ARC: The Almost Girl

by Amalie Howard

  “Cale? Is that you?”

  The figure turns moving into the light. “No, but it is good to see you again, General.” It’s the Vector Commander, the one with the terrible voice. “Your father said you had returned.”

  “My father?” I blurt out.

  “Of course,” the Vector said. “Your mother told him.”

  “You lie!” I spit, but then compose myself in the next breath. “My mother is dead. If you had your facts correct, you’d know that.” The Vector stands, and I hear Caden’s short hiss of indrawn breath behind me. I forgot how big the giant was, but I ignore the thrum of panic in my abdomen. “Where’s Cale? Where’s the Lord King?”

  “Indisposed.”

  “What did Murek do with him?” But even as I ask the question, I know I’m not going to get any answers. That thing is there for a sole purpose – for me. I shift into a battle stance, but the creature just watches me, its milky gaze fluttering to land on something just beyond my shoulder. In the next instant, I realize that I’m dead wrong.

  That thing is there for Caden.

  “Looks like they fixed you up good after the last time we met,” I taunt, knowing it won’t elicit any kind of response. It’s what makes them the perfect killing machines – they don’t feel, they just obey. “There won’t be much left of you this time, that I can promise you.”

  My ninjatas are in my hand and I’m springing toward the Vector with lethal precision before the last word leaves my lips. It meets me with a swift sidestep and an elbow to the back of the head that has me reeling. It moves fast, faster than the last time I’d seen it. I’m operating on old data – this thing has been recalibrated.

  Caden circles around the back to jab with his sword, but the Vector deflects the strike easily with its armored forearm. We attack it full-on from either side, slashing and weaving between offensive and defensive moves, but despite the double attack, we don’t land any lethal blows. Frowning, I see that the Vector has been programmed to protect its vulnerable spots… or maybe it had somehow learned our tactics from our last fight.

  As if reading my mind, the thing speaks. “Let me have the boy.”

  “The boy’s right here if you want him,” Caden says defiantly, and I shoot him a glare. This is no time to be flippant. We could be stuck here in a never-ending fight with this thing preempting our every move while Cale inches closer to dying. The insidious way the Vector said “indisposed” makes my skin crawl.

  We need backup.

  “Reptile,” I say urgently touching my ear. “Reptile!”

  But there’s no response. We’re on our own.

  Without wasting time, I tuck my body into a spin crouch, slashing at the Vector’s sides. I connect, but the damage once more is just minor. The giant dances away, light on its feet. Its face slashes open in a grimace, baring broken, stained teeth. I can only imagine it’s some kind of macabre grin. It’s toying with us.

  “Don’t make this harder than you have to, General. You don’t have a choice.”

  “What’s it doing?” Caden mouths, confused as I am by the Vector’s cavalier attitude toward us. “Why isn’t it attacking?”

  “I don’t know. Orders. I think it’s waiting.”

  I don’t bother to hide what I’m saying. We’re probably already surrounded. Pressing a button on my arm, I engage the suit’s internal armor. Time to piss the big brute off while we still have a fighting chance. Caden and I attack simultaneously, slamming into the Vector from both sides. It only has two arms and we have four between us. Caden bears the brunt of the defense – slamming into the side of a bedpost like he’s fluff – but it gives me the opening I need.

  Propelling my body toward the creature, I leap, my foot pressing off of the Vector’s thigh, and I twist my torso in midair, slamming my blades forward. A row of spikes on the outside of my leg rips into its arms just as my ninjata blade sinks itself hilt-deep into the back of the Vector’s thick neck. I wrench with all my might, ripping upward through the corded muscle. It grunts loudly, trying to shrug me off, but I’m hanging on to the hilt protruding from its neck with everything I have left.

  My second blade, as sharp as it is, won’t penetrate the Vector’s uniform in armor mode. Instead, I swipe at its arms as they claw at me, trying to get me off its back. My strike is true as three of the creature’s fingers fall like stones to the floor. Blue fluid sprays me in the face.

  I spare a glance to Caden, who is still lying on the floor. He’s alive but dazed from the blow. He won’t survive another hit like that, even if the Vector wants to keep him alive. Time to end this. Swinging my legs up, I literally crawl up the Vector’s back and throw myself around and over its neck so that my thighs are straddling its head.

  And then I twist, throwing us both to the ground and hearing the sick crunch of bone as its neck dislocates. My attack won’t kill it. It will only disorient it for a minute, if that. I land hard on my shoulder and the pain rockets through my bones, but I lurch to my knees, conscious not to waste the precious little advantage I have. The nanobes do what they’re supposed to, assuaging the painful areas immediately and repairing any internal damage, so only seconds pass before I grab Shae’s sword and swing it with both hands… right at its head.

  Our eyes meet in the nanosecond it takes for its android brain to recognize its imminent destruction. The Vector’s hands still crunch into my sides and grasp at my neck. But it’s already over – the blade slides through tendons and wiring like they’re nothing but paper. Its body crashes to the ground.

  “Try fixing that, asshole,” I growl.

  Very carefully, I remove the ninjata that was spiked into its neck and jam it into the base of its cerebral cortex, where any thought processing function would likely be. Cutting open a flap of skin and ignoring the blue foul-smelling fluid oozing out, I dig my fingers in until I find the small square.

  “Riven…” Caden’s voice is thready but I don’t turn around until I’ve destroyed the chip. “Riven!” His voice is more insistent.

  “What?” I snap in irritation, spinning around and freezing.

  A dozen Vectors or more line the far perimeter of the room. They stand, unmoving, in a silent, deadly line. I glance back at the open balcony doors. Even if I grab Caden and escape, it’s a four-story drop to the bottom, and there’s no way I can take them all on my own, even if I am a super advanced hybrid humanoid.

  The devil we do and the devil we don’t – we’re dead if we don’t do something.

  I inch my way slowly toward Caden, who’s only a couple of feet away. The Vectors watch me carefully but don’t take any action. Unlike the commander I just pulverized, as soldiers, they’re operating on direct orders only. I hope.

  “You OK?”

  “Yeah, feel like I got hit with a sledgehammer,” Caden whispers back, rubbing his head. The side of his face is covered in blood, but it looks like it’s only from a long cut at his temple instead of a cracked skull.

  “You did,” I say with a grimace. “Look, we have no chance against all of them, and it looks like they want to keep us here, not attack us. So we’re going to make a run for those doors. We need to find Sauer.”

  “Riv, it’s a long way down.”

  “Do you trust me?”

  His eyes are wide. “Yes.”

  “Good. Now hold on to me and don’t let go!”

  And then we run like hell for the doors. The noise behind us is sudden and thunderous, but I don’t look back. As I’m running, I unwind a length of black cord that’s hooked to my belt. The end of the cord opens into a metal three-pronged device, and I throw it just before flinging myself over the balustrade and grabbing Caden with one hand.

  We’re freefalling in space for an eternity before the rope snaps tight and we swing to the parapet that’s just below us. Releasing the rope, we roll to the ground, unhurt. My blood feels hot, but I’m energized with adrenaline, my heart pounding in my ears.

  “Move,” I yell to Caden. “There’s an entrance
on the far side.”

  Outside, the noise is deafening with music and shouting and singing below us. We run the length of the parapet, the same one I looked up to when we went through the security checkpoint. The courtyard is packed with people, but no one’s looking up at us. Half of it is shrouded in shadow, and the other is brightly lit from the castle floodlights.

  I still can’t shake the feeling that I’ve missed something… that despite our escape, we’re somehow being herded.

  The Vectors, including the commander, were prepared for us in advance, which explains why we aren’t being treated as trespassers and why they aren’t attacking us. Someone in control wants us alive. Murek? My father?

  “Hey!” a voice shouts from behind us. It’s Loren, running as if her life depended on it. She doesn’t slow down until she reaches Caden, who’s a couple feet behind me, closest to her.

  “Where’s Sauer?” I yell.

  The smile that breaks across her face is full of malice as she slams an electro-rod into Caden’s side. His eyes widen and I lurch forward instinctively, but I’m too late as she presses a button on the rod.

  “Yes, you know what that is, and it’s not set to stun. Weapons down, General.” My hands lower, releasing the ninjatas to the ground.

  “Loren, what’re you doing? We’re on the same side,” Caden gasps weakly.

  “I was never on your side,” Loren laughs, spit flying from her mouth. “The minute I found out who Aurela’s daughter was, I knew I’d do anything to take her down. It was fate that you returned.” Her eyes are manic, staring at me. “You destroyed my family, as I will destroy yours.”

  “Caden has nothing to do with that,” I say softly. “That’s between you and me.”

  Her laugh is hollow, but something in it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand at nervous attention. “He has everything to do with it.”

  I whip around at the sound of another familiar voice behind me. “All in good time, Loren, all in good time.”

  Murek.

  He isn’t alone. A squadron of Vectors and armed guards is fanned out behind him. We are hosed. I swing back to Loren. My instincts were correct about her, but it went far deeper than I ever thought. I thought she’d want to get even and it would come to blows at some point, but I never suspected that she was some kind of spy for Murek.

  “Aurela trusted you.”

  Another satisfied smile. “She did. I wanted her to. I was going to bring her down… all of it, her plans to infiltrate the palace. She deserves to die just as my brother died. And then you came back, and things couldn’t get any sweeter. Two for the price of one.”

  I need to antagonize her, to get her to drop Caden. “What do get out of this? Vengeance? Your brother’s still dead.” Her eyes flash with anger, but I continue to push forward, sick inside at the vitriol spilling from my lips. “You couldn’t save him then, and you can’t save him now, because you’re weak.”

  With a cry of fury, Loren dives toward me, but I’m ready for her attack, sidestepping swiftly and swinging my elbow up and outward into the back of her head. She stumbles to the ground, but I’m already moving toward Caden. Together, we back away from Murek.

  “Thank you,” he says nastily. “She was a loose end that needed tying up.”

  “But she’s still alive!” Caden blurts out.

  “She isn’t now,” Murek says, watching as one of the Vectors electrocutes her with the butt of his weapon, the smell of singed flesh hot in the air. Loren’s body arches upward twice and collapses. Caden’s eyes are wide with horror. “There isn’t a way out, General. You know that. Surrender, and you’ll live.” Murek’s voice is low and compelling, and as slick as I remembered. “We have Commander Sauer. We have your mother. It’s over. Hand over the boy.”

  “I can’t do that,” I say.

  “Then we have no choice.”

  “Enough,” a soft voice says from behind us. Caden stiffens as I turn around in slow motion, disbelieving. My heart beats with impossible hope that he is somehow still alive and that my mind isn’t playing tricks on me. He was sick and near death when I’d left.

  But it is he, and he looks better than before. Emotion clogs every part of me. Strong, healthy… and dressed in exhibition clothing.

  Cale, the Lord King of Neospes.

  SIBLING OF FLESH AND BONE

  “That was you in the ring?” I demand through clenched teeth, recalling the Vectors who stood at stiff attention during the exhibition fight. I’m kicking myself – I should have recognized Cale’s fluid style immediately. But in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing I could have done differently.

  “I’m surprised you couldn’t tell,” Cale says.

  “Are you better? Why didn’t you send word? I would have come back.”

  I’m ranting now, with Cale watching me from the corner of his private salon. Caden stands in silence by the window, his glance flitting from us to the two guards standing on either side of the door. For all intents and purposes we haven’t been restrained or disarmed, and I still have my weapons. If push comes to shove, I can get both Caden and Cale out of there without breaking a sweat. But I’m too angry to consider alternatives. I continue my tirade.

  “Do you have any idea what I’ve been through? I thought you were dead and Murek was in control.”

  “Riven,” Cale begins gently. “He is. It’s the only reason I’m not dead yet.”

  “What? I don’t get it.” I’m stunned. “But you’re alive, Cale. You’re strong again. How could you let someone like him take control?” Cale remains quiet, his eyes more distant than I’ve ever seen them. He hasn’t even given Caden more than a cursory look after we were ushered into his private room. In fact, he’s doing his damnedest not to pay him any attention at all, which is odd, considering that they are mirror images of each other. Wouldn’t he be curious? Frowning, I remember what Loren was saying.

  “Did you know about Aurela? That my mother was alive?”

  “And that she was planning some kind of coup?” I flinch at the acerbity in his voice. “Of course I did. It’s my job to know about those who want to usurp me.”

  “Usurp?”

  He ignores my outburst and leans back in his chair. His manner is indolent, scratching against my rattled senses like nettles. “That’s why I sent Loren in. When she first approached our soldiers in the Outers, I realized it was my chance to find out exactly what your mother was planning. And then when you came back with him, no less, it was perfect.”

  A cold feeling makes its way through me. “So did you know she was alive before you sent me to the Otherworld?”

  He doesn’t answer, but I see the truth in his eyes. “You were the only one, Riven. The only one who could find him and bring him back.” Only then do Cale’s eyes drift to Caden – his exact likeness – and remain there, cold and unflinching. “He has something of mine. Something that my mother stole, and I need it back.”

  “What?” Caden bursts out from behind us. “I don’t have anything of yours. I didn’t even know about you or any of this–” he says gesturing into the air with his hands, “–until a few weeks ago!”

  I’m shaking my head slowly as understanding filters through my brain. “You lied to me?” Cale shrugs, opening his hands wide, palms upward. “You’re not really dying, are you?”

  “Not exactly. Your father fixed me, gave me an electronic lung. But I needed you to believe that I was dying so you’d go.” He cocks his head to one side like a bird, his gaze speculating, switching between Caden and myself. Calculating. “Did they tell you what you are?” Cale says slyly to Caden.

  Caden looks to me, confused. “But Shae said…”

  “Let me guess,” Cale says, ridicule tainting his words, “Shae said that you’re the heir, and I’m the byproduct? Well, you’re wrong. I’m the only heir. Give me the chip, brother.”

  “Chip? What chip?” Caden says, but I can hardly hear him. I completely forgot about the chip I pocket
ed from Caden in the Outers. That and the blue signet ring.

  “Come now, don’t play dumb. She would have given it to you – it’s the only way for you to prove who either of you are. By the way, my condolences; I heard that she died, quite painfully as it were. It would have been something to see, I’m sure.”

  “Cale!” I’ve never seen this cruel side of him, and every instinct in me is reacting to it. Caden’s eyes are stormy, his fingers clenching into fists at his sides at Cale’s ugly, provoking taunts.

  Aurela was right. Cale isn’t who I thought he was. He’s changed. How could I have not seen the malevolence eating away at him earlier? Have I been so blind to Murek’s evil influence? Or have I changed after my time in the Otherworld… after my time with Shae and Caden?

  “I don’t have it,” Caden grits out. “I lost it in the Outers.”

  “He doesn’t have it, Cale,” I say, stepping forward. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see the guards’ hands drop to their weapons. I raise an eyebrow to Cale, who shoots me a look in return that clearly says his security comes first. “I have it,” I say. I feel Caden’s panicked glance, but I can’t even look at him. I need to be the general, not the girlfriend. “What’s so important about it?” I toss back at Cale.

  I can see the wheels in Cale’s head turning, as if he’s trying to figure out how much he can tell me. For my part, I’ve never underestimated anyone more. “Like hell you don’t know, Riven. That chip is a record of my birth. It does not belong to him,” he says, jerking his head toward Caden.

  “And you need it to prove that you’re the rightful king.” And now I have something he wants desperately. “Or the people will always question your right, especially if they know Caden has returned.”

  “Yes, your mother took care of that when she and her rebels sowed the seeds of dissent in Neospes.” Cale is scowling now, but the dark expression vanishes from his face in seconds, replaced instead by something more conciliatory. “Riv,” he says, placating. “You know me. You know who I am, don’t you? Don’t you trust me anymore? Can’t you see they’re lying?”