Aiden Beaks's Arc

Chapter 2 of 10

The pale woman with black hair came down the stairs of the triangular house. She looked at Aiden, then at the snake curled around his wrist. "You want our machines," she said. "First you meet Junn. He decides if children pass." She pointed up, past the middle level where fat snakes coiled, to the top where the masters lived. Aiden set the snake down and climbed. Junn waited on a woven mat. He was fourteen, thin, with a wide grin. "Sit," he said, patting the floor. "You tamed our guardian. That's amazing. Nobody does that." He poured water into a cup and slid it over. Aiden took it but did not drink. Junn talked fast about the snakes, about the jungle, about how bored he got up here. For a moment Aiden almost relaxed. Then Junn's smile thinned. "Where did you learn it?" he asked. "The calming. Show me your hands." Aiden held still. "I don't know how I did it," he said. It was the truth. Junn leaned close. "Everyone knows something. What's on that drive you carried in?" Aiden's fingers tightened around his father's drive. "Nothing that matters to you." Junn grabbed Aiden's wrist and twisted. Pain shot up Aiden's arm. "Wrong answer," Junn hissed. His friendly voice was gone. "You don't leave this level until I say. Tell me who you calm animals for. Tell me who sent you." He pressed harder. Aiden's knees hit the mat. Junn's grin came back, but cold now. "I can do this all day. Grown men have cried up here." Aiden breathed slow, the way he had breathed at the snake. He felt the warmth stir in his palms. He did not fight the grip. He turned his caught hand and pressed his fingers flat against Junn's arm. The hum spread. Junn froze. His eyes went soft and confused, the same look the guardian snake had worn. His fingers loosened. His shoulders dropped. He sat back on the mat, slow and dazed, as if someone had emptied the anger out of him. "You," Junn mumbled. "What did you do to me." He did not lunge again. He could not seem to remember why he wanted to. Aiden stood and pulled his sore wrist free. "I passed," he said. "You said I meet you first. I met you." He stepped toward the stairs to the masters' rooms above. Junn stayed slumped on the mat, staring at his own quiet hands. Aiden climbed the last steps. He had beaten the inspector, but not with cleverness. He had used the thing inside him again, on a person this time, and it had worked. That frightened him more than Junn had. Ahead lay the masters' machines, the only tools that could crack his father's drive. And now the masters would want to know exactly what he was.