The Defiant Spark

by Annie Percik

  ‘It’s got to be some kind of weapon,’ Walter said to Laleh and Keto.

  They were at the Inner Circle temple, though Brother Theobold wasn’t there.

  ‘To what end?’ Laleh asked. ‘How does making more artisans help their cause?’

  Walter thought for a moment. ‘Maybe it’s just a demonstration that what they’re saying about people’s sparks is true. Or maybe they think new unregulated artisans will be more sympathetic towards them. Who knows? But we have to act quickly to get the situation back under our control. Keto, I’ll need your authority to put some rather drastic measures in place.’

  ‘Whatever you need, Walter.’ Keto looked relieved that he wouldn’t be the one making the decisions.

  Laleh eyed Walter, her expression uncertain. ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘Whatever needs to be done. This has gone far enough and it’s time we stopped talking and started asserting some influence. Otherwise there’s no knowing where this chaos will end.’

  Keto took Walter to the Artisan Council building as they had a better artefact system for tracking fluctuations in the mana network. Some of the newly made artisans were already there seeking help. Walter was glad to see evidence that official artisan authority was still strong enough to bring the bewildered former mundanes to their door. There were plenty of others still unaccounted for though, so Walter formed squads of Council enforcers to head out and track them down. He took charge of one team himself, wanting to see what was going on first-hand as that was always the best way to get accurate information. There was a school not far from the Council building that had reported an incident involving one of its students so he set off on Monday morning to investigate.

  The Deputy Headmaster, Mr Watkins, was more than happy to hand over responsibility for the situation to official artisan representatives. He looked up the student’s schedule and led Walter and his two companions to the classroom personally. He knocked on the door and then opened it without waiting for a response.

  The teacher, a middle-aged woman with half-moon glasses and a messy bun on top of her head, looked startled at their entrance.

  ‘Yes, Deputy Head?’

  Mr Watkins walked to the front of the class. ‘Sorry to interrupt, Ms Hooper. Is Calista McKay here today?’

  One of the boys near the back called out, ‘Who are they? And what do they want with Callie?’

  Walter stepped forwards, pasting what he hoped was a reassuring smile on his face.

  ‘There’s nothing for anyone to worry about. I’m sure you’ve heard about some strange things going on in the last few days. We’re trying to find anyone who might have been adversely affected by an accidental mana surge that occurred, so we can make sure nobody was hurt and that everyone else is kept safe.’

  The boy crossed his arms in a gesture of teenage defiance. ‘I heard it wasn’t an accident. I heard the rebels can turn anyone into an artisan and they did it to show the world how you’ve been lying to us.’

  ‘What’s your name, young man?’ Walter let a bit of steel into his voice.

  The boy swallowed audibly. ‘Um, Devon Gibbons … Sir.’

  ‘I can assure you, Devon, that these so-called rebels have nothing to do with the surge. They may be using it as a way to further their propaganda. But that’s all it is – propaganda. Their claimed artisan powers are entirely fabricated.’ Walter pulled a tiny amount of mana out of the air and let it play between his fingers, fighting not to show how much effort it took. The class all stared wide-eyed. ‘While as you can see, ours are not. We are the only ones who can help those who might be experiencing unexpected and unwanted effects. And that’s all we want to do – help.’

  A different boy, sitting close to the door, bolted out of his chair and ran from the room. Before anyone could react, a shrill-e-fact went off, sounding loudly throughout the building. Walter tried to call out for everyone to stay in their seats but the students were already jumping up and making for the door. He grabbed Mr Watkins by the arm.

  ‘Get that noise shut off. Right now.’

  ‘But we have a protocol in the event of a fire alarm,’ Watkins said. ‘We can’t just switch it off. That might put students in danger.’

  ‘It’s clearly not a real alarm,’ Walter said but the teacher was adamant.

  By the time the situation was sorted out, all chance of cornering Calista McKay had slipped away, along with the student in question.

  * * *

  By Monday afternoon, Alessandra was wondering if volunteering to take Jen’s place at the halfway house had been the right decision. They had no idea what had caused the massive mana surge at the compound, though at least it seemed to have been contained just to the one explosion. But she was restless and anxious. Surely she could be more useful elsewhere?

  The previous day, she had walked down the street to where she had been told the base for their rebellion halfway house had been set up. Terry had flown her back to the warehouse on the outskirts of the city in the float-e-fact and she had taken the speed-e-fact that was still parked there. Alessandra had found the building in an unassuming side street off a busy thoroughfare and she didn’t think she would have noticed it if she hadn’t actively been looking for the street sign. The street was actually cobbled and she nearly turned over on her ankle several times before she reached the door she was aiming for. It was an imposing facade, presumably the townhouse of a well-to-do family from a bygone era, now forgotten and neglected. The tall double doors had massive brass knockers that she would have had to reach up to use, making her wonder just what connections Gerald had in the world. She pushed on the left hand door and it swung open more easily than she had anticipated, revealing a large atrium with a marbled floor and a circular counter enclosing the reception desk. Further back, there were several more doors and a sweeping staircase disappeared up to a higher storey.

  Alessandra was amazed at how quickly the base in the city had been set up and peopled with agents and helpers. Gerald’s contacts were evidently extensive since he had provided a multi-storey building in the heart of the city, which had working bathrooms and a well-stocked kitchen. There were also several dormitories for those working there and those who found themselves in need of a place to stay while the agents determined whether or not they could be allowed access to the real rebellion.

  There weren’t many of those, at least not yet. Alessandra supposed it would take some time for word to spread along whatever secret channels existed for this kind of information. She was initially wary of the other people at the base. She also felt exposed being in the city rather than secluded out at the compound. But all the people Gerald had recruited were friendly and respectful, not to mention very confident in their abilities to run the operation with as little danger to the personnel as possible.

  Alessandra was manning the front desk when the door creaked slowly open and a teenage girl peered round it. Her eyes were wild and frightened and her auburn hair was tangled. She spotted Alessandra and stepped fully into the building, her body language suggesting equal parts apprehension and desperation.

  Alessandra attempted a bright welcoming smile, though it wasn’t an expression that came naturally to her.

  ‘Hello! Can I help you?’

  The girl shuffled up to the desk and Alessandra noticed what looked like recent mana burns on her earlobes.

  ‘Can you?’ the girl asked, her tone pleading. ‘Help me?’

  She placed her hands on the desk’s surface, leaning heavily on them as if exhausted. The fingers of her left hand brushed against the chron-e-fact that stood on the desk and mana sparks immediately leapt from it and skittered across the back of the girl’s hand. She flinched backwards with a shriek and burst into tears.

  Alessandra rose quickly from her seat and rushed around to the other side of the desk, reaching out to create a shield. But the girl scrambled away, throwing her hands out in front of her as if to ward Alessandra off.

  ‘Don’t touch me! Just stay aw
ay!’

  Alessandra brought herself up short and made a placatory gesture.

  ‘It’s okay. Nobody’s going to hurt you.’

  The girl let out a scornful laugh, choked by her tears. ‘Hah! That shows what you know. Nothing’s going to be okay ever again. And it’s me hurting you that I’m worried about.’

  She continued to move backwards until she bumped into the wall next to the door. She sank to the floor and covered her head with her arms, crying quietly into her knees.

  Alessandra approached slowly, unsure what to do. She had come here primarily to avoid such emotional distress after all.

  ‘What’s your name?’ she asked gently, deciding that would be a safe enough question to start with.

  There was a brief silence then a muffled voice replied, ‘Callie.’

  ‘Alright, Callie.’ Alessandra was glad to at least have achieved that much. ‘You said you needed help.’ She needed to be careful in case the girl had no idea where she had arrived. ‘Who were you looking for here that you thought might be able to help you?’

  The girl raised her head, tear tracks clear on her cheeks. She met Alessandra’s gaze and the expression in her eyes was painfully hopeful.

  ‘There were some boys at school who said this is where the rebels are.’

  ‘And why do you think the rebels can help you?’

  Callie thrust one hand up into the air and blue mana sparks danced between her fingertips. She gasped as if in pain and clenched her fist tightly, snuffing out the mana as quickly as it had appeared.

  ‘Can you take it away? Please?’

  Alessandra was baffled. Spark testing didn’t take place until after the age of eighteen. This girl looked at least a few years shy of that so how could she manipulate mana?

  ‘Aren’t you a little young to be an artisan?’

  ‘I wasn’t until Saturday,’ Callie said.

  ‘Wasn’t what?’ Alessandra was still confused.

  ‘An artisan! And I don’t want to be one now! But you can make it stop, can’t you?’

  ‘How did it start?’ Alessandra was still focusing on the mystery of the girl’s artisan powers.

  ‘I don’t know!’ Callie wailed. ‘It just did! I didn’t do anything! I didn’t ask for it! I don’t want it! I just want to go back to normal!’ She started crying again.

  Alessandra reached out again, careful not to allow any mana leakage to pass between them.

  ‘There, there.’ She patted Callie’s shoulder awkwardly. ‘Why don’t we get out of this drafty room and take you somewhere a bit more comfortable? Once we’ve got you settled, we can work on your control and then we can try and figure out what happened to you. Alright?’

  Callie sniffed loudly but nodded. Alessandra stood up, then pulled Callie to her feet. She maintained physical contact with the girl as she led her towards the stairs up to the dormitories. As they reached the foot of the stairs they met a man coming down.

  ‘Harkirat, great.’ Alessandra steered Callie out of his path. ‘I’ve got a bit of a situation here. Can you man the front desk for a bit while I deal with it?’

  Harkirat looked confused but just said, ‘Sure.’

  Alessandra led Callie upstairs and into one of the unused dormitories, sitting her down on one of the beds.

  ‘Okay,’ she said, her hand still resting on Callie’s shoulder. ‘Just breathe and let the power settle. I’ll draw the residual mana out of you and then you’ll be fine.’

  A blue glow started to form around Alessandra’s hand and slowly travelled up her arm. After a few seconds she broke the contact and Callie sank back against the pillows on the bed she was sitting on.

  ‘Whoah,’ she said. ‘Head rush.’

  ‘That’s to be expected,’ Alessandra reassured her. ‘The body holds a certain amount of mana energy all the time so reducing that is bound to make you feel a bit wobbly. You’ll be safe from mishaps now though, until we can get you trained up a bit to control it yourself.’

  Callie’s eyes blazed. ‘But I don’t want to control it! I don’t want it at all!’

  Alessandra kept her tone deliberately calm. ‘Maybe if you could explain exactly what happened to you, I’ll be better able to understand the situation and work out what to do.’

  Callie sighed heavily, draped one arm dramatically across her forehead and stared up at the ceiling.

  ‘There was a dance at school on Saturday and I was wearing my Spark-le earrings. They have tiny mana cells that make them flash when I move. But there was some kind of surge and they exploded.’ She pointed to where the skin around her ears was reddened. ‘And ever since then I’ve been setting off mana surges all over the place. Earlier today a scary artisan came to school looking for me. He said they were tracking down all the people who had been affected like me and wanted to make sure I was safe, but I didn’t believe him. My friend, Tim, set off the shrill-e-fact and helped me escape. He said I’d be safer with you and told me to come here. But I just want all this to go away so I can go home.’

  Alessandra regarded her solemnly, trying to process everything she had just heard.

  ‘It sounds like you’ve had quite a time of it. Why don’t you try and get some rest?’

  Callie looked at her pitiably. ‘Could I maybe take a shower first? Tim took me out of school grounds through the sewer and I can still smell it.’

  ‘Of course. There’s a bathroom just down the hall and I’ll send someone up later to get you settled.’

  Once she was alone in the reception area again, Alessandra sat back down at the desk. The timing of Callie’s artisan powers was interesting. Could it be related to the accident at the compound? Had it been some kind of attack by the artisans? She shook her head slowly. If the artisans knew where they were, they would have turned up in force to arrest people, not tried to wipe them out with some kind of mana bomb. She was just being paranoid. Mateo’s death had unsettled her and it was just one girl, after all.

  It was two hours later that a young couple turned up with their screaming, and glowing, baby.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  The sound of a baby crying outside the halfway house grew steadily louder until it became a shrill and penetrating wail that grated against Alessandra’s brain. The door opened and a young woman walked in holding a baby awkwardly in front of her. A young man followed close behind her, his expression distraught. The baby gave off a blue glow and as Alessandra looked on, the mother instinctively brought the child closer into her body. As soon as the baby’s skin touched hers a mana surge sparked between them and the mother thrust the baby away from her again with a yelp of pain.

  She caught sight of Alessandra and hurried up to her. Her face was tear-stained and Alessandra could see mana burns on her arms and neck.

  ‘Please can you help us?’ the mother begged. ‘I can’t hold her or feed her!’

  Alessandra had little experience with babies but she shoved her uncertainty aside and held out her arms.

  ‘Give her here.’

  Her authoritative tone and the mother’s desperation combined to create a knee-jerk reaction and the mother thrust the child straight at her. Alessandra took hold of the baby firmly and drew her in close, making sure to support her head and enclose her as much as possible in her arms in an attempt to make the child feel safe. The mana surrounding the baby surged across her skin as soon as they were in contact but Alessandra absorbed it expertly and then let it dissipate into the air in a broad wash of tiny increments that would spread out into the atmosphere harmlessly.

  Within seconds the baby had stopped glowing and her cries subsided. The parents heaved a collective sigh of relief and the tension levels in the room dropped considerably.

  The mother reached automatically for her child but Alessandra stepped smartly backwards with a warning glance.

  ‘Do you have any charged artefacts on you?’ she asked sharply.

  The young woman looked at her blankly for a moment then reached into her pocket and drew out
a smart-e-fact. She immediately dropped it with a gasp.

  ‘It’s hot!’

  ‘Of course it is!’ Alessandra snapped. ‘It’s been feeding mana into your baby for hours!’

  The young man took a step towards her.

  ‘Hey!’ he said indignantly, though his body language suggested he wasn’t normally very assertive. ‘Don’t you talk to my wife like that!’

  To Alessandra’s surprise the young mother waved him back.

  ‘It’s alright. She’s helping. She got Libby to stop crying. She can speak to me however she likes.’

  Alessandra took a breath. ‘No he’s right. I’m sorry. This situation is unprecedented so there’s no way you could have known. If that’s the only artefact you have on you then it’s safe for you to take her back.’

  The mother nodded and stepped forwards eagerly, giving the offending smart-e-fact a wide berth. The father stooped down to pick it up and put it in his pocket. Alessandra handed the child back with relief.

  The mother spoke up again. ‘How did you do that?’

  Alessandra shrugged. ‘Mana control and shielding is my speciality. I’ve drained the mana from her for now but she can’t be isolated from every source of mana forever and I’ve no idea how to fix the problem in the long term. How did this happen in the first place?’