“Well, that did a lot of good,” said Okane.
“It was worth a shot, right?”
Okane stiffened, then threw his left arm around her and pulled her alongside as he scrambled backward, arming another Egg and slinging it down. While they were distracted another monster had scaled the side of the platform to attack. The Egg blew its outstretched arms away easily.
“I’m out of Eggs,” he hissed.
“We should’ve asked them for some more weapons.”
For now they could keep going with the flash bombs. Laura dug through her equipment to find them again, but something caught her attention. The middle of the infestation swarm rose abruptly and fell again like a strange, slow hiccup. Faint blue light flickered in the gap. The swarm began to settle, but jerked up again. And again. And again. It seethed uncontrollably.
Crack!
Crack-crack-crack!
Portions were thrown free of the swarm, infestations shrieking and vanishing into acrid smoke as more and more blue flashes crackled and the sounds of something shattering became increasingly louder. The infestations at the platforms lost their shape, too startled to focus on frightening them.
“Hell, I think that actually did something,” said Laura.
The creatures floundered. Even if they weren’t particularly smart, the idea of attack from above and below sparked a new desperation. More tendrils reached up to grab at the star. Arrows, guns, and that grenade launcher slowed this movement but couldn’t stop it. Creature after creature curled around the points of the star pattern and clung, issuing smoke as they eclipsed the light and movement of pseudo-kin. The structure creaked as the pillar thinned, then thickened, and a dull moan came from the lower levels. The level of the infestations rose again, but this time they weren’t attacking. They were moving. They were using the star as a handhold to heave the base away from the snapping blue lights. They were moving the root amulets; the entire group had become a maverick. But could that star hold up under all the weight? Laura didn’t know how much a monster itself weighed, but could it bear a Pit’s worth of amulets?
Cursing, Laura slipped out from Okane’s grip and pulled out her last Egg. When Bijou crossed her path she kicked them over the side of the platform. The base was coming up fast. She threw the Egg down into it in the vain hope that it would do something to break the monsters apart, lessen the load. It burst but did nothing to slow them. All it did was rattle the platform.
There was another mumbled cuss beside her as Okane stopped to stare. The last two active Bijou skittered behind them. It wasn’t as if those could protect them. Laura bit her lip as she dug through her bag and the pockets again, searching for some kind of deus ex machina, but nothing was there. She could see Okane shaking like a leaf, and Clae’s instructions to run came to mind. He wasn’t running, but then again, where would he run? It was too late, for them, for the city. Everyone else would be forced into the wilds permanently. Morgan’s visage wavered in her mind, but she closed her eyes against it. Morgan had lived without her for a long time, and would do so again. This way she had one less drain on the family resources. The Chandlers would survive just fine after she died here.
For a moment, everything went quiet. The infestations were silent. There was no smashing of Sweeper weapons, no screech of twisting platforms or bridges. Above them the pillar shuddered. Eyes opened all along its length. Red irises swirled. The spell was broken as a spot six feet from the fountain burst apart. Pieces of infestation went flying, fizzing away into nothing as whatever was inside blossomed like a great golden firework. A rattling hiss accompanied this as the golden display rained outward and down. With the top clear, Laura could see as the kin in the fountain came to life, roaring, surging over the edge and striking down like a lightning bolt. Wave after wave hurled itself down, sparkling and crackling, and Laura almost swore there was lightning spanning the space between droplets.
The first strikes obliterated the pillar entirely. This kin spread out in streaks of blazing gold, smashing and crackling along bridges and walls like a lightning storm. It was deeper yellow than any kin Laura had seen before, and while the liquid they dumped down the Pits made a laughing sound, this was starkly different. With every motion this substance ripped out a scream of outrage, roaring, wild and vicious, so loud it reverberated in Laura’s ears and clutched, rattling, at her insides.
With the pillar went the main mass. Even as they squirmed out for the walls, the infestations shrieked in pain and alarm; soon there was so much black smoke it was impossible to see what was going on beyond blazing gold and distorted shadows. Black hands and legs crawled the sides to seek escape. More kin crackled from the top level, moving along the walls and slicing through the creeping infestations like a scythe.
Laura covered her ears and backed away from the edge of the platform. The Bijou hopped and spun erratically, unable to determine whether to follow her amulets or the greater source of magic. Her elbow bumped into Okane, who’d turned his back on the light and cupped his hands over his own ears. They staggered back on the trembling platform, trying to get away from the wild kin. They stopped a foot from the wall and crouched there, facing away from the light as they waited for it to do its job. A few infestations bubbled up with a halfhearted attempt to eat them, but more blazing gold swiped down the wall to smash them away; each time it did, the air burned. Laura glanced back and felt like this view was being seared into her brain. If she lived through this, she’d never forget the sight of that kin. The fountain glowed so bright it must’ve been a beacon for miles around. It was two in the morning by now, but she didn’t think anyone could sleep through the storm inside the city.
Everything shook. The platform quaked so badly she wouldn’t be surprised if it fell, and her senses felt overloaded. Too much noise, too much light. She turned her head back around, closed her eyes, and leaned into Okane, because he seemed like the only thing solid in the world.
Somewhere around three, the wailing of the monsters stopped. It had tapered before, but now it was gone completely. The bellowing and booming of the kin grew quieter and vanished as well. Laura stared at the wall, counting seconds as she waited for a sign that it wasn’t over. Sixty seconds passed. Sixty-three. Seventy. She stood up, slow and unsteady, and looked around. The kin knew what was going on even if they didn’t. Its luster had dimmed, and it didn’t change its path anymore. It flowed gently down with a sound more like soft chattering than the previous roar. Dark smoke still twisted through the interior, but there was no more blinding light. Laura hesitantly slid off her goggles.
“Is that it?” she asked.
Her voice sounded strange to her abused ears. Okane heaved a sigh and looked up. He’d had his face buried in his folded arms, and he blinked bemusedly.
“I think so.”
“You’re not sensing any infestations?”
“No. Seems like it’s all gone.”
“We made it.” Laura laughed. She felt giddy, even though everything sounded like it was underwater. Maybe she was still running on adrenaline, or maybe just realizing it was over.
“We did.” Okane stood up. He was shaky, but it was a far cry from the nervous wreck he’d been earlier. “I thought for a moment that we wouldn’t.”
“You did cut it close.” Another man approached them, jamming a bowler hat further down on his head. “That was impressive, Sinclair Sweepers.”
Bowler hat. The same one they’d seen with the Sullivan truck, with the bald man; the Mad Dogs negotiator.
“Thanks,” Laura said slowly, edging in front of Okane. The man had come alone, but a group of other people in civilian dress were gathered on the bridges behind him; they seemed to be heading toward the staircases, a little too fast to be normal. “You’re not Puer Sweepers.”
“Just another interested party.”
Laura’s eyes narrowed. “You’re mob Sweepers. The Mad Dogs.”
“Guilty,” he chuckled. “You can’t blame us for avoiding police contact. They
’d arrest us as soon as the infestation was taken care of.”
“When did you get here?”
“A little after your foreign friends. Puer? Don’t worry, we won’t get them involved in anything strange. We’re going back underground for now. We just wanted to check in and make sure you weren’t dead. I trust you’re not having difficulty breathing? No itchiness?”
“My ears will need some recovery,” Laura grumbled, rubbing at her right ear. “Beyond that, we’re in good condition. Why do you care?”
The man’s smile was the only thing she could make out under the hat’s rim. “By the looks of things, you two got the brunt of the damage from the kin. There’s evidence of effects from unprimed kin, smaller weaponized doses … but this goes beyond our experiences. Marvelous formula you concocted there. I don’t suppose you’d share how that worked?”
“The same as regular kin,” Okane said shortly.
“You’re a rude one,” the man snickered.
“---’re a mobster.”
“True. I should get going before your foreign friends get suspicious.”
“Wait,” said Laura, as he was turning away. “Are you the ex-apprentice? The one from our Sweeper department?”
“Right mob, wrong man. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll make the boss’s acquaintance very soon.”
He took off at a run, just in time. Diana arrived on the other side of the platform, her staff in hand and ready to swing. She tracked his dash before turning to them.
“Are you all right? He didn’t hurt you?”
“Not at all,” said Laura. “Did you know who he was?”
“Mobster. I may not have been in Amicae much, but I at least know that. Careful, or they’ll cut your Achilles and leave you for dead.” Diana closed her eyes and forced herself calm. “By the looks of things, the main issue’s resolved. We’ll head down and start gathering up the amulets. We can’t let those get lost or broken any more, or things could start back up and get even worse. Blair’s going to go with you topside, so you can get in contact with whoever’s doing all this.” She gestured at the falling kin. “Get them to stop it. We don’t want your mines flooding too badly, if they aren’t already crushed under all that debris.”
“You might need boats to fish out all those amulets,” said Laura.
“Seamus has always said he wanted to go fishing.” Diana spotted movement and waved at it. “There they are. Get going; we’ve got this.”
The people she waved at were the Blairs, both Joseph and Helen. Joseph was putting away his gun, and Helen held another staff. Laura felt a flicker of animosity toward the woman, but Helen did come to help them, so she crushed it as best she could. Now wasn’t the time to start a fight.
“Thank you,” she said, as sincerely as she could manage, and Diana smiled.
“It’s not a problem.”
Laura and Okane walked over to the Blairs, and Joseph beamed at them.
“Well done,” he said. “Very well done. You’re pretty good in a pinch! I don’t think half my apprentices could’ve handled this near as well as you did.”
Helen didn’t compliment them but she didn’t look so stormy as the last time Laura had seen her. She subtly glanced around, and Laura wondered if maybe she was looking for Clae. She shoved her hands into the pockets of Clae’s coat and bit her tongue to keep from saying anything.
“We had a good teacher,” Okane mumbled, and Joseph’s smile grew a little sad.
“Yes. A shame. Really, a shame.” Helen frowned at him in confusion but he avoided her eyes. “Well, I’m sure we’ll need to talk with whoever’s in charge. Where do we find them?”
“First Quarter.” Laura pointed up. “The police chief is working on the pumps.”
“Of course, police. What’s the fastest way to them?”
They located the closest stairway and climbed up, back to the First Quarter. The mobster Sweepers had already been through here; while Laura saw no other sign of them, the door at the top was wide open. The main roads of the First Quarter led inward to the central point, and all they had to do was follow. On the way they met a supply truck, and the driver was happy to speed them back to the main square. A block from the fountain they passed a group of police officers, and Laura recognized Albright in the mix.
“That’s her! Stop!” she cried, and the driver hit the brakes.
Albright looked around at the noise and strode briskly toward them. “Are those the Sweepers? Kramer and Sinclair?”
Helen gave a noticeable start but Laura ignored her, calling, “It’s us!” and waving from the truck bed. Albright stopped before them, squinting through tired eyes.
“Hello!” Joseph held out one hand while Helen leaned farther back. “I’m Joseph Blair, and this is my wife, Helen. We’re Sweepers from Puer. We heard about the problem and came as soon as we could.”
“I was told you’d arrived.” Albright shook his hand. “Thank you for coming on such short notice, especially from so far.”
“We couldn’t let our fellow city stand alone.”
“The infestation is gone,” Okane piped up.
“Then we can stop the water. Baxter! Shut down the pumps, it’s over!”
Baxter leaned around a corner to gesture that he’d heard, then vanished again, off to find the pumps and alert the people working.
“I’ll go with you to get your supplies,” said Albright, climbing into the truck. “We don’t want them unattended for long.”
They settled in again and the truck drove on. Joseph talked with Albright about the measures they needed to take to recover the amulets and ensure that this wasn’t about to happen again. Albright explained the situation with the broken Pit and damaged tree. While the policewoman wasn’t an expert on that system, Helen began to chime in with her own experience. Apparently she knew Amicae’s system like the back of her hand. While they talked, Laura rubbed at her eyes. She’d been running out of energy since they got out of the interior.
“I’m going to take a really long nap,” she mumbled.
“I think I’ll do the same,” Okane agreed, and she saw he was only in slightly better shape. He yawned. “I wonder how long they’ll keep us.”
“Not long, I hope.”
By the time they arrived, the water in the fountain had stopped refilling. The steam started to fade away, and the glowing of the strains dissipated too. Laura got up and peered over the strains. Yes, all four were present and accounted for. The breeze tugged steam toward them in a slow roll. Okane flinched and stepped away, but Laura stayed put and closed her eyes. It was almost nice to feel a wave of heat, as if it were still August. Still simple. With it came a fainter impression.
It is gone.
See you friend.
Joseph kept talking to Albright about security measures and plans for the next few days. Helen wasn’t inclined to talk to anyone, and Okane decided now was a wonderful time to imitate a statue—he only moved when he jerked to keep himself from nodding off. Laura stifled more yawns.
Once the water had significantly cooled, Laura and Okane moved in on the fountain. The fog was completely gone, and while the water eddied, that was from the normal cascading, not the churning of pseudo-kin.
There was a flicker, not like the movement of the water, but different. See you friend. Could it be? Had the quilt moved? Laura’s heart leapt into her throat. She plunged her hand into the water and lifted the quilt. Clae’s crystal winked gold in the glow of the streetlamps. It was still frozen in the same position, the same angry expression. Laura’s shoulders slumped. He hadn’t moved. It must’ve been a trick of the light. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force down disappointment. Of course he hadn’t moved. She should’ve known that already. She exhaled long, tucked the blanket carefully back over him, and murmured, “You really are a pain.”
She turned back and almost jumped out of her skin. Someone was right behind her. Helen stood there, staring down at the fountain and the covered strains. Her wide eyes were f
ixed on the bundled quilt, color visibly draining from her face. She’d seen him. Laura shifted into a more defensive position. Anselm had gone the same way, so Helen must know what was going on. She could stir up a ruckus, try to steal Clae away and use him in Puer the way his father had used Anselm. Not this time, Laura thought fiercely. Not this one. You have no right.
“Okane?” she called, not taking her eyes off of the woman. “Could you help me over here?”
Okane stepped around Helen to fuss over Clae’s quilt, pulling it tighter to make sure no one else could see. Albright reversed the covered truck up to the fountain again, at a distance now, and climbed out to help load.
“Help me with him first,” said Laura.
Okane nodded and grabbed one end, and they heaved Clae up with a grunt. Helen took a step after them but stopped. She watched as they carried first one twin, then the other into the police truck. As they loaded the two Gin as well, Marshall and Freda came to gather their amulets. Marshall made a sound of surprise, reaching down to pluck a fragment from the water.
“Broken,” he observed, disappointed and awed.
Laura guiltily shuffled back over. “We ended up putting a lot more strain on them than I’d thought. Are any of them salvageable?”
Marshall climbed into the basin and waded through in search of more. After a while he replied, “Only one variety broke. It’s all the Niveus amulets. Strange. Niveus are usually the more hardy, reliable ones. What do you make of it?”
He looked up at Helen, who remained stunned and unblinking.
“You got screwed, Marshall,” said Freda. “They must’ve lied about the material.”
“No, they were definitely Niveus. I checked them myself.”
A hand tapped Laura’s shoulder.
“Albright says we’re to go back to the shop,” Okane told her. “The other Sweepers will take care of things for now.”
“I thought they’d want us on the job.”
City of Broken Magic Page 41