by Matt King
The stadium grew still.
He waited with them as Amara held her hand up high. Her guards stood behind her, each with a long club in their grip. When she lowered her hand, they struck a wide tube rising over her chair. A thunderous toll shook the air.
The crowd erupted into frenzy.
The soldiers charged.
Michael let his skin glow hot, and as he watched them come, a smile crept across his broken face.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Walking through the synapse was like experiencing an entire roller coaster ride in less than a second. August checked himself to make sure he was still whole once he got to the other side. Bear came behind him, followed by the Horsemen. The brothers wasted no time in searching the area. Their hands hovered over the guns at their hips as though they expected to see Coburn waiting around every tree. He couldn't blame them; he had an itchy trigger finger, himself. First he had to make sure Ray was all right, then he could take them hunting.
The camp looked exactly as he’d left it, with the Lawsons’ tent dominating the creekside site and his pack still leaning against a stump. He pushed through the pile of dirty t-shirts in his bag to pick the cleanest of the bunch while he scanned the site. “Ray, you in there?” he called to the tent.
No answer.
“Daddy?” Bear walked around the edges of the site, his pace quickening as his calls went unanswered. He stopped when he got back to August. “He’s not here.”
August exchanged a look with one of the nearby Horsemen. The brother drew his gun.
“DADDY?” Bear’s voice bounced through the thick woods. “RAY! RAY LAWSON!”
He walked down the trail leading away from camp to continue shouting to the hills, and that’s when August saw the thin plastic tube lying on the ground near the tent. He reached down to inspect it. The line ran around to the back of the tree where Ray’s oxygen canister leaned against the bark. Placed, he noticed, not dropped. He rubbed his hand across his mouth. Ray, what have you done?
“Bear,” he said.
Bear turned, his booming voice still ricocheting through the hills. His face was slack and pale. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s gone.”
Anger darkened Bear’s expression. He stormed across the clearing. “What do you mean he’s gone? He can’t be gone.”
August held the canister in his hands. “He left.”
Bear took it from him, his hands slowly curling around the metal cylinder. He stared at the tank as he moved past August. When he got to the tent he dropped it to the ground. A gust of wind rippled across the fabric. He hesitated before unzipping the door, pushing aside the flap to reveal all of Ray’s belongings neatly packed and placed near the front corner. August's heart sank. On top of his bag was a note.
Bear rose with the letter in hand. The word “Johnny” was scrawled across the front in thin ballpoint ink. He looked up at August with eyes already brimming with tears. Don’t, August wanted to tell him, as though leaving it unread might save them both the pain of hearing the truth.
Bear unfolded the piece of paper. The note fell from his hands after only a few seconds. His stare turned to the river. “Daddy, no…”
Before August could say anything, Bear was past him and running toward the far side of the campsite. He disappeared down the trail.
The letter rolled across August’s foot. He picked it up and turned it over to read the last half of the note. Ray's jagged handwriting filled the page:
“This is what I wanted. Take care of yourself in the coming days. Your mom and I gave something great to the world when we had you. You’ve made me so proud. I hope I can be there for you in spirit as often as you’ve been there for me in life.
Love always,
Daddy”
He read the note again before re-folding it. The sight of Ray's belongings in the tent brought a sudden surge of emptiness. He set the note on top. His thoughts turned to Bear.
Let him go, Paralos’s voice bellowed in his head.
August searched for him among the trees. When he couldn’t find him, he turned his stare to the clouds moving overhead, painted a soft shade of orange in the dying light. I can't let him face this alone.
August, leave him. You'll only make things worse.
How does it get worse than this?
“Keep searching,” he said to the Horsemen. “If you see anything—anything—you fire off a shot.”
The Horsemen nodded in unison.
He left them at the camp's edge and ran after Bear, knocking overhanging branches from his face as he sped down the path. There was nothing he knew to say that might help—nothing at all—but he needed to be there anyway. Bear had no one else now.
The path cut left at an elbow in the river where the trail gave way to a rounded beach of rocks and sand. He came to an abrupt stop when he saw Ray’s body at the water's edge.
Blood filled the scene, cut in streaks across the rocks and pooled in dips of sand. Bits of skin and muscle littered the ground, mixed with shreds of fabric. In the middle of it all, Bear knelt over Ray's corpse. His shaking hands hovered over his father. It wasn't until his fingers finally settled on Ray’s blood-soaked jeans that Bear broke down into heavy sobs.
August shifted on his feet as he listened, unsure whether he should go to Bear or leave him alone. He stood in no-man’s land—too close to Ray not to feel anything, but too distant from either of them to know how deeply it hurt.
“Bear…I—”
“Don't!” Bear spat.
Bear shifted closer to Ray's head, giving August a full view of the body. A quick glance was all he could stand. Wide gashes ran from Ray’s chest to waist, stopping at the hip where his legs sat twisted at an unnatural angle. Beneath the shattered lenses of his glasses, a painful scream was frozen on his face.
Bear cupped his hand to gather water from the river. He let it fall over Ray’s cheek. After each handful, he touched his fingers to the skin, gently wiping through the blood until the dried flecks slowly began to dissolve. His fingers trembled as he worked.
“Bear,” August said again.
He took a step backward as Bear rose to full height, his face flushed, his eyes swollen and bloodshot. He glared at August. Ray's blood stained his hands and clothes.
“You don't get to call me that,” he said, his voice wavering. “Not anymore. That name died with him.”
Stunned back on his heels, August tried to answer but couldn’t muster the words.
“This is your fault!” Bear yelled. “Your fault! You brought us into this. You put our lives in danger.”
“I…I didn't—”
“And you...” Bear said, looking past August to the trail. “You did nothing.”
August looked over his shoulder to find Paralos standing at the edge of the dirt path, his hands placed firmly in the pockets of his coat.
“What more would you have me do?” Paralos asked. “I gave him the means to return home, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“You were supposed to keep him safe.”
“I did the best I could.”
“The hell you did.” Bear wiped his hand over his face, holding it over his mouth as he turned back to the body. “I should’ve been there for him, to protect him. I should’ve been there for him and I couldn’t…” His words trailed off.
August didn’t have to ask what had happened. This wasn’t Coburn’s work. The claw marks. The brutality. It couldn’t be anyone else.
“Talus did this,” he said. He took a cautious step toward Bear. “We’ll find him. You and me, we’ll find this thing and we’ll kill it.”
Bear’s head was shaking before August could finish. “I won’t,” he said, turning to face them. “I’m done.”
“You were given a gift,” Paralos said. “More than that, you were given a responsibility.”
“I didn’t ask for it. I never wanted to be a part of this. We never wanted to be a part of it.”
“But you are, whether you like
it or not.”
August turned the god with a hard stare.
“No,” Bear said. “Not anymore.” With a quick tug, he snapped the rawhide necklace carrying Meryn's mark and flung it into the river. The water swallowed it with barely a splash.
Paralos spoke through gritted teeth. “You think because your father died this war won’t happen? That it won’t crash through your door and tear down everything you’re running back to? I never figured you for a coward.”
“A coward? I’ll tell you what a coward is. A coward is a man who lets an innocent person die because he’s afraid he might break some god damn rule.”
“Those rules are the only thing keeping Amara from wiping out every living thing in existence. The day we break our vows is the day we willfully ask for death.”
“Makes no difference to me. Everyone I’ve ever cared about is dead already.” Fresh tears welled in Bear’s eyes.
“Your powers aren’t permanent,” Paralos said. The words seemed desperate, even spoken in anger. “I could take them away and leave you with nothing.”
“Do it!” Bear thundered. “I've prayed every day to be rid of it, so do it! Take it away!”
Paralos’s eyes flared. An outline of blue light formed around his hands. He held them at his sides, seething as he looked up at Bear. Neither man blinked.
After a few seconds, Paralos let the glow fade from his hands. He returned them to the pockets of his coat.
“Now who’s the coward?” Bear rumbled.
He backed away to return to the shore. He slipped his hands beneath Ray's head and knees, lifting the torn body to cradle it against his chest.
August’s stare fell to the ground as they passed.
“I want a doorway back to the farm,” Bear said. “I’m taking him home.”
Paralos raised a finger to his hat and tipped the brim. “As you wish.” Beside him, a synapse formed in a swirl of bright light, hanging above the trail.
Before he stepped through, Bear paused. “You can come get anything you left any behind in the barn, but then I want you gone,” he said, not looking at August. “I never want to see either one of you again after that. My part in this is done.”
He started toward the portal. Before August could think of anything to say to stop him, Bear disappeared through the watery membrane. The last thing August saw was the hazy red wall of the barn before the door closed in a wink.
“A waste,” Paralos said. “That tired old man wanted to die.”
August shook his head. “Not this way.”
“I warned him.”
“Do me a favor: shut the hell up for once.”
He walked to the water’s edge and sat down on the sand. The waves licked at his feet. He dropped his head into his hands, rubbing his eyes as though it could wash away everything that had happened. When he looked up again, the world hadn’t changed. Blood still stained the sand, Ray was gone, and the only person who gave them a fighting chance in the days ahead wanted nothing else to do with him.
“So that’s it? You’re going to give up the fight before it’s even begun?”
August turned a rock over in his fingers. “Is he really quitting?”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s the point?”
Paralos walked to his side. August shied away from him. “I don’t need you in my head right now.”
“You’re not ready to walk away, though, are you?”
“Don't be so sure.”
“I can see it. Part of you thinks the loss of Bear is too much to overcome, but your arrogance won’t let you leave. You still think you can help win this war, and for once you may be right. What if I told you Gemini was vulnerable, right now, and that I could take you to where he’s being hidden?”
It took August a few seconds to brush away the image of Ray long enough for him to remember that Gemini was still alive. “I’d say it sounds too good to be true.”
“He is ripe for the taking, but you have to go now. If you let him get his strength back, it will be too late.”
August threw his stone into the river. “Sounds like a good way to get myself killed.”
“So is waiting for Gemini to become more powerful.”
“You think they’re just gonna let me walk up and kill him? He’ll be protected.”
“Isn’t that one of the reasons Meryn chose you? Because you were good at finding ways to eliminate your target, no matter how well protected they were?”
It was clear what Paralos was trying to do. August had a pretty good sense for when he was having his ego stroked. “Now’s not a good time,” he said.
“Fine. Then do it to make up for what you've done.”
“Say again?”
“You heard me. The Lawson man was a fool to die the way he did but it doesn't take away from the fact that his death is on your hands.”
August jumped to his feet and took hold of a sword. “You're gonna talk like that, you better make yourself whole so you can answer for it.”
Paralos dimmed his image in spite. “All your bluster can't shield you from the truth. Had you not run, had you not tried to take on everything by yourself, that man could've died in peace, the way he wanted. Instead, you've jeopardized the entire war, and still you sit here and feel sorry for yourself when I'm giving you a way to make amends for your failures.”
August wanted to shout that it wasn’t true, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t because he knew different. As soon as Paralos said the words, he recognized his part in Ray’s death. Getting caught took Bear away from protecting his father. He shouldn’t have run.
His hand fell away from the sword.
The corner of Paralos’s lips curled in a smile. “Good to see you’re not as stubborn as the Lawson men. Come, we haven't much time.”
The old man lifted his pipe from his jacket and placed it between his teeth. A synapse spawned over his shoulder, beginning as a small, swirling cloud and growing until the doorway was fully-formed. Its edges glowed bright in the dusky forest. August stared at it in silence. If this was a chance to make things right between he and Bear, how could he refuse? He owed the man that.
“Where will this take me?” he asked.
“This synapse leads to Amara's home world, Pyr. You can see in the image the reflection of her castle.”
Paralos pointed to the rising stone spire of Amara’s home, nestled in between two rocky peaks. The world on the other side looked cold and barren. Mountains filled the picture.
“Can’t you get me closer?”
“Any closer and her guards will see the doorway. Find Gemini and kill him before Amara can summon Talus. If he comes to Gemini's aid, I won’t be able to save you.”
“You could make a career out of not saving people.”
Paralos gnashed his pipe. “Gemini will be with Amara on their way back to the castle. She travels alone. Wait by the entrance until you see them get close and then strike. If you’re fast enough, you can get back to the synapse before her guards get to you.”
“She won’t try to stop me?”
“She can’t. If she harms you, she forfeits her life.”
August scanned the image on the other side of the synapse. It was already dark there. A large moon took up most of the sky.
“What are you going to tell Meryn?”
“She is too far away to give you permission, if that's what you are asking. You’re wasting time you don’t have.”
“I’m going, relax.” He started for the door and then paused. “You’re going to keep this thing open, right?”
“I will be here, watching.”
Turning back to the synapse, he took a deep breath before closing his eyes to step forward.
Once the sensation of nausea wore off, the first thing he noticed was the cool air on his skin. He stood at the top of a path running through a shallow ravine between neighboring mountains, their exterior covered in sparkling snow. What he thought was a moon was actually a planet, striped with milky clouds, a
nd its size made him nauseous to look at. To his left, the dim lights of a city highlighted Amara’s castle rising above it. To his right, a red glow painted the horizon. It flickered, then died like a candle blown out by the wind.
Standing in the shadows of a strange world, he already missed having Bear at his side. I started this alone and I can end it alone, he told himself. But something else nagged at him beneath his thoughts. What if Coburn was right? What if I'm not who I thought I could be? He chased the questions away. “He's wrong,” he said aloud, and he took off for the castle before he could convince himself otherwise.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Coburn sat beneath the shade of an overhanging rock, waiting, watching as they stood in front of the doorway and made their plans. He had his own plan to consider. Once the old man with the pipe was alone, he’d move to take him. Not to kill, but to question. Coburn kept still, keeping the heel of his palm resting on the handle of his gun. The silencer was already in place. He smiled at his luck when he watched Dillon slip through and the man stay behind. He brought his gun out of the holster without a sound, positioning it until he could peer down its sights, aiming at the man’s legs. Just before he squeezed the trigger, he pulled his finger away and let his squinted eye relax. The old man was fading. He dissolved into the air like smoke escaping a fire and disappeared into the swirling wind.
Coburn couldn’t help a smile. Finally, some confirmation that Dillon was working with an advanced civilization. These were the people who gave August his power; they had to be.
He waited for the door to close. Instead, it lingered above the ground. He saw the darkness on the other side and wondered. Maybe this doorway was different. Maybe this truly was a path to another world. He’d been fooled once, but it was the darkness that gave him hope. In this world, the sun was low in the West, but its light still washed the sky in colors. The doorway showed a different scene. Stars filled the empty spaces surrounding a planet rising over a mountain. His heart quickened.