Chapter 14 #2
“Well, I’m, uh, trying to increase my earnings,” I said after an uncomfortable beat. “I have to get my parents off that islet, remember? And then there’s my three-year-old sister.”
“Of course,” Anna replied genially. “And I wish you the best of luck with everything. In fact—” She paused, giving me a considering look.
“Why don’t you feel free to call me, if you find you need some personal career advice?
I don’t want to step on the toes of your official employment officer, of course, and I’m by no means a replacement for him.
I have very little free time on my hands, so you should always go to him first. But, if you ask the right questions, I wouldn’t mind throwing you a bone every now and then. ” She winked cryptically.
“Oh, thanks,” I said, uncertain what she meant exactly, but hardly about to refuse. “Sh-Shall I give you my phone so you can add your number?”
“Sure.”
I dug my phone out and watched as she punched in her number. I was tempted to drill her with questions now about which jobs would help me the most, but was socially aware enough to detect that now wasn’t the right time for it.
“Nothing like knowing the right people,” Alice added, her tone equally cryptic.
I nodded, again unsure what they were really talking about.
“Hey, Anna,” Jane said, stretching out her arms with a yawn. “I gotta go, sweetheart. Tyson’s expecting me.”
Anna brushed a finger over her ring. “Oh, wow. Look at the time! Where has it flown? I gotta go too, actually—I’ve got a meeting to attend with my dad. No rest for the wicked, eh?” she said, giving me another wink.
After Sally and Alice gave reasons to leave, too, Anna turned to me with a contrite expression. “I’m sorry. I feel bad leaving you here.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “I’ll be finished soon anyway. Thanks for the dinner.”
With that, they headed out onto the street.
I glanced at the basket, realizing they’d left behind twelve cupcakes. I smiled slightly. I knew some folks who would appreciate those.
When I returned to our island, standing at my doorstep were more people than I had expected to see. Robert, Jessie, my uncle and aunt, as well as Nico and Zina all stood there with worried expressions on their faces—which quickly melted into relief as they laid eyes on me.
“What the hell happened to you?” Jessie was the first to blurt out, quickly followed by the rest of the group, firing variations of the question at me.
I staggered back, overwhelmed by the barrage of emotion.
“We were trying to call you all day!” my aunt said heatedly.
“Yeah, we were worried sick!” Zina added.
“Hey, I’m sorry,” I said, holding up my hands. “Why don’t you guys come inside? I’ll tell you everything.”
As everyone spilled into my small house, I pulled the phone out of my backpack and swiped through it curiously. I must have set it to silent accidentally, because there was a log of twelve missed calls and ten unread messages. Oops.
I switched it back to full volume. Remembering the basket tucked inside my backpack, I headed in after them. Hopefully the surprise treat would help ease their annoyance. I understood how worried they must have been when I didn’t show up for work and then dropped completely off the radar.
I planted the basket down on the low coffee table. “First off,” I said, smiling tentatively, “these are for you.”
Their jaws dropped in surprise as they laid eyes on the cupcakes, and then their expressions turned to confusion.
“Where did you get those?” Robert asked.
“And why are there unicorns on them?” Jessie asked, wrinkling her nose.
I chuckled. “One thing at a time. Why don’t you help yourself to the cupcakes while I tell you where I went this morning?”
I passed the basket around, then set it back on the coffee table for anybody who wanted seconds.
I leaned against the wall so that I could face everyone and then recounted what had happened. From the moment I boarded the shuttle, to the sharks, to me getting injured and flying to the hospital, to my surprise dinner with Anna.
Naturally, their faces dropped in horror as I described the shark incident, and I received much chastisement from my aunt and uncle for not warning them that I was heading off into danger.
But to be fair, I hadn’t really known what I was signing up for, so it wasn’t like I could’ve told them even if I’d wanted to.
“You’d have thought they’d have included ‘no swimming’ on that rule sheet, wouldn’t you?” Jessie scoffed.
“There are warning signs around the edges of the platforms, actually,” my uncle replied. “I noticed them the other day when I went up close to the barrier.”
“So, they really weren’t mad at you for going against your officer’s advice,” Zina said.
I shook my head. “Like I said—on the contrary. They seem to be looking for the risk takers—those who display motivated qualities. Though, I’m not sure that you should go around spreading that info,” I added.
As much as I would love to spread the word to everyone, number one: I knew for a fact now that the odd jobs available to new recruits could be much more dangerous and thus hold a much higher risk of serious injury, and number two: I didn’t want any of us getting into trouble—as I got the impression Fairwell wanted to keep the fact that they were testing people a secret, otherwise the effectiveness of the test would diminish.
I couldn’t hold it back from my closest circle, but I didn’t think we should run the risk of broadcasting it widely.
Besides, the official recommendation was only that we stick to construction for two weeks. After that, the others would feel free to apply for the other jobs anyway, if they dared.
“From what I’ve seen every morning, there are hardly any non-construction jobs available to us anyway,” my uncle said, frowning.
“Yes,” I replied. “Gradually, I guess everyone will get a chance, but it might take a while. In the meantime, it seems like only… the fastest… the most motivated, will make it through.”
Nico gave me a thoughtful look. “You said your screen is supposed to update with a larger variety of jobs, right?” I already guessed what he was thinking.
I switched on the big screen in my living room, and, lo and behold, it had updated—there was a variety of jobs that hadn’t been there before, located all over the island.
For night shift, apparently, as it was already evening.
The rather generic job title headings didn’t help much though…
Given that the bloodfest I had attended this morning was supposed to be an “Assistant” assignment, it was hard to tell what each of these would entail. Did they keep them deliberately vague?
“Do you think we could use your screen to access the larger selection?” Nico asked.
“I guess you could try,” I said. I didn’t have the heart to refuse them trying. I just quietly hoped that the attempt wouldn’t get any of us into trouble. I mean, nobody had specifically told me I wasn’t allowed to share my list with anyone…
“How about one of us tries now?” Zina suggested, gazing at the screen. “If it works, it’s not like we have to attend the job now. If we don’t show up, it’ll just be made available again.”
“Okay, go ahead,” I said. “Whoever wants to.”
I brought up the screen on my tablet as Nico raised a hand. I gave it to him, and he tapped on the first job on the list. As soon as he pressed his ring to the screen, a red cross flashed up, followed by big bold letters: “INVALID.”
“Damn,” Nico muttered. He sighed, then resumed his seat. “Well, I guess that settles it. If we want to try climbing to a higher pay level, we’re going to have to access the jobs from our own limited lists.”
A span of silence fell between us. We all exchanged glances.
I was all for them earning more, but I also worried about them.
I didn’t know what other dangers lay out there, and I sure hoped they’d steer away from underwater jobs after what I’d told them today.
I didn’t want any of them pushing themselves too far and ending up in hospital.
Especially Zina. She shouldn’t even be working at the construction site, in my opinion.
“You never answered about the unicorns,” Robert remarked after a long pause, reaching for another cupcake.
I smiled faintly. “Anna likes them.”
“Well, I’m not sure about unicorns, but this sponge is damn good,” my aunt said, also scooping up a second cupcake.
I handed around the basket a second time, until all the cupcakes were gone, and then I sensed the exhaustion stretching around the group. They’d also had a long day on the construction site.
“I think I’m gonna go lie down now,” Robert said with a yawn, rubbing his stomach. “Let this sugar settle.” He stood up and turned to me. “Thank you for the cupcakes. Your debt is somewhat repaid.”
I rolled my eyes.
Everyone took that as their cue to leave and headed to the door.
“Be careful, Tani,” my uncle said, hanging back. “You gave me a fright today, disappearing like that. I wouldn’t be able to look your father in the eye if something happened to you.”
“I will.” I nodded stiffly. “And, please, you stay safe as well.”
As I closed the door on their departure, I knew my uncle was right. With the minefield of jobs that had just opened up to me, I was in theory at a greater risk. I had to be careful myself. Which was why I needed Hayden… and possibly Anna.