Awakening - The Last Science #1

Chapter 17 - A Gentleman and a Doctor - IV

  The outer lights of Hector's grocery had just flickered on when Rachel arrived. She hurried inside, where thankfully the shop was devoid of customers. The shelves were beginning to look a little empty, though, as they lost their suppliers one by one due to the closed roads and rails.

  "Hector?" she called.

  "I'm here," came a call from the back room behind the register. Hector bustled out, carrying an armful of bananas. "Oh, hi Rachel."

  "Hi. I'm sorry to drop in unannounced, but I need your help with something."

  "What happened?" he asked in a slight panic.

  She shook her head. "It's not bad, yet." She briefly explained the reports the mayor had been receiving.

  "And you think Julian's doing something?" he asked, setting the bananas down and looking pensive.

  "Has to be. With how the town is right now, we can't afford this sort of widespread chaos. I need to go talk to him, but I don't have anyone to back me up." She glanced around briefly. "I know you're busy, but I'd feel a lot better if I had you with me on this one."

  Hector nodded. Rachel felt a twinge of guilt, but pushed it away. She did need him. "Just let me close down, it'll only take a few minutes."

  "Thanks."

  As promised, only a few minutes later they were already on a swift walk towards the eastern portion of town and away from the rapidly descending sunlight. As they turned a corner, Rachel reached for the connections in her mind and found the one she'd been watching grow bit by bit ever since she'd visited their camp in the morning. There was the line drawing her to Cinza. It was a bold twisting river of emotion, flowing much more fiercely in one direction than the other. Rachel tried not to think about the implications as she grasped it with her will and plucked it like a string.

  The reverberations would flow down the line to the girl. In most cases, it would feel like a chill on one's spine if it even registered at all. Rachel had briefly explained to Cinza how to recognize the signal more clearly, without telling her precisely how it was formed or about the actual connections it relied upon. Cinza would recognize the unique sensation that grabbed at her mind, as Rachel and Will could feel it.

  Rachel hadn't wanted to reveal their secret, but she saw no other way to signal the girl while being totally assured no one would be able to spot it. A text message or call right before the theft would be logged, and Will was no longer the only one watching the phone and internet traffic (having become overwhelmed by the sheer amount). Physical signals could easily be spotted if Rachel was careless, and she simply didn't have the time to spare. So she'd trusted the girl, and Cinza had sworn not to reveal the technique—not even to Ruby.

  "Um, Rachel?" Hector asked, pointing. Rachel looked up, having been lost in thought about the various riots and civil unrest scenarios she'd been researching lately. In front of them was an empty shipping box, casually floating through mid-air without a care in the world, as if gravity was simply no longer a concern.

  That can't be good.

  "What do we do?" he asked.

  "We find Julian," she growled, pulling out her phone and dialing Will. After a few minutes of strain and effort, he was able to get her a more exact location on whomever had cast the ritual. They set off once again.

  Other oddities began to pop up. There was a mailbox that had floated out of its stake in the ground and was hovering across the street like a drifting kite, and a couple more shipping boxes beside. Rachel felt like she was entering some sort of fairytale land, except for the vague unpleasant smell wafting through the air.