Jane nodded, turned, and faced the exit again. “Let’s go.” She stepped forward and the four followed quickly so that they were walking almost in unison. As they reached the steps, Jane let Morris take the lead. She followed close behind as they ascended toward the light of the waiting city.
***
They climbed the stairs slowly, and as they did, the cacophony of sounds from traffic, conversation, and festivity—something quite alien to them—filled the air. As they reached the surface, Jane was immediately confronted with a holographic display, which beamed from emitters on her left. She stepped out and saw that it was an advertisement for a new automated car. She frowned, turned around, and looked up. The sign indicated they had arrived at the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Turning around, the four stepped backward and drew closer to each other as the bright vista of lights consumed their attention. All four of them smiled. Mike laughed. They had not had a moment to enjoy anything like this in quite some time, for while previously sequestered in their temporary home on the Upper East Side, they had kept their exploration of the city quite limited, for fear that they would be found again. The likelihood that the Committee was still searching for them had lessened greatly since then. Not only that, in the back of their minds, they all knew that Max now existed in the physical world as part of their reality. This had automatically changed their responses to their environment.
Morris, standing next to Jane, took her hand. He turned slightly so that their eyes met. Smiling widely, she turned to look back up at the holographic advertising, which was practically filling the street. These holographic displays were in no way intrusive; they almost seemed to have lives of their own. Although they were, of course, preprogrammed, it seemed that they took turns, patiently waiting for one to finish before the other occupied the air above the street. In one, a dinosaur was chasing a man across the street above the traffic, and it was as though they were stepping on the roofs of the cars below: it was an advertisement for a film.
“This is fun, but we can’t stay here,” Morris said, still smiling.
“You’re right,” Jane agreed. Acting on instinct, she turned and looked at Ciara, who had a pained expression on her face. She met Jane’s gaze almost immediately, and then her telepathic speech crossed her mind, filled with a secret dread.
Do you hear that? she asked, squinting.
Jane stared at her, keeping her eyes as level as possible and trying to conceal the worry she now felt for her friend because, although she listened, she couldn’t hear a single thing other than the clamor of the street. Then her brow crossed and her mouth opened slowly. Eyes narrowing to slits, she turned around to face the traffic. Somewhere between the steady sounds of the perfectly coordinated vehicles, she could indeed hear a strange sound rising around her. It was a distant, beautiful ringing. Her eyes widened as the sound grew in volume in her mind, intensifying.
“What is that?” Mike asked, his breath becoming shallow.
Jane glanced at her friends for their reactions—though she was rapidly losing interest in anything other than the sound—and found them staring in the same direction she was. The only person who didn’t appear affected was Ciara. Indeed, when Jane saw the look of distinct shock register on Ciara’s face, she realized this was the moment for which Max had tried to prepare her back on the beach.
Jane knew then that she was slipping away. The images of the moving traffic and the interesting holographic signs dancing across the streets above her were giving way to the sight of the object she had seen in her mind—the mysterious, glimmering structure in the ocean. Only now, she could see him—Zatera—the entity they had seen hovering above the vessel just after she and Max had escaped the vortex. The one that had followed her through space and time as he tried to make her relinquish control of the Machine to him.
Ciara, Jane cried, the desperation in her voice surprising even her, for as she used her telepathic voice to communicate, she realized how little control of herself she had left. She could feel the muscles in her right leg tense up, ready to move forward, though she had no intention of doing so. Her thoughts were being sucked away, as if by a vacuum. This is it, she said as her legs began moving. Despite her reluctance, Jane’s gaze pulled away from Ciara and she stared straight down the street in a southerly direction. He’s taking control. You HAVE to stop him. Then she was striding away at full speed, Morris and Mike right beside her. Slowly, she fell into a strange oblivion.
***
Ciara watched as her best friend—someone she now felt closer to than perhaps anyone in her life—walked away. She stared in mute stupefaction, her jaw gaping open, despite knowing exactly what was happening. Within seconds of hearing the sound and notifying Jane of its presence, Ciara had gone to that dark place she had visited between the dimensional barriers and found the golden river of light, which looked like a ribbon. She had felt tremendous fear at that moment, for she knew she was staring at something akin to a deity, though it wasn’t—she could interpret it only as some elemental aspect of nature, like gravity or water.
Ciara quickly reached out for it with both hands, knowing she had no time, as the ringing from Zatera’s song was penetrating even to the depths of this vision. She inhaled as her hands grasped the flowing substance. It felt like silk, but her hands ran straight through it—it had the consistency of a thick liquid. Pulling her arms back, she watched as it flowed toward her and connected with her body. Then, stepping back, she looked at her palms and saw that they now glowed with this golden-yellow light.
Within a few seconds, the song—Zatera’s voice—had disappeared, and she knew she was protected. Newly empowered, and knowing now that she was impervious to his telepathic influence, her head whipped around. The dimensional barriers, through which she had seen and felt the ribbon, faded until the streets of New York City once again came into view. She saw that her friends were now seventy feet away and walking rapidly.
Ciara glanced upward once again and summoned the same energy that would bring her into contact with the ribbon. This time, she found it much easier; indeed, above her, amid the barrage of lights from the holograms, a gap appeared in the sky, filled with a vista of stars set against a deep darkness. This otherworldly space, she knew now, was where the ribbon existed and from where it flowed. As she stared at it, her eyes opened wide in awe. The river was calling to her. It had some kind of awareness of its own. It was sentient in some manner beyond her comprehension, though further reflection on that would have to wait.
Glancing back at her friends once more, Ciara saw that they had now gained even more ground. She held up both hands and, glancing between her three companions and the golden river of light that crossed the sky above, she attempted to control it. The river responded by swerving dramatically, but it did little else. Ciara’s jaw clenched in frustration, and she glanced back at her friends again. This time, instead of looking to the ribbon, she focused on them.
She reached out for the substance and drew it across the space between her and them. A black patch of sky opened above the three in the distance, similar to the one she held open above her. Slowly, the ribbon slithered out through the gap. However, Jane was walking faster now, and Ciara’s control of the ribbon was tenuous. She had barely managed to direct it through the opening in time to meet her friends when they passed beneath the gap in the sky above them and continued onward, passing over another street.
Gritting her teeth, Ciara let go of the momentary control she had summoned over the ribbon and broke into a run. She gaped and glanced down at her own legs. The weakness was completely gone. In fact, she had not felt this much energy since long before she had entered the first facility. People glanced at her as she raced past them, dodging traffic easily and crossing streets without care for disrupting the flow of vehicles. She glanced up when she reached the spot where her friends had originally been standing, and she saw that the dimensional gap she had opened there was now closing above her. Looking back tow
ard her friends, Ciara saw that they were still quite a distance away. Nobody in the vicinity seemed to notice the large, gaping hole in the sky directly above them; apparently, this kind of high-level psychic activity was beneath the awareness of anyone who wasn’t an Ethereal.
The crystal bridge flashed in her mind, and Ciara saw it glinting in the sunlight, reaching from the shore all the way to the horizon. She squirmed, knowing that Zatera was trying to invade her thoughts once again. Her veins pulsed with an anger she had never felt. Without thinking, acting on a rage that had been bubbling up inside her for a long time, she glanced up and focused, opening another portal, this one straight to him. The black void appeared in the sky above her. As it opened, the gleaming, flat, crystalline structure appeared in her vision, which was suddenly filled with its twinkling surface. She was looking directly down at him. Once again, she came face to face with the entity that had tried so hard to enter her mind back on the ship. However, this time, she could see for herself what Max had previously told them. The entity had taken a host body—a male in his late teens. She saw the blue light shine from his eyes. Then, apparently realizing the presence of the intrusion, he looked up to see the portal just as Ciara hit him with the most powerful volley of psychic energy she had ever summoned.
She watched as he recoiled and fell backward, his face contorting for a split second into shock, but she was sure she had seen a twinge of fear, too. She fell back herself, half choking at the strain of what she had just done, but she recovered quickly, and then found that she was laughing. She felt a tremendous glee at seeing him knocked so violently to the ground. Lifting her head, she was just in time to see the portal close. She saw him lift his gaze from where he lay and stare at her with a look of pure rage as the dark edges of the rift came together and closed around him. Then, where the portal had been, only the skyline was visible. However, Ciara had accomplished what she had set out to do. She had distracted him, broken his hold on her friends. Struggling, grunting, she got to her feet and searched for Jane. She saw a blue denim jacket in the distance, Jane’s signature blonde hair falling behind it.
Jane, she shouted.
Jane stopped walking. After a moment, she turned and looked around, searching for the sound of the voice.
Michael, she called next, knowing he would respond to that variation of his name more quickly.
He stopped and looked up as though confused, then turned around to face her.
Ciara turned to Morris and braced herself, knowing he would be the hardest to reach, his mind being the most unwelcome to change in the group. His rough, uncertain past was his weakness. Morris, she yelled out loud, with as much authority as she could muster. Ciara watched as he stopped walking for a second, but then, with barely a glance at his surroundings, he continued onward. Morris, she yelled again, this time throwing some of the power in his direction, pushing him.
He jerked forward, missed a step, and almost lost his balance. Raising both arms, he steadied himself and turned around. Scanning the road, he eventually settled his eyes on hers.
Even in the distance, she could see the blank expression on his face. She looked to the others and saw the same distant gaze; they were not yet free of the grasp of Zatera’s incredibly powerful mind with which she had now had two direct encounters. Although she had managed to land a solid psychic blow and distract him momentarily, she knew the sheer brazenness of the act had given her the upper hand, and she wouldn’t have an opportunity like that again. For a second, she thought about what form his revenge might take, but she refused to allow her mind to go down that path, for she knew it was an extremely dark road to traverse.
Instead, she focused on the space just above her friends and opened another rift there. She glanced upward as a similar rift opened above her, connecting to the one that was now over her friends. Ciara could see the stars inside the dark, slithering edges of the rift. In the center, the golden river still moved like a veil of molten silk. This time, she reached both hands into the air and directed the ribbon through the open rift and down toward Jane, Mike, and Morris. Just as the ringing sound began resonating in her own mind once again, threatening to take hold of her, she watched as the golden river of energy flowed through the opposite rift and fell over her friends. Her eyes narrowed as she focused. Then, directing it further, she wrapped it around all three of them.
They shimmered for a moment, and the outlines of their bodies glowed with golden light. Knowing they were protected, she let go of the energy, took a deep breath, and sank to her knees, exhausted. Ciara continued watching her friends as the flowing light lifted off them. It retracted into the portal, which began closing quickly. Glancing up, Ciara had expected the dimensional opening above her to close also, but now the ribbon turned in her direction and seemed to regard her. She felt a jolt as she realized for the second time that it had some form of intelligence, and she felt its gaze fall directly upon her. Then it retreated, streaming back up into the opening above her, which closed rapidly behind it.
Ciara placed her hands on the ground, lowering her head as she took another deep breath. For a moment, she felt mildly faint, but as her breathing evened out, this passed. Then she found herself smiling as she heard Jane’s voice.
“Ciara!”
Glancing up, Ciara saw that Jane was running toward her now, just ten feet away.
“What happened?”
“It was him,” Ciara replied. “The entity that followed you through the vortex… Zatera.” She paused for a moment. Both Mike and Morris had caught up to Jane, and the three were standing directly in front of her. She watched as they exchanged concerned glances.
Jane knelt on one knee so that she was face-to-face with her friend. “My mind was filled with incredible images. I saw similar things in the car on the way here, but this time I could see it all much more clearly: the bridge, the giant circular structure out on the water. Not only that, but…I felt a burning desire to get there. To get to him. He was pulling me toward him.”
“Me too,” Mike added. “I saw Staten Island. And Roosevelt Beach. People are gathering there already—and they’re just standing there—staring at the bridge.”
“His pull was unstoppable,” Morris said, turning and looking south in the direction they had been walking before Ciara had rescued them. “And I think saw some of his intentions.”
Ciara had regained her composure and was standing straight now, finding that her vigor had quickly returned. The three gathered around Morris as he spoke.
“Max was right. I know what his next step is. That bridge will be filled with people like us soon.” He took a quick glance in Ciara’s direction. “People who can’t protect themselves.”
Ciara looked between her friends, her brow furrowed. “There’s no way I can protect all of them from his influence. This river of energy—it takes a lot of concentration to reach it and command it. I simply can’t protect a multitude of people.”
“No, you can’t. That’s not an option—it would put too much strain on you.” Morris paused for a moment and watched her in silence. “I saw you strike out at him. It took a lot of guts to take a shot, but it was dangerous.”
Ciara nodded. “I know. I’ve never struck out like that before.” She took another breath.
“He got what was coming to him,” Jane interjected flatly.
“He did. But the truth is, you got lucky. As we are—in our present state—he could atomize us,” Morris said.
“Yes. His power in this world is growing,” Ciara agreed. She glanced in a southerly direction. “He’s using this object—the crystal, whatever it is—to amplify his abilities.”
“And I think we all know—as we’ve seen this in his mind, and as Max predicted—that he’ll draw the most powerful Ethereals from the city out across the bridge,” Mike added.
“Yes,” Ciara said, “that’s it exactly…and…” Ciara glanced at the ground.
Jane took a step closer to her. “And what?”
They stood in silence for a moment—that was, relative silence, as the sounds of traffic and conversation filled the air around them. They were waiting for Ciara to speak, but just as she seemed poised to do so, she frowned and glanced behind them. Another sound had begun intruding on the silence that had fallen between them—a low, muted buzzing, which Ciara heard first.
The three glanced over their shoulders, following her gaze, and watched curiously as a large black drone, powered by four strong rotary blades, came forward from one of the streets, which joined at the intersection. It turned slowly from left to right, scanning the area.
“That’s not military,” Morris said, glaring at it.
“How do you know?” Jane asked. She took a quick glance around her to see that even some of the pedestrians—most of whom would normally have been too engaged with the digital world to notice much of anything—had stopped. One woman had taken off her headset and was staring at the drone, her mouth agape and her eyes fixed firmly on it.
“I spent some time with a guy when I was living rough—I mean, rough for a psychic, that is. He learned to differentiate them over time. The vast majority of military drones are highly automated and only ever tilt orientation in obvious directions when there’s a clear and present danger.” He looked out across the intersection. “But there’s nothing happening here.” Turning his attention back toward the drone, he squinted, staring at it intently. “The design is different, too.”
Just as he said this, the drone tilted once again and turned in their direction. Then its head dipped forward until its nose was pointed directly at them.
“Looks like you’re right,” Mike said.
The few people in the immediate vicinity who had stopped were now scattering in various directions.
“It’s the Committee, isn’t it?” Ciara asked.
The Crystal Tower Page 14