“He’s in a truck,” I whispered to Kat, holding my hand over the phone.
“Do you know where?”
“He’s on the outskirts of town, near the train station. I can’t tell you more than that.”
“I wouldn’t suggest trying to track me down,” the robotic voice said, interrupting me. “It won’t do you any good.”
“Who are you?”
“That’s my business. Listen, because if you don’t follow my instructions to the letter, people are going to die.”
“Why should I believe you? You’re a voice on a phone.”
“Well, I can see you require a small demonstration.” A brief pause followed, and the evening sky fell into chaos.
Gouts of flame shot to the heavens like hellish figures, and soot and ash fell covered the city in a gray blanket. A shock wave rattled the windows of the car. Trash and dust flew through the air, creating a cloud of debris that was impossible to see through. Smoke rose in the distance, like a flag this psycho hung over his conquest. I stared in horror as the pole announcing gas prices shuddered and crashed to the ground. People scattered in panic, screaming as they raced away. The smell of burning gasoline and scorched bodies permeated the air as I stepped out of the car. Macabre screams, sirens, and shoes hitting pavement echoed across the city. My vision flashed with the desperate cries of the trapped as they burned alive. I burst into a run, but Kat stopped me.
“Kacey, stay here!” she screamed.
“I have to save them!”
“Anyone trapped in that building is already dead! You can’t do anything.”
I spun toward her, fire blazing in my eyes as I slammed my fist down on the hood of her SUV. I took several long breaths, getting back in the car as I calmed down.
“Are you still there?” The voice on the phone said. “I must say; there is something fascinating about that blast. All those innocent lives snuffed out with the press of a button. It’s invigorating. All I had to do is detonate one bomb, and dozens of husbands, wives, sons and daughters won’t be going home again. It's invigorating, I must do this again. How does it feel, Kacey? How does it feel to know I annihilated an entire city block, and that it’s all because of you? How does it feel to have all that blood on your hands, to know that dozens of people died, and it’s all your fault?”
“I’ll kill you for this, you son of a bitch!”
“No, I’m afraid you won’t.”
“I’ll tell the police everything. They’ll throw you in a two by two windowless room with a bucket for a toilet.”
“You’ll tell them what? You don't know who I am. Even if they glean something useful out of the irrelevant information you have, my associates will slaughter any police who come after me. All that would accomplish is getting more innocent people killed. I have good news, though. You maybe be able to save my next victims.”
“What do you mean?”
“Tell me, are you familiar with Saint George’s School for the Gifted?”
Icy talons gripped my heart at the name. Goosebumps crawled up my arms as I struggled to remain calm.
“Should I have?” I asked, trying to keep my voice level.
“I would hope so, seeing as how you went there for two years before your unfortunate incident. I’m surprised that one ice skating trip was all it took to break your psyche. Tell me, why does that bother you? Is it because dear old mommy-”
“You shut your mouth about my mom.”
“Of course, I didn’t mean to upset you,” he replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. “I’ve taken every member of your graduating class, along with some of your teachers. They’re in my loving care at the moment. If you do not show up to the school, alone, then I will detonate the incendiary bombs I’ve placed there.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“You know, fire is an interesting way to die. You don’t burn at first. No, first the heat gets so intense your blood boils, and your eyes pop like grapes. Then the heated air collapses your lungs and that, dear girl, is when you burn. Of course, you can save everyone that pain and suffering. All you need to do is play ball.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“My dear, I annihilated a city block to get your attention. You can trust that I’m more than willing to kill your former friends.”
“I mean how do I know you’ll let them go after you have me.”
“Oh. You don’t. As far as you know, I may decide to kill them because there’s nothing to watch on TV. What I can tell you is that if you don’t show up before sunrise, they will beg for death before the end. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal. I’ll be there.” I hung up the phone as Kat raced down the highway, and she moved toward me, her face pale and her mouth agape.
“There is no way in hell I'm letting you go to that school,” she said, driving toward The Mansion.
“We have no choice,” I returned.
“Yes, there is. I’ll go in your place. I’ll take down any men he has there-”
“And get everyone he has captured killed,” I finished.
“Kacey, this may be hard to accept, but I’ve done this before. I can handle this,” Kat stated, taking her free hand and laying it on my shoulder.
“Can you tell me how you’d enter the school, defeat whatever security this sicko has in place, and free the hostages? Not to mention getting them all out before he detonates those bombs.
“For all we know, he’s bluffing. He might not have planted any bombs.”
“This guy blew up a city block to get our attention. He’s not bluffing.”
“So we let you sacrifice yourself instead? That’s not even a plan; it’s suicide.”
“I’m not dying tonight,” I assured her. “I know more than enough to defend myself. I should be able to get in and out.”
“Kacey you have been training for a few weeks! You’re nowhere near ready. You have a few gifts, but they won’t be enough if this is the guy who sent the vampire after you. If you go in there alone, you will die. Period.”
We pulled into the driveway, and Aidan and dad stood next to each other, watching us pile out of the car. Dad wrapped me in a bear hug and gave me a kiss on the cheek, his eyes flashing with joy as he inspected me.
“Thank God you’re all right,” he exclaimed. “Have you heard the news? It’s a madhouse out there. They say some nut is setting off bombs in The Shade.”
“They’re right. Dad, Aidan, there’s something we need to discuss, and you are not going to like it.”
“Sweetie, I promise that you can tell me anything, and I won’t get angry.”
***
“No way in hell I’m letting you do this,” Dad said, the vein in his neck bulging as his eyes flashed in anger. He paced around the room like a caged animal as he glared at me.
“Dad, you have to. It’s the only way.”
“No. No, it’s not. I’m going to go in there and find the asshole who’s threatening my daughter. I am going to rip this guy a galaxy worth of new ones. That’s the way this has to play out.”
“What happens to the two hundred hostages he has in that building when you do that? What happens to you when you’re trapped inside a burning building without anyone to back you up?”
“That’s my problem, not yours,” he said, waving me away. “Besides, I can take care of myself.”
“So can I.”
“Dammit Kacey, you’re a kid. You don’t get to make this decision.”
“I’m not a kid anymore, Dad,” I said, rising out of my chair to face him. “I get to make my own decisions.
This is my call.”
“The hell it is!” he roared, gritting his teeth as he glowered at me. “I am not going to sit on my hands while you go off to sacrifice yourself. I am not losing my daughter on this fool’s errand. I don’t care if I have to knock you out and drag you home; I am going to keep you safe.”
“Okay, this is getting us nowhere,” Aidan said, stepping between us. “Kacey, there’s no way you’re going in there alone, but we need you there.”
“No way,” Dad shot back, bristling at the statement
“I’ve dealt with situations like this before. They’ll be on the lookout for Kacey. If they see her coming in alone, they’ll relax their guard. That will give us the time we need to sneak in, free the hostages and disarm the bombs. Once everyone is safe, we can give Kacey the backup she needs.”
“That won’t work,” a voice from the top of the stairs said. I glanced up to see Laurie walking down, leaning on the railing as she descended. She let out a long, slow breath as she walked toward us, stumbling along the way.
“Are you okay?” I asked, rushing over to her.
“I’m alright, for the most part. I need some rest and all the shouting kept waking me up.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled, causing her to wave me off.
“It’s fine. I overheard everything, and there’s no way you’ll be able to sneak into the school. It’s impenetrable.”
“It’s a school, not Fort Knox,” Kat said, scoffing. “I think we’ll be okay.
“This is a school they designed after Columbine. The school board wanted to make sure the students were safe no matter what. The place has more security than most prisons. They have a net of security cameras along the perimeter with no holes in their vision and infrared capabilities. No matter what way you try and sneak in, whoever is manning the security post will see you. Not to mention there’s a security door every fifty feet. If there’s any alarm, the doors seal, and you're trapped. The only way out is for someone in the central security office to release the seal. Not to mention the sentry guns.”
“Sentry guns?” Kat exclaimed, giving Laurie a wide-eyed stare.
“Okay, that part was me screwing with you. The point is, there’s no way you’ll be able to sneak in.”
“Are there cameras inside?” Aidan asked, rubbing his chin.
“About every seventy-five feet or so. We have some wiggle room once you get in, but you have to assume they have someone guarding the hostages. You’ll also have no idea where the hostages are.”
“That part isn’t a problem,” I replied, sitting down across from her.
“It seems like a problem to me.”
“I’ll know the hostage’s location as well as the guard’s.”
“How?”
“I’ll be able to hear them. Heartbeats, crying, everything. I won’t even need to get close.”
“You’ll be able to…are you…how?”
“It’s a trick I learned.”
“Does it have something to do with you being a Mage?” Everyone groaned and glared at Laurie, frustration mixed with curiosity on their face.
“What?” she exclaimed, rolling her eyes. “This place has thin walls, and your voices carry. It’s not my fault that you all assume I’m asleep.”
“Laurie,” I said, shaking my head. “We can talk about that later. How do you know all this about the school?”
“I wanted more credits senior year. Since I’d taken a few electronics classes, they had me helping the tech crew. It was our job to make sure that the security systems work in case of an emergency.”
“What kind of emergency?”
“Fire, flood, power outages, zombie apocalypse. You know, the usual.”
“Stop,” Dad said, his eyes burning as he raised his head. “You mentioned power outages.”
“Well yeah, they wanted to make sure the security doors wouldn’t trap anyone.”
“So what happens if the school loses power?”
“Well, the emergency generators kick on-”
“How long does it take for that to happen?” Dad asked, drumming his fingers together.
“Thirty minutes. The school bought crappy generators, and when I talked to them about it, they blamed the budget. They were some cheap bastards by the way. When I asked for a soda machine in the break room-”
“Laurie, I need you to focus. What happens before the generators kick in?”
“The security doors unlock. You’d have complete access inside.”
Dad’s eyes went wide, and a half grin crept across his face. “What about the cameras? Do they have any battery backup?”
“You know, I wanted them to have that, but the school skimped out on me again. They wouldn’t even pay for my tire when the damn-”
“Laurie!”
“Sorry,” she replied, wincing. “No, they won’t have a battery backup.”
“We have our way in,” Dad announced, beaming as he reached for a grizzled ash staff next to him. I stared at dad for a long time, trying to follow his logic. The idea struck me, and my eyes went wide as I realized what he was planning.
“You’re going to kill power to the school,” I announced.
“Not the school. That would be way too suspicious. We’d have to go bigger.”
“How big?”
“Ten city blocks.”
“Ten…have you lost your mind?” I asked, almost falling out of my chair in shock when he said that.
“It’s either that or you go in without any backup. That’s suicide.”
“I hate to be a bummer,” Laurie said, a grim scowl etched on her face. “Won’t people get hurt if you cut power to that large of an area? What about hospitals, police stations, all that?”
“The city doesn’t have any hospitals that close to the school,” Dad stated.
“And the police precincts will have generators to get them up and running within minutes,” Kat said, letting out a low whistle. “That’s ingenious.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I am. I thought the only thing in your head was insults and hot air.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” dad returned, scoffing. “So, think you can do it?”
“You expect me to fry every power line for ten city blocks. No one in the country has that kind of power.”
“I need you to take out a junction box. Hit that with a powerful enough bolt of lightning and it should knock out the power for a big enough area.”
“What do you mean should?” I asked, nervous about the entire plan.
“It’s a Hail Mary, kiddo. We’re fourth and forty with the game on the line. We have to try something risky.”
“I…didn’t understand a word of that,” Laurie said, cocking her head at Dad.
“Don’t feel too bad, neither did I,” Kat reassured.
“It means…just...nevermind. We all have our jobs to do, get ready to do them.”
“Great,” Laurie replied, hopping off the couch as everyone started to scatter.
“Not you,” Dad said, grabbing her shoulder. “We can take care of this, thanks. You should get some rest.”
“No way. No one knows that school like I do. If you think I’m letting my best friend risk her life, without my help, then you’ve lost your damn mind.” My dad glanced at Laurie, raising a single eyebrow at her.
“Sir,” she squeaked.
“We’ll be able to find our way around.”
“You’ll be able to find your way to a hidden security room that you know nothing about, in perfect darkness,
while there are people hunting you? Wow, you’re awesome.”
“You know, I’m don't love this new attitude of yours,” Dad grumbled.
“She has a point,” I interrupted. My dad set his jaw at the two of us, before grunting in agreement.
“I assume you have a plan?”
“Yeah, I have ear buds. They’ll let me guide you through the school, and should let us communicate. The range kind of sucks, though, so I’ll have to be close.”
“How close?”
“The parking lot,” she replied. “Maybe closer.”
“Hold on, where did you manage to buy ear buds? You haven’t left the mansion.”
“I made them out of parts I found lying around… and Kat’s stereo.”
The group of us walked toward the garage, but Aidan stood in the way, stopping me.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, a brown package in his arms.
“We have work to do, remember?”
“I know we do, but there’s no way you’re going unarmed.” He set the box on the floor, revealing a brown, leather scabbard. “A friend of mine gave this to me. He told me to hold it close, and that as long as I had honor in my heart, it would always protect me. I can protect myself these days, so it should keep you safe.”
I held the short sword in my hands, letting out a low whistle as I appraised it. The silver of the hilt gleamed in the light of the mansion, and a ringing tone emerged as I drew it. The hilt was a snarling dragon with two blazing rubies for its eyes. The sword was as light as a feather, and it molded to my hand, feeling like an extension of my arm.
“Thank you,” I said, admiring it. “Any final advice?”
“Yeah. The sharp end goes in the other guy.”
Chapter 8
Night descended, with faint starlight illuminating the city. A howling blizzard dumped white powder on the city, covering it in a white blanket. The SUV rolled through the crunching snow, and we huddled together in the cramped vehicle. Kat drove in silence while Aidan sharpened the great ax in front of him, absorbed and focused on the task. He’d glance up and give me a reassuring smile before returning to work. Dad rubbed the old rosary that Mom always carried with her, and Kat squeezed his hand. The car rolled onto a bumpy, dirt path that led to the school.
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