Jacob woke to the suffocating feeling of something heavy was pressing his chest. He swallowed the unpleasant viscosity that lodged in his throat, got up from the iron bed with the leaky mattress, and looked around. He was surrounded by white padded walls, like a typical inner'city mental hospital. Though, it was probably where Jacob was.
He rubbed his aching temples with dainty fingers. The bright lamps, burning as brightly as if all of Manchett's facilities were designed to illuminate this strange place, made his eyes ache. There were a lot of questions swarming in his mind: How had he ended up here? Why?
But after a moment, Jacob's lips curved into a wry grin. Oh, right! Just a few hours earlier, he'd attacked a Lawkeeper.....
'Jacob! Run!' the girl shouted. No way! Running away like a coward wasn't in Jacob Oswald's nature. He was ready to face danger head'on and show what slumdogs could do.
They are not rubbish or dirt underfoot, but citizens with rights. Jacob was determined to prove it at that very moment!
A Lawkeeper, the name for a lawman on the government payroll, was running right behind him.
With a deft movement, Jacob spun around, jumped onto a small shop front, and squatted down as if preparing for an attack. A threatening growl rumbled from his throat. The Lawkeeper hesitated for a moment, but quickly recovering from his second surprise, he raised his hand, pressed something on his cuffs, and drew a circle in the air to form a shield, from which a black lightning bolt erupted. Jacob laughed and dodged it. Another attack followed. But none of the projectiles Lawkeeper fired hit even close to the target.
Jacob was clearly amused by what was happening. He laughed and jumped from place to place, from up on the dais to right next to the Lawkeeper, teasing and taunting him. He was so engrossed in the game that he didn't notice the stone under his right foot. Jacob stumbled, swung his arms awkwardly, and felt a sharp blow to his ribcage, and in an instant he was pinned to the pavement by the black shield. Jacob felt something sharp pierce the skin on the back of his neck. His eyes tore, and he fell into a bottomless hole.
Jacob woke up in the same sterile room that looked like in a mental hospital. He sat up on the bed with his legs hanging down, rocking them back and forth. He rubbed his neck, which ached from the injection, and pulled his stiff muscles. He wondered how long he'd been out. Krista and other friends are probably putting together a posse to rescue him.
But, of course, that wasn't true. Once you fall into the clutches of the Lawkeepers, there is no easy way out. The only thing left to do was to go with the flow and hope for the leniency of the state. There was a quiet click. The door opened, and one of the Lawkeepers stepped inside. Judging by the number of stars on his uniform, he held a rather high position.
'What an honour!' Jacob thought.
The stranger was dressed in a typical dark grey suit with many fasteners and belts. His image was completed by a long black cloak thrown carelessly over his shoulders. The man looked around the room with his brown eyes, and stopped his gaze on Jacob. The man looked around the room with his brown eyes and fixed his gaze on Jacob.
The Lawkeeper swung his cloak up, adjusting the hem, and sat down across from Jacob, resting his leg on the leg.
'Mr Jacob Oswald. Eighteen years old. Place of birth, slums of lower Manchett' he read out in a soft yet commanding voice. 'Is this correct?'
'That's right, Lawkeeper,' Jacob slid his bare feet onto the cold floor and bowed in a clumsy curtsy.
The man coughed, hiding a chuckle. In his ten'year career, he'd seen such arrogant, cocky boys who'd been swiftly stripped of their arrogance when they'd been locked up in solitary confinement for a couple of days.
'Answer one question: what were you doing in the Uppercity without a pass?'
'We came for the feast of offerings. Is that forbidden?'
'You know that slumdogs are forbidden to enter the Uppercity without a pass. On top of that, you assaulted a lawman and resisted arrest.'
'We have the same rights as you! The age of slavery is long past. We just wanted to see the fireworks!'
'Curious,' he said, and then clicked his tongue. 'I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself: Colonel Davian Ambrose.'
'Hello,' Jacob nodded. 'I'm honoured to have you here, Colonel Davian Ambrose.'
'I am. I usually have more important things to do, but the Lawkeeper who detained you told me that Mr Oswald has shown a remarkable ability to leap like a large, rabid beast. Say, Jacob,' Davian switched his tone abruptly. The notes in his voice sounded threatening now, but not a muscle in Jacob's face wavered. He already knew what the assumption would be. 'Are you a reichor?'
Jacob hummed and stared at the white wall.
'You don't want to answer?'
'Why not? I can answer. Mr Lawkeeper only wanted one question, though.'
'I'll overlook your insolence just because you, a slumdog, couldn't get a proper education.'
'I don't know what your 'reichor'is.'
'These are people born with unusual abilities. Like you, for example.'
'Mr Ambrose, don't give me credit for something I'm not. The man who made the arrest was clearly drunk. It was a holiday, all right. So he imagined it.'
'Are you questioning the Lawkeeper's word?'
'Why? Can't Lawkeepers lie?'
'No, they can't' Davian said firmly, and lifted his hand from the black bracelet on his wrist. It shimmered with white flashing dots, like small constellations in the sky.
With his natural curiosity, Jacob stepped forward.
'What happens if you get caught lying?'
'Nothing good, that's for sure. And you,'he switched back to a courteous tone, 'Mr Oswald, should be registered and branded. Do you know why they call us reichors?'
'How should I know? I'm a slumdog.'
'Alexander Reichor. The first scientist to study people like us.'
'To study or to create? Reichor's children. Sounds poetic, doesn't it? What I'm wondering is, if that makes us brothers, Colonel.'
'Slumdog, you say...'
Davian rose from his seat and, frowning, looked again at the empty white space.
'After all this... When will they let me go?'
'Jacob, Jacob,' Davian stopped at the door and shook his head reproachfully. 'Don't you get it? They won't let you go.'