ONE HUNDRED SIX: Ledger

ONE HUNDRED SIX: Ledger

106

At North of North that morning, Alden had a plyometrics session with Bobby and the guy whod been analyzing how his movement trait stressed his body.

Theyd roped off a section of the buildings marble-floored foyer just for him because they wanted to watch him on different types of ground, and they hadnt tried marble yet. He was doing his best not to feel self-conscious while he jumped up and down on progressively higher boxes.

Regular jumping. Magic jumping. Higher, Alden. Faster, Alden. Ignore all the superheroes getting their smoothies, Alden.

Theres an actual hyperbole watching me hop around. Thats not strange at all.

She was a spunky-looking girl with teal hair.

Well, not a girl, he corrected himself. Isnt she like forty?

She was a U-type, and in English, her name was Plopstar. Alden had always found that concerning.

Laying waste to acreage with falling magic sparkles? Awesome.

But calling yourself Plopstar while you did it? Could she really be trusted to aim her magic sparkles at the right spots?

Lets get some more height on the next one, said Bobby, moving a mat out of the way. Shed brought it to toss in front of him in case he overshot a box on a high jump. Tell me if anything starts to hurt.

While Alden was checking to make sure the enamel rabbit pin he was using as his preserved object was still tucked deeply in the pocket of his shorts, a text message from Lute popped up. Hed just woken up, and he was booking the privacy booth for them to have their wordchain tutoring session.

[Do you want a creepy one, a snobby one, or an underwater one?]

Why are those the only three options? Why are those options at all?

When hed heard the phrase privacy booth hed assumed it would be similar to an office cubicle or a restaurant booth. Lute seemed like someone whose idea of creepy might be really creepy.

[Isnt there a normal variety?]

[What about one in the back of a Wright shop? Theyll check our molars for explosives and teach us a secret knock.]

[Snobby sounds good,] Alden said immediately.

If molar checking happened at these places, he wanted the least creepy molar check available.

Throw your hips into it! a voice shouted across the foyer. You can go higher, kid!

[Plopstar is yelling at me,] Alden told Lute.

He tried to ignore her. Then he realized that ignoring was probably not the way to go with one of the most powerful people in the world. So he smiled and waved instead.

[R.I.P.] said Lute. [It was nice knowing you. When she glitters you to ash, can I have your room?]

******

Alden survived his gym session with only a little more input from a Rank 1 than he wouldve liked, and afterward, he set off on a rental bike for a skatepark where Lute was hanging out with Haoyu.

It was a gorgeous day for Anesidorablue sky, sunshine, breezy. People were walking around in flip-flops and tank tops and pretending it was actually warm instead of just warm enough.

Lexi thinks the rest of the planet isnt for us, and it never will be, Alden thought as he pedaled.

He felt so unsettled by the sentiment, and he couldnt understand why he did. He was perfectly aware of what Anesidora was. Hed had multiple conversations with people about it. A lengthy government letter was still in his inbox, announcing the official date his U.S. citizenship had expired.

Maybe it was the way Lexi had delivered the opinion. Like it wasnt really up for debatejust a simple truth.

Hey, System, he said, as he wove around a stroller that had been parked in the bike lane outside a clothing store. Pull up my exit letter. The one that de-citizens me. Text to audio.

He didnt know exactly what he was trying to figure out as he listened to the message read itself. He wanted to judge the tone, maybe, and that wasnt the easiest thing to do. The letter sounded like it had been crafted by a roomful of writers whod been threatened with execution if there was a single negative connotation toward any party.

There was no line in there that explicitly said, Fuck off, Alden Thorn. The country just works better for the rest of us without you in it.

It was, of course, professional and full of language that implied he was a good person and should be proud of himself. They were confident he would use his extraordinary gifts in protection of and service to our United Nations of Earth and all other known peoples throughout the universe.

Yeah, its pretty final.

He was surprised theyd thrown the other species into the mix, though. It felt like an unusual show of solidarity with the other resource worlds in the first place, and in the second, this was a letter about how Alden had to live on Anesidora now.

Stay there. Thats the spot where we put the people with the extraordinary gifts. Good boy.

It really didnt have anything to do with the other known peoples throughout the universe at all.

so thats it. They couldnt manage to make living on an isolated island sound like my noble duty, so they talk about how Im protecting and serving as an Avowed instead and hope I wont notice the two are entirely separate things.

Not surprising. Nothing new.

It just sounded different a few hours after hed heard Lexi describe Anesidora as the place that actually wants us.

He looked around him. A girl in a university t-shirt was in the lane ahead, using Shaping gestures to power her bicycle instead of the pedals. On the street, people were making full use of their running licenses, whipping around cars and motorcycles. And hed spotted Bedlam Beldam on his way to the gym, soaring around above the drone traffic layer on her broomglider.

Hed taken a quick video for Boe.

It was all so Anesidoran. So Apex.

A couple of minutes later, he reached a small skatepark. He racked the bike and took in the scenery. It had sounded like his roommates were just going to hang out together, and Haoyu was going to teach Lute how to use a board. But their plans must have changed.

He saw Haoyu, but there was also a large and peculiar assortment of their classmates present. Kon was there, so it was probably his doing. Lexis brother went through the day picking up people like they were Easter Eggs.

Maricel, Vandy, Tuyet, and Everly were all playing around with a single skateboard. It was obvious theyd never used one before. Helosa was doing conspicuous kickflips in Mehdis line of sight, and he was pretending not to see her while he went up and down a ramp.

Haoyu was on a board at the edge of the park, animatedly explaining something to a watching Kon and Jeffy.

The girls were closest, so Alden headed over to them.

If I ice the top of it and use my skill to stick myself to it do you think that will make me better or worse? Everly asked Tuyet and Vandy. She had her arms crossed over her chest and she was watching Maricel skate away from them across a flat section of concrete.

You might damage Haoyus board. Vandys hands were making a pressing motion down by her sides.

Alden looked around for whatever patch of air she was working on. Vandy was almost always doing something with her magic. It took him a while to spot it today. Her shoulder-length hair didnt seem to be moving in the breeze like everyone elses.

Hi, Vandy! Are you shaping the air around your face?

Blue-gray eyes fixed on him.

Yes, she said. Im practicing stilling rather than moving today. Maricel is practicing soil compression with the dirt in her pockets. Everly is thinking about freezing skateboards. And Tuyetis taking a day off. For rest.

Everly shook her head.

Oof, thought Alden. The judgment in her tone.

I cant throw darts around out here in public! Tuyet protested. Itll scare people. Theyre weapons, and they're little. Its hard for anyone to know if Ive got safety blunting on them or not.

Vandy was the kind of person who asked you with utter seriousness how you were going to overcome your Rabbit disadvantages so that she could make plans for shoring up your weaknesses if you happened to be in battle together fifteen years from now. It had to be tough to be her friend sometimes.

Not everyone wants to practice every minute of every day, Everly told her. Weekends are healthy. Aldens not practicing right now.

Yes, he is, said Vandy.

Alden looked at her in surprise.

Hes almost always practicing, Vandy informed the other two. Its just that his skill is subtle, and you can only tell hes using it if youre watching him walk across ground element surfaces. Or examining his pockets.

Maricel was skating back toward them. Her pixie cut had gotten a dye job. She had a few small pink streaks at the back of her neck.

She smiled as she joined them.

Are you really time-stopping something right now? Tuyet asked Alden.

A few people almost always referred to Aldens power with temporal language rather than using the words he himself usually did when he was talking about itpreservation, freezing, shielding

They all pretty much knew what the skill did by now. He thought the vocabulary difference had to do with whether he had tried to explain it to them himself or if Konstantin had gotten to them first. The Adjuster liked talking about time magic for obvious reasons.

Im just glad Maricel is a nice person who doesnt tell people about the pickles misunderstanding.

Pickle Man would be a difficult image to escape from.

What are we talking about? Maricel asked brightly.

Vandy says she can tell when Aldens practicing his skill, said Tuyet.

Everly was staring at Aldens butt.

Not my back pockets, he clarified. I almost never have an item there.

Because his skill wouldnt work if he accidentally sat on his object instead of letting it sit on him.

No, said Vandy. He keeps objects in his front pockets if he doesnt have them in his hand or his bag. Usually his hoodie. I always check to see if hes practicing in Intro to Other Worlds.

So Im going to have to make sure I dont stick anything too weird in the pockets from now on.

You could just ask me

Its good to examine other Avowed and determine when their powers are in use, Vandy explained. Youre one of the best people in our class to practice observation on.

Now they were all staring at him.

He doesnt have a hoodie on today, said Everly.

The front pockets look normal, said Maricel, examining his jeans.

Maybe its one of his shoelaces? Tuyet bent over to poke at Aldens feet. He could do it to keep a shoe from coming untied.

I hadnt thought of that one yet.

I know he has something, said Vandy. He has a trait. Its tied to the skills use like a lot of Rabbit traits. It makes him walk differently on ground when hes protecting something.

Shes right, Alden admitted, digging his hand into his front pocket and producing the enamel pin. I can cut the trait off, but I usually dont bother. I carry this sometimes when I just want to practice and I dont have anything I really need to preserve. Or I pin it to my shirt. Its small, so it doesnt get in the way.

Aww, its a bunny! said Everly.

They gave them to all the Rabbits in intake.

Maricel looked at him for permission, then reached out with a finger to poke the pin on his palm. I really cant touch it. It looks like Im touching it. Im touching something. But its not the pin.

>

Alden looked at Lute in surprise. Was this a standard question or one hed requested specifically? No.

Lute answered the same three in the same way. Both parties are honest. She cracked a smile for the first time since theyd met her in the garage. Youll have to trust me on that since youre not traveling with your own personal Sways.

To Lute, she added, The packages that arrived for you are waiting inside.

Then she knocked on the wall behind her six times, and it swung open to reveal a room that definitely didnt belong in this dull back corridor.

Its a replica of a suite on a European luxury train, Lute said as soon as the door closed behind them. Im glad you picked snobby.

It was compact, but the quality of everything made it feel like it wasnt a closet. The walls were glossy wood with decorative geometric inlay. Light came from glowing sconces and a line of panels along one wall designed to look like windows with semi-transparent shades pulled down. The tiny seating area was just a green velvet chair, a cream-colored loveseat, and a side table with a stack of packages on it. Right behind the chair, a queen-sized bed with an inlaid headboard filled the rest of the room, and if they squeezed past the foot of it, there was a tiny bathroom behind a sliding door.

Privacy spaces tend to be small, Lute said. Its expensive to magically shield them from the million different ways people can pry, I think. So its smart if theyre designed to look like cool places that are supposed to be cramped. The underwater one was going to be a little submarine.

Lute kicked off his shoes and flung himself on the brocade bedspread.

Do they all have beds?

It seems to be a common feature. He clucked his tongue before rolling off the bed and stepping past Alden to examine the boxes on the table. Weve got this place for six hours, so if you need to send your messages or something, go ahead. Ive got to look through the supplies before we get started to make sure I understand what it is Parethat-uur expects me to actually do with you. While Im opening these, please do tell me about your cult problem. I am incredibly interested in peoples cult problems.

Alden took off his own shoes and sat down on the loveseat. It was so soft that it took him a second to stop appreciating the fabric with his fingers before he spoke.

If there was an Avowed talent that was capable of mind control and it wasnt known as that kind of power, how bad would it be for the people who had it if the news got out?

Lute was undoing the latches on the front of a leather case.

It depends. Theres plenty of magic that skirts the edges of mind control, and people usually dont freak out about it. Everyone knows if you whack Appeal up far enough interesting things can happen before the System cuts you off or starts offering you alternatives. And there are some iffy spell impressions outside of Sway. As long as its still in a gray area where you cant say for surethe person used magic directly on your actual thoughts

Im ninety-nine percent sure she does something directly, said Alden. I dont think its the main way she controls her minions, necessarily. But it exists. I was really suspicious of her one day, and I knew shed behaved badly toward me, then a couple of days later it was like that knowledge was at the back of my thoughts. My friends had to remind me that I had a problem with her, and Im not usually forgetful about people who creep me out. And I was having a picnic with her cult once, and they were all being nice to me and I was being nice to them and then they just started strongly disliking me again mid-supper. And she totally convinced a lady with a busted leg that she was too shy to ask the medic for help.

Lute looked up. Yeahthats less gray area and more actual mind control. It would be awful for the people who had the talent without knowing it.

Alden groaned. I dont want to ruin the skills reputation, but if the people Im trying to help take me seriously, itll probably come out. I feel terrible about it.

Its not your fault someone found a dangerous use for a skill. Lute shut the case and opened a carved wooden box. This kind of thing happens. Anyway, if its got a mind control component, its going to be news eventually. If its today or twenty years from now, the only difference is when it gets ruined for people. And there could be someone taking it right this second who wouldnt if they knew it would make them look suspicious for the rest of their life. So you might be saving more people than you destroy.

Could we not use the word destroy?

Whats the skill?

Its Tailor Environment. You know, the

Lute spun toward him. Shit. Thats bad. I was assuming it was something obscure. That skill is so popular.

I know.

Its one of the sure-thing skills for C-rank Rabbits.

I know.

Everyone loves that skill.It makes the world comfortable. And it makes people so much money.

The woman whos misusing it is older. Probably one of the first people to acquire it, before it even got really popular here on Earth.

Ohhhh Lute bit his lower lip and furrowed his brow. Has the skill found its top yet?

The guy who really popularized it says his is at level fourteen now. So probably around there.

So its a skill that gets fat, too. That makes it more desirable. But it should make you feel better.

Why?

You say the person you met is one of the first to ever select it. She couldve topped it off a decade or more ago. Im sure there arent any C-rank Rabbits running around at level four or five who could make you too shy to get help when you were injured. And since its such a beloved talent, it might end up being a situation where people with it just have to be more open about their profiles from now on to prove they havent taken it really high. Itll still be upsetting for them, but not life ruining. The Artonans might even change the skill for future human userswouldnt count on it though. Sounds like the mind control might be a desirable part of it, if it wasnt a bad person using it that way.

Alden threw his legs up onto the loveseat. You think they want it to do that?

You think they designed one of their own favorite skills for their most frequently summoned class haphazardly? Lute countered. Tailor Environment is about arranging things so that theyre exactly where someone likes for them to be, right? Say youre a wizard about to do some stressful wizard job. You snap your fingers, and a Rabbit appears. They clean your potion kitchen or whatever, prep your equipment in the perfect way and put all your tools exactly where theyll be the most useful to you. Then, before you send them off with a pocketful of argold, you have them tuck your doubts and stresses behind task-focused thoughts so you can get down to business. Like having someone put the files in your head in orderit would be great.

I assumed she was pushing the skill way out of line from its intended use, Alden said.

She sounds like a freak. She touches brain without permission. If telling her victims makes the word spread, its a shame for all the nice Rabbits. But sometimes Avowed just have to deal with people thinking our powers are icky. And maybe, if it does work like I just guessed, itll be seen in a more positive light.

Alden glanced back at Manons hourglass animation. He checked his other messages just to make sure Boe wasnt back from catspace yet.

[Boater is getting their warnings today,] he texted. [Doing it the way we talked about. When you get back from your timeout, its your turn.]

Then he went into his System profile and, for the first time ever, he got creative with his name.

The Contract didnt care what Avowed called themselves, and it didnt mind them setting their preferred name to be entirely different things for different locations, people, or situations. It was normal among some species for an individual to have tons of names, and the Artonans were used to calling aliens whatever they wanted to be called.

Sending messages under false identities was frowned upon among human Avowed. Just like spam mail was frowned upon. But nobody could punish you for doing it if they couldnt prove beyond a shadow of a doubt you had.

Alden changed his name to Alice. It was a decision hed made in around a minute when he was working out the details of this plan. A female name was better for a couple of reasons. It started with A. He liked itprobably because someone named Alis had kept him from dying recently.

He set the emails to go out at staggered intervals. Hed spent hours tweaking them until they were as perfect as he could manage. Laura would receive hers in a few minutes. Half an hour later, the second would go to Chris. Then half an hour after that, to Naya. And so onall the way to Pineda.

Then he hired a courier service to deliver hard copies of the emails to all the members of the boater in a few hours, after the last one had been sent. One would also be delivered to Alden at his dorm, as if the sender was concerned about him, too.

Finally, he created a special social rule for himself. Every action he had just taken had been done under the preferred name Alice, and the rule said that when referencing these past few minutes of his life the System should never call him by another name.

It was a sneaky feature from a human point of view. But the System liked doling out tons of options for the most trivial thingsor maybe it was there because the Yumanit species had the concept of momentary names.

Alden switched his name back.

All the messages hed just sent would now be from Alice. And if someone asked the System whod sent them it would still answer Alice even though his name was now back to his original.

It was secure because the Systems were disinclined to tattletale.

Alden hadnt always planned to send his warnings anonymously, but hed decided there were significant benefits.

First, Manon had pre-disposed the boater to dislike him. What if her brainwashing would prevent them from believing any message with his name on it?

Second, if this all turned into a huge shitshow, he didnt want Manon to try to sue him for defamation of character or something.

She was probably going to think it was him. Cly Zhao would think it was him if the news ever reached her. The boater members, if they didnt suspect one another, would think it was him. Everyone and their uncle was going to suspect Alden Thorn, but if his name wasnt on anything, how would they ever prove it?

Hed even used a girls name. Alice could have been ThwartHog, and there was no way they were going to get her onto Anesidora to say otherwise.

The physical letters were being sent in case the boater people had their interfaces set to block messages from non-friends or people with recent name changes. And so that Alden would have a copy of his very own to take with him when he went to talk to Laura. He could say hed gotten the same warning as the rest of them and use it as his opener.

I did it, he said. I warned the cultists.

Hed expected to feel a sense of relief once the job was done. He was glad that he would wake up tomorrow with this task erased from his to-do list, but he also felt a little like hed just stepped off a ledge without checking to see how far below him the ground was.

Neat. That was fast.

Lute could out him as the sender, but Alden didnt think that he would. If he didif anything didAlden would just have to stand behind the letters and say, Yeah. It was me. Manon Barre hurts people. Sorry that the way she does it is going to make a whole bunch of other Rabbits look bad.

He hoped that a few of the boater members would go get themselves checked outor even just one of them. And then, with proof in official hands, the legal system could deal with it all in a graceful way.

Maybe Anesidora is good at this kind of thing. If theyre not, then nobody else could be.

The plan was in development for a while, he told Lute. Will you stay on the phone with me this evening while I go talk to one of them in person? In case she gets angry and attacks or the cult leader shows up and tries something on me.

Hed promised Boe hed have local backup.

Of course. Were having a special day together anyway. Lute held out his hands. System, I need my books.

A stack of books that looked like they ought to be called tomes appeared in his hands. His head barely peeked over the top of them. Impressive, arent I?

For using System storage?

For having free System storage, said Lute. Its just for the books and some other job supplies, though.

He turned and dropped the books onto the foot of the bed. Good thing, too. Theyre going to give me even more of these if I ever finish the first set.

What are they? Alden asked.

Most of them are full of wordchains Im supposed to be learning. Sometimes it feels like my job as an Avowed is just perpetual homework. So much memorization.

Alden stood and went over to look down at the book covers. These are all written in logograms. Can you read them?

They get read aloud to me while I follow along. Like incredibly boring bedtime stories. To make matters worse, a lot of them arent even in modern Artonan. Theyre from before the lingual unification. I was just memorizing the sounds of those onesand then it turned out my boss was not impressed with that method even though it was working for me. So now Im supposed to remember what all the sounds mean. You can imagine how well thats going based on our Conversation classes.

He rolled his eye.

This He grabbed the smallest and plainest-looking of the books. It had a simple brownish red cover that flipped open from bottom-to-top instead of side-to-side. This is what I was actually getting. I wanted to show off my homework and complain about it in the process. You can have this.

Do I need to read it? Alden asked.

No. Its a ledger. They gave it to me on my first day as a Chainer for whenever I wanted to take a student.

Lute held it out toward him, and he took it.

You asked whether Self-mastery was an exclusive wordchain, and I told you it wasnt really. That Id just need to vouch for you and get permission to teach it. This is the final step in me vouching for you. Giving you this means Im taking responsibility for your wordchain usage.

He scratched his head. Youre supposed to write down all your chains in here. And then show it to me or send me a copy through the System, so I can remind you when its time to pay them back. SorryI know its childish.

Alden flipped open the book. Inside, the first page had a spot for him and Lute to both sign their names. There was a line in logograms down one side that talked about following sacred paths. The second page was a grid. Despite the thick paper and some more poetic language sprinkled around, it was quite simple. There were spaces for chain names, casting dates, and finishing dates.

You want me to write down everything I use?

Just what I teach you. If you wanted to write down more common ones when you use them, too, that would be a good thing for me. Parethat-uur is going to ask me about you all the time since hes decided youre the best, and you having a fuller ledger would make him very happy.

I dont mind doing this, said Alden, thinking it through. I cant imagine why it would be a problem for me. But I dont understand why its necessary. Wordchains pay themselves off if you dont pay them off in a timely fashion, right?

This is one of the things I was happy my boss ordered me to teach you about. The duty that I totally knew Id get assigned when I called him. Wordchains do land the debt on you. If theyre healthy.

Healthy?

Lets sit down, said Lute, throwing himself at the green velvet chair. This is only going to take a second to explain, but then we have to have our tutoring session and thats going to take ages. Try not to get into trouble for the next few hours, all right? One mind control cult per day.

*