She moved quickly, turning so that she was now face-to-face with him. “All that’s going on up there is every type of discrimination imaginable and corruption that reaches from the top of the food chain down to strangle those just managing to grab a few scraps to live on. So, what would you suggest we do differently? Do you really want to go back up there and deal with all that bullshit?”
Cree took a slow, deep breath. He blinked at her and folded wispy arms over his chest.
“I’m not the enemy,” he said. “And you know I appreciate all you’ve done to create this safe space for us, but in the beginning, you said it would be temporary until we figured out a way to exist aboveground with everyone else.”
She had said that. And for a while she’d actually believed it. Now, not so much.
“I’m trying,” she replied and turned away.
Reaching down into the top of her suit she pulled out the key she wore around her neck on a black cord. Using the key to open the door to her office she stepped inside. Knowing that Cree intended to follow her and feeling like she needed a lot of space right now, she turned back to face him but blocked the entrance.
“I know you want to talk about our next steps and I believe it’s time to do so, but not tonight. I’m tired and I need to rest and figure some things out.”
He turned his head slightly, twisting his lips in that way that said he only half believed her. “Did you at least get what you went up there for?”
Ravyn smiled. “I did. And it’s going to bring us big bucks!”
“Big illegal bucks, just like the enforcers collecting their fee from all the establishments aboveground at the first of every month. That’s what brought us down here, Ravyn. All I’m saying is how does this make us any better than them?”
His words stung and Ravyn had to blink back the urge to lash out at him. Cree had been with her at one of the lowest moments of her life. He’d risked his life to save hers and had come out with permanent physical and mental scars. He was like a younger brother to her, one she was responsible for and indebted to, one that was royally pissing her off at this moment.
“It makes us survivors, Cree. That’s all I’ve been able to focus on these past four years, surviving. We’re doing that aren’t we? They don’t know where we are so they can’t steal from us and beat us at their whim. We beat them this time!”
Cree shook his head. “I don’t feel like we beat anybody at anything. I feel like we’re hiding and I’m getting sick of it.”
Then go! She wanted to scream those words, but she couldn’t because if Cree left, Ravyn wasn’t sure what she’d do. All of this—the miles of lodging and community they’d created together to help the displaced citizens of the city—wouldn’t seem like much without him there to help her. Likewise, if anything happened to her, it would be on Cree to keep this place afloat and she wasn’t sure he would. He was her best friend and her partner, and he was partially right.
“Get some sleep, Cree. We’ll talk about this in the morning.”
He nodded. “Yeah, you get some rest too. And tomorrow think about where you’re going to unload that thing because you’re never gonna be able to hide it as long as it glows like that.”
With those words she looked down at her chest to see the shimmering gold light visible through the thick black material of her catsuit. Had it been glowing like that all night? She hadn’t seen it but now she wondered.
“Yeah, I’ll um, I’ll take care of this first thing tomorrow morning.”
When he walked away, Ravyn closed and locked her door. She walked through her office and to another door that opened into her private suite. Her hands were already working the catsuit down past her shoulders and to her waist as she sat on her bed. Lifting one leg at a time she unlaced and removed her tennis shoes, tossing them across the room in the direction of the closet. Once they were off, she pushed the catsuit farther down and then returned her attention to the knife she’d stuck into her sports bra.
The golden light was intense and when she grabbed the handle that humming she’d heard back at the house started once more. This time the sound also vibrated through the knife as she pulled it slowly from between her breasts. Once it was away from her chest the light blinked out and it looked like an old dirty knife again.
“What the hell?”
The words hung in the air as she turned her hand back and forth staring at the front and then the back of the knife.
“Maybe Cree’s right and we need to get out of here, because now we’re both cracking up.” The knife couldn’t be glowing, there were no batteries inside of it, and it wasn’t humming to any rhythm in her head. She was tired and still buzzed from pulling off the robbery.
She stood, walking in just her panties and sports bra over to the dresser where she planned to hide the knife in the secret compartment beneath one of the drawers. But as she pulled the drawer out, she changed her mind. Closing it slowly, she walked back across the room and lifted the pillows at the top of her bed. She slid the knife beneath three of them and then fluffed them before falling back on the bed and folding her hands over her stomach. There she stayed for who knew how long, until her lids became heavy and she thought sleep was going to take her.
But the humming sound persisted and with the humming came a cool breeze. She moved until she had the blankets covering her body and
