Page 10 of Raven

“I told him not to worry.”

“I don’t think he’s worried about anything,” I say. “It’s a good thing. Some kids grow up neglected, some broken. He is the former, I hope.”

Callie sighs into the phone. Some of us here in Ayana had perfect childhoods but were broken by the world war.

I motion for Little to move so I can scoot right next to him. I play with his long hair while chatting with Callie until she asks me to tell Little to get his butt to their house.

I’m glad that she takes Little’s education seriously—or at least as seriously as it can be until we figure out how to integrate him properly into Ayana’s life.

“Maddy, Maddy! Look!” Little plucks one earbud out of his ear and passes it to me. “Listen to this, Maddy!” I put it in my ear. “Listen-listen-listen!” He leans closer so that each of us have a bud and we can listen together.

Kai loaded his iPad with a bunch of music, and I know the song playing—“In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins. I can tell it’s Kai’s playlist, and he’s introducing the kid to rock music.

Little grins like he just discovered the most fascinating thing. “Listen, Maddy. ’S abou’ to start.”

His eyes glow like stars, and when the drums in the song kick in, his eyes widen, his little hands ball into fists, punching the air, and he bursts out in excited laughter as he starts kicking his feet in the air too. “Iz awesome! Innit?”

I can’t help but laugh with him. The kid is contagious. His enthusiasm, laughter, curiosity, friendliness. He walks around Ayana all day long and talks to everyone. He lives with Kai and Callie, but it seems like he is everyone’s kid.

There’s just one problem. We don’t know what to do with his education. Little can’t read. And none of us are teachers or even experienced in dealing with children. So, we dug up a bunch of home-schooling courses. It’s a start.

After the song, I send him home to Callie. “School time,” I say.

“Yeah!” He is probably the only kid I know who is excited about learning.

And as soon as he leaves, Bo texts.

Bo: Busy?

I text back right away.

Me: Not for another forty minutes. Stop by!

Only two minutes later, he walks into the lounge, and I nod for him to follow me to one of the patient rooms. I don’t necessarily want extra ears around when we talk.

“Lunch break?” I ask him.

When the world war started, Bo was a senior manager at Ayana. He was in his thirties, and he didn’t like Archer’s rules. So, he moved to the Eastside and soon became my closest friend.

Bo was a natural at organizing people and figuring out the logistics of any emergency situation. He was our leader. And when we reached an agreement with the Elites and returned to the Westside, he got his management position back.

Bo is in his element—creased pants, polo shirt. His dreads are neatly gathered at the back of his head. His skin is not cracked anymore, not covered with ocean salt, like a fine dusting of snow against his dark skin. I suppose we all cleaned up.

Bo rubs his face with both hands and exhales heavily as he takes a seat in one of the chairs in the patient room and slides halfway down.

“Long day?” I ask, hopping onto the exam table and dangling my feet.

“Yeah. You’d think things at Ayana should get easier. No, they only get worse.”

“Why? What’s up?”

He starts cracking his fingers. “The work personnel from Port Mrei. Their badges get glitches. More and more people try to get in daily under others’ badges. Shift slots don’t match up. There are fewer workers. Theft. Fights. On and on and on. This place is struggling, Maddy.”

I shrug. “It is what it is, right?”

“Well, I suppose it’s safer than the Eastside.”

He means the hurricane seasons we barely survived camping on the other side of the island for two years. He means suicide. He means Olivia. He means Callie and Dani’s kidnapping and attacks from the savages from the Ashlands.

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