“Attack at will!” Sergeant Taylor shouted. “And don’t just stand in line. Scatter.” Putting his words into action, Sergeant Taylor sprinted for cover, sending a fireball Beacon’s way as he ran.
Fireballs fizzed through the air once more. By then, though, I was racing away to my right, getting away from the battle. I had allowed myself to be distracted for too long; I hadn’t come back to fight anyone. I was here to get Alex and Jo out.
The Dawnsday Device wasn’t as strange as some of the contraptions in the basement of the police station, but it wasn’t far off. I couldn’t see Jo, but Alex was strapped to a chair in the center of the machine, his eyes wide as he watched Beacon battle the shadiers.
“Come with me, quickly. We have to get out of here.” I jumped over the metal bars that connected the two hemispheres of the device. I grabbed at the straps that held him in place.
Alex gripped my hand. “No, Rune, I have to stay here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Jo is fixing it.” Alex had a feverish energy to him.
“Fixing? What are you talking about? We came to stop it from being activated.”
“Can Walker stop the creature, do you think?” Alex asked, looking over my shoulder.
“I doubt it.” I turned to see Walker striding across the floor to confront Beacon.
“I tried to prevent your arrival,” Walker said. “But something inside me knew it would come to this. I knew I’d have to face you.” Walker’s shield of smoke appeared in his hands.
The sheen of fire that surrounded Beacon glowed brighter.
“If fire cannot stop you, then perhaps smoke can.” Walker charged forward, then jumped at Beacon, slashing at him with his shield. The shield came to a sudden halt well short of actually striking Beacon, and an invisible force sent Walker flying backward. He crashed against the floor.
Beacon stood watching, unmoved.
Walker struggled back to his feet, and his shield reformed in his hands. “Don’t think to defeat your nemesis that easily. I will never give up.”
A thick beam of red fire exploded from Beacon and crashed into Walker’s shield. The shield shattered. “You were never my nemesis,” the deep voice of Beacon said. “You were merely a patsy.” Another beam of fire struck Walker, incinerating him instantly.
My mouth was dry. Walker, strong enough to defeat me with ease, had been snapped like twig.
“Rune. I need more time.” I turned around to find Jo in front of me.
“More time for what?”
“We must rid the world of Brimstone power.”
“You sound like Walker.”
“Look at it,” Jo said, gesturing toward where Beacon was sending fire chasing after fleeing shadiers. “That thing is only going to grow in strength.”
“But to stop him by activating the Device? By killing all those with a connection to Brimstone?” Though, having seen what Beacon had become, the option no longer seemed as extreme as it once had.
“I’m modifying the Device. If I do this right, no one will die,” Jo said. “Trust me.”
I’d always considered Jo the best and smartest person I knew; if I couldn’t trust Jo, who could I trust? “What do you need from me?”
“More time.” Jo squeezed my forearm. “Thank you.” She disappeared inside the machinery of the left hemisphere of the Device.
“She’s asking a lot,” Alex said. Around us, flames licked at the walls and ceiling. Beacon stood alone in the center of the atrium with all the shadiers still alive having fled.
“She’s asking more of you than me,” I said, stepping toward Beacon. “I get to fight. I don’t think I could just sit there and wait.”
“Ah, but I’ve had more practice of doing nothing,” Alex said. We shared the briefest of smiles, then I left him to face Beacon. At the same time, he turned his attention on what Jo, Alex, and I were doing at the Dawnsday Device. He headed our way.
“What about me?” I summoned my fireswords. “Was I just a patsy too?”
Beacon’s only response was a firebeam blasted my way. I managed to dodge it and also avoid the second one he sent my way, but my frantic defensive maneuvers took me away from Jo, Alex, and the Device.
“Done!” Jo announced triumphantly, coming out from under a hemisphere. The sight of Beacon bearing down on her quickly wiped the smile from her face. She jumped from the Dawnsday Device, fleeing. Beacon raised his hand, and a wall of fire appeared in front of her. Jo twisted away from that, but the wall of fire curved to block her first to the left, then, when she turned the other way, to her right. With fire fencing her in on three sides, Jo halted and turned back to face Beacon. Sweat poured down her face as the fire closed in on her.
“What does the Device do now?” Beacon asked.
I raced across to stand beside Jo, forming a bubble of protection which held Beacon’s flames at bay, preventing even the heat from reaching us.
“Don’t worry about protecting me,” Jo hissed in my ear. “Activating the Device is what matters. Do it quickly, before it’s too late.”
“I can’t get to it,” I said. Beacon stood right beside the lever, and having been foiled in his attempts to force an answer from Jo, he was approaching Alex, who still sat in the chair in the center of the device.
“Use your magic,” Jo said. “Make it happen.”
I didn’t know how I could, but that was nothing new; I hadn’t known how to do practically anything that involved magic. All my life, whether for good or ill—usually ill—magic had happened. Still, no matter how badly the repercussions were, I was always forced into drawing from that same well time after time. At any moment, Beacon could lose interest in figuring out what the Device did and just decide to destroy it. Or he could reach out a hand and incinerate Alex.
I noticed that Sergeant Taylor wasn’t dead yet. He was still alive, though—from the look of his charred clothing and scorched flesh—just barely. Still, he hadn’t given up the fight; he was crawling toward Beacon, and he hadn’t been spotted.
Beacon!” I shouted, “Talk to me. I know what the Device does.”
He barely glanced my way.
“You think I’m trying to distract you, but I’m not,” I shouted. “If I was trying to distract you, I’d say look behind you.” I pointed toward Sergeant Taylor still crawling forward.
Beacon didn’t turn around at all this time, continuing to approach Alex.
Sergeant Taylor reached out an arm, and a rope of fire spun from his arm and lassoed itself around Beacon’s ankles. His legs were wrenched out from under him, and Beacon smashed against the floor.
The walls of fire disappeared, and I instantly released the bubble of protection. Beacon was on the ground, but he wouldn’t be there for long. I couldn’t get to the lever before Beacon recovered, so I channeled my magic once more, reaching out with my right hand toward the lever, imagining a force gripping it. Flames exploded into life along the length of the lever.
“Don’t melt it,” Jo hissed.
“I know.” I didn’t really know. I had no clue how any of this worked. Still, I recalled the bubble of protection that had formed when I’d raced across to save Jo and projected that thought onto the flames that encircled the now half-melted lever. The fire turned into a blue bubble. I had no idea how that was going to yank the lever down.
Beacon, without rising from the ground, thrust one arm behind him. Flames flared from his hand, gushing backward in a tornado of fire which instantly incinerated Sergeant Taylor’s body. I frantically tried to get the bubble to activate the lever, but though the skin of the bubble moved downward, it just passed through the lever.
“No,” I said despairingly. It had to work. It just had to work.
Beacon lashed out with a thick firebolt aimed directly at Alex in the center of the Dawnsday Device. I frantically flung my arms wide, and the bubble of protection expanded. As Beacon’s magic met mine, his flames spread across the outside of the blue bubble of protection, forming a fie
ry sphere. Through the flickers, I could see Alex still sitting in his chair, staring wild-eyed. With Beacon’s firebolt applying a crushing pressure upon my bubble, I could only maintain it for a few more moments, but I hadn’t come this far to fail. I sprinted forward, running straight for the fiery sphere.
Though I had no idea what trying to pass through the flames of Beacon’s magic would do to my body, or even if I’d pass through the bubble, I didn’t hesitate. I had no choice; I couldn’t let the fire close on Alex and the Dawnsday Device, nor could I give Beacon a chance to attack Jo again.
My eyes slammed shut, but, almost to my surprise, I passed straight through the fire without feeling so much as a flicker of warmth. I landed hands first, rolled, and came to a stop in a crouch just beside the still half-melting lever.
“Don’t!” Beacon screamed.
I grabbed the lever and pulled down.
The fiery sphere that surrounded me popped into nothingness.
The world went white.
For a few brief flickering instances, all color, all feeling, all gradient left the world, and, through the whiteness, I saw flashes of what was happening all around—the remaining shadiers staggering, then collapsing to the ground; Beacon on his back, staring upward with bloodshot eyes, his face a mask of anguish; Alex’s body spasming wildly. Only Jo was unaffected; she walked toward me with hesitant steps.
Then color rushed back into the world, and pain exploded in my right hand. I tore my hand away from the lever, leaving melted skin behind. My left hand gripped my right wrist, and I stared in disbelief at the pinkish mess that had once been my right palm. Agony consumed me. I rolled onto my back, roaring.
The pain was too much—it couldn't be borne, and yet I had no choice but to bear it, thrashing back and forth on the ground. I wanted to be blessed with unconsciousness, or even death, anything as long as the pain ended, but no, it went on and on, an eternity compressed into moments.
Some part of me, some instinct, reached for the magic at my core. But there was nothing there. No, I realized, some magic still flowed, but it was flowing out of me.
I wasn’t sure whether I consciously directed it or some merciful deity willed it to happen, but some of the fleeing magic briefly lingered on my wounds; a vestige of the healing magic that had once been part of me swirled briefly through the bones and blood of my right hand.
As I watched, the flesh of my hand writhed as if dozens of black and red worms moved beneath the skin. Then my flesh stilled. The magic was gone, but so was the pain. I drank in gulps of air, and I felt like I was breathing heaven. The relief of not feeling any pain after the everlasting moments of absolute agony was an ecstasy beyond compare.
Jo arrived at my side, and all I could do was grin at her stupidly. Her words didn’t register. She left me and went to Alex. I cradled my hand to my chest. My palm was a mess of red scarring with streaks of black charring, but that didn’t matter.
When Jo returned, she was supporting a still sickly-looking Alex. “Let’s get out of here,” she said.
The ability to think of something other than not having pain was returning to me. “What happened? Did we win? Is it over?”
“The three of us are still alive,” Jo said. “I count that as victory for now.”
“But Beacon.” I turned my head to look for him. He was gone. “Did it work? The Dawnsday Device? Did it do what it was supposed to?”
“You tell me,” Jo said.
The magic of Brimstone had come into the lives of the three of us—through me—one night in the grounds of Collier mansion. That same night Jo and Alex had lost their parents, and nothing had been the same for any of us since then. Was it truly over? I lifted my right hand, then I quickly pulled it back to my chest, not wanting to look at the scarred flesh. I rolled up into a sitting position and held out my left hand, fingers twisted inward to grip the hilt of a sword that did not yet exist. And then, as I had done many times before, I summoned a firesword.
Nothing happened.
Not even a flicker of magic responded to my call. I stared down with wonder at the empty hand—I was no longer a fire sentinel.
Alex smiled. “It worked then.”
“We don’t know that for sure yet,” Jo said. “We should get out of here.”
“It worked.” I stood, then I reached out my arms. Jo and Alex leaned into my embrace. I wrapped my left arm around Jo’s neck and pulled my right forearm tight to Alex’s back. Tears ran down my cheeks, and I could feel Alex sobbing.
Chapter 17
Thursday 19:05
I shot forward into a sitting position, coming instantly awake. My heart hammered in my chest, and my skin felt cold and clammy. I’d had a nightmare, I figured, though I couldn’t remember any of it.
With my left thumb, I massaged the flesh of my right palm, a gesture that was becoming increasingly automatic for me. I guess I was making sure it was still there. The scarred flesh no longer conveyed any sensation—it felt like I was rubbing something that was no longer a part of me. And, in a way, I had lost my right hand. It no longer had any strength or dexterity, it could no longer grip—just a hunk of scarred flesh hanging uselessly from my wrist.
I looked around the dim room. I was staying in a motel triple with the two beds on either side of me currently empty. That meant Persia and Jeroah were out. A clock on the bed stand showed the hour, but it took me a moment to figure out whether it was evening or morning. Evening, I realized. I had just woken up from a four hour nap. My sleep schedule was still messed up.
When Alex, Jo, and I had left City Hall, we’d discovered that Jeroah and Persia hadn’t gone far. Jeroah had stolen a station wagon, intending to leave with Persia, but she had insisted that he wait. When they’d spotted us, they helped us get Alex into the back of the car, and the five of us had fled the scene together.
Jeroah had driven us to a motel on the outskirts of the city. We’d booked two adjoining rooms, a double for Alex and Jo, and a triple for Persia, Jeroah, and me. That had been nearly two days ago, and, apart from brief excursions to get groceries and other essentials, we’d remained holed up at the motel.
All indications were that the Dawnsday Device had worked exactly as Jo planned. No one had died, but it seemed that everyone had lost their magical powers. Both Persia and Jo had made contact with a number of people all over the world, and everything they heard backed that up.
However, Alex was still sick—he’d not left his bed since we arrived at the motel. I knew Jo had thought that using magic was the only way to safely remove the crystal from his chest, so I had no idea how we were going to help him. Perhaps, once things had calmed down further, we could get a heart surgeon to examine him.
The door opened, and Persia walked in. “You’re awake,” she said. “Let’s go out.”
“Out?”
“Yes, out. You know, in the open air where the sun shines, where flowers bloom, where birds sing.”
“Doesn’t sound like any place I know,” I said.
“Did you live as a woodsman for a year,” Persia said.
“A lifetime ago. A different life,” I said. “Plus, it’s evening. The sun is currently shining on a different part of the world.”
“I’m not going to let you wallow here in self pity,” Persia said. “Get up. We’re heading out.”
“Okay.” I pulled off my blanket, and swung myself into a sitting position.
“Did you seriously sleep fully clothed?” Persia asked.
I’d only just realized that myself. “It was just a nap,” I said defensively. “Are we going for food?”
“Great idea. I’m starved.”
Is this a date? I wondered, then regretted having the thought. Of course it wasn’t a date. That shouldn’t have crossed my mind. Even after several boring days of too-close contact, I still felt a spark of something every time my gaze fell unexpectedly on her. Wearing jeans and an old T-shirt, no make-up, messy hair, standing in a badly lit dingy motel room, she still had a shee
n of allure.
I had told Persia I loved her, but—though it was only three days ago—I had been a different person then. Not that my feelings had changed exactly. Back then, though, I was a sentinel. Back then, I had two hands. Back then, I had a little something to offer. And still, I had been rejected. My stomach swirled. “Maybe this is a bad idea. We should continue to keep our heads down. Beacon is still out there, after all,” I said.
“Beacon has lost his power; he’s a nobody now. We’re going. End of discussion.” Persia picked up the keys from a bedside locker. “I don’t know where Jeroah is, but he hasn’t taken the car.”
I followed reluctantly. Once we were on the road, she asked where we should go. I looked out the window to see what part of town we were in. “How about Grayson’s? Do you know it? Corner of 40th and 7th.”
“I’ll find it,” Persia said.
Why had I suggested that dive? I asked myself. Grayson’s was fine for late night grub, but a terrible place for a date. But this wasn’t a date, so maybe Grayson’s was perfect. I didn’t want to add to my confusion by eating with Persia in a restaurant that had a romantic vibe. “Living in a motel sucks,” I said, just for something to say.
“I must really smell terrible these days,” Persia said. “Otherwise, it’s soon for you to be desperate to get away from me.”
“It’s not like that. It’s not you. Jeroah is on the other side of me, and he’s worse. He’s bad, I mean. I don’t mean worse than you. You’re fine. Better than fine.”
“Relax, I’m joking.”
“Of course.” I tried to smile back, but my mouth was frozen into a rictus. Had that been flirting? I had no idea what flirting was or how to do it. I was totally unprepared for the normal world in which magic no longer existed, a world in which my role was no longer to fight evil.
“That motel sucks balls,” Persia said. “I can hardly believe they get to charge actual money to have people live there. We should move out soon, don’t you think? Move on with our lives.”
I wasn’t sure what a future life would look like or even if I had much of a life to move on with. “I guess so,” I said.
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