Caleb Summer's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

By morning the loft felt smaller. Caleb opened the cabinets one by one. Each stood empty. No food. No water past the single bottle they'd shared. Lily sat against the wall, pale, her stomach growling loud in the quiet. Outside, gray coats still swept the street below. Zyane wouldn't reach them for hours. Caleb had a sister to feed and nowhere safe to go. "I can wait," Lily said. She didn't look at him. "I've gone longer." That was the problem. He knew exactly how long the company had made them go. He wasn't letting that happen again. He pulled his hood up and reached for the hidden wall. "Caleb." Her voice stopped him. "They'll see your eyes." She was right. His eyes marked him the same as hers did. He pulled the hood lower and went anyway. The shelves below held old books and dust. Then he saw it on a low table, half buried. A metal model of rings and spinning weights, the kind that showed how planets moved. An idea came fast. The company tracked anything strange. He could give them something strange to chase. He carried the model to a broken window at the far end of the library. He set its rings turning, then wedged it so the weights clicked and rattled against the glass. The noise carried into the street. Flashlights swung toward it. He heard boots run that way. Away from the loft. Away from Lily. Caleb slipped out the loose front door while the coats gathered at the noise. A corner shop stood dark two buildings down. He broke a low pane, climbed through, and grabbed what he could. Bread. Water. Cans. He stuffed them into a bag and ran back the way he'd come. He made it to the loft and bolted the wall. His hands shook. Lily was already tearing into the bread before he set the bag down. "You left," she said between bites. Not angry. Scared for him. "I came back." Then three knocks came at the hidden wall. Slow. Even. Caleb froze. Zyane wasn't due till dawn, and dawn hadn't come. "Caleb." The voice through the wall was flat and sure. "It's me. Open it." He knew that voice from childhood. He slid the wall back. Zyane Sterling stood there, black hair wet, forest-green eyes moving over the room, then over Lily, then over the shaking in Caleb's hands. "You went outside," Zyane said. Not a question. "We had nothing." Zyane set down a heavy medical bag. "They found the shop you hit. I passed two of them on my way in." He looked at Caleb, level and cold. "They're not searching the streets anymore. They're searching this block." The food sat between them. Caleb had fed her. He had also drawn the company to their door.