Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah

Author:Tanvi Berwah
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2022-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

Our shop in the Agora has no window, not even space to move side by side, but it’s our haven right now. Baba, torn between telling us off for keeping this secret from him and glad that we have this box-sized shelter for Liria, grips the edge of the shutter. On one side, Emrik sits, holding an oxygen mask. His eyes are red and focused on Liria.

In the pale light of the Terrafort that’s streaming through the door, she’s waxen as smooth marble. The medic shines a light in her eyes. He shifts, uncomfortable in the tight space, and bangs his knee against the wall.

Baba apologizes.

Liria has an oxygen mask strapped to her face, too. Unlike Emrik, her face is so small, it pretty much vanishes behind the mask. The medic taps her knees with a tiny hammer. There’s no response.

Liria can’t be dying. She’s a survivor, a fighter. They told us she wouldn’t live past her first year. But she did. And every year since. She draws and laughs and sings and cries. She has so much life to live. It’s impossible for her to—

“Wake up, Liria,” I cry into my hands.

Maybe it was finally too much for her to take. The constant fights between my parents, between Baba and me. The darkness of the stone walls. The never-ending strings of tension cutting across our house. And then the wildness of the fire. Perhaps she thought I abandoned her. Emrik found her already unconscious. Did she lose her senses while thinking we left her there to suffocate? To die? That we gave up on her? That I broke my promises?

Suddenly I’m a child, clinging to my mother’s dress. Fix this please. I beg my parents, rage howling.

“Any word on what happened?” the medic asks, checking Liria’s pulse.

No one answers. No one has any answers.

“She’s in a coma,” the medic says. “At the hospital, we could’ve put her through tests. But out here…” He shrugs apologetically, avoiding my parents’ eyes.

Out here, we’re on our own. No access to the treatments reserved for Landers in their fancy underground Hospital.

“Aren’t you a doctor?” I shout. “Do something!”

Baba turns at that, to tell me to shut up probably, but his face contorts in confusion as he looks over my shoulder. “May I help you?”

I turn.

It’s Judas Pereira, standing next to the pillar, watching us. He’s still dressed in his party clothes and his face shines with silver streaks.

“I—” The charioteer looks from me to my parents. Then glances at where my sister lies. He’s so misplaced here it’s absurd.

“What are you doing here?” I say. Then mouth: go away.

“You know him?” Baba asks.

Judas straightens at the tone.

“I know him from—from…” I don’t think now is the best time to say where I know him from. I step away from the shop. Behind him groups are still gathered around pillars, other keepers are sitting in their shops. It’s the middle of the night. Yet, without shame, they are here. Waiting for news about the Hunters, waiting for gossip.

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