Book 2: Chapter 29 - When She Hears That Train A Comin’

Because it pisses you off the most, and I gotta say, White-hair, that it's fucking hilarious.
—Teddy Smith, “Resurrection Raid”

“I don’t know. I just don’t see how you love Frankenstein,” the voice said. Kiera smiled internally. The man in the other cell was just trying to be friendly, of course. But he was doing more than that. It wasn’t like either of them had anything better to do, but even so. The conversation with him had probably kept her sane, if she was being honest. The wall between the two cells made it impossible to see her only companion, but the open bars allowed them to speak at least. She’d been in that cell for days, and the guards steadfastly refused to give her anything to read. All she’d done the entire time was eat, sleep, and talk to the faceless stranger next door. She was grateful for it, really. Her internal illusions kept her calm, and he kept her entertained and grounded. And strangely, he made her feel safe. Altogether, she was having a decent day. Even if he said some of the stupidest things she’d ever heard. “I mean, I totally get why you like it, sure. But love? That seems like a generous evaluation.”

“I love it because I love it, dude. Life is weird that way. People love different shit,” she replied. “It’s got great character work. But hey, you don’t have to like it. That’s literally fine.”

“Oh, I like it,” he answered. “Because you’re right. The journey from thinking the creation is the monster to realizing the doctor is, then finally understanding they are both monsters… it’s phenomenal character writing. But that’s the thing. I do like it. And that’s why I’m just so heartbroken about the better story it could have been, you know? Like… it’s beautiful art, but it had potential to be a masterpiece! It’s like a Category Violet with all the power of a Category Red.”

Kiera scoffed at that. “Yeah, okay, I’ll humor you. What was it missing to be a masterpiece?” she asked.

“You don’t know yourself? How can you say you love something when you are blind to its flaws? For instance, don’t you think it’s a bit juvenile? A bit too afraid to engage with an adult audience?” the voice asked.

“What? What the fuck are you talking about? How could it possibly ‘engage with an adult audience’ any harder?” she retorted. 

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s too afraid to include adult content! Where are the tits and ass? Where is all the sex and violence? Why is it so sparing with detailed gore? It’s a monster novel, for God’s sake! If Ms. Shelley was going to write a book about violence, she should have committed to it! Instead, it’s just an entire book saying ‘the monster was consumed by bloodlust’ whenever it kills someone, instead of showing something interesting,” he replied with an impassioned shout.

Kiera actually laughed out loud. He was being annoying, but she was completely certain that had been a joke. And—not for the first time—she thought she had an idea about who he was. Consumed by bloodlust indeed. Not a single death in the classic novel had been described that way. Only one person would say something so confidently stupid, and he would almost definitely say it specifically to annoy her. “Yeah, good point,” Kiera chuckled. “There is just no way to appeal to the adult audience like writing every scene to the tastes of a fourteen-year-old boy.”

“I’m serious!” he complained. 

Kiera only laughed harder. “No you fucking aren’t,” she replied. “There is absolutely no way.”

“Besides! The archives listed it in monster books. Like, monster books. I expected action! A new kaiju battle every chapter, before Frankenstein moves on to a new city to crush and another kaiju to fight!” the voice added. Kiera choked.

“Fucking stop,” she cackled. She was growing more certain by the moment. This was intentional buffoonery to cheer her up. Or distract her, at least. 

“I’m serious!” he repeated.

“Nope,” she denied. “You did not want Frankenstein to have the plot of Power Rangers, but with less potential for long-term payoff. How could you have expected that if you read anything about the book before starting it? Or if you'd seen the cover it has in the archives? Come on. You are either joking, or you’ve freshly entered puberty. And your voice isn’t cracking, is it?”

The voice was silent for a long moment, then it sighed. “Alright, you got me. I had you going for a minute, though, right?” 

“Sure,” she laughed. “For a minute. But you showed your hand this time, I’m afraid. I think I have you figured out now.”

“Oh?” the voice asked.

Kiera sighed. She wasn’t simply comforted by the voice anymore. Instead, she was actually, genuinely happy. “There is no cell on that side, is there? I was unconscious when they threw me in here, and you’ve been talking to me for days, so I thought there must be. But… you’re just here to visit me, aren’t you?” 

Again, the voice was quiet for a moment, and then it sighed. “You would have told me to go home if you’d known,” he answered. His voice was lower now, and more familiar. He wasn’t keeping up the pretense anymore. “Shoulda known I couldn’t fool the illusion girl.”

“Shoulda,” Kiera agreed. “And you’re right, Guy. We had class today. You can’t just skip class when you go to Chromatic. You might end up in here for real! Who knows how long I’ll be locked up like this? What are you going to do when I’m officially convicted?”

“First of all, you aren’t going to be convicted. You didn’t do anything wrong, and you know that. Second, you won’t be in here for long,” Guy replied. “And I can miss one day. I’ll just get smoked for a few hours, I suspect. Maybe a write-up. It doesn’t matter. You’ll be out soon, either way. Violet took care of that.” 

Kiera paused, then sat up. She’d actually been upset that Violet hadn’t come to visit her. Especially if Guy was apparently allowed to just wait outside of her cell during most waking hours. But she’d only known the scout for a few weeks. She could hardly expect her to believe in Kiera’s innocence after that long. Especially since—regardless of whatever Guy believed—Kiera was guilty. She'd tried to kill her father. She’d thought she’d succeeded, actually. To hear she would not only be getting out soon, but Violet was somehow responsible…

“Violet?” Kiera pressed. She had to wait a long time for the answer. But eventually, Guy rounded the corner and set a stool outside her cell. It was good to see him, even though he looked terrible, and she was certain she looked worse. She, at least, could hide how out of sorts she looked with illusions. Guy, on the other hand, didn’t even bother hiding the thick scars all over his arms. She idly wondered why he hadn’t had them healed, now that he was at Chromatic. Kassie, at least, would be happy to spend the clarity on him. She let out a wistful sigh, but was interrupted as he answered her forgotten question.

“Violet likes you a lot, Kiera,” Guy answered. “Hell, she moved in with you. Maybe she’s into you. It would certainly explain the lengths she went to just to post bail for you.”

Kiera raised one curious eyebrow. “I don’t think so. She knows I—” She cut herself off. She knows I am interested in someone else, she thought. But Guy would narrow down the options pretty quickly. “I’m not interested. I don’t think it’s a great idea to hook up with an assigned roommate, you know?” she finished instead. 

“I don’t know, seems pretty convenient to me, but suit yourself,” Guy shrugged. 

“What did she do, exactly?” Kiera finally asked. She knew Violet was an Asher, and she did have a little of that rich girl naivety to her. But Kiera assumed the snarky girl had just had a more comfortable environment than usual growing up. It was just the kind of ignorance that a person developed when they’d never been fed oatmeal before. But based on the way Violet talked about her parents, Kiera didn’t think that extended to actually having money to spend. And bail for an attempted murderer would be set high. In fact, she wasn’t even aware bail had been set. Based on the old movies, she thought that would be assigned in a courtroom or something. The world had changed, of course. But Prism City felt so much like stepping into the past compared to her hometown.

“I don’t know the details, honestly. I just know it involves her fucked-up family and an ugly bruise. Plus a few broken ribs. She went to Kassie to have them healed after I saw her, but it was pretty gnarly. I guess she came straight here to get you out as soon as she had the money. Before she got an obviously bad injury healed,” Guy replied. “If you’re sure it’s not like that, well. She’s a good friend.”

Kiera was quiet for a long moment. Water built up at the corners of her eyes, and she wiped them with a dirty sleeve. “Why do people keep doing shit like this for me?” she asked. “First you, and now Violet. Why stick your necks out for me like this?”

Guy smirked in an irritating way. Annoyingly smug and even more annoyingly hot. “Well, I have no idea what you’re referring to in my case, but if I had done anything for you, it’d probably be some stupid and shallow reason. Because you’re cute and I like your tail, for sure. Definitely unrelated to wanting to support a kind and funny girl who would happily do the same for us,” he replied.

Kiera smiled with quivering lips. “You overestimate me, really,” she replied. A sharp pang of guilt stabbed at her as she remembered her inaction while her mother slowly died. I wouldn’t help anyone. I am selfish, and cowardly, and cruel. But she fed her talent a little more clarity, and the tremor left her mouth. She couldn’t remember what she’d been thinking a moment before, but it wasn’t important. She was glad to hear Guy understood her. She showed her teeth as the grin widened. “I’d only do the same for Violet.”

Guy put his hands to his chest like he’d just been shot. “You wound me, Kiera, you really do,” he lamented. 

Kiera’s smirk faded into a genuine smile. “Seriously, though. Thanks again,” she said. She didn’t say what she was thanking him for, but it wasn’t for visiting her. She wasn’t about to acknowledge the role he’d played in the very crime she’d been arrested for. But he knew what she meant. It was a secret they’d share until they died. 

He nodded. “Of course,” he agreed. That was as close to acknowledging it as he’d ever come. It was enough. Kiera was quiet after that. For a heavy moment. She wasn’t sure how to safely ask the rest. But at the same time, she needed to know. Guy could give her more information when they got back to campus. Which was apparently something she would actually be able to do, thanks to her new friend. She’d have to do something to pay Violet back for that, when she got the chance. Once she’d processed the reality that, just maybe, her life wasn’t entirely over. Still. She couldn’t live with the suspense any longer. She needed at least one detail.

“Do you… know anything? About, uh…” she trailed off. She wanted to ask how much the police seemed to know. Who’d reported them. She’d been arrested for attempted murder, which was news to both her and Guy. So it seemed obvious her father was alive. But it was hard to believe he’d have recovered enough to report her already, if he was awake at all. He shouldn’t have even known it was her who’d poisoned him. And if he did, he shouldn’t have known it was on purpose. She knew Guy wouldn’t have a lot of answers to this. Especially since he’d spent so much time next to her, pretending to be just as trapped as she was. Just so she wouldn’t feel bad about wasting his time. But she had to ask. “About why I was arrested?”

Guy sighed. “He’s coming here, Kiera. With the lancers who went back to investigate. He gets here today.”

If he was well enough to travel, then Kiera had been wrong. She hadn’t used a higher dose than she’d thought. It had been too low, instead. That changed everything. But she didn’t pale. She didn’t panic. Her heart rate didn’t increase as she realized she hadn’t escaped the looming threat of her own murder. Her father was there, and he was going to try to kill her again. Slowly and miserably. He was going to capture her again, and he was going to use her as a prop to elevate his name. He was going to make her sick again. But she reacted to none of this. The only thing she had to process was the illusion of calm and mild amusement.

“What a fucking dick,” she sighed.