TWENTY-THREE: Funeral

TWENTY-THREE: Funeral

Hannahs service was being held in the memorial garden at her old alma mater.

Celena North University was in Apex, so Alden had to wear a lanyard with a large badge hanging from it that identified him as a minor and a non-Avowed. Ms. Zhao had called it the double squishy combo. It looked dorky, and it came with a button he could press in the event of an emergency.

Doesnt really go with my tie. He was trying to position the thing beneath the striped silk fabric so that it wouldnt look so obvious.

Yeah. Cly jabbed a straw at the frozen dregs of a smoothie as they stepped off the campus bus. I used to hate wearing it when I was a kid, too. If it makes you feel better, plenty of Avowed have their own version of it. Its just attached to our System IDs. Its for prioritizing rescues.

Apex was the part of Anesidora where restrictions on power usage were heavily relaxed. High-ranking superhumans lived, work, learned, and experimented here. It wasnt legal to punch holes in buildings or melt city streets, but it was understood that sometimes, the people who hung around on this part of the island were going to cause a minor catastrophe while they were figuring themselves out.

Alden really hoped he could get into one of the schools here. Apex was where superheroes trained. There were a couple of different universities with combat and rescue programs in addition to Celena. And to get into any of them, it would be bestif not strictly necessaryto attend one of their affiliated prep schools first.

I have a stupidly huge amount of research to do when I get back home.

On top of figuring out what his new skill did, hed have to find a prep program that wouldnt use a B-rank Rabbits application for toilet tissue. He seriously hoped one existed.

Three months were going to pass by in a blink.

First we have to sit through the public service, Cly was saying as they passed under an arch made of flowering vines and entered an open-air amphitheater.

The seating was a series of grass-covered terraces. At the base was a concrete stage, backed by large granite memorial stones.

A couple of people in shirts emblazoned with the university logo were down there doing mic checks. And a large group of teens and young adults were huddled up nearby. Alden thought they were musicians, since so many of them had instrument cases, but quite a few were carrying floral arrangements, too. They were all in uniform, wearing waistcoats over shirts with standing collars. Some were in monochromatic white and others in black.

Honestly, its going to be way too long, Cly said, glancing down at the group. And way too crowded. Hannah had a ton of friends. Plus theres the freshman factor. We managed to control the number of speakers at least. Were going for a celebration of her life, but its still a lot of sad to sit through. If you need to take a timeout, dont feel bad about leaving to catch your breath.

Alden nodded. Whats the freshman factor?

Theres a hero school tradition. Freshmen at Celena North and first year students at the prep schools that feed into it are expected to attend services for alumni who die in the line of duty. Its to honor the dead and impress upon the living the dangers of the work.

She pursed her lips. They arent required to come to this one. Since Hannah went missing during a quest summons, its not the same as her dying during hero duties. But some of them are going to show up anyway. Half because they think its the right thing to do and half just because they want to see Hannahs mother.

Hannahs mother was publicly known as The Gloom.

She was a London-based Sky Shaper who strategically modified weather systems for several countries in Europe. It wasnt traditional hero work. It wasnt even traditional Shaper work. It was more like hardcore atmospheric science plus some hush-hush spells she was rumored to have earned for extraordinary service on the Triplanets.

The Gloom wasnt famous for beating bad guys. As far as Alden knew, shed never even been in combat. She was famous for being a hyperbolethe nickname given to Ss who had been rank upgraded by the System.

It had happened to less than a hundred people so far.

The first time, back in the seventies, the S-class in question had disappeared on a summons and then come back with a new rank. 1.

Everyone assumed it meant the guy was literally the number one most powerful Avowed in the world. And he leaned into it, doing hundreds of interviews and commercials. So he looked pretty ridiculous when it happened again a few years later to another person, and they, too, were ranked 1.

Apparently, once you got past S, the System was just done with letter grading.

So far, rank-ups had only been assigned to those few Ss and a a few hundred more As and Bs. Most of them were unique classes. It almost always happened immediately after a summons. They all claimed not to know why it had occurred.

It was perfect fodder for conspiracy theories and speculation, and there was a lot of that.

But Alden thought it was to be expected. Extreme outliers existed. There were always weirdos like Boe who somehow ended up with a 5.3 on a 4.0 grading scale.

And it wasnt like the handful of 1s were going around doing things leagues beyond the Ss. The Gloom was one of the better examples of someone operating at the limits of human ken, and she was a mild-mannered meteorologist.

Whod recently lost her daughter

Nobodys going to bother her today, right? he asked.

Cly shook her head. No. It should be fine. Like I said, student attendance at alumni funerals is a tradition, so there are layers of ritual and rules piled on top of it. It can actually add a lot to the atmosphere. Like the art school kids down thereif the high-school freshmen can stop arguing with the university freshmen then theyll take care of music. The students who come from the combat program have their own thing, too.

She smiled. And if someone doesnt behave, I get to verbally eviscerate them. Which would be great stress relief. Oh, theres Ilya. I need to talk to him. Find yourself a seat, and let me know if you need anything, okay?

The bottommost terraces were reserved for friends and family. Alden took a spot on the far edge, where he was shaded by an ornamental pear tree. It would be easy to leave from here if the Velra situation required it, and hed hopefully avoid too much awkward socializing.

Keiko had sent him two updates so far, letting him know she had things under control.

Alden didnt have anything to do but wait for the service to get underway, so he started trying to train himself to use mental commands with the System interface. Post kidnapping, it seemed more important than it had before.

After fifteen minutes, he managed to make it bring up a preferences menu, but since hed been trying to access the internet instead, that was a fail.

Eyes aching from straining to see something that was really all in his head, he leaned back and shoved his hands into his pockets. It was getting too tempting to poke at the interface, and it would be conspicuous.

People were starting to trickle in for the service.

The group Cly had called art school kids seemed to have finally sorted themselves out. Alden hadnt even known Celena North had an arts department, but he guessed it made sense. Some Avowed used their powers for entertainment. If you were a Vocal Brute, for example, it was actually a lot easier to get off-island jobs if you focused on opera instead of sonically shattering the bodies of evildoers.

The musicians took up posts along the edges of each of the terraces and started tuning. The people with the flower arrangements were much more interesting to watch, since they were obviously using their powers. One guy seemed to be magically freshening them all up. Every member of the group brought him their arrangement. He briefly touched stems, leaves, and petals and suddenly the plants all looked minutely better.

Alden wasnt sure if he was a Shaper or an Adjuster, but it was a neat trick.

A girl who was clearly a Water Shaper was going around strategically affixing droplets to some pieces so that they looked like they were bejeweled with dew.

An entirely different set of students were in charge of carrying the flowers and positioning them around the amphitheater. There were six of them. They moved in pairs, and each pair was perfectly in synch. Their motions were unnaturally flawless and light. Maybe they were dance majors. They clearly had enhanced physicals of some kind.

A pair of girls floated toward him like they were barely touching the grass and placed a white ikebana-style arrangement a few feet away on the terrace.

The students from the hero courses were also arriving, though they were too far away for Alden to get a really good look at them They had military style formal jackets and they were positioning themselves in a loose outward-facing ring around the exterior of the amphitheater. Like an honor guard.

Other arrivals in slightly different jackets were taking up similar guard posts on the top terraces. Alden didnt know if the difference in positioning had to do with age or rank, or if maybe they were from another program entirely. If there were artists in attendance, there had to be superhuman teens who wanted to be scientists and engineers here as well.

Im completely surrounded by Avowed.

He would be one of them, too, once he affixed. But it might be hard to get used to the idea that almost everyone he encountered on a daily basis would have superpowers.

Uneven.

Alden jumped. Seriously. Again? What is it now?

His creepy new sixth sense was tingling. It was faint, but un-ignorable. He looked around and saw a pale boy dressed all in black about six feet away. He had a severe expression on his face, and he was undoing the clasps on a harp case. He was going to be the musician for this terrace. Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Alden had noted him briefly among the art school teens earlier. Mostly because he looked like he was around ten years old. Hed thought at first he might be someones little brother, but he didnt have the dorky lanyard, so he must have been an Avowed. One whod yet to benefit from puberty.

He was the uneven person.

Alden stared at him for a little too long, and the harpist glanced over. Hello, he said in a morose voice. Grandmother doesnt like Keikos plan. She sent me to make sure you dont run away before Hazel gets here.

What the fuck? Alden thought angrily.

You can run away if you want, though. The boy almost sounded hopeful. Theres loads of places to hide on campus. Ill say I did my best but I couldnt find you. I havent mastered any chains that would be good for a manhunt.

Alden wanted to chew him out, but instead he settled for hissing, Ive already promised Id go through with it. Tell your crazy grandma to leave me alone!

The Velra sighed. If I could boss her around, I wouldnt be here. I was supposed to be going to the theater with my friends today.

He looked down at his own hands. I bet the blowback from the gloss takes my fingers from me. Ive thought about it a lot. Its just the right level of consequence and cruelty. Even if its just a few And it would make everyone but me happy, since they think speccing for music is wasteful.

Uh said Alden.

It was a little hard to berate someone who seemed to be dead serious about losing his fingers in the near future.

Anyway, Im Lute. He closed his eyes, moved his hands around each other in a slow swirling motion and started whispering.

Alden recognized the hand gestures and cadence of a wordchain, though he could only pick out a couple of the actual Artonan words at this volume. He also had an unexpectedly strong sense of Lutes accuracywhich wasnt something hed ever experienced in chaining classes at the consulate.

Hed always thought it was a matter of hoping the chain linked you to an Opposite. But listening to the Velra boy chant, he was somehow sure that the link was forming.

Even stranger was the fact that Lute himself was becoming slightly less uneven as the chain progressed.

Holy shit, thought Alden, feeling enlightened. Is that what it means? Can I suddenly sense wordchain debt? How? Why?

So we can trade now?

He frowned at her. Let me finish.

The last two pages werent actually contract at all. It was a list of wordchains. Four sets with both the sacrificers and the recipients portion carefully annotated. Judging by the complexity, Alden bet they were ones you couldnt usually learn unless you were in good with the Artonans.

So Im getting them whether I want them or not

It wasnt like he could throw them away. Did the System even have a permanent delete feature?

Was Lute awful to you? Hazel said suddenly. Alden noted shed nearly picked all the polish off one of her fingernails.

It wasnt okay for your grandmother to install a spy at a funeral. Even if he is a student at one of the schools.

Hes been an arrogant brat to everyone ever since he got S.

Way to ignore what I said.

Let me finish reading.

He was already finished. He just wanted a second to think. The contract seemed fine. Good in fact. Better than what hed asked for. There was even an NDA signed by around two dozen Velras that said they wouldnt discuss any of todays events.

Alden didnt have any way of telling if that included all of the people who knew about him, but it was something.

This is pretty great for me. Except for the whole scary-lady-thinking-the-universe-wants-us-to-be-besties thing. Alden scratched at the side of his nose. And I dont really like Hazel.

It was hard to put his finger on why. It wasnt like shed said or done anything horrible in the past few minutes. Actually, compared to every other member of the family hed met today, she came across as kind of bland.

And as far as he could tell, she wasnt uneven. Which made sense if the Velra gloss could only be applied to the Avowed family members

So Hazel getting Chainer is just straight-up lucky for the entire family?

Everyone says youre a prodigy, Alden noted.

She lit up. I have highly attuned senses for certain kinds of magic! It means I can monitor a wordchains strength and repercussions better than other people. Usually humans only become magic-sensitive after they affix certain classes. So when I get Chainer, the boost from that on top of my natural talent will put me a step ahead of the others.

Thats interesting.

He felt like it was a neutral thing to say, but Hazels smile broadened. Apparently she was eager to share more on the subject.

To tell you the truth, right now I can barely standto be around my own family. The gloss is such a strong chain that it gives me this buzzing in my head every time Im near one of them. Its strange to me that other people cant hear it. Even other Chainers! Some of the older family members can detect it if they try, but theyre not so aware of it that it bothers them.

She laughed lightly and tucked her hair behind her ear. I bet you think Im crazy, dont you? To want to be even better at something that annoys me. But everyone thinks Ill be able to achieve great things with it.

Alden filed that information away, trying not to react. Was the same thing going on with him? It sounded similar but not identical. Either way, it was nice to have confirmation that it might be useful.

Soumare you done reading? Hazel asked.

Hm? Oh, yeah. Lets trade.

He drew his signature in the air with his fingertip, and the contract was finalized.

She sighed with relief. Great. Ill initiate.

Half a second later, Alden received the notification.

[Hazel Dinah Velra has requested a class trade. Hazel Dinah Velra is an authorized witness. You have been vouched for by an authorized witness. Negotiations are approved.]

[TRADE CHAINER CLASS FOR RABBIT CLASS?]

YES/NO

Yeah. Hazel being able to witness her own trades is a loophole the size of the planet.

Alden was pretty sure a lot of legit witnesses would find the Velras use of the gloss to be a step too far. It wasnt like they were forcing him, but having your life re-aligned so that you landed exactly where they needed you toso sketchy.

He did want to buy what they were selling, though.

He clicked yes.

[Both selectees have confirmed the trade. Both selectees have been vouched for by an authorized witness. Please wait. Your class is being re-assigned.]

Alden stood up, feeling lighter than he had in days. He had worries about Rabbit, but it was freeing not to be stuck in limbo, waiting to find out what class hed finally end up with.

Youre leaving? Hazel sounded surprised.

I have to get back. Why? We dont need to stay together for the class to be re-assigned right?

It had taken a couple of minutes last time. He didnt want to hang out with her if he didnt have to.

Nobut Im going to affix it as soon as I get it. Because of the timer.

Makes sense. Good luck. I hope it works out great for you.

He turned and left.

He was already back inside the amphitheater, heading down toward the group of Hannahs friends who were mingling by the granite memorial stones, when he realized Hazel had actually expected him to stick around for her affixation.

I guess it is an important moment?

Andrzej had said he was going to do it at a party his family was planning.

But its not like we even know each other. And some of her relatives have to be lurking around campus somewhere

Alden wouldnt be surprised if there were thirty Velras hiding in the bushes, waiting to jump him if he reneged on the deal.

He put it out of his mind.

Now that all of the students and many of the other attendees had left, it was time for the private part of the event. Alden hovered at the edge of the group, not really sure he belonged here, while everyone spoke quietly and watched as Hannahs name was slowly carved into the memorial as if by invisible fingers.

Alden didnt know if the magic was a feature of the stones themselves or if there was a hidden spellcaster.

When the class re-assignment notice popped up, he swiped it away quickly and kept watching in silence.

It took several minutes and there was something both terrible and cathartic about seeing the letters inscribe themselves one by one. The Gloom was shaking with silent tears.

When it was over, Alden wondered if he should try to make a quick getaway. Cly Zhao didnt look like she was in any condition to babysit him on the way back to the Teleportation Complex like shed planned to do.

And the chances of him being clobbered by some out of control superhuman on his way out of Apex were probably small.

But as he started to quietly sneak away, he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Hannahs mother. She really did look a lot like her daughter.

Youre Alden.

It wasnt a question, but Alden nodded anyway.

Your forgiveness removed a heavy burden from Hannahs shoulders, she told him. Ill never forget that.

A few people were surreptitiously watching them. Alden felt his face heating. It was only half embarrassment. The rest was nerves. He didnt want to say the wrong thing at a moment like this.

I dont feel like there was anything to forgive. Hannah wasI look up to her.

Hed almost said she was the kind of hero he wanted to be, but he didnt want to out himself here and now.

I miss her, said The Gloom.

There was such a simple, aching pain in the words. It made Aldens breath stop.

Yeah. His eyes were stinging. Damn, I cant. It felt too selfish to cry in front of Hannahs family, so he tried to rein it in. I miss her, too.