Page 83 of Skinwalker's Bane
Noa nodded. “It’s a sound strategy,” she admitted.
“You said you had two points,” Haydn said.
“The second…that’s Sauber again,” Adam said. “The Bridge didn’t know about Sauber when they announced this festival. He’s smart. Sick, but smart, Haydn. He’ll figure out what Zsoka Owens is going to do just as we did—he probably has already got there. I only figured it out because Devin said it first. He’ll put it together, too. And now we know he’s lining up the Cavers for some sort of political agenda. You really think he’s going to let the Captain try to shape the election without reacting?”
Haydn and Noa both stared at him, frowning. Noa was the first to stir. “You need to talk to Magorian,” she told Haydn. “Soonest you can.”
Haydn reached for the screen.
“No, do it in person,” she said quickly. “Make sure he understands.”
“He’s a politician. He’ll get it,” Haydn said. He was already moving away, out of the bubble, heading for the railing.
Adam let out a breath. “You believe me,” he said.
“I believe you,” Noa told him. “I’ve spent ten years dealing with Cavers. Since Haydn’s father died and their delusions about the Great Cave were killed, everyone has thought they were harmless. I’ve never thought that. I’ve always believed their real nature would reemerge. You’ve just confirmed that for me.” She sighed. “Tomorrow is going to be…interesting.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Devin didn’t have to fight for a taxi to get to the Meadow. The Meadow was on the same latitude as the Table and a quarter of the way around the torus from the Table. It was a good long walk and it would be a nice one. The dayline was just reaching the Meadow, so it would be lovely and warm on the grass next to the fast flowing stream there. At this time of year, the butterflies would be collecting, too.
As she set out for the Meadow, she could see that people were already starting to gather there, even though the formal start to the event was more than an hour away.
She climbed down from the Table, using the rocky path that wound down to the main level of the Palatine, feeling the coolness settle around her as she moved lower. She shivered at the bottom, smelling dampness and green growing things. The difference was significant. Devin would have preferred to stay at home and maybe watch the event on a screen, except the message from the Bridge that had been dropped into her personal mailandher business mail had been specific and direct. No exceptions, no excuses. Everyone to be there, to set the record for the first event when every single person on theEndurancewas gathered in one place and could see everyone else.
There was a kernel of curiosity in the back of her mind, that wanted to see what five thousand people looked like when gathered in one place. It was a tiny voice, all but drowned out by the aching quagmire of thoughts that had been plaguing her since Adam had left the house yesterday morning.
She still wasn’t sure what she had done to provoke such a reaction from him. Her instincts said it wasn’t what she had done, but something that Adam needed to deal with.
Except…except… His departure had been so…final. That was the fear that had been driving her the last thirty hours or so.
Was this, whatever it had been between them, was it over?
All the time Adam had been in her life, these few short weeks, she had convinced herself that she was enjoying being with him in the ill-defined way she had been and that when he finally left, as skinwalkers always did, then she would remember him fondly and have no regrets. It had allowed her to lower her guard. To let him in.
In the minutes after he had left, yesterday, she had been almost sick with the sudden realization that she had been deluding herself. Now he was gone, she knew exactly what she had let herself do.
She had fallen in love with him.
“Now who’s stupid?” she asked herself as she strode through the knee-high grasses, past elegant houses and well-tended gardens. There was a buzz of insects from all directions and the twitter of birds. It was all far too bucolic and pretty to suit her mood.
She had fallen in love with a skinwalker. How could she do that? After getting to know and understand Lincoln and his complete unattachment to anyone or anything, she should have known better. Instead, she had repeated her mistake and this time around, severely deepened it.
As she drew closer to the Meadow, she walked faster, her thoughts matching her pace. No man, no job, no money, no life…no man, no job, no money, no life.
Could anyone have screwed things up as completely as she had?
As she grew closer to the Meadow, she focused on what was happening there. It was hard not to have her attention pulled there.
A huge stage had been erected at the end of the Meadow, right up against the stream, so no one could gather anywhere but in front of it. People were moving about the stage, setting up chairs and sound equipment, while a tight group were tending computer servers on a flat platform next to the stage, looking harried and tense.
One of the large taxi-boats was grounded next to the stage on the other side from the technicians. There were two stretchers fitted across the boat’s sides and a third was being lifted off and carried over to the far left, where more stretchers with patients on them were sitting on temporary stands. Even the sick were here, Devin realized, amazed.
The stretcher closest to the river was an oversized one. She realized with a start that it was Corin Ruska laying on it. He wasn’t moving. His face was sweaty and a medical assistant or doctor was bathing him with a cloth, looking worried.
Devin wondered if Zsoka Owens understood what her push for a quick election might cost. Devin had guessed almost immediately after the announcement that today, apart from being a celebration for the ship, would also be the Captain’s snatch at a quick election, while everyone was feeling happy and positive after the festival.
Devin probably would have done the same thing, in the Captain’s place. She had to call an election soon. Something like this event, the departure from both the Junkyard and the threat of severe holing that had hung over the ship for ten years, was just the thing to shore up confidence in the Captain and win her votes, as long as she tried to have the election held as soon as possible afterward. Devin figured it would be within twenty-four hours and no later than three days from today.
