WFOL 2016
BBTV Round Robin
Chapter One
by Olivia K. Goode
Catherine opened her eyes as a soft bell chimed insistently somewhere off to her left. Vincent’s smile came into immediate focus but within an instant he had ducked his head, his face screened behind the curtain of his hair.
“I wasn’t asleep, I swear,” she said, somewhere between hope and belief this was true. “I heard every line of that poem.”
He raised one eyebrow the barest fraction of an inch.
“I looked into your eyes, when I was a boy and good,” she quoted by way of proof. “Your hands brushed my skin and you gave me a kiss. All clocks keep the same cadence…”
“All nights have the same stars,” he finished the refrain of Lorca’s Madrigal, the corners of his eyes crinkled with humor. “But I’m afraid that was three verses - and several other poems - ago.”
“Oh, please forgive me, Vincent. I was so comfortable here on your bed, and your voice is so beautiful and soothing when you read - ” She frowned at the book closed in his hands as the porcelain timepiece finished chiming. “I could have sworn I was still hearing your voice when the clock began to ring.”
“I’ve read this volume so often, I needn’t really open it any more. And it was far more pleasant to look at you than stare at a page.” He stood as he placed the book on his table, his hand held out to her. “But you’ve had many early mornings these past two weeks, and you are clearly tired.”
She welcomed an excuse to twine her fingers with his, but was reluctant to rise. “But I’m off tomorrow,” she began, exerting a subtle counter-pressure as he attempted to help her to her feet.
He stood with an uncanny stillness as he looked down at her, his lips parted slightly. A vein pulsed on one side of the strong column of his throat. On any other man she would have called it an expression of desire, even lust. But he was no ordinary man, and even after years, her Vincent was an enigma she was still trying to puzzle out.
“Then we must spend tomorrow together, you and I, Catherine.” The smile did not quite reach his eyes this time, though she didn’t know why. “But first, you must rest. I’ll meet you at your threshold first thing in the morning and you can join us for breakfast.”
Resigned to the obstinate tone that she’d heard from him so many times before, she gave in yet again and rose from his bed. Maybe next time I’ll stay asleep until he gives up and lets me spend the night Below again, she thought as she watched him put on his cloak. Maybe he’d carry me to a guest chamber and… She tamped down hard on that thought before – hopefully! – it snuck through the Bond to him. Something in his silence and the tense set of his shoulders made her doubt she’d been successful.
Just as they reached the tunnel junction, Catherine heard a familiar deep chuckle emanating from Father’s chamber.
“Sounds, great, Father. Thanks.” A silhouette appeared in the doorway. “I sure do appreciate it. See ya in the morning!” The dark shape materialized into a familiar form.
“Cathy!”
“Isaac!” Catherine opened her arms wide and was enveloped in a rib-cracking hug. “What are you doing here so late?”
Isaac left one arm draped casually around her shoulders and gave a nod to Vincent. “I was running a late self-defense class for the second shift sentries, and Father suggested I crash here for the night. Sure will save me a ton of steps going all the way back to Brooklyn just to turn around again and head back here for the early class tomorrow.”
Catherine tried to choke off a flare of envy that Isaac was so readily welcomed to stay Below while she was denied that invitation.
“Isaac has been invaluable to us, Catherine, as I know you know.” There was an odd formality in Vincent’s tone. “Last year’s… events… proved to all of us that everyone here needed to become more proficient in matters of security, and thanks to Isaac’s excellent instruction...”
“Aw, now cut that out, big guy.” Isaac brushed away the compliment with a friendly thump on Vincent’s chest. “You know friends do for each other, and family does even more. And you guys are all my family now. You know that. Ain’t much I wouldn’t do for Cathy here and all the rest of you.”
Cathy grinned up into Isaac’s broad smile.
“Just the other day,” Isaac began, “I was saying to Mouse - ” Before that thought could be completed, the alarm klaxon sounded on the master pipe above their heads. They all froze in place.
“What’s it saying?” Isaac asked.
“Another theft,” Vincent translated as he pivoted and strode toward Father’s study.
Isaac frowned at her. “Another? You get many thieves down here? First I’ve heard of it.”
“Generally it’s nothing much,” Catherine explained. “The kids seem to consider sneaking into the pantry in the middle of the night for snacks as some kind of rite of passage. As they get a little older, they all try it. And sometimes they challenge the new children Below to give it a go. Vincent says it’s been like that since he was a boy. Harmless kid stuff.” She paused as the pipecode rattled off all around them, soon joined by voices down the tunnels. “But lately it’s become something more than that.”
A deep blustering growl was growing louder, accompanied by higher-pitched voices. Catherine pulled Isaac toward a side tunnel just as a fuming William barreled down toward them. Mary and Rebecca clutched shawls around their shoulders as they trailed in his wake, worry and fear clearly etched on their faces.
“Vincent said he’s heard rumors of everything from the teenagers having picnics behind the Falls, to invaders from Above, to Paracelsus come back from the dead.”
“What kinda things are we talking about here, Cathy?" he asked as they followed them back to the study. “The sentries haven’t told me anything about this.”
“I think the Council was trying to keep most people from finding out and worrying, at least until William finished a thorough inventory. We told you about how those outsiders infiltrated here back before Vincent got so sick. We didn’t want people leaping to the conclusion that that was happening again if they could help it.”
“Been a lot of homeless people getting rounded up from the subway tunnels. Saw it on the news last week.”
I wonder if Mitch Denton is still in prison, she thought. I’ll have to check on that.
Just as they stepped through the doorway to the study, William bellowed, “A bushel of fruit! Two loaves of bread and a case of canned goods! And both of my best carving knives! It’s gotta be those cretins who were following Paracelsus, I’m telling ya!”
Father frowned and shook his head. “That’s such a quantity of items. I’d convinced myself that this would turn out to be some kind of innocuous prank, perhaps the teenagers… Now I don’t know. With such a volume of food missing, it couldn’t be one of us, could it, Vincent?” The expression on Father’s face almost looked like he were hoping for his son to convince him he was mistaken.
Catherine watched Vincent tilt his head in that way he did as he thought. “I cannot image any reason why one of us would take any of William’s knives. A modest amount of food might be one thing, if it’s someone who’s part of our community, but quantities such as this? And knives? No, Father, I don’t think this can be one of us.” He sighed, his hands spread before him. “And if it’s strangers, they’re armed now with knives at the least.”
Mary whimpered and squeezed Rebecca hand. “Oh, no, the children! Whatever will we do?”
“Surely if it were outsiders,” Catherine said, “one of the sentries would have seen them coming and going to the lower tunnels?”
“Lower tunnel points should be as tight as a drum,” Isaac said. “That was the first thing we did last year.”
William glared and snarled, “I don’t remember anyone electing either one of you two to the Council.”
Before Catherine could respond, Vincent said, “While that may be true, William, we have no rules against non-Council members speaking here. Isaac is only trying to help. And since Catherine has provided you with the majority of what’s been taken, I would think you, of all people, would welcome her input."
The cook’s face took on a red tint as he looked toward the floor in front of him. “I’m sorry. It’s just that… They’ve been in my kitchen. My pantry. My storeroom. This is cutting close to home for me.”
Pascal arrived just then, breathless and frazzled, Mouse and Jamie right behind him. “All the sentries have checked in. No one’s seen anything. I’ve got an all-quiet out in case anyone does, so we’ll hear about them right away.”
“We don’t have a sentry post near the kitchen. It’s so deep into the main tunnels that we’ve never thought we’d need one,” Vincent said.
“Why not put a sentry right inside the kitchen?” In response to the blank looks staring back at him, Isaac continued, “We could build a blind in a corner of the pantry, make it out of crates and stuff. Leave someone behind it all the time, or at least whenever no one’s working in the kitchen. See if we can’t turn whoever thinks he’s the hunter into the prey.”
“An excellent notion, Isaac.” Father smiled as he rapped his knuckles on the table. “And we ought to make certain the children are never left without an adult – or two – in attendance, not even in their dormitories.” Everyone nodded at that suggestion.
“Until we know who’s taken William’s knives,” Catherine said, “I think it would be wise if we took the littlest children up to my apartment for a day or two. They’d be perfectly safe there, and it would seem like a treat to them, I’m sure.”
“I’d feel ever so much better if we could do that, Catherine.” Mary unclasped her hands for the first time in several minutes. “I’d like to take them there this evening, Father. I know I won’t get a moment’s sleep in my own chamber tonight. This is all reminding me too much of when those… those people… came Below…”
“Don’t worry, Mary. We can escort the children and some of the women to my place. Once we get you all there, I’ve got plenty of blankets in the closet, even though there isn’t a lot of food in my kitchen…”
“We can send some things up,” William interjected.
“Good. And there will be cartoons on tomorrow, so the kids will think it’s a party. ”
“I would feel better, Catherine,” Vincent began, “if you would stay in your apartment with them…”
“Cathy’s the best student I ever trained,” Isaac said. “She can handle herself. We can use her down here. And I’ve got two other suggestions.” Even Vincent was silenced by that statement and looked expectantly at him, along with everyone else. “You want to come up with a secret way to talk on your pipes that ain’t gonna be understood by anyone but you.”
“Code the pipecode?” Pascal asked. “So if it’s someone from down here, or one of Paracelsus’s people, they won’t know they’ve been spotted? Is that what you mean? But how?”
Jamie slung her crossbow over the shoulder of her leather jacket. “There isn’t time to come up with a whole new code and teach it to everyone.”
“Don’t have to,” Isaac replied. “You can use your regular pipecode, but make it like the Navajo code-talkers in World War II. They called tanks turtles, and battleships were whales.”
“I see what he means,” Catherine said, her brain whirling with possibilities. “If we said something like, Carmen’s going to practice piano, it means someone we don’t know is heading toward the Music Chamber. We’d only need to code the places and directions so that we’d all know what we meant. Anyone overhearing us wouldn’t understand a thing.”
“That’s a brilliant idea.” Pascal beamed. “Why didn’t we ever think of that before? I’ll get to work on it right away.”
“The other thing you should do,” Isaac said, “is find out if anyone is missing any clothing. Whoever this is, they may be disguising themselves with stuff they’ve taken from you. If you caught a glimpse of someone wearing, say, Vincent’s cloak, you’d probably ignore it, assuming it was Vincent.”
Father looked very impressed. “Are there any articles of clothes missing? From the laundry, perhaps?”
“It’s always hard to know for sure,” Rebecca said thoughtfully. “We go through clothes so quickly here: things wearing out and being turned into something new; pieces being handed down from kid to kid; redistributed to someone needier... But maybe Sarah would be able to tell us if some things have gone missing for a while and never come back. It's worth a try.”
“Even though that might be a challenge," Father sympathized, "we really must know if there are any distinctive articles of clothing that we ought to be on the lookout for. It could be very useful information for the sentries. We may need to ask the older children to check their possessions. The teenagers always have some favorite things. And if we let them know what’s been happening, I know they’ll want to help.”
“Samantha did complain to me the other day,” Mary smiled rather wistfully, “that her new, illustrated copy of Treasure Island had been taken from the classroom. But I don’t suppose that people stealing knives will also be taking books.”
“That seems unlikely, Mary,” said Father as he patted her hand. “Thank you, Catherine. And you, too, Isaac. Your input tonight has been quite valuable. We have a plan now, and I think it’s time to wake the children and pack some things for them. Ladies, I’ll ask you to take care of them. William, prepare some food to go Above. Pascal, start thinking of ways to code our messages. And Vincent, perhaps you and Isaac can begin constructing the kitchen sentry blind while they’re doing all that?”
Jobs assigned, everyone fell to their tasks.
*****
“Sure am grateful I can help out with this, Vincent,” Isaac commented as they began to move shelves and boxes between the kitchen and the pantry area.
“We are the ones who are grateful, Isaac. You’re an invaluable Helper, and a good friend as well.”
“Well, I try. I do try.” Let’s try something and see just how good a friend I can be, he thought. “I’ve known Cathy a long time now. Almost as long as you have, huh? Yeah. Ever since you had that run-in with that gang, and for sure once your Council asked me to come be a Helper here, some things I’d been wondering about with her got real clear in my mind.”
He paused to see what reaction this might elicit, but Vincent was quiet. “Like, I kept asking myself, why’s a catch like her never let herself get caught? One hell of a woman you got there, big guy.”
Watching him from the corner of his eye, he clearly saw Vincent’s jaw clench. Yeah, that was a low blow, wasn’t it? he said to himself. But like I always say, you gotta use what you got.
“You know, Cathy and me, we’ve gotten real tight these last couple years. She didn’t need no more self-defense lessons. Not Cathy. But her comin’ to my studio gave her a chance to talk with someone who... knew. About this place here… about you… about you and her.”
“Isaac…” Vincent warned as he paused in moving a crate.
“Hey, I don’t mean to pry. No, not gonna pry. Learned a long time ago not to stick my nose where it didn’t need to be. But… she’s my friend. Not that I’m not your friend, too. But when it comes right down to it, you know… I’m her friend, and she’s a lady who doesn’t have too many of those. And there ain’t nobody upstairs but me who knows about her… and about you… and, well… about how there isn’t much of a her-and-you… If you know what I mean?”
“Isaac…” He watched Vincent’s fists clench and unclench. “I’m indebted to you for saving my life when I was trapped Above, and we all appreciate everything you’ve done to help us here Below. I am truly grateful that Catherine has you as a friend. But I don’t think it’s… appropriate for you to make assumptions about our… my… ”
“Love life?”
Cold fire in blue eyes turned on Isaac. Well, sometimes you gotta fight mean and dirty…
“Sorry. Sorry, Vincent.” He picked up a box and held it between his body and Vincent’s. “No offense. It’s just that, well… I want what’s best for her is all.”
“That’s what I want as well.” The iron in Vincent’s voice rang clear and strong. “I know she’s confided in you, Isaac, and I’m thankful for your being there for her. I’m sure she’s told you that I want her to have everything… much more than I am able to give her. A life… children… the sunshine… the world…
“You know better than most how the world Above sees me, treats me… hates me. I want more – and better –than this,” Vincent looked as his hands, “for Catherine.”
Vincent hefted a huge sack of flour as easily as if it were filled with cotton candy. He turned his back on Isaac and walked away.
Isaac set down the box and followed him. "Vincent, let me ask you something. You keep talking about Catherine being destined to have a life Above with someone else. You really believe that?"
Vincent placed the sack on the floor and stood stiffly, his back to Isaac. "It’s what she deserves."
"Vincent, what if that happened? What if Catherine came down here tomorrow and said, Vincent, I've found someone. I love him. I’ve chosen him. I want to be with him forever. Would you let her just... go? Just like that? Just let her walk into the arms of whoever she chose? Never question it? Never fight it?"
Vincent’s head sunk, shoulders hunched as if he’d just been punched in the gut. “I…” His voice was the barest whisper. “I’ve sworn to myself that I would… that I will.”
“Swear it to me.”
Vincent’s head whipped around at that, shock and incredulity plain on his face.
“I want you to swear that to me, Vincent. I look out for my friends.” Isaac let just a tinge of righteous anger color his tone. “Once Cathy finds someone she wants to make a life with, I don’t want you holding her back. So you give me your word, man. She finds the man she wants to be with… she finds the man of her dreams… you’re gonna listen to her. You ain’t gonna stop her back from being happy with him. You’re gonna let her have the man and the life that she chooses. You swear that.”
Isaac counted the seconds; he could almost hear each one tick off in the silence between them. He didn’t blink as Vincent stared unwaveringly at him.
Then Vincent dropped his gaze.
“When Catherine finds a man who will make her happy… I will honor her choice. I swear it.”
The pain in his voice made Isaac want to weep. But he smiled instead. Gotcha.
"You're such a liar, Vincent!" He paused for dramatic effect, relishing the look on his opponent’s face as Vincent tried to absorb that response. The truth ain’t pretty and it ain’t fancy, but it works.
"Catherine’s already said that to you. All that. Those exact things.
“I've seen it. I've watched her. I've watched you. We all have. Every look she's ever given you has said, I have found someone. I love him. I want him. I want to be with him. But just now I left off the last line of her little speech, which has always been, And by the way, Vincent, the one I've chosen is you." He poked Vincent once in the chest with his index finger for emphasis. “A thousand times she’s said those exact things to you, and a thousand times you’ve refused her, denied her the man of her dreams. You gotta stop doing that, man.
“Your love for each other… Well, I’m a fighter, not a lover, so I don’t have the words it’d take to describe what I see between you two, but… it’s there. It’s real. Maybe the realest thing I’ve ever seen. But you fight her, you doubt her, you deny her her choice. And you hurt her when you do that. She loves you too much to give up, though. She ain’t ever gonna stop fighting. Not our Cathy.”
Isaac gripped Vincent's shoulders with both hands. "You need to let her walk into the arms of the one she has chosen," he poked Vincent again to stress his point, "and you need to not question it, not fight it. She deserves that, and only you can give that to her. Hold yourself to your oath. You won’t regret it. Neither will she."
*****
Catherine grinned at Mouse as he helped herd the children past her toward her threshold.
“Important job! Vincent’s trusting Mouse!”
“Absolutely,” she agreed. “Now go wait with the others, and count all the children for us.” That’ll keep him busy for a minute, at least, she thought. There were times, she had to admit to herself, when Mouse’s enthusiasm was positively exhausting to behold.
Checking once more over her shoulder, she confirmed that all the women and children were in her tunnel. Good. Once I let them all into my place, I can -
A movement from the tunnel to her right caught her attention. Jamie, she thought. I haven’t seen her wear that gray hooded sweater since we found that ship Below. I love Jamie to pieces but that’s just about the homeliest piece of clothing that I’ve ever –
At that instant, a crystal clear memory of Jamie standing in Father’s study as they talked about changing the pipecode flared in her mind. Jamie had slung her crossbow over her shoulder, and she’d been wearing a leather jacket, not that gray sweater.
“Hey!” She called out to the shadowy form. “Jamie!”
If it is Jamie, she’ll turn around.
A pale hand pulled the cowl further down, obscuring the face in shadow, and the mysterious figure rushed into a darkened tunnel.
“Up the ladder!” Catherine yelled to the women and children behind her. “Hurry!”
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