personal
finance. “During that time, if a revenant gives you three drops
of their blood, it might— might —revive
you, turn you into something like us. But usually it doesn’t
work.” She pulls a large black backpack off a hanger and throws
it in the cart.
I type out my next
question. What
happens then?
“If the
initiation doesn’t work, two things can happen. The first is
nothing—the corpse stays dead. That’s how things normally
turn out. The second is worse.” She lowers her voice. “See,
sometimes the corpse re-animates, but something is wrong with the
link to their soul, and then... they come back as something kind of
like a zombie, mindless and violent, but instead of brains they seek
blood. We call them ghouls.” She throws a canteen into the
cart.
Putting that image
to the back of my mind as quickly as I can, I type out another
question. What’s
it like to be you?
She pauses for a
moment. “That’s an interesting question.” She
pushes the cart back into the aisle and starts walking towards the
front of the store. “I suppose I’m proud to be what I am.
I’m a Warden; that’s why I don’t have any flashy
powers like the other two. Wardens nullify supernatural power. And we
work to protect humanity from... well, the rest of us. If it weren’t
for us, the others would run rampant. They’d keep all of
mankind under their heel. That’s actually how things were up
until a few hundred years ago, back when the House of Mnemosyne was
in charge.”
I hang back a
little, then a little more. Haruko keeps walking and talking.
“But yeah, I
chose to become what I am. That’s how it works in my line. I
actually grew up with Wardens, out in the Pacific Ocean on an island
near Hawaii. My, you know, ‘real’ family has served my
Warden family for generations. Some of my natural relatives are
Wardens as well. I started training for my initiation when I was
eight. The training takes fourteen years, usually...”
She’s yards
ahead of me now, still chatting with herself, oblivious. I duck into
a row full of action figures and Legos. If I can make my way to the
back of the store, I can try to go through the employee area and out
the back entrance. Or maybe there’s a side entrance somewhere.
I rush to the
aisle on the other side of the row, preparing to sprint, and then I
round the corner, and there she is again.
“Hello
again,” she says. “Just so you know, I can track you. I
can track anyone with even a drop of revenant blood in their veins.”
I look at my feet.
“Give me my
phone back.”
I hand it over
without looking up.
Feeling like an
idiot, I follow Haruko to the grocery section. She starts picking up
the kind of food you’d take on a hike: energy bars, some little
pop-top cans of fruit, saltine crackers, beef jerky. I pull a box of
strawberry Pop-Tarts off the shelf and throw them in the cart. If I’m
going to be stuck with these people I’ll at least make them buy
food I like.
“Those are
bad for you,” she says.
I consider giving
her the finger.
We find the
personal care section. I grab a toothbrush, a hairbrush and a bunch
of hair elastics. I look down for a second as we near a corner; when
I look up, Adam is standing in front of me, carrying a first-aid kit.
I jump, my heart fluttering inside my chest.
“What’s
wrong?” he asks.
Haruko looks at
me, then at him. “Well, you did shoot her...”
“Can we not
talk about that in public?”
“Sorry.
You’re right. Well, uh, are we ready to check out?”
He throws the kit
into the cart. “I got what I needed.”
“Let’s
go, then.”
We walk towards
the front of the store. Now that we’re done here, we’ll
be going back out to the car, back out on the road, and from there...
I don’t know. I don’t think they’d be buying all
this stuff for me if they were still planning to kill me, but I still
don’t think I can trust them, not once we’re alone.
I gnaw on a
fingernail as we stand in the checkout
finance. “During that time, if a revenant gives you three drops
of their blood, it might— might —revive
you, turn you into something like us. But usually it doesn’t
work.” She pulls a large black backpack off a hanger and throws
it in the cart.
I type out my next
question. What
happens then?
“If the
initiation doesn’t work, two things can happen. The first is
nothing—the corpse stays dead. That’s how things normally
turn out. The second is worse.” She lowers her voice. “See,
sometimes the corpse re-animates, but something is wrong with the
link to their soul, and then... they come back as something kind of
like a zombie, mindless and violent, but instead of brains they seek
blood. We call them ghouls.” She throws a canteen into the
cart.
Putting that image
to the back of my mind as quickly as I can, I type out another
question. What’s
it like to be you?
She pauses for a
moment. “That’s an interesting question.” She
pushes the cart back into the aisle and starts walking towards the
front of the store. “I suppose I’m proud to be what I am.
I’m a Warden; that’s why I don’t have any flashy
powers like the other two. Wardens nullify supernatural power. And we
work to protect humanity from... well, the rest of us. If it weren’t
for us, the others would run rampant. They’d keep all of
mankind under their heel. That’s actually how things were up
until a few hundred years ago, back when the House of Mnemosyne was
in charge.”
I hang back a
little, then a little more. Haruko keeps walking and talking.
“But yeah, I
chose to become what I am. That’s how it works in my line. I
actually grew up with Wardens, out in the Pacific Ocean on an island
near Hawaii. My, you know, ‘real’ family has served my
Warden family for generations. Some of my natural relatives are
Wardens as well. I started training for my initiation when I was
eight. The training takes fourteen years, usually...”
She’s yards
ahead of me now, still chatting with herself, oblivious. I duck into
a row full of action figures and Legos. If I can make my way to the
back of the store, I can try to go through the employee area and out
the back entrance. Or maybe there’s a side entrance somewhere.
I rush to the
aisle on the other side of the row, preparing to sprint, and then I
round the corner, and there she is again.
“Hello
again,” she says. “Just so you know, I can track you. I
can track anyone with even a drop of revenant blood in their veins.”
I look at my feet.
“Give me my
phone back.”
I hand it over
without looking up.
Feeling like an
idiot, I follow Haruko to the grocery section. She starts picking up
the kind of food you’d take on a hike: energy bars, some little
pop-top cans of fruit, saltine crackers, beef jerky. I pull a box of
strawberry Pop-Tarts off the shelf and throw them in the cart. If I’m
going to be stuck with these people I’ll at least make them buy
food I like.
“Those are
bad for you,” she says.
I consider giving
her the finger.
We find the
personal care section. I grab a toothbrush, a hairbrush and a bunch
of hair elastics. I look down for a second as we near a corner; when
I look up, Adam is standing in front of me, carrying a first-aid kit.
I jump, my heart fluttering inside my chest.
“What’s
wrong?” he asks.
Haruko looks at
me, then at him. “Well, you did shoot her...”
“Can we not
talk about that in public?”
“Sorry.
You’re right. Well, uh, are we ready to check out?”
He throws the kit
into the cart. “I got what I needed.”
“Let’s
go, then.”
We walk towards
the front of the store. Now that we’re done here, we’ll
be going back out to the car, back out on the road, and from there...
I don’t know. I don’t think they’d be buying all
this stuff for me if they were still planning to kill me, but I still
don’t think I can trust them, not once we’re alone.
I gnaw on a
fingernail as we stand in the checkout
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