The Knowledge of the Hidden

Chapter 10

"She tested you for powers?" Josh left his group to sit with Sienna and me at lunch, immediately launching into questions about my session with Beth. Sienna is remaining awfully quiet, picking at the food on her plate and frowning.

"Basically," I say. I didn't want to talk about it at all, but I hoped if I just told him quickly, it'd be less of a big deal. I was wrong.

"That's not normal," Josh says, "I mean, nobody else I know has been tested for powers like that. Sometimes the kids born here will get help with their powers from one of the leaders, but I've never heard of them trying to produce powers on demand like that."

I nod, but I'm not really listening. Josh doesn't seem to notice.

"There's no reason for it. Powers usually present themselves on their own, naturally. She's a leader here. She must know that's not how things work."

"Of course she does," Sienna says, defensively. She seems surprised by her own comment and quickly returns to pushing her food around her plate.

"Right, of course," Josh says. "Then who, who...?" he trails off, looking in the direction of the leaders' tents. "Who would care if you had powers?"

"Thanks a lot," I say, dryly.

"You know what I mean," Josh says, his voice gentle. "There are a lot of people around here without powers. Being here doesn't depend on that."

I don't reply.

"Hey," he says, touching my arm. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," I say unconvincingly, "I just don't really like fish." I motion to my dish, which is carved out of stone, with pieces of fish and fruit inside. Who decided to mix these things anyway? Josh and Sienna exchange a look.

"Well, you better get used to it," Sienna says, "We have fish for like over half our meals here."

"Seriously?" I raise my eyebrows at them. Josh nods.

"It's one of the few things we can reliably get out here. The river is full of them."

"What about summoning things from Eximius?" I ask irritably.

"It's more complicated than that," Josh says patiently. "We have someone on the inside who has to get the food or supplies onto the outskirts without the range of cameras and then they have to get the exact location to the summoners. It's risky, and I'm sure they don't like to ask our insider to do it if they can avoid it."

"Then how do they get things like tents," I ask, motioning to the leader's tents. "Seems like that would be far more risky to move than a bag of food."

Josh shrugs. "I'm sure it is. But they've managed it somehow."

"For the leaders, anyway," Sienna cuts in. "Apparently the rest of us weren't worth the risk."

"Come on Sienna, the shelters aren't that bad," Josh says, diplomatically.

"Yes they are," Sienna argues. "You've been here, what, a month? Get back to me after you've slept on them for seventeen years."

"You didn't sleep on them for seventeen years," Josh counters. "Your mom is a leader. Weren't you in her tent until recently?"

"My mom didn't become a leader until I was eight," Sienna says. "We shared a shelter with Reyes family until then. And I moved into the group shelters when I was thirteen."

"Thirteen?" I ask, "Why?"

I've seen the tents from Eximius. They're huge and have a padded floor and storable mini-mattresses. After a night of sleeping on glorified sticks, I would have happily taken one in a heartbeat. Sienna just shrugs.