by Ryan, Matt
We descended the stairs.
“When I whistle once, we’ll all be attacking their main house and going straight to their stone room. Cover your face and watch for stones, ‘cause they’ll be tossing them like crazy and they have some nasty ones. Don’t let them get a hold of you….” She looked back and raised an eyebrow at me. “They’ll do more to your body than throw stones.”
“Why don’t we just leave them alone? Maybe that kid’s dad freaked them all out or something,” I said.
Jackie stopped at the front door of the house. “What?” She squinted and crunched her mouth to one side. “You just don’t get it. The second we let up is when they attack.”
“I thought we weren’t allowed across the fence,” Mark said.
Jackie brightened up and a wicked smile hit her face. “This is the beauty of a jump, and that dark alchy showing up makes it even better. There won’t be a single teacher anywhere. We can get away with a full frontal assault. Plus, I want to get into their stone room.”
She pulled me out the front door and into the thumping party. People cheered as I stumbled onto the street. Many faces turned to me and Jackie held up my arm like a victorious prize fighter. They cheered again.
I felt sick. Did they all know we’d be attacking the Blues?
“Here she is, the finest acquire we’ve had since … well, me.” Jackie curtsied. “Five minutes, people.”
They cheered again and went back to dancing. The music got louder and made it hard to hear Jackie as she leaned closer to my ear.
“Why don’t you get stick-in-the-butt Mark out on the dance floor? Maybe moving will thaw him a bit.”
I took a deep breath and glanced at Mark. My instant reaction was to defend him, but he’d been different since we’d come to the Academy.
Jackie jumped away and hollered with her arms flailing as she entered the party.
“You want to dance? You know, just to satisfy the masses,” I asked. He could use a thaw. He seemed wound tight.
“Sure. But I hope you can keep up with my skills.”
“You dance?”
“A little bit.” His smile led me to believe he knew a great deal about dancing.
He took my hand and led me into the fray.
I was nervous about my first dance with another person, and my heart beat faster. I’d danced, but I wasn’t sure if it counted when you’re by yourself in your bedroom. “Freaking out” is what Janet called it when she walked in on me dancing one day. She’d teased me for a month about taking me to the doctor for my “condition.”
Mark found us a space. He hovered near me and started moving. He moved along with the beat and kept inching closer to me. I laughed because I realized I couldn’t dance, and he really could. The thought of moving my body in any way close to the skill of Mark sent me into another laugh.
“Here, let me help you.” He touched my shoulder and stepped behind me. Whispering in my ear, he guided my body along with his. “It’s easy. Just move with me. This isn’t the waltz, it’s club dancing. The sole purpose is getting closer to the person you’re dancing with, so the movements are slow.”
I controlled my laughing and felt my body sync with his. My breath slowed and I zoned everything out but the music and Mark’s body brushing against mine.
“There you go. You’re a natural,” he said with a hot breath on my neck.
The music stopped. Mark walked around me, looking at the speakers they had pulled into the street.
“What’s going on?” I spotted Jackie and realized I had forgotten about her plan. I wanted to yell at her to stop, that I needed more time with Mark, but her hand was already in motion. A stone flew to the four Blues walking nearby, hitting one in the chest and igniting in a green cloud. The group fell to the ground coughing.
Jackie pulled a section of fence open, put her fingers in her mouth and whistled.
The Reds around me jumped and ran toward the opening. They funneled through and ran toward a Blue house door with Jackie leading the charge. Reds pushed past me and Mark as we stayed behind.
The girl with the ferret, Ira, pulled on my sleeve. “Some people will get hurt over there and need our help.”
Mark nodded and moved forward. I dragged my feet at first, then caught up to them as the raucous crowd pushed through the narrow fence gap. Once on the other side, everyone spread out, running toward the Blue house.
I felt as if I was running into a battlefield when I crossed the fence. I was on enemy territory. Ira was right, though; if we could help, we should.
Jackie and a few others breached the Blue house door and stones flew out around the Reds who were entering. She led the charge and dodged a few stones while entering the Blue house. She covered her eyes and threw a stone to the floor. It exploded in a bright flash. She screamed in laughter as as many Reds as Blues fell to the ground, grabbing at their eyes. Jackie disappeared deeper into the house. I shook my head. We’d been led over here by a lunatic.
Mark and I stuck to the outside and watched Blues gathering down the street. Only a few were outside, but more joined them, putting their shoes on or going shirtless. Many were holding small black bags, but they knew we had them outnumbered, ten to one. Then another group of Blues gathered. Five to one.
The Blues continued to pour out of the houses. It was only a matter of time before they had the numbers to feel brave enough to repel us.
“We’ve got to go,” I yelled through the doorway, hoping Jackie heard me. She came running out with a large black sack, smiling. She held it up to me as a stone flew near her face. She lifted her arm and batted it away.
Putting her fingers in her mouth, she blew two loud whistles.
The tide turned. The blinded Reds staggered from the building even as Jackie stepped over one of them. Mark rushed to the side of a girl stumbling away from the door. I saw another girl frozen on the floor. I ran to her and gripped her under the arms. She weighed more than I’d thought, but I dragged her toward the opening in the fence.
“The Blues are coming,” someone yelled.
I glanced down the length of the spoke and saw what must have been all one hundred of them. They had gathered their forces. The sight pushed me to find the strength to drag the heavy girl across the street. Ira moved next to me and grabbed the frozen girl’s arm. After we’d dragged her to the fence, Ira turned and ran back toward the Blue house.
“Ira, no,” I yelled, but she was already gone. I pulled the frozen girl to the other side of the fence. “There’s a few more over there.”
“No.” Jackie slammed the fence closed. “They were slow and allowed themselves to be caught.”
“Ira’s out there,” I said.
Jackie grimaced and looked over the fence.
A blinded Red stumbled out the door. Ira put her arm under his shoulder and guided him toward the fence. She wasn’t going to make it. A stone landed near her feet and skittered across the street. It rolled toward the fence and into a hole.
The first Blue got to Ira and the blinded Red. He tackled them to the street. Ira got to her feet as the blinded Red punched at the air around himself.
“We’ve got to help,” I said.
Leo grabbed Ira and turned to face us with his hand clutching her hair. His wicked smile made me want to throw up. He grasped the front of Ira’s white shirt and ripped it down to her stomach.
“Help me,” she screamed. Her bra and chest were exposed.
“Help me, help me,” he mocked.
I moved to the fence, but Mark got there first.
“Don’t.” Carly grabbed my arm, but I yanked it away. “They’ll do the same to you, or worse.”
“She’s right,” Jackie said, but I had my hand on the fence with Mark. She looked over the fence and then at me. Taking a deep breath, she stared at the bag in her hand. “Dammit,” she whispered under her breath. “Trade!”
The Reds and Blues both stopped at this scream.
The leader of the Blues marched Ira toward the
fence. Tears fell from her eyes as she tried to put back together her torn shirt.
“I want everything you took from our house,” Leo demanded.
“Fine….”
“And I want your stone. You know the one I’m talking about.”
Jackie crouched behind the fence line. The Blues couldn’t see her as she hunched over, cursing at the street below. She rose up, staring at me.
Closing the distance between us, she whispered into my ear. “I need you to make a stone.” After the details had been revealed, she turned to the Blues. “Give me a few minutes. You touch her or the other guy and it will be a war.”
I grabbed Mark and pulled him toward me. “I’ve got to make a stone. Can you help me?”
“Yeah.” He looked back at Jackie.
I didn’t wait for him to figure it out. I couldn’t stand Ira being in their hands for one more minute.
The Reds moved aside for me as I ran to the door and to the back room Jackie had shown me the night before. Mark and Carly ran in behind me. I hadn’t invited Carly, but I didn’t have time to protest her presence.
“Get me sulfur, pencil shavings, and a solvent.”
Mark’s eyes went wide at the ingredient list, but he and Carly rushed around the room, gathering the materials.
“Do you know what you’re making?”
“Yes.” I didn’t, really, but Jackie needed it to trade for Ira.
“Okay,” Carly said in a dragged-out way as she pulled a jar of sulfur from the shelf.
With a bowl and spoon in hand, I waited as Mark and Carly placed the ingredients in front of me. Thinking of Ira being held by Leo sent enough anger through my core to mix the ingredients together the right way.
The stone clunked, and I used a black cloth to hold it as I rushed back out the door. The Reds turned to me as I walked past them with the stone in hand.
Jackie narrowed her eyes as I handed her the mustard-yellow stone. She took her time in the transfer, holding it away from her body. “I knew you could make it. Can you take this bag?” She handed me the bag of goodies she had taken from the Blue house.
Jackie closed her hand over the stone wrapped in black cloth and a wicked smile appeared on her face again. I sucked in a breath and hoped I had done the right thing.
“Are you ready for the trade?” Jackie said.
“I don’t believe you,” Leo said, and shook Ira. She whimpered and clutched her chest with both arms. “Place the stone in a bag and toss it over.”
“Fine.” Jackie’s eye twitched. She dropped the stone in a bag and hunched over it before clutching it in her fist. “Put Ira and Dennis next to the fence and I’ll throw it over. Allie will throw the bag of stones I took from you.”
Leo pushed Ira toward the fence and kicked Dennis as he walked by.
“The stones, now, or I freeze them and let the house do whatever they want with their bodies.”
The Blues grumbled in agreement. I saw the hunger on some of the boys’ faces and I wanted to plow through the fence to get Ira away from them.
Jackie leaned close to me and whispered, “Don’t throw that bag, no matter what.” She winked. “You’re going to love what you just made.”
I didn’t have time to protest her schemes, but if she messed up the trade and something happened to Ira….
Jackie stood tall. “Okay, on a count of three.”
Mark stood next to the fence, ready to snatch up Ira and Dennis.
“One. Two.” She glanced at me and moved her hand back. “Three.” She tossed the black bag. I couldn’t help but stare at the high arc she threw it in. All eyes were on the bag sailing high above us. I barely noticed Mark grabbing Ira and Dennis from the fence opening. Other Reds took Ira and shuffled her off toward the house. All that mattered was they were safe.
Leo smiled and raised his hand to catch the bag.
The black bag spun in the air and as it neared Leo, I saw the pieces of bag break away, revealing the stone. Leo’s eyes narrowed and when it got within a few feet of him another Blue jumped up and grabbed the stone.
It dissolved into his hand. The Blue grabbed at his arm, shaking and straining.
“What have you done, Jackie?” Leo demanded.
The Blue screamed as red marks streaked across his arms. He fell to his knees and tore off his shirt. The red streaks moved across his neck and down his chest. He screeched, and the Blues took steps back from him.
A girl pushed people aside and slid next to him. She hesitated at touching him at first and then grasped his hand.
“You are one sick bitch, Jackie,” Leo said. He raised his hand and made a swirling motion. “I will personally make you pay for this, soon.”
The Blues mumbled and groaned but started walking toward their houses.
“Wait.” Jackie snatched the bag from my hands. “Don’t you want your bag?”
Leo sneered at her and kept walking toward the houses.
“No, no, we need a teacher!” the girl next to the red-streaked boy pleaded. “Please.” She glanced at the Reds.
Near the hub, I saw a person running down the spoke. Deegan, it looked like. His portly figured bounced as he advanced.
Jackie blew three sharp whistles and the Reds rushed to the nearest house door.
Mark moved to the fence.
“Mark, no,” Carly said. “The teacher will help him.”
The girl on the other side sobbed and screamed for help. The red-streaked boy collapsed to the ground.
“We need to get out of here,” Carly said. “They’ll pin this on Mark if he’s out here.”
We followed Carly. “Aren’t we going back to the house?” I asked.
“No. I want to show you two something.” She didn’t go toward the house; she went back to the portal area at the end of the spoke. We entered the small hall and the screams diminished in its confines. I glanced back to see Deegan reach the boy and pull out a stone from his pocket.
“Is he going to be okay?”
“No,” Carly said simply as she opened the door to the portal room.
My hands shook and I leaned against the door next to her.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Carly said. “Every day I’m here, it becomes more and more evident that we need to leave before it’s too late.”
Mark nodded.
“You okay, Mark?” Carly asked.
“Yeah, it’s just that my stomach is in knots.”
My stomach turned as well. With each passing hour, he touched his stomach more. The corners of his eyes creased, his breathing got more rapid, and he walked with a little less pep in his step. He tried to hide it, but I knew suffering when I saw it. The urgency of getting that life stone amped up each time I looked at him. “I don’t know how much more of this Red versus Blue crap I can take.”
“That’s just surface stuff.” Carly sighed. “It’s not by mistake that people like Jackie and Leo are in charge. Sane people would try to work out a treaty of some sort, or at least find a civil medium to coexist in….” She glanced at the portal room. “After the jump, I did some exploring in the tunnels. I found this room, and if it’s real, we need to find a way out of here. For everyone, if possible.”
“Take us to this room,” Mark said.
Carly held the door open for us as we ran across the portal room. Crossing the portal room freaked me out and I was happy to be in the dark hall beyond it. The hall illuminated as Carly held up a stone.
“Glow stone. Pretty cool, huh?” Carly said as she walked down the hall. “Ira figured it out in our stone room.”
I ran my hand over the jagged divots and chiseled lines of the walls. The other parts of the Academy were smooth, stacked stones, but this hall looked as if it had been chopped out of a single block of rock.
Mark motioned for me to go first. The last time Carly had pulled me down this hall in total darkness, it had felt like the longest hall ever; with it all lit up, I could see it was only a hundred feet long. After a curve, light from the
main hall bled into ours. Carly squeezed through the opening and into the main hall.
I rubbed my sweaty palms down the sides of my shirt and looked at the dark hall we’d come from.
“Don’t worry, it isn’t too far. But don’t make a sound,” she said. “I have a feeling the teachers might use this room.”
I nodded and walked down the hall. Carly stowed her glow stone and kept another bag open, walking sideways with her hand near the bag.
“Expecting trouble?” I whispered.
“I don’t like surprises.”
“Why don’t you let me go first?” Mark said.
“Please.” Carly rolled her eyes.
He huffed, but kept to the back.
Carly kept a slow pace and glanced back as much as she glanced forward. I matched her and kept looking around. I had no idea what she expected to see, but it kept our mouths shut. She walked close to the wall and rubbed her hand along the stone as we moved.
She raised a hand and we stopped. “You hear that?” she whispered.
I squinted and turned my ear in the direction she pointed. I did hear it, a conversation not far away. Carly crept toward the sound, hunching low. Her hand moved along a wall and she stumbled forward. I grabbed her arm and saved her from falling over. She looked back and mouthed a “thank you” to me.
She pointed to the hall she’d found. The voices got louder as we tiptoed down the hall. I couldn’t see the people behind the voices, but I understood the words and knew who was talking.
Verity’s voice sounded weak, but her words were firm. “Who do you think you are, dropping in on us? I won’t let any of you get a single one of them back.”
Carly stopped near the end of the hall. I looked past her to the expansive room beyond. Small boxes filled most of the area, stacked high on pallets with shipping labels. She crouched low and ran behind a stack of boxes. Mark and I ran behind her and I did everything I could not to breathe loudly enough for Verity to hear it.
Carly slid a box over a few inches, which revealed Verity standing in a cleared area with the dad who had dropped from the ceiling sitting in a chair in front of her. He didn’t move or even blink.
Suspended animation, courtesy of a stone I had made.