SIXTY-FIVE: Intake

SIXTY-FIVE: Intake

So, Alden said at the conclusion of a very long voicemail to Boe, Jeremy is an angel among men. And I cant believe you thought you could really get him to hit you. You bastard. I will be calling you every day and leaving messages, even if you never reply. But youd better. Im sorry forIm just sorry about it all. Take good care of yourself. Talk to you tomorrow.

He ended the call and waited a minute just in case there was going to be a reply. When there was none, he flicked off the kitchen lights and stepped out of the apartment.

As the door shut behind him, he heard the bolt slide into place automatically. It opened in response to a command he could give through his interface, too, so there was no need to keep track of keys.

Oh, hey! said a voice. New neighbors!

Alden looked up to see a tall blonde girl exiting the apartment across the hall. She was wearing faded jeans and a long-sleeved cropped shirt. She had a mild Southern drawl, and she was carrying a tray covered in clear plastic treat bags.

Shes gorgeous, Alden thought.

Then he had to stop for several seconds and analyze that thought. Because it had come on confusingly strong and quickly.

He did notice when other people were nice to look at, but it was in the same way that he took note of whether or not he liked the appearance of a plant or a painting. He had been trying to avoid overthinking it or defining it before he was summoned. Not quite getting something that was so important to others made him feel left out.

Either being away from his own species for too long had done something unexpected to him, or the neighbor girl was really, ridiculously beautiful.

Its the second, he concluded. Im still me. Shes just an extra amazing paintingwait, is that an okay thing to think about someone else?

She was the same height as him. Athletic. She had one perfectly charming dimple to go with her warm, perfectly charming smile. Her skin was flawless. Her eyes were an impossible shade of gold, with brighter gold around the pupils. Her face was so symmetrical, except for the strategic dimple, that Alden was sure hed need a computer to find so much as an eyelash out of alignment.L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

Do you want a treat bag?

Sorry? He shoved away his fascination and blinked down at the hand shed just extended.

A snack bag! she said brightly, waving it at him. She was still propping the door to her apartment open with a hip. Its got my card on it. I made enough for everyone on our floors.

Oh. Thanks. He took the bag. Even her voicewas remarkable. She sounded like she could host radio shows.

Its homemade granola. You should take some for your roommates.

I dont actually have any, Alden told her before she could pass him more bags. Im the only one in the apartment for now. Im Alden. From Chicago. Hi.

My fellow ex-American! Im Natalie. From South Carolina.

She tapped on the business card shed attached to his bag, and he glanced down to see that it said Natalie Choir Room 914 Cook of the Moment (price on request).

Cook of the Moment! Alden felt enlightened. The S-rank Rabbit skill.

He was betting shed gotten some extra foundational enhancement points to allocate as an S-rank, and that most of them had gone into Appeal.

Natalie beamed. Youve heard of it?

Yes. Awesome choice. I heard one woman who has it stopped a deadlock at the UN with a single pasta dish.

Oh my gosh, she gushed. Shes so cool! When I got here a couple of weeks ago, and word went around that there was a new Rabbit whod chosen it, she teleported in from her job on Artona II just to make dinner for me and my roommates.

What was that like? Alden asked curiously.

She stared off into the distance. Dangerous. One of my friends cried when we had dessert because the meal was almost over.

Alden was now really looking forward to eating the granola. But maybe not in front of other people.

Thanks for making it vegan, he said, holding up the bag.

Oh yeah! Vegan, gluten free, no peanutsfor my advertising snacks I always try to hit as many diets as I can without ruining flavor. Wait, how could you tell? She peered down at her tray. It doesnt look off or something, does it?

She sounded anxious about it. As if someone rocking an S-rank skill might really need to worry that her free, magically perfect food would offend a bunch of hungry teenagers.

Im just a good guesser. It looks great. He tucked it into the pocket of his hoodie and headed down the hall.

Natalie Choir let her apartment door shut and tagged along after him.

I havent seen you around. Did you just get in yesterday?

Last night, said Alden. You said youve been here two weeks?

Yeah. Me and all my roommates arrived within a couple days of each other. They try to fill whole apartments at once, so dont worry. You wont be on your own for long!

Alden suspected he would, but he didnt see any reason to explain that. How many Rabbits are here right now?

A hundred and eighty-three, she said promptly. Now four, since youre here.

You memorized the exact number?

For the snacks! She held up the tray again. Ive already delivered another one of these to our counselors desk.

She kept filling him in while they waited in a large community space for the elevator to arrive. There were beanbag chairs and an air hockey table. Floor-to-ceiling windows looked out on the next building over. Natalie said that apartment tower was almost entirely for Brutes.

Staying here in intake has been way more fun than I thought it would be, she said. I was going to go straight into the School for the Arts at Celena North High as soon as I arrived, but then I decided it was better to settle in for a couple of months after all. Its a relief, you know? To be surrounded by other people who are totally new to the island.

I can see that. Its probably easier to figure it all out with people who are in the same position.

Of course there would still be newbies in the Apex high schools dorms, but a larger percentage of the kids their age would be native Anesidorans.

Shapers and Healers are on the floors below us, Natalie said. And Meisters and Adjusters are above. There are only a few U-types here right now, but they have their own floor at the top of the Brute tower. They dont mingle a lot. Wrights are in that square, blocky apartment building. And Sways are over there, she pointed at a low brick structure that looked distinctly prison-ish. Its actually very nice inside. They mingle even less than the Us. I think they have their own community building activities for credits. Oh, and any ultra-rares usually get mixed in with the Healers or us Rabbits.

She paused for breath just as the elevator arrived.

They stepped inside, and Alden pressed the button for the next floor down. It opened onto another community area, this one dominated by a large circular desk with a scrolling digital sign across the front that listed currently ongoing dorm activities. Right now, it said breakfast in multiple languages.

New counselor, Alden noted as he stepped out of the elevator and spotted a young woman with brown skin and an edgy-looking undercut hairstyle. She was filling some of the welcome gift bags. She must be the day shift person.

She didnt wear a physical name tag, but she had one through his interface. Neha floated at the top right corner of his vision.

Hi, Neha! Natalie said, setting the tray of granola beside another one that was already there.

Hey again, Nat. She had an Anesidoran accent. She looked past the girl to Alden.

And Alden, she added.

Do I have a name tag, too? he asked, surprised.

No. You can if you want one. Theres a setting. But I actually just got in and got an update on your situation. It had a picture of you from last night. And theres a note saying you arrived without luggage. I was about to call and ask if you needed someone to go get basics for you.

Alden shook his head. Im going to wander around the neighborhood and buy some stuff on my own, if thats okay?

Youre not a prisoner. Go. Be free. Call me if something goes wrong during the day, even if its just something minor. Theres a loosely enforced curfew while youre staying in intake, but its midnight. Until then, nobody will bother you. She paused. You want a buddy?

A buddy?

There are volunteer mentors who take new kids and show them around. I can have one meet you?

No thanks, he said. Id rather just explore. But I wanted to ask about having visitors in the dorm

Depends on the visitor. Random localsno. They would flood the place if we let them, and its supposed to be a haven just for you new kids. Pre-approved tutors or class mentorsyes.

Family?

She does not act like an old person.

I know what youre thinkingwow, she doesnt talk like an old person!

Erm

Kids always say stuff like that. You dont get a special old-person personality when you hit a certain age. Old people are just members of a different generation than you, which is to say, a different peer group. They usually act like their friends instead of yours.

Alden guessed that made sense.

When you stay young forever, you naturally tend to make friends with other young people. Or eternally young people. Or high-class wizards. Makes you a bit different, but its not a bad thing. And it more than makes up for the main bad thing about being a Rabbit.

Being away from Earth so much?

Her voice was serious. I intend to see more than a human lifetimes worth of sunrises right here on the planet where I was born. Ill just do it at a different pace than most people.

Alden didnt know how he felt about that announcement. But he had to admit that, as far as icebreakers went, Nehas was pretty mind-blowing.

Anyway, she said, I just wanted to give you the special talk before you bought a house or something. You might not know if youre the kind of Rabbit who gets summoned all the time yet, but you had this one terrible and no-doubt lucrative incident. So, advice from an old personsave it. In case you decide you want to be laughing about this phone call with me in a century without your mind and body suffering from the ravages of time. Despite what all the fiction tells you, death isnt the main thing that makes life meaningful. I like being alive even more now that I did when I was your age.

Iwill consider that.

Have fun with you aunt!

She hung up and left Alden blinking up at a gleaming red drone, feeling bemused. Yeah. It might take me even longer than I thought to get used to all of this.

***********

Alden took a city bus to the Teleportation Complex. He sat beside a Shaper of Life who was wearing vines as accessories.

When he entered the building through the automatic doors, he had a strange moment. He thought he heard an extremely loud toilet flush. He looked to his right in confusion.

I guess there is a bathroom over there?

It was right beside the big metal post drop hed used to send his letter to the Velras.

That was forever ago. At least they probably wont bother me while Im staying in intake, since theres a no random locals policy.

He kept walking. He heard another toilet flush. He wondered if they had really insane plumbing in that restroom.

A few minutes later, he finally got to see his aunt face to face.

He was glad theyd had the emotional, tear-jerker phone call while he was still hanging out in the forest. Mostly what he felt when she ran out of the local arrivals hall at the Teleportation Complex was pure happiness. They threw their arms around each other and hugged for ages, while she shouted in his ear about the fact that hed gotten taller.

When they stepped apart, he said, Youre imagining things. Its just a quarter of an inch.

You measured yourself as soon as you got home? Youre not still racing Jeremy, are you? She smiled. I hate to tell you this, but hes winning.

He laughed. I only know because I had the System send my measurements to some guy named Dragon Rabbit so that he could buy me clothes.

He was 176.4 cm tall.

You said you didnt need clothes! I was going to pull your things down out of the attic

Maybe later. I thought it would be more fun if we went shopping.

It was a good day.

They spent most of it wandering around Rosa Grove Mall. It was the largest shopping center on the island. There were hundreds of stores, and in between buying too much stuff and eating too much food, Alden managed to put together a picture of his aunts current life.

She had been devastated he was gone, but these days, she was mostly happy. He could tell. Mr. Tiger Shortsactually an RV salesman named Brodiewas okay. He had a big messy family, and hed introduced Connie to them.

Alden was glad, though a little overwhelmed, to hear her chatter about all of the mans cousins, step siblings, and siblings like they were characters in a show hed never seen.

In turn, he talked a lot about Kibby and all of the interesting, not-awful things hed experienced while he was away.

Late in the afternoon, they split a celebratory cupcake in honor of the fact that they had missed each others sixteenth and thirty-third birthdays. And Alden decided it was a good time to broach a subject he hoped would only be slightly awkward for them both.

Can I give you money, Aunt Connie? Without it being weird?

No, she said, licking a finger and using it to pick up stray sprinkles from the cupcake wrapper.

I really want you to let me. I have a lot more than I need, and it would make me way more comfortable about leaving home.

She considered him for a moment, scanning his face with blue eyes that sometimes made Alden think he really remembered exactly what his mothers had looked like.

I left home at sixteen, too, she said finally. I thought the world owed me something grander than life in a trailer park in Tennessee. Pretty different from what youre doing.

I know.

Connie rarely mentioned it. Both of Aldens maternal grandparents had died a couple of years later. Alden thought, mostly based on context clues and not anything hed ever been told for sure, that his mother had never forgiven her much younger sister for breaking their parents hearts.

I meant to grow up, she said. At some point. But I felt like everything was forcing me to do it all at once when your mom died, and I think maybe I missed a couple of steps. Because I was busy feeling sorry for myself.

You did fine.

She reached for her drink and jabbed at the ice in the cup with the straw.

You didnt tell me, she said finally. When you got selected as an Avowed. I just kept thinking about it, every night lying in bed after you went missing. The fact that you didnt tell me right away.

Alden took a deep breath. I was going to

I was always so disappointed in my parents when I was a teenager. She looked down at the melting ice. I dont even know why. They were good people. Maybe I was angry that they werent impressive people. Or something like that. Butif Id been chosen as an Avowed when I was your age, I know Id have run straight home to my mother and told her. Because even though I was ungrateful, deep down I knew I could always count on her for the things that really mattered.

Alden sat frozen across the pink laminate table from her.

Im sorry I didnt give you that, she said finally. When youre a kid, you need grown-ups you can trust like that.

Aunt Connie, Alden said quietly, I trust you. Dont

You love me. She rubbed a single tear away from her cheek with the palm of her hand. She smiled at him. Theres a difference. And I think it might be okayit might be bestif you were mad at me. A little. I wasnt too young or too dumb to know I should do better. I knew. You were just so mature for your age, and I kept using it as an excuse to let you take care of yourself. And you should be mad about that. You were supposed to have more.

She stood up suddenly and started clearing the trash before Alden could even begin to respond.

Anyway, she said in a brisk voice as she came back from the recycling bins and shoved her chair under the table, you said you wanted exercise clothes and weights. So we still need to go to the athletic supply store.

Ahbutokay. Umaccording to the map on my interface its on the fourth floor. He stood up, too. Also, I didnt want weights.

You need weights. Or you need to go to that place full of the sweaty, grunting people we passed on the way over here.

The Brutes-only gym? said Alden. Why?

You picked the bunny class, baby. People are gonna pick on you. You need to be able to protect yourself.

Nobodys going to pick on me. And if some of them want to, then going to the gym is not going to stop them.

He did want to find a good gym, but not for that reason.

Well get you some pepper spray, then, she said. She narrowed her eyes. Or bear spray. And a knife.

Sure. Carrying those around will make me look so approachable while I try to make new friends.