stable if it meant he could be alone with his dad.
Tonight was the last night. Caden wondered what would happen to his photo after tomorrow. He had to bring it with him. His overalls pockets were deep enough to hide it, and maybe he could find a loose brick somewhere at Mr. Stercus’s house. But if he and Dom had to share a bedroom …
Caden shuddered at the thought. All these years he’d been secretly hoping that his dad would come back for him, that he would take him away to his real family. But now Caden was adopted, forced into a new family, one he could never leave without forfeiting his soul and becoming a criminal. His dad had had thirteen years to show up, but he never did. Now Caden had to admit the truth that he’d been dreading all this time: his dad was either dead, too far away, or just didn’t want anything to do with him.
But Caden knew the last one wasn’t true. His dad had left him one other thing, a short message that showed he did care. Caden flipped the photo over. On the back, written in thick black letters, was a simple but powerful phrase from his father.
“I’ll always love you.”
Suddenly there was a knock. This time it wasn’t hooves.
Caden snapped back to the present. It was probably Dom, coming to get an early start on tomorrow. Caden shoved the photo, glasses, and “mute” button-thing back in the box, but as soon as he turned to put it away, the light from a lantern lit up the stable. Someone walked right in front of his stall.
It was Annika. She was dressed in a nightgown, and her eyes were darting all around. When she saw Caden sitting in the hay, she gave a little jump.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t see you there.”
Caden hoped his face wasn’t giving away that he was desperately trying to hide something. He didn’t know how to act; he’d never had visitors at the stable before. He pushed the box into the hay next to him, hiding the photo out of view.
“It’s fine,” Caden said quickly. Annika shuffled awkwardly.
“I’m sorry for coming out this late. It’s just, I really wanted to say thank you. For earlier today. I wanted to say something at dinner, but it was embarrassing with … with Dom around.”
Caden could sympathize. Whenever he’d been punched, tripped, or tossed into the manure cart by Dom, he’d always just taken it and avoided doing anything that could rile him up again. Caden wanted to commiserate with Annika, but instead his years of being ignored by the Nobodies and talking mostly to animals suddenly showed itself.
“Does Mother Mildred know you’re out here?” he asked, realizing how stupid he sounded only after the words came out. Annika had come to the stable at night to thank him, and all he could talk about was Mother Mildred? He tried to save himself. “I mean, you know. You don’t want to get in trouble or anything.”
“Oh. Yeah. It’s fine,” Annika said, not looking like she minded Caden’s terrible conversation skills. “I asked her if I could come, to make sure you were okay. How are you doing? She said you were fine, but I can’t believe it.”
“Don’t worry. It takes a lot more than that to hurt me,” Caden said, relieved he didn’t sound like an idiot. He pointed to the horses. “I’ve been kicked by these girls more times than I can remember and—”
“What’s that?” Annika asked. She was staring at the haystack. Half of Caden’s photo was sticking out of the wooden box. A jolt of panic ran through Caden. He yanked the photo away and threw his hands behind his back to hide it.
“It’s nothing.”
Annika came closer. “Can I see it?”
“No.”
“Is it a photograph?”
At hearing the word “photograph,” without any fear or hate in her voice, Caden’s worry vanished. Annika was looking at him with wide, curious eyes. No one ever talked about Iltech calmly like that.
“You know about photographs?” he asked. She nodded and half a smile crept up her face.
“My mother used to have them, back at home. Her camera was the reason …” Annika’s eyes darkened. “Well, you know.”
Caden couldn’t believe it. A Nobody was talking to him about Iltech and not running away.
“She had a camera? Like, a real one?”
“Yeah, but she never used it. We mostly looked at old photos. She had a whole box of them, full of photos of people we didn’t know. But we liked looking through them, making up stories about them.”
Caden’s brain was whirring so fast he couldn’t keep up. There were so many questions he wanted to ask. How did the camera work? Where did she find it? But the only question that came out of his mouth was the stupidest one of all.
“How did your mother get caught?”
That’s when Caden saw it, the same look of heartache that all the other Nobodies had whenever he talked about Iltech. Annika’s face went dim and she looked down at the ground. Caden had gone too far, and he knew it. He stood up and held out the photo to her.
“I’m sorry. Don’t worry about it. Here, you can have a look if you want.”
Annika’s face brightened. She set the lantern on the floor, shuffled into the cramped stall, and took Caden’s photo in both hands, examining both the front and back.
“Do you know who it is?” she asked.
“It’s my dad.”
“Oh. Oh wow. But I thought, I mean, everyone says that you’re not a Nobody. That you never knew your parents.”
“It’s true, I don’t know them,” Caden said with a shrug. “All I have is this photo. I don’t even know his name.”
Annika looked at the back of the photo, where the message was written, then handed it to Caden.
“Names aren’t important if there’s love,” she said, sounding more confident than Caden had heard her all evening. He waited for her to say something more, but she didn’t. He decided that meant it was his turn to speak.
“Well, it doesn’t really matter now,” Caden said with a sigh. “Starting tomorrow my dad is Mr. Stercus. And my brother is Dom.”
To his surprise, Annika narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “That’s not true.” She pointed to the photo in Caden’s hands. “That’s your dad, Caden, and he always will be. No matter what they say.”
Caden was taken aback. This did not sound like the same girl who had been thrown around like a sack of potatoes earlier today.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Don’t give up on him.” Her face looked like it was on fire in the dancing glow of the lanterns. “Your dad is going to come back for you someday. Just like my mom is coming back for me.”
Caden had to hold back a laugh. He knew he shouldn’t think this was funny, but what Annika was saying was ridiculous. In the thirteen years Caden had spent at the Home, no one’s parents had ever come back for them. All the Nobodies, Caden included, wished for it, but it had never happened. Nor would it ever happen. Even if their parents were released from wherever they were being held, it didn’t matter; only a pure household could adopt a Nobody. And yet here was Annika, telling Caden that her mother was coming for her with as much conviction as if she were telling him water was wet and Metl was round.
“How do you know?” Caden asked, hiding his skepticism.
“My mom saved me once, and I know she’s going to do it again.”
Before Caden could ask Annika what she meant, she picked up the lantern and stepped outside the stall.
“I have to get back. Thanks again and good luck tomorrow, Caden.”
With that, she was off. Caden watched the lantern bounce toward the Home, and a moment later he was left alone with his fading light and the horses. Mara and Reabon gave gruff snorts, happy the late-night visitor had finally left. Deber nudged Caden’s shoulder. Caden patted her on the head, ruffled her snowy mane, and sat back down in his pile of hay. Figures. Just as he finally made a human friend at the Home, he had to leave.
Caden collapsed into his haystack, hoping sleep would come quickly. The last thing he wanted was to lie awake all night, tortured by thoughts of what tomorrow would bring. He closed his eyes, letting himself be soothed by the rhythm of the horses’ breathing one final time.
Just as Caden felt sleep coming on, the sound of something clanging brought his eyes back open. It wasn’t a sound he heard often in the stable. Scuttling bugs and mice were common enough, but not things that sounded heavy and made of stone.
The clang rang out again. And again. Caden sat up. There was something familiar about the sound. It sounded like …
Caden’s heart stopped. It sounded like the Iltech spoon hitting the floor.
He grabbed his lantern and stood, ready to confront whatever was intruding into the stable. But he didn’t even have to leave his compartment. The intruder walked right up in front of Caden … on seven metal legs.
It was a spider. A metal spider with a spherical body the size of Caden’s head, and legs as long as tree branches. It looked up at him with seven glowing red eyes and twitching mandibles.
“Hello, Caden,” the spider said in a distorted voice. “I am here to inform you that you are going to destroy the world.”