The Lostkind

by Matt Stephens

He led her back to the entrance to the Underside, and lit up a Lantern for her. She sighed with relief. "Now. Go find Yasi, and tell her-"

  "WHAT?!" The girl screeched so loud it echoed down the tunnels. "You said you weren't gonna tell!"

  "Find. Yasi." Tecca repeated firmly. "And tell her that I'm waiting up top with the surface reports."

  Kamy nodded nervously and ran off; changed her mind a moment later and came running back. "Did ya see the nice Doctor lady?"

  "She's not a doctor; she just works at the clinic." Tecca corrected absently, and pulled the cookie out of his pocket, tossing it to her over his shoulder. Kamy caught it and ran back into the Underside.

  ~oo00oo~

  Keeper joined Yasi in her chamber, overlooking the Twelfth Level. "Archivist agrees with us. He thinks we should take it seriously."

  "Dorcan wasn't wrong." Yasi said finally. "There have been lulls before. Remember two years ago? There was a lull then that lasted for a month of two."

  "Two years ago?"

  Yasi bit her lip. "Yeah. Right after we found that message scrawled on the wall." She rose from her crouch and went back into her chamber, collecting her sword quickly. "Might be worth taking a look."

  Keeper nodded, not showing pity on her face. "But it's not just the surface reports. I get messages from the Gremlins too."

  Gremlins were the ghosts of the Underside. The kids that slipped in and out. Yasi remembered how Vincent had reacted to them, the way they vanished into their hiding places when he turned his head to look.

  Yasi bit her lip. "People are sending messages by note now, instead of speaking face to face. It's happening more often."

  "Why?" Keeper demanded.

  "I wish I knew." Yasi admitted. "Can't you feel it?"

  Keeper could; but had probably not noticed it before. Things were changing.

  The Healers said that when someone was sick, they could tell. Without any specific symptom, without any test done, a person could feel it when something wasn't quite right inside them. When it healed, they knew it. They could feel a strength or a corruption within them.

  The Underside was the same. You could feel the mood of the place, the strength of the people, the excitement of the day. Something had changed over the last few years. Something was not the same. Yasi could feel it. The Rhythm was off. The Lostkind weren't looking each other in the eye as eagerly, weren't negotiating in the market with as good a cheer. There was a feeling of something being on edge, things getting harder and more desperate. It was subtle and ill defined; impossible to say why or how.

  It had been growing slowly for years. The Riverfolk being driven out of their hiding places was only the first step. And yet despite the reports that they were being driven out of the lowest levels, the raids on the Borrowers and Markets had continued, and the facts of life Below hadn't changed, and nobody had realized that things had changed.

  At least not out loud. Yasi could sense things shifting, becoming more fragile.

  Keeper and Archivist had agreed. Something was coming.

  Keeper noticed the light from Kamy's Lantern at the entrance to the Twelfth Level, far below, and waited for the child to get to her. Crouched on the edge of Yasi's chamber, she looked out over the huge skyline of her home. It was peaceful, the condensation giving a light mist over the whole space. The lights of the private chambers cast a light blue glow in the mist. The rope lines between each floor were in constant movement as hundreds of people made their way back and forth. Tecca never bothered with the basket elevators, scaling the ropes like he'd been doing it his whole life; which he had. Kamy, on the other hand, was still too small to reach.

  Keeper felt a glimmer of pain shoot through her heart. She didn't react to it, but deep down, in a place she would never talk about, she felt fear. Something was happening to her whole world, and she could not see the shape of it.

  Eventually, Kamy made it to her level, and the child hesitated. She knew who lived in this particular chamber. The girl shivered, and looked to Keeper for help. Yasi wasn't offended, used to this reaction, and stayed further back in her room so that Kamy wouldn't see her. To be the Shinobi Captain was to be The Law. The Enforcer. It was a position that intimidated most in the Underside. Which made it all the more meaningful when Dorcan was clearly not afraid of her.

  Kamy was having a quiet conversation with Keeper, and the old woman smiled. "I'll tell her." The smile dropped instantly and Keeper twisted Kamy's ear lightly. "And what the hell were you doing up there alone anyway?!"

  "I was just exploring!" Kamy protested, breaking free and diving for the elevators. Keeper let her go.

  Yasi came forward, adjusting her sword. "What was that?" She asked absently.

  "Tecca's got the Surface reports." Keeper relayed the child's message. "Kamy says he's waiting at the surface."

  Yasi rose from her crouch. "I'll be right back, and when I do, I'll investigate what's going on down at the River."

  "You're going up for those messages yourself?"

  "Wotcha's staying Above more and more now." Yasi explained. "Getting older. Going back and forth is getting harder for her. If I go, I won't have to explain that to someone every time we need the messages collected."

  ~oo00oo~

  Tecca was waiting calmly in his hiding place, perched on top of an awning above a deli. He watched the manhole cover, waiting for someone to come and meet him. It lasted for twenty minutes, before a pigeon landed directly in front of him. There was a note tied to its leg.

  Do you have any idea how easy it was to sneak up on you? Try to look surprised.

  Tecca looked up from the note and found himself nose to nose with the Shinobi Captain. She wasn't smiling, and was close enough for him to feel her breath on his face. He reeled back instinctively with a squawk and promptly fell off the ledge.

  He was upside down and on the edge of falling to his death when Yasi caught him with one hand and held him there. "If you want to be a Watcher, you need to use your eyeballs." She said coolly.

  "Yes Ma'am." Tecca called back.

  Yasi reeled him back in. "You have the reports?"

  Tecca nodded and handed over the stack of notes, tied with string. The boy drew one more note out of his pocket. "Wotcha asked me to give this to you personally. She said it was confidential."

  Yasi took it and stuck it into her pocket as the sun began to set over the edge of the skyline.

  ~oo00oo~

  "Hey." Owen looked up from his laptop and saw Vincent pulling on a tie. "You're heading out?"

  "Vincent's got a better offer." Gill said jovially.

  "What? You mean the man would rather go out with his lady, rather than stay here and argue about macaroni and cheese portions with us?"

  Vincent pretended to be conflicted for a full three seconds. "Hmm, let me think about that. Dinner with the woman I love, versus another late night office marathon with you zoo animals."

  "Zoo animals." Gill scoffed to Owen with a wry smirk. "That's a nice thing to call us cavemen."

  Vincent pulled on his jacket. "You guys got it covered?"

  "Sure, just a few zoning applications left and something from Earth-First."

  "What's Earth-First?"

  "Some Green-Tech Company, they want to talk about sustainability options for the City."

  "Oh, I hate when Sustainability Initiative people come to us." Vincent sighed.

  "Why?" Owen asked, confused.

  "Because, they'll almost certainly fail in their attempt to improve the world. Money, or politics or apathy will kill it long before it gets out of committee, no matter what we say." Gill smirked cynically. "And that's sad. At least, it is for Vincent. I don't have a soul any more, so it hardly matters."

  "Sounds like we can handle it." Owen told Vincent warmly. "Go have a good night boss, we'll hold down the fort."

  Vincent waved over his shoulder as he left. Owen leaned out of the cubicle enough to track his exit. The second Vincent got onto the elevator, he turned to Gill. "So
. We getting out of here?"

  Gill tapped at his keyboard for a moment. "I don't see why this can't wait till tomorrow. Or at the very least, Vincent won't notice." He smiled cheekily. "First round is on you."

  ~oo00oo~

  Keeper had tea brewed and waiting by the time she made it back to her chamber. Yasi took a cup gratefully, and unwrapped the package, which was a stack of small notes, tied with string. She took the first one and read it, her brow furrowed in response. The cup in her hand paused, hovering in mid-air as she read the note again.

  "Bad news?" Keeper creaked.

  "Not bad news, exactly." Yasi said distractedly, her eyes still on the paper. "But I don't believe in coincidence."

  "Neither do I." Keeper confirmed.

  "Two years ago, Vincent-"

  "I THOUGHT YOU GOT SMART ABOUT THAT!" Keeper thundered suddenly.

  Yasi put her hands up automatically. "Keeper, chill. I haven't spoken to Vincent in over twenty months. I kept my word. But the last time I went to see him, it was because of his friend. Eugene Gillard went into hospital for an overdose. He attempted suicide when his gambling debts caught up with him. The loan shark in question was apparently killed in an unrelated matter the next day. That pretty much wraps things up, nice and neatly."

  "Too neatly." Keeper agreed.

  "The Shark in question had plenty of enemies, and was squeezing a lot of them. I figured the easiest simplest answer was the right one, and left it at that, but just to make sure; I had Wotcha keep an eye on the investigation. They closed the book on it a month later. Monroe was apparently murdered by one of his 'clients', who was never captured; but an alert was put out for the murderer based on forensic evidence. Evidence which was just recently matched, to a petty unrelated crime. This time they got an ID on Monroe's killer. Police went to arrest that crook and he was found dead too. Apparently from suicide."

  "They overplayed their hand." Keeper agreed. "Whoever Vincent's friend is... he didn't borrow money from a typical loan shark. Someone killed him to cover something up, then killed the killer just recently to make sure. They overplayed it. Who was investigating Monroe's death?"

  "Officer Grey, 10th Precinct." Yasi waved her note. "Ever heard of him?"

  "Nope." Keeper shook her head. "Means we've never had anything to do with him before. He may not be involved. What was the result of Monroe's death?"

  "A few people who borrowed money escaped." Yasi thought it through. "Some were feeling the pinch. My guess is the Loan Shark was scared."

  "One of the ones feeling the pinch was Vincent's friend. If there is more to this than everyone seems happy with, then there must be more to one of the players than is generally known. Who on the list of people involved have a secret?"

  "Vincent." Yasi gritted her teeth. "Vincent is connected to us. You always told me to watch for connections. You said that we never go after the guy we want, we go after the guy next to him and wait. If someone out there... One of the other Undergrounds could be following the same playbook..."

  Keeper bit her lip. "McCall knows Wotcha, he knows where to find her. His office could point people at any number of entrances to our world if he's been digging, and you know he has..." The old woman sighed. "Yasi, this is now a threat to the safety of the Underside."

  Yasi rose from her perch instantly; shoulders back; chin up; spine straight. Yasi had become ‘The Captain' in a heartbeat, suddenly on duty. "I'm on it. I have to warn Vincent too."

  "Do it quietly Kid." Keeper warned her. "If someone is looking, you don't want to send up a flare."

  Yasi nodded and slung her sword over her shoulder. "I'll check at the City Planner's office too. The first thing that happened after Gill's suicide attempt was someone new working closely with Vincent at his office. You said yourself that's a post that could find plenty of ways in."

  "Check out Grey first!" Keeper shouted after her. "Remember, Vincent isn't the priority! He's not one of us!"

  ~oo00oo~

  Nobody who was watching would have been aware of where she came from. But of course there was nobody watching. The City Planner's Office wasn't the hardest place she'd ever broken into, and it was pretty well deserted at this time of night.

  Yasi catwalked, her feet making no noise as she wandered through the cubicles. She should have gone to the 10th Precinct first and investigated Officer Grey. But Vincent was a friend, even if she only met him a few times and hadn't seen him in more than two years. She wanted to know if he was in danger. She doubted he was at work that late, but if he was, she could kill two birds with one stone.

  She noticed an office roster on the wall and went over to take a look. According to the roster, Vincent's workmate Owen hadn't been in today.

  She went to Vincent's cubicle. The opposite desk was fairly Spartan by comparison. Vincent had pictures, train timetables, notebooks, a few photos...

  The opposite desk had office supplies. No plants, no photos, no mementos. There were post-it notes all over the computer monitor as reminders, so it hadn't been tidied up deliberately...

  Owen's desk drawer was locked, but locks were childhood toys to the Lostkind. She had the drawer open in seconds. More office supplies, no address book...

  And in the bottom drawer, what looked like a fob watch. Feeling a chill of familiarity, she picked it up and flipped it open.

  The watch face had four hands.

  Yasi paled. Owen had a Lostkind watch. The kind of timepiece that told the time above, and the day-night shifts of their underground world.

  She quickly went to the phone on the desk, and hit redial. The phone rang once. Twice. Someone picked up on the third ring.

  "This is Grey." Responded a grizzled voice on the other end. "What could you possibly want at this time of night?"

  Yasi paled. "Sorry, wrong number." She hung up.

  Owen had been talking to the officer in charge of solving a murder. A murder that was clearly covering something up. A crime that had several effects, not the least of which was to put Owen at this desk for two years, three feet away from her friend Vincent.

  The light switched on.

  Yasi spun. She had never met him before, but Wotcha had described him from the time Vincent was spending with her. It was Owen.

  "Find anything interesting?" Owen asked her. He seemed nervous, but not surprised. It was an odd combination of emotion given the fact that he wasn't supposed to be there, and she wasn't on staff.

  But the question had been asked, so Yasi took advantage. "Who is Officer Grey?"

  Owen shrugged. "Someone I know."

  "Mm. He was looking into the murder of a small time Loan Shark named Monroe. A case that was just closed with the suicide of the killer this morning. I'm betting the Precinct call sheets will say that Grey spoke to you just before, or soon after." She seemed to relax, but her hands were free, inching toward her weapons... "Discuss anything interesting?"

  "This and that. Nothing that should concern the great Yasi; Lightning of the Lostkind." He grinned at her.

  Yasi froze. He knew her name.

  "But you had to go and get curious, didn't you? Tell me, was Monroe's fate really so interesting, or did you just want to give your pet McCall closure? Even after two years?" Owen waved that off before she had a chance to answer. "Doesn't matter. We've got far more interesting things to deal with right now, don't we? And McCall... won't be part of it."

  Yasi turned and bolted for the window.

  ~oo00oo~

  Vincent was on his way to the restaurant, when he got a message on his phone. He checked it. It was a photo of Connie, in her underwear, with a naughty smile on her face. She was holding up two dresses to the camera, a red one, and a black one. The message read: Getting Ready for Tonight. Any Preference?

  Swallowing automatically, he quickly answered: Black

  A moment later, he told the cab driver to take him home. He knew he wouldn't catch her before she left, but if she was in a playful mood, then he wanted to make a greater effort than put
ting on a tie over his work clothes.

  ~oo00oo~

  Yasi knew the Rhythm as well as she knew her own pulse; both in the Underside, and in New York. She knew where the traffic would be this time of night; where the most pedestrians would be walking; where all the cameras were placed, what time and what speed the trains were running...

  Her whole body focused on her motion. Everything was motion. Her long stride ate up the length of the rooftops as she ran. The wind was against her, blowing in off the river. She cursed the wind for slowing her down. And cursed herself, for not being faster.

  She had none of her traveling equipment. Some Ninja fought with a hook on a long chain, able to strike at long distance. If you used that on the right jump, the right street, you could clear a huge multi-lane road instead of having to go the long way round. She had to take the long way, and hated it.

  She lost a few seconds waiting for a truck big enough to not notice her. That got her across the Midtown traffic, but riding a train would be faster.

  "Come on!" She urged herself. "Come on!"

  She didn't know what was happening, but knew it wasn't going to be good.

  ~oo00oo~

  "Tonight is going to be good." Vincent told himself in the mirror.

  He was glad he went home first. Changing into a nice suit, a quick shave to get rid of the five-o'clock shadow, some new aftershave… He looked better than he had in a long time.

  "So." He said to his reflection, feeling happier with his life than he could remember. "Gold cuff-links; or silver?"

  He checked his watch, and quickly decided on neither. Connie was probably waiting for him at the restaurant by now. They were never on time, either of them. Since getting together, they'd had no qualms about blaming their lateness for events on each other. But tonight was a special occasion, and Connie was almost certainly looking forward to it as much as he was.

  Hurrying down the steps of his apartment building, he went looking for a cab, walking in the general direction of the restaurant.

  ~oo00oo~

  The train moved as fast as she wanted it to, but Vincent's house wasn't at the door to a station. In that part of the city, the buildings were close enough together that she could leap it, but she was wearing out from the speed run. She saw the street she needed and leaped off the speeding train, into power lines. They were strong enough, and had enough give to break her speed without cutting her in half. She twisted her body sharply to avoid the opposite set of wires, inches away from electrocuting herself. The contortion cost her hands the grip, and she landed badly, falling fifteen feet from the power lines.