The Gap Year by Wade Walker

Author:Wade Walker [Walker, Wade & Walker, Wade]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wade Walker
Published: 2023-11-23T16:00:00+00:00

43

Back out on the streets of Athens, Anna let out a pent-up breath as they headed for home.

That could’ve gone smoother. Indy snorted with amusement.

How could I know she’d be so prickly? Anna rubbed at the flop sweat beading her forehead. We’re just trying to help!

I didn’t think she’d react that way either, for what it’s worth, Indy said. But it makes sense in the context of slavery. It seems like it’s just barely possible to buy your way to freedom here, with a lot of luck and hard work. So I can imagine that enslaved people would be very leery of letting it seem like anyone has any sort of claim on them that could call their status into question.

I guess it makes a twisted kind of sense, Anna said. And at least she’s going to try it out. Once she sees how well penicillin works, she’s bound to get excited about it. Anna smiled. Then she can be the one who explains it next time.

Outside the normal round of errands for Oresus, Anna and Indy spent the next two weeks touring around the safer parts of the city, trying to get a better sense of how day-to-day life worked. For that, what little historical knowledge they had in their nets was almost completely worthless. Since most of what anyone knew about ancient Greece had been written down by elites, the lives of normal citizens seemed to have been mostly undocumented, especially the lives of the middle class of traders, crafters, and businesspeople. They were learning a lot, though they still felt keenly out of place at times. And though there’d still been no sign of the Thebans who’d almost kidnapped them weeks before, they didn’t let their guard down, keeping to crowded streets and bolting themselves securely behind their gates at night.

Finally, the day came for them to visit Phaia again, to check the status of their first small attempt to improve the society they had found themselves trapped in. They went in the afternoon, after the morning’s press of business was done, to take advantage of the lighter traffic. People with the option stayed inside to avoid the sun’s heat at this time of day, saving any further errands until the shade began to return to the streets.

Anna knocked on the door frame to announce them as she walked in. Phaia was at the back of the room working on something, so Anna and Indy followed the usual trail through the stacked materials to reach the worktable.

As they walked up, Phaia reached into a drawer and picked up a small bag that clinked metallically. She tossed it to Anna, who caught it by reflex. It was surprisingly heavy.

“That’s your share. Count it and see if you think that’s reasonable for six treatments’ worth of your drug.”

“I’m sure it’s fi—” Anna started to say. Then she reconsidered, opened the bag, and counted, the process coming easier to her now that they’d been in the city and working with coins for a while.

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