Page 85 of Skinwalker's Bane
Devin was again clapping as hard as everyone else. As fiercely. Her eyes stung and she blinked hard to hold back the tears, although there were plenty of people around her crying openly and rubbing their sleeves across their eyes, or wiping their faces…then going back to clapping once more.
* * * * *
Adam felt vaguely uncomfortable standing there listening to people yell and scream abouthim. Although why he should feel that way was a mystery. Skinwalkers loved applause and attention. They thrived on it. It built up their egos, so they could get out there tomorrow and live through the danger…or not.
When had he grown immune to appreciation?
Devin is out there somewhere, he reminded himself. She had ruined this moment, he realized.
No,hehad done that. He’d let himself get close to someone. It was a mistake for skinwalkers to care. Even Haydn had warned him about that. So now he was standing here feeling stupid. What sort of skinwalker was he? Certainly not someone who deserved this acknowledgement, anyway.
The Captain was smart enough to let the cheering die down on its own. She would have been resented if she had tried to curtail it too soon. When it was quiet enough for her to speak over the top of the crowd noise, Zsoka Owens lifted up her hand to quell the last of it.
“There are no Bridge-ordained traditions aboard theEndurance,” she said. “I can onlysuggestand leave the final decision to you. Standing here, looking at these people and the incredible work they have done, I feel compelled to suggest that we should gather here on the Meadoweveryyear, to remember how close we came to losing everything. What doyouthink?”
The overwhelming applause broke out again. Adam grinned. Free drinks, free food…of course they would agree to it.
The Captain nodded, holding up her hands for quiet once more. At the back of the crowd and along the edges, chanting began, drowning out the applause. Adam squinted, trying to see who was doing the chanting and figure out what they were saying. He turned and looked to the left, where the giant screen was showing more detail than he could see with his human-only gaze.
There were people with placards, waving them up and down in time with their chant.
He bent his head to read one of the cards, as it waved about.
Freedom means saying no!
Coldness congealed in his belly.
“What in the stars…!” Gelin Merrit breathed, next to him. “Are they crazy?”
“They’re Cavers,” Maria said, as if that explained it all.
Adam read more of the signs.
The power of the people is stronger than the people in power.
True freedom doesn’t exist!
Respect existence or respect resistance!
The chanting was growing stronger now. He strained to pick out the words, because so far, it was only at the far back of the five thousand people. It took a moment of listening to understand what they were saying.
“Take back the ship! Take back your rights! Take back the ship! Take back your rights…!”
Adam spun back to see what the Captain was doing. Magorian was halfway up the stairs to the stage and she had thrust out her hand toward him, halting him where he was. Magorian didn’t like it. Adam could tell by the scowl and the way he was gripping the stair rail, yet he was staying where he was.
The Captain watched the protesters for a moment. She nodded. “Everyone is entitled to speak their minds,” she said calmly.
Adam caught his breath as isolated boos sounded. They didn’t like that.
“Even here, even today,” Owens insisted. “Everyone has a right to be heard.”
Suddenly, something Devin had said came back to Adam, with a clarity that made his spine ripple. She had been lying against him at the time and he could even smell her hair right now as he remembered it. She had been stroking his chest. She had spoken of talking to anyone and everyone, because that was how she knew what was wrong, what had to change, how to make life better for everyone.
It was an eerie echo of what the Captain was saying right now, except that the Captain was implying that she was listening only because it was required of her. Devinwantedto listen.
His heart squeezed.
Adam found himself pulling back around to watch the big screen. The Cavers were not giving up. Perhaps they had expected resistance, or a swarm of Bridge Guards to wade in and try to get rid of them, only that wasn’t happening. Still, they continued their chanting with ferocious, almost exhalant energy. This was the first time they had been heard by the entire ship all at once. Of course they would grab the opportunity.
