Free Flux by Beth Goobie Page A

had to do was put some distance between them and lose him in the room’s absolute darkness, then reopen the gate, get herself through it, and shut it again real quick. That shouldn’t be too difficult. Quietly she shifted to get a better balance. A soft swearing started beside her, but Deller seemed to be muttering to himself. So far, so good. Edging her right foot forward, Nellie leaned her weight onto her left, ready to push up into a standing position, and heard her ankle joint crack like tinder wood.
    Instantly Deller was on his feet, shoving her against the wall. “Where d’you think you’re going?” he hissed, his stinky weasely breath all over her face.
    “Somewhere else,” she hissed back. “I’m not spending another minute breathing the stink that comes off you.”
    “You’re not moving an inch without my say-so,” he replied grimly. “Sit back down until I tell you to move.”
    “Why should I listen to someone stupid enough to sneeze a pack of devils down on us?” Nellie grumbled, but she subsided against the wall and felt him draw back a bit ... a very little bit. Holding her breath, she listened to his nose whistle in the dark. Deller breathed the rhythm of quick narrow air, as if he was sitting on some intense private pain, holding it in, containing it. Pain had a secret hold on this boy, it clutched him from the inside out. Keeping that pain at bay—managing it—was what made him such a swift thinker.
    Not that being a quick thinker made him any more difficult to handle, Nellie decided quickly. Here in this room he couldn’t attack or hurt her because her screams would summon the men. Nor could he force her to go anywhere with him for the same reason. All she had to do was sit tight until he got bored and left. Then she could reopen the gate and return to their home level. The levels were great for getting rid of people who were bugging you. Eventually you could always find a way to be left alone. An inexplicable pain hooked Nellie’s heart, and she listened without moving to the rasp of Deller’s breathing in the dark.
    Grunting softly, he shifted. “This place has a real buzz,” he whispered. “Can you feel it?”
    With a start, Nellie realized he was sensing the new level’s vibra-tory rate. That was no good. If he kept thinking along these lines, he might figure things out. “You’re just jumpy,” she said dismissively. “That’s why you’re leaning all over me.”
    Immediately Deller pulled back. “Just making sure you don’t take off,” he muttered, coughing low in his throat.
    “So what if I did?” she sneered. “Scared of the dark, Dellie? Scared you can’t get home to Mommy?”
    He snorted and a pause floated between them, waiting like that moment on the top of the warehouse fence when they’d tensed, watching each other before she’d sprung. Then Deller spoke again, struggling to pull his voice out of an airy arc of fear.
    “How did you know about the secret door in the wall?” he asked.
    She fought the sudden scattering of her thoughts, lacing her voice with obvious scorn. “What secret door?”
    “You didn’t even touch it,” Deller faltered. “Just sort of looked at it, and it came open.”
    “It was already open,” she scoffed. “You didn’t notice. The hall was dark.”
    “Then how’d you get it closed?” Deller demanded, leaning toward her again.
    “Just pushed,” she said vaguely, fumbling for a better lie, but was spared the effort as a shout went up on the other side of the wall.
    “Sssst,” Deller hissed unnecessarily and they both froze, listening to the tramp of approaching feet and the terrified pleading of a fourteen-year-old boy. So , thought Nellie with satisfaction, Deller’s double had been caught and hers had escaped. Didn’t that just tell you who could take better care when things got into a ruckus?
    “Who was that?” whispered Deller, as the pleading voice faded down the hall.
    “Who was who?” mocked Nellie, her