Spanners - The Fountain of Youth by Jonathan Maas

faintly glowing eyes.
    Mayfly looked around and searched for a weapon; he only needed something that could hold them off until the cops came. One of the stools had fallen on the ground, and without taking his eyes away from the approaching populous, Mayfly put his hand on one of the metal legs and wrenched it off. He thought for a moment that he might resume destroying the store, but couldn’t bear to do any more damage. He held the metal rod up like a sword and then stared at the approaching group.
    “Are you … one of … us?” three of them said simultaneously, their eyes glowing through the haze.
    “The cops outside might think so,” said Mayfly. “But no, I’m not.”
    The populous stopped to think, and then spoke again.
    “Are you a mayfly?” they asked. “We gather … mayflies.”
    “That’s my spanner class,” said Mayfly. “But you won’t be gathering me , or my kind , not today.”
    Mayfly charged at them with his pole. They were quite effective as a swarm, but in a pack of ten they were slow and easy to fight. Mayfly knew he only had a few moments before the cops showed up, but a few moments was all he would need. He just wanted to send a message to their collective consciousness that if they were ever sent to collect a mayfly again, they should think twice.

 
     
     
     
    PHOE
    Isla del Sol, Bolivia
    Kalar awoke at dawn in the meadow and had no idea how she had arrived there. She went to the shore and splashed her face with the waters of Lake Titicaca and saw her reflection in the water after she dried herself off: she had clear, soft skin, thick golden hair that fell around her face like a picture frame, and two large brown eyes. She stood up and then returned to the interior of the island, trying to piece together the night before as she walked. She couldn’t quite remember what had happened; it was only a haze. As she got up to face the sunrise, a few memories came back to her; she had a feeling of great despair, sadness and then anger, but she couldn’t remember any details. She remembered leaving her room to cool off outside, and then … nothing. Did I go to the—? she thought, but she was interrupted by a younger sister, a girl named Fiora.
    “Kalar,” said Fiora. “Master Chergon’s barn was burnt to cinders last night. Did the fumes make you pass out?”
    “Burnt to cinders?” asked Kalar. “But it’s—”
    “They think Dano did it,” said Fiora.
    “Dano didn’t do it,” said Kalar. “He would never do anything like that.”
    “Love can drive people to do awful things,” said Fiora. “We should talk to Porella right now.”
    “But she married Master Chergon only yesterday!” said Kalar.
    “Master Chergon’s sick,” said Fiora, “and she’s crying. We should talk to her.”
    /***/
    Kalar reasoned that perhaps Dano had burnt down the barn; he was in love with Porella, and she with him. But Master Chergon took her to be his fifth wife ( his fifth! ), so that was that. Kalar didn’t believe it to be true at first because Chergon was three times Porella’s age, but now Kalar consoled her friend as the girl wept bitter tears.
    “Dano didn’t burn down the barn,” said Porella. “They framed him.”
    “Master Chergon would never—” said Kalar.
    “They framed him,” said Porella.
    After a brief pause, Fiora spoke.
    “Porella, you should be happy you’re marrying our leader; your ascent into Heaven is now—”
    “ I want Dano, not Heaven,” said Porella, “and I don’t want to marry our Master! It’s not right!”
    Kalar wanted to tell Porella to run away, but didn’t have the courage to say it. Kalar could do nothing but repeat what she’d been taught for years.
    “It’s every girl’s dream t o marry the Master,” said Kalar. “It assures your ascent into Heaven.”
    In response, Porella slapped Kalar’s face . After a moment, she kissed Kalar on the cheek and started to cry again.
    “I’m sorry,” said Porella. “It’ s not my dream