The sanctuary still vibrated with the strains of hymns and the shouts of Messengers in trance, but the arrangement of chairs now resembled the epicenter of a bomb blast, suggesting that everyone had fled in a panic. Determined to get the worst over with, Gabi hurried across the room and out through the inner doors, which were now thrown open, so she could hear the roar of a crowd coming from the plaza outside. Even from the vestibule, she could sense the fellows’ fear and confusion, feel their disorientation at being thrust from the womb of union into the bracing light of a winter’s day. Gabi regretted causing their distress, but she had finally met the part of herself that could do, however briefly, and she would treasure that glimpse for the rest of her life. Composing her face into a semblance of calm, she pushed open the outer doors of the temple.
“Gabi!” The shout came from somewhere in the crowd, whose backs were all turned toward her with necks craned to see whatever drama was unfolding across the plaza. One by one, they turned as Mathew shouldered his way through them to grab her up in a hug. “Where have you been? Where did you go?” he shouted, his face red with windburn and emotion. The gold flecks in his eyes blazed down at her, and Gabi was rocked by the quake of fear in his voice. Mathew was never afraid.
He was more than a head taller than she, so Gabi’s face was completely buried in the starched front of his dress shirt as he squeezed her, the small buttons tattooing her cheek. “Mmmfffnnn,” she mumbled through the press of fabric. “Gfffrrrmmee!” Gabi jammed her hands under Mathew’s armpits and was finally able to work free by hitting his most sensitive tickle spots. She knew she should feel bad for worrying her brother, but in his worry, he was breaking their unspoken pact to treat each other as equals. So Gabi was out of his sight for a second. So what?
The crowd had quieted near where she and Mathew stood, and many of the fellows watched them with odd expressions. Mathew noticed the crowd too, and moved so his back shielded Gabi from their probing looks. “Gab, you need to come with me. Now.”
“What? Why?” Was Mathew charged with bringing her before the council? Did he already know what she had done?
“Come on.” Mathew grabbed her wrist and towed her through the crowd as whispers rose up around them. Normally Gabi would have been able to hear every word they uttered, layered one atop another in a complex melody, shaded by feelings only she could decode. But the entire situation was so unfamiliar, so bizarre and out of step with the normal rhythm of life in Alder, that Gabi could barely manage her own careening emotions. It was all she could do to keep up with Mathew’s strides as he hauled her along. Was he really so eager to bring her to justice?
As they broke through the front of the crowd, Gabi saw her father standing by the entrance to the Care Center, surrounded by a cluster of executive councilmembers and a stout security officer in her maroon-and-blue uniform. Officer Katz was in her forties with plump cheeks, carrot-colored hair, and an efficient manner. Her expression, which drew her features together into a florid pinch, made her almost unrecognizable, though not nearly so unrecognizable as the face her father turned to Gabi and Mathew as they approached. It was a face in pieces, though in an instant the look was rearranged into her father’s normal placidity as he strode toward them.
“Thank God, Gabriela, you had us worried sick!” He hugged her and pulled back, frowning. “Where did you go?” So he didn’t know, at least not yet. Gabi’s plan had been to confess the moment she was questioned, but the sooner she admitted to what she had done, the sooner they would take the photo from her.
“I—I got mixed up in the crowd with everyone leaving so fast.”
“Gabriela, you know that when you hear the alarm, you are to remain where you are and wait for your brother or me to find you. Crowds are unpredictable, and in your condition, you could be seriously injured!”
Gabi’s face heated. Her father and Mathew had no idea what she was capable of. She could feel Mathew’s agitation behind her and the weight of something unspoken tightening around them. She looked at her brother over her shoulder and saw that his eyes were not just worried, but red and puffy around the rims.
“Mathew? I’m sorry I worried you, I—”
Mathew shook his head, staring past her at their father.
“It’s not you,” he mumbled, looking young and lost.
“Gabriela,” her father said, grabbing her around the shoulders. “Your grandmother is sick. She had a heart attack when the alarm went off.”
Gabi’s legs gave out, and she sagged against her father as a sucking blackness opened up under her feet. She went down into it, her head growing light and beginning to detach from her body like a helium balloon from a tank. The hatch in the corner of her mind beckoned her toward
