Humanity 03 - Marksman Law

by Corrine Shroud

  News had obviously failed to reach this part of the community. It was quiet and unresponsive. There weren’t any lights except the sporadic street lamp. It comforted Mirage and made her nervous at the same time. There wasn’t anything she’d like more than to be able to rest. She’d never had to use so much of her powers in a day in her life. She was drained, wet, cold and horribly hungry.

  Mirage growled and knocked again.

  A light went on in the house, causing Mirage to blink as the door opened. “Get in before someone sees you!” A hand gripped her shoulder and pulled her through the lighted doorway.

  “I…”

  “Hush, Mirage. Hang on and give your eyes a chance to adjust. Charity just called me. I know everything that happened.”

  The voice was familiar but by the time her eyes had adjusted to the unnatural light that humans tended to favor, the man was already gone from the room. Mirage looked around. She was in a small living room that was encompassed by a diminutive couch and chair set. The TV was larger, and there were multiple pictures hanging on the wall. Mirage blinked the water from her eyes and made her way to the pictures. They revealed someone she knew immediately.

  “Mister Kinely?”

  “Hello, Mirage.” She jumped as he walked into the room and handed her a towel. “You’re soaked.”

  She took it and began to dry her arms and hair. “You’re an Altruist?”

  Kinely smiled and motioned to the frame that was hung above the others. It bore the Altruistic healing hands signet. “My family’s been in the Altruistics for as long as they’ve existed.”

  Mirage turned around. “Thank you. I know this puts you in danger. They’re going to search all the Altruistics first, after they realize I’m not in the hospital.”

  Kinely gave her a wider smile. “I’m not in the government’s registrar. There are some of us who are just considered human sympathizers. They have no reason to look here. You can stay here for a few days and regain your strength. After that, we’ll get you out of Paradise.”

  “And then where?” Mirage hated the frightened voice that escaped her.

  Mr. Kinely gave her a sad smile. “I’ll contact some of my friends. We’ll figure out something, Mirage.”

  “Daddy?”

  Mirage started and turned around to see the little boy who stood in the hallway that stemmed into other rooms. He was in worn pajamas, and looked a little older than six. “Who is the strange lady?”

  “This is daddy’s friend, Nick. She’s going to be staying with us for a day or two.”

  He smiled. “You look funny.”

  “Nick…”

  Mirage smiled. “That’s okay, Mr. Kinely. When you think about it from his point of view, he’s right.” She sighed, looking down at her tattered and soaked pajamas. It was cold in his air conditioned home. “I hate to ask this of you, but are there some clothes I can borrow?”

  Kinely nodded. “Nick, wake up Tina. I need to speak to her.” Mirage looked back at the pictures and realized he had a teenage daughter about her age.

  “No…I don’t wanna take—”

  “No problem, Mirage,” Kinely dismissed. “She’ll help get you some dry clothes that’ll actually fit you. Then you can sit down and tell me more of what happened.”

  “Dad?” Tina’s voice was groggy, but her eyes widened immediately. “Jesus,” she whispered. “They came after you this quickly?” Her expression crumpled immediately in pity. “Look at you—you’re a mess.” She reached a hand out and took Mirage’s. “Nick, you stay with Dad, alright? Mirage and I will be right back.”

  “Does this mean I get to stay up and watch the morning cartoons?” Nick asked, and his little voice was excited.

  Kinely nodded. “I think you and Tina will stay home today.”

  “I don’t have to go to school?” He grinned. “I like when Daddy has weird friends over.”

  Tina led Mirage away. “We’ll have to keep Nick from blabbing about you until you’re out safe. He’s still too young to be trusted.” She pulled Mirage through a door and shut it behind her. A dim lamp was on, lighting the pale blue interior, but that was all as Tina pulled the drapes shut. Mirage was thankful for the dim surroundings. She could see better, and she took the opportunity to study Tina. Her long brown hair was up in a ponytail, giving Mirage a full glimpse into the beautiful round shaped face and wide brown eyes. She was as different looking as her fair haired, blue eyed brother.

  “Your brother took from your father.”

  At first Tina didn’t understand her comment, but Mirage watched realization dawn on her face. “Oh, yeah.” She gave a laugh. “He looks just like Dad did when he was little. I look like our Mom.”

  “Where is she?” Mirage asked. She still had the towel that Kinely gave her and continued to dry off with it, trying to sponge through the clothes.

  Tina was going through her closet and didn’t answer her at first. “She’s with the Altruistics in California right now. She’ll be back in a few months. You know, they’re trying to stop the laws that will break your Promised Land barriers.”

  “It’s the Humanitarians that are trying so hard. I don’t understand why, but they actually want the Children of Power to be able to cross human borders.”

  Tina cleared her voice. “Who knows what crosses HUMANITY’s mind? If you ask me, I’d say they’re not all there in the head.” She walked away from the closet, holding a pair of jeans and a spaghetti strap shirt. “Here. These look like they’ll fit and they’re comfortable in this heat. I’ll get you a hoody to hide your runes when we get ready to get you outta Paradise.”

  Mirage smiled. “I can’t express how much this means to me.”

  Tina returned her smile as she got into a drawer and got out a pair of underwear and a bra. “I’m glad we’re just about the same size.” Tina cleared her voice. “I’m gonna leave you alone so you can have some privacy. I’m sure you need some time to yourself right about now. I’ll get breakfast started; Dad will actually get to eat something before he’s gotta go to work.” She left before Mirage could say anything.

  Mirage didn’t waste any time getting out of the uncomfortably cold clothes. Her skin was wrinkled from being so wet and she proceeded to dry the rest of her that had been covered in the sopping cloth. Tina’s clothing didn’t fit perfectly, but it did fit. The tank top was a little tight for her taste. She preferred baggier, more comfortable clothing and the same thing applied to the jeans. It had been difficult getting them buttoned. They were the perfect length, barely covering the front of her feet.

  Mirage stepped in front of the mirror that hung on the wall and criticized her reflection. Her wet hair was a tattered mess, gnarled between the diminutive curved horns that rested at the sides of her head. She combed her fingers through it, using her sharp nails as a brush. It took longer than a brush would have but she eventually got the tangles out and it lay relatively flat against her head. Her dark eyes seemed to glint in the lamp light and her skin tone was palled, showing she was tired. After she ate maybe she would make herself sleep.

  The room she stood in was calming, all pale blue, with pastel flowers and ivy painted on the walls. There were landscape paintings hung on the wall and a tall easel stood in a corner of the room. An unfinished painting rested on the easel and a painter’s frock hung on a nail beside it. Mirage took a moment to look at it. It was a painting of a shore and a sunset. She recognized the beach as the one close to her home that had been destroyed. Mirage shook her head, not allowing her thoughts to linger on the memories.

  “Your room is beautiful,” Mirage said as she walked into the kitchen. It adjoined the living room, and she could hear the words from the morning news broadcast.

  “A police manhunt is on the search for the rogue Paramortal, Mirage Shadowstart, who ran after allegedly murdering six humans who had come to give their well wishes to the new neighbors. The Marksman Law has been initiated, on the indictment of six counts of murder and arson on the home where her mo
ther, an Illuminitican Altruist healer, was grievously injured. Citizens are encouraged to not approach the Paramortal whom is considered armed with power and dangerous. Any information or the presentation of her body can be made to the number that is scrolling at the bottom of the screen.”

  “The presentation of my body,” Mirage muttered, feeling sick to her stomach. “Does my life really mean that little?”

  “Ignore it, Mirage,” Kinely said softly. “We’re only watching it to see if there were any sightings of you close to our house. We’ll need to know if we have to move you or not.”

  “Thanks, Mirage. I painted it myself,” Tina said. She gave her a smile, pretending like Mirage hadn’t heard the news report. The smell of frying eggs and sausages filled the home. She handed a plate to her father. “I’m making ours next. Dad’s gotta leave.”

  Mirage nodded and turned around at the tugging of her shirt. She looked down at Nick. “Daddy wouldn’t let me watch cartoons,” he pouted. “Are you famous?”

  “Famous?”

  “You’re on TV.”

  “Nick, go play in your room, okay,” Kinely said. “I need to talk to my friend for a little while. If you’re a good little boy, then maybe she’ll play with you.”

  The little boy grinned. “Wait until Mitch learns I have a celebrity at my house!” He turned around and walked down the hallway.

  “That,” Tina said with a sigh, “is exactly why he’s missing school.”

  “I don’t want him to hear what happened,” Kinely said as she sat down beside him at the kitchen table. “We shelter our children until they’re old enough to decide if they want to become an Altruist. Once they make the decision, we respect the fact that they’re adult enough to handle what’s happening.”

  “It’s dangerous, sometimes,” Mirage said. “My Mom told me stories about the attacks on Altruistics.”

  “It’s worth it,” Tina said. “I’ve been an Altruistic for five years and I’ve gotten into some scrapes myself. I’ve been a part of the marches and I’ve helped other Children of Power. I’ve been threatened before, but it doesn’t change anything.” Her expression was cold. “Not all humans are monsters.”

  “Enough, Tina,” Kinely said as he turned to Mirage. “What happened, Mirage? I thought you would have problems with the Humanitarians and I was going to warn you in the next few days, but I didn’t think they would bother you so quickly.”

  “It was Michael.”

  Kinely looked away. “I’m sorry. I knew I should have said something, but all I had was rumors. I’d hoped I was wrong.”

  “He led them to me,” Mirage said, her voice choking. “He betrayed me.”

  Kinely nodded. “To a Shadowstart, that’s a big deal, isn’t it?”

  The way he’d posed the question told Mirage he already knew, but she answered him anyway. “I gave him my trust, Mister Kinely. Yes, to the Children of the Dusk, that is a very big deal.”

  “You’re going to seek revenge?”

  Mirage shrugged. “It’s my culture. Don’t worry, I’m not going to drag your family into it. I’ll wait and come back.”

  “Violence solves nothing,” Tina said as she set eggs and sausages in front of Mirage.

  Mirage gave a small laugh before taking a bite. She was hungry enough that it seemed like the best eggs she’d ever eaten. “That’s a very Child of the Dawn attitude. You spend a lot of time at the emissary hospital, don’t you?”

  Tina nodded. “I’m a volunteer nurse after school.”

  “We think differently. Violence can be a means to an end. We don’t like to act through power, but we can and we will. We protect what is ours, we defend what we love, and we retaliate when we are threatened.” She met Tina with a steady gaze. “Michael is dead as far as I’m concerned.”

  Tina shivered and turned around.

  “Can you explain what happened?” Kinely asked in the tense silence. “The police aren’t releasing a lot of information right now, and the Altruistics want to know as much as they can. They hope there’s enough to salvage to lift the Marksman Law from you.”

  “Some of it’s fuzzy. I woke up in a palm tree, and I’m not exactly sure how I got there.” Mirage shrugged. “They’d set fire to my house by then and I went there to save my mother. I was attacked and I killed one. You’ll know her—Ms Wanderson.”

  “Yeah.” Kinely swallowed. “Did you try not to kill them?”

  “There was no choice,” Mirage snapped. “I was trying to get to my mother. She was still in the burning house and I could feel her dying. They attacked me when I was trying to get back to her. I didn’t use my powers on them purposefully. I just wanted to get to my dying mother.”

  Kinely nodded. “I understand how the Shadowstarts think.”

  “The next human was Derrick, but I didn’t kill him. He’ll be in the hospital, but I hope I broke his back.” Mirage grinned. “With luck, he won’t walk again.”

  “Mirage…”

  Kinely waved a hand to stop Tina’s shocked voice. “Then what happened?”

  Mirage cleared her voice. “I entered the home. My mother had collapsed in a doorway. She’d been trying to get out. When I picked her up I heard his…” She stuttered for a moment and then went on. “Michael’s…voice. He wore a silver mask with strange markings. It was carved like a face with a small crown.”

  “The Monarch-to-be…” Kinely’s face was pale.

  She caught the surprised fear in his voice. “What?”

  Kinely shook his head. “What else?”

  “I threatened him. I told him to leave. I said that I would kill more if they didn’t leave. I gave them a chance—even then they could have left. Five others came into the home. I recognized one’s voice as Mister Taylur.”

  “The principal is dead?”

  Mirage nodded.

  “How did you kill them?”

  Mirage shrugged, uncomfortable. “It gets a little fuzzy now. I remember the Shades, but that should be impossible. I’ve not been through the Transition. I shouldn’t be able to call on my ancestors. Hell, I don’t even know the incantations that would call them up.”

  “The Shades,” Mr. Kinely said quietly.

  She nodded. “They collapsed the building around the Humanitarians, and only Michael was left alive. I remember him grabbing a hold of me, of some sort of power that surged between us, and something about his blood singing.” She shook her head. “The Shades made things difficult to understand. There was a new power that I hadn’t used before in the air. I blacked out, and I don’t know what they did to him. He’s alive though, I know that much.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I’m not sure—I just know.”

  Kinely nodded before standing. “Thank you for the breakfast, Tina.”

  “No problem, Daddy. Could you pick up my school work for me? Tell Mrs. Melanie that I’ll turn my painting in for the contest on Monday.”

  “Sure, sure,” Kinely muttered. He stood to walk out and Mirage followed him into the hallway. She stopped him by grabbing his forearm, careful to keep her nails from scratching him.

  “What did I say that spooked you?” she whispered. She had to look up at the aging man, but despite that it seemed he was intimidated.

  “The Shades are no trifling matter,” he answered. “I knew your father very well, Mirage, and he trusted me. You understand that a Shadowstart’s trust is hard to gain, but once it is, they don’t hide anything. I was his human confidant and his link to the Altruistics. I know a lot about your culture, so I know that only Darkcaster’s line can call the Shades, and only someone powerful enough to control them even considers it. You didn’t even mean to call them and they bowed to your will.”

  “What, does that mean you don’t trust me?” Mirage took a step back, letting him go.

  Kinely shook his head. “That’s not what I said, Mirage. I may trust you, but that doesn’t stop me from being creeped out. Your father told me you were powerful and you would help t
he Altruistics when you’re ready, but somehow I don’t think he realized how powerful you would be.”

  “Are you afraid of me?”

  Kinely’s expression softened. “No, Mirage. Afraid for you? Yes. Afraid of what you could be capable of? Hell yes. But if you are your father’s daughter, then I have nothing to fear. He was a dear friend of mine, of my entire family, and I trust you because of it. Don’t break my trust, Shadowstart.” To her surprise, he bowed to her formally, twisting his hand and nodding his head.

  “I won’t,” she whispered, returning his bow.

  “I’ve got to get to the school now,” he said. Mirage let him go and he walked out. A tense moment existed before Mirage made her way to the table where Tina had taken her father’s spot with a plate of food.

  “Nick thinks eating in his room is an adventure,” Tina said with a smile. “He’s easily impressed. When I was six, I was the same way.”

  Mirage sat down in front of her food. “Thanks, Tina.”

  “The clothes look good on you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You can have them. I’ll get you some more from the Altruistics now that I know your size. You’ll need some things.”

  Mirage nodded, fighting against tears. She’d lost everything in the fire—including her father’s book. At the thought of this, the world dropped out from beneath her. God, how could she have forgotten? She stood abruptly.

  “Mirage?”

  “My incantation book. I have to go back and get it.” It wouldn’t have been burned as it was fireproof. She’d set it on her nightstand before falling asleep; it could have protected the things around it. There was probably some of her stuff that was salvageable.

  “Mirage, you can’t leave.” Tina grabbed her arm.

  “You don’t understand. I have to. I have to have my incantation book. It’s the only thing that’s left of my father.” It was even more than that. Now that she was banished, the Script was the only tie she had to her culture. It was her lifeline.