“Goodnight, Pike.”
“Night, man.”
As I pass Kiwi’s bedroom door, it’s open a crack. Unable to help myself, I glance over. Her bright, dark eyes stare back. It’s kind of creepy. I halt and drop my gaze. Even though the crack is only a few inches wide, I can appreciate her smooth, dark legs.
Yeah, she can wrap them around me anytime.
A hiss meets my ears. I glance back up, and she slams the door. With a chuckle, I head to my room and hope to crash soon.
I don’t sleep well. Or long. Each time I touch down into unconsciousness, some worry snaps me back awake. And I got a truck ton of worries. Sadie. Berserkers. Whether or not I’m going to die. Finally, I sit rod straight in bed. Listening to the sound of Oscar chirping in his sleep, I pace the room.
And yes, he really does chirp in his sleep. Always has. Every once in a while he’ll mutter, let the bodies hit the floor, then go back to chirping, but I’m pretty sure he’s just fucking with me.
With a sigh, I shuffle to the dresser and open the top drawer. Scattered inside are my boxer briefs, a few head scarves, and a few other of my personal possessions.
I pull out a black pouch, close the drawer, and then take it back to the bed where I sit down. I undo the drawstring and empty out the contents of the pouch.
It isn’t much.
Three guitar picks, one blessed by the gods. Or cursed, depending on your point-of-view, and two more for just playing regular stuff. I pick up a red one with my first initial on it. On the back is a trident. It’s from my mother. That was before she knew, when she thought I was a mermaid or some shit. With a smile, I palm it. Glancing at the bed, I spot an aquamarine bracelet. Nothing fancy, just shiny blue-green beads. Okay, there is a charm on it, of an ice skate.
I always meant to give it to her.
Sadie.
I need to see her. Now.
I scoop all my crap back into the pouch, pocket the bracelet and pick, then leave my body.
Not for real, just in my head. I need to get out of there to find my little servant girl. After sweeping most of the compound, I find her alone in a bedroom with one hand rested on a handgun. No shock there.
I roll my eyes then shout, Ay you, Juliet. Get up.Master needs a favor.
Her eyes flutter open.
I test her for annoyance, then anger, and find none. This isn’t as fun as I’d hoped. Convenient, though, since I don’t even have to think the words at her. She knew what I wanted the moment I felt it. And she has the pull here to do it.
Juliet and I stand beside Sadie’s bed in the infirmary and stare down. There is a bandage around her mutilated, but now reattached, arm. Through the sheet white gauze, I can make out gleaming glints of silver intertwining with her flesh.
Axley made a little cyborg out of her.
“Most of the tissue was damaged. We saved what we could, and Axley filled in the rest,” Juliet says.
I nod.
There is another bandage on the top of her left hand, holding in an IV. I sit down in the chair next to her, pull my guitar into my lap, and glance up at Juliet.
“Her arm, will she have full use of it?”
Juliet nods. “Yes.”
“How is Axley?”
Juliet nods across the room, I follow her head to a bed spaces away from Sadie’s.
I frown. “She okay?”
“Yes, from what I understand, building cybernetic flesh is taxing. She’ll be released as soon as she’s rested.”
I nod again. “Okay, you can go now.”
She flips her hair and nods, then her footsteps trail away from me. With a sigh, I shut my eyes and start to play. Just random notes. Not one song stays on my mind long enough for me to see it through.
A tiny cough stops me. I glance toward the bed. Sadie’s eyelids flutter. She coughs again, this time louder. Standing up, I go to prop my guitar against the foot of the bed, then I lean over her.
“Sadie?”
With a groan, she opens her eyes and frowns.
“Hey, shorty.” I smile.
She scowls at me.
“What time is it?” She struggles to sit up, and I rush to help her.
I chuckle. “It’s eleven.”
She pauses and stares. “Really?”
I fluff her pillow, then sit back down. “Nah, girl. You know that time isn’t a thing anymore.”
She rolls her eyes. “You’re a fucktard.”
My eyes narrow. “Watch. Your. Mouth.”
Her face wrinkles and she swallows, then coughs again.
I stand up. “Thirsty?”
She nods, and I tip toe to the other side of the room, grab a thermos of her rationed water, and take it back to her. She throws it back eagerly. When she’s finished, she exhales loudly, then hands me the thermos.
“You don’t know the time, but you know why you’re here.” She sounds like her normal self, which lightens the ton of bricks weighing on my chest a little. I sit back down.
“I wanted to see how you were doing.” I bend down and put her thermos on the floor. When our eyes meet again, she looks guarded.
“What?”
“Did you change your mind?” She swallows again. “About helping them?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Sadie, you just had major…”
“Promise you won’t go,” she whispers, eyes wide and voice trembling.
“Hey.” I lean over and take the hand on her good arm. “Listen, I don’t want you to sweat this. I’ll be fine.”
I leave out the stuff about the crossroads and the theory that I’m heading out to an almost certain death. This is the first time since I’ve seen her that she sounds like a kid. I want to keep her sounding that way.
“No.” She shakes her head. “No, you won’t. When you help them, they won’t have any more use for you. They’ll probably kill you as soon as you get it. Try and say you died fighting bravely. But, they won’t…”
“Sadie.” I make my voice firm. “I don’t want you worrying about me. I will be fine.”
She pokes out her lower lip and jerks her head in the opposite direction.
I sigh.
“I brought you something.” I stand up and pull the bracelet out of my pocket.
She doesn’t budge.
“You can wear it when you make the Olympics.” I jingle the jewelry, hoping it will coax her into turning around.
It doesn’t.
“Okay, I’ll let you rest, shorty.” I put the bracelet on the table next to her bed. As I go to pick up my guitar, I glance over at her. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”
I linger for a few seconds, hoping she’ll stop throwing this grown child tantrum. She doesn’t, so I turn on my heels and head to the door.
Something hits me in the back. I stop at the same time there is a plop against the floor. Glancing back, I see Sadie, sitting all the way up, arms crossed over her chest, glaring like she wants to set my ass on fire. My gaze darts down to the bracelet.
I clench my jaw and lean over to pick it up.
“If you’re doing this for me, you really are just a big idiot!” Tears stream down her face, which kills all anger I was starting to feel.
I saunter back and sigh. “I have to—“
“You want to save the world for me?” She barks laughter. “But without you, I don’t have anyone. You’ll be dead. My mom will be dead.”
I wince with every word she speaks.
“And I’ll be here, with them. In this… fucked up world. There isn’t going to be anymore skating. No more gold medals. I’ve already lost almost everything! We all have!”
Her body convulses with sobs. I sit on the edge of her bed and try to pull her into a hug. She throws me off and punches me in the chest with her good arm.
“Don’t act like you care.” She glowers at me. “I still have you, and now you want to take that from me too.”
“Hey,” I whisper, leaning as close to her as I think she’ll allow. “I’m not leaving you. I’m not
going anywhere. I pro…”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” She sniffles. “Unless you promise you won’t work with them, I don’t care about what you say.”
I hesitate. This is the first time I have no idea what to say to the kid. I knew what to say when her mom died. I knew what to say when she got the silver in some bullshit ass local tournament to a girl that delighted in beating her. I knew what to say when she asked if she could date demigods with passive powers.
And when she asked if she could date anyone… ever.
Fuck to the no.
Now, my tongue is in a rattrap. All I can do is sit there.
“Do you even know what the cure is?” she asks, finally breaking the silence.
I shake my head.
“You know why they need you so bad to get it?”
I start to nod, then catch the knee jerk reaction and toss it away. I shake my head.
She scoffs. “Do you think they deserve it? After all they did. All they’re still going to do?”
I throw my hands in the air. “I know you deserve to skate again and to, you know, not be eaten.”
Her lips twitch into an almost grin. She averts her eyes and starts to toy with her blanket. Her mouth opens and shuts a few times, then we go back to quiet.
“Shorty, I know you’re pissed at me, but I need a favor.”
She shrugs her thin shoulders.
“I need you to lay low while I’m gone. Follow the rules. Look out for the kids younger than you.”
Her head snaps back up. “Why can’t I just go with you?”
I clench my jaw. “Just listen to me, okay, for once without arguing.”
She shoves herself back into her pillow and huffs.
“Promise me,” I say, “that you’ll stay safe until I come back.”
She chuckles and shakes her head. “Yeah sure, I fucking pinky swear. And you can believe I’ll keep my promises as much as I can believe that you’ll keep yours.”
I go into deep breathing, meditative mode. No use in telling her to watch her mouth, or that she’s a little pint-sized ingrate… Nah, that’s counterproductive. After my last deep breath, I say, “I’m serious, Sadie. Your mother would want you here, and she’d want you to be safe.”
Sadie turns her gaze on me, and I raise an eyebrow. Yeah, I played the dead mom card. She’ll probably play the mom killer card, but I’m ready.
“I see you’re doing it again.” She purses her lips. “And I haven’t seen any dying or elderly around this place… So, is this the old you?”
I just stare.
She leans toward me. “Good. You should just kill them all. Why don’t you? You’re stronger. Why are you working with them instead of just getting them out of the way and taking the cure by yourself?
I continue to stare. I haven’t really thought about it. Now that I do, I suppose I could. Could make Juliet tell me what it is; I already know the where it is. I could sing every Council member into death or submission. Sure, there’s the thing in my neck…keeping track of me and probably threatening my life in some way, but it’s not like I couldn’t figure it out.
The biggest reason is the threat to Sadie. But, if I killed all of them…
No, I have a reason to play it their way, I’m just not sure it’s a good one.
“Listen,” I say, scratching my eyebrow with my pinky nail. “I’m working with them, because it’s right. Not that I have to explain myself to you.” I put on my hard face. “Now, stay out of grown folks business, and promise me.”
For several moments neither of us speak.
Finally, I sigh and say, “I want that promise before you leave.” I stand and put the bracelet back on the table beside her. “You have two days.”
I manage a few hours of sleep before it’s time to start the next day. After breakfast, we gather outside and run more drills, more target practice, more learning about end of the world threats. I listen, do as I’m told, and get through it on autopilot.
After lunch, I think it’s going to be more of the same. I tune out Juliet’s rambling. Then, she holds up a trident in front of me.
I blink several times, then glance over at her. “What’s this for?”
She smiles. “It’s for you.”
I slide my gaze up and down the weapon. It’s badass for sure, jet-black, with a dark blue polish. It looks half ancient, half modern. The prongs are old school. The buttons along the shaft are clearly modern.
I shrug. “What I’m supposed to do with it?”
From where he is, on the other side of Kiwi, Tripp chortles.
“I was just saying that your abilities won’t always help you against some of the more powerful displaced descendants out there. Guns won’t do the job either. As such, we’ve managed to secure a few magic weapons that should be effective.”
I glance sidelong at my teammates. Tripp isn’t holding shit, but he turns into a huge monster, so I guess that’s his weapon. Kiwi is strapping a pair of copper colored, steam punk looking goggles over her eyes.
I turn my gaze back to Juliet. “That’s one of Poseidon’s. I am not a mermaid.” I wave her off. “I’ll make due with guns and guitars.”
She sighs and reaches for my hand. I start to tell her to back off, but she’s quick in placing my hand on the shaft of the weapon. It cools under my touch. I turn to stare at it. It sparks electric blue and spits something out of the middle spear.
I jump back, so that Juliet is left holding it. Tripp laughs hard, and Kiwi just sucks on her teeth.
“Come on, siren. Let’s just get this over with.”
I glance over at her rolling her eyes, then stumble forward and take the trident.
“Where did you even get this?” I turn it over in my hands, trying not to display how surprised I am by its feel. It takes me back to the first time I held my guitar. Feels like I know how to use this thing. Like it belongs to me.
“We have Scouters. They recovered a lot of weapons such as these.”
I stare back at the weapon. She asks if there are any more questions and I shake my head. She claps, and we start more drills.
I don’t get how this weapon is suited for me, but I like using it. Each button I press unlocks a new function. Lightening dances from the tips when I hold down the silver button. Rushes of water that I can command come with the press of the blue button. I feel like an old school gladiator. You know, if they let brothas into the arena like that.
Not only do I like using it, I’m pretty frickin’ good at it. I train with it, going up against Kiwi and practicing on the wooden mannequins in our training space, until my muscles shake. Until sweat streams into my eyes, blinding me. Until I feel like the only thing I can do next is fall over.
Smoke from the crackling fire spirals upward toward the false sky. At first, our farewell party doesn’t look like much. Then, Tripp reaches into his bag of party tricks and convinces a Spirit to conjure up some wine, and everyone livens up. The Enforcers allow this. I guess even they can look the other way for the people saving their asses.
It’s good to know.
Once people start getting their drink on, they stop standing around looking at each other. A good amount of people showed, human and descendant alike. I sit back with my rationed water and take everything in.
Still nothing from Sadie. I’d say what that makes her, but she’s only a kid. I stare into the fire, thinking back to the first time I saw her land a triple axel. I can almost see her, landing on those hollow blades and the smile that lit up her face, dancing in the flames. It makes me grin. Then, booming laughter snags my attention. I cut my gaze to the left and spot Tripp and the wine making Spirit wrapped in each other’s arms. The wine maker is barking out laughter.
With a chuckle, I take a swig of water. I lift my arm to wave at them when a shadow casts itself on the ground in front of me. I glance up to find who created it.
“Hi.” A sexy little blonde thing flips her hair. “I’m Amber.”
Of cours
e you are.
I smile and point at myself. “Pike.” This is the fourth one that’s approached me in ten minutes.
“Hi, Pike.” She rolls her tongue over her shimmery lips.
I try to smile again, but I’m just not feeling her. Or anyone else at this party.
“What’s up.” I glance everywhere but at her. Then, I point over her head at nothing. “Ah, shit. I see…” I jump up and sidestep the fire, disappearing into the crowd at the other side. When I turn, Amber is standing by herself, pouting in my general direction. I would feel bad, but I’m in no mood to chat up some girl tonight.
There is a tap on my shoulder. I spin around, dribbling water down the front of myself.
“Oops, be careful there, Pike.”
It’s Tripp. Now he’s got some beefy mixed looking dude hanging from his neck. They’re both cheesing hard enough to break a camera lens.
I pat at the water with my free hand. “Yeah, that’s my bad.” There is an edge of sarcasm in my tone. With a smile, I ask, “What’s up wit cha?”
“Not much.” Tripp lifts his arms, and the guy around his neck stumbles into his side. “I just wanted to give you one more chance with this ass, you know…” He smiles and gestures at drunk dude. “Before it becomes his.”
I laugh and reach out to clap drunk dude on the shoulder. He almost topples over when I do. Tripp and I steady him, and I go to cup his face.
“Fine piece of ass you landed, man.” I let him go and place my hands several inches apart. “I heard it’s like, this big.” I whistle, then turn on the balls of my feet and walk away. As I do, I call, “Don’t be up all night,” over my shoulder at Tripp.
His inebriated laughter echoes in the air as I finish making my way through the crowd. Turning around slightly to glance back over my shoulder, I take a final look at the party before climbing the stairs to duck inside.
Once inside, I lean against the back of the front door and let my eyes slide close. I stand there, trying to still the swarm of buzzing thoughts in my skull, when a low female voice rolls through my ears. My eyes pop open, then narrow.
What sounds like low arguing is coming from the living room around the corner. I take a step forward. There is a hissing noise, like a snake. Then there is a shh.
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