I rest an arm on the cool stone and lean against the spring’s edge, eyes on the back of Tori’s neck. She runs a hand through her wet hair. 

After a few moments of silence, she continues, “It’s the only place I had away from the family.” 

I remember her words, back in her apartment: I don’t really have those kinds of things. I recall her “cousins,” and I can’t help the concern and curiosity that gnaws at my mind. They certainly didn’t seem very close. But… I don’t know what I would do without my parents. I wonder if my father is looking for me. I wonder if my mother even knows I’m missing. 

Thinking of my mom and dad reminds me I’ve been stranded on the Mantle for nearly a week. Five days, and they still haven’t found me… but my kidnappers have. A new rush of dizziness fills my head. I still feel waves of the power drain from those handcuffs.

“Tori… what were those things?” I hold an arm out in front of me to observe the tiny, round abrasions that spot my wrist. Then I hold it out to her. 

Tori reaches over and takes my hand gently.

“I mean the cuffs… they made me… practically immobile.” 

Tori’s face contorts in a mix of rage and queasiness. “EMP Cuffs, eletro-magnetic pulse cuffs.”

I smile but if feels bitter, “I know that much.”

Tori smiles back, but her expression tightens to a grimace as she continues, “They’re old tech. Nasty things. Designed right after the Glitch, but were banned almost immediately.”

“They’re horrible.” I snatch my hand away and plunge it back into the healing waters. “It’s inhumane… I could feel the electricity leaving my body. How could anyone make something so awful?”

Tori gives me a look. She looks introspective and perhaps a bit forlorn. “I mean, yeah, but people were really terrified.”

“And when has panic ever provided the world with good ideas?” I bite back, growing uncomfortable.

“No. Yer right. The Delmounian Govr’ment and Guard came up with some core deep, terrible plans. Those cuffs are nothing… But so many people died. So horribly.”

Tori’s voice tenses with distress. 

“Two rights don’t make a wrong.” I remind her.

“I’m not sayin’ it was right, I’m just sayin’ I get it.” Anger tempers her voice. “But when you watch your little sibling’s pituitary insert malfunction and… Dammit Aubrey! It was like ‘er face was melting.” Tori’s voice rises. “She just.. aged, and didn’t stop, and then she was just dust and bone and metal! Who wouldn’t-”

Tori drops underwater with a splash. In the silence, my heart pounds. I imagine Tien can hear it from the front desk.

I have to tell Tori that my mother produced those inserts.

I can never tell Tori my mother produced those inserts.

My heart is in my throat. The silence I once found comfortable, feels sharp with tension.

Tori resurfaces and spews a spray of mist at me.

“Tori, no!” I gasp and huddle on the far side of the spring. My heart skips a beat. Maybe two.

Tori chuckles and rests a cheek on her hand at the edge of her pool. “It doesn’t make it okay.”

I hesitate. “The Glitch doesn’t make the aftershock okay, or the aftershock doesn’t negate the Glitch?”

Tori ponders. “I don’ really know. Both? Neither? To be honest, I’m too exhausted at this point for anythin’ more than squabbles. Everybody’s wrong, and everybody’s terrible, so we gotta cherish the people that don’t make us feel that way, y’know.”

We’re quiet again before I reinitiate, “If the cuffs were banned, how did those police officers get them?”

“Poli-? Oh.” Tori recovers, “those folks’re no ground rats. Y’know Acmod?”

I shake my head. I recover a single article about Acmod’s attack on Sanctuary 11, but I don’t fully understand it. 

Tori sighs deeply. “Anti Cyborg Militia of Delmoun. ACMOD. They’ve been by since before the Glitch. I’m thinkin’ they were always here, jus’ not so organized.”

A chill grips me, “Oh. I mean, I guess I’m not surprised. There are people like that even in Stayer.” 

I want to ask what other devices Acmod may have, but at the same time, I think I’m too overwhelmed at the moment.

“I barely even wore the cuffs.” I sink deeper into the pool of water now, letting the steam coat my face. “An hour would be torture. Even a minute was. I felt like…like I could feel the life draining from me. My mechanical half felt like… like it wasn’t a part of me. Like it was working against me.” 

“Look. You’re never gonna wear that jonked up garbage again. I’ll make sure of it.” Tori puffs out; the muscles on her back tense up. 

“What does a group like Acmod want with me?” 

Tori’s face reddens in panic. “Ah, well, y’know. The Anti Cyborg part…they prob’ly want to anti you...” 

“They didn’t know I was a cyborg, not until…” I shake my head. I thought they originally attacked me because of my genetics, but they were surprised when I went automated. It doesn’t add up. “Are they state funded?”

“Fuck, no.” Tori shakes her head. “They got some rich councilman in their pockets, sure, but they aren’t widely accepted. ‘Specially not down here.” Tori abruptly sits up and shakes out her hair, a smile pasted over a flicker of deep emotion. “Speakin’a down here, they say spirits bathe with you here? They purify the water ‘n stuff. Protect the springs from scoundrels!” 

I recognize the necessity for more information on ACMOD and why they would be coming for me, of all people, but… I’m grateful for Tori’s lighthearted storytelling and short attention span. I smile with her. “Spirits?”

Tori’s eyes light up. “It’s an ancient place we got here. These springs’re here long before the trash pile. They say it was the one thing the Upper Crust couldn’t take with ‘em when they floated up there in the sky.” 

I nod along. It’s special to be in a place so rooted. It’s a comfortable piece of history. “Is that why this is your safe place?” 

“Oh, er’…” She taps the surface of the water, making small waves with her palms. “This is a sacred place. No one with… history… gets to check in. I basically got grandfathered in.” 

I furrow my brow. “Grandfathered in? You have, um, history?” I repeat the word slowly. I know the Deilic word for ‘history’, and I conclude Tori has used some form of slang that implies something lost on me. 

Tori sees my lack of understanding. She back pedals. “I mean, ya know. We all got some sort o’ past. I just, what I mean to say is, my parents used to come here a lot.” 

“I thought… you came here to get away from your family?” 

“I do. I did” Tori bites her lips. “Other parts of ‘em. Not mom or pops. They were always lookin’ after me.” 

I see Tori’s face redden as she realizes how much she revealed. I reach over the side and give her arm a quick squeeze. I decide to let the second lie go, as I realize her untruthfulness might simply be a mask for her heartache.

Tien enters and lets us know our time in the springs is nearly over.

Tori and I wrap ourselves in our towels and step out of the springs. Tien waits by the double doors with a pleased smile, giving us another small bob of a bow. “I trust you enjoyed your time.” 

“You know it, kid.” Tori gives them a thumbs up. 

Tori leads us toward the showers and changing rooms. She leans close to me and says in a low tone. “This is the fun part!” 

“We pay for their services and leave?” I ask, hopeful. 

“Nope!” Tori pats my back roughly. “We do a classic bathe-and-dash.” 

I don’t get a chance to counter her suggestion. Tori books it, making a beeline for the exit. 

I stare after her. She raises our clothes above her head with a celebratory chant. Her towel falls to the ground, joining the puddles of water she leaves in her wake.

I watch her foot catch on her own towel. Tori doesn’t stand a chance. She falls fast, landing flat on her face with a plop in a puddle.

I turn to Tien and flash a nervous smile. “I don’t really know her too well.” 

“I do,” he says. Tien pulls Tori’s overalls from behind their back, flashing a satisfactory grin. “She’d have to come back for these.” 

I snort out a laugh as a re-toweled Tori waddles over with a pout on her face. “I fell.”

I pay the establishment their well deserved two drown after we change back into our freshly cleaned clothes. Reluctantly, Tori and I make our way back into the streets. 

“That was a successful pit stop!” Tori announces. “Where to next?”