by Alex Ziebart
Kristen forced herself to her feet and put her arms up once more. She lurched left, caught her footing, and lurched right, stumbling like a drunk. Vision unfocused, ears ringing, she found it impossible to form a coherent thought.
Nenet bore down on her. On instinct, Kristen blocked a blow to the head. Kristen leaned into Nenet’s next swing and wrapped her arms around her neck. Nenet struggled to escape the hold, delivering knee strikes to Kristen's midsection. Kristen was driven back with every blow until the strength left her arms and her grip fell slack. She felt hands on her skull, then. Nenet squeezed with all of the strength in her fresh, stolen body, and Kristen screamed at the pressure. She was sure—absolutely sure—something was going to give and that would be the end.
Instead, her neck jerked. Nenet used both hands to heave her off of the ground by her head and threw her. Kristen soared end over end before her head struck metal, vision filling with motes of color. Her momentum carried her spinning up and over a rusty truck. She stared in a daze, starting briefly only when she caught a blur of motion. Nenet fisted a handful of Kristen’s hair with one hand, then pummeled her face with the other. Each blow landed like a sledgehammer on concrete. Every strike echoed with a resounding crack. Kristen’s face streamed with blood and tears. She threw up her hands to push Nenet away, but it was useless.
A deafening peel of thunder silenced Nenet’s blows, and the changeling fell back into the gravel. Kristen winced, and blood spattered her face.
“Get away from her.”
The telltale click of a hammer being cocked back preceded another deafening explosion. Nenet screamed fury and scrambled for cover. Kristen looked up. Todd stood there, tall and solid, Smith & Wesson held firm in one hand. Kristen tried to speak but could only form whimpers. She grabbed his leg. He stooped down and looped an arm beneath hers, lifting her from the dirt. “Hold on tight,” he whispered. “I’m getting us—”
“Stop running!” a new woman’s voice screamed from behind them. Todd spun to bring his gun around, but Kristen’s dead weight slowed him. A body collided with his, driving him down, tearing him from Kristen. Before he hit the ground, he blinked and disappeared.
Kristen stared at the new arrival. Emma? She glowered back, her eyes full of hate. Though dizzy, Kristen’s mind creaked into motion again, rust crumbling from the gears of thought. Emma wasn’t that fast. Emma wasn’t that strong. Was she? The only reason Nenet could match Kristen’s strength was because she’d stolen her form. She laughed despite her ruined body, the laughter sudden and manic. Pain drained away. “You screwed up.”
Newfound strength surged within. Kristen threw it all into one, solid punch. She struck the false Emma square in the jaw and the changeling’s head twisted a half-circle before the rest of her followed. Kristen spun, dug her fingers into the truck at her back, and lifted it off of the ground. She raised it overhead before pile driving it into the pretender.
Nenet seized the opportunity and came at her like a train. Kristen turned to face her as Nenet threw herself into a full-body tackle. Two bricks walls collided. Neither fell. Nenet roared in anger and threw a lightning punch. Kristen caught the fist in her hand and squeezed. Knuckles popped. Kristen leaned in and down, twisting Nenet’s wrist, driving her to her knees. She spoke through clenched teeth. “You think because you stole my body, you know how to use it?”
Kristen allowed no response. She grabbed Nenet’s throat with her free hand, pulled her upright, and punched her hard enough to send Nenet sliding through the gravel. Kristen followed the wake of pebbles, slow and steady. “I’ve lived my life the way I am. What I can do wasn’t given to me for free. I had to learn how to live in this body. I trained it. I honed it. I know how to use it.”
Nenet spit dust from her mouth and rose to her feet. She shrugged the robe from her shoulders, freeing her legs of its interference. “Kill her.”
Kristen jerked her head toward the garage at the sound of motion. The changelings who’d made it through her initial attack poured from the entrance. Each and every one of them wore Emma’s face. Kristen smiled. Never before had she seen something so beautiful.
“Behind you,” she called to them.
The changelings whirled. Todd’s Smith & Wesson cracked, dropping a changeling. Arrows followed. From the roof, the archer loosed arrow after arrow. Kristen saw they dug a bit deeper than they had when he’d shot her in the garage, but still failed to stick. That didn’t seem to matter; the changelings he struck screamed in pain, clutching the wounds. Poison?
Then came Nenet. Kristen leaned aside—the archer’s technique—and let a fist soar past. Kristen took a jab at Nenet’s ribs and landed the blow, knocking the changeling off-balance.
Anything you can do, I can do better.
Kristen grabbed Nenet’s bare shoulders. She pushed her out at arm’s length, then closed the gap with a knee to the changeling’s gut. Nenet, limp and gasping, tried to pull away. Kristen picked her up cross-body, turned, and heaved her into the bed of a truck. Nenet shot to her feet immediately, using the truck’s height as a springboard to strike from above. Kristen caught her, turned with Nenet’s momentum, and slammed her into the ground. “It must be hard, princess. You’re usually so tall and thin and graceful. When you stole my body, you should’ve stolen my clothes, too.”
Nenet growled. In an instant, she caught Kristen around the waist, surged up, and threw her back. Kristen hit the dirt, rolled back over her shoulder, and came up on her feet.
The archer’s mechanical voice cut through the melee. “The toxin is wearing off.”
Kristen shot a glance toward the garage just in time to see the changeling Emmas rush the garage at once. They slammed their shoulders into the brick walls, knocking them inward. The building collapsed, the archer still on the roof. Todd blinked, grabbed him, and blinked again. The two appeared at Kristen’s side. Emma, you’re strong, you’re fine. You’re okay in there. Promise me.
“Thanks for that, Blinky,” the archer buzzed.
Todd rumbled. “Don’t call me Blinky. We should get out of here. My gun does some damage, but…”
Kristen shook her head. “We can’t leave.”
Nenet stood on shaking legs some twenty feet ahead of them. She raised one hand and signaled her followers to her side. The false Emmas leapt to her and formed ranks. Todd winced. “I know you’re probably pissed off right now. I would be, too. I’m sorry we didn’t save your sister but if we don’t get out of here…”
“Emma’s fine, Todd.” She smiled at him. “I’m not angry. I’m thrilled. But if we let them go, they’re going to be back. When they come back, they are going to be angry. They took your family hostage once. They won’t be so nice about it next time.”
Todd’s jaw hardened. He popped the cylinder on his revolver and dumped shells into the gravel. One bullet at a time, he reloaded. The archer nocked an arrow. “I wish they could keep their clothes on when they shift.”
“Don't be a robo-creep.”
“Apologies. Beep beep boop, overriding male hormone protocols.”
“Don't be a robo-smartass, either.”
“In all seriousness,” he buzzed, “there's three of us and... eight of them.”
A false Emma jerked with a blood spray and toppled. A half-second later, a distant crack rolled over the scrapyard. Nenet screamed in her native tongue—bizarre in Kristen's voice—and she charged, the remaining changelings following in her wake.
Kristen grinned. “Four of us.”
Kristen charged. She brawled with Nenet and the changelings, trading blows and disrupting their lines. Todd blinked in and out of the fray, his revolver like a thunderstorm. The archer wove through the melee. His motions were fluid, retrieving arrows from the battlefield as quickly as he loosed them, seeking out points of vulnerability. As Todd's revolver punched foes off-balance, Kristen put them down hard. She grabbed one by the arm and spun it around, holding it in place from behind. The archer seized the opportunity and loosed an arrow. It
sank deep into the changeling's eye, and Kristen dropped it, dead. A spray of blood played herald for a distant crack.
Todd blinked. Nenet was there. Before he could blink again, she caught him with a double-fisted blow. He hit the ground, bleeding from the mouth. “Go!” Kristen screamed, grappling with an Emma. “I've got this!”
In a flash, Todd vanished.
The archer called over the roar of battle. “Back down to three. And I can’t keep this up.”
“You go, too. I’ve got it.”
“You’re sure?”
“Go!” she barked. The archer disengaged, sprinting away. Changelings pursued, but even with their stolen gifts, they couldn’t match his agility. He bounded over cars, slid under trucks, and dove through open windows. His every motion soundless, it wasn’t long before even Kristen couldn’t see him anymore. When the changelings abandoned their pursuit, the battle came to a pause. Nenet and her people regrouped, forming a ring around Kristen. She turned a slow circle, staring them down, getting a new headcount. Six. She thought they’d done better than that.
Nenet hissed. “Do you hate your sister so much?”
“Excuse me?” Kristen asked. “Do you think I’d be here if I hated her?”
“You see her face and your first thought is violence.” Nenet swept an arm across her changelings. Their faces—Emma’s faces—were bruised and bloody messes. “How can you do this to your blood?”
Kristen put up her fists, wary of distraction. “What, you think you can put on a skin-mask and scare me into submission? I picked the triquetra as my symbol for a reason. Body. Mind. Soul. They’re ideals, and for me, they aren’t new. You’re probably well-acquainted with my body at this point. Mind? No, I’m no genius, but I try to use my head. My plan wasn’t perfect, but I had one. Next time, I’ll do better. Soul? I know who’s important to me. I know who makes my life better. I know who to hold close and I know who to throw away. I know when someone needs my help and when someone needs to be stopped. I care about Emma. All of you? You’re not Emma. Pretend all you want. I know the difference. I’m not scared.”
Nenet spread her hands in assent. “Very well. You’re a very interesting woman, Kristen. Keep the ring, then. Acquiring your gift is prize enough for me. Until next time.”
The changelings rippled as they began to shift. Kristen pulled the ring from her top and held out. “Wait.”
Their rippling ceased in an instant. Nenet eyed her with curiosity. “Speak.”
Kristen held the ring aloft for a long moment. There was no way she was going to let this woman run away with her identity. Not only could she cause untold harm with the stolen gift, she could do untold personal harm, too. It would only take one event to destroy Lady Superior’s reputation. Worse, what Nenet did to Emma—what she tried to do to Emma—was unforgivable. Kristen held her hand straight out, the ring dangling between two fingers. “Let’s make this interesting.”
“Meaning?”
“I’m going to drop it and let it lay right there. If you can get through me, grab it, and go, you have the ring and my gift. Sounds like a good deal to me.”
Nenet flicked her wrist in a signal to her followers. The changelings broke off, falling back and disappearing into the maze of scrap. Nenet stood alone. She stared Kristen down and Kristen stared back.
I can do anything better than you.
Kristen let the ring fall.
No, you can’t.
Nenet dove for the ring with lightning speed. The tip of her finger grazed the metal.
Yes, I can.
Kristen grabbed Nenet around the waist and plucked her from the earth, slamming her backward in a suplex.
No, you can’t.
Nenet spun to her feet in the gravel. Kristen followed, but was driven back down by an elbow.
Yes, I can.
Kristen kicked Nenet’s legs out from under her and pounced. She wrapped her fingers around Nenet’s head, raised it up, and slammed it back down.
No, you can’t.
Nenet got a leg beneath Kristen and shoved her off, up and away from the ring. She kip-upped to her feet and ran for the ring. Diving again, she snatched it out of the dirt. Laughing like a woman gone mad, she slid the ring onto her finger and held her hand out. “This is the end, Kristen. You lose.”
Yes, I can. Yes, I can!
Kristen dusted herself off and slowly approached. “Go ahead. Bring on the earthquakes. Shake my city to the ground.”
Nenet splayed her fingers. Her eyes narrowed in concentration. Nothing happened. She sat upright and tried again. Nothing. Her form rippled, Kristen’s body darkening, elongating. Nenet sat in the dirt in her own body, urging the magic forth. Nothing.
Kristen struck like a cobra, a boot to the chest driving Nenet to the earth. She knelt beside the bloodied changeling and grinned. “It’s a fake. Did you even look at it? It doesn’t look anything like the real thing. Maybe you didn’t think you needed to look at it. Maybe you felt your goofy Mu-magic coming from it. Or maybe you were so eager to get your hands on it you didn’t even think.”
“To me!” Nenet cried in desperation. The changelings emerged from their hiding places. Kristen tilted her head to glare daggers. They no longer wore Emma’s face—they were themselves again, or rather the collection of human faces they’d used before. Once again they were armed, what few of them remained shouldering assault rifles. Not from the garage, Kristen guessed—the rubble remained as it was, piled atop Emma. You’re fine, Kristen told herself. You’re perfectly fine, Emma. They must have hidden spares.
“The problem with your human forms, princess? They’re squishy.”
Todd appeared among the changelings. His revolver thundered. The crack of a sniper rifle washed over the scrapyard. Changelings fell one after the other. Those still living tried to bring their guns to bear on Todd, but he moved in a flash, emptying all five rounds. In seconds, they were gone.
Kristen drew her fist back to deliver Nenet’s deathblow. Her fist struck dirt. Where Nenet had been, the fake ring spun in the dirt, and a white dove winged into the air. Kristen grabbed for it, but missed. In only seconds, the dove soared out of reach.
It burst into a cloud of feathers and dropped to the windshield of a distant truck, its body pinned beneath an arrow. The archer’s gift of silence broke and he stepped up beside Kristen. She stood upright and sighed. “Having creepy assassin pals is pretty nice, but I wish you guys would let me finish something myself for once.”
The archer buzzed. “There’s no I in team.”
“You decided to join my team after all, then?”
“I didn’t say that.” The archer turned and walked away. “You have my number. Call me if you need me.”
As the archer left, Jane crossed his path, jogging up the aisle. She shot him a curious look, but shook her head and dismissed it. “Sorry it took so long. I didn’t take the right keys. Had to break into your car for the ring.”
Kristen rolled her eyes. “Nice excuse. You didn’t want to throw down. That’s fine. You don’t have to lie about it.”
Jane flashed the ring in her palm, then pocketed it. “Did the fake work?”
“Yeah.”
“You want to explain how you got one?”
Kristen stooped down and picked up the fake. She flashed it in return, then stashed it away. “I stuck my finger through a coin. Go see if Todd needs help. I’m not done here.”
Jane tilted her head, but eventually gave up and jogged over to Todd, who sat nursing his jaw. Kristen ran past him and to the garage, hopping up onto a fallen brick and mortar column. The exhaustion crept back into her limbs the moment the arrow took Nenet out of the sky, but she urged it down for just a little longer. She shoved rubble aside, throwing bricks and machinery to either side of her, digging down into the wreckage. She dug, lifted, and tossed with a growing anxiety, wondering if she’d been wrong. Maybe it had been a trick. Maybe Emma wasn’t gifted. Maybe she’d overestimated the gift; could Emma shrug off bullets
so easily? Could Emma heal at the same rate? Or was she lying dead in a pool of blood because Kristen dragged her feet to resolve a grudge?
She caught sight of Emma’s chestnut brown hair and dug faster. More bricks thrown, she saw Emma’s pajamas, her chair and her bindings, and finally freed her from the rubble. Kristen jumped down into the opening and knelt at Emma’s side. She brushed aside her sister’s hair and saw the black scorch marks from point blank gunfire at her temple. Drying blood caked the side of her face, but there was no wound—dark purple bruising, yes, but no wound. While the bullet had penetrated her skin, it seemed as though her skull had stopped it. The skin was already healing. Kristen brushed gentle fingers across Emma’s face, fear and anxiety refusing to release her heart. She didn’t fully understand her own capabilities yet—how could she understand Emma?
A sparkle caught Kristen’s eye and she flicked her gaze toward it. Not far from her, a mushroomed hollow-point round laid on the ground. Kristen broke into a smile and tapped Emma’s cheek. “Hey. Hey, wake up. Emma, it’s me.”
Emma wept, sobs wracking her body. She’d never been asleep.
Chapter 16
Kristen cleared out of Sam’s Salvage with Emma long before the police arrived on-scene. According to Jane via phone call, the authorities were too preoccupied with the earthquake to respond. Even the airport police force didn’t bother showing up until it was all over and Temple’s cleaners had been through. They’d feared a terrorist attack or, as Jane put it, something like that. The whole thing, garage destruction and all, was written off as troublemakers taking advantage of an emergency situation. Sam’s Salvage’s insurance would cover the damages. Probably.
Under a firm suggestion to lay low for a while, Kristen kept her head down. Immediately after taking Emma home, she fretted over her younger sister, insisting on cleaning her up and making sure she was warm, fed, and comfortable. Only when Emma asked her if she’d actually taken a look at herself had she realized the extent of the injuries. It seemed her body was covered in one, continuous bruise, and bullet holes peppered her torso. In twenty-four hours, the open wounds had vanished without scarring, and the bruises had faded to a sickly yellow easily hidden by Emma’s superior makeup skills. Kristen stayed home during the day, slept, recuperated, went to work Monday night, and was appreciative of an uneventful evening staring at security cameras. She took a nap at home Tuesday morning, and after making sure Emma was alright—Emma was content watching TV in her pajamas again—Kristen grabbed her purse and got back in her car, cranked up her playlist, and drove.