Earthshaker
Page 26
Only this time, as I watched, half her face turned to stone. Seams of stone threaded all through her body, winding around her arms and fingers. Right before my eyes, she turned into a Crossbreed like Mahoney. And then she spoke.
"A great war is coming, with you at the heart of it." They were her words from beyond the grave, the ones I'd heard courtesy of Ayan's machine. "A great evil wants to destroy you."
When she said it, her one human eye squeezed free of its socket and floated toward me. As it drew closer, I saw it was bloodshot. A bright starburst blossomed around it, feathery rays flashing and combing like the beams of the sun.
It was the eyeball I'd battled at Cousin Canyon. My heart raced as it closed in on me. As I felt the malevolent Presence reaching out for me, grasping, ravenous. I wanted to get away at any cost, to escape that terrible hunger.
Suddenly, the eyeball zoomed toward me, and the Presence leaped. I screamed...
And woke up in a sweat. Flooded with relief as I realized it had only been a dream. But when I tried to reach up and wipe away the sweat, the relief vanished.
Because I couldn't move my arms. Something was holding them down, locking them in place.
When I opened my eyes, I saw an exam light on a folding arm above me, the kind you find in dentists' and doctors' offices. Looking to my right, I saw a bank of equipment and monitors, swimming with blips and waves of light. Looking to my left, I saw Laurel and Solomon smiling down at me. And when I sat up a little and looked at myself, I saw why I couldn't move my arms. Or my legs, as it turned out.
I was shackled to a table.
I closed my eyes again, struggling to process the situation. Remembering Laurel's betrayal on the ledge. Wondering why she'd done it and what it all meant. Wondering how long it would take to break free and bust the place up.
I opened my eyes and turned my head to face Laurel and Solomon. "What's going on, guys?" Better to try for answers first and break free later. "What's the deal here?" I waggled my fingers to point out the bonds.
"Everything's cool, Gaia." Solomon's voice and grin were smooth as ice. "Nothing to worry about at all, I assure you."
I smirked. "Well, that's a load off."
"We wanted to make sure you didn't do anything rash." Solomon fixed his red necktie. "We needed you to hear us out first." He was wearing the Parapets uniform—white dress shirt, black slacks, and a tie—plus a tie tack I recognized. The Greek letter alpha, made of gleaming silver metal, just like the brooch in Aggie's Divinities photo.
"Great," I said. "I'm all ears."
"Thank you, Gaia." Laurel's serene smile shone forth in full force. She tenderly patted my cheek. "We have wonderful news."
It took an effort not to sound angry or sarcastic. "What's that?"
"We're about to go public," said Laurel.
"I thought you weren't crazy about that idea," I said.
"That was before I saw the big picture." Laurel smiled lovingly at Solomon. "Before I understood the Groundswell."
"Okay." Since when had Laurel become a pod person? "So tell me about it."
Solomon nodded. "You deserve to know, Gaia. After all, you're helping make it possible."
I wondered what the hell he was talking about, but I didn't ask. Better to let him run his mouth while I tested my bonds and felt around with my mind, reading the surroundings. Prepping for my escape.
"Groundswell's about healing the world," said Laurel. "Stopping the poison that's killing us."
"We're bringing together the three great powers to change the world," said Solomon. "Technology, magic, and the earth itself. United, they can change hell into paradise."
"We're going to end the suffering and ruin." Laurel's eyes glittered. "A new era is about to begin."
"In twelve hours, Gaia," said Solomon. "It all starts today, and you've got a front-row seat!"
"Okay." As I scanned my surroundings, I realized I was out of touch with the earth. Laurel, Solomon, and I were suspended in one of the floating cubes drifting through the cavern. Reaching out with my mind, I felt the air rushing past the skin of the cube, saw the massive shaft of light around which all the cubes orbited.
"We go public in less than an hour, and the world will never be the same." Solomon spread his hands wide and fanned them apart, palms toward me. "This day will go down in history as the day of miracles. The day the mountain flew and the Groundswell began."
"The mountain's going to fly?" I said.
Solomon laughed. "The whole damn thing." He cupped his hands as if they were holding a mountain and slowly raised them like a rocket taking off. "A juggernaut to clear the poison and plant new life. An ark to ride the waves of a future reborn."
"Sounds pretty spectacular." Extending my senses as far as I could, I searched for a trace of Mahoney but found nothing. I guessed they had killed him by now or reset his programming and sent him back out on patrol.
"Even the greatest spectacles start with a single step," said Solomon. "This one begins right here and right now, with the three of us."
"Huh." I tried to sound nonchalant, but I was dying to know what he had up his sleeve. Especially since he'd dropped that bomb about how I was going to help make it possible.
"My darling." Solomon took Laurel's hand and held it high, as if he were about to lead her in a waltz. "History will record your miracle as the first of our crusade."
Laurel spoke to me without breaking eye contact with Solomon. "He's going to cure me, Gaia. He's going to save my life."
Solomon pulled her toward him and kissed her on the mouth. When the kiss broke, he looked in my direction. "This is where you come in."
"How's that?" I said.
"We're using your power to heal her." Solomon led Laurel to the next table over and helped her lie down on it.
I was stunned. "You think I could cure her?"
"You've had the power," said Solomon. "It's just a matter of properly channeling it. Fortunately, we are the experts at that sort of thing."
Was it possible? Could they cure Laurel with my help? Or were they just as likely to turn her into a Crossbreed or something worse? "How's this going to work, exactly?" I said.
Solomon raised a hand, palm up. "We get the power from you. We channel it through our system." He pushed his hand toward the bank of equipment alongside my bed. "Then the power enters Laurel..." He ran his index finger from the direction of the equipment to point down at Laurel's head. "...and burns out the poison in her."
His simplified explanation would've been fine if I were a five-year-old. "Tell me more," I said. "Feel free to get down in the weeds."
"Why? Would you refuse to help her if you didn't approve of our techniques?" Solomon bent down and kissed Laurel. "She's your friend, isn't she?"
He was right, but that didn't make me relax. I was still hung up on what they'd done to Mahoney. Plus the fact that they'd shackled me to a table.
And Laurel was getting the same treatment. When Solomon moved away from her upper body, I saw he'd locked down her wrists like mine. He proceeded to shackle her ankles, as well.
"So what am I supposed to do?" As I spoke, I tested my bonds, prying at them with my power. They were stronger than they looked, maybe reinforced with magic.
"Open yourself up." Solomon patted Laurel's ankle shackles. "These bonds are contact points. Let your power flow into them. Much as you did with Ayan's afterlife signaling device."
"Ayan?" I shouldn't've been surprised he knew I'd tried Ayan's device...but I was. "Did he tell you I used the device?"
"No need," said Solomon. "I know everything that happens at Parapets. I know everything about everything."
"I see," I said. "Then tell me, is there a chance of an overload from your healing system? Could the power be too much for Laurel?"
Solomon shook his head. "This device has been perfectly calibrated. I would never let this go forward if there were a chance of jeopardizing her miracle."
"It'll be all right, Gaia." Laurel smiled serenely at
me. "I'm going to live."
I smiled back at her, but I still had my doubts. I kept prying at my shackles, working my power into the microscopic crannies, wedging them wider. Felt them start to give way as I kept up the pressure.
But then I caught myself. It was something Laurel said. And something she did.
"I can never thank you enough." That was what she said. "You really are my best friend, and I love you." Then, she cried. That was what she did. Let tears run down her regal, lovely face that always seemed to glow from within, no matter what.
Which really got to me. What if Solomon really could cure her? What if, in spite of what he'd done to the Crossbreeds, in spite of the danger he represented, he loved her and wanted to heal her? How could I ruin that for her?
I watched the tears roll down her face. Felt the warmth of her grateful gaze locked with my own. And I realized I had to go through with this. If I didn't at least try, we'd never know if it could work.
And if she died without the two of us trying this last resort, I would never forgive myself.
So I stopped working on breaking the bonds. Nodded and smiled at Laurel and hoped I wasn't making a colossal mistake. Hoped I could save her life without losing my chance of stopping the Groundswell.
Solomon pressed buttons and flipped switches on the bank of equipment. The exam light flashed on above me, and the bed under me started to shiver and hum. The shackles heated up around my wrists and ankles.
"Okay, Gaia," said Solomon. "Let 'er rip."
"Should I start slow?" I was thinking of Ayan's instructions for the afterlife device.
Solomon smacked a fist into his palm. "Go ahead and hit it hard. We can take it."
I started slow anyway. Opened the tap just a little, just enough to let out a trickle. Keeping my senses on high alert, feeling for any kind of problem.
But it seemed okay. I looked over at Laurel, and she seemed fine. Very relaxed, smiling blissfully up at the exam light.
So I decided to turn up the volume. I let the power run out of me with ever-increasing force, focusing it on the shackles on my wrists and ankles.
"Excellent." Solomon watched readouts and gauges on the equipment, adjusted controls. "Keep it coming, Gaia. We want a nice, steady flow."
"Not a problem," I said, and it wasn't. Whatever power I'd lost in Ayan's machine, I'd built it back up, so there was plenty to go around.
"Great." Solomon scrubbed his hands together. "I think we're set here." He walked over between Laurel and me and smiled down at us. "Just let this run for a while, okay? Give me a shout if you need me. I'll be right over there." He gestured at the far side of the cube.
"Thank you, Solomon." Laurel gazed at him adoringly. "Thank you for my life."
"Anything for you, my love." Solomon blew her a kiss, and then he walked off behind the equipment.
*****
Chapter 54
It felt good to let go. To pour myself out and know I was saving my friend's life. It felt like I was accomplishing something worthwhile. At least at first.
I lay back with my eyes closed and kept the current flowing. Felt a warm drowsiness seep through me in place of the power. Listened to the hum of the device and the thudding of my heart.
Then, I realized something was wrong. Laurel was getting worse instead of better.
I heard her thrashing on her table...thrashing as much as she could with both arms and legs shackled. When I looked over, I saw she was pale and drenched in sweat.
"Laurel?" Was the cure like chemotherapy—engineered to make her sicker before it healed her? If so, Solomon hadn't warned us about the side effects. "Laurel, what's wrong?"
Her head lolled over to face me. "I don't know." Her voice was a hoarse croak. "Get Solomon."
"Solomon!" I called out for him, but nothing happened. He didn't show, and he didn't answer. "Hey, Solomon! Come here!" Still nothing.
"I feel terrible," said Laurel. "What's happening?"
When I called Solomon again with no luck, I realized we were on our own. And I knew what we had to do next. "We need to shut this thing down." Only problem was, I couldn't do it. The flow of my power wouldn't stop at my command. The machine just kept sucking it out of me in a constant stream.
I reached in after it, pushing my mind along with the current, riding it into the instrumentation. I followed the suction through the system, tracing the pattern of flow, hunting for the point where my power was processed and redirected to treat Laurel. But I never found it.
Instead, to my surprise, I found a second current. Another stream of power drawn in the same direction as mine, into the machine. Coming from a second source.
Coming from Laurel. Power wasn't going into her; it was being siphoned out of her. Instead of being cured, she was being killed faster than ever.
So time was running out for Laurel unless I could stop the flow. Swimming deeper into the system, I looked for a way to shut it off...but the pull was unstoppable. It sucked in every bit of power like a black hole, dragging it toward the shaft of light in the middle of the chamber. It took everything I had not to get pulled under, let alone staunch the flow.
Helpless to end the threat, I turned back. Pointed my mind upstream at my body and launched toward it, bucking the current like a salmon fighting rapids.
I had to struggle every inch of the way back to the surface. When I got there, when my consciousness rushed back into my body, I saw time was shorter than I'd thought. Laurel had withered and faded in the short time I'd been away; she looked like she was almost gone.
"Laurel?" I kept trying in vain to close off the flow of my power. "Hang on, Laurel!"
"Sure." She managed a feeble smile that didn't last long. "Not a problem."
I marshaled my forces and dove back in, straining to sever the link. Fought with everything I had, trying to take back control of my own power...but the pull was too strong. And as it seized more of my power, I grew weaker and less able to fight. With each passing moment, its grip on us became more unbreakable.
Exhausted, I battled back to the surface, gasping for breath as if I'd been trapped underwater. When I looked over at Laurel this time, she looked even worse.
"Gaia." Her voice was ragged. She sounded like she was already speaking from beyond the grave. "Sorry I got you...into this."
"We're not done yet," I told her. "I just need a minute to get my second wind."
"It's over," said Laurel. "We both...know it. Solomon...used us."
"Never give up!" I snapped out the words. "We can get through this!"
"That's just it," said Laurel. "I don't think...we can...on our own."
My heart beat faster. She'd given me an idea. "What if you call for help? Didn't you say you could reach Duke if you needed to?"
Laurel nodded. "I could call him...through the mountain. Through the ley lines. But I don't think...I'm strong enough...anymore."
"At least try," I said. "If there's a chance, you have to try."
"All right." Laurel closed her eyes and tipped her head back. She lay silent and still for a long moment...and then she seized up and cried out. Her back arched, and her shoulders jolted up off the table. She stayed like that, suspended, mumbling words I couldn't make out like someone talking in her sleep. The stream of syllables got faster, then peaked and broke in another gasping cry.
And Laurel dropped back to the table. Looked at me with such utter weariness that I was sorry I'd asked her to do it.
"Did you get through?" I said.
Laurel shook her head. "Told you...not strong enough."
"At least you tried." My mind raced, searching for another solution now that Laurel had tried calling for help. There had to be another way out that we hadn't considered.
"Please...listen." Laurel cleared her throat. "I have a lot...to tell you...and not much time."
I knew she was right about the time, but I didn't want to face it. "Fight it, Laurel! You're a fucking mountain range. Don't let him do this."
Laurel
shuddered as if a wave of pain was rolling through her. "I believe...you are my long-lost friend. Different...but still the same person."
"Hold that thought," I said. "I'm going back in."
"No!" She mustered the voice to stop me. "I'll be dead when you come back! If you come back."
It went against my grain not to fight...but I held back. I lay there and let the power rush out of me and I listened.
Laurel coughed and twitched. She was weakening. "I should have...told you sooner...but at first I wasn't sure...it was you. And then...I worried you didn't want to be...found. Maybe something...had driven you into hiding...and it would get you...if I forced you out in the open.
"But now...I wish I'd told you...from the start..." Laurel's voice trailed off, and her eyes drifted shut. Then, suddenly, she jerked back to awareness. "We've lost...too much time."
"It's not over yet." I was thinking about going all in, making one last try to break free with every chip I had left. The truth was, if I waited much longer, I wouldn't have any chips in my stack at all.
"Time's up now. No need...to hold back anymore." Laurel faded out and then faded back in again. "It doesn't matter...if letting out the truth...puts you in danger." She managed a weak laugh that turned into a cough. "You're in enough danger already...wouldn't you say?"
"Laurel..." I felt the pressure of tears behind my eyes. "Save your strength."
"Shut up," said Laurel. "Don't you want to know..." She drifted out. Drifted in. Like seaweed on a tide. "Don't you want to know who you really are?"
I didn't answer. But I didn't run off to pick up the fight again, either.
Laurel hacked hard and collapsed. For a moment, I thought she was gone...but then her head rolled over to face me. Her eyes peeled open in slow motion. "I first knew you...by another name...Gaia."
"What was it?" I said.
"Earth." Laurel smiled. "Your name was Earth."