The Fire Unseen

by Andrew C Jaxson

  Vicki’s hand lay on his cheek. If it weren’t real, it would have been beautiful, like Romeo and Juliet or something, but no romantic music played, no credits rolled, and no one stood up after the director yelled cut. Death isn’t like the movies. It’s far more final.

  I turned away, not able to look any longer, but my cheeks were wet. Weird, as I felt nothing. I was numb from everything that had happened, but it was good knowing some part of me was still able to cry. I wasn’t totally broken just yet.

  Across the hall was the room their attacker had come from. I pushed the door open. Inside were three mattresses and a corresponding number of suitcases, which I unzipped to rifle through in case they gave me information. The first two were mostly full of socks, shirts, and some very questionable underwear. The third was a bit more interesting. Half the clothing inside was formal, as if the owner was a businessman in real life. Suit pants, dress shoes, that kind of thing. There was also an organiser, which I opened to its last bookmark. Four days ago. That probably meant he’d been here at the house since then. Flicking through, I tried to get a picture of who the owner of the suitcase was. The page with tomorrow’s date was marked Andrea’s 8th birthday. As I was putting the organiser down, a photo fell out, and everything clicked horribly into place. It was a family photo. Dad, Mum, two kids—one boy, one girl. The girl, Andrea, I recognised from the park near our house; sometimes she and Skye had played together. And her father was Elijah Crawford, our real estate agent.

  I ran outside as fast as I could without making my head spin, tearing off my mask and hood to clear my vision. The hole hadn’t moved, and neither had the body, but from this angle, I got a good look at his face for the first time. It was Elijah. Andrea’s dad.

  My stomach twisted into knots. I had killed a father. A loving father, judging by the moments I had seen at the park. As hard as it was to reconcile Elijah’s actions that night with his identity as a businessman and dad, those kids would grow up without him. I don’t know how long I sat staring at the picture still in my hand, but I didn’t ever think I could move again.

  Not even when I saw a glimmer of movement out of the corner of my eye.

  Not even when a voice called my name from the dark shadows to my left.

  Not even when a boy stepped out into the soft glow of the fires still raging beyond the silos.

  Not even when his eyes met mine like they had across the quad at school so many weeks before.

  Noah.

  THIRTY-TWO

  Neither of us moved for a moment. My mouth hung open as I took him in. His hair was short now, cropped in a military style. He was wearing the same long, dark shirt and pants as the rest of the Unseen. Above his left eyebrow was a fresh scar, and his cheek was bleeding. His eyes were the only thing that felt the same, although they seemed wilder than before, like two horses chafing at the bit.

  He stepped towards me, and I scrambled back. This didn’t make sense.

  “Ari, it’s okay. It’s me.”

  “You—I saw—”

  “You saw me dying, but you didn’t see me dead. Everything they’ve told you is a lie.”

  “You’re with the Unseen.” It was an accusation, not a question.

  He nodded. “It’s not what you think.”

  “I don’t know what I think.”

  “Right now, all you need to do is trust me.”

  I frowned. He sighed and looked over my shoulder towards the silos. “The Kindred are coming back. We need to move.”

  I hesitated, and he crouched so that his eyes met mine. “Ari, I know where Skye is. And your mum. If you want them back, we need to run.”

  That was enough. I didn’t trust him, not at all, but he was my only lead. If he was lying, I’d find out soon enough. I took his outstretched hand and got to my feet. I was feeling a bit better, but he still wrapped one arm around me for support.

  He led me across the yard and around the scrub at the back. We moved fast, which was difficult, as the field was still furrowed from an unfinished ploughing. I stumbled every few steps at first but soon got the hang of it. The farther we went, the faster I could go. After a few minutes, we hit a slow jog, although I still needed Noah for support. We were in total darkness now, the light from the fires a distant glow. Figures moved near the house, and Hackman yelled my name. The air was still warm with smoke, but it didn’t have the sweet smell of bushfires; it was acrid and toxic from the fuel and plastic burning behind the silos.

  We moved in silence except for our breathing and our feet on the soil. Behind us, several torches switched on, turning like lighthouses as the Kindred searched the fields. We were too far ahead for the light to reach us, and as long as we kept moving, we would stay undiscovered. As we neared the back of the property, the search party turned around, probably recalled by Hackman.

  I still didn’t know what to think. Was Noah leading me to safety or an Unseen trap? I was committed now either way, and loyalty to my family took precedence over loyalty to the Kindred. It had to.

  “How are you alive?” I whispered.

  Noah shushed me. “I have no idea if something’s following us, but if they have the farm under surveillance, someone could still be tracking us. I’ll explain everything when I know it’s safe, but right now you need to trust me.”

  I went to speak again, but Noah cut me off.

  “I’m serious. Either trust me, or don’t, but if you keep talking you might get us both killed.”

  Nodding, I decided to trust him, for now at least, and kept my mouth shut. We walked forever in silence, crossing farm after farm, road after road. There was no way Hackman or the others could find us now. It was the advantage of a country as big as ours, although it also meant help was a long way away if needed. Noah’s watch said it was after three in the morning.

  We passed the edge of farmland and into part of the national park. This part of the park was a long way from the Kindred complex. Trees formed a dense canopy overhead, but the path still glowed slightly from the stars so it was easy enough to follow. It sloped gradually uphill, and my calves burned from the slow climb.

  It was hard to believe Noah was alive, but I couldn’t deny he was here. I’d grieved for him, cried for him, laid flowers at his funeral. None of this made any sense, although, over the past few weeks, my definition of sense had been surgically removed.

  If my life had been a bad teen movie, Noah would be a zombie, or a vampire, or a ghost brought back from the dead by his everlasting love for me or something, but he was none of those. Noah was alive, warm, and didn’t even slightly sparkle in the moonlight.

  I kept waiting to wake up back at the farmhouse, but if this were actually a dream and I had any choice at all, I’d choose to wake up back at home the day before the truck blew up, when my family was home and the laws of physics made sense and nobody at all was even a little bit dead. Although, if this were all a dream, I’d never have met Noah. I’d never have looked into those eyes. I’d never have felt him hold me. Pain and Noah was a package deal. After tonight, I’d know if it was worth the trade-off.

  Several times I went to speak, but Noah signalled for my silence. We weren’t safe yet, although my feet scraping on the rocky path were so loud I could have woken a graveyard.

  He was limping, and there was dressing on his leg. I was surprised he was walking at all considering how bad his injuries had been the night we were attacked. Somehow, he managed, and after an hour inside the national park we stopped at a clearing where a river fed into a small pool before continuing its way downstream. The moon was up and just visible over the huge trees surrounding us. I slumped down onto a big flat rock, and Noah sat next to me. Before he had a chance to speak, I made my demands.

  “Tell me what’s going on. Don’t be mysterious, or sugarcoat it, or leave out any details. I’ve had enough of that. I want the truth. If I decide I can’t trust you, or if I think you’re lying to me, you’re dead.” I was tired—not just physically—and I didn’t care if he thought
I was harsh. “I’ve learned how to do a flare inside lungs just like the one that nearly killed you at the Boulders,” I lied, “and I don’t think you’ll survive a second one.”

  Noah grinned. “Rachel said you learned how to flare. Impressive. But please, try to avoid setting me on fire. At least until I’ve finished my story. Telling you my experience is the easiest way to explain what’s happened.”

  “Fine, but make it quick. I’m not in the mood for a bedtime story.”

  “Five years ago, I found out what my father really did for a living. We had always moved around a lot, and I was sick of it. We’d moved six times in five years. Mum was sick of it too—she left when I was eight—but Dad never stopped moving. I hated him for that.

  “When I was twelve, after he’d been stationed in Port Haigh for two years, I got the feeling we would be moving again, so I snuck into Dad’s office late one night to see if I could find out where we were moving or maybe how to stop it from happening. Dad came in, and I hid under the desk so I wouldn’t get in trouble. He sat down and started talking to some guy on the phone about the Kindred and their global agenda. He wanted to meet up somewhere to talk in person.”

  Noah absently skimmed a rock across the water. It reached the other side of the pool and clattered on the bank. Something ran away through the undergrowth. Probably a possum.

  “He left the house to go jump in the car. It was after midnight, so he must have thought I was asleep. I hid around the side of the house and climbed in the boot when he unlocked the car. We stopped at an old winery outside town. He went in through a huge oak door, and I followed him inside, staying way back so he wouldn’t catch me. It was a Kindred complex, smaller than the one here, so it had less security. There were only a few people around, so it was easy to sneak down the hallway he used and hide outside the door of the meeting. Inside were a whole bunch of guys discussing how to accelerate the Kindred’s plan. My dad wasn’t just a cop. He was a high-level member of a secret organisation.

  “While I was listening, this huge guy grabbed me—came up behind me while I was listening so intently. I freaked and tried to run, yelling as loud as I could. Dad ran out of the meeting and saw me. He sighed, then smiled, then started to laugh. He said he was wondering when to bring me in on this, but I had made the decision for him.

  “He told me I had abilities, that somehow he had known this for a while, although I had never used them or even known about them myself. But he’d been waiting for the right time to recruit me to the Kindred. I was brought in, trained, and grew my ability faster than the other guys my age. I moved fast through the ranks, even got sent out on missions. When I was fifteen, I got promoted to Brother, which is a supervisor over younger Kindred members.

  “Every family has secrets, and the Kindred is no exception. The higher you go and the more you’re promoted, the more you find out. I heard rumours of what they call the Agenda. It’s the reason the Kindred exist, the cause they fight for. They don’t tell you what it is when you join. That, you have to earn.

  “When I was promoted to Brother, they said the Agenda was the ‘advancement of all mankind towards the final day,’ which sounded kind of honourable. But Dad told me more. He wasn’t supposed to, but he figured I could keep the secret. I think he was trying to bond. Turns out the ‘final day’ was the destruction of humanity, the purging of the world so the Kindred could rebuild it again to their design.

  I shook my head. This was way too much to take in, and so different from everything I had been told up till now.

  “I traced their history through Kindred records. They helped build Babylon. They invented gunpowder in China. They fuelled the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition. They created the Black Plague. They owned the East India Company. They started both World Wars. They funded Hitler. They ran the Manhattan Project. They have been positioning themselves for years in key positions across the planet, readying themselves for the Agenda to be fulfilled. Ever wonder how prime ministers and presidents get elected when they’re always so unpopular? Our last twelve have been Kindred. There are cells all over the world, with hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of members trained in resonance, infiltrating every level of power in every country, preparing the way for destruction.

  “There are rumours the founders of each side are still alive, and that they’ve been here all along, even before the Kindred or Unseen existed, fighting it out with kingdoms and wars and civilisations, using them like pieces in the world’s longest game of chess.” He paused. “But that’s just hearsay.”

  I frowned. “Rachel said the Unseen were the ones doing this, the ones trying to destroy us all.”

  “Rachel didn’t think you were ready for the truth. She wanted to tell you, right back at the start, but didn’t feel she could without blowing her cover. She was going to tell you that night on the ledge, but then you said you had an encounter with a Shadow, and she didn’t know if you would be on our side or theirs. She didn’t trust you.”

  “She talked to you?”

  “She was keeping me updated until we lost contact with her early yesterday morning.”

  I stood, taking a few steps away. I kicked a rock into the water, and it sank to the bottom, leaving ripples that spread out across the pond. “I don’t know what to think. You’re telling me I’ve been working for the bad guys. That the Kindred are evil and the Unseen are good.”

  “I wouldn’t use words that black and white, but if you’d like to simplify things …”

  “None of this makes sense!” I yelled into the clearing. My words returned, dulled by the trees in a quiet echo.

  “It will once I’ve finished.”

  I took the correction, and shrugged. “Go on then.”

  “The Unseen have been around for almost as long as the Kindred, started by defectors from the Kindred who opposed the Agenda. Once I found out the Kindred’s true agenda, I got in touch with the Unseen. They weren’t that hard to locate once they got wind I was willing to switch sides. We may be badly resourced and way outnumbered, but we’ve always managed to keep the Kindred in check. We operate in secret, like the Kindred, and espionage is our greatest asset.”

  “Hence the name.” I placed my head in my hands. I was so tired, and this was all so much to take in.

  “Right. The Unseen took me in without hesitation. They figured I could be a double agent, working inside the Kindred and passing information back to the Unseen.” He shifted uncomfortably, seeming a little guilty even though he was doing the right thing. “My father’s high rank gave me access to information normally reserved for higher orders. And then there was a truck accident in a little town called Ettney, and the Kindred moved my father here after they got word of an unusually powerful civilian. A teenage girl.”

  My eyes widened. “Me.

  THIRTY-THREE

  Noah stood and joined me next to the pond. “I was meant to befriend you and recruit you to the Kindred. I went along with it, to maintain my cover, but then I met you and knew I didn’t want you to be part of this world. It’s so dark and full of pain and violence and death. I tried to save you. That night at the Boulders, that cavern I took you to, it’s an Unseen meeting place. I arranged for the Unseen to meet us there and take you into protective care. When they didn’t show up, I knew something was wrong. The Kindred had tailed us, followed us into the park and found the Unseen contingent coming to meet us. They killed them all and knew for sure I was a traitor. That’s when we were attacked.”

  “Those figures, the ones that nearly killed you ... they were Kindred?”

  He nodded. “They were about to kill you too, except Rachel got herself assigned to follow the Kindred ambush team. She knocked you out and convinced the Kindred to recruit you instead. She managed to dampen the flare in my lungs just enough that it didn’t kill me, saving both our lives. She told the Kindred I was dead but got a message to the Unseen. They found me several hours later. I was in an induced coma for a week. Thank goodness the Unseen have the same me
dical capabilities as the Kindred. My father still thinks I’m dead, killed at the Boulders and burned beyond recognition. The Unseen made sure no one could identify the bodies.”

  I frowned. “Your dad faked a car accident. I get that he wanted to cover up the truth for the rest of the town, but why pretend to me? If he was going to bring me in, why the charade? He could have skipped all that and brought me into the Kindred straight away.”

  “Rachel stalled for time, told my father he should wait a few weeks, until you’d dealt with my death properly. She was trying to get an Unseen contingent to come pick you up, but after the slaughter at the Boulders, they were hesitant to approach directly. She ran out of time. My father came up with the attack plan, to fake an assault on your house, blame it on the Unseen, and swoop in to save the day. He figured it would be the fastest way to earn your trust. At least, that’s what Rachel told us. She couldn’t stop it. I don’t know why they took your family too, but they’re being held in the Kindred complex. They’ve been there all along. He’s been playing you, Ari, although I still don’t know why.”

  No. No. I was such an idiot. I’d fallen for the whole thing! The whole time, Hackman had been lying to my face, telling me he was on my side. He probably had my family as leverage in case I wanted to leave. They were the only reason I’d stayed, and the search for them was what kept me tethered to the Kindred. Hackman was smart. He knew exactly what would make me tick. He probably even faked the attack on the Kindred school, knowing it would tip me over the edge to join them. The last few weeks had been a giant game of chess, except he had all the pieces. It was all some kind of sick game.

  One thing didn’t make sense, though. “Why attack the farm tonight? They knew my family wouldn’t be there, so why send me out knowing I wouldn’t find them?”

  “I’m guessing they told you your family was there to give you hope and keep you controlled. They were holding a carrot out to keep you compliant. Once they attacked, they could pretend your family had been moved and keep the carrot out a little longer. I know how my father thinks, and that’s the most likely explanation. He wasn’t counting on my appearance, though. He knew the farm was holding a high-value target, but he didn’t know it was me. I was being kept there for my own protection, until the heat died down and I recovered enough to be able to fight for myself. When you attacked, they sent me to the basement, accessed through a hatch in the front bedroom. Once the battle cleared, I climbed out. That’s when I saw you.”