When the Mask Slips

Bonus Excerpt

“But have you seen the live oak?”

Lynx was genuinely shocked now. “There’s a real oak in this park?”

“Yeah. I found it a week ago. You’re the first person I’ve shown it to.” As those words left her mouth, she wondered why she’d brought him here. Not that she had anyone else to share the discovery with, not now when Fox was gone. There were a handful of colleagues she spoke to, but she didn’t want to share it with any of them. Unlike Fox, nobody was ever truly interested. Curiosity wasn’t the same. Fox would have sat down, smiled that smile of his and waited on every word.

“Show me,” Lynx said with such child-like wonder that it made her glow. Perhaps the brothers weren’t so different after all.

They walked, chatting along the way. Blossoms of all kinds adorned the flowerbeds in a confetti of colour, but only because seasons didn’t matter when the flowers weren’t real. There were no furry bees nestled between the petals, no wasps to hound picnickers, no butterflies to dance and flutter. Each plant was perfect, the framework built of inert materials that did not react to the chemical rain, and from each metal tubing, cells grew out of it like mould to mimic the shape and colour of flowers. None of them were real flowers but clusters of organisms clinging to a skeleton made in the shape of a plant. The real stuff didn’t grow in the open anymore but were under the shelters of greenhouses, indoor botanical gardens, and homes of the rich.

Sutyu led Lynx off the beaten path, up behind the plastic hedges and between the portable toilets that stood like a grimy reminder of the mess humans had made of this good Earth, until, finally, they ducked through low-hanging branches into a secluded circle of small trees.

It was but a tiny thing. The oak stood in the centre, a slender sapling reaching up to their knees. Perfect in its imperfections, the wide, uneven leaves sloped like shelter over the trembling stalk that would one day become strong and as wide as ten men – if it could live that long. The city soil didn’t really support plant life that big anymore. It would become stunted. A bonsai, but a real bonsai. Not the artificial growths that disappeared like foam under her fingertips.

Lynx bent over it, caressing the leaves in wonder. “Does the city council know about it?” he asked.

“Evidently not or it would have been removed already.” She crouched down beside him. “I don’t want anyone else to know.”

He glanced at her.

“This is our secret,” she said, though her heart fluttered to think he could betray her. By law, any natural life should be reported and dealt with by the authorities because they had to be protected. “This spot is perfect for her. Why move her? She’s happy here. There’s water from the stream nearby – by the time the chemical rain drains down here, it’s already been filtered by the grains and soil up the hill. It’s sheltered.” She gestured at the incredible amount of shade around them. “Why can’t we just let nature be?”

Lynx seemed to think about this, his eyes fixed on the baby oak like a green miracle between them. “It smells wonderful,” he said with a sigh.

Why had she brought him here? She was supposed to get him to trust her – not the other way around. But she had and now it was too late. Her breath was shallow, afraid. “Promise me you won’t tell, Lynx.”

“I promise.”

That came so fast and so easily that she stared at him for another long moment, wanting to be sure he meant it. When he just smiled back, she asked, “You mean it?”

“Yes. You seem to think just because I’m a cop, I must do everything by the book.”

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “You of all people should.”

He shrugged. “Mostly. Does she have a name?”

“What makes you think I’d be sentimental enough to give her a name?”

“Because you keep referring to her.”

Heat crept up her cheeks. She looked away quickly, stroking one of the leaves. “Laelynn. It means ‘hope’.”

“That’s a nice name.”

Sighing, she relaxed into the quiet between them, together entranced by the sapling that gave her such simple joy. When she looked at him again, her heart fluttered to see him smiling back.

She had to remember why she was with him. To steal his magic. To save Fox. The irony of hurting the brother of her dear friend, the brother who was equally trying to rescue Fox, was not lost on her – but she also wasn’t ready to tell him the truth. He’d arrest her in an instant. Everything would be over. This would be over, though she wasn’t entirely sure what ‘this’ referred to.

She just knew she wasn’t ready yet.

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