“I’m sorry, Charlie—” Ava started, but I cut her off.
“It’s not your fault.”
Several long moments passed as I processed this new information. I didn’t know what to do with it. If I couldn’t hide that I was blind, how was I going to protect myself, or anyone else? It made me feel extremely vulnerable… like back when I’d had no one. I hated that feeling.
We all have things that hold us back,Oberi offered.Let’s work on them together.
Ava’s tone became soft. “The doctors said I’d experience memory loss.”
“You don’t have to tell me just because I feel bad. I want you to come to me at your own pace.”
“And I want you to have context,” she said. “My poor memory is a symptom of my spinal injury. I’m aware of it, but I’m still trying to figure out the extent of it. And it sucks so bad, because as shitty as my bipolar could get, I always held on to facts and information like a steel trap. It’s helped me out of so many situations, and enabled me to figure out solutions to problems nobody else could answer. Now I’m losing that, too. And if I’m not as sharp as I used to be, I’m even more of a deadweight to the team.”
“You’re still wicked smart, pidge, and you’re not dragging the team down. I just want to figure out a solution,” I offered. “I’m worried that if you’re confused, I need to be able to get inside your head to help. What happens if you experience a psychosis episode? We’re connected, so maybe I can pull you out of it.”
Ava hesitated, like she was scared of the idea. “Idowant your help, but we need to trust each other. You can invade my thoughts if it’s necessary, but be warned— it’s not fun inside my head.”
“Can we still share our thoughts with each other?”
“Yes, of course,” Ava said. “I just want to maintain privacy, but we have to trust each other in that privacy, and respect each other. If there’s an emergency, you can poke inside my head, but otherwise, we need to give each other permission.”
I nodded. “All right. That sounds fair.”
Even though we’d agreed to the boundaries, things still felt off when I left for my factory shift. Ava insisted Oberi come with me, like she thought I needed her right now.
I was fine. Really.
Ancestors, why couldn’t we just communicate properly? We had this bond, and we still couldn’t figure out how we felt.
Oberi shifted into a husky and padded alongside me.It’s okay that you can’t track anymore.
For once, he was trying to help, but it just made me feel worse.
It isn’t, I argued.
Yes, it is, Oberi insisted.You don’t need to track, because you did it out of survival. You’re safe now with us. You have a community that can help, and we’ll all protect each other and keep each other safe. Ava and I are here for you.
I drew a long breath, then patted him on the head. He had no idea what that meant to me.Thanks, buddy.
When I arrived at the factory, I went straight for my station, but someone stepped in front of me. I guessed it was a guard by the sound of his boots. “Wahkin, you’ve been reassigned. Come with me.”
“Just when I was starting to love my job,” I said flatly.
I didn’t know what to expect, but if it got me out of labeling boxes, I was all for it. That work was boring as shit. At least stimulate my mind a little. This was supposed to be a reform school, after all.
The guard led me out of the factory with several other students. We entered a large room and were guided to join another group of students.
“Is this some kind of joke?” I heard a familiar voice say.
I walked over to Alistair. “What’s going on?”
“They’ve reassigned us to a new factory,” Alistair growled.
“Maybe it’s not a bad thing,” I suggested. “It’s got to be better than labeling boxes. What are we making?”
“Braille books,” Alistair said flatly.
I nearly choked. “They’re makingusmanufacture braille books?”
