Smoke & Mirrors

by C. L. Schneider

  A more recent addiction to the décor were the rows of what looked like horse stalls, reinforced with electrified iron bars. A stark, dormitory-style kitchen, fitted with metal counters, stoves, and an industrial-size refrigerator, occupied an area to the right. An alcove with desks held computers and other electronic equipment. Power was provided by a generator running on a raised platform in the back. Its motor was a steady thrum, overlain by the murmur of excited chatter at our presence.

  By the time we arrived, Coen had breached the door and taken out Gant’s four-man security team. Choosing to defend the Market’s product with automatic weapons (in human skin) had left them crispy and all three of Coen’s forms grazed by stray bullets. Unconcerned by the blood trailing off their scales, they’d separated and began freeing the captives.

  Those stumbling out of their pens were dirt-streaked, malnourished, and dehydrated. There were contusions, lacerations, and broken bones, but no signs of stitches or missing limbs. A few were hesitant, unsure whether we were here to make their situation better or worse. A few of the humans looked twice at Nadine’s siren form, but our lyrriken features didn’t even get a pass. They were used to our scaled appearance, after the time on Drimera.

  Evans peeled off without a word. I knew he was looking for Marnie. I could see his hopes soar with every woman who came into view. Even so, his instincts had kicked in, prompting him to give aid to the injured and hand out the provisions in my backpack to those who appeared most in need. Treating the scene as he would any rescue operation on his own world, the honesty and authority in his demeanor seemed to have a comforting effect. The creatures were curious. The humans saw Evans as a shining example of normalcy, and their emotions rushed out like an overturned pitcher of trauma onto the floor.

  Finn and Erich were still walking the rows of stalls, freeing the remaining prisoners. Coen was in the kitchen, opening cabinets, pulling out boxes filled with military style rations and bottles of water. He offered a nod of his scaled head as I joined him.

  “Get some food and water into them, then we need to go,” I said. “Gant could send more ulfar to collect his stash at any time.”

  “Agreed. Engaging in combat on open terrain is less than ideal.”

  “How many non-humans are there?”

  “A total count has yet to be completed, but there are a decent number of creatures with abilities. Depending on their condition, they should prove capable if a fight is required. Though,” Coen’s forehead plates tightened in a squint, “that’s not what you meant. You seek one in particular?”

  “Aidric didn’t tell you? The only reason we’re here is to retrieve a creature for him. We would never have found this place, otherwise. I’m not sure why he wants her back so badly, but he risked sending your other two to fetch me—at the police station.”

  “I was aware of Aidric’s desire to meet with you, but not the details of the mission. If the baku is important, it is my pleasure to ensure the creature is delivered safely to the king.” Coen tilted in a slight bow.

  “I wasn’t asking you to assume my responsibility.”

  “You don’t have to.” His scaled hand touched my arm. It was a light, friendly caress, among colleagues. His stare, however, held something different. “I cannot always be with you, but when I am, I will do for you what I can. It’s my honor.”

  Coen’s claws dropped away, and the words I wasn’t going to say, tumbled out. “I know about Yaslynne and the eye. I know about her lover. He was like you,” I said, unsure how much Finn had divulged of our exploration in the tunnels or what Aidric had shared about his plans for me.

  I still didn’t, since Coen offered no reply.

  “I’m sorry if the king used you,” I said. “I don’t know what piece of him or Yaslynne he gave you to make you want to be near me. But I’ve been thinking about it. And, in some twisted, dragon way, Aidric’s intentions were good. He hasn’t said it, but he wants me to learn the eye’s power. He wants me to hold off the blight until they find a permanent solution.”

  “And what do you want?”

  “I…” His gaze destroyed my words. It was vulnerable and tender, full of sincerity and love. Ronan had never looked at me like that. Figures, I thought. I finally meet someone, and he’s under the influence of an eon’s old love affair between a hated dragon-queen and her dead lover. Nothing’s ever easy. “The apocalypse could be around the next corner, Coen. I’m not sure it matters what I want.”

  “I understand.”

  Squelching the urge to kiss him, I kept my hands to myself as Coen filled his arms with water and rations for the captives and walked away. Watching him, enjoying the power in his scaled form, I jumped at a sudden shout from the crowd. A desperate, feminine cry of “Casey?” followed, echoing over the chaos. The response, a heartfelt exclamation, “I thought I’d lost you,” pulled my throat tight.

  The crowd stepped back, giving them room, and I watched Marnie jump into her brother’s arms. She was barefoot and dirty. The sweatshirt and jeans she must have acquired during her captivity were baggy, stained, and ripped. But she clung to Evans with enough strength to suggest a lack of injury.

  As he embraced her, refusing to let go, smiles formed on the grimy faces surrounding them. Claps were heard as she cried, and he fretted over every scrape and bruise. Hope gleamed in the eyes of the watchful captives. It was most visible in the young women crowding around Marnie. Their soft expressions betrayed how anxious they were to see their loved ones. But the future of the other dancers held no tearful reunion or long-awaited homecoming. They knew too much.

  Grabbing the few bottles of water Coen couldn’t carry, I handed them out as I searched for Aidric’s prized baku. Intelligent as a human, the size of a lion, with a body shape of a flabby, hairless rat, Mirda wouldn’t be hard to miss. But it was the pair of feelers capable of suction cupping to your head and munching on your dreams that really stood out.

  I found her in a cell near the back of the room. Lying in a nest of hay, her rubbery tail was curled around her haunch. The skin of her plump rolls was loose and wrinkled like an accordion. Her door was open. She was watching the commotion with placid, charcoal eyes, but the baku appeared uninjured. She was merely old, and in no hurry to move.

  “Aidric sent me,” I said. “He’d never risk a rescue like this for a lyrriken operative, so count yourself lucky.”

  Mirda lifted her head. Baku understood many languages, but they communicated by planting images in your brain. The way her feelers swung lazily in my direction expressed her interest to do so. But, while I was curious, there wasn’t time to decode our “conversation” or shake off the resulting wooziness.

  “Raincheck,” I said. “I’ve got some tasty nightmares you’re welcome to. But right now, we need to move.”

  An extreme drop in temperature preceded the storm. Nadine found a crate of blankets for those underdressed and without the benefit of fur. Coen tore several of them into strips and distributed them as protection from the gritty air. I took one myself. The wind gusts had gotten stronger, whipping more bits of blight into the air, as we made our way back to the exit. Breathing in the granules was most problematic to the indigenous species, but that didn’t mean it was healthy for the rest of us.

  I checked every captive as they filed out. Nyakree wasn’t among them. With the interest I’d shown, I hadn’t expected Gant to transfer her here, only to bring her back again for the auction. I still had to be sure.

  Coen and Finn took the sick and injured through the exit first. Finn stayed to settle them into prepared rooms in the tunnels, and Coen returned to escort the next group. Erich oversaw the last, which included the dancers. I sent the baku (wrapped so tight in a blanket nothing was visible but her eyes) along with them. Erich tried to take Marnie. I told him the king had graciously excluded her from relocation. He backed off, but disapproval swam in his gray eyes.

  Erich was more by the book than the others. I respected his opinions. They were intelligent and tho
ughtful, and I’d undoubtedly hear them later—along with a dozen reasons why trusting Marnie to keep quiet was a bad idea. He wasn’t wrong. But it was a moot point. There was no separating the girl from her brother. And there shouldn’t be. She needs him, I thought.

  Marnie’s ghosts weren’t manifesting, at the moment, but I felt them. The trauma she’d amassed the last few months was the same potentially debilitating mixture leaking from many of the captives: shock, grief, turmoil, fear, pain, and anxiety all draped in a shitload of despair. Yet, she was carrying it well, standing tall despite the weight.

  Clearly, this wasn’t the sassy girl I’d met dancing in a dragon’s nightclub.

  Marnie’s modest, simple attire was nothing like the skimpy costume she’d worn that night. The new cut of her hair was likely done against her will, but the short, messy style suited her. It gave Marnie an edgy vibe, and a sense of maturity her previous dyed pigtails and bubblegum lipstick didn’t allow. What I was sensing, though, went beyond the physical. It was most noticeable in her stare and posture. Both betrayed the kind of mindful vigilance brought on by living every moment on the cusp of danger.

  I knew exactly what that was like and what it could do to someone.

  “Casey,” I said, calling him over. “We need to talk. Alone.”

  Evans moved away from Marnie, but his steps were hesitant and labored, like the ground was made of glue. “Time to go?”

  I nodded. “Take her home and sit on her. Keep her away from the phone and the computer. Don’t let her out. Don’t let her answer the door. Call in sick and keep her in your apartment, until I have time to talk to her and make sure she’s on board.”

  “She is. She will be. Marnie won’t say anything. Not about this. Not about your secret identity,” he said, knowing that was a particular worry of mine. “I promise.”

  I looked past him. Marnie met my gaze and offered a slight, grateful smile. There was something in it, though. Something… I couldn’t put my finger on it. “I’m sure you’re right. But allowing her to go home makes your sister my responsibility as much as yours. You both need to understand how serious this is. If Marnie talks, the Guild will act.”

  “Okay. You got it, boss. Marnie’s on lockdown until you say otherwise.” Lingering, Evans eyed me a moment. His grin, as it burst out, was equal parts excitement and gratitude. “You did it,” he said, nearly squealing. “You have no idea what this means to me. I’m bringing my sister home because of you. I won’t forget this. Ever. Thank you.” Evans planted a kiss on my scaled cheek before he backed up. “Give me a call when Gant contacts you about the auction. I’m anxious to take that creepy-ass, skin-wearing bastard down.”

  “You got it.” But that phone call wasn’t coming. Evans belonged at Marnie’s side right now, not mine.

  They disappeared through the exit. Thinking I was the last one to leave, the echo of a cough startled me. I turned and spotted Nadine. She was a good hundred feet away, sitting on a rock near the water, eyes on the dark clouds sweeping steadily closer.

  As I headed over, I thought about how her spirited nature, the aura of spunk she normally exuded, didn’t seem to exist in this place. Or was it that her current form had no use for it? I didn’t understand her shame. I found her appearance fascinating and beautiful in a far different way than her human skin.

  Nadine coughed again as I drew near. She’d given her mask to a small child who wheezed the moment he stepped outside. The cloth over her face wasn’t helping as much. Her wounds were worse, too. Dirt had invaded the scrapes, turning the abrasions black. The edges were festering and bloody in a way that was definitely not normal.

  Unless…

  Son of a bitch.

  “I wish you could see it,” she said. “That cute little twinkle that leaps into your eyes when the clues add up.” Nadine grinned. When I didn’t mirror the expression, she confessed with a sigh. “Yes, Dahl. This world was my home.”

  Warring with my anger, I sat beside her. “I’ve been to the Sirens’ home. It was a long time ago, one of my first missions with the Guild. I remember endless rainforests full of vibrant creatures. Not this.”

  Nadine started to speak, and another cough took her words.

  “Damnit,” I scolded, “you shouldn’t be breathing this contaminated air.”

  She tapped the cloth on her face. “The particles can’t get through this.”

  “Let’s hope not. But the black grains in your cuts will eat your fucking skin.” Losing the battle with my temper, my tone hardened. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  “I wanted to come home, to see it one last time.”

  “How long has it been like this?”

  “I’m not sure. Where the disease first appeared was far from here, on one of the southern continents. For many years, no one knew it was there. Once it started spreading to the populated areas, and became an issue, Oliver kept me in the loop. I wasn’t allowed to come back. I couldn’t help. But at least I knew what was happening. When I ask Arno about my world, he just smiles.”

  “So you hitched a ride with us to see for yourself.”

  “It was worth it. To see Casey truly happy again, if nothing else.”

  “Aidric says dragon-fire can burn the blight away. If mine is hot enough to destroy the dirt in your wounds, and you don’t have contact with it again…”

  “You think it will work?”

  “I think it’s going to be fucking painful. But yeah, I think it might.”

  “You’re always a straight shooter with the hard stuff, aren’t you?”

  “Why don’t we pretend you are, too, and you can explain how you got involved in this? And what the hell happened here. Aidric made it seem like there was trouble here before the blight.”

  “There was. War. Illness. Natural disasters. Many regions were suffering when Arno, Sr., first appeared. He offered things no one else could. He insinuated himself like a snake into our governments, pretending to be an ally to learn our ways, our secrets. Economies collapsed. Whole species were on the verge of extinction.”

  “Let me guess. He offered to pick up the pieces.”

  She nodded. “Many saw him as a savior. Those who didn’t disappeared.”

  “Why your world? Why not another?”

  “In its early days, the Market claimed and depleted several worlds, but this was a favorite. The rainforests were a gold mine. The creatures and vegetation were popular among the clientele. The soil was among the richest out there. One by one, he stripped our resources.”

  “He turned your land barren?”

  “But then he rebuilt it, bringing in whatever new species of plants and animals fed his production needs. He changed our ecosystem. Settlements became manufacturing plants. Native species were put to work.”

  “There were other established societies. Why didn’t someone resist?”

  “Because he didn’t conquer us, Dahl. We gave him power. He offered a solution to our problems outside of war. He offered protection and advancements, medical supplies, peace—if the orders were filled as scheduled. By the time we realized we’d sold our souls to the devil, it was too late. Many were executed for trying to flee. But you can’t make a deal with the dead, and Arno, Sr., lived for the deal.”

  “Did you make one with him?”

  “Not me.” Her ghosts seeping out, their weight dulled her voice to a somber whisper. “My siblings petitioned for passage, away from the mess our home had become. Their request was granted, with a steep price. Do you know the human term ‘indentured servitude’?”

  “Your family sold you? For what? Bus money?”

  “More or less,” she said, a grin peeking out from the cloth on her face. “The ‘family’ structure of my kind is based on hierarchy and value, not affection. My deformities made me the least important and most expendable.”

  “Okay, you’re not deformed. Your beautiful.” I gave her a nudge. “And you arrived in the Sentinel before me. How long is this damn contract?”

&n
bsp; “Longer than you want to know. When Arno inherited the business, he inherited me, too. As would his son, if he had one. And grandson,” she conceded.

  “Oren has connections. He could’ve helped you get away.”

  “The Sentinel is my life, Dahl, and Arno keeps me on a long leash. If I come when he calls, we’re good. But if I violate my contract, he’ll send his kung fu puppies after me. And if I run, my family is dead. So am I, if my sisters find me first.”

  “Your sisters would kill you for escaping? Talk about dysfunctional…”

  “Sirens have no tolerance for genetic defects. My family had every right to refuse possession of me when I was born. I owed them my life. Sirens take their debts seriously.”

  “Screw them. I’m not letting anyone hurt you.”

  “You’re sweet, sugar. But your scales don’t shine like armor. And I’m not some empty-headed damsel sitting around on my ass waiting for a rescue.”

  “Who’s sitting?” I pulled Nadine up with me as I stood. “We need to get you out of here and take care of those cuts before the blight works in deeper.”

  Quiet as we walked, we were nearly to the exit when Nadine stopped me. “If you’re going to do this, you need to know. Arno’s not human, Dahl. Not anymore.”

  “I figured. Most humans don’t suture their skin on every morning.”

  “After the fire, he was near death. Oliver used his ‘products’ to try and heal him. But something went wrong. Arno woke up wrong. He killed his father, he… He ate Oliver’s heart.”

  “So that’s what happened to it. Do you know what Oliver did to him?”

  Nadine shook her head. “No. But wearing parts of another, especially flesh or hide, gives him control over them. The more he taps into it, the faster the skin rots. There were shelves of it, from dozens of species, stored in the freezer at the slaughterhouse. He wasn’t happy your investigation forced him to move it.”

  “What I saw on his face looked human.”

  “Most of it probably was. It’s how he negotiates the perfect deal. And if he wears enough of one species, he can control multiple minds and bodies at the same time.”