by J M Guillen
“I never wanted things to get this far,” Garret said, almost sheepish. “But you vanished, Liz! We had a nice conversation, and then you went dark.”
“You’ll have to forgive me.” Sarcasm dripped like venom. “I was a bit tripped out from the man who knocked me unconscious in my hotel room.”
“You didn’t know what you were facing!”
“I still don’t!” I waved one hand. “There’s some mysterious third party, and as far as I can tell, you’re trying to convince me is somehow worse than you guys!”
“They’re taking people,” the creature said, tone grim.
“You take people!”
“They leave corpses.” The creature’s words were like cold iron, resolute. “Or else shells of people. We’ve found them, their gifts shredded from them. We have a small collection of victims barely able to speak, their minds broken.” The creature stared up at me, and in that moment, I thought it might be sincere.
That… that sounded horrific.
“That’s why we need you, Liz.” Its words bent toward reasonable. “We need to work with someone they’d want to take, someone that might be attractive to them.” It shrugged. “Perhaps we can learn more about them.”
“You want to use me as bait!” I couldn’t keep the horror from my voice.
“No.” Garret shook its head but then reconsidered. “Well, yes. But we’d be watching. We have the means to track you, find out where they take you.”
“There must be hundreds of people like me.” I threw my hands wide. “That’s what I’ve been told, anyway: A person like me comes along something like once every few million. So why do you want me?”
“There are a few reasons,” Garret responded. “For one, we think someone you know may be involved. Also, you could be a Varia—” The creature stopped, as if reconsidering its words.
“A what?” I peered at it.
“A very special example, Liz. We haven’t found another. You’re perfect.”
“What if I’m not interested?” My words quavered, and I felt certain he heard the pulsing thunder of my heartbeat. Did he think Simon was involved with this third party?
“That’s not really a choice.” Garret seemed legitimately sorrowful, despite its words. “We’ve searched for someone like you, Liz. We’ve actually looked for a while. We need someone we can work with to bring these guys down.”
While he spoke, the buzzy drone reared in my mind again, like a serpent prepared to strike. I couldn’t help but stumble from the sheer force of it.
“This is about the greater good,” it continued. “It’s about protecting more than just you.”
Gotta run. Of course, escape didn’t seem to be in the cards, not now.
I peered behind me, wondering if I would again see the inhuman witch as she stood there with her oil-black eyes.
No. I still felt her, like the sensation of a vibrating spider in my head, but she hadn’t come back upstairs.
“Come down.” The creature glanced up at me and gave an approximation of a boyish smile. “We can at least talk.”
Behind him, the suit-clad crossbowman hefted his weapon to a ready position. The sky-blue light that hung miraculously at the back of his head shone brightly for a moment, almost as if eager.
The whispering Wind danced around me, echoing and cavorting in the alleyway. A brisk, frigid burst hit me, as if it had blown across the land of the dead.
A warning if I’d ever felt one. However, just that touch had been enough to give me a crazy, completely idiotic idea.
“Oh, crap,” I breathed as I realized the stupidity about to ensue.
Simon would kill me.
“How can I trust you?” I looked behind myself again, and then scanned the area for some unseen option.
“We could bring you down ourselves.” His words turned just a touch surly. “You know I have an Asset behind you; she can render you unconscious by herself.” He paused, as if I hadn’t already thought about it. “You might consider it a gesture of good faith that I’m giving you some kind of choice in the matter.”
“You’re a peach.” I turned my head up toward the roof of the building. It had to be a good ten feet up—not out of the question, but something I’d have to “cheat” to reach. Yet even if I did… where would I run next?
Garret’s inhuman friend stepped forward. “Let me make this simple for you.” He fired.
The silver quarrel sliced through the air, less than a foot from me, and buried itself in the red brick at my back.
“Just come down,” Garret coaxed.
An odd crackle accompanied a dangerously familiar warble in the air next to me. As I watched, a tiny mote of furious fire appeared from nowhere and hung near the quarrel. The spark grew wider and again became a gate of flame and haunted song.
I saw through that fire, as if I peered into a window that opened up behind the creatures.
My gaze returned from that eldritch fire to Garret, my eyes wide. Behind him, a second flame burned, having appeared in place without my notice. The two flaming gates were linked.
“Step through, or we’ll come get you,” Garret stated.
The numbing, electric drone came on strong, hitting me from behind.
I spun and the witch stood there, her eyes midnight hatred.
“I’m really your only choice?” I canted my voice a bit higher as I called down to Garret and frantically glanced between the creatures.
“I’m afraid so, Liz.” True remorse limned its voice. “This is a larger problem than we believed, and as it happens, you are the perfect solution.”
“I don’t think I want to.” I backed away from the portal, stopping only when my butt hit the side rail of the fire escape. “I think that sounds horrible.”
“Liz,” the creature warned.
Time to play the crazy card.
“In fact…” I glanced at the witch as my mind raced. “I think I have another solution.”
With one fluid motion, I grabbed the side rail and climbed up onto it. I flipped around to the far side and held myself firmly in place. I hung there, hands gripped on the railing, feet braced against it.
I hung there, two stories or so above the unforgiving concrete.
“What—?” The smile fell from the creature’s face. “What are you doing?”
Being a dim little idiot, that’s what. I could just imagine Simon’s irritation.
“I’m hoping your witch lays off the mojo.” I smiled sweetly at the creature as she stared at me with dead, black eyes. “If I get woozy, I’m going to fall. It won’t help either of us if I’m paste on the concrete.”
“That’s…” The creature stopped and shook its head in disbelief. “You’re being foolish.”
Yet the narcotic droning did ease off, as if the witch reigned herself in.
“Foolish is what I’m good at.” I couldn’t see Garret from this perspective, so I threw forced cheer into my words. “But the way I see it, I’d rather be flat in an alleyway than forced to make choices I don’t understand.”
“You’re right. You don’t understand.” The creature’s syllables came out short and clipped. “Even if you fall, you’re still coming with us.”
I hated its tone. It sounded exactly as it had back in my hotel room. Its maddening certainty that it would be obeyed dripped with arrogance.
Smack in the middle of retort preparations, I heard a giant CRACK. A glance down showed the air bubbling, gurgling as if the atmosphere itself were liquid.
Crimson fire appeared below me and blossomed into a shimmery opening. This time, the portal used no quarrel, no mechanism of any kind. Instead a brilliant spark of unnatural flame burst into existence, then burned away the space around it.
“Are you serious right now?” I muttered. I peered at the opening, more than a little confused. It’s larger. More than that, it had been placed very specifically. Peering through, I saw it led to the gateway behind the two creatures. If I were to let go from the walkway, I would ce
rtainly fall into it. And tumble out right at their feet.
Assuming that I meant to fall.
“Science it out.”
I thought back to Baxter’s suggestion. I never could have guessed a random thing my friend had said would help me so much.
I took a deep breath to steady myself and reached for the tumult of Wind that slept within me. I didn’t even have a Seal of any kind. Yet it would have to do.
“Don’t be foolish, Liz,” Garret warned.
“Too late.” I bit my lip. “Choice made.”
“If you have less air pressure over you, and more air pressure beneath, you’ll lift off,” Baxter’s words came again, certain in their scientific truthiness.
“Leap,” I half thought, half whispered. Please let me make it.
I drew a breath and ignored the tiny trembles that shivered their way through me. I dug through my memory, desperately seeking any recollection of the Empyrean sigils that Simon had hidden inside his ball cap.
DEX check, Liz.
Wisely, I let go of the railing.2
I kicked backward with my feet.
I spun into a backflip.
In that same moment, I grasped the tempest within me and clung desperately to its fury as I began to fall.
LEAP! FLY!
I frantically clung to the words and clutched at the bracelet. The moment I stupidly did so, I felt its otherworldly melody tear through me.
The bracelet on my arm burst into inexplicable color and music. That sound rang from the edge of the world and echoed through all things. Wind buffeted furiously against me, screaming from the alleyway below. It felt cold, truly frigid as it beat against me.
For a blink of eternity, I plummeted.
Out of nowhere, a screaming maelstrom exploded. The coldness of it drove the breath out of my lungs and hurled me wildly sideways.
I screamed, and my cry mixed with the wild cacophony of the Wind. For an eternal, ludicrous moment, I could find neither up nor down, simply tumbled along as the Wind blew me.
I was flying.
I was flying.
6
Now obviously, in this instance “flying” was more like tumbling backside over brains. Still, as I tumbled wildly through the air, I tracked the ridiculously stunned expression on Garret’s face while I sailed upward.
The Wind gusted again, this time from the left. I practically somersaulted forward and dizzily stretched my arms out as if I could somehow control being tossed around in a tornado.
“Okay!” I rambled to myself as I tried to keep track of the direction I flew. “Okay, okay…”
I fell.
I was falling. In front of me I saw a gray blur, what could only be a roof top moving toward my face uncomfortably faster than I preferred.
“No!” I panicked and extended both hands.
If I hit the roof at this speed, my hands would likely be shredded by the roof’s surface.
I wasn’t exactly thinking.
“Nooo,” I cried again.
No sooner had the word left my mouth than the Wind shifted directions again, cushioning my fall. By the time my tennis shoes touched the rooftop, I’d slowed to an easy jog.
I stumble-stepped forward a few strides and stopped in place.
“God.”
I stood still for a moment, my arms spread out like I balanced on a tight rope. My hair hung frazzled in my face, my knees bent slightly. I probably looked as if I’d prepared to take off in a sprint.
My heart felt like a bird’s wings in my chest.
“Breathe, Liz.” Slowly, I turned around, stumbling just a bit. I shook my head and tried to brush away a sudden bout of dizziness.
Before I took more than a couple of steps, I had to catch myself as I almost collapsed from sudden fatigue. I felt as if I’d just been hit by a dump truck full of exhaustion.
“Oh,” I blinked blearily and glanced back in the direction I’d come. How far had the Wind carried me?
I could still make out the alleyway, though it had to be more than fifty feet away. I guessed the alley to be twenty feet wide or so, which meant the Wind had carried me…
“Seventy feet. Or so,” I panted.
Across the alley, I saw the fire escape I’d stood on. There, a flaming gateway burned from a quarrel in the brick.
Garret sat on the other side of that portal, flat on his ass. He must have been knocked there by the hurricane-level winds that suddenly erupted in the alleyway. Drunkenly he picked himself off the ground and staggered.
His friend, the one who used the crossbow, remained on the ground.
Unconscious? Dead?
“Either way, you won’t catch me.” I felt too weary to even smile.
Garret gazed into the gateway, his eyes wide with disbelief.
“My cue to leave.” As I turned, I saw the witch step into the doorway to the record shop, her right hand twitching and jerking.
I didn’t wait to see more. I started to move.
Exhaustion washed over me. I tripped and almost fell onto the rooftop gravel.
Then, tired though I was, I began to run.
Again.
7
On the far side of the building, past several large air conditioning units and a maintenance shed, I saw the wall of the next building. An old rusted ladder led up the side.
I grabbed on and shimmied higher, wondering how I’d ever find my way back to the streets.
Guess I could fly down, I thought wearily. Thing was I truly didn’t think I could. I felt like I’d failed every saving throw possible. That last little burst from the bracelet had taken a toll, and I didn’t know if I dared call on it again.
If I fell unconscious, Garret would catch me soon enough.
Honestly though, I thought perhaps I’d gotten away. Oh, Garret’s witch-friend could probably track me to some degree, at least while I remained in range.
“But not before today, could you?” I mused. It had been days since I’d seen Garret, not since Simon had given me his little trinket. He’d told me it would hide me well. Apparently it had.
“Until…”
Until I used the Wind at Mr. Serin’s office?
That had to be it. They had picked me up on some kind of long-range scanner when I called the Wind. Before that, however, the Aegis had kept me under the radar.
I’d been a ghost.
“I’ll just have to be careful,” I sighed as I worked my way across a labyrinth of vents. “Pity, really.”
I probably wouldn’t get to take Baxter flying.
Sirens howled in the distance—a common sound in New York. Still, I liked to imagine Saul had finally pulled his head out of his ass and called the cops on the terrorists in the record shop.
Although, now that I thought on it, that might end badly for the cops.
I reached the roof, crossed most of the block, and trotted to another fire escape. Peering down, I realized what an easy drop awaited me.
“And then home to Knucklebones.” I draped my legs over the edge of the building before I dropped down a few feet to the iron grating below. “Easy.”
I almost botched the landing but didn’t care.
I made it down two levels of stairs before I released the ladder to the ground.
“Terra firma.” I grinned as I touched down.
Finally.
I trotted off into the shadows and found a busy street within moments. I peered about but found no sign of creepy-ass men in black.
Excellent.
I blended in with the crowd. Once assured I hadn’t been followed, I flagged down a cab.
“Where to, young lady?” The cheery voice with its kind tone and Pakistani accent lit the car with welcome.
“Knucklebones.” I managed the address and collapsed into the seat.
Safe, a mountain of stress fell away.
He didn’t seem to be a Silent Gentleman at all.
Unearthed Arcana
“Here you are.” The chipper driver pulled to a stop
.
I jolted upright. “What now?” I mumbled and gazed about in a daze. The sky had darkened to full-on night now, and it took me a moment to reorient myself.
Did I fall asleep? I shook my head and wiped at my addled eyes. It’s probably bad form to fall asleep in the middle of a taxi ride. I imagined Simon would have all kinds of opinions on the subject. On the upside, I didn’t believe I’d drooled on the man’s seat. Much.
“Your total,” he said cheerily and gestured at the meter.
I nodded and pulled a wad of crumpled bills from my pocket. “Keep the change.” I waved as I slipped out of the car. Typically, I would have found it difficult to be so open handed with money, but then again…
Before today, I hadn’t been Liz Shepherd, business mogul.
I fumbled in my pocket and pulled out first my Nokia, then the ring of keys. I took a moment to fiddle with the lock in the dark, and finally used the dim light of the phone’s screen to fit the proper key into the door.
I hadn’t been to Knucklebones in years before this week, much less in the shadows of night. Nevertheless, I got inside and punched in the alarm code without being mugged.
Or black-sacked.
“It’s only nine,” I grumbled to myself. Typically, the night would just be getting started, maybe with a marathon of cheesy movies or some comics.
But weariness draped over me, as if I had iron in my bones.
I couldn’t remember ever being so. Damn. Tired.
“One thing, though.” I pocketed the keys and grabbed my phone, knowing Rehl would pick up.
He’d better, at least. We’d hammered out the specifics of his job over the phone—I’d see if he’d been serious.
“Hey, boss!” Rehl’s cheer practically glowed through the phone. “What’s up?”
“Not me.” I walked through the store. “I’m dead beat. I’m gonna sleep until the next ice age.”