Superluminary

by Olivia Rising

  2.6 Dancer

  Paris, France

  Thursday, the 7th of June, 2012

  10:42 a.m.

  Sarina didn’t remember when she’d finally fallen asleep, but she woke to the sound of knocking on her assigned bedroom’s elaborate mahogany door. After half a dozen dull thumps, the dwarf’s Italian-accented English joined in.

  “Mademoiselle? Come down when you are ready. All the others are waiting.”

  All of them? Already?

  Sarina hugged her enormous down pillow. She hadn’t slept nearly long enough, and wasn’t feeling prepared to perform in front of a gathering of superpowered strangers. If she displeased them, then what? Would they banish her like that strange white-haired girl whose name she couldn’t even remember? Or worse, would they force her out on the streets, where the Covenant might wait for a chance to track her down and blow her lights out? The thought made her shudder.

  Her lack of sleep had much to do with her attempts to mentally prepare herself for this meeting, sitting on her little balcony overlooking the overgrown garden for hours, trying to sort out her feelings. Should she trust these strangers? Should she show them her powers?

  She hugged her down pillow harder, squeezing her eyes shut against the morning light. Now that she was on her own, growing doubts about whether she’d done the right thing only added fuel to her homesickness. In any normal situation, she would have called her new family for advice. Over the past two years, she’d grown used to pouring her heart out to her mother and David whenever she found herself in a rut. But she’d deliberately left her cell phone in the army barracks. And even if this place had a landline, she was afraid she’d lead the Covenant right to her if she used it.

  She wished she could have knocked on Jasper’s door last night for answers, just to have someone to talk to, but she hadn’t had a chance. Right after dinner, Colosso had shown her to her room, which was in a separate wing from the male guests. Sure, Tess’s room was next door, but she didn’t expect to find any comfort there.

  “Mademoiselle?” came Colosso’s voice again. “Please come down at your convenience.” His voice was now impatient.

  Sarina forced her eyes open. She knew she shouldn’t make the others wait any longer if she didn’t want to make an ass of herself or insult her host. After all, she’d been treated with the utmost respect since she had arrived. The Sun King had even provided her with the most luxurious accommodations she could imagine, complete with canopy bed, antique furniture, and gilt-edged porcelain accessories.

  After a quick rinse in an expensive-looking basin, she got dressed in the first outfit she grabbed: black yoga pants, a red hip belt, and an oversized white t-shirt.

  The dwarf was waiting for Sarina at the foot of the elegant staircase which led to the foyer’s ground level. He dipped his head in a little bow, and gestured for her to enter the reception room.

  “And please, no powers in the meeting room unless expressly asked,” the tiny Revoker reminded her.

  The idea would have amused her if she hadn’t been so nervous. As if I knew how to trigger them without Jasper’s music.

  Standing in front of the reception room’s heavy wooden doors, Sarina heard the muffled sound of voices on the other side. She didn’t recognize any of them, and the thought of countless unfamiliar eyes turned her way made her feet feel like cement on the carpet.

  Holy cow, this is worse than the performance with D-Style.

  “You need help, mademoiselle?” the dwarf asked from behind her.

  His voice gave her the push she needed to open the door and step over the threshold as quietly as she could. Thankfully no one noticed her at first, giving her a moment to pause and get her bearings. She noticed that the Nameless group was gathered around the massive wooden dining table, occupying the same seats they had the day before. The Sun King was enthroned at the head of the table, though it took Sarina a moment to recognize him. He held himself with the regal grace of a true king sizing up a crowd of petitioners, a ring-adorned fist propped under his chin. But his radiant aura was gone, and the absence of it somehow changed everything about him.

  Princess Odette sat at the chair on his right, her legs swinging above the floor, wearing pale yellow today.

  Sunny sat on one side of Jasper while the seat on the other side had been claimed by someone new—a flamboyant-looking eccentric whose outfit matched the Sun King’s fashion sense so well it looked hand-picked for the occasion. He wore an old-fashioned frock which spilled white frills that reminded her of the Sun King. But unlike his equally eccentric counterpart, this stranger wore a simple blue ribbon to bind his neat brown ponytail along with a silver-plated Venetian mask which concealed the upper half of his face.

  Across from the masked newcomer, and beside the empty chair that Sarina had occupied last night, sat a stocky man in his mid-thirties with medium-brown skin and a bald head. The pair of worn jeans and the white dress shirt he’d wore for the meeting reminded her of her adoptive father’s Sunday attire. Though there was nothing out of the ordinary about his appearance, there was definitely something about him that felt familiar. But Sarina couldn't place him. Compared to his seat mates, he looked startlingly normal.

  At that moment, Jasper looked up and noticed her arrival. “Hey, Dancing Queen,” he mouthed, sending her a genuine smile which she reciprocated.

  Having assured herself that her ally was present, Sarina turned her attention to the two other newcomers in the room as they were just about to get seated at the far end of the table opposite their host. The man wore a black half mask adorned with a beak over the bridge of the nose and bordered with dark feathers. The mask made his age hard to determine, but his self-absorbed body language suggested someone in his twenties. He was dressed in black from head to toe. His long overcoat was fashioned from countless jet-black feathers that rustled whenever he moved. Sarina knew immediately she was looking at the controversial Darkshaper Raven, the rogue mercenary who had avoided the villain tag by helping the EU’s hero team deal with a bad guy or two.

  The woman who took her seat across from Raven was just as easy for Sarina to place: Eve. She was perhaps in her mid-twenties and exceptionally curvy—a feature she wasn’t shy to show off. Her skin-tight pants and sleeveless cropped blouse didn’t leave much to the imagination, and she’d dyed her shoulder-length curly hair a vivid shade of purple which matched her eyeliner.

  As her name suggested, Eve had been the world’s first female Evolved. Sarina felt her eyes drawn to the woman’s heavily tattooed body. From all of the media coverage, Sarina knew that Eve could command her tattoos to come alive to lash out at anyone and anything nearby. Her snake tattoo was more poisonous than a live snake.

  “The Dancer has arrived!” the dwarf broadcasted as he closed the door behind Sarina. Sunny perked up at the announcement.

  “Ah, bien!” said the Sun King. “Now we are all here.”

  All eyes turned to her and the strangers stared at her with cool interest, not unlike the team of researchers who’d examined her after her transition. It made her wish her powers included the ability to sink into the floor.

  “Come. Sit, sit!” their host urged her with a sweeping arm gesture.

  She trained her eyes on the carpet while walking over to the table as fast as she could without running. As she pulled out the empty wing back chair across from Jasper, she gave a polite greeting to the bald man beside her as she sat. Once seated, she busied herself so she wouldn’t stare at the eccentric’s dandified outfit.

  The Sun King spread his hands. “Bienvenue, chers amis.” Looking between Jasper and Sarina, he added, “Now that we have assembled, our new friends might appreciate some introductions.”

  Sarina adjusted herself in her chair, focusing her attention on what was said instead of all those pairs of eyes looking at her.

  The Sun King made the first introduction. “You might recognize Raven, leader of the Murder of Crows group. Mercenaries, you might call them. And across the
table from him is the beautiful Eve, the first one of French blood to transition. She is quite … delightful, non?”

  “Très mignon, Louis,” the tattooed woman cooed in French, blowing a kiss across the table.

  “And the most likely guest to commit a murder,” Raven added, deadpan.

  Sarina hoped he was kidding. He struck her as the kind of guy with an awful sense of humor.

  Eve raised a middle finger in response.

  The Sun King went on with the introductions, unfazed. “And then, here is my good friend, Gentleman—a man with a rare sense of fashion.” As he gestured to the eccentric, the mask-clad man dipped his head.

  So that’s who the Nameless contacted yesterday, Sarina thought. The one who knows a lot about everything.

  “And last, but not least, our special guest.” The Sun King gave a nod in the bald man’s direction. “Saint.”

  Saint? Sarina blinked in surprise, giving the man a longer look. Yes, it was him, one of the best known members of the Latin American hero team. She just hadn’t recognized him without his white monk’s robe and rope belt. Maybe he’s keeping a low profile, too.

  Saint lifted his gaze at the Sun King’s introduction, but his posture and expression barely changed. He looked incredibly bored at the whole situation.

  Sarina felt herself relax. The hero’s presence put her more at ease than anything the Sun King had said yesterday. It could only mean that this meeting really was meant to help avert an international crisis, just as the Sun King had promised. From her Internet research a couple of days ago, she knew that Saint was one of the few Evolved with the rare Guardian classification; the one Guardian who could grant immortality. He had done so for the Covenant and a few of the world’s most important politicians. Saint took any damage they suffered in their stead, along with an echo of their pain no matter how far they were away from him. His own body didn’t suffer damage from any of it.

  “Is there anything you’d like to say, my friend?” the Sun King asked Saint.

  Saint shook his head, fixing his blank expression on the mahogany table once more.

  The host continued. “A few rules. Ciro will prevent the use of powers, but I would appreciate if you do not test me by trying anything.” The Sun King smiled, but there was now an edge to his voice.

  “Magnifique. Just one other thing,” he looked at Raven, “I will not tolerate quarrels.”

  The young man’s smirk beneath the feathery beak mask thinned.

  “Bien. Now Gentleman, please begin.”

  Gentleman straightened, brushing his fingers over the spill of his shirt’s chest frills. “Merci, Louis.” He looked around the table without showing much interest in anyone except himself. “How to begin? As we all know, the opening lines make or break a play.” He drawled with a strange accent, dramatizing every word.

  He’s a stage actor, all right. The theatricality made something click in Sarina’s mind. His outfit. It must have belonged to one of the characters he’d played before his transition.

  Gentleman took a dramatic breath before delivering his line. “Radiant has deserted the Covenant.” The corners of his mouth curled up beneath his silver mask as he took in the faces of those around him.

  Those five words got everyone’s attention; there were baffled looks all around. Tess and Sunny turned their heads to exchange startled glances, and Jasper’s mouth fell open. Ace muttered a string of curse words that Sarina couldn’t make out as Raven’s eyes widened through his mask’s eye holes. Even Saint’s expression changed to one of shock.

  Yet the host and his dwarf page looked unimpressed, as though this was old news to them. The little princess busied herself by folding paper napkins on the table.

  That doesn’t make any sense. From what Sarina knew about Radiant, her long-time hero crush, he’d always been the most hardworking and devoted hero. He looked compassionate and brave, not to mention handsome and suave. He didn't act smug like Samael or cold like Athena. Then again, she’d only just realized how little she knew about him.

  He’s a murderer, she reminded herself. So maybe he’s a deserter, too.

  “That’s confirmed?” Ace directed his question at Gentleman.

  “It’s absolutely certain, my doubting friend,” Gentleman assured.

  “How can you be so sure?” Eve asked, her voice teetering on the edge of something Sarina didn’t recognize.

  “Alas, you will need to trust me without proof for the time being. Surely you understand that the Conglomerate has an interest in protecting its sources. They have the unfortunate habit of drying up once revealed.”

  The Conglomerate? Sarina remembered she heard the name before, but she didn’t remember the context. Maybe it was from David, or her Internet research. Looking to Jasper for a clue, she noted the deep frown which overshadowed his usual calm, relaxed features. She didn’t want to annoy the others with stupid questions, but she very much intended to ask Jasper if the opportunity came up.

  “I heard the Conglomerate disbanded because of infighting,” Raven challenged, steering the subject away from Radiant’s desertion.

  “Not quite,” Gentleman corrected coolly. “There was a fortunate shift in leadership, actually. The Conglomerate will now dedicate its resources to more meaningful projects.” He contemplated his manicured fingernails as he spoke, still sounding rather pleased with himself.

  “Congratulations, mon ami,” the Sun King said jovially. “Can we still count on Data to contribute?”

  Data. Now there was another name Sarina recognized. She wished she could remember the details of what she’d heard about him. She knew he was the ghost of the Internet, but nothing else came to mind.

  “Absolutely, Data will still contribute. But let us discuss the details in private after today’s meeting.”

  Sarina wanted to glean more information from their faces, but she’d never been very good at reading between the lines. Sure, she’d learned to interpret body language through dancing, but those subtle changes in voice or expression sailed right over her head unless she knew the speakers well.

  “Now that Radiant is no longer in the Covenant’s control, we have three options,” the Sun King announced, bringing the topic back to the fallen Lightshaper.

  Even without his aura, his voice carried. The whispered exchange between Tess and Sunny ended abruptly.

  “One. The Covenant finds itself without leadership in Radiant’s absence, and becomes torn apart by disagreements. This would be unpleasant. The world would fall into chaos. If the Covenant folds, the void fills with opportunists who wish to take control.”

  “That sounds better than this heavy-handed political shit,” Raven said with distaste, gesturing to the wall of windows in the general direction of the rioting.

  Eve rolled her eyes.

  “Surprise, surprise. The mercenary leader wishes for more chaos. How predictable,” Gentleman sneered.

  “Silence,” the Sun King cut in. “No quarreling, remember?” He made his point by looking around the table before continuing. “Option two. Samael becomes leader of the Covenant, and we find ourselves in an all-out global war because Samael claims he is protecting the people. We all know the UNEOA Assembly will do anything to avoid power surges, so it won’t disagree with such drastic measures. Samael is no diplomat, remember. And we all know what his number one solution will be.”

  “Yeah,” Sunny muttered, then drew a finger across his throat. Sarina wondered why he was always so anxious to remind everyone of the Covenant’s apparent agenda.

  No one interrupted the brief stretch of awkward silence that followed.

  Sarina recalled that Samael’s status as a Covenant hero had been as much of a controversy as Raven’s rogue status. Some referred to him as the Dark Angel, and not without reason. He acted like he enjoyed killing the bad guys a little too much.

  No, the prospect of Samael in charge didn’t sound like something any Evolved would want to see happen. Especially after Shanti’s death.

/>   “Option three,” the Sun King continued, “and the most desirable one. Paladin claims leadership of the Covenant, and things remain at status quo, giving us time to focus on defense measures and other concerns.”

  Defense measures? The phrase put Sarina on alert. It sounded as if their little group was already under attack, or expecting an attack soon.

  “Yeah, and speaking of other concerns,” Ace broke in, “What’s the latest on power surges? They’re just one twisted lottery, right?”

  “How interesting that you mention power surges in the context of gambling,” Gentleman drawled, sounding amused. “Tell me, was your lucky draw coincidence? Or did you cheat to get your young friend on your team?”

  Gentleman didn’t look at Ace as he spoke. The eyes behind his silver mask settled on Sunny, and the others followed his example.

  The boy wriggled in his chair, all trace of his usual teenage confidence gone as he looked from Tess to Ace with desperation in his eyes.

  Sunny had a power surge? It made sense. Whatever he’d done to make the whole group disappear from Queenie’s tracking grid had to involve a huge amount of power.

  “Odette told me, of course,” the Sun King said, answering the unspoken question. “And we should have no secrets among friends.”

  Ace pushed the hat up from his eyes and spoke through gritted teeth. “Dunno what any of that has got to do with this talk. The lad’s with my group, so he ain’t nobody else’s business except mine.”

  Sarina gripped the frame of her chair with both hands, hoping that everyone would calm down before this escalated.

  “You may keep the boy, mon ami,” the Sun King assured Ace. “We have no plans for him.”

  A number of people visibly relaxed, chests deflating and shoulders sagging.

  Gentleman exhaled a sigh, lacing his fingers over his stomach. “Fine. You’ve made your point. Now back to the topic at hand. Your assumption about power surges is wrong, my ignorant friend.”