by Nick James
“Cassius.” She shut the door behind her. He bristled at the sound of her voice. “Welcome home.”
“No.” It was the only sound he could make.
He watched her approach. He didn’t dare speak for fear of what she would do. He’d seen her handle enemies before. Mercilessly. He’d watched her lock away Skyshippers without food until they were skin and bones, until she had drained everything she needed from them.
She shifted toward the cabinets, leaning her shoulder against the wood. “You’d have never seen this wing. Experimental. One needs the proper clearance to gain access. You were nearly there. Another three weeks, maybe, and I’d have let you take a peek.”
She crossed her arms. Cassius scanned her hands for weapons. They were empty.
“Tell me about your vacation.” She gave a cold smile. “I’ve heard the Polar Cities are particularly nice this time of yea r.”
“You’re supposed to be dead.” He choked out the words.
“Am I?”
He glared at her, unable to speak. It was like talking to a ghost. How could she have been so strong? And that scar …
She followed his gaze. “Admiring my little souvenir?” She ran her finger against her cheek. “The doctors offered to sew me up completely, but I asked them to leave a little something. I’ve grown too vain, anyway. It’s a sort of gift. Your gift to me, Cassius.”
She took a deep breath and approached him, her eyes latching onto his. “Oh, don’t be so serious.” She leaned her hand against the wall, inches from Cassius’s face. “It’s good you escaped for a little while. A boy your age… what kind of a mother would I be if I didn’t let you go off and find yourself?”
“You’re not my—” The words hurt as they came out. He couldn’t finish the statement.
“Shh.” She held a finger to his mouth. “Don’t strain yourself. You’ve had a very long day.” She turned on her heel and strode back, pacing through the small room. “Things have been different since you left. I’d imagine you would have guessed, but you don’t know the extent of it. Skyship has been all over us, infiltrating every sector of our organization. The President caught wind of it too late, as is usual for him.” Her delicate fingers balled into fists at her side. “Things are even more combustible than before.” She paused, smiling. “Combustion. You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?”
“I don’t—”
“That’s right,” she interrupted, as if reading his mind. “You don’t care about affairs of the Unified Party anymore. You’re a little maverick, now. Good for you.” She moved back to his side, grabbing his right sleeve and pulling up to reveal his wrist. “I see I’m not the only one with a scar. I’m impressed, Cassius. You had the force of will to remove your microchip and manage to get across the border undetected.” She pressed hard on the scar with her thumb, sending a jolt of searing pain up his arm. “Pretty clever.” She released his throbbing arm. “Don’t think about summoning any fireworks today. I’ve got you on strong medication. You’re not going anywhere until I want you to.”
He winced in pain as she slid to his shoulder, whispering in his ear. “Why did you have to do it, Cassius? You showed such promise. I was prepared to give you everything, but you threw it away.”
She spun forward and grabbed his chin, pushing the side of his face into the cold metal. Her polished nails pricked his skin. “You don’t leave your mother like that, buried under rocks in the middle of a wasteland. It’s inhuman. I taught you better than that. You were weak, Cassius. It was a coward’s move.”
He sputtered, stealing a breath as she let go of him. His head hung low. He glared up at her through exhaustion. “I didn’t—”
“Don’t talk back to me.” She straightened her blouse. “You’re in no position to talk back to me.”
He analyzed her cold, distant eyes. They were emptier, somehow, like she’d lost more than her flawless face these past few months. For a moment he felt sorry for her, but it was a fleeting emotion replaced quickly with anger.
“You sent Avery Wicksen after me,” he muttered. It came out part declaration, part question.
“So I did,” she replied. “People have their uses long after you’d suspect. Even you, Cassius, still hold some value to me.”
He scoffed. “Is that why you’ve got me chained up in here?”
Her brows raised. “After all you’ve done, you’d expect me to let you roam free?”
“I want out,” he said. “That’s all. I don’t want anything to do with you.”
Her eyes slit. “I’m afraid that’s a choice that you don’t get to make. We have a history, Cassius. It’s not so easily erased.”
He swallowed and found his voice. “I … I saw you there, buried under the rocks. There’s no way—”
“I know you did.” She paused. “Did that make you upset? How long did it take before you forgot about me?”
He rattled his restraints. “Let me go!”
She laughed, which only made him angrier. “You’re so aggressive, now. You’d have never spoken to me like that before. Maybe Canada was good for you.” She removed her spectacles and pulled a cloth from her pocket to polish the lenses. “But you’re not equipped to be on your own, Cassius. You belong here, with me.”
He met her eyes and knew instantly that it was a mistake. This was what she wanted. A connection. And once she found it, she knew exactly how to exploit it.
“You’re getting older,” she started. “I’ve noticed it these past years, but things have grown out of hand. There’s normal teenage rebellion and then there’s you.” Her eyes latched onto his. He felt helpless, unable to break free from the bonds and do something. “Harnessing, I call it. This entire wing’s devoted to the study of it. A personal interest of mine, I suppose you could say.”
He coughed. His arm jerked uncomfortably to the side. “I don’t understand.”
“You harness a weapon, correct? Why not a person?” She stepped forward until she was near enough to touch. “Our first attempts were sloppy. Scientific waste. But with Avery, I’ve got my first living, breathing weapon. She brought me you. She’s proven my success.”
Cassius grit his teeth. “Mind control? You’re telling her what to do?”
“Harnessing.” She grabbed his chin and pulled his head up, forcing him to look at her. “The vocabulary is very important to me. She can still process ideas on her own, but it’s within a framework of my design. As long as the apparatus remains under her skin, I own her instincts.”
“You and your microchips,” he muttered.
She pulled away from him. His head slumped to his chest before he could get control of his muscles again. “It’s a simple process—a slim device inserted at the back of the neck, connected to a similar device of my own … ”
“You’ve already gotten to me, haven’t you?”
“The cocktail Avery injected into your system enabled installation of the device. You can’t feel it, but it’s there. Your synapses are ready for reassignment. You’re mine again.” She crossed her arms and appraised him. “I’m sorry it had to come to this.”
“You won’t get Fisher, you know. No matter what you do.”
“Oh Cassius. You never see the big picture.” A smile crept over her face. He didn’t understand how he could have mistaken if for love all those years. There was no warmth left in her.
Madame grabbed his arm, gently shaking his wrist in excitement. “I’ve already got your brother,” she said. “He just doesn’t know it yet.”
9
It’s late. These are the hours that Alkine knows to watch for me. Every time I’ve tried to pull something, it’s been at night. They’ve taken to stationing guards throughout the hallways. Alkine says it’s in case the Unified Party comes knocking on our door, but he can’t fool me. Some of the guards are here for me. I know this because there was one stationed outside my door tonight.
Eva and I sit in the cockpit of a shuttle in the smallest and darkest of the Academy’
s docking bays, waiting to take off.
“Do you think he’s coming?” Eva whispers. “Three more minutes. I say that’s all we give him.”
“He’ll be here,” I reply.
I have Skandar to thank for getting rid of the guard outside my door. Just after midnight, he came strolling by my dorm room and told the guy he’d seen me sneaking around the Level Five rec room. I pushed my ear against the door and listened as the guard questioned him. In the end, the guy insisted that Skandar lead him to the spot he’d seen me.
That’s the slight wrinkle in our plan. Now we’re waiting for Skandar to come back. Who knows what kind of questions the guard could have asked him.
Eva shivers. “We could leave without him—”
“No.”
I need my friends here. If we’re really going to see Ryel and the other Drifters, I want witnesses. Otherwise, anything I say to Alkine afterward will be twisted into the ramblings of a crazy teenager.
I stare out at the stars beyond the opening of the bay. I was up there, once, shuttling between planets. It seems so impossible.
Eva squirms in her seat. “I think I see him.”
I turn to watch a thin shadow creep through the empty bay. The shuttle shudders as Skandar steps onboard and seals the entrance behind him. “Whew.” He takes a seat behind us. “I thought he’d never let me go. It’s okay, Jesse. I think we’ve bought ourselves some time.”
Instead of answering, I begin to power up the shuttle.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to do the piloting?” She grips her seatbelt.
“I’ve got to learn. Just tell me if I’m about to do anything stupid.”
Her teeth clench. “Can I preemptively tell you now?”
I flip on the radar. “Very funny.”
––––
The stark Siberian landscape rushes beneath our shuttle. Fields of endless tundra stretch miles in every direction. If I stare long enough, it’s like we’re not moving at all.
Identical, that’s it. All of this Siberia crap is mass identical.
And yet somehow I know exactly where I’m going.
Eva’s grip tightens as the cockpit bumps. “You know, chances are Captain Alkine’s going to find out we’re missing. Or that a shuttle’s missing, at the very least. Are you sure this is worth it?”
“You’re not seeing what I am,” I reply. “Trust me. It’s as strong as Seattle. And look what I found when I went there.”
“Yeah. A trap.”
I shoot her a glare, but she’s kind of right. I might know the pathway. I might even have a reasonable idea of what’s at the end. But things like this—strange, cryptic visions— rarely go off the way I expect them to.
I glance over my shoulder at Skandar. He’s slumped in the passenger seats, barely awake. A tangle of brown hair pokes over the armrest. He’s still in his pajamas.
“For god’s sake, pull up!” Eva bolts back in her seat, eyes wide.
My attention darts to the front window. Land fills nearly three quarters now. The shuttle tilts, losing altitude. I yank on the console. We whip into the air, wobbling sideways.
Eva cups her mouth, looking sick. “I’m going to die. You’re going to kill me.”
Skandar shudders awake and whoops like he’s on a rollercoaster. “Keep it up, Jesse! Gun it!” If he had his way, we’d be doing loops in the sky. Of course, with me behind the wheel, it’d be more like one shaky corkscrew right into the ground.
I fight the steering, struggling to bring the shuttle level again. We dip sideways. The seatbelt cuts into my torso. Eva’s arm weaves under my elbows and moves to a switch beside the console. We slow to a crawl. I straighten us out.
“Velocity dampener.” She recoils. “Keep you under control, Fisher.”
I lay on the accelerator. Nothing. “So we’re gonna drive like grannies now?”
Her brows raise. “Grannies come home alive.”
Skandar joins us in the cockpit, kneeling beside Eva.
I glance at him briefly until a tug forces my attention back to the windshield. “I feel it.”
Eva stares at me.
“Something’s yanking me forward,” I continue. “Can we speed back up?”
She sighs. “Flip the dampener, but be careful of rocks. You’re awfully low.”
Even with our front beams on full tilt, anything not spotlighted by our shuttle disappears into the same black hole. I ignore Eva’s warning and dip the shuttle until we’re less than a few meters from the dirt.
Skandar grabs onto my seat as we accelerate. “What exactly are we looking for?”
“Red. Water. Rocks.” I wince. If they hadn’t been with me from the start, they’d think I’m crazy, but they know I wouldn’t make this stuff up. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s right on the coast.”
Eva grips the console. “A bad dream, maybe?”
“I wish.”
We pass over a patchy area of grass before the scenery gives way to dark tundra once more. It looks different from my vision now that the sun’s down. For a moment I start to doubt myself. Then I see it, out of nowhere, like a mirage.
Snow.
It’s not a large plot—maybe football field-size at best— but it’s here. The clouds put it here, not some weather program or Bio-Net. Growing up in the Skyship Community, none of us has ever seen honest-to-goodness real snow. It’s as alien as I am.
“Wow.” Skandar stands and stares beyond the windshield. The moonlight casts a soft blue glow over the thin layer of white. “Should’a brought my sled, huh?”
I crane my neck to catch more of it. “This shouldn’t be here. I didn’t see this.”
I trace the line of our headlights until I notice water, twinkling in the distance. The coast. We’re here, but it’s all wrong. There was never snow.
The pull intensifies. This is definitely the spot.
I slow the shuttle and extend the landing gear. Eva grabs onto the armrest as the cockpit rumbles. We arch around the blanket of snow as I prepare to bring the ship down.
I point at a lever to the right of the steering console. “This one?”
She nods. “But not—”
Too late. I yank it and we sink fast and slam into ground with a reverberating thud. Skandar flies an inch in the air before landing back on his feet.
“—all at once,” Eva finishes.
“Oh.” I flip off the power. The shuttle sputters as it settles down. Skandar rubs the back of his neck, mumbling expletives under his breath. As the headlights dim, a pinprick of red light pokes through the snow beyond our windshield. It’s muted, not at all like in my vision, but it calls me forward all the same.
Eva rubs her elbow. “Well, we didn’t die. That’s a start.”
I unbuckle my seatbelt as the side door slides open.
“Yeah.” Skandar winces in pain. “Way to go, man. Best landing ever.”
“Sorry.” I step around him and jump out the door. I nearly slip on the snow as I land. It crunches beneath my sneakers.
I reach down and grab a handful of white powder, balling it in my fist until it’s hard and compact. This shouldn’t be here, not with the planet warming the way it is. The air is refreshingly crisp and cool—cooler even than the temperature-controlled stuff inside the shuttle. I’m used to stepping into triple-digit heat back in the Fringes. This has got some bite to it. It’s a freak snow globe in the middle of a wasteland.
Skandar leaps into the snow from behind me, kicking it into the air and flipping over to lay on his back. Eva lowers herself carefully until she stands beside me, shaking her head in disapproval.
My skin buzzes. The hair on my arms stands on end. My chest warms. I know this sensation.
“Jesse.” Eva grabs my tense shoulder.
I step away. “It feels like a Pearl.”
She bristles at the word. “But the Academy’s radars would’ve picked up any energy trails. We’re not that far out.” She grabs my arm again, stopping me. “When’s the l
ast time you heard of a Pearl landing in Eastern Siberia anyway?”
I shrug. “If a tree falls and there’s nobody around to hear it...”
“That is such a load of … ” She sighs, loosening her grip. “Seriously, we’re standing in the middle of snow. This isn’t natural.”
“Neither was Seattle.” I pull my wrist up in front of her face to reveal the band of black. “Neither is this bracelet.” As if on cue, it begins to hum, vibrating wildly until it forces my arm back to my side.
Eva stares in disbelief. “This isn’t good, Jesse.” I steady my wrist with my opposite hand and trudge through the powder.
Eva freezes. “Jesse!”
I ignore her and continue on toward the water.
She turns to Skandar. “Are you gonna come with us or play around like a child?”
He pulls his snow-covered body from the ground and follows without a response.
I speed to a sprint. The arctic air pushes against my face—icy brambles rubbing my skin raw. I do my best to ignore the weather. Waves crash gently along the coastline in the distance. The sound is familiar. The smell, too.
Almost there.
My arms buzz with electricity, eager to reach the energy. My strides lengthen until it feels like I’m floating. The glow comes from inside a snow drift a few yards away, deep and red. Strong, like a traffic light, visible even under a layer of powder.
It is a Pearl. I can see it clearly now.
But Pearls are green. That’s the problem. Every one I’ve come across, all the hundreds I’ve seen since I was a kid, have been the same.
I kneel to analyze the strange object, transfixed. I could hold it in my palm, easy. But something about that color— it’s like a warning.
Eva and Skandar pull in behind me, wheezing. Skandar wipes snow from his pajama sleeve. “Whoa.”