Crimson Rising

by Nick James

  Avery and I stumble back to the main corridor of the Skyship, stopping at a maintenance directory on our way. The nearest storage center is one level below us, not far. It’s a matter of blending until we get there. We can’t allow a security team to get the jump on us, not when we’re so close.

  My mind flashes to Cassius. It’s not a productive thing to worry about, but I can’t help but wonder if he’s alright. Theo was a deadly opponent even before Lenbrg. I know Cassius is strong—he could take us all down if he wanted to—but is it enough?

  I brush the thought aside and try to envision the mission before me. I see us breaking into the storage room. I imagine the explosions. Pearls, everywhere. Light, everywhere. So bright I have to shield my eyes. I feel the buzzing—how great it is to break one, how dangerously empowering. I try to imagine this as an assignment. School work that needs to be turned in. Goal. Objective. I bet this is how Cassius sees things all the time. If I can tap into his wavelength, I can be like him. A soldier. But it fits worse than that too-tight suit I had to wear during Visitation Day last spring. I’m not the guy that gets things done. My life’s been a series of starts, not finishes.

  Avery and I crouch against the wall outside the storage center. “They’re gonna be on edge,” I say. “After what happened in the reactor, they’ll be sending teams down.”

  She nods. “We’ll have to be quick. They don’t know what you can do.”

  A tremor runs down my spine. “I can feel it, even through the wall. There are dozens of them, just sitting there.”

  Avery grabs the pistol from my side. “Here, let me handle this.”

  “You’re gonna shoot them?”

  She blinks. “If there are guards.”

  “It’s on stun, right?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” she says. “I’ll do what’s required to protect you. I used to be a decent shot in my day.”

  “But—” I stop myself. She doesn’t want to hear it. She doesn’t care how much I hate hurting people, how selfish I feel when these kinds of things happen because of me. She’s right. This became a war weeks ago. There are casualties in war, some of them innocent. There will be a whole lot more if we let the Authority invade.

  The energy hums around me like a swarm of insects, tugging at my skin, trying to work its way inside. I swallow and block it out for now. It’s too scattershot, anyway—too far away to be of any use.

  I take a deep breath. “Let’s go.”

  We sidestep to a pair of wide doors. Avery keeps the pistol close. The foyer of the storage center will be open to the public. It’s part of the Tribunal’s effort to increase Pearl education, or at least that’s what they say. They even grant field trips to kids so they can spend a day learning how the energy is processed. God, I hope there are no kids here today.

  I hear whispers immediately. They’re calling me, like old friends. A trail of invisible energy pulls me forward. I’m a fish on a hook. My fingers tense at my side, then ball into a fist. I don’t even realize I’m doing it.

  An oval door spreads apart in front of us and reveals a wide, empty foyer. Avery grabs my wrist, pulling me back to her side. She knows the energy is strong. It’ll yank me forward too fast if I let it. “Easy,” she whispers.

  I shake my hand and try to wash the bristling prickles from my skin.

  A crescent-shaped stone desk sits at the far end of the entry room, manned by a single receptionist behind an extended computer pad. A pair of armed guards flanks her on either side some distance down the wall. They stand beside thick columns that support an arched glass ceiling. Fancy.

  My feet tingle. A wave of Pearl energy pushes my legs forward in awkward steps toward the desk. Fast, until I’m almost running. Avery struggles to keep up. I push back on my heel, but instead of stopping, it catches on the ground and I’m pulled to the side. My hand moves up from my pocket to my hip, forcing out my left elbow. It’s hardly subtle.

  The receptionist notices. She shifts uneasily in her seat before standing. We’re not even halfway across the room before she motions for the guards to intervene.

  Avery raises her pistol. “Stop.”

  Instantly, I realize how pathetic this is. The weapon might scare the receptionist, but it sure as hell isn’t going to intimidate the guards. They’re outfitted with all the latest defenses. One wrong move and they’ll blow us to bits. I’ve gotta do something.

  My eyes close. When they open again, it’s like I can see right through the wall behind the receptionist. I mentally catalog my way through the Pearls in the store rooms beyond. My heart beats fast. They call to me, each one. Whisper and hum, a collection of eggs ready to hatch. It’s almost too much. I push my hands over my ears. Avery glances nervously at me.

  The receptionist throws her hands in the air, head darting between the guards, expression frantic.The soldiers pull weapons from their belts, each about three times the size of Avery’s pistol. So much for taking them by force.

  “There are too many,” I respond through grit teeth. My chest tightens. I land on my knees, hands pressed against the floor.

  The guards step forward. “Drop the weapon,” the nearest one says. “We’ll shoot. Count of three.”

  I close my eyes again. I try to push aside the noise and focus on individual Pearls. I leave my body for a second, visualizing myself grabbing hold of one in particular. I note its location and move on to another. Two at once, one in each hand. I tilt my head back and imagine them floating toward me. All the while I fight to maintain control and not get lost in the maelstrom of energy around me.

  Everything snaps away. I’ve got it.

  We’re connected, me and these Pearls. It’s as if the voices have suddenly gone mute. I see the Pearls rip from their bindings and float through the storage room, breaking glass and plastic and whatever else they’ve got to travel through before reaching me.

  They’re coming.

  “Jesse.” Avery taps her foot nervously. She can’t feel them like I do. It sucks for her, not being able to feel them. Not knowing what’s coming.

  I struggle to my feet. I curl my forearm like I’m lifting an invisible switch and take a step back as the force barrels toward me.

  The receptionist backs into the wall, mouth open. “Shoot!” she begs of the guards. “Can’t you shoot?”

  A powerful green glow emerges from each side of us, growing brighter and bigger as the Pearls soar through the open corridors.

  The Pearls gain speed and zip right at me, stopping inches from my chest. Avery presses against my back, prepared to use my body as a shield when they break.

  I hold my hand flat in front of me and push on the air. The Pearls loop around and head toward the desk. They slow, like they’re rolling through syrup, before stopping completely.

  I thought I’d have sympathy for the guards, but it’s instinctual. The whispers return, calling to me in their unpronounceable language. Gone are the doubts about what to do. About hurting people, even killing them. The Pearls hang in front of me, begging to be broken. Taunting me. The green glow from inside is as hypnotic as ever—a swirling chaos, destroying and rebuilding itself with every passing moment. The receptionist ducks behind the desk.

  I close my fist without hesitation. The Pearls explode. Waves of energy force through the room. The desk crashes against the wall, leaving a cracked dent. The guards topple over like figurines, their weapons tumbling from their hands. Their armor’s blown from their bodies, cracked into pieces.

  The force hits the glass ceiling above us. A cascade of splinters rains through the lobby, striking the ground in a series of jagged clinks. Green light pours through the holes in the room and courses through the circuitry of the ship.

  A pair of Drifters emerges before us, all twisted and disjointed before they unfold and soar to the ceiling. They loop around transparent girders and paneling revealed by the broken glass before curving down and making a clumsy, rolling landing. Unlike the other Drifters I’ve freed, they’ve got nowhere t
o go.

  Pearl energy hums inside my body like a city-size generator. My head spins. Avery catches my shoulder just before I’m about to black out.

  “You’re okay,” she says.

  I pull away from her and stumble toward the mangled desk. “There are more. I’ve gotta get them all.”

  She grabs my shoulder to steady me. “Are you strong enough?”

  I nod. “I can feel it. The energy helps. If I absorb it, it makes me stronger.” The blackness fades from my vision and my head stops thumping. I’m not going to faint.

  The Drifters settle in heaps on the floor near the entrance to the room. Both wear simple white clothing like Ryel and the others, though it’s hard to see anything beyond the bubble of green energy coating their bodies. One’s an older woman. She could be someone’s grandma. Her graying hair lays in tangled curls, framing a haggard, worn face. Her eyes are wild with fear. The other is a young man, maybe two or three years older than Cassius and me. He corrects his balance after landing hard on the floor. The two stare at each other for a moment before backing into the wall like scared animals.

  I hold out a hand, afraid that they’ll run away. “Wait! Stop.”

  They don’t understand me. In moments, they see the doorway and bolt for it, slipping past the opening into the corridor beyond. They leave a trail of green behind them, a sign that they’re not of this world and, worse yet, a moving target for Altair’s security.

  Avery watches them slip away before turning back to me. “You go break the rest. I’ll run after them, see if I can get them calmed down before something happens.”

  I nod. I don’t want her to leave, but it’s important that we don’t lose the same allies we’re trying to free. “Try to get their language processor to kick in. If they can understand you, they’ll trust you.”

  “Right,” she says. “Be careful.”

  “Of course.”

  And then it hits me. I notice the bodies of the security guards for the first time. The receptionist. I turn to Avery, but she’s already gone.

  My hands shake. I stare down at them.

  Weapons, that’s what they are. Weapons that can kill.

  I want to head over and check if the three Skyshippers are alive, but I’m scared of what I might find. So instead, I take a shallow breath and try to put them out of my mind.

  What have I done? What am I doing?

  No, I tell myself. Be like Cassius. Do what Alkine always told you. Don’t let emotion get in the way of it.

  I’m bad, but maybe it’s for a good reason.

  I focus on a point on the wall and forget them. The Pearls are calling. I have work to do.

  39

  The ground transformed beneath Cassius. It opened and spread under his back, propping him into an awkward vertical position—half standing, half hanging. It reminded him of being chained up inside the Lodge. Theo paced before him, his expression more rattled by the moment. He turned and waved his hand in front of his chest. Cassius felt his bracelet melt to liquid around his wrist and jump from his skin, right into Theo’s hand. Theo manipulated the Ridium into a ball and lobbed it across the room, where it stuck to the far wall and flattened. “It’s done,” he said. “Melded with the rest of it, free from its programming. Once I get Fisher’s, my father’s Pearls will blanket the planet.” He flashed a wide smile. “And you without an army. Things didn’t really go the way your parents planned, did they?”

  Cassius swallowed. Ridium crept over his ankles. Theo approached. “Matigo wants you dead, but I haven’t decided how I’m going to do it yet.” He dislodged a chunk of Ridium from the ceiling. Cassius watched it land in the boy’s hands and transform into the shape of a knife, just like the one Theo held on the Surface. “There’d be a certain symbolism in a blade through your heart. After all, you and your friends took my favorite knife from me.” The black point dissolved. Theo shrugged. “I’ll think about it some more. Fisher’s nearby. We’re on a course for Skyship Altair now.”

  “What?”

  “Ridium seeks Ridium,” Theo said. “Remember? It’s giving me signals. I feel Fisher, running like a rat through the bowels of the ship. We’re nearly there.”

  Cassius squirmed. “You’re just a kid.”

  A strand of Ridium crawled behind him and yanked his hair back, forcing him to meet Theo’s eyes.

  “I’m royal blood,” he responded. “I’m not just anything.”

  “Yeah?” Cassius replied. “Well, without my father, there’d have never been Pearls in the first place. Green. Red. It doesn’t matter.”

  Theo smiled. “But it does. Red Pearls are self-extracting. They don’t need a Breaker. And once we kill Fisher, the Resistance has nothing. You should have started earlier.” He laughed. “How many do you have? Ten? Twenty? Of all the thousands of Pearls that have fallen since the Scarlet Bombings, you don’t—”

  “Shut up.”

  “Hit a nerve? I’m sorry.” He turned and walked away. Cassius watched him extend his hands and spread them apart through the air like he was opening a set of invisible curtains. The entire front side of the vessel blossomed open to reveal an enormous hole through which Cassius could see Skyship Altair. The ship looked like a toy in the distance, hovering unprotected in the open sky.

  “See that?” Theo stared out the opening. “The entire ship’s coming down, I’ll guarantee it. We don’t care about Skylines and Surface law. We see what we want and we take it. I’m going to send a message. An opening salvo. If Madame taught me anything, it was to have a sense of drama.”

  Cassius took a deep breath. He pictured Fisher down there, unaware of what was approaching. He hoped that his brother had managed to do something—anything—that would help defend against Theo. If not, this would be an extermination.

  He stared at Theo from behind, marveling at his slight frame, his lopsided shoulders, and stringy hair.

  Skyship Altair pulled closer until the gray of the top level filled the entire opening. Buildings. Transport. People. Shippers, yes, but people nonetheless. The line between Surface and Skyship had utterly broken. They had no idea what they were up against.

  Altair’s control deck was no doubt trying to radio the strange black vessel by now, but they’d have no luck. There’d be no precedent for this, and nothing to do but attack.

  It came surprisingly fast.

  A barrage of missiles fired from the ship’s defense cannons. Cassius watched as they approached with blistering speed, spiraling up toward the hole.

  Theo wiped his hands in front of him, closing the window as Cassius flinched from the oncoming fire. Explosions sounded outside, muffled by the wall of Ridium. The vessel stayed remarkably stable. After three more volleys, the ground shuddered beneath Cassius. The entire room began to melt.

  He watched the walls drip around him. The ceiling caved in, raining down on both boys. The wet floor climbed up Theo’s body, looping around his legs up to his hips. It covered his lower half in seconds, forming what looked like a shiny metallic bodysuit. It rose to his chest, then spread down his arms and covered his hair until he all but disappeared against a backdrop of Ridium.

  He turned to look at Cassius. A round hole revealed his face, but everything else was covered in black. Hair, ears, shoulders. Theo laughed, brows raised. “Cool, huh?”

  The restraints melted around Cassius. His wrist felt cold and naked without his bracelet.

  The vessel continued to collapse. Soon, the city of Altair revealed itself around them. They’d broken through the dome overhead, triggering a deep, constant siren. They’d landed.

  Ridium poured through the streets of the Skyship like floodwater, decimating everything in its path until the ground was covered with a thin layer of black. Buildings shuddered as the substance pounded into walls. Benches and tables were pushed along the stream—trees uprooted. Anyone unlucky enough to be walking on the top level found their feet stuck in the blackness. Some fell. Some were covered.

  Cassius collapsed to his
hands and knees. The hole in the overhead dome continued to widen. By the time the security mechanisms rattled into place to repair it, it could be too late.

  Theo moved forward, hands at his side, in his suit of Ridium. There was no sign of Fisher, Drifters, Pearls, or anything that could put up a fight. Cassius knew that he had to find a way to stop him, but the boy was protected head to toe. Fire hadn’t hurt him back on the Surface. He was the Authority’s champion for a reason. He was indestructible.

  Then, an explosion.

  The ground rumbled. The blast had come from somewhere on the lower levels. Cassius didn’t know what had caused it, but its effects made themselves known immediately.

  The ground lurched under his feet. The ship sunk. No emergency thrusters. Something had happened.

  The Ridium fused into the ground around him, soaking into the bowels of the Skyship like water into soil. The blackness on the streets faded as it spread through the inner workings of the ship. Cassius cursed. This kid was apocalyptic.

  He was doing it, just like he said he would. Theo was bringing down the entire Skyship.

  40

  The corridor rocks violently around me. Alarms blare, so loud that I have to cup my hands over my ears. It threatens to kill my concentration, but I fight past it and recover my balance.

  The ship lurches under my feet, then back up again. I take a deep breath, soaking in what’s left of the energy from the freed Drifters. I let it refresh my body, boost my energy. Then I close my eyes and focus.

  I reach into the air and pull down, feeling for Pearl energy. They’re close. My fists bunch at my side. My eyes flip open as several Pearls come at me, ripped from separate rooms. Wood smashes in the distance. Metal dents. They’re like wild spirits escaping. A stampede.

  The ground slants. I lose my footing momentarily but keep my attention on the pathway of the Pearls.

  The entire corridor glows green as five of them hover through the hallway. I open my fist and press my palm into the air, beckoning them forward.