The wellington alternate, p.14
The Wellington Alternate, page 14
Guppies, she stopped at the middle of the journal. All of them look like guppies.
She turned back to the second page. She traced her thumb along the binding of the journal, chewing her lip when she realised that nothing was missing. There was no lost second page. There was no trace of another name aside from her aunt. Did she capture these? Am I going to capture these? She gulped. Her interaction with the Piper had been a handful and for a while she wondered how on earth she was going to sort out a Windsurfer.
She chewed on her nail.
She decided that a Windsurfer was not the best course for the moment. It was far advanced. This was not a metaphor of carrying a floating rock between two hills because if that were the case, she would have been a mushy Caesar salad under a boulder. No. Save it for another time. Going back to yanking Rainfires was not a bad idea. Yep. Nothing wrong with that.
She nodded.
She felt a tug under her thumb when she tried to close the page. Merinette gave a short huh. The tip of her finger covered the mouth of an illustrated guppy. She lifted her hand only to have the page being lifted instead. Stuck. Great. This is just what you need, Meri, she thought as she pushed against the page. That too got stuck when she tried to wrench it out. She hummed a long hmmmm.
Sweat beaded on her brow.
There was chatter from outside her apartment. White noise intermitted with broken and half-baked words. She counted to ten. The doorknob hadn’t rattled when she finished, so she switched her attention back to the page which had sucked in two fingers past the nails. Adding another third finger was like a game of Russian Roulette but she did it anyway thinking that she needed more pressure.
Drops of sweat fell on her desk when she won the game.
What now? she thought. What now? Not now. What now? She tapped her elbow on the desk. Her mind raced. Both feet thumped on the carpet floor as she rubbed the length of her right arm, not stopping even when her skin gave out a maroon glow. She thought of calling her aunt but no. No. No. No. What was she thinking? That was a terrible idea. That was a death sentence. Once Aunt Mandy witnessed that her niece couldn’t rid a Fiction off her, it was bye-bye library, bye-bye scouting duties, and hello to front line duties.
She glanced at her bag at the foot of her bed. Images of Josefina coughing and holding her throat from their time in Miramar burst inside her mind uninvited. Drinking the Raison now or calling her aunt was a death wish either way. The only viable option was for her to stand, place a book over the journal, and try to yank her right hand off the page. She heaved. She pulled. A desk drawer fell off its hinges and crashed to the floor with a bam.
The page was torn off from the journal. Shit. More problems added to the mix. Bet Aunt Mandy will be glad to see a page torn from her journal let alone witness an illustrated guppy gobbling up her niece’s hand.
22
THE ARMING INITIATIVE
The time between panicking inside her bedroom and waiting in a carpark at the Terrace was a blur.
Merinette recalled fragments. She remembered screaming. She remembered grabbing the glass vial, twisting the cap, and stopping. She remembered dialling the first familiar number on her phone. How she ended up picking a spot behind a building while wearing her pyjamas was her body’s business.
It was the isolation or the stillness that stole in any residue of noise that the city currently offered. There was hardly anyone around at half past nine in the evening. The trackway of the local cable car which connected the city to a botanic garden had recently closed for the night and a convenience store down the Terrace Road that led towards the Parliament buildings was burning their light bulbs. The booms from the Cloud Cruiser were distant echoes compared to a cauldron composed of the pop of flickering streetlights, a skittering – almost scratching – noise from business signs, and, lastly, Merinette’s own heaving sound as she tried to wrench her hand off from the paper.
Arissa arrived wearing a mismatched set of a yellow hoodie, an oversized pair of jeans, and a croc paired with a slipper. “I came as soon as I got your message,” she said.
Merinette looked towards the girl. She scrambled to take her phone out. She muttered, “fuck.”
Wrong person. Another cherry mistake piled on top of another.
“Is everything okay?” Arissa said as she raised her hands close to her face. “You sounded like you were in danger. Is – Is everything alright? You’re not hurt, are you?”
“Can you call Josie?” Merinette ordered before she turned and face her friend just as Arissa was about to ask why. “I need her now,” Merinette demanded.
Arissa nodded. “Yes. Yes,” she replied as she dialled in the numbers before walking up to a corner, just out of range from a streetlight overlooking the cable car track. Merinette retreated to a far side of the car park where she slumped herself on a concrete car stop. She pulled the paper off. Nothing. She tried again. She heard Arissa giggle from the corner.
All I wanted was to study. She drew her left hand away from the paper. Both rows of her teeth mashed themselves together as she slammed her affected arm against the cement. She struck the back wall of the car park. She shredded the paper in half before she pounded her arm back-and-forth between the wall and the concrete block. Once. Twice. A fifth time. A tenth. The bruises in her arm pinched. The pain was a welcome sensation compared to the numbness that enveloped her. She would have continued if Arissa had not grabbed her hand and said, “please stop.”
It was best not to take out her anger on Arissa. The girl was confused. She was worried. If anything, Arissa might have expected a surprise scouting mission or a Fiction that had unexpectedly appeared out of nowhere. Not like this. No amount of the surreal was worth witnessing her friend doing self-harm. “I have some water if you’re thirsty,” Arissa said as she finished covering Merinette’s bruises with a torn sleeve from her shirt. “Josie will be here. Don’t worry. I won’t leave you.”
Merinette glanced down at the makeshift bandage. “Sorry,” she said, not bothering to look at her friend.
Arissa gripped Merinette’s wrists. “You don’t have to apologise. It’s not your fault. You didn’t ask to be born as a Collector. No one should be forced to follow a path just because they were gifted with unique talents. Josie told me that’s selfish, but I think there are exceptions.”
Merinette forced a laugh. “I think we should switch places.”
Arissa balled her hands into a fist. “We should,” she exclaimed. “I think we should. I want to become one and you don’t want to become one. A swap. That sounds fair, right?”
Merinette looked at the sparkling blue glare of her friend but said nothing. Instead, and skipping the details of her stealing into her aunt’s safe, she described how she had tried to improve herself by interacting with a more higher-level Fiction. The Rainfires that she had been accustomed to were easy and, after some time, she decided that a new challenge was worth it. Merinette simply had not expected the illustrated guppies to be a threat. She gave a quick laugh. “This is what I get from trying to become a librarian,” she said.
“You’re doing a good – no – a fantastic job with our little recons. It helped your aunt and Josefina a lot, right? I’m sure they will pay back your efforts some way. Josie especially –”
“She is making you a Collector,” Merinette said, cutting through Arissa’s speech. “I should be against this whole thing. The last thing I want this year is to have you as an anomaly, but you know what, I really don’t care. Oh no, you know what, I wish she could make you one now rather than wait till the year ends.”
“Here’s an update,” Arissa said. She brought both hands next to her face. Merinette spotted two black dots in the middle of the girl’s palm. It was not enough for her to consider it as a bonified step to be a Collector. Arissa may as well have put a sharpie on her skin to show off. “I’ll have your back when the time comes,” she said, kissing her palm. “It will grow. Just give me a few weeks and a lot of glass vials. Then I’ll stand toe-and-toe with you and Josie. “Then I’ll help you achieve your goal. Trust me. Once I become one. I’ll give you all the chance to work as a librarian or researcher. Whatever you want, I’ll do the arduous work.”
“Just make sure not to get caught by my aunt,” Merinette said, feeling her mood had improved ever since she arrived at this abandoned carpark in the middle of an urban nowhere.
“Your aunt should be worried that I’ll be their future competitor,” Arissa said with a mousy squeal in her voice.
Merinette pulled her lips back. Leave it, she thought. Let the girl speak her mind. It was the least she could offer in gratitude. She sat in silence letting the cold autumn air cool off the beads of sweat that masked her face. She listened to Arissa’s plan. She nodded when the girl talked about how to take over the position of the capital’s Fiction Collector from the Nadean household. Leave it, she repeated. It had been a long night. The last few months had been lengthy and dreary, and Merinette couldn’t visualise settling down in the months ahead. There was her training, her waving a final goodbye to Josefina, her school graduation, and her succession after her aunt’s resignation.
Now was one of the few instances where she could sit and breathe. Forget the future. Forget the past. She glanced at Arissa who poked the dot on her palm, trying to let it spread around her hand. Let me give you a hand, she wanted to say but the words were cut off by a familiar voice nearby that said, “I have no idea how Mandy tolerates you.”
Merinette stood up. She balled her fist when she saw Josefina walking out of the alley with a finger pressed against her left temple. “Never thought it would only be a day after I had given you the Raison. I expected better. Whatever. If you want to drink it so badly, fine. You were better off telling me instead of stealing from your aunt.”
“I didn’t steal anything,” Merinette insisted.
Josefina shrugged. “And I’m dumb. Sure. Whatever floats your boat, Meri. You got it. Please tell me you managed to bring the Raison with you.”
“I. Got. It.” Merinette replied.
Josefina answered with another twist of her finger against her temple. She pulled back the sleeves of her red hoodie that stretched down over the seams of her skirt. Pillars of steam shot out from her skin. “Least you did something right for once,” she said.
“Can you help Meri out? It looks bad,” Arissa said, lifting Merinette’s affected arm up to her face.
Josefina wanted to laugh. She wrapped an arm around her waist; cupped a hand over mouth and stared at the Cable Car trackway. “You’re lucky Mandy is still in the office. But seriously, Meri? I thought sticking to studies was bad for experience but this … really …how you manage to get a sheet eat your hand.”
Arissa released her grip on Merinette’s arm and walked over to Josefina’s side. “Can you help her though? You are here now, right? I’m sure things will turn out alright once Meri drinks a Raison,” Arissa said as she held on to her best friend’s shoulder.
“This is Merinette we are talking about,” Josefina replied.
Merinette pounded her fist on the block. “I’m no whelp.”
Josefina gave a short laugh. “Then why did this happen?” she said as she leant forwards with both hands on her hips. “Come on, princess. You still think that you’re no whelp after everything that has happened. Bet you still haven’t learnt that ignoring your gifts will end up badly.”
Merinette chewed on her bottom lip. “You can cuss my name. I don’t care. Just look out for me when I drink this.”
“And go through this again? I like to help but if both your hands get gobbled next week then tough luck. I’m not testing your aunt’s patience,” Josefina said.
Arissa shook her friend’s shoulder. “I can be the lookout if you want. I can head out by the street and stop people from entering while you watch over Meri.”
“The princess is hardly looking after herself. Look. Meri. I’ll pull the Fiction off your hand. It’s easy. Well. Maybe not but it’s bloody easier than watching you vomit once you drink it,” Josefina said, offering a hand towards Merinette and added, “give me your hand. We’ll try to find a good place for you to drink the glass vial once the weekend arrives.”
“I want it solved now,” Merinette whispered. She pulled her affected arm against her chest before she took three steps back towards a concrete wall. As much as she hated the girl, Merinette had to admit that Josefina was right. Things were better off if she drank the Raison in some isolated place. An abandoned bunker near the Brooklyn windmill. Her old home at Island Bay. All Merinette needed to do was to wait for four days before Saturday rolled in. Four days before she got the chance to drink the Raison. It was a logical conclusion, but she didn’t want that. “Four days is forever. I want it solved now,” she raised her voice. “My aunt will find out about this, and I am not going to bury my goal just because I took up your advice.”
Josefina shrugged. “And whose fault, is it? Mine?”
Arissa shook her friend. “I’m sure it will be quick. Mandy won’t find out if we do it now.”
“She will still find out if Meri starts puking paint here and now,” Josefina said.
Merinette stomped her legs. “She won’t. If my aunt is in her office, then it’s ages away from where we are now. She’s not going to race all the way uphill in under ten minutes. We can even do it under the trackway.”
Josefina shook her head. “How about you skip school and get some work experience? Proper work experience.”
Merinette scrunched her face. Duty. Work. Responsibility. She was none of that rubbish and, for once, she wondered if she could have avoided her predicament with a little selfishness. Why worry about other’s troubles before my own, she pondered. She opened her mouth but found herself scraping the nails of her left hand against her shoulder blade. Josefina’s logic made sense and, any longer, she would find herself agreeing to it. A single day of hooky was a small price for not having an entire arm devoured. Not now. Not tonight. Merinette was not going to be Josefina’s little pet peeve.
She took a large step to the side.
Her green eyes stared directly towards Josefina and Merinette was in time to catch an unending slur escaping from the bitch’s lips before Merinette pulled the glass vial, peeled the cork, and gulped the Raison in one go.
23
WORD-EATER ADVERTISEMENTS
The Cable Car at the Terrace
Merinette shut her eyes.
She wrapped her left hand around her neck as she forced the golden liquid down her throat. It burned. It was like swallowing molten metal. Hot. Excruciating. She felt as if a blade was pressed against her neck and, without a lick of hesitation, it flayed her skin off in one strike.
Merinette tried to scream but a gurgle was all that came out.
She slammed her head against the concrete wall. She pushed her legs against the parking block, trying desperately to do anything to ease the scraping feeling inside her throat. She added pressure to her neck. She was choking. Both eyes rolled back. Her exposed tongue was a wash of yellow.
Merinette felt someone pull her arm, but she pushed them off before her feet gave way. Her knees struck the cold hard pavement. Her blonde hair acted as a veil over her face as she rolled onto her back. She could hear her name being called. She could hear two girls screaming. She could hear footsteps exacerbated by the growing noise of skittering. The flutter of a wasp’s wing in full volume.
Merinette’s vision swam and between the locks of her sweaty hair, she saw large, bolded neon letters swarming the façade of a nearby building. The ground blackened. It squirmed. There was a bright flash on her periphery. Another flash attracted a swarm of glowing letters to skitter through the cable car tracks. A third sealed the deal.
The next thing she felt was nothing.
Well … that was what she perceived because there nothing left once the flash subsided and her vision returned. The carpark was gone. Arissa and Josefina had disappeared.
Merinette tried to bring her hand to her face but found out that it too had been whisked away amongst the chaos. All she could do was stare at a river of gold. She was in the midst of it, in fact. Its bright golden glow felt viscous. A myriad of bubbles appeared and popped on the surface. They floated out of the river. They rose to a dark enveloping nothingness that loomed above her. It was like she had found herself in the middle of a thick chunky soup that filled her entire line of her sight. There was nothing beyond the banks save for an empty black void.
Merinette tried to think.
She was coughing up Raison in one moment. The next, she was struck waist-deep inside some sort of dream. It was only when her calls to her aunt mimicked gurgles that Merinette found herself splashing and thrashing her way to the banks. She couldn’t see her reflection on the gloopy surface. She couldn’t sense her feet touch the bottom. Her body was gone. She was a floating consciousness with a time limit before being devoured.
Was it a surprise, then, that any panic she felt was slowly dripping from her system? She should have continued thrashing herself to the riverbank but, like the rest of this dream, her vision leant towards the surface. The gaggle of bubbles was deafening. It was inviting. It was alluring and she wondered what it looked like under the river.
One dip. Just one.
Merinette’s vision was centimetres away from the surface when the waters drooped. She leant down again. The river followed suit. Bubbles dispersed into sweeps of dust on her fifth attempt. A concrete wall shimmered into existence on her seventh try.
