-1-

“Do you see that ? Watch the road!,” Luce barks,  jerking the  steering wheel  from my hands as a truck comes barreling down the desert in the opposite direction.

“I got it,” I retort under my breath, wresting control of the wheel back.

“Luce.” Grandma Sara warns from the backseat.

“She’s not paying attention to the damn road,” Luce retorts. He turns to me. “Last chance.”

“She’s fine. You need to calm down,” Grandma Sara chastises him.

I just let out a frustrated breath.

The truth was I hadn’t been paying attention to the damn road just then.

But it was all just so fucking boring. The elevated train tracks ran above us but other than that there was sand, sand, sand, more sand and then...some sand. And the occasional trucker who drove like they owned the road.

Still, driving this hell road with my Uncle yelling at me every 10 seconds was better than the alternative.

If I had to go back to the backseat for another minute I was going to crack.

At first Grandad had been his usual self---silly and taking playful nips from a flask he’d somehow managed to fill with tequila. It was classic Grandad. But he got sloppier as the hours crawled by and it became clear he’d gotten his hands on something more potent than liquor. He’d started  sobbing and ranting to me about Mom and then had a weird, unnecessarily crude one sided argument with Haley about why he should come back to work at Virtue.

Haley seemed perfectly at ease ignoring Grandad but not so much Grayson. I’d listened to Haley answer the literal hundreds of questions Grayson kept throwing at him. Grayson was such a sweet kid and I loved him to death but he didn't like being in a confided space and was in a whiny mood. He whined because his clothes were a little small, he had to know everything about where we were going, when we were going back home and what we would be doing every hour of everyday. He’d been asking questions for like 5 hours straight. He’d  barely slept or looked at his tablet all

I’d had my head cradled in my lap to stop myself from screaming when Grandma Sara asked if I was alright. I asked her if I could drive so I could do something. She and Luce seemed surprised I had a license to operate  a manual vehicle, but I didn’t just collect cars. My sisters and I spent hours at the car track trying out different models.

We stopped at a refueling station with crappy automat food and the most disgusting bathrooms I’d even seen to switch drivers. I’d been driving ever since.  I was a good driver but not a perfect one and that bothered Luce to no end. He’d been nitpicking at me the whole time but I was not giving up the wheel.

I hear a syn going off in the backseat and I get like this instant serotonin shot because I was having some serious withdrawal from being away from my syn. I look in the rearview mirror and see Haley’s syn lighting up.

“I thought we told you to keep that thing off,” Grandma Sara snaps at him.

She, Grayson and Haley are squished in the second row of seats with Luce’s folded up chair because Grandad is laid out sleeping off his impending hangover in the third row.

“I know, I’m sorry,”  Haley says. “I had to write a message to Grayson’s school I—I think it’s Twyla calling me.”

“Project it,” Grandma Sara says tersely.

Haley projects his syn, I flick my eyes to the rearview mirror and see Aunt Twyla in the projection.  Her normally perfectly coiffed auburn pixie is a mess and she looks like she’s trying to hold it together but is clearly on the brink of tears. She’s in bed and Colette is next to her, her dark eye brows pinched together in concern.

 “OH MY GOD, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!,” Aunt Twyla shouts, sitting up taller in her bed when she sees Grandma Sara. “ I have to find out my brother and his family are dead from the fucking news--”

“Twyla--,” I hear Colette'shard as granite voice attempting a soothing tone.

“I THOUGHT YOU WERE ALL DEAD!,” Aunt Twyla trills.

“Twyla--,” Grandma Sara says softly.

“Seriously, Mother ?,” Aunt Twyla interrupts sharply. “What the hell is going--”

“Sunshine protocol.”

Aunt Twyla goes silent.

I see Grandma Sara turns the projection towards me so Aunt Twyla can see I’m driving and Luce in the passenger seat.  The minute her eyes land on me  she and Colette share a tight embrace.

“Oh, okay,” Aunt Twyla breathes. “Where are the others ?”

Her tone is so hopeful.

Fuck the road, there is nothing out here and the car is made to avoid impact.

I give up looking ahead and watch Aunt Twyla through the rearview mirror.

Her  body language shifts when Grandma Sara puts the syn back on herself.“It’s just us here right now.”

Aunt Twyla shudders and buries her face in Colette’s shoulder. Colette  keeps a protective arm around her. Aunt Twyla’s talking but her words sound like unintelligible croaking and seeing her like that makes me tear up too.

“I’m sorry you found out that way, Twyla. Things have been crazy,” Grandma Sara tells her. “We haven’t had a moment to stop and think.”

“So…Did you also set the fire at Treasure Island ?,” Aunt Twyla croaks.

“What did you say ?,” Haley says, his attention snapping to the syn projection.

“Fire ?,” Grandma Sara asks. “What fire ?"

“Fallwater clients were calling Twyla this morning saying their systems weren’t working and you and Luce weren’t getting back to them,” Colette says for Aunt Twyla. “It was strange because you two are usually always working and we couldn’t reach anyone and Twyla was worried and she--”

“I screwed up. I called the Feds…I’m sorry.” Aunt Twyla cries, pulling at her hair.

This makes Grandad sit up from the backseat. His eyes are bloodshot and the bags underneath them look heavier than I’ve ever seen.

“Twyla,” Grandma Sara admonishes her.

“It was just social services for a welfare check,” Aunt Twyla says quickly. “I thought maybe something had happened. I had a bad feeling…they told me the building was on fire. I don’t know how bad it is. I though you all died. Please tell me you set the fire--”

“We didn't. Shit,”Grandma Sara curses. “How the fuck did he know where we lived--,”

“Who ? Actually, I can’t  keep doing this remotely, Mother,” Aunt Twyla says. She gets out of bed and I can see the messy master bedroom of their city loft as she pulls a piece of luggage our from under her bed. “Where are you  all headed ? We’ll meet you--”

“You can’t,” Grandma Sara says sternly. “Wait a second.”

She looks over to where Haley has Grayson’s head in his lap. At some point in the last two minutes he’d  put the noise-cancelling  pods in Grayson’s ears so he couldn’t hear what is being said. The white noise seemed to calm him down.

Grandma Sara fills Aunt Twyla and Colette in on everything that had happened since last night. She tells her about Kenji showing up and how he is likely the one trying to kill everyone so he can get the family money. And about how we are going to Arkham Academy to question Hotako Washington and to hide.

“Do we need to go into hiding too?,” Colette asks.

“I don’t think so,” Grandma Sara says. “He never met you. Plus you’re far away and Twyla isn’t even mentioned in the Washington will or any of the family documents--,”

“Neither are your or Luce,” Twyla argues. “And he still set your apartment on fire.”

“He must know we have Jean,” Grandma Sara says. “Or maybe he put together that Ellie was staying with us the night of the explosion. He still hasn’t made any public claims, he won’t be able to until Ellie and Jean are confirmed dead.”

“How the hell did he pull this off ?,” Twyla asks.

“I have no idea.”

“Kenji Washington, huh ?,” Colette says cracking her jaw. “I’ll put some feelers out with The Daughters of Fury. Some of the girls keep up with their families and friends still in the cartels. He didn’t do this alone.”

“Do that,” Grandma Sara nods.

Colette was a Master Engine Technician who owned her own engine shop. She'd started the Daughters of Fury motorcycle club. Over the last decade and a half they’d grown to hundreds of members across the world with each charter operating a repair and customization shop. Although I’m now realizing there is probably more to the  group  than being a bunch of mostly women who just happen to enjoy the same recreational activity.

“The fire...Is everything gone?” Haley asks quietly

It suddenly occurred to me that if Grandma Sara and Luce’s place was burned down his probably was too. My stomach caves in again because I suddenly feel bad Grayson never got to show me his room.

“I don’t know,” Twyla says. “I don’t know anything. We’re catching a flight out there tonight--”

“No,” Grandma Sara says sharply. “I need you to stay away--”

“She should go,” Luce interrupts from the front seat.

“There are already too many of us--”

“Not to come with us,” Luce says. “She can go start poking around until we can get back. She can say she is there as Fallwater’s legal counsel--”

“How many times do I have to tell you I’m not that kind of lawyer! I work on taxes--”

“It doesn’t matter,” Luce cuts her off. “Lawyer bullshit is lawyer bullshit. You work for Fallwater so you can use settling all this fire mess as an excuse to be around. Then you can be our eyes and ears in the Sprawl. Clearly we can’t trust anyone. See if you notice anything going on. I’ll work on a secure channel we can communicate through--"

“Should you be working your cybernetics that hard--”

“Don’t worry about me,”

Twyla looks like she wants to argue but after they exchange a few more details she hangs up.

 

 ***

-2-

Arkham Academy was breathtaking.

Or at least the lead up to it was.

After 10 hours on the road the desert finally gave way to an asphalt road that takes us deep into  what looked to me like magical fairytale woods.  I wasn’t a total city girl. I’d been to recreational parks and hot springs for vacation but this was something different. The trees rivaled the heights of the Sprawl’s tallest skyscraper and the even through the car I could smell something fresh, crisp and green. It reminded me of the laundry detergent our favorite laundry service used.

There are physical signs on the path pointing the way to  Arkham Academy and I guide the car up and around a curving road until we get to the gate. The entrance gate was as otherworldly as the rest of the surroundings with it’s tall brick anchors and the fancy looping sign molded out of  the wrought iron that spelled Arkham Academy. A bronze  flag pole with the school crest flag flapped above it all.

Luce gets out of the car first and leads the way to the gate. He presses a flat silver button embedded into the gate’s brick anchor. A crystal clear female voice comes through a speaker I can’t see.

“May I help you ?”

“I need to speak to Hotako Washington,” Luce says.

“Oh…did you have an appointment ?”

“Not exactly,” Luce responds. “I was told I have an open appointment”

“You’ll need an appointment, sir. Do you have a prospective student--"

“Tell him it’s Luce Grace,” Luce interrupts. “It’s about Sunshine Protocol.”

The line goes silent.

“Maybe you should have called him and told him we were coming,” I suggest.

“No,” Luce says cutting me a look. “If Kenji is here I don’t want him to get a heads up,”

That thought had never occurred to me. He could be here. His body hadn’t been found at the explosion. If he was here I wasn’t letting him off easy. I’d make him pay for what he did to my family.

“Please put your hand on the scanner,” the female voice says.

Luce touches the flat panel on the far side of the brick anchor and it glows an iridescent blue. Tiny dots of light dance around  his hand as his fingerprints are captured and his identity is confirmed. It’s way more high tech than what I was expecting for a school run by a bunch of neoluddites

“Someone is coming for you,” the voice says.

“I…have some guests,” Luce says turning back to us. “Five of them.”

We wait in silence. I notice Haley has changed into a buttoned up cardigan and long pants that cover up all of his tattoos. His hair is down and arranged around his face to cover the numbers inked behind his ear.  

When the gate opens , two cute little bulbous green solar powered carts glide through. They’re being driven by two boys and I hate myself because my first thought is that  drivers are hot. I mean, they don't make guys like them in the Sprawl.

One is wearing a formal black blazer embroidered with the Arkham crest with white dress gloves and is staring at us intensely. The other is wearing a traditional Japanese dress—wide legged hakama trousers with a modern cut and a short black haori kimono with a gold Arkham crest pined on the chest.

An older woman in a dark purple sheath dress  with big wooden jewelry is riding in the back of the cart driven by the stern faced boy in the blazer. She hurriedly gets off the cart with a smile that she quickly swallows.

“Why are they carrying ?,” Grandma Sara shouts, unsheathing two revolvers and aiming them at the two drivers.

The drivers instantly put their hands up in defense

“They’re stun guns. Just a precaution,” the woman in purple says walking towards us with her hands up too. “Luce Grace, is that really you ? Oh-”

“Ms. Sonja,” he says, rolling his chair forward.

She looks down at him and I recognize the pitying look in her eye as the one strangers always give Luce when we’re in public with him.

“I’m okay,” he assures her. “I just need to speak to Hotako.”

She gives us each a once over.

“No weapons are permitted on school grounds--”

“We’re not going in defenseless.” Grandma Sara barks. “Where is Hotako ?”

Ms. Sonja sighs.

“Hotako’s taken ill….he wants to see you, I will take you to him. Please, Sara. It’s okay.”

“Fine.” Grandma Sara says after a moment and signals to Luce.

Grandma Sara and Luce unholster their visible weapons and leave them in the car but I notice they both leave their concealed weapons in place. Grandad doesn’t bother to get rid of his hidden knives. I remember I’m carrying a little pistol concealed in my side too but something tells me to keep that fact to myself.

We board the electric carts as they pull into the school ground. Luce follows along in his chair instead of trying to attempt to get the chair on the cart.

I can’t help but to  take in every inch of the campus,  this place is like something out of a painting. Our carts keep a wide berth from the main campus but I stare up at the gothic buildings perched on perfect meadows of dark green grass and the scant few students walking  with tablets in hand. Some of them have actual books.

Luce’s chair can probably go faster than the cart but he slows himself down and looks out at everything with a wistful gaze. Grayson, who had only ever lived on the satellite ship and in the Sprawl, looks overwhelmed by it all. Haley is gripping his arm like he's afraid Grayson’s going to jump out the cart.

We’re driven to a Tudor style house on the edge of the campus with a perfect view of the massive lake in the center. The house is wrapped in a garden that reminds me of the garden Mom had put on our property. She’d killed everything the first year so Dad had to hire a part-time gardener to keep it up.

“Daddy, look!,” Grayson exclaims brightly when the cart stops.

I turn to see him pointing at a black and white collie mutt  bounding towards the carts with a crooked gait.

Much to Grayson’s delight the dog sniffs briefly at all of us and then bounces in front of Ms. Sonja until she takes a dog treat out of her pocket and tosses it. The dog goes excitedly races after it.

“I wanted to pet it,” Grayson asks enthusiastically “Daddy, can we go pet it ?”

“You have to ask first,” Haley says

“Of course you can. Her name is Cleopatra,” Ms. Sonja smiles at him. “And she loves attention. I think she has a ball in the backyard you can--”

“I think we should get this over with first,” Luce grumbles looking at Haley.

Our drivers, who must have gotten their Phds in being hot bodyguards and staring strangers down, follow us into the Tudor house. The inside of the house is clean and minimalist and it seems to have electricity and running water which I guess is the least I could ask for.

A man in linen pant and shirt set sitting is sitting in a highback chair by an empty fireplace. He’s old and thin with a shaved head and wearing thick glasses like someone out of a history book. He has a series of IV patches running up  arm.

 He shuffles up to approach us and then just stands, assessing our little ragtag group silently.

“What an unexpected surprise,” the man says, breaking the silence.

“Hotako,” Grandma Sara greets him, offering a stiff handshake.

“Sara Grace,” he says softly and turns to me. “This must be one of my great-nieces?”

“I’m Ellie—Eloise,” I swallow.

“Yes, the oldest. It’s a pleasure to meet you. My brother would have been so happy to know he’d have grandchildren. This is my wife, your Aunt Sojna.” he tells me gesturing towards the woman in purple.

Ms. Sonja (Aunt Sonja?) looks amused by the aunt title and Hotako shuffles to Luce next. The old man’s face breaks into a soft smile.

“Luce Grace. Finally back at Arkham after all these years.”

“Headmaster,” Luce says quietly.

Luce grips the sides of his chair and awkwardly propels himself upwards to standing, balancing on his non-cybernetic leg. Haley moves to brace his arm around Luce’s back to  keep him steady and to keep the fiber optic cables connecting Luce to the chair untangled. 

Eye to eye, Luce and Hotako exchange a look and then embrace. Luce’s body starts to shake and he lowers himself disjointedly back into the chair.

 “...And I don’t think I know you,” Hotako admits to Haley holding out his open palm.

“I’m--,” Haley starts

“This is Alex. My husband,” Luce interrupts, lacing his trembling fingers through Haley’s. “This is my stepson, Grayson.”

Well, that was news to me.

I’d never once heard Luce or Haley refer to themselves as married, they barely acted like boyfriends. Marriage seemed so formal and permanent. It was a thing my parents did out of tradition—I didn’t know anyone else who was married.

The news doesn’t seem to shock anyone else in the family. Hotako and Sojna are the only one who seems to share my surprise at this revelation.

 “Well,” Hotako chuckles.  “Congratulations. How long ?”

 “…17 years,” Luce responds quietly.

 “Really ? Well, I can’t believe no one at your class reunions told me,” Hotako says. “I wish I’d known sooner.”

“Don’t feel excluded. We didn’t find out until 11 years in,” Grandad adds glibly, approaching  Hotako with his arms open. “ Let me hear it, Headmaster! I know you’ll give it to me good. Oh, I can’t wait for you to get your I told you so out. Let me hear it.”

“Jean--,” Grandma Sara warns

“I remember when you pulled me into this very room the day Charlotte graduated,” Grandad continues, his words slurring. “You said  I was a bad father and was holding her back. You fucking ordered me to keep her out of the Sprawl and my brothel. Told me I was stifling her potential. Do you remember ? You told me it wouldn’t end well. Well, you were fucking right, you pretensions fucking asshole.”

“Jean,” Hotako says calmly as Grandad continues to antagonize him. “What happened to Charlotte ?”

“Oh,” Grandad barks. “I’ll tell you what happened. Your son of a bitch son  happened.”

Hotako’s features still.

“What does this have to do with Kenji--”

“My daughter’s house exploded and everyone inside was accounted for as dead except your  bastard son. I’m not saying you had anything to do with this but if you know where he is I hope you know I will cut you down  to get to him.”

The stern-faced boy in the blazer starts towards Grandad with his hand on his stun gun but Hotako puts his hand up.

“You don’t know my son--”

“Spare me the bullshit. I don’t need to--”

“My son has barely left my side since I’ve taken ill and he hasn’t left this campus in months,” Hotako frowns gesturing to the cart driver in the kimono. “You walked right past him.”

The boy in the kimono doesn’t move a muscle as we all turn on our heels to stare at him. His face and build are similar to Hotako’s but younger—he looked nothing like the person we’d met in the hospital waiting room. And now that I looked at him he was slightly older than I originally thought.

Luce picks up a framed photo from an end table, it’s a paper image of Hotako, Sonja and the man in the kimono at his graduation ceremony dated 10 years ago.

“Zacharias and I spoke but we never met. We did talk at one point about getting the families together. We'd planned for Kenji to visit the Sprawl one day but then I fell ill,” Hotako explains slowly.

“If this is Kenji,” I say, thinking out loud. “Who was the psychopath my dad let into our house ?”

Luce unplugs one of his cables, takes a tablet out of a sidepocket in his chair and connects the dangling cable to the tablet. His bright eyes go dark and then an image projects from his tablet. It looks like security camera footage of NotKenji from Dad’s birthday party except it’s all from Luce’s perspective. It’s the moment from Luce’s memory when NotKenji introduced himself to Luce.

“Luce, you shouldn’t work your system--,” Grandma Sara starts.

“This is the man we met. Do you know him ?,” Luce asks Hotako, Sonja, and RealKenji.

They all gather close to the projection and stare but neither one of them answers right away.

“I know all my students past and present and he was never a student here,” Hotako says, picking up a tablet and transferring the projection. “But I’ll double check with the other staff mem--”

Luce’s eyes flash gray again and he grips his chair as his body suddenly starts convulsing. He makes a wet choking noise in the back of his throat.

"I’ll call the medics,” Ms. Sojna says, jumping up and  pressing her palm on a screen in the wall.

“No, he’s fine,” Haley says quickly. “This just happens sometimes…he’s okay,”

Haley kneels down so he and Luce are eye level.

“Luce, it’s okay. Are you with me ?,” Haley asks, moving Luce’s chin until they are eye to eye.

Luce’s eyes look normal again but when he speaks  it’s all gibberish. It would almost be funny to if it weren’t so damn scary.

“His cybernetics malfunctioned a few years ago and he has episodes....It will sort itself out. It's fine. He just needs to rest,” Haley reassures The Other Washingtons.

“Of course, our home is open you all of you for the time being,” Hotako says. “We usually host visiting scholars but  we are currently on winter break and all the guest rooms are open. Kenji, please make sure they get settled. Your mother and I will take this photo to the administrative housing and see if any staff recognize it.”

“Yes, Father,” Kenji says with a small nod. His tone is so humble and respectful unlike  NotKenji. I was so stupid to think NotKenji could have been raised in a neoluddite school.

Whoever he was.

***

There is a stair assist system in the house making it easier for us to get Luce up the stairs and into one of the guest bedrooms. Grandad pours himself into one of other guest bedroom and shuts the door. Kenji shows me to a loft on the top floor of the house. It’s a wide open space with simple but stylish furniture and wide windows along each wall.

When he leaves me, I take the time to take a proper shower under the waterfall showerhead and change into a pair of shorts and a tank top I’d bought in the Sprawl with Grandad. That shopping trip felt like it could have been years ago rather than a few days ago.

I’m working my wet hair into a bun when I hear footsteps outside of the bathroom door.

Fuck, I hope it’s not more bad news.

I take a deep breath and open the bathroom door and see the stern faced boy in the blazer is standing awkwardly near the loft entrance.

“Can I help you ?,” I ask and he avoids my gaze. “Did I just hear you going through my stuff ?,”

“No.” he says, his judge-y dark brown eyes assessing me and the way I’d thrown all my crap all over the loft.

He turns swiftly  to look behind him as someone else approaches the loft entrance. Kenji appears on the boy’s right hand side and puts a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Did you introduce yourself to my cousin ?,” Kenji asks the boy.

The boy looks a little ashamed at being asked that. Kenji seemed to have some power here and I consider telling Kenji that he was snooping but it just feels so petty and I could take care of this douchebag myself.

“Isaac Prior,” the boy says giving me his white gloved hand.

I’ve never actually shaken anyone’s hand (I was more of a hug girl but snooping boy was not getting a hug) so I do my best and we have the quickest handshake in history. When Isaac releases my hand barely a second later he goes back to the entrance of the loft and pulls a trap door down from the ceiling. A pair of stairs creek down and he goes back up, closing it behind him.

“Are we also related to him?,” I ask Kenji

“No,” Kenji laughs. “Isaac is one of our security officers. He’s been working personal security for my family--”

“I thought it was safe here--”

“It is. But only because of the work our security team does behind the scenes. Isaac is the only one that lives in residence—it is a courtesy. He stays in the attic. The entrance is above this loft.”

“Oh, --”

“Don’t worry, there is an outdoor entrance he will use while you are here but I told him to come this way introduce himself to you," he explains. "Your grandmother asked to see our engineering studio and my mother took her. The little boy and his father are outside playing with Cleo.  I thought I would offer you some lunch.”

“Lunch sounds good.”

---

A/N

A lot happens in this chapter but only because I'm still trying to figure out how to chop this big document up.