Fading Light

by Nick Cook

  To my ears, her voice sounded more like a musical instrument than the sound of a human.

  Chloe put her hands to her mouth. ‘Oh my god, that’s so beautiful.’

  Ethan patted Domino’s head with a dazed expression.

  I had a strong suspicion that, of all the voices that had ever filled St Paul’s, this impromptu concert was by far the most astonishing that had ever been heard within its walls.

  Chloe pointed to the wolves. ‘Seems that not everyone is a fan of Gem’s singing.’

  The wolves were yipping between themselves and slinking away to flow out of the doors of the cathedral. I spotted the one with grey eyes glance back at us before he followed the others out. I wasn’t sure if I imagined it, or maybe I just wanted it to be there, but I could have sworn I saw regret in its expression.

  Only Mathews remained. The bear reared up and roared and the shadow crows all flew into his body. He grew into a huge beast, swelling to fill the cathedral.

  Gem turned towards him, sending her song soaring, and golden light blazed into the shadow creature.

  The giant creature dropped and bent his head down, his claws scrabbling on the glass floor as golden energy cascaded over it. His form started to break apart, though constantly reformed as it was lashed by the gale of the song. It managed to take a lurching step towards Gem.

  In unison, Chloe and I ignited our sparks, ready to protect Gem, but she shook her head at us.

  Gem closed her eyes and flapped her wings of woven energy strands, lifting her body until she was on tiptoes. And just like that, she was airborne, a look of pure triumph on her face as she hovered in the middle of St Paul’s dome looking down on us.

  As the light blazed out from her body, sheer joy coursed through my blood. For maybe the first time in my life, I felt complete, the hole in the centre of my being suddenly filled, after so many years of countless pain.

  Ethan put his arm round Chloe’s shoulder as tears streamed down her face. She smiled back at him.

  The others paused for a moment, rapture filling their expressions too, as we all listened to the song of a real-life angel.

  Gem spread her hands and gazed at the bear. Her voice seemed to fill the whole cathedral as she said, ‘I forgive you…’ Her light intensified into sun-like brilliance as it blazed into the shadow bear and the shadow-crow wall.

  With a bellow, Mathews and the crows dissolved away to mere piles of burning ash that drifted down to the floor.

  The song ended and silence wrapped around the cathedral as the angel settled gently back on the ground.

  I felt a tug of sadness as the sense of completeness faded along with the golden light.

  Gem stood where the angel had been a moment before.

  I reached out and squeezed her shoulder. ‘You finally worked out who you really are then?’

  She beamed at me, her eyes holding mine. ‘Maybe for the first time in my life I’ve started to, Jake.’

  Chloe and Ethan exchanged glances and nodded. Then together we all headed over to the others working on Waverider.

  ‘How’s it looking?’ I asked as we reached them.

  ‘I…’ Claire waved a hand towards Gem. ‘Sorry, bit distracted by the floor show. Anyway, we’re nearly there…but if you could just give me a hand.’

  We helped her heave a large cable to a second crate filled with car batteries, and she connected it.

  Claire held up a thumb. ‘We’re good to go, Martin.’

  Dad took a deep breath and flicked a red switch. With a faint hum, an array of indicators lit up and the machine came to life.

  Kelly gave Dad a tight smile. ‘I really wasn’t sure our repair would work.’

  ‘You should have had more faith,’ he replied.

  All eyes turned to face the portal creeping outwards into our world like a dark ink stain. The falling snow caught by the suction of the gaping black mouth fizzled out of existence in little pops of light.

  General Hammond wiped away the frost from his beard. ‘So is this what the end of our world looks like?’

  ‘Only if we fail,’ I said. I reached out towards Waverider’s sphere.

  As my fingertips brushed the metal, glowing particles swirled outwards in wave. On pure instinct, I partly shifted into the Light Web. Streamers of light rippled out through St Paul’s and the ground grew less transparent. The snow became less dense as the chill was driven from the air.

  Dad let out a long breath. ‘OK, we’re off to a promising start, but everyone keep their fingers crossed for the moment the energy field hits the portal.’

  Everyone grew silent as the golden wave rolled towards the portal. If this didn’t work…

  I noticed Chloe taking Ethan’s hand in hers as Gem sought out mine.

  With a shower of sparks, the wave struck the black sphere and the ground bucked beneath our feet. The cathedral’s statues started to topple from their plinths.

  ‘The light versus the dark,’ Sentinel whispered from my phone.

  The black orb became coated with a spinning cobweb of light. Chunks of stone dropped from the ceiling and shattered over the floor to leave gaping holes to the swirling Void beneath it.

  ‘What’s going on, Martin?’ Claire shouted.

  ‘I was worried that this might happen. I designed Waverider to collapse a DEC portal as it was opening, not one that had already established a foothold in our reality.’

  ‘You mean it’s too late for this to work?’ General Hammond said.

  ‘No, but it means that Jake will need to stay with me to power Waverider, and keep it going until it collapses the portal.’ His eyes tightened on me. ‘Are you all right to do that?’

  There was something in his expression that told me he wasn’t saying everything…at least in front of the others. Instinctively I knew what he meant. This was going to be a one-way ticket.

  ‘Of course I am, Dad.’

  Claire scowled. ‘Martin, but the event horizon—’

  Dad waved her quiet. ‘We’ll be fine. General Hammond, could you escort everyone else out of here so Jake and I can concentrate?’ Dad gave him a loaded look.

  I just hoped the others weren’t picking up on the unspoken conversation, especially Chloe by my side.

  General Hammond returned the look. ‘Of course, Martin… Everyone else, time to leave.’

  ‘But I don’t understand why it needs to be you, Jake,’ Chloe said. ‘I can do this just as well as you can.’

  ‘Yes, I know, but you don’t want to steal my big moment, do you?’

  ‘Jake…’

  I put my finger to her lips. ‘Please.’

  She gave me a questioning look and I had to look away.

  ‘Ethan, look after Chloe,’ I said.

  ‘Yeah…’ He reached out and shook my hand. ‘Good luck, man.’

  Gem peered at me, looking troubled for the first time since her transformation.

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ I said, heading off her question before she had a chance to ask it.

  ‘Come on, everyone,’ General Hammond called out.

  The others followed him through the swirling snow towards the cathedral entrance.

  Gem cast her gaze back at me, filled with so much warmth that my heart splintered.

  I turned to Dad as the others headed out of the doors. ‘I’ve always hated goodbyes.’

  ‘So you’re already clear on what this means?’ he replied.

  ‘An event horizon, something more usually associated with a black hole, is going to be created around the portal as it collapses – is that more or less right?’

  ‘You are so your father’s son. Yes, I’m afraid it is. The portal itself will effectively become a small singularity the moment before it collapses. And when that happens, we’ll be standing right in the middle of the event horizon and won’t be able to escape.’ He shook his head. ‘It wasn’t meant to be like this, Jake.

  I gazed past him towards the utter darkness – the gateway to the Void that would consume Lon
don if we let it.

  ‘I know it wasn’t, Dad, but we’re here to make it right.’

  He nodded. ‘The others can carry on our work. Claire can continue to develop the network of Waverider machines to protect Earth from future attack.’

  Sentinel’s voice cut in. ‘And Chloe can train the other Awoken, Jake. I just wish there was a way out of this for you both.’

  ‘Me too,’ I replied. ‘There’s just one thing that bothers me about this plan, Dad?’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Why do you need to stay here?’

  Dad’s gaze skated away from mine to the energy battle raging around the edges of the portal as the Waverider field stopped it growing any more into our world.

  ‘There’s my answer – you don’t need to, do you?’ I asked.

  He turned to face me. ‘I don’t have to, but I do need to, Jake. I’ve asked the impossible of you – to sacrifice your life. I’m not going to let you die alone. I could never live with myself if I did.’

  I gazed at Dad, the man I’d already lost once, the person who was going to throw his life away because he loved me too much.

  ‘I’m sorry, Dad.’

  ‘For what?’

  ‘For this?’ I wrapped my mind around him and lifted him into the air.

  Dad struggled to get free. ‘Jake, what are you doing?’

  ‘What I have to do to save you.’ I glided him towards the doors.

  ‘Jake!’ he screamed.

  ‘I love you too, Dad…’ Tears stung my eyes as I moved him through the doors to the safety of the outside world. I let go of his body and felt him tumble to the ground, far enough away so he couldn’t get back to me in time.

  The air rushing into the portal rose to a scream. My ears started to pop as the cathedral became transparent. The London skyline around St Paul’s shifted like a mirage, buckling and swaying.

  I gazed into the nothingness of the portal. ‘Not today, Shade.’

  I placed my second hand on to the sphere and poured every bit of energy, all that I was, into that sphere.

  A glowing tsunami of energy burst from me and smashed into the dark orb. In answer, the wind hurtling into the orb turned to a hurricane that pulled my legs from under me. I locked my hands round the chrome sphere. Stained-glass windows shattered in a cascade of rainbow splinters that flew into the gaping mouth of the maelstrom.

  Waverider pulsed brighter as the orange field grew stronger within the cathedral.

  A bench tumbled ahead of me into the Void and smashed into its atoms. Then another, and another, until the whole building started to fold in around me like a pop-up book being closed. The floor tilted beneath me and, still hanging on to Waverider, I began sliding with it towards the portal.

  I stared at my death rushing at me and was filled with a deep sense of calm. The safety of the others and the survival of London was a price worth paying for. I began to accelerate towards the shrinking sphere of nothingness as statues, altars and stone pillars were all swept into the Void with explosions of energy.

  I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the burning clutch of oblivion that would shatter the atoms in my body…

  It didn’t come…

  I waited, but instead I felt something gently wrap round me. The friction of the ground sliding beneath me vanished. Had I fallen into the portal and was somehow still alive?

  The sound of beating wings filled my ears. I opened my eyes and peered directly into those of an angel.

  Gem’s wide wings beat the air as we soared up through the collapsing dome of St Paul’s, stones tumbling in all around us. As we cleared the building, a golden glow burst from the toppling cathedral and swept towards the horizon in a wave that melted all the dark fog away. The city skyline was solid again and clouds were clearing to the golden hues of a new dawn.

  As the light faded, there was now a perfect circular bowl in the ground where the cathedral had been.

  ‘You saved me, Gem,’ I said.

  Her angel smiled at me. ‘And you me, Jake,’ she replied.

  Together we soared, circling down towards the group of people staring up at us. At the centre of that group was Dad, his hands on top of his head. I could see Chloe shaking hers, while laughing and crying at the same time. Ethan hung on to Domino, who was barking his head off like a mad thing as the others whooped and clapped.

  My friends. My family. My future world.

  With a gentle flutter of her wings, Gem and I landed softly on the pavement and everyone rushed towards us.

  Chapter Thirty

  The military Merlin helicopter vibrated around us. I was thankful for the headsets we’d all been given as we watched the Isle of Alderney approaching fast.

  A week had passed since the Event, as it had rapidly become known, had occurred in London. Dad, Claire and General Hammond had stayed in the city, discussing plans for building a network of Waveriders across the world. Kelly had already set sail for the islands a few days ago and had arrived ahead of us.

  Domino threw out a whimper from under Ethan’s armpit – where his head had been for most of the journey.

  Ethan scratched the collie’s head. ‘Look at you. As brave as you like when it comes to shadow wolves, but goes to pieces on a helicopter ride.’

  ‘I think he would have preferred it if you’d flown him here, Gem,’ Chloe said.

  Gem raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m not sure I signed up as an Awoken in order to be a taxi service.’

  ‘So you’re a signed-up member now?’ I asked.

  She smiled and squeezed my hand. ‘I’m here, aren’t I?’

  Chloe looked from me to Gem. ‘Interesting.’

  I raised my chin towards Ethan. ‘Look who’s talking.’

  An actual blush filled Chloe’s face and she flapped her hand as Ethan gave me a questioning look. ‘Anyway, there’s something I want to know, Sentinel.’

  ‘What’s that, Chloe?’ the AI replied from my phone.

  ‘How did I manage to teleport Jake and myself to St Paul’s?’

  ‘That’s a very good question. Unfortunately, I have no available data within my knowledge banks about how you could have achieved this.’

  ‘Do you know if this is at least specific to me?’

  ‘Not necessarily.’

  ‘So you’re saying we may all be able to teleport ourselves – that it could be another ability?’ I asked.

  ‘Possibly, although it might have been down to the extreme danger to Chloe that meant you were able to manifest this ability,’ Sentinel replied. ‘However, with the right training, it may be possible for all of you to unlock it at will. It may also turn out to have been a one-off.’

  ‘But what if it isn’t? Just think of all the possibilities,’ Chloe said. ‘We could instantly teleport to anywhere in the world.’

  ‘I wouldn’t get too excited,’ Sentinel said. ‘Even if it is possible, it may have a limited range. I also suspect it would be a complex ability to master and probably one that would come with considerable risk.’

  ‘Yep, sneeze at the wrong moment and you could end up materialising inside a brick wall,’ Ethan said.

  I shook my head at him.

  Gem stretched her arms to the roof of the cabin. ‘The only thing I know for certain is that when we land, I’m going to have a seriously indulgent bath.’

  Chloe nodded and fist-bumped Gem. ‘Now you’re talking my language, sister.’

  I gazed out of the window at Alderney lying there below us. Its shoreline was crested with the soft whites of gentle waves – a world away from the wild surf I remembered.

  The helicopter pilot put us into a pleasant spiralling descent.

  ‘I wonder how your dad is getting on with meeting the new prime minister,’ Chloe said.

  ‘I don’t think he’ll need much persuading that the threat from the Shade is real, not after Langton disappeared and he saw all the evidence about him,’ Chloe said.

  ‘Yeah, plus wolves running through London’s stre
ets and St Paul’s becoming a dirty great big hole in the ground tends to add credibility to that argument,’ Ethan said.

  ‘I think the cover story the government came up with is a bit lame, though,’ Chloe said. ‘Is anyone seriously going to believe that a gas-main leak during a renovation did all that damage to the cathedral?’

  ‘True,’ I said. ‘But the way they explained the eyewitness accounts of the Terracotta Army coming to life made me smile.’

  ‘Yep, going with the good old mass hysteria line,’ Chloe replied. ‘Clarke would have been proud.’ Her expression clouded and she looked down again at the island.

  I reached out and patted her shoulder.

  ‘Personally, I think they should tell people the truth,’ Gem said.

  ‘I’m not sure that most people would believe them,’ Ethan replied. ‘I barely do, and I was there.’

  ‘But they should, because the Shade will attack again. We all know it’s not a case of if, but when. We’re certain Archios is developing another portal for the Shade. God knows where he’ll attack next time, but it can’t be good news.’

  ‘You’re quite correct, Gem, but letting people know about the danger would spread fear throughout the world. That is something the Shade could actively harness against us,’ Sentinel said.

  ‘But they have to be stopped. They have to be rooted out of the positions of power they’ve managed to gain, first off. We have to stop them controlling the world.’

  ‘Hammond’s already made a start on that by removing Joanna Whittaker. Our former prime minister was completely implicated in the whole affair,’ I said. ‘Apparently the current army general was also involved, and Hammond is coming out of retirement to take over his role. He’s also been tasked by the new PM, Michael Whitlock, with leading the investigation into the Shade’s influence, beginning inside the government. Hammond told me quite a few cabinet members are directly implicated.’

  Ethan rolled his eyes. ‘That doesn’t surprise me.’

  ‘And what about the ones they don’t discover?’ Gem asked.

  I gently nudged her with my shoulder. ‘That’s where we come in. We each have unique Awoken abilities. Just imagine what you could do with some training.’