Exciti

Chapter 25 (Adam)

The bed creaked as Adam hurled himself at it. He felt like he could breathe at long last.

He knew that he should be abuzz with nerves, but his body seemed to have used up all its adrenaline and was now crashing. Even Liam splayed himself on the floor next to the bed, brushing away all the mechanical projects and their pieces as he crashed.

The President dismissed them right after dropping the Eclipser bomb on Adam. Dr. Little accompanied them through a tense yet silent TerraFerry ride before he left them at the bottom of the stairs that led to the Key Maker. It was then that he finally spoke to them, instructing Lucy to take the boys home through Adam's closet, which they did with a half-hearted wave to the Key Maker and Berta, then turn right back and go straight to Mercury, which Lucy seemed to ignore at the moment.

She leaned against the closet. "You guys need to do some conditioning exercises, or run, or something. You have the endurance of a fish on dry land." Adam thought her sarcasm was missing its usual sting.

Liam looked at her from the floor, "How is your arm?"

She lifted her eyebrows, half surprised, half amused, "It's fine. I don't think Tony's arm is, though."

Liam closed his eyes and signed to the ceiling, "who cares, he deserved it."

"Speaking of the twins, and their father. What's their deal? " Adam asked from the bed.

Lucy took a second to answer as she slid down the wooden closet door to sit cross-legged on the floor, "About half the people in The Society didn't like it when I became an apprentice."

"Why?" Liam asked, blinking.

She smiled without much mirth. "An apprentice is a prestigious position for young people. Being an antiquarian runs in some families. It is unheard-of for an Excitus to hold it."

"What is the problem with you getting the job?" Adam was baffled.

"You heard them," she shrugged, "Many Antiquarians believe that Exciti are barely the sum of the emotions they had gathered before they awoke. Therefore, we can't be expected to think for ourselves and should never be regarded as equals to humans," she rolled her eyes at Adam and Liam's disgusted expressions, "believe it or not, it used to be a lot worse. The Society has come a long way. Up until five centuries ago, The Society's law stated that second and third circle Exciti were still nothing more than human-made objects to be owned, traded and discarded of."

Adam wrinkled his nose, "They still have a long way to go if you ask me."

Liam signed, looking as thoughtful as one could while splayed on the floor such as he was, "For what it's worth, other than how you look, I can only think of you as your own person." A teasing grin started spreading on his face as he added, "Not that I would dare to tell you otherwise, you tend to hit first then never ask questions later."

She threw a little cog at him from a pile at her feet, a genuine smile on her lips. "Gee, thanks!"

Liam laughed, but flinched anyway.

Her smile melted. "Still, the President was right. I should have handled tonight's events better."

Liam looked like he just tasted something sour as he stared at the ceiling. "It was all the Dawns' fault, she should have known that." He then twisted to look at Lucy, "By the way, what was that cone near her head?"

Adam chipped in, signing and mouthing, "It is called a gramophone. An old record player. Mom has one."

Liam looked at him. "Did she speak through it? She didn't move her lips at all! I had to guess what was said the entire time."