Octavia E. Butler - Fledgling: A Novel

Contents

THE FINAL MASTERPIECE BY SPECULATIVE VISIONARY OCTAVIA E. BUTLER

Fledgling

Book of the year ... a harrowing meditation on dominance, sex, addiction, miscegenation, and race.

Junot Daz, The Observer

A finely crafted character study, a parable about race and an exciting family saga. Exquisitely moving fiction.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Cleverly constructed and carefully extrapolated... full of action and suspense... a compelling, tough-minded meditation on otherness.

San Francisco Chronicle

A unique vision of the modern vampire, and a kick-ass heroine to boot.

Seattle Weekly

FLEDGLING woos the reader with one of fictions greatest enticements: the pleasure of a totally page-turning plot.

San Francisco Bay Guardian

A literary gem that is accessible to all readers.

Black Issues Book Review

Vivid and tense... laced with emotionally and erotically charged encounters... Its a fascinating read, uncomfortable, horrifying, and ugly at times, but always compelling.

Detroit News

A week later, we went back to the ruin.

I wanted Wright to park the car beside the gate to the private road. I thought it would be safest for him to stay with the car while I went in alone. But I had told him the little that Raleigh Curtis had told me, and Wright was adamant. He was going with me.

You dont know what this guy will do, he said. What if he just grabs you and takes you away with him? Hell, what if hes the one who torched those houses to begin with?

Hes of my kind, I said. Even if he doesnt know anything about me, hell probably know someone who does. Or at least he can tell me about my people. I have to know who I am, Wright, and what I am.

Then I have to go with you, he said. And I think Id better take my nice new rifle along.

I had not made any effort to get Raleigh Curtiss rifle back to him. If he didnt have it, he couldnt shoot some exploring stranger with it. Wright had kept the gun and had gone out and bought bullets for it.

This guy is a man of your kind, he told me. An adult male who is probably a lot bigger and stronger than you. Im telling you, Renee, he might just decide to do what he wants with you no matter what you want.

He was afraid of losing me, afraid this other man would take me from him. He might be right. And he was probably right in thinking that the man would be bigger and stronger than I was.

That last possibility was enough to make me want Wright to stay with me and keep the gun handy. We left his cabin well before sunset because he wanted to get a look at the ruin in something more than starlight. To be sure he would be able to see well, he took along a flashlight zipped in his jacket pocketthe pocket that wasnt full of bullets.

With my jeans, my shirt, and my hooded jacket, I was reasonably well covered up so I didnt mind the daylight. It was a gray day anyway, with rain threatening but not yet falling. That kind of light was much easier on my eyes than direct sunlight.

He wont be there yet, I told Wright as he drove. If hes coming, hell show up after sundown.

If? Wright asked.

Maybe Raleigh didnt see him and couldnt pass along my message. Maybe hes not interested in meeting me. Maybe he had something else to do.

Maybe youre getting nervous about meeting him, Wright said.

I was, so I didnt answer.

You should have gotten Raleighs phone number. Then you could have called and asked him if hed passed on your message.

He might not tell me, I said. Im not sure Id trust him to tell me the truth on the phone. I stopped suddenly and turned to face him. Wright... listen, if this guy bites you, you tell him whatever he wants to know. Do that, okay?

He shook his head. I dont think Ill be letting him bite me.

But if he does. If he does.

Okay. And after a moment, You dont want me to suffer like Raleigh did, is that it?

I dont want you to suffer.

He gave me a strange little smile. Thats good to know.

We went on for a few minutes, then turned down the side road. By the time we reached the gate, we should have been close enough to the ruin for me to get a good scent picture of it, if only the wind had been blowing toward us.

Wait here, I said when we reached the gate. Im going to make sure Raleigh or someone else isnt waiting for us with another gun.

He grabbed me around the waist. Whoa, he said. You dont need to be shot again.

I was half out of the car, but I stopped and turned back toward him into his arms. Ill circle around and get whatever scents there are, I said.

Stay here. Dont make noise unless you need help. And I slipped away from him.

I ran around the area, stopping now and then, trying to hear, see, and scent everything. As I expected, there was no helicopter yet. Raleigh had not been near the place recently. Someone else had, but I didnt recognize his scent. It was a young man, not of my kind, not carrying a gun. But he wasnt there now. No one was there now.

I went back to the gate where Id left Wright and managed to surprise him again. Hed gotten out of the car and was leaning against the gate.

Good God, woman! he said when I caught his arm. Make some noise when you walk.

I laughed. No ones there. This whole night might turn out to be a waste of time, but lets go in anyway.

We got back into the car and drove in. At the ruin, we spent our time looking though the rubble and finding a few unburned or partially burned things:a pen, forks and spoons, a pair of scissors, a small jar of buttons ... I recognized everything I found until I discovered a small silver-colored thing on the ground near where Wright had piled burned wood to wall me into my shelter. It must have been under the wood that I had pushed aside when I broke out.

Its a crucifix, Wright told me when I showed it to him. It must have been worn by one of the people who lived here. Or maybe the arsonist lost it. He gave a humorless smile. You never know whos liable to turn out to be religious.

But what is it? I asked. Whats a crucifix? I kept running across that word when I was reading about vampires, but none of the writers ever explained what it was except to say that it scared off vampires.

He put it back into my hand. This ones real silver, I think. Does it bother you to hold it?

It doesnt. Its a tiny man stuck to a tiny -shaped thing. And theres a loop at the top. I think it used to be attached to something.

Probably a chain, he said. Another perfectly good vampire superstition down the drain.

What?

This is a religious symbol, Reneean important one. Its supposed to hurt vampires because vampires are supposed to be evil. According to every vampire movie Ive ever seen, you should not only be afraid of it but it should burn your skin if it touches you.

It isnt hot.

I know, I know. Dont worry about it. Its just movie bullshit. He went to look around the chimneys and examine broken, discolored remains of water heaters, sinks, bathtubs, and refrigerators. As I looked around, I realized that some of the houses were missing sinks and tubs, and I wondered. Perhaps people had come here when Raleigh wasnt on guard and taken them away. Or perhaps Raleigh and his relatives had taken them. But why? Who would want such things?

Then Wright found something outside the houses more than half buried in the ground near one of the chimneys: a gleaming gold chain with a little gold bird attached to ita crested bird with wings spread as though it were flying.

Im surprised something like this is still here, he said. Ill bet plenty of people have been through here, picking up souvenirs. He wiped the thing on his shirt, then let it side like liquid into my hand.