Chapter 32: The Penguin

“That’s right!” I exclaimed. 

“Uh, Cal?” he said nervously. 

“What?” 

“You look like a hobo.” 

***

“Oh, and did you know that penguins in a nesting colony keep their neighbours at a very precise distance? Not close enough that the neighbour’s can flirt with their mate, but also not far enough that they don’t feel the security in numbers,” Charlie said, beaming. 

His facts, although somewhat interesting, had gotten on my nerves minutes ago. The rest of the group seemed to share my woes too. Samara chewed on her nails, Yusuf kept uncharacteristically quiet, John helped Nea walk by offering his shoulder. The task of mule fell on him as soon as he woke up. The irony in the cargo becoming the carrier amused me enough to not think about the never ending facts, in the beginning at least.

He always was a yapper, this one. “How far do we have to go?” I asked, still smiling like you do to children. 

He smiled back. “Not far at all! It’s just around the bend. Oh! And did you know that the emperor penguin actually breeds in the coldest climate out of all birds? How crazy is that? My pe-” 

I pressed my hand against his mouth before he could continue. “Right. I think that’s enough about that thought for now.” 

His eyes sank, shoulders slumped. He kicked at the ground and tugged at his bangs. He did all he could to look like a dejected cartoon character. 

I scratched my neck and cleared my throat. “Everyone else doing okay?” 

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I suppose. Joanna’s taking good care of us. There’s this guy from the church with us too.” 

I bit off a groan before it could escape. Outsiders. 

I trusted Joanna’s eye for people. But I trusted my own eyes too, and look how that turned out. 

“A priest?” I asked. 

He skipped over a crack in the paved street. “Uhm. No. I think he was just helping out or something. Like you back home, kinda.” He kicked at a piece of gravel, it bounced across the street and sent high pitched echoes bouncing along the walls. 

I held his shoulder. “Careful. What if anyone hears?” 

He threw a confused look my way before trotting along. “So?”  

“What would you do if a stumbler crept up on you?” 

“A stumbler?” 

Samara interrupted. “You don’t have stumblers here?”

“How should I know if I don’t know what it is...” he said and sulked. 

I jabbed her in the love handles, not that she had any. She was nothing but lean muscle, bones, and big ol’ wild head of hair. “She’s just tired, don’t pay her any mind.” I smiled. Charlie looked at her suspiciously. 

“So,” I coughed, ”there are no bad guys around?” 

“Oh no there are. They just generally stay away from us. Joanna got this kick-ass blessing you see. But we’re not allowed to talk about it.” He punched at the air and nimbly stepped over another crack. 

“Did you get a blessing as well?”

“Of course!” His smile returned, wide and innocent as ever. “It’s super cool! Though not very useful… That’s why I’m mostly sent on supply runs where nothing happens.” 

I plucked a thread and made it corporeal, waving it in front of his eyes. “What can you do?” His eyes grew wide as the luminescent blue string landed in his cupped hands. It wriggled like a fish, attempting to escape his grip. He giggled and nimbly moved maneuvered his fingers to not let it fall out. 

I smiled, his boyish charm made all slights and penguin facts slide off me like they hadn’t been forced upon me in the first place. “You like that? That’s a piece of the veil,” I said and gestured grandly at the air. 

If he was a cartoon character, this would be the point where he had stars as eyes. “Woah… That’s so cool! All I can do is speak to animals… I wish I could do magic too…” 

I nodded in understanding. The only animals I’d seen since coming here were the rats in the hags haunted house. I’m sure it would be more than useful back home, or up on the surface, where there were probably animals and stuff. “Do you have anyone who can heal?” I asked. 

My face had grown pale from the walk. The dripping wounds didn’t bleed a lot, but it added up quickly when you had more than one. They would need stitching if I was to get better. Nea wasn’t faring very well either. The only one who’d actually recovered a bit from our short journey was Yusuf. 

He hopped to another tile. “Yup! They helped me when I broke my leg once.” 

“You broke your leg?” 

He nodded. “When we first got here I was all alone on a roof, I slipped and fell. It hurt for a while, until Joanna found me and brought me back.” 

“Why weren’t you with the others?” 

“I left them for a short while, I wanted to show Adam the water gun I bought… but it was in my room. Then when I was swallowed by the rupture I just ended up there.” 

My heart almost stopped. “Did anyone else get separated?” 

He shook his head vigorously. “Nope. At least they weren’t as far away as me. I was the last to be found.” 

Thank God. Or Joanna. I didn’t want to admit it, but the little shits were charming enough to miss. 

I ruffled his hair. “You did well to hold on.” 

He grinned from ear to ear. “Thanks!” 

We rounded the corner and entered a large plaza, not much unlike the one where I’d first seen the horde of stumblers. But instead of having its middle adorned with a fountain there was an amphitheater surrounded by huge pillars of volcanic rock and a half-circle of elevated seats. Archways behind the stage led to a building of some kind. Probably a place where the bigwigs had meetings and stuff before announcing to the public that they were increasing taxes.  

Two teens approached, neither of them were children that I knew, but they weren’t much older either. The apparent leader of them had barely entered puberty, that much was evident from the thin and ugly moustache he so proudly kept on his upper lip. ”Charlie?” he asked, spear pointed at the rest of us. 

“Samuel! I found some friends.” Charlie twittered. “This is Cal, he’s Joanna’s friend..” 

The young man let his eyes linger on me, they trailed up and down but lingered at the sight of my charred hand. “And the rest?” 

“His friends!”

“Acquaintances,” I interjected. 

A synchronised groan escaped the group. I glanced at them and shrugged. We weren’t friends. Well Yusuf kind of was, but the others made it clear time and time again that they wanted to keep me at a distance. I don’t know what made them change their stance all of a sudden. Well apart from the prospect of gaining entry to a seemingly protected place. 

Samuel looked them over with suspicion. “Wait here,” he ordered and let his eyes linger on me for an extra moment. 

The amphitheater was abuzz with movement. I recognised a few of the kids playing tag as the ones I had helped rear with Joanna. Grown ups of all different shapes and sizes lazed around like nothing had ever gone wrong. Like this was just a vacation. A little mishap. 

“Eerie place,” Samara whispered, loud enough that we all could hear her. 

Charlie spun to her. “Why?” 

She smiled awkwardly. “Everyone seems so… relaxed. Not the time nor place for that, I’m afraid.” 

Charlie tugged at his bangs in thought. “Mhm?” 

I cleared my throat. “Don’t you run into bad people?” 

“Nope. We just help out whenever it’s absolutely necessary, the grown-ups don’t really talk about what’s going on much. It’s irritating sometimes, but I don’t mind. As long as we don’t have to go back to school.” 

The school he referred to was like a small town in itself. It was a highly guarded boarding school where rich pricks left their kids so that they could travel and do whatever rich people did. The kids were alright though, they came by the church every now and then. Some even helped me out on the weekends. “Don’t you like the school? Must be fun to live with your friends.” 

“Why should I? They make us read old stupid books and we’re almost never allowed to play. They have that huge lawn, you know the one I’m talking about,” he preached while I nodded along enthusiastically, I did know what lawn he was talking about. “So green and well-kept, yet we can’t even walk on it? What a waste!” 

Hurried steps slapped against the paved stone. “Cal?!” Joanna shouted. 

Her bright hair fluttered in the wind, she always wore skirts, no matter the activity. I’d told her how stupid of an idea it was to wear skirts and run plenty of times before, yet here she was, in a hellish city run amok with lunatics and corrupted beings, running while holding the hem of her skirt up to not trip. Looking like damsel straight out of a british drama. 

“Hey,” I greeted her with a wave. 

She rammed into me, pulling me into a tight embrace.

Despite the baths, I knew I smelled of death and blood—that sweet and dank, irony smell. I tried to push her away, but she clung to me like a koala to its branch.

“Do you even know how much you’ve worried us all?!” she complained with her face nestled in my chest, her words were barely audible. 

My face reddened as I plied her arms off. “Sorry,” I chortled and pulled at my collar, trying my best not to meet her eyes, but her intense hazel stare caught mine nonetheless. 

She regarded me with that teasing smile of hers. Despite trying not to show it, her eyes lingered on my arm. She was well aware of what I thought about intimacy, maybe that was why she always greeted me with a hug. Her mischievous smile faded away as she turned to the company gathered behind. “You must be the acquaintances!” 

Samara stepped forward. “Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Samara, Samara Solburne,” she said with a devious grin. “These are my friends, Nea, Yusuf, and John.” They all nodded as their names were mentioned. 

Joanna’s eyes widened at the sight of Nea leaning up against John. John jerked back at her approach, but Samara calmed him down with a wave of her hand. 

“You’re hurt,” Joanna muttered seriously as she studied the wound Nea so diligently pressed her hand against. She gasped, and whipped to face me. A quiet question burning in her eyes. 

I scratched my neck. “Ah, yeah. Charlie said you had a healer?”

“You too?” 

“Yeah… Nothing terrible though.” 

“Why didn’t you start off by telling me?!” 

I didn’t think I’d have to. I wore a crude bandage over my thigh, and if it weren’t for her getting so damn close I’d be much paler than usual. 

She pulled on my arm. “Whatever, I formally invite you inside. I invite you all.” 

The veil shuddered in response to her words, pulling my attention to something that had slipped past me. The veil in the amphitheater was a soft green colour, not the usual violet. It reached far up toward the ceiling of the encased city, and encircled the amphitheatre along with the plaza with meters to spare. I subconsciously brushed my charred fingers against the weave, injecting a little magic into them. The resistance was there, but it wasn’t like it usually was. This wasn’t mine for the taking. 

As I crossed over the threshold it felt like something pressed down on me. Joanna turned to look at me with astonishment. She pulled on my arm, harder, and in I went. 

Once inside, the resistance faded.

A small crowd of children gathered around us, making sure not to get in our way, but not far enough that they couldn’t see us. Whenever they got too close to the other Samuel made sure to shoot them with a menacing glare. He obviously took a lot of pride in showing us the way, or maybe it was the fact that he got to walk so close to Joanna. 

“Who are you?” 

“Where have you come from?”

“Do you know my parents?” 

“Did you know my dad has a car that’s really quick?”

Their endless chatter hurt more than the wound in my gut, which was by far the worst of the three. My company didn’t fare much better, especially Samara. Her practiced smile grew rigid and stiff around children. I bet she didn’t have a lot of experience.

With the help of Charlie and Joanna, not to mention threatening glares by Samuel, the crowd died down. That was until someone recognized me. 

“Cal?!” The heavy-set set boy hadn’t yet learned how to feel the room. Not that much else was expected when his best friend was the penguin fact master. 

“Hey Adam,” I smiled. 

“You look like shit!” he exclaimed and pinched his nose as I got close. The gesture made all the other kids move close and sniff only to squeal and run away doing the same as him. 

My face heated up again. “Yeah? Sorry about that,” I chuckled wryly. 

“Alright, that’s enough,” Joanna said softly. “He’ll be able to answer all your questions after resting up. Now give him some space.” The cluster of kids sighed and complained, but did as told. Charlie broke away from our little company with a wave and went to join Adam on the courtyard. 

We passed through the archways. What lay beyond turned out to be dressing rooms, kitchens, everything needed for a place of entertainment to function. A theatre. 

I craned my head and appreciated the painted ceiling. It depicted a much more peaceful scene than the art decorating the Chambers. “Nice place,” I muttered.

Joanna turned to me, my arm still firmly gripped inside her small hand, “It is. And it’s got everything we need.” She turned to youth with a spear. “Sam, take the others to see Esme.” 

His face fell. “What about you two?” 

“He’s not that bad off compared to her,” Joanna said and nodded at Nea. “I’ll deal with his wounds myself.” 

“Bu-”

She didn’t give him any time to respond before we veered off the path. With a firm pull I was sent staggering into the warm embrace of a room with a large bed and a bunch of clothes littering the floors and furniture. “Sit,” she said and nodded at the bed.