A Seven Way Vote
FOUR
We make our exit after another round in the sack and skip breakfast entirely, leaving Snow with the still-recovering flutterbun and Five’s stupid sneeze pigs.
I should have grabbed the jar before we left, but we need distance. Space to think. To talk. To agree that we aren’t going to do it.
So we book it back to our apartment on the edge of the city.
We’re not taking Ariel to Mother, I say the second the door shuts behind us. We’re not doing it.
I’d jumped in to take lead before Five opened his mouth and said too much. Distracted Snow sufficiently too. But that didn’t mean I was complicit. That didn’t mean I was going to hurt her.
Even if I wasn’t ready to reveal more.
One pushes forward first, steady and controlled. Let’s just talk about this.
I pace the room, every muscle too hot and too tight. The walls feel closer than they were a second ago.
There is nothing to talk about, Five says. His voice is sharper than usual. Snow trusts us. She swore us to secrecy. We can’t betray her like that.
Two gives a low, sardonic laugh. We’ve been betraying her. Why should we stop now?
Five snaps back. Because we need to fix that.
Three’s voice comes softer. I know what losing Rosie did to Snow. I saw it.
Six answers with his usual precision. Yes, you told us about your dream walking and her friend. But we need to think of the bigger picture before we make any decisions.
You know how she is about her friends, I say. This will kill her. Possibly Ariel too. Just like Carolee.
One’s pressure tightens around the edges of my control.
That was an accident, and you know it. Mother has a point when it comes to radical action in the name of progress.
I don’t like the idea either, but Six is right.
What is the bigger picture here? We can help Snow by helping her friends.
Then one day, we can be whole. Normal. For her.
Five rises so fast it almost knocks the breath from our lungs. I’ve never felt him this worked up.
Didn’t you hear her? he demands. She loves us just as we are. All of us.
A silence opens.
Then Seven speaks from the deepest part of us.
Not all of us.
I swallow hard as the usual pressure of his existence spreads through my body. Heavy. Dark. Pained.
Two backs Five, though his tone has lost some of its bite. She said she loved you too.
She doesn’t know me, Seven says. She doesn’t know what I’ve done. What I’m capable of. She can’t love us if she doesn’t know this piece.
That’s not true, Five says. She loves us just as we are. And we love her. All of us. Even you. His indignation flares hotter. Don’t think we didn’t notice you surface to lead, just to see her. To feel her for yourself.
Three adds quietly, It’s true. We all noticed.
Seven’s silence stretches a beat too long.
Even if I do care for her, Seven says finally, each word dragged through something sharp, it’s more important that we keep her safe from us. Ariel is the key to making the world a better place. For Snow. For everyone. For us.
She is not a key, Five says.
Seven rolls over him. Do you think she is going to forgive us when she finds out we’re the ones taking her friends? When she finds out we’re tied to Carolee’s death? No. They were beautiful words, but Snow can’t love us when we’ve done what we have.
Six goes still. Do you mean what we’ve done to her friends, or what you’ve done with your powers?
Seven pauses.
Barely.
Then he goes on. If we show her why we did it, if we can prove her friends were the key to unlocking this miracle for the world, if we can be made into one whole human man for her, then we’ll be worthy of her love. We stand a chance at being forgivable.
Five’s voice breaks. I can’t do this. I won’t do this.
Three follows, quiet but firm. Neither can I.
I don’t want to keep lying to her, Six says. So I say no. We leave Ariel alone.
Thank fae lords.
Usually Six sides with One and Seven.
I agree, I say. We aren’t touching Ariel.
Two exhales through us. I’m with them.
Relief pushes against my ribs, but I don’t let it out. One and Seven have led us for too long. They can still exert power over the rest of us if they decide to.
One says nothing.
That gets my attention.
One is always certain. Always two steps ahead. Always running calculations the rest of us don’t see.
Now he hesitates.
I… One starts.
The stumble moves through us like a crack in glass.
We look for another way. Another mermaid.
We all know the likelihood of that is so damn slim it’s near non-existent.
But for once, the rest of us have overpowered Seven.
For once, the consensus isn’t his.
Seven’s silence says enough.
He knows he’s outvoted. Outpowered.
For once.
This won’t end well, Seven says finally.
The relief dies in my throat.
Without Ariel, Mother doesn’t have what she needs. And when Snow finds out what we’ve done to her friends, that they can’t be helped even though they’ve been detained, she’ll never forgive us. Not like she would have if we had something to show for it. His voice lowers. We’re going to lose her.
I swallow hard, the victory already thinning as his words settle in. How long will Mother keep Snow’s friends before she lets them go? Before she decides this project matters less than her politics?
Can we convince her to release them now? They’d never let us near Snow again.
But that’s a problem for later. One thing at a time.
Tonight, after Snow’s shift, we get to see her again. Spend time with the person who’s come to mean more to us than almost anyone else.
Almost, Seven echoes.