Speed of Light

by Amber Kizer

  Our Woodsmen silently blended into the trees and gardens around the museum. They formed a perimeter we didn’t need to see to believe.

  “Let’s go,” Tens ordered.

  I watched as Juliet continued to pick at her hands, her anxiety growing exponentially. I dragged her aside. “You have to believe we can do this. No doubts. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. It would be so easy to hate her, but if you do, she wins—again. Focus on Fara; Bodie and Sema; and your father, who is still alive. How much do they love you? Do you love them? You mother gave up everything for you. Let go of your anger, for her.”

  Juliet nodded and took my hand. “We’ll never know what happened to them, will we.”

  “It’s a risk.” Probably not. If we’re successful, the knowledge about your parents’ whereabouts may be lost forever.

  “We have to defeat her, don’t we?” Juliet’s expression was torn between fear and resolve.

  “I think Roshana will understand. Auntie knows I can’t go back to Revelation yet to bury her bones.”

  “But at least you know where she is.” Tears gathered in Juliet’s eyes.

  My heart breaking, I said, “There’s nothing I can say to make this better for you. But Nelli’s in there and she might still be alive. Your mom’s not.” I knew it was harsh to point out, but I needed Juliet focused.

  “I know. Let’s go.” Juliet took my hand. We walked sandwiched between Tens at the front and Fara at the rear. The only light came from a few dim streetlights and a single flashlight.

  I had no idea what anyone else was thinking. But the people I loved most in this world flashed through my mind like a slideshow. My little brother was in the forefront of my mind. Sammy. I’d given up hope of seeing him again, of him knowing me at all, to keep him safe. My father who might never understand what my destiny was. Tens with his dry humor and carver’s hands, who accepted me at my worst and took my best in stride. Rumi’s extreme vocabulary that covered a generosity so big any words became inadequate. Joi who took us in, no questions asked. Bodie and Sema with their innocent smiles and ever-ready ability to think anything was possible. Custos with her drool, antics, and hard-won trust. Mini with her attitude and resilience. Tony’s scholarship and faith. Faye’s fight to live for her happy ending. Gus’s devotion to Faye. I even loved Fara’s confidence and sass. Juliet’s drive to keep us all from harm no matter what the personal cost.

  I saw Auntie’s reflection as I walked by a closed, dark window. Auntie, who taught me at my most reluctant, who loved me from the first, even from afar.

  My fingers tingled and warmed.

  Juliet crossed the grass and headed for the front door. We weren’t sneaking in. She tried the handle. The knob turned. “It’s open.”

  We crowded into the foyer. There was a layer of sawdust and cobwebs that made me think the remodeling was on hold indefinitely.

  “Tea, anyone?” Ms. Asura said from the right.

  “No, thank you,” Juliet answered as we turned almost as one.

  “Pity to die on an empty stomach, isn’t it?” She lit a candelabra; the candle flames danced and licked as she held some papers up to the fire, then tossed them into the old fireplace.

  I got my first solid look at her face and wondered how we’d managed to inflict so much damage without killing her. “Nice scars,” I said. What is she burning? Maps and drawings were hanging off the walls as if someone grabbed them down in a hurry. Rumi’s timeline too.

  “Not very ladylike to point that out, but then you’re not a lady, are you.” She smiled at me and winked.

  “Tell me where my mother is, please,” Juliet demanded.

  “Or what? You’ll get mad? Oh, please do! That’ll make this all the more fun.”

  I wanted Ms. Asura’s attention back on me. “Tell us where to find all the remains and we’ll let you live.”

  “Gee, let me think about that. Not going to happen. I don’t need to confess my sins. I’ve done everything I’ve been asked, or do you doubt the Creators speak to me as well?”

  I tried again. “I’ve seen the souls you’ve tortured.”

  “Are you as dumb as Juliet? I’ve done nothing. Their souls are wounded in their own right. That’s not me. As much as I’d like to take credit for it, the fear, the pain, the loneliness, these all eat at the flesh. All we’ve done is connect them to this plane so they can’t move on.”

  “No one would do that to themselves,” I scoffed.

  “People do that and worse every day. Why do you think our job is so much easier than yours?” She lit a map of the city, full of red lines and circles, on fire, making me wonder if she was burning their strategies.

  Tens’s voice sharpened as he asked, “What are you planning?”

  She sighed petulantly. “You can’t all have marched in here thinking I’d want to confess. ‘Oh, Father, please save my soul. I’ll do anything.’ ” She bit off the sarcasm and pretended to faint on a sheet-covered couch. Dust rose like confetti in the candlelight. “Please. You can’t possibly think I was planning an attack by myself? Aren’t you adorably dullard. Even if you knew how to kill me, which you don’t, I am only one of many. The engines have started. The accelerator is to the floor. With or without me, we’ve won. We live for this; you live for silly ridiculous relationships and love.” She sneered the word, then continued. “When you have nothing to lose, there is only everything to gain. The checkered flag is ours.”

  “Didn’t your mother ever teach you arrogance will get you in trouble?” I poked.

  “Oh, I’m arrogant?” She whistled.

  Footsteps pounded up the stairs to our right.

  “Yeah, you are,” Fara answered as a group of Nocti and humans strode in to flank Ms. Asura. The other Nocti’s eyes were also uncovered and black pits of nothingness. Doesn’t get more creepy than that.

  She chuckled as if genuinely delighted by the banter. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to underestimate the people in power who want to stay there? Oh, that’s right—your mothers didn’t want either of you, and yours is dead. Pity.” She pointed at me, Tens, and Juliet, then poured herself tea with two cubes of sugar.

  “Where is Nelli?” Bales questioned.

  “Oh, love, she makes your heart race and your life worth living, doesn’t she?”

  “Where is she?” The desperation in Bales’s voice weakened as if he were using up what strength he had. Is he hurt worse than he let us know?

  Fara started to murmur under her breath. It was clear we could trade insults all night, but Ms. Asura would tell us nothing useful. The other Nocti glanced at each other as if they didn’t know what to make of us and were waiting for orders.

  Please let this work.

  Rumi added booming Welsh to the Farsi.

  Tens, Auntie, Sammy.

  It would take all of us.

  Tony began the Lord’s Prayer, his faith—his truest love, hallowed be thy name.

  Fara’s voice gained strength.

  The back of my neck felt as if the sun had come out from behind a cloud.

  Bales and I began chanting at the same time, and for a moment, I was sure we’d added a choir of angels, an army, to our number, so loud were our words, so convicted were our hearts.

  Ms. Asura paused mid-sip and I saw her eyes widen slightly. The candles sputtered and flickered before going out. “Hit the switch! We must see them!” she demanded before one of her men flicked on a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.

  Tens’s gravelly baritone flowed over me as he stood at my back. He twined his free hand in mine. Smoke from the smoldering papers drifted over the floor around our feet.

  “What, are you meditating now? Isn’t that cute. Juliet, why don’t you come with me downstairs? I’ll show you where your mother screamed for mercy. Let you say goodbye to Nelli before you all die?”

  Juliet stepped forward and my voice faltered for a breath, but she reached behind her, grabbed my hand tight, and began her verses. I recognized lines Roshana
wrote in the book of sonnets. Pieces of Juliet’s past made present.

  In the distance, maybe below us, I heard shots fired as several of the Nocti disappeared out a door. We shifted so Rumi leaned against the door and no one could come back through. Ms. Asura seemed nervous but not scared enough.

  I kept my eyes on her as she tried to take a sip of tea, the cup rattling against the saucer. We all saw it.

  Sweat dribbled down the sides of my face and along my forearms, like we’d walked into a sauna. The bulb brightened; all the candles sprang to life.

  “You’ll stop acting ridiculous right this minute. If you could see yourselves, so serious.” She set her tea cup down with shaking hands and scanned the room. There were no other doorways to this room. And the only window was boarded up.

  She began her own speech, but even yelling couldn’t outpower our volume. We drowned her out.

  The single dangling lightbulb shattered in a hail of glass and sparks, but instead of going dark, the light in the room brightened. The Light is coming. We’ve called Light.

  My palms grew so warm they felt like they were burning, but around us I felt the light come. Grow. Creeping like a flooded river outside its banks. Moving at a steady pace, over and under, to encompass the whole room.

  Ms. Asura swallowed. “This is your last chance.”

  She means this is her last chance.

  We kept repeating ourselves until the words, our sounds, flowed like breaths, like we were one voice, one symphony of light.

  The remaining Nocti tried to charge us, but they couldn’t come closer. As if they were trying to swim against an ocean current, a wall of light, a shield and a weapon.

  Ms. Asura’s face reddened, her scars standing out in shrill white. It was as if the tissue had a will of its own.

  The light began to bubble against her skin. Nothing in the room was untouched. Light poured from the lightbulb socket, from the electrical outlets, from behind the boarded window, from our fingers and ears and mouths.

  Brighter.

  Whiter.

  Hotter.

  My eyes squinted and teared against the intensity of the sensation. It was like eyeing the sun while standing on it. The light began to coalesce, contract, and wrap around the frozen Nocti bodies. It seeped into Ms. Asura’s mouth and down into her ears.

  I had to close my eyes, but still we called on Light and Good.

  I imagined Auntie and Roshana chanting with us on their side. Smiling and sharing their love.

  When hot wind blew over my face and tousled my hair, like riding in a fast car with the windows down, I cracked an eyelid.

  “You can stop,” Juliet said. “She’s dead. They’re all gone.”

  Our voices trickled off.

  “You watched?” I asked Juliet.

  “I had to. I had to know it was finished.”

  Just then, a Timothy threw open the door with a strength that pushed Rumi out of the way. “Guys, we’ve got a problem. A big one.”

  CHAPTER 33

  Juliet

  She’s gone. Ms. Asura is gone.

  Woodsmen swarmed in around us. “We saw the Light. Best firework and lightning show we’ve ever seen.”

  I couldn’t catch my breath. She’s gone. We did it. Took out Nocti.

  “Nelli’s down here.” We followed Timothy into the basement, Bales tumbling down the stairs in his haste to get to her.

  The basement reminded me of maggoty sausage and stinking cheese.

  “You okay?” Fara asked me at the top of the stairs.

  Woodsmen hung LED lights and flashlights everywhere. We had to act fast. The police were on their way, probably because of the gunshots.

  “I don’t know.” I could barely feel my toes. I felt like I floated above all of us.

  “Bales!” Nelli fell into Bales’s arms, sobbing. “I thought you were dead.” Duct tape hung from her arms and legs. She’d been strapped to the chair.

  “Shhh, honey, it’s okay. It’s over.”

  On the floor at her feet was the freshly dead body of a man.

  “That’s the tattoo.” Meridian knelt down beside him, checking out a tattoo on the side of his neck.

  “And the symbol she had me searching for.”

  “That’s my boss,” Nelli cried between the words. “He shot himself when we heard you upstairs. I thought he was going to shoot me, but he just shot himself.”

  Bales leaned back from her. He pulled his hand away, covered in dark red. “You’re bleeding.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “You are.” Bales tried to find the wound on her body.

  “Bales?” Nelli’s voice caught my attention and I walked closer. “Asa Bales look at me.”

  He was trembling, falling over, his eyes showing lots of white. “Nelli, I love you.”

  “Bales!” She squealed as he collapsed onto the floor. “Don’t you die on me, you hear me?”

  I saw a gaping wound as if a bullet had sliced through Nelli’s clothes, leaving a trench in her skin. Meridian saw it at the same time that Tens and Rumi began to check on Bales.

  “Nelli, you need to sit down.” Meridian tugged her. “You’re losing a lot of blood.”

  “I’m not hurt—it’s Bales. He’s—”

  I grabbed a doorjamb, trying to keep from fainting. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I tasted a menu on my tongue.

  I knew the moment my legs collapsed because I sat at my kitchen table. Spread before me were platters of fried chicken, fluffy biscuits, green bean casserole, ears of steaming corn, and the tallest pile of glazed doughnuts I’d ever seen. I brushed the tears off my cheeks. I didn’t want to look up, to see who was in the kitchen, at the window, with me.

  “I’m dead, aren’t I?” Bales asked me.

  I couldn’t speak, so I nodded, clearing my throat until I could say, “Yes.”

  “We didn’t win after all, did we?”

  “Nelli’s alive.”

  “She’s hurt.” He frowned.

  “It’s not bad. A few stitches and she’ll be okay.” I prayed I was telling the truth. Her wound didn’t appear life-threatening, but then neither had Bales’s. “We should have made you go to the hospital.”

  “You know I wouldn’t have gone no matter what. You need to know about your father. He’s alive. I think he’s the reason the Woodsmen made contact—”

  A rock band struck up opening chords on the other side of the window. I saw crowds start dancing toward us.

  “That’s my favorite band.” Bales turned back to me, delight filling his voice. “Wow, look at that—my grandparents are dancing! I have to go now. Tell Nelli I’m sorry. I love her. But I can’t stay.”

  “I will, but what about my dad?” Wait!

  “Ask Gus about camping in the shades.”

  “But—” I tried to get him to stay, to tell me more.

  Bales slid across the window frame, the food going with him into the crowds.

  Kirian held the hand of my mother and both were smiling. “Kirian?” I called. Why are you happy?

  I awoke lying on a couch.

  “Welcome back.” Fara leaned over me. My eyes didn’t want to focus. My head throbbed, pounded, and my mouth was sticky dry like salt rocks.

  “What happened? Bales, is he really—” I struggled to sit up as Fara pushed me back down.

  “I’m sorry, Juliet, he died.”

  My breath left in a gust. Tears traced into my hairline. “Nelli?”

  “She’s in the hospital under observation. She didn’t handle it well.” Meridian knelt by my head and offered me a sip of grape soda.

  Fara whispered, “We found Kirian’s body and Aileen’s bones. They were in those drawers, with others Nelli searched for. They are safe now. Your FBI showed up.”

  We found Kirian? Did I hear correctly? “Kirian?”

  “Yes.” Fara’s voice sounded far away and controlled.

  Hope blossomed in my chest for a moment. “My mother?” Could she have be
en there too?

  Meridian shook her head. “Not yet. But we’re not giving up.”

  I swung my legs over the side of the couch to sit up. “Where are we?”

  “At the hospice. We wanted Delia to look at you,” Meridian answered me.

  “We think the condo is infestated,” Fara added.

  I blanched, confused.

  Meridian chuckled. “Bugged.”

  “Oh.” Fara shrugged.

  “Meridian, girls, come listen to this.” Gus paused the report and turned up the volume. “There’s been another racing accident.”

  “I thought they were canceling the race?” I asked.

  “Lots of people objected, said the danger is what makes it exciting. Most years no one gets hurt; people said these were nasty coincidences,” Gus answered me.

  I rubbed my eyes and held my belly. How long had I slept?

  Faye’s chest rose and fell, but her body was even smaller than I remembered it. As if her soul would outsize her body, and soon.

  Meridian nodded at Gus to press PLAY, and Jessica Martin began: “First an accident on the track and now off. This team can’t catch a break. This year’s pole sitter has had to pull his name out of the running this year. His season is over after he was hit crossing Circle Street last night with friends. The hit-and-run accident had many eyewitnesses, but no suspects have been arrested yet. His femur was shattered. We’re going to roll footage captured by people waiting to get into the club. They were race fans trying to get autographs, which is why we have any video at all. With a warning for sensitive viewers, this is graphic.”

  It wasn’t the picture of the black SUV hitting the crowd, but the sound of impact and the shattering of breaking bones, of traumatized flesh, that made me chalky. Like butchering a carcass for parts.

  The reporter continued. “Six others are also hospitalized for their injuries. Many considered this team and driver the favorites for this year’s milk drink, so this development opens up the race to smaller teams.”

  The in-studio newscaster couldn’t keep the glee off his face. Carnage made for good ratings. “Should make it fun to watch.”

  “Yes indeedy.”