Chapter Fifteen

 

Pandora shoved the last cricket-and-cream-cheese stuffed mushroom into her mouth, the delicious flavors exploding on her tongue. Triana was making homemade tortillas with her handpress on the other side of the counter while going on about the gossip she heard during the night's harvest.

"Lara thinks her idiot child is going to be the next Duro, rattling her gums all night long while the rest of us are trying to work. We do twice what she does because she's always standing with one hand on her hip, saying nothing at all. That oscuraweed don't pick itself, you know."

"Triana...I'm sorry, I have to get back to the Academy."

"I know, Pan," said Triana, looking up from the press. "But it's nice to see you when you get a chance. Being Duro's protégé has come with some nice perks."

Pandora took her plate, washed it off in the sink, and set it in the drying rack. When she turned around, Triana had her arms open.

"Stop by anytime. You're always welcome."

"Thank you."

A host of words got caught in her throat, so Pandora smiled instead of finishing her thought as they hugged. She grabbed her shoulder bag and headed to the front, right as Vasilisa came through the door.

"Pan! Hey, guess what I hit the bullseye three times in a row and Nikolai said I'm the best in class even with only one hand and I know I'm going to—"

"Vasy!"

The shout came from Triana in the kitchen.

"What?" Vasy yelled back.

"Pan has to get back to the Academy. She's on very important business for Duro."

Vasy scrunched up her face. "Then why is she here?"

Pandora grinned. "I wanted to stop by and say hey and hear about your training, but I have to go. I'll have to get the rest next time." She put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "You're getting taller."

"Almost fourteen," said Vasilisa brightly.

Before Pandora could move, Vasilisa threw her arms around her midsection, squeezing her tight.

"I'm glad my brother didn't kill you in training," she said.

"Me too," said Pandora, squeezing her back.

Pandora stepped through the door and instead of climbing down the ladder, leapt outward, using a well-timed Push to halt her descent. An unfamiliar warmth filled her as if she'd been sitting next to a crackling fire, leaving her grinning despite herself.

The journey back to the Academy took her through the main areas of the Pajot. The terraces were filled with workers as they normally were during all hours. To outsiders, the Drops appeared fearsome and crude with their face tattoos and brutal ways, but she'd learned they were industrious and organized as well. The terraces were in constant rotation so there was always work to do: seeding the ground, pulling weeds, harvesting, or preparing the soil for new planting. They'd turned their corner of the Undercity into a bountiful garden. An oasis, even. One of the older ladies with a tattoo of a bird of paradise on her neck gave Pandora a wave, which she returned.

Nearing the processing building—where they cleaned and wrapped the food from the terraces for storage or distribution amongst the clan members and processed the oscuraweed to be turned into drugs that would be sold in the city—she spotted Garret in a silk tracksuit with gold chains around his neck hurrying down the path as if his pants were on fire. He was looking every which way, but she stepped behind a water tank when he glanced back. She'd avoided his gaze for reasons she didn't quite understand at first.

It didn't take an amber to see he was agitated about something. Pandora strode after, preparing to confront him about his behavior until she made the connection. The Mod. Her mother.

Pandora went straight for the processing building, sending out her sapphire radar in all directions looking for the satchel full of explosives. As she circled the building made of corrugated steel and repurposed wooden pallets, she could hear the laughter inside.

She found the satchel on the back side near the generator, which was humming along providing power to the building operations. Carefully unzipping it revealed two bricks of explosives connected to a simple timer. Pandora gave the wiring a quick once-over, confirming there were no dummy leads or quick-fails, before yanking the triggers out of the explosives. The setup wasn't meant to be found. She switched the timer to the off position, zipped it back up, and slung the satchel over her shoulder.

With long strides, she caught up to Garret in the cavern before the maintenance shop. He froze when he saw her approach with the satchel. Pandora grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him against the rocky wall.

"Are you fucking insane?"

His eyes were bloodshot and his lips had a pallor. "I...I had no choice."

"There's always a choice," she said, slamming him against the wall, using her sapphire to hold him tight.

Tears flowed down his cheeks in streaks. "You don’t understand, I have to."

"I understand more than you think," she said, shoving him again. An unrelenting anger rose up in her at the thought of what that explosion would have done.

"You would have killed old men and women, and children."

Visions of Triana and Vasilisa were front and center in her mind. She shook him again because it was the only thing keeping her from grabbing her blades and cutting his throat. Only as she stared at him did she see the devastation in his expression. His cheeks were haunted and gaunt. Garret looked like he'd barely been eating.

"What are you going to do?" he asked in a timid voice.

"I'm deciding that as we speak, so you'd better tell me everything, or I'll drop you into the canyon of ghosts myself."

The relief in his eyes as if that was an acceptable way out of his predicament told her a lot about his state of mind.

"I don't know what to do..."

Pandora grabbed his jaw, made him look into her eyes. He looked like an addict at the end of a two-week bender. "She's giving you drugs of some kind?"

He nodded. "I feel euphoric, never better in my life, and then crushing disappointment until I can get more. It's like her voice is in my head even when I'm not in her shop."

"Fuck. It's called menya. They use it to create child soldiers in other places. Or turn people who would never consider going against their own people otherwise," said Pandora.

"Is this what happened to you?"

She punched him in the shoulder. "No, you baka. I told you already to stay away from the Mod. She's someone I knew from before, but we're not friends." The comment brought bubbles of introspection, but she pushed them down. Pandora lifted the satchel, which brought shame to his face. "See? This is why."

"Who is she? Why is she doing this?"

"Those are questions you'd best leave unanswered."

Garret hung his head. "I don’t know what to do."

"Shut up, I'm thinking."

This was a problem. A big one. She knew what menya did to people. Turned their thoughts inside out until they could do the most awful things just to get more. She thought about leading Garret to a less traveled place and cutting his throat. It was safer than letting him stay free. Maybe even kinder to the kid. Getting off the drug would be brutal. There were too many things that could go wrong if she didn't. He could go back to the Mod, or even worse, betray her. It was the whole reason she'd told the Mod not to use him. But she'd used her own daughter to further the cause. Why would a fresh-faced boy with a knack for mechanics cause even a moment of regret? Killing him was easier and safer. The old her, even a year ago, probably would have done it already without much consideration.

Pandora put a fist around his gold chains and yanked them off, shoving them in her pocket.

"Hey! Those are mine."

"They're going to get you killed if someone ever wonders why you're suddenly flush with cash, buying bottles of Lone Magus at the Onyx, or wasting your money at the pachinko parlors."

"How do you?"

"That's how obvious you are, you idiot. Other people have noticed. It won't take long for someone to start wondering why certain things about the Drops have been leaking to other parties," said Pandora.

Garret turned white. He looked like he might be sick.

"When you start getting urges to return to the Mod for more menya, think of all the things that Duro would do to you with that opal of his. He can slice you up, then put you back together for another round. The pain could go on for weeks, or months."

"But I have to. Elani sends me to the Terreno because I get the best deals."

"Facilitated by your favors?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Tell her that someone threatened you, or that you're afraid of going through the Undercity by yourself. Something, anything, just make sure someone else goes in your place."

"But how? She won't believe me."

"Piss yourself with fear when you tell her."

"Piss myself?"

Pandora put a finger in his chest. "Better than the alternative. If I don't hear that you filled your pants with piss, I'm coming after you."

Garret swallowed as he nodded.

"Now get the fuck out of here and if I hear that you've been back in the Terreno, or any other bullshit, you won't even know that I'm coming. I'll cut your throat in the middle of the night, or catch you on the road to the Terreno."

Before he could speak, she shoved him down the path. He stumbled and glanced back, so she pointed to her black cotton trousers. He hurried away with his head down.

"Fuck," she said, squeezing her hands to fists.

She shouldn't have been surprised, but the last year and a half in the Drops had lulled her to complacency, made her believe that she was in charge of how things would unfold in the Undercity. How foolish she was to believe that after everything that had happened before.

It wasn't that she wasn't still working for the Mod, but she'd thought she could do things her way. There was a way to consolidate the clans under new leadership without mass casualties, but it required a more delicate touch, something the Mod was not known for. Thinking about the overall goal of her mission had her thinking back to Kuma and his offer. Had it not been for the bad luck at Shade's End, they might have been able to push the two clans towards each other. With the peace at its last tattered end, she wasn't sure how to make it happen now, but the Mod's potential sabotage told Pandora that she needed to start thinking about it.

Remembering the satchel of explosives on her shoulder, Pandora hurried towards the Academy. Along the route, she spied a small cave high upon the wall near the ceiling. Using her sapphire, she shimmied up to it and shoved the satchel deep into the hole, hoping that its remoteness would ensure that it wouldn't be found.

With the explosives hidden, she slowed her passage to the Academy, using the time to consider her options. The Mod was clearly running out of patience, which meant that once she learned that the explosives hadn't been detonated, they would try something else. She couldn't tell anyone in the Drops about the attempted sabotage, or risk her own position, but she could get a message to Kuma. Maybe between the two of them they could figure out how to encourage an alliance, or at the very least, how to avoid being played against each other. It was a narrow path that Pandora was treading but she hated the idea of putting her new family at risk when there were better ways forward. The idea that she could be reunited with Kuma made the option even more appealing.