by Barbara Taub
“No, you won’t.” Gaby’s voice was pitched low. “But there is one other fault we all share.” All eyes were on her. “We’re allergic to doing what we’re told. So tell me, each of you. How do you use your own faults to disobey Alex’s orders?”
“Trust issues…” Luic raised an eyebrow. “He’s not really going to set fire to the cabin and risk destroying Raziel’s Book. I’ve spent the past century perfecting my sneaking, so I’m pretty sure I can get out the back window and circle behind them. I just need a distraction.”
“Anger issues.” Leila turned to peer carefully out the window. “I’ve got this one.”
“Alex Menard!” Her eyes blazed red as she bellowed, “You are so not the boss of me. If you want the friggin’ Book, you can just come and get it.”
She stepped to one side of the empty window, aimed, and fired her gun. As a figure screamed and plummeted from a tree, Luic slipped out the back of the cabin. “Felt good,” Leila admitted, dropping back to the floor.
“That takes care of anger, control, and trust.” Gaby gasped as a volley of shots struck the cabin’s thick log walls. As the shots let up, she whispered, “Everyone all right?”
“Fine,” Leila whispered back. She raised her voice to a shout. “Okay, Alex, you win. I’ll come out. I’ll bring the earrings if you meet me alone. When I hear your friends leave, I’ll give you the earrings.”
In the silence that followed, Thomas muttered, “Abandonment issues—remember? Like hell you’re going out there alone.”
“Well, no,” whispered Leila. “Gaby forgot to mention another of my faults. I lie.”
“Okay,” yelled Alex. “Everyone else is leaving. You can come out.”
They heard horses trotting away. “The guy Leila shot and one other left with the rest of their horses,” Thomas reported softly. “The others are still waiting for us outside.” He cocked an ear. “Except for the two Luic has taken out.”
“That leaves four, counting Alex,” Gaby calculated. “So let’s take Alex’s suggestion. If the cabin is on fire, he’ll have to come inside to get the jewels before the place burns.”
“And I’ll be waiting for him.” Leila looked up from reloading her gun.
“You will not.” Thomas began to ease toward the back window. “I’m going to follow Luic and see if I can even up the odds a bit more first. You and Gaby start the fire and then get out.”
Leila followed and kissed him furiously. “You’d better be careful.” Her eyes blazed red. “I hate it when you get bullet holes in you.”
As Thomas slipped out the back of the cabin, Gaby wound the rope around her waist and returned her knife to the sheath around her neck. Then she moved to the little stove and blew gently on the remaining embers. Leila began piling the contents of the cabin into the center of the room. She took the lone lamp and poured its oil over the pile. Carefully shielding a lit piece of kindling, Gaby began igniting the oil-soaked heap. They fanned the delicate flames until a smoky blaze leaped across the debris and reached for the roof.
Waiting only to make sure the fire would be visible from outside the cabin, Gaby and Leila covered their faces against the thickening smoke and crawled toward the back window. But when Gaby stood to pull herself out the window, a figure rose and fired. As the bullet buried itself into the cabin walls behind her, Gaby fell back inside.
“I’ve got him,” Leila growled. “Just need one more target.” Gaby nodded, took a deep breath, and stood again, the flames painting her outline against the dark night. Leila’s red-eyed glow swept the dark trees and caught the faintest movement of the arm raising a gun. Before she could shoot, there was a gurgling cough, and the shadowy figure dropped. “Thanks, Thomas,” she murmured.
As the two women crept from the burning cabin, Gaby caught Leila’s shoulder and pointed up.
Leila looked up at the surrounding trees. The lowest limb was at least twelve feet off the ground. “Seriously?”
“BodiesbyBill,” Gaby whispered. “Piece of cake.”
Leila stood guard, occasionally glancing in disbelief as Gaby shimmied up the tree closest to the cabin. When she reached the first firm limb, she unwound the rope from her waist and tied it to the branch.
Leila thrust her gun into her pocket, grabbed the dangling rope, and began to climb. “I always hated this in gym,” she muttered. “And Thomas, wherever you are, if you heard that, you can just stop snickering.”
Leila had just thrown one leg over the limb when a voice below her said, “Hello, Princess.”
Gaby shrank back into the shadows next to the tree trunk as Leila stood slowly onto the limb, balancing with her left arm on a nearby branch. “Shut up Alex, you lying shit. Only Thomas gets to call me Princess.”
“We’re done with the games.” Alex, his eyes glowing, motioned to the woods behind him. Two strangers dragged Thomas’ limp body into the glow cast by the burning cabin.
Hidden in the leaves above, Gaby held her breath as she inched her hand around to pull out Rag’s little knife. She shifted slightly, trying to get in position for her one chance to throw. Smoke and flames cast the features of the men below into starkly flickering relief.
Leila adjusted her feet and moved out along the limb. Stop, thought Gaby. It can’t hold you.
“Thomas?” growled Leila softly.
“No, he’s not dead.” Gone was the charming companion of La Fontaine days. The red eyes Alex turned up glowered with menace from a face twisted with fury. “But unless you come down now, he will be.”
The flames from the cabin reflected even brighter in Leila’s eyes. The gun in her hands steadied for a fraction of a second before she fired. As one of the strangers fell backward, a shadow came from behind the other in a low, mean rush. Luic grabbed the second man’s head and twisted. He dropped the body and reached for Thomas.
Outlined by the shifting, flickering light from the flames, Alex was a black and white figure with the jerky movements of an old-fashioned movie as he shrank back toward Gaby’s tree. Wait for it, she cautioned herself, blinking her eyes against the smoke. Three more steps… wait … now two. As Gaby threw the knife at point blank range, instinct made Alex turn and look up at her. She cursed as her knife only gashed his face before it was knocked aside by the arm he flung up protectively. But that was enough to send him running into the woods beyond.
“Leila, he’s alive,” Luic yelled, helping Thomas sit up.
Gaby thought that first huge breath of relief Leila drew was making her shake. A second later, she realized it was the limb itself. Leila didn’t even have time to scream as the breaking limb sent her plunging into the blazing cabin below.
Thomas staggered to his feet. He and Luic were about to rush the cabin when the flames exploded through the roof as it collapsed.
“Leila!” Thomas threw back his head and screamed as he raced toward the burning cabin.
Luic tried to hold him back. “She’s gone. You’ll only be killed too.”
“If she’s dead, I’ve already died.” Thomas shook free and leaped for the inferno in front of them. He’d almost reached the cabin when a figure inside was silhouetted against the doorway. Reaching into the flames, he threw Leila clear, rolling her across the ground. Luic joined him, using his own coat to pound out the remaining flames before wrapping it around her still figure.
“Luic,” Gaby called urgently. He flew up to her and brought her to the ground.
And Leila sat up.
“Are you kidding me?” Leila coughed. “Not another demon-from-Hell stereotype?” She looked at their shocked faces and coughed again. “I’m fine. Really. Although you would think…” Cough, cough… “You would absolutely think my Donor could have mentioned that perk.”
Thomas stared at her. “You were burning. I thought … you were dead.”
“I got better.” She smiled as he reached for her.
“Ouch, Thomas. Not so tight.” She wrapped her own arms around him and took another shuddering breath. “Well, okay,
I guess I’m good with tight.” Another coughing fit ended with her voice muffled by her face pressed against Thomas’ chest. “So, which one of you killed Alex?”
Gaby dropped to her knees beside Thomas and Leila. She threw her arms around them and burst into tears. “You were burning. I thought you were dead, and you sit up and quote Monty Python?”
Leila looked alarmed, but patted her shoulder.
Luic gave a strained chuckle. “Alex got away.”
“I … I cut his face.” Gaby choked between sobs. “With my knife. Anyway…”
“You go!” said Leila proudly. “If Thomas ever lets me get up, maybe you guys could see what you can do about Alex? I have several things I’d like to tell him.” Luic flew up to the tree and untied the rope Leila had climbed. After winding the rope over his shoulder, he and Thomas faded into the shadowy night sky. Minutes later, Thomas landed in front of Gaby and Leila with a showy little flourish. Luic followed, carrying a bound and furious Alex over his shoulder.
“Sam said ropes won’t hold him for long,” Leila reminded them.
“This won’t take that much time,” Thomas assured her.
“Alex,” he said. “Did I ever tell you about how my grandfather taught me to castrate the bull calves on our farm in France?”
Luic’s eyes flew wide as Thomas pulled out his heartknife. Leila choked and turned away. Gaby put a comforting arm around her friend before she realized Leila was shaking with laughter.
“Ooh-kay,” Leila concluded a few minutes later. “Alex says Null City is on Orcas Island. Now what do we do with him?”
“I have one more idea,” said Thomas. He rolled the still-bound Alex onto his face and pulled up his jacket and shirt to expose Alex’s back with the sheath holding the knife that had burned him before. “Put your hand over mine,” Thomas told Leila. He touched the tip of his heartknife to Alex’s blade. Alex screamed as his knife turned black and crumbled. While they watched in shock, the glow faded from Alex’s eyes.
“Thought so,” Thomas said in satisfaction. “I got the idea after we heard that Alex told Gaby he had ‘borrowed’ a gift. Somehow Alex figured out how to use a Nephilim’s heartknife and the gift that went with it. Those ropes should hold him now.”
With Alex’s glaring eyes and slashed face, there was little remaining of his trademark looks and charm. Standing over him, Gaby held up her little knife and recited the words Rag said were written there: “Justice, justice you shall pursue.” Her face was a frozen sculpture of judgment and contempt. “You are a thief and a murderer, Alex Menard. I wish I could return that favor, but that would make me too much like you. So we’re going to leave you on one of the uninhabited islands off the coast. You might eventually make it back here, but if we ever see you again, we will send you to the Hell you deserve.”
She whispered to Luic the location of Blake Island. Located a few miles out into Puget Sound was the small island that she remembered would be uninhabited for several more decades. He took off with the still-trussed Alex while the others returned to the hotel. Luic was waiting in their suite when they returned. “Oops,” he told Gaby. “I might have forgotten to untie Alex before I left. Too bad he doesn’t have his knife anymore.”
“So,” Thomas asked, “where is this Orcas place Alex says has Null City?”
“It’s part of the San Juan Islands,” Gaby replied. “I’m sure we can get a steamer…”
“No!” Thomas’ eyes widened in horror. “As in Hell can freeze over first, no. Leila, tell them. I want to save the world as much as the next guy, but no steamers.”
“Thomas has a little … seasickness issue.” Leila put a comforting arm around Thomas. “And by that I mean that he does his best to turn his stomach inside out and spit out his toes.” Thomas nodded solemnly.
“Harry and I went whale watching in the San Juans once,” Luic told them. “I can’t remember most of it because we were drunk, but I think it wasn’t that far. I’m guessing we could fly there. And that way we wouldn’t need to advertise our arrival until we have a chance to check out the place. Or risk Thomas’ toes.”
When they stepped off the beach on Orcas Island the next morning, a woman was waiting for them. “I’m Carey Arneson, the Anchor for Null City,” she told them. “Did you bring the book?” She smiled at their blank looks but hurried to explain. “We have a seer who visits here occasionally. He told us you might be coming today with a book that would protect Null City.”
“Is your seer by any chance a distinguished looking, middle-aged Irish gentleman?” Gaby asked.
Carey laughed. “Well, if a six and a half feet, frequently drunk Irishman could be considered distinguished, that might be our Rian.”
Gaby stepped forward, holding out her hand. “My sister and brother, Carey and Connor, were named for the founders of Null City. My name is Gabrielle Parker, and I think you are my great-grandmother’s mother.”
“Nice ice-breaker,” Leila muttered.
Carey Arneson stared for a moment and then said, “I think you’d better join me for lunch.” Thomas looked hopeful.
Over lunch they learned Null City was an ancient concept, and there were many versions of it scattered throughout the world. “Our Null City is part of a worldwide group called Haven,” Carey explained. “Haven’s mission is to find a way to live among the outside world. But Null City has always been a place where people who have different gifts can gather for refuge and to raise their families in safety.”
The others looked at Luic.
“Forgot to tell you that part,” he admitted.
Carey’s hands rested protectively on her own abdomen. “But the world is changing. There are trains, telegraph, newspapers: we’re worried there won’t be a place remote enough for us to be safe.”
After lunch, they walked around the little town. People smiled, but nobody seemed surprised when Carey didn’t introduce them. They ended up back on the beach where some boulders and huge driftwood logs served as seating around a well-used fire pit. Carey waved at the logs. “We gather here every night we can, just to share our day and be together. It’s the real heart of Null City.”
Gaby, who had been walking in front with Carey, turned to face the group. “I grew up in another Null City. A brave woman founded it as a shelter and a refuge where people with special gifts can live as normal humans.” She turned to Carey with a sad, wise little smile. “Many people gave their lives for that dream. Our job here is to give their dream a chance.”
Gaby took Leila’s hand. “Now.”
While Carey watched from a nearby log, Leila spread her scarf on a large flat rock and poured the jewels from their velvet case. Sinking to their knees in the sand, they formed a circle around the jewels. Thomas pulled out his heartknife and made a tiny nick on each of their index fingers as Leila looked away. Before they could all put hands together, Gaby pulled back. “Null City,” she said thoughtfully. “I thought I was supposed to be the one for Null City, but actually…”
She turned to the woman seated behind them. “Carey, our family’s bloodline is sealed as Anchors to the new Null City. I think… No, I’m sure that is meant to be you.”
Carey hesitated. “I wish the fishing boats were back. I’d like Connor to be part of this.”
“We would all like to meet him. But he wouldn’t have a part. The Anchor seals from mother to daughter through the mother’s bloodline. It has always been you.”
Carey nodded and joined their circle, holding her hand out for Thomas’ knife.
They each smeared a drop of blood onto the flat of his knife. Thomas held Leila’s finger as she looked away and made gagging noises. Then he carefully put his knife face-down onto the jewels. They put their hands on the pile, Luic and Gaby’s hands over Thomas and Leila’s, with Carey’s on the top.
At first they barely felt the vibration, a subtle pulse. As it strengthened, each heard a sound accompanying it. Luic, the musician and general of Haven, heard a pure guitar chord vibrating through his h
and. Leila, the warrior and child of the Fallen, heard a perfect sustained trumpet note. Thomas, the protector and soldier of the Watchers, heard a flute’s promise. Carey, the human Anchor of Null City, heard a steady drumbeat. From the beach around them came echoes of the notes of all the Gifts who had gathered together before the fire. Finally, faintly but growing louder, there was a long, clean, train whistle.
And Gaby, the Gift whose talent was harmony, heard them all. We’re here together at this exact place and time because these are all the notes we need to capture the pivot point for the Metro and the new Null City. And she pulled them together into a perfect symphony.
Beneath their hands, the sunlight splashing on the jewels grew into a flash. The symphony grew louder as the light glowed impossibly brighter. They closed their eyes against the blue fire, but it lit the inside of their eyelids, while the sound grew to a roaring wave that broke over them at last. They braced against the sensation, both fearing and half-hoping the departing wave would pull them along as it ebbed. The blue light backlit each of them with an aura that fizzed along their faces and arms, dimming as they finally opened their eyes and looked down.
Where the jewelry had been lay a book still faintly glowing with sapphire light. Diamond-bright letters winked across the top in a language they couldn’t read.
“The Book?” Leila groaned. “Don’t tell me… Alex Menard was right again?”
A train whistle blew. When they looked up, a gleaming Metro was waiting. Ø CITY METRO said the signboard next to the shiny new Tickets machine.
Gaby picked up the Book and gave it to Carey. “I’m guessing this is what the Metro needs to make the new Null City. I think everyone in your Null City will get a Metro ticket to the new one, but there are a few rules you all have to know first, and each person will have to make their own choice.”
After she explained the basics of how the Metro and the City would work, Gaby hugged Carey and wished her luck. “But if it helps to know,” she told her softly, “you are going to be successful. Thanks to you, generations of Gifts will find shelter and a wonderful life in the new Null City. And one other thing.” She put a gentle hand on Carey’s stomach. “I was named after Carey and Connor’s first daughter, Gabrielle, who was born soon after they arrived at the new City.”