by Jamie Davis
“If that’s the case,” Cricket said, “it will make it easier once we figure out which section is from the Baltimore Enclave.”
Winnie looked around and saw a level spot off the road where they might be able to park the van and still stay close to the hilltops surrounding the camp. That would allow them to deploy their surveillance equipment.
She pointed for Danny. “Back down the hill a bit, see if you can turn off the road and drive over to that flat spot behind the hill.”
“I think I can make it. I don’t want to get the van stuck. It’s not like we can call a tow truck way out here.”
Danny reversed about a hundred yards down the hill, then drove off the dirt road onto the hard ground, navigating the van around some brush and scrub trees. “I think this will work, unless it rains and turns all this dirt into mud. Then all bets are off.”
“It’ll do,” Winnie agreed. “We’ll worry about rain later. For now, let’s help Cait set everything up so she can start searching the camp.”
Danny parked so that the sliding door faced away from the road, shielding them from any middling eyes. Cait was already out and setting things up with Cricket’s help. One case had legs that extended from the base to make a table with a control surface when opened. Inside was a smaller box, filled with tiny drones shaped like insects. Some had wings and others multiple legs. Each could be controlled from the control surface.
Cricket opened another box which held two pairs of large binoculars that could be mounted on small tripods and used to observe the camp from a distance. He handed these to Winnie and Danny.
“You two can probably set up over there on the top of that ridge.” Cricket pointed up the hill. “You should be able to see the whole camp. Cait and I will stay here and prepare the drones. I’ll join you once she’s up and running.”
Winnie took one of the heavy binoculars with the attached tripod and handed the other to Danny. Then they walked the hill together, until they reached the top of the ridge line.
Cricket was right. It was an excellent vantage from which to monitor the camp below. She crawled the rest of the way so she wouldn’t be silhouetted against the sky and be seen from below. Laying in the dirt atop the ridge, Winnie setup the tripod and peered through to focus on the camp below.
It was time to find her mother.
CHAPTER 20
Winnie looked away from the binoculars and rubbed her eyes.
She and Danny had been scanning the camp and its occupants for nearly two hours. So far, neither had so much as glimpsed Winnie’s mother. There were thousands of chanters; they’d never find her mom.
The different sections appeared to be separated by city, with Baltimore chanters all in one area and chanters from other cities spread out in the adjacent sections. Each area was separated by a tall barbed wire fence. There was also a smaller section in the camp’s center, around the strange tower. Occasionally, Winnie would see a Red Leg guard pull someone from one section or another then march them to the central area. Some would leave and return to their original areas. Others were kept in the central section.
There must be a good reason for separating some chanters from others, but Winnie couldn’t focus on what that might be. Not without finding her mother first.
She brought the binoculars back to her eyes.
This time she saw two children, a boy and a girl, standing alone, looking back her way. She’d seen them before. They were about eight or nine, judging by their size. For some reason, they always stopped what they were doing and looked right toward her whenever she spied them. It was as if they could see her watching — odd, considering how far and hidden she was.
It had to be her imagination.
People continued to come and go from the building nearest the entrance. Winnie assumed it was some sort of cafeteria or meeting place — people always came from the barracks building to this one, then later returned to the outer buildings with a sandwich or drink. This was why Winnie and Danny had settled on watching these primary buildings, figuring that every resident had to pass through those doors at some point.
Winnie was watching what they’d named Section One, while Danny kept his eyes on Section Two. There were three other large sections in camp, in addition to the smaller central area surrounding the tower.
They were looking for any recognizable face in the crowd. That would help them determine which one was the Baltimore camp. Once they knew that, they could use the search drones to find Elaine. Cait had charmed each drone with a scent spell that could find anyone who “smelled” like Winnie in close proximity.
It was taking a while, because she had to charm each drone separately. She also needed a small drop of Winnie’s blood to use as a scent sample. It wasn’t particularly painful, only annoying when Cait would bring a drone to Winnie and hold out her hand to take a drop. It was only a pinprick, but twenty grew tiresome fast.
Cait tapped her on the shoulder again. Winnie held out her hand without taking her eyes from the binoculars. She felt the prick and tried not to wince.
“That’s the last one, Winnie,” Cait said. “Any more luck on finding out which camp section your mom is in?”
“No,” Winnie shook her head. “We’re just trying to find someone we recognize. Other than the two creepy kids I keep seeing, no one stands out.”
“What creepy kids?” Cait asked.
“They’re in the middle of Section One. I swear they can tell I’m watching them. They look up from whatever they’re doing and stare. Like I said. Creepy.”
“What if they have some sort of clairvoyant ability?” Cait asked. “It’s rare, but not unheard of. Maybe they’re tuning into you.”
Winnie looked away from her binoculars and glanced at Cait. “That makes sense. I’ve been spending so much time looking for my mom, I didn’t think about what might be making them look this way.”
“I think I found the Baltimore chanters.” Danny turned to Winnie. “Check out Section Two. I think I saw two people who own shops near your mom’s apartment. I remember buying stuff from them when we first started dating. You see anyone else familiar over there?”
Winnie turned toward Section Two, adjusting the focus knob and watching the faces going in and out of the central building. It only took a few moments before she recognized Mrs. Stone from the building next door. She followed her and identified several other faces, then looked away and smiled.
“That’s it. Section Two is housing the Baltimore chanters. Send in your little bugs, Cait. Let’s see if all that blood I gave will help your drones find my mother.”
“It will take a while to deploy them all,” Cait said. “They’re small, and even the flyers won’t get there fast.”
Danny scratched his head. “I still don’t get how these bugs will fool anyone. They look mechanical to me.”
“That’s because I haven’t activated them yet. The military came up with a special charm, transforming them into the size and shape of regional insects. They’ll scan the local fauna until they find a bug, then they’ll replicate it with a sort of visual overlay that hides their true form. It’s complex stuff. Too technical for me, though Winnie might be able to figure it out. I added the scent charm, but that’s about the limit of what I can do.”
Danny shook his head.
Cait laughed. “Just watch when I deploy them. It will hover for a bit until it reconfigures itself. You should be able to see the overlay as it happens. Then you’ll understand.”
“If you say so,” Danny replied.
Cait held one of the small, multi-legged drones on the palm of one hand. It looked like a short, stubby pen with six spindly legs. She reached over to the control table and pressed a button. The drone turned slowly in place about ten seconds, then shimmered in the air, like heat waves wafting off scorching pavement.
Danny blinked. One moment, there was a mechanical drone, then the next, he was looking at a small brown beetle on Cait’s palm. She lowered it to the ground and it scuttled ove
r the ridge, towards the camp.
“One down, nineteen to go,” Cait said.
Danny laughed. “Well, that was impressive.”
“Wait until we have the camera feeds up on the monitor,” Cricket said. “We’ll be able to see and hear whatever we want.”
“That’s exactly what we need,” Winnie added. “We can find my mom and figure out what’s going on down in that central area around the tower.”
“I can tell the drones to go wherever you want, Win. Just say the word. I can send two drones to search that area if you want. The feeds are recorded independently, and the control kit has a separate monitor available to view two distinct sets of feeds.”
“Sounds good. Cricket, you take the central area and see if you can figure out what’s happening there while Cait, Danny, and I concentrate on Section Two, where we think my mother might be.”
“Got it, Boss.” Cricket went to the crate and started setting up the auxiliary monitor.
“Danny, I’m going to keep watching the camp. Something about those two kids is nagging at me. You help Cait, use the drones to find my mom. Then tag a drone to follow her so we don’t lose track.”
He nodded, then descended the slope to where Cait was setting up some other crates as seats. She was deploying the sixth drone. It hovered over her hand for a moment before changing into a tiny moth and flying north towards the camp.
Winnie returned to her binoculars, looking for the children.
She wasn’t sure which city they were from, but something about them was calling out to her. She found them playing with rocks in the dirt, right in front of Section One’s central cafeteria.
They both looked up. On a whim, Winnie waved, even though there was no way they could possibly see her.
To her amazement, they both waved back.
And the children were smiling.
They could see her. But how?
She closed her eyes, shifting her vision to the magical spectrum. When she opened them and looked back through the binoculars, she saw the familiar wisps. There were a few chanters casting simple charms. But the children were another matter. They had created a series of weaves around them, complex as any she’d ever seen, inverted to hide them.
That’s why she was tuned to these children.
They were like her.
They could conduct the magical flows in the same complex ways as Winnie. They’d even learned how to hide what they could do from normal chanters by inverting the flows, making them invisible to usual means of detection.
They didn’t just have to rescue her mother — they needed to rescue these two children as well.
She turned to Cait. “Any drones left?”
“Two more. I’m getting ready to deploy them now. Why? You have something else in mind?”
“I want one assigned to each of these two kids. They’re like me, Cait. I’ve found chanters who can do what I can do.”
Winnie looked back down the slope to her friends, beaming, filled with a sense of hope she hadn’t felt in a while. It was as if some sort of puzzle piece had fallen into place with her discovery.
Cait made a few adjustments to the controls before deploying the final two drones — one flyer and one walker. She let each go, then looked back at Winnie.
“Done, though you’ll have to come down here and help guide them to the right targets. We don’t have a blood sample or scent to home in on.”
“Alright. Let me know when they’re close. I’ll come down and we can lock them onto their targets. I’ll keep watching so we don’t lose them.”
Winnie brought the binoculars back to her face, but the kids had disappeared. She felt a surge of panic, moving the field of view left and right, frantically searching.
And then she found them.
Two Red Legs had the children by the hand and were leading them from Section One to the central section by the tower. Winnie told Cait to redirect the last two drones.
They went inside and the door shut. Winnie leaned back, muttering a prayer to any spirit who might tend to their safety.
“They just went into the central building, Cait. We’ll have to search for them there. I’m coming back down to help you. Danny, I’ll need you to watch the camp.”
Danny and Winnie swapped spots while Cait retargeted the final two drones. Winnie had to wait through a painful forever, but was finally rewarded with a video screen showing the first drone reaching the central building. It hovered by the main doors, then flew inside as a Red Leg left.
A few minutes later, the walker drone followed its cousin inside. Together, Winnie and Cait steered the drones from room to room.
The first seemed to have a series of examination rooms, filled with equipment. Each one had a long exam table. They found the children in one such room, sitting on the table with an attendant wearing scrubs standing beside them. The boy looked into the camera and wiggled his fingers in a wave. Unconsciously, Winnie returned it. The boy smiled. He was wearing a sort of cap with many wires, and the attendant was looking at a view screen on the machine to which the wires were attached.
“Well, well, well, what have we here?” Winnie heard the attendant’s voice. “You have the same readings as your sister, Jacob. Did you know that?”
“We’re twins,” said the boy. “Momma always said that made me and Fiona special.”
“She was right,” said the attendant. “You two are very special indeed. We only know of a few others who can do what you can.” The attendant removed the cap from Jacob’s head and set it atop the machine. “Where is your mother now? We should examine her as well.”
“She’s dead. She got sick and died last year.” Fiona sounded sad. Jacob reached out to hold her hand.
“Who takes care of you, then?” The attendant picked up a clipboard and started jotting notes.
“We take care of ourselves,” Jacob said with a puffed-up chest. “Fiona and I can do anything a grownup can do!”
“Momma told us to always stick together,” Fiona added. “That way we could have whatever we ever wanted.”
“Have you ever met anyone who can do what you do?”
Jacob pointed right at the camera. “Just the lady who’s watching us right now.”
Winnie flinched. Then she leaned forward, holding a finger to her lips.
Ssshhhh …
The attendant turned and followed Jacob’s finger. He waved his hand in a shooing motion and muttered, “Damned bugs.”
Fiona giggled and poked her brother. “I don’t think the lady wants us to tell anyone about her, silly.”
“I didn’t know,” Jacob said.
“You kids are funny.” The attendant set down his clipboard. “I used to have an imaginary friend when I was little, too. It helps when you lose someone. Now, I need you two to sit tight while I talk to my friends. Then we’ll get you both some ice cream. Alright?”
“We like ice cream,” the kids said together.
“Good. I’ll be right back.”
Winnie turned to Cait. “Have the walker follow him, Cait. Keep the other one with the twins.”
“Got it.”
Winnie switched to the walker bug, now in the hallway. It scuttled behind the attendant when he left, then followed him down the hall and through a series of doors to a large control room at the other end of the building. He walked to a man sitting at a desk overlooking a bank of consoles manned by about twenty people in lab coats.
“Two more that match our criteria. Twins, a boy and a girl.”
The man looked up from his desk at the attendant. “How sure are you? We’ve had false positives before.”
“Individual readings are off the charts, nearly where the Durham girl’s are speculated to be. They’re much powerful than the other one.”
“That old woman is in her eighties and of limited use. She’d die the first time we attempted extraction. These kids are much better, especially if they’re as powerful as you say.”
“I’ll forward you the readi
ngs by email so you can see for yourself.” The attendant looked around the room. “How is the general collection going? Is everything working?”
“Surprisingly well. The antenna is tuned perfectly, and we only had to make a few very small adjustments. The dishes are already siphoning energy from the residents and we already have a decent amount of mana stored in the underground tanks. I figure it will take about forty-five days to finish siphoning the normal chanters. We’ll want to keep those kids in here with us where it’s shielded, at least until the Director figures out what he wants to do with the special cases. Stick to those kids like glue, Randal. They’re our ticket to the big time.”
“Alright, I’ll get them set up with a room in the dormitory. I didn’t figure on being a babysitter, but you’re right. The reward’s worth the work. You going to tell the Director about this?”
“I’ll make sure we both get the proper credit, Randal. Don’t you worry.”
The attendant walked back toward the doors. Winnie set the drone to auto-pilot to follow him.
She turned to Cait — her friend had been listening. “We’ve got to get them out of here, Win, and shut this place down. The camps are just one big Harvester machine.”
“I know. And we can’t do it alone. Leave the gear and set the drones to auto-record. We’ll cover the crates with brush as best we can. We’re going to need help getting in there, and to do what needs to be done. We’ve gotta get back to Baltimore. It’s time for a conversation with Artos.”
CHAPTER 21
The drive back to Baltimore took hours, but that was a good thing.
There were many preparations and plans to put in place, if a raid like she planned was to succeed. She couldn’t free thousands of chanters without some place to put them. And the pure evil of Kane’s Harvester had apparently festered. Now he planned to steal the magic from every last chanter on earth.
“We’ll need Tris and a few of her tech friends,” Cait suggested. “They’re essential if we’re planning to take that machine apart and disable the tower.”