by Angel Lawson
Draco.
None of it is real, simply fabrications created by WIND-E’s amazing creative department, but there’s a hint of realism to the whole thing makes Astrid nervous.
“Where’s Quinn?” she asks. He’d been given an outfit of his own. One of the Lost Boys that follows Peter. There are other children milling around—kids handpicked by Demetria to ride the float. Draco told her they were an insurance policy to keep Kincade and Blaze from launching fire balls at the float. Astrid isn’t sure it’s enough to keep him in check. He’s endangered children before.
“Five minutes!” Demetria breathlessly announces. She’s Wendy Darling, of course. Dressed in a beautiful light blue nightgown. There’s a matching blue bow in her hair and one on the back of her gown. Every minute that passes, Astrid feels like she’s stumbling more into the absurd.
As she takes her position on the float, Mayor Steed walks up the ladder and greets Demetria. The woman gives her most dazzling smile, but Astrid knows she’s nervous. This is the man holding the key to her plans.
The crowd is enormous. People from all parts of the city came to the parade. Lanterns of all shapes and sizes light up the air. Children sit on their parent’s shoulders and hold the glowing paper orbs in the air. They look like animals, artwork, and sparkly designs. The entire place looks like a fantasyland—just like what Demetria wanted, and Astrid can’t help but be glad for her.
A microphone is passed up to the Mayor, who raises his hand to the bustling crowd. Voices lower, and he greets the city.
“Thank you all for coming to this exciting event! This crowd is bigger than we expected, and I have to thank Ms. Holmes for donating her time and effort into organizing such a spectacular night for the residents of our city.” Demetria bows and waves at the cheers. Astrid scans the crowd, noticing the huge number of police. Blue lights flash down the side roads and many officers manage the crowd.
The mayor is on his way down the ladder when she stops him. “Have you made any decisions about the properties?”
“The committee meets on Monday. I think if things go well tonight, you’ll get the news you want.”
At that, her smile is like a ray of sunshine. “Don’t worry Mayor Steed, it’s going to go off without a hitch.”
Astrid senses the relief in Demetria. And because of that, she hopes that everything is going to be okay. She’ll get her land. Take back over the Swamp. Kick out the builders and gentrifiers. She’ll eliminate the greedy, the yoga shops, and organic breweries. She’ll save her community.
She glances across the stage as they’re told to get into position. Draco up on the ship. Quinn and Owen up in the tree. Demetria pets a stuffed fox on the head, and Astrid thinks maybe they’ll get through the night and have a little fun.
Except two things happen.
First, she spots Jensen in the crowd and their eyes connect.
Then Casper speaks into her ear.
“Kincade just messaged.”
“What does he want?”
“The buildings. Demetria. To rain terror down on the city. You know, standard bad guy stuff.”
“And?” The float starts to move, following the marching band from Crescent City High. Astrid braces herself so she doesn’t fall.
“He sent a map of the city down Harbor Line. There are explosives all over. He’s not going to let Demetria have her day.”
“Fine,” she says, catching Quinn and Owen’s eyes. “Then we’ll just have to stop him.”
But it’s too late because the first explosion rocks the float and the buildings around them. And if Astrid ever thought Demetria would sit back and let her team handle it, she was dead wrong.
“What was that?” Demetria says while waving. “Did you feel that?”
“That was Kincade,” Astrid tells her.
That’s when all hell broke loose.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Astrid
The ship built into the float cracks in half and Draco senses it just in time. He jumps off his perch and lands next to her on the front part of the float. The contents of the boat pour out. Demetria knew he would show and she brought weapons.
“What are those things?” Astrid asks, staring at the flying objects. She’s pulled her mask over her eyes. The others do the same. In seconds, they’re linked up.
“You know bad things live in fairy tales too, right?”
“Casper, find Jensen for me,” she says over the com. He’s got facial recognition software. “I need him to get out of here.”
“Shit,” Owen says, running over in his attempt to get out of the way of the tree that has now come to life. The trunk grows legs and steps off the float, entering the crowd. The screams, a mixture of confused excitement and fear, are so loud Astrid covers her ears.
“Draco.” He looks at her. “Go neutralize Demetria or I’ll have to.”
He nods, but they both know it’s too late. She’s standing in the middle of the float like a woman on fire. Her dress spins around her ankles and she holds her hands up, directing her weapons into the city.
Quinn snatches one of the small creatures out of the air and holds it up. It’s small but alive. It looks like a lizard. No. It’s a—
“Fucking dragon,” Owen says.
Quinn tosses it off the side of the float and it expands mid-air, growing to the height of a small building. Smoke billows from its long snout. Its feet land hard on the ground, cracking the asphalt.
Two more explosions rock the Harbor Line and off in the distance a huge ball of fire shoots toward the sky. Police and firefighters run toward the flames, while those caught in the middle, between the explosions and the float, are trapped. The police try to manage them, but the hysteria is too big. “Pan, help these people. Calm them down. Make them see whatever it is they need to see to get to safety.”
“Got it,” he replies, moving to the edge of the float. The dragon ambles ahead of them, on the heels of the marching band.
“Echo, I found him.” An image from the scene pops up. Jensen is stalking through the crowd in the direction of the fires. That’s what heroes do. They run to danger, not away from it.
“What do you want me to do?” Charger asks. He’s ripped off the stupid pirate costume and she finds he’s fully suited up underneath. She isn’t surprised.
“Casper said bombs. Are they on electronic triggers? Timers? Pull up the map and see if there’s anything you can do to disconnect them with your power.”
“What about you?” he asks. There’s no mistaking the look of concern in his eyes.
“I’m going after Blaze. I owe him one.”
He nods. “Be careful.”
The dragon roars and other creatures come to life. Strong horses with sleek black manes. Lizards and dinosaurs. Pixies with sharp teeth.
“You too.”
He reaches for her and pulls her close, kissing her on the forehead before jumping off the float and into the crowd.
She’s about to follow him off the platform when Pan calls her name over the com.
“What?”
“I need your help. This crowd, they’re panicking, and people are getting hurt.” She’s tried to push their voices out of her head—ignore the screams--but lets them in and it shakes her to the core. Hundreds if not thousands of terrified people running in a dozen directions. “I’ve got a way for them to get out of here, but they need to calm down. I need you to calm them down.”
“I don’t know how to do that,” she says.
“I’ve seen you!” He shouts something away from the com. She tries to find him in the crowd, but it’s swelled into a frenzy.
“Not with a crowd this big.”
“You can do it. You have to, Echo.”
The dragon roars, spitting a burst of fire into the air. Chaos follows, and she takes a deep, steadying breath and rips off her gloves. She doesn’t plan on touching anyone but she needs as much of their emotional energy as she can get. With the heat of the dragon at her back and another
explosion rocking the ground she grabs hold of the panic in the air…
Terror, distress, agony, torment, suffering…
The feelings grip Astrid like a vise.
Sweat pools on her back and she claws at her ears, at her skin, wanting it to stop. But she doesn’t run. She channels it, pulls the energy into her core, building it into a small but powerful ball. Astrid lets it grow, feeding on every scream. Every faltering step. She consumes as much as she can until she feels like she will burst and then she puts her hands together, wrapping them around the energy and holding it with both hands.
“Holy shit,” Casper says in her ear.
She barely hears him because she’s now focused on shifting the energy, but…
“I can’t do this. I don’t know how.”
Her knees threaten to buckle under the weight of it all.
“Open your eyes,” Casper says.
Her eyelids feel like they’re held down by weights. The same with her arms, her legs and shoulders, but she fights against the pull and blinks, looking into the crowd.
They’re moving, following a bright light down one of the side streets away from the danger. It’s a peaceful scene, the opposite of the horror and destruction of the parade route. Bright paper lanterns lead the way along with twinkling lights and a starry sky. The buildings are painted a cheery color and the crowd moves calmly, carefully toward their escape.
“How?” she says, her arms and hands aching from holding the energy.
“You took their fear,” Casper says. “And Pan? Well, that’s not an oasis down that alley, but it’s better than the alternative.”
She holds, feeling the wave of exhaustion rolling over her, but her heart swells when she sees the crowd thin; children racing to safety, parents carrying three kids in their hands. She doesn’t look for Draco or Charger, knowing the slightest distraction will destroy her efforts, but she does exhale in relief when Pan comes through the final people. He looks up at her with a huge smile and gives her a thumbs-up.
“We’ve got the people clear,” Casper says over the group com. “Echo, you’re good.”
She has no idea what to do with the energy but she’s willing to try something new. She turns and faces the lumbering, terrifying dragon and opens her hands, blasting all of the pain, fear, and distress into the fantastical creature.
The energy shoots from her, kicking back and knocking her on her ass. She flails, trying to see what happened, but another explosion goes off. No, not an explosion, but a wave ripples over Astrid’s skin just as the hum of the city falls away and darkness shrouds the street, other than one thing.
Blaze stands in the middle of the street with a ball of fire in his hands.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Quinn
After kissing her on the forehead, Quinn jumps off the float and pushes his way through the crowd. Astrid told him to take care of the bombs but there are dozens, according the map Casper uploaded into the system. The small but powerful explosives are placed up and down the Harbor Line, all linked into a timer system.
“Can you hack into the timer?” he asks Casper.
“I tried. There’s a complicated firewall keeping me out. They were smart, and it would take too long to get through to make a difference.”
“Shit.” A teenage girl stumbles at his feet and he reaches down to help her up. Tears streak down her cheeks. He looks across the road and sees the tell-tale sign of Casper’s work. “Run that way. Toward that light. That’s the safe place.”
She nods and disappears into the crowd, dragging a smaller boy behind her.
What a fucking nightmare.
The dragon (dragon!) roars behind him, sending people into a bigger panic. Fire billows from its jaw and he throws up a shield, keeping the heat off the people around him. The fire blasts it and the electronic field wavers, but he doubles down and makes it stronger.
The heat and flames bounce off his shield, sending them back at the dragon. The creature stumbles back, giving the people in the street a chance to run. Quinn shouts for them to follow the lights; he truly hopes it’s to safety and not another trap.
Another explosion trembles the ground.
“Do something, Charger!”
He looks around—for something—anything to give him leverage against Kincade and his plan.
“There’s a major transformer two blocks down. One of the bombs is about twenty feet from it.”
Schematics appear on the screen and a dot shows him where the transformer is located. “Do you know when it’s set to go?”
“Two minutes.”
“Of course. Why give me any more time?” But he’s already running, pushing past the terrified parade-goers and feeling like a dick for not helping. The map helps him find the transformer and Casper has graciously provided a countdown clock in the corner. No pressure. None at all.
The box is down a small side alley with a dead end. He slips between a group of people, lanterns smashed and broken under his feet. The box takes up most of the space.
“Sixty seconds.”
“Shut up, Goblin,” he says, reaching for the box. He hears the hum of the electricity moving inside. He’s got a plan. It’s risky and could totally backfire, but they’re in some serious shit. He’s got no choice.
Quinn steps back and kicks at the lock on the door. His boot slams into it over and over until the metal twists, then breaks. It falls with a clink to the ground and he flings open the door. Cables dart in different directions, thick and black with metal caps. With a silent prayer, he ignores the safety switch and yanks two live wires out with his hands. The shock is significant, but nothing he can’t handle. The burn doesn’t even make it past his gloves, but he knows what he has to do and damn if it isn’t going to hurt.
“Be careful, bro.”
“Keep an eye on the others. It’s about to go dark. Really dark.”
Quinn holds the exposed, cracking ends and presses them together, igniting a coursing wave of electrical energy like he’s never felt before. Pulling them apart, he slams the wires into his chest and leans against the crumbling brick wall, taking in a massive dose of electricity. The timer on his mask counts down, thirty seconds, then twenty, until there’s nothing but a few ticking off the clock. He drops the wires and stumbles into the street and lays his hands on the ground like Thor would drop his hammer.
The result is an enormous surge, the size of an EMP, enough to drop the whole area off the grid. Quinn falls to the ground, hands sunk three inches into the asphalt, knees shaking as he tries to stay conscious. His screen zaps out.
“Goblin?” he asks, but the hum is gone, like everywhere else. He knocked them all offline, but he hears the roar of a creature that shouldn’t exist and he knows the battle is far from over.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Owen
One minute, Astrid, sweaty and exhausted from culling the echo from hundreds of people, is in his vision and the next, the streets fall dark. Police lights, along with the red swirl of fire and rescue, vanish into nothing. The ever-present hum of electricity completely dissipates. It has to be Charger. Please let it be Charger.
Two bursts of flame provide light. The dragon still lumbers slowly, feet cracking the pavement. Demetria stands at the monster’s feet. All her energy seems to be in this one fabrication—her other animals and toys having disappeared.
Blaze is on the other end of the street, fireball in hand. Kincade lurks in the shadows. It’s like something out of a movie. The epic showdown where magic and beasts fight to the end. But it’s not magic—not really. The fire is real, and the dragon is tearing up the streets. People are getting hurt.
“Pan,” Astrid says, finding him in the dark. Her hand brushes against his.
“What do we do?” he asks. Footsteps draw his attention and Quinn walks up. Owen expects him to look tired or worn out, but he seems the opposite.
“We let them kill one another,” Owen says.
“No,” Astrid says. “T
hat’s not happening. We get Blaze. Contain him, and Demetria? She’s done.”
The first fireball is thrown before any of them move and it crashes into the float. The tissue, lumber, and glue holding it all together ignites easily and flame ripples across the structure. The look of fear crosses Demetria’s features but it turns quickly, changing into rage. That emotion channels into the dragon stomping toward Blaze, tail swishing, knocking into the flaming float and scattering fire into the street.
“Echo!” Quinn yells after pushing Owen to the ground. A huge piece of debris flies at Astrid. Quinn gets to her in time, knocking her to the side, but a piece of lumber hurtles in his direction and he moves to throw up a protective shield, but a shadow crosses in front of the flame before he gets the chance. The figure carries an actual shield, one made of metal and painted silver. The wood crashes into the shield and explodes into splinters.
“Mr. Perfect,” Astrid says, as Owen helps her from the ground. “About time you showed up.” She brushes her hands off. “Our plan went to hell.”
“How do we stop her?” Quinn asks him.
Draco shakes his head and hangs the shield on his back. “I don’t know.”
“I don’t believe you!” Quinn rages.
“He doesn’t lie,” Astrid tells him. “It’s a defect of being so magnificent or something. But I can stop her.”
“How?” Draco asks.
“You’re with me.” She points to Draco. “You two go shut down Blaze for good.”
“You sure?”
She nods. “I better be.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Astrid
“You distract her,” she tells Draco, but it won’t be as easy as that. The battle between Demetria and Blaze has caught new furor. Fire blasts from both directions. We’re seeing the curse of two Supers from Project 12 using their abilities against one another.