“Let’s see what this place has to offer,” she said cheerfully. She then turned to the others. “No need to go to the children’s grounds tonight. We’re living it up!” Teller, Jessica, and Isaac found places to sit while Leah and Aidan helped Jin and Grain tidy the place up to Grain’s liking.
There truly wasn’t much. Besides the stakes and the symbol on the floor, there was a back room with a child-sized bed, a semi-clean toilet, and a washing area. A literal river flowed through the floor on the left hand side. Jin told Grain that he would make sure she had clothes to change into.
“What about food?” Leah asked. Grain shrugged her shoulders.
“I think it’s similar to the detention center in Lowsunn. I might not need food. Perhaps not even water or sleep…I guess I’ll find out.”
“Did you feel a difference?” Jin asked. “When you took over Mace’s job?”
“I was flooded with information concerning the Choate, but nothing more than we’d already learned from Sylvester. Knew she had lied about the piece she handed you though.”
“So what happens now? With us?”
“You keep on moving,” she said with a smile. “Stay as long as you can for now but if you hear that Necrosis is on his way, you have to leave.”
“But he’ll come for you.”
“He might not be able to touch me, unless he’s willing to take over my job, which I doubt. I think I’ll be okay.”
“I’ll make sure of it,” Jin said, hugging her again. Aidan glanced over at Leah and she squeezed his hand harder. This situation that was happening right now to Jin and Grain – it was one of the things Aidan feared most. Watching the woman he loved get placed into a situation over which he had no control. Thankfully Jin could still be with Grain, at least for a while.
Jin and Grain stayed in the bedroom while the rest slept in the atrium. Aidan held Leah closer than ever that night, but her warmth still didn’t provide any comfort. He couldn’t fall asleep and all he could think about was how quickly Grain had been enslaved. They had felt such a connection with Sylvester that they figured Mace would be similar in character, but she wasn’t at all. She was just a bitter woman waiting to take advantage of the next sucker who walked in. And now she was free, roaming the land while Jin and Grain were forced to part. It was sickening. And the more he thought about it, the more the injustice of it all consumed him. It ate at him. It bit and chomped and gnashed without mercy, and when he couldn’t take it anymore, he stood to his feet.
Mace couldn’t have gotten far. Someone would have seen where she went. Leaving his group to their slumber, he walked outside into the evening light, hoping that it was still bright enough to ask for help. Already most of the city had retired to their homes or spots. Aidan marched down the streets until he found a pedestrian.
“Have you seen Mace?” he asked. She gave him a leery glance. He threw up his hands in surrender. “Hey, I know the rules. Remember that Mace said if someone was looking for her, it was okay to reveal her location.”
“That’s true,” she said. “Why do you need – you know what, it’s none of my business. I saw her leave the city a half hour ago.”
“Thank you,” Aidan said. He started heading to the outskirts. With the crater being so massive, she couldn’t have gotten far. She had probably been confined for years – which meant she would be physically limited to how fast she could travel as well. She would take in the sights, knowing that the innocent troop that had visited her would mourn and be too focused on their friend’s plight. Revenge would be the last thing on their minds. But not his. He was not so innocent.
He ran as fast as he could, throwing all of his energy into his sprint. He didn’t care if he was exhausted when he caught up to her. He had only one chance to find her. As he hit the lip of the crater, he jumped up to the flat land and scanned the area. He thought about sending up a flare into the sky, but figured it might scare the population into a frenzy. Better to play it cool.
He squinted his eyes, took a few steps forward and then a few back, unsure if the shadows he saw move were Mace or some nocturnal beast. His eyes instinctively fixed upon one particular silhouette, and once he saw its dreadlocks whip into the wind, he knew he had found his prey. He gave pursuit, trying to keep his body temperature down as much as possible as he leapt over sleeping beasts. Mace must have sensed something amiss and glanced behind her. Aidan made no attempt to shroud his intentions. He slammed a hand into the grass and created the flame network he was so familiar with. It shot under the earth, heading straight towards her and beyond until he was satisfied with the distance. He summoned the wall.
A twelve foot wall of flames erupted from the cracks in the earth, cutting off her escape. She ran to the left, and then to the right, but on each side, another wall emerged to close her off. Her only way out, was through Aidan.
“What do you want?” she shouted. “Don’t you know it’s forbidden to attack someone in Onyx Major?”
“We’re not in the city,” he said, extending his fiery claws in and out.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“Forgot already? Were we that insignificant to you? That you didn’t even bother to glance at our faces?”
“What are you, her friend?” she asked, squinting through the darkness. Only Aidan’s gauntlets revealed themselves in the shadows. “Listen, I don’t know why I tricked her, but I had to do it. I was in that place for years.”
“You took advantage of her,” he said. “You enslaved her.”
“Just leave me alone!”
“You should have told her the specifics first. You’re going to go back there and demand that you get your old job back.”
“I don’t want anything to do with that place! I would rather die than go back there!”
“That’s exactly what you’re gonna do if you don’t go back.”
“I don’t want to be trapped there anymore.”
“I don’t care.”
“You’re not going to kill me.”
“I already have,” Aidan said, stepping into the light of his fire walls. The moment she saw the stone-cold determination in his face, she knew he wasn’t bluffing. “I’ve killed you already over and over in my mind for what you did. I just haven’t manifested it yet.”
“That will taint you,” she said, dropping to her knees. “You don’t want to do this.”
“Show me your seals.”
“Fine. Whatever,” she said, revealing her bare right arm. One seal was upon it, and it was darkened.
“Good,” he said. “Then there will be no surprises.”
“You don’t want to do this,” she repeated, bowing her head into the grass. “I just got my freedom.”
“If we were back in Lowsunn, I would believe you. But I know your kind out here. That place made me soft. It made me think there were good people on the outside. But they’re all the same. They’re all just like you. All you know is this,” he held up his gauntlets. “This is your language, your culture and your religion.”
“And what about you? You’re different, right?”
“No, I’m a child of it,” he snapped. He raised his right arm at her, and he was just about to swing it down upon her head when he stopped. Out of the corner of his eye, amongst the flame wall to his right, he could have sworn he saw the color blue. He looked again, and sure enough one of the walls wasn’t just made of red and orange, but flickers of blue crackled as well. He sheathed his gauntlets, grabbed Mace by the collar and pulled her face to his.
“If I ever see you again, I will kill you.” She nodded, her eyes stretching as wide as they could. He threw her violently to the grass and she scurried around him and away. He dismissed the fire walls and shook his head as darkness replaced the light of the fires.
“What is wrong with me?” he whispered, closing his eyes. “Why can’t I keep this temper under control?” Killing Mace wouldn’t have solved anything. It would have just fulfilled a craving within him. It wouldn’t have grant
ed Grain her freedom. It wouldn’t have helped Jin reconcile with the situation. It wouldn’t have helped his relationship with Leah.
This was why Leah and Bailey were wrong. He was no leader. Not even close. He was still just a child. An angry and confused child who was still prone to tantrums.
As he walked back with his head held low, wallowing in his shame, his senses didn’t pick up the small troop of five who were in the darkness nearby, wide-eyed and frozen with fear. They couldn’t believe what they had just seen, but somehow, they would have to find the strength to move. After they were sure the pyromaniac wouldn’t reappear, they climbed to their weary feet, brushed off their Lowsunn uniforms, and teleported home.
Chapter 19 – The Best There Is
“Did you leave last night?” Leah whispered. She, Isaac, Aidan, and Jin had decided to stay back with Grain while the other two went off to find breakfast. Aidan wasn’t sure how to recount last night’s events to his wife, but he knew he had to tell her the truth. He had promised to never leave her behind. It wasn’t going to start now.
“I went after Mace,” he said. Her face scrunched up with a mixture of anger and disappointment, her hand quivering at her side, wanting to slap some sense into him.
“Did you kill her?” she demanded. He shook his head.
“I almost did, but I let her go – because I thought of you. And in that moment, I knew I couldn’t go through with it.”
“You could have been killed going outside the city by yourself. After what happened to Grain, we can’t take another loss.”
“I realize that now,” he said. “It won’t happen again.”
“Next time you take me with you,” she said, grabbing his shirt with both hands. “I’m your back up.”
“I will.”
“Hey this isn’t too bad,” Teller said, munching on a pastry that was sticking out of a small brown paper bag. “It’s like sweet and nutty.”
“Well, don’t hog it all to yourself,” Jin said, swooping in from the side and grabbing the bag. Jessica walked in behind him with two more bags and without the lower half of her pants, showing off a new pair of makeshift shorts.
“Didn’t have money,” she said, blushing. “So we had to sell something.”
“Why couldn’t Teller sell part of his clothes?” Jin asked, handing a pastry behind him to Grain.
“I told her,” Teller stopped to take a gulp, “that my clothes are tied into my flight. If I lose pieces of them, then I can’t fly as high.”
“Apparently,” she continued for him, “there’s a fabric that – hey, that doesn’t make any sense!” she shouted, slamming one of the paper bags across the back of his head. Teller began cracking up and running away and Jessica gave chase. Jin stepped in to save the pastries she was carrying.
“The food doesn’t have to suffer,” he said, rummaging through the paper bag. He threw Aidan, Isaac, and Leah one pastry each and, after Teller got his beating, the entire group sat down in the middle to eat.
“It’s not so bad here,” Grain muttered through bites.
“We should still check out that house,” Jin said, grabbing more food. “You never know. Maybe Aidan and Leah would like to live there.”
“Very funny,” Leah said. “But I know what you’re doing. You just want this place for you and Grain.”
“What? What are you saying? That I would try to kick you out into another home and Isaac, Teller, and Jessica out onto the streets just so I could have Grain all to myself? Yes. Yes I would. Yes I am.”
They all laughed except Teller, who was trying to read their faces.
“You’re not serious about me being on the street are you?” he asked in concern, and they all laughed again. Jin got up, walked over to him and put him in a headlock.
“No one’s kicking you out, loser,” he laughed, rubbing a knuckle into his hair. Leah cleared her throat.
“I think Aidan and I will check out the house,” she said, swallowing her last bite. She climbed to her feet and tapped her husband. “Care to come?”
“Yeah,” he said, taking his pastry with him. Jin handed him the paper with the number on it.
“We’ll be here,” Jin said, slapping Isaac’s hand which was reaching for another pastry. The others waved good-bye as the couple headed out the door. The streets were a bustle again and people once more were eager to wave hello and smile. Leah and Aidan extended the same courtesies as they made their way to the center of the city, dubbed Onyx Minor. It was not hard to find. Before they had even arrived, they could hear the uncontrollable laughter of children. It sounded like they were laughing so hard they could hardly breathe.
Aidan and Leah passed by a row of flesh-colored houses and then knew the moment they had made it to their destination. The area was one big cul-de-sac, a half-moon row of houses facing the dirt street and the entrance to Onyx Minor. In like fashion, behind the first row of houses was another, and another, and another, extending for a couple of miles. But even from where they stood, they were sure that not one adult was inside the sub-city. The “Street” in front of the first row of houses was one big sandbox, and over three hundred children of all ages were at play.
Water rollercoasters, pits of fire used for grills, giant sand monsters that would come to life and attack groups of kids who would defend themselves with wooden swords. Babies were rocked to sleep by pre-teens. Teenagers were standing in circles practicing their respective arts. There were sand slides and dancing clouds, cotton candy flowers and insects traveling from one kid to another, delivering messages. It was all so chaotic and so orderly at the same time that Aidan and Leah could only stand there in awe, wanting to jump into the mix, and yet afraid to disrupt the flow. Leah tapped her husband’s arm.
“It’s like the Field of Visions,” she said. “It’s smaller, and more unorganized, but from the youngest to the oldest, they’re all training in their own way.”
“The houses are probably just used for sleeping,” Aidan said, crossing his arms. “It might take all day to find the right one, but it doesn’t matter. This is where I want to live.”
“Really?” Leah asked, jumping up into the air. “Me too!”
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” he laughed.
“Yeah. This is the kind of training we need,” she said, spreading her arms out wide. “No rules. No instructions. No restrictions. Just unbridled imagination at play. We can come up with new techniques here that we never could have in Lowsunn.”
“No wonder people that leave the city are so prepared for the outside. No excessive comfort to make them lazy. No excessive danger to force them into hiding. It’s just right.”
“Let’s go say hello,” she said, running into the middle of the kiddy hurricane. Aidan began to protest, but followed after her, certain that he was going to be hit by something at any moment. But nothing happened. Whenever a makeshift monster was about to swing at his head, the arm always diverted its trajectory. Water just missed his ears. Swords whizzed above his hair. A beetle rested on the top of his ear and leaned in.
“You’re kind of old to be here, aren’t you?” a voice came from the spots on the back of the beetle. “But if you’re serious about playing with us, come over here and talk.”
Aidan was about to ask how he would know who to speak with when the beetle left. He scanned the area and saw a group of teenagers huddled in a circle. One of them, the one that had multi-colored, spiked hair, was staring at him. He waved Aidan forward. Aidan tapped Leah’s shoulder and they made their way over to him.
“Welcome,” the boy said. The circle widened to allow the two of them in. “The name is Best. The other boys here are Rot, Toomuch and Jar. You here to sightsee or live?”
“Live,” Leah said. “I love what you all have done with the place.”
“Yeah, it’s neat, isn’t it?” Best chuckled, taking a stick and drawing in the sand.
“So what’s your ability?” Aidan asked. All the boys snapped their heads back in shock.
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br /> “Not cool,” Best said, still drawing. “Where did you get your manners?”
“We’re not from around here,” Leah said, as an explosion sounded off behind them. The boys didn’t turn around so the couple fought the urge to do so themselves. “What we really want is some training.”
“Training?” Rot laughed. “For what? This isn’t an army.”
“The lady’s just talking, Rot,” Jar replied. “What’s it the little kids sing? Oh yeah.Think before you speak so you don’t sound like an idiot.”
“You added that last part, fishbrain. That’s not how it goes.”
“But you sure remember the song, waterstain. Yet you keep flapping them lips. How old are you?”
“Boys,” Best laughed. “You can stop showing off for the lady. She’s too old for you.”
“I’m almost thirteen!” Rot declared proudly. “In ancient times I would already have like three kids by now.”
“More likehad,” Jar quipped. “You’d probably eat them with your fat self.”
“I’m at a healthy weight! My mom said so!”
“Like eight years ago before she left, liber dung.”
“Can Best speak?” Toomuch spoke up. The boys shut up and Best cleared his throat as he continued drawing in the sand.
“Alright, well we can help you for sure,” Best said. “As long as you aren’t trying to change things around here. We keep a delicate balance of doing whatever the heck we want. Understand?”
“We’re here to learn from you,” Leah replied. “Not the other way around.”
“Just checking. Adults like to hear the sound of their own voice, but most of them are like sirens. The songs sound good but then you find out they really have their own things they want. And they’ll bust your ship all over their rocky shore to make sure they get their way.”
“Best is so wise,” Rot declared. The boys nodded happily.
“We’ll start you off with a rigorous schedule from youngest to oldest. You’ll face the Poopers first. Then the Nosewipes. The Won’t-shut-ups. The Know-it-alls. And then us, the Big Boys. You’ll move on once you’ve beaten a group to our satisfaction. We’ll set it all up. You just show up. Behind the houses is a field. We got it all ready for this kind of purpose. You want to start now or get settled in?”
The Works of Julius St. Clair - 2017 Edition (Includes 3 full novels and more) Page 52