by Antony John
Dennis shrank back. He’d already been sick from Plague once and knew better than any of us how it felt. Instinct told me to keep my distance too, even though I’d already been exposed. Any battle in which we were so badly outnumbered was a battle we should avoid.
The pirate who was standing guard outside the hurricane shelter looked at the swathe of black approaching from the west. He held his post for a moment longer, and then ran, shouting, toward the intersection.
There was no time to lose.
I jumped out from behind the tree and sprinted across the street a couple yards ahead of the advancing rats. The door to the hurricane shelter was open and heavy footsteps were pounding up the stone staircase inside. I slid the rifle off my shoulder, stepped inside, and swung. I caught the pirate in the ribs. He tumbled backward down the stairs.
In the torchlight from below, I saw other pirates watching me. They raised their rifles, but not before Dennis pulled alongside me.
I just had time to grab the stair rail as a gust of wind whipped through the doorway. It pulled my feet from under me and funneled down the staircase, blasting the men below. They were scattered across the floor, their rifles strewn about like driftwood after a storm.
As I ran down the stairs, I expected to see the clan folk joining our attack. Instead, they watched me with the same wary expressions they gave the pirates. Precious moments passed before they claimed the weapons for themselves.
Having decided that I was the lesser threat, some of the clan folk pinned the pirates to the floor. Others fled from the shelter, dragging screaming children away before pirate reinforcements could arrive. Kieran appeared beside me and together we pressed against the tide of evacuees.
“We’ll find your parents,” I assured him.
No answer again. Whatever his motives in bringing the rats, we’d forced his hand. At least now he would be reunited with his parents. Jossi’s greatest weapon would be ours. Whether or not we could save the other elementals, we could end this conflict.
“Kieran!” A woman was shouting from the back of the shelter. She waved her arm back and forth to get his attention.
As Kieran hurried to meet her, the other clan folk parted to let him through. It wasn’t a mark of respect, either—they were scared of him. Maybe they’d never known what he could do. Maybe he’d kept it hidden, or had been too far from Roanoke to use the element effectively. But now they’d seen the rats firsthand, and they wanted no part of him.
It didn’t matter. His mother was calling to him. All would be well.
It wasn’t until they came together that I noticed how old the woman looked—too old to be his mother.
“Where are they?” cried Kieran. “Where are my parents?”
She looked away. Her lip quivered. “They’re gone, child. The pirates took them away.”
CHAPTER 31
Kieran’s face grew red. Was he panicking for his parents, or furious at the pirates for taking them away? From the street above us came the sound of screaming. The timing wasn’t an accident, I was sure of it.
“Where are his parents now?” I asked the old woman.
“I don’t know.”
“When did the pirates take them away?”
“This afternoon.”
I turned to Kieran and stood directly in his line of sight. Even then, I wasn’t sure he was seeing me. “We’ll find them,” I shouted. “You have to trust me.”
But he didn’t trust me. Why would he? His parents had been gone several strikes. They could be anywhere on the island. Maybe even on the mainland.
I grabbed a flap of his tunic and dragged him toward the stairs. There was no time to waste. The pirates would’ve heard the clan folk by now and known they’d escaped. They’d also know that Kieran was gone too. And Jossi’s only hope of regaining control would be to bring Kieran back in line.
Wherever Jossi went next, that’s where Kieran’s parents would be.
We were halfway up the stairs when I heard someone calling my name. It was a woman’s voice, but before I could scan the faces around me, the rising tide of clan folk forced me up to the street. I figured it must have been Tarn, but she was already outside, waiting.
What if it was my mother? I was about to turn around and fight my way back down when Dennis yelled, “You’ve got to stop this.” He was appealing to Kieran, not me, but the clan boy still didn’t respond.
Rats surged along the street into town, a black mass so large that it threatened to overwhelm everyone and everything. Incredibly, none of the rats were biting or scratching, but the destructive potential was all too real. With a single thought, Kieran could kill us all.
Tarn was the next to plead with Kieran. She placed her hands on his shoulders. “We need you to control this,” she said, flicking her head at the flood of rats. “We have to focus on your parents now.”
Her words had the opposite effect. Reminded once again that his parents were in trouble, Kieran seemed to grow frantic. The rats responded to his chaotic thoughts, scurrying around aimlessly, crushing each other in their blind determination to move somewhere . . . anywhere.
“Let’s head to the main street,” I said. “Wherever they are, the pirates’ll have to give them up now.”
Tarn wrapped her arm around Kieran and hurried him toward the intersection of the two streets. Dennis and I ran after them. We watched our feet, careful not to trip, but it was hopeless. As we stepped on the rodents, they reacted with sharp claws and quick teeth. I’d only gone about twenty yards when I felt warmth spreading from a bloody wound. If I’d been attacked, it seemed certain that everyone else had been too. No one would escape the Plague this night.
We were only a few yards from the intersection when Tarn stopped suddenly. “Get back,” she cried.
I shoved Dennis into a doorway and joined him there. With our backs against the wall, we listened to a fresh round of gunfire.
Tarn and Kieran were hiding in the gap between two buildings. She pointed to the intersection, where the rats were coming from all directions. Kieran had refocused now, so that they moved with purpose again. But as they came together, there was nowhere left for the rats to go. So they trampled each other, forming one new layer after another. The rats on the bottom would be crushed to death.
Why was Kieran summoning them? Who did he think was the enemy? There was no use in imploring him to stop—he was locked into this single task. As long as he lived, the rats would keep coming. But we couldn’t let him die. He didn’t deserve to pay for our war with Jossi.
The pirates had been taking aim at the clan folk, but now they used their weapons to frighten the rats away instead. It didn’t work. The rats clawed at loose clothing and used it to climb. The pirates who didn’t run were smothered. When one of them fell down, he was covered so quickly that I couldn’t tell where he’d fallen. It was as if he’d disappeared entirely, drowned in a sea of black.
The clan folk were scattering too. They ran behind buildings, anything to steer clear of the rats. All around us was chaos.
I ran toward the intersection, staying close to the buildings where the layer of rats was thinner. Tarn ran out to join me, and she dragged Kieran with her. As we turned the corner, a scream split the air.
“No!” cried Tarn, but I couldn’t take in the scene as quickly as her. Several beats passed before I realized that only three elementals remained on crates.
My father was swinging from a rope, legs thrust out, kicking. Beside him, Ananias strained against his rope, trying to get closer.
I broke into a sprint. The mass of rats tripped me, but I refused to fall. Falling would take time that Father didn’t have. The large group of pirates had shrunk to just a few. Two of them took aim at me, but it was dark and they were distracted. I didn’t even change course as their shots passed harmlessly by.
“Thomas, wait!” Tarn shouted. But I couldn’t
wait. Of anyone, she should have been able to see that.
As I drew closer the pirates took aim again. This time they didn’t even get to fire. A funnel of wind whipped past me, so concentrated, it seemed to bend and twist the atmosphere. The force of it knocked the pirates onto their backs. I’d thank Dennis for that later.
The other pirates disbanded immediately. Three of them ran, but Jossi wasn’t among them. The two who had been knocked down threw off the opportunistic rats and pulled to a stand, ready to fight again.
I was only ten yards away when my father stopped struggling. I panicked that he was dead, but then I noticed his hands, still bound, and the small flames rising from his fingers. He was focusing his remaining energy on burning through the binds. Ananias must have realized too, because he followed Father’s lead and conjured a flame so powerful it incinerated the rope that was binding his own wrists. He thrust his free hands up, ready to remove the rope.
He didn’t get the chance. The pirates ran by, kicking the crates away. One after another the elementals fell several inches, until the rope jarred them to a halt. It was enough to strangle them, but not to snap their necks. They dangled together, fighting an impossible race against their disappearing breath.
As I reached them, Ananias was gripping the top of the rope with both hands. He pulled himself up a little, releasing the tension on the rope. Able to gasp another full breath, he produced more flame.
I went straight to my father and pulled the burned, frayed binds from his hands. I expected him to do as Ananais had done and take the stress off his neck, but he didn’t move. I crouched underneath him and raised him up on my shoulders.
Beside me, Ananias fought to sear the rope. The flame was shrinking as his arm grew tired and his energy waned, but finally the rope snapped and he collapsed to the ground. From there, he fired another flame at Father’s rope. It singed my face, but I didn’t care. When the rope snapped, Father fell off the back of my shoulders. I couldn’t catch him. His head collided with the ground.
“Leave him,” Ananias rasped. He yanked me around. “We have to get the others down. They’ll die.”
I followed him past Alice. She was burning through the rope, just as he had done. But the impressive flame she wielded wasn’t just her doing: Dare was beside her. He’d linked one hand with her, while he pressed the other hard against his bleeding chest. He was grimacing and wheezing, desperate for breath and yet anxious not to breathe because of the pain. One thing was clear, though: He wouldn’t let his daughter die.
I lumbered under Jerren, placed his legs on my shoulders, and lifted him up, just as I’d done for Father. This time, it felt different. Jerren groaned as my element worked its way through him. I tried to limit the effect, but I was suffering too. As I grew breathless and my pulse quickened, energy burned away like steam from boiling water.
I wanted to slide out and let Ananias take my place under Jerren, but my brother was focused on burning through the rope. White-hot flames spun from his fingertips. I closed my eyes and willed Ananias to be quick.
Tarn caught up to us at the moment that the rope snapped and Jerren collapsed on top of me. By the time Tarn dragged him off me, I couldn’t move. The sickening odor of burning flesh surrounded us, but Jerren didn’t complain. He didn’t make a sound at all.
Alice crawled over to him. She ran her hands across his cheeks and scraped dust from his lips. “Come on, Jerren,” she muttered. “Come on!”
Finally Jerren opened his eyes. It was a tiny gesture, but it gave us hope. Alice ran her hands across his face and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
“Where’s Dare?” I shouted. “He was right here.”
“He’s gone,” said Dennis. “Took a rifle with him. Kieran’s gone as well.”
“What?”
“He fell. We called to you to wait, but you didn’t hear.”
I scanned the street. Kieran was capable of killing us all. Without Tarn’s comforting hands and voice, that seemed more likely than ever. “Where is he now?”
“I don’t know.”
Everywhere I looked I saw rats, thousands and thousands of them, scurrying along, fighting, driven by an irresistible force toward the intersection. But there was nothing haphazard about their movement. Wherever he was, Kieran had reestablished complete control over them.
That’s when I noticed the torches arranged in a row at the top of the water tower. The flames weren’t large, just enough to illuminate a pirate and the two clan folk he held at gunpoint . . . and the shadowy outlines of the two figures climbing the ladder just below.
“Please, no,” I whispered. But somehow I already knew who the figures were. Sure enough, a sliver of light cut across the ladder and revealed Kieran and Jossi.
Whoever controlled the rats, controlled the island. With Kieran as his prisoner once more, Jossi had that power. Looking around me, I couldn’t imagine a scenario in which a single one of us might survive.
“We need to get to him,” I said.
No one responded.
“Come on.” I faced the others. “We need to—”
I froze as I saw Ananias. He was leaning over our father, hands limp at his sides. As he turned to face me, my brother didn’t say a word. But then, with tears streaming down his face, he didn’t need to.
Jossi had claimed another victim.
I crawled over to my father’s dead body.
CHAPTER 32
I’m sorry,” said Tarn.
I didn’t respond. There weren’t words to express what I was feeling.
“What should we do?” she asked, though what she really meant was: Do we keep fighting?
It was a sympathetic question. No one would blame Ananias and me for giving up the fight. But looking at my father—scarred, broken, and finally beaten into eternal submission—I knew what I had to do.
“Grab the rifles,” I said, pointing to the ground.
“We don’t know how to fire them,” said Dennis.
“I’ll find a way.”
Tarn sighed. “They’ll be out of bullets. That’s why the pirates left them here. It’s why they kicked over these crates instead of shooting everyone.” She tilted her head toward my father, coaxing me to join Ananias. To kneel beside my father and say good-bye. To offer a blessing for safe passage long after I’d stopped believing in any such thing.
Unable to do anything more for my father, Tarn turned her attention to Jerren. Up the street, to the north, the clan folk were climbing onto roofs to escape the pirates and rats. Maybe they’d stay there for days, huddled together, ignoring the destruction all around them, and pretending the threat was temporary. Less than a month ago, I’d have done the same thing. Now I had only one thought and one objective: to end this, once and for all.
The others called after me as I began the slow march toward the intersection, but I didn’t look back. I had no time for condolences, or vague promises of a better future. The future was now, and it was bleak and evil and lonely.
I was halfway to the intersection when I heard footsteps behind me. I had no right to expect company, but Dennis took his place beside me, head high, chin jutting out. Ananias joined us a moment later. Then Alice.
With the others alongside me, I chanced a look back. Tarn was tending to Jerren, but her eyes were fixed on me. She gave a single nod, a gesture of support and respect. I nodded back, realizing at last that this was the moment the Guardians had most feared, the one they’d spent years trying to avoid: when their children realized the extent of their power and took ownership of it, whatever the result may be.
We pressed onward. By matching our strides to the speed of the rats, we were able to walk more easily. They scratched at my ankles, but it felt accidental, not aggressive, as if I was simply in their way.
Everything changed at the intersection. Here, the rats were buried three deep. Those that were still alive
bit me as I stepped on them. There was no way around them, though. The mound grew deeper with every yard of hard-earned progress; the noise, louder. They weren’t congregating at the intersection at all, but at the base of the water tower.
The tower was close, less than twenty yards away, but we were barely moving. The fresh wave of rats came above my knees. When my foot slipped through the crushed pile of bones and blood, the rats came almost to my waist.
The others weren’t beside me anymore. We’d been separated, driven apart in our quest to find the easiest path. But there were no easy paths. I wanted Ananias to scare off the rats with flames, but it was Dennis who caught my eye. Shorter than the rest of us, he was almost submerged in black. The rats weren’t just biting his legs, but also his chest, which bled through his tunic. When he lost his balance, he slid down a few inches.
A moment later, he was gone.
“Dennis.” I kept my eyes on the spot where he’d disappeared, certain that if I looked away I’d never find him again. “Dennis!”
The others had seen him go under too. His name rang out from all directions, but none of us was close to him.
I forced my way over, flinging rats from my path. When I was a few yards away, the sea of rats throbbed like an enormous heartbeat. The spot where Dennis had disappeared swelled slightly. I just had time to cover my face before hundreds of rats shot into the sky, and Dennis emerged, gasping for air.
Ananias was nearest. He grabbed a flap of Dennis’s tunic to keep him above the rats. I expected Dennis to scream, but he didn’t. His face was a mask. Looking into his eyes was like seeing a reflection of Kieran . . . or myself. Dennis seemed capable of anything in that moment. He just needed an outlet for his fear and anger.
Ahead of us, the pirates who had chosen not to escape were surrounded. They waved their blazing torches haphazardly, but still the rats came. At the foot of the steps the rodent mound grew faster and faster. Pirates who had been above the pile only moments ago found themselves being dragged under with the deathly efficiency of a coastal riptide. As I clambered up the mound of rats, a pirate’s hand shot out of the blackness to pull me down. I kicked at it. I had no room for empathy anymore.