“But only one that we’re interested in. There’s a layover, so he’ll be getting in within a few hours.”
“All right, everyone,” I announced as their eyes turned towards me. Darian, pensive and waiting. Slugger, ready to steal the next base. Lucio with the camera under one arm, expectant. Arial, itching to prove herself again after the news of Lacit. Lola, half smiling as she calculated what was about to occur, and half shimmering within this world. I took a breath, then continued.
“When we were at the academy, Siri kept us under her foot, trying to control our every move. To bend us to her will. Make no mistake, Lacit is of the same breed— he’s no different, and though his words may not be as sweet as hers, his power is every bit as dangerous. Beneath his police force is the entire city, an entire city he wants to manipulate. Now it’s up to us to stop him.
“I don’t know what he wants. I don’t know what he wants to do with it. But I do know where he is going, and I know if he isn’t stopped, it’s going to be bad. Worse than under Siri. The responsibility is ours because there’s no one else we can turn to. There’s no one else who will take the job.
“You have one hour. Pack up, then we move as soon as my mother returns. Lucio, be ready to plant some memories- I don’t like to rely on that, but we’ll need some cover. Then it’s time to cut Lacit off before he reaches the heart of the Amazon.”
Part 2
Chapter 39
Wind blasted into me like an open furnace as I stood across the crag, sweat rolling down my back in a response to the humidity and my eyes squinting against the burning sun. I was on an island, with no company but sparse trees and bushes, their roots clutching rocky soil in protest as their backs bent beneath the torrent. In every direction, the land fell away in cliffs, the sharp angle leaving nothing but air between me and the ground for hundreds of feet. And below was a sea of green, trees that waved their boughs far below, beckoning me to join their number.
I shifted the space behind me, and there was a gasp as a second person emerged from the open portal door, her hand sheltering her pupils from the light.
“It’s amazing,” Arial whispered, coming beside me and staring below, her eyes tracing a river that snaked into the distance. A few miles from us, it met the horizon in a glittering point where the solid greenery yielded to patches, and buildings pressed in protest against the border of the rainforest. Tropical birds in rainbow hues flitted in and out of the trees below, specks of red, yellow, and blue that peppered the leaves. The howling of monkeys drifted up towards us, barely audible at this distance, and the originators hidden by foliage.
“And it’s huge,” I said, turning in a circle. A space this large complicated searching for Lacit, and I knew the Amazon extended far beyond my line of sight. More importantly, it made searching for what Lacit was trying to find for nearly impossible. “That’s a major disadvantage.”
“Not so,” said Lola, stepping through. “Because I know where we are going. Lacit, however, does not.” Arial frowned, and a disgruntled Lucio leapt through the portal just centimeters behind Lola.
“Then why did you insist on a guide?” he asked. “Let’s just go there directly.”
“If I told you to walk to New York City from your house, you might be able to do it,” said Lola. “But you’d arrive disheveled, weeks late, and penniless. Where we’re going is several times harder to reach. I could point us in the right direction, and I could get us there, but getting us there alive is another objective entirely.”
“Ah, good to know we’re already contemplating death before I’ve even arrived,” said Slugger as he joined us. “Keeping things nice and cheery just like usual, eh?”
“I’d expect no less,” added Darian as he arrived. He sniffed the air and rolled his neck, peering at the birds far below while basking in the sunlight. “But this place already beats the subway dungeon. I could get used to this.”
“You? Get used to somewhere?” interjected Lucio with a sharp laugh. “You’ve been here ten seconds! I’ll believe it when I see it, and I’d bet money that you couldn’t spend a year in one location over your entire life.”
“At least when I leave, it’s of my own accord, and I’m not kicked out each time,” retorted Darian. “Anyways, I just haven’t found anywhere I like it yet.”
“Well, don’t go running off just yet,” I said and walked to the edge of the cliff, keeping a healthy distance from where moss made the ground slick and cracks raced through rock closest to the side. I braced myself against another bout of wind, my stomach lurching as I was pushed towards the empty space, and caught sight of a road far below.
“That will take us to the city,” said Lola, following my stare. “But it won’t take us far into the forest. We’ll have to find our guide for that.”
“Well, Arial,” I said, turning to face her. “I promised I wouldn’t leave you behind, and now we need you as well!”
“Ah, so I’m to be a glorified ferry?” she asked.
“Better than a blimp,” smirked Lucio, and she swatted at him.
“You and Darian both. Darian, you get the baggage. Until you’re confident flying, you shouldn’t be transporting people.”
“We could just drop it over the edge,” he said, as Lucio’s face paled and he lunged for the camera case, his knuckles white on the handle. “Kidding, Lucio, kidding. I need to practice anyways. Flying is one of those powers where if you forget how it works halfway, it can be a real problem. Gliding can turn to falling real quick.”
“Take a couple laps to get the hang of it, then,” I said as Arial hovered while Darian concentrated on her, then rose into the air himself, shaking just a few feet above the ground. He leaned left, then right, his body following the motions in a slightly delayed fashion. I watched as he turned a full circle, then tilted in the air, losing several feet then catching himself as he reached an odd angle.
“I’d keep moving,” I said. “Staying stationary looks more difficult, and — whoa!”
From behind, two hands shoved against my shoulder blades with enough force to send me stumbling. My heels tried to catch, but the ground was too slick, my fingers raking across the moss as my shouts turned to screams. The edge of the cliff approached in slow motion and I somersaulted over it, the world spinning as I turned upside down. Wind rushed through my ears as I accelerated downwards, my heart ceasing to beat, my eyes widening as the trees reached up to receive me. I forgot to breathe. And I forgot to think, adrenaline freezing my thoughts as my natural instinct fought to react to a situation beyond its control.
Then I felt fingers hook under my armpits as brunette hair whipped around me, and Arial’s voice shouted above the howl.
“Never gets old! Sometimes, you just make it too easy!”
Chapter 40
We glided in a long arc, corkscrewing around the spire of the crag in a path mere inches away from the stony outcroppings. Vines dangled past, leafy offshoots reaching out like fingers to brush past our rippling clothes, while sheltering birds’ nests perched on precariously thin ledges of rock. A lizard glared at us for interrupting his sunbathing session, and spiders darted into the shadows from the center of their webs. And as we sank to the tree level, the rainforest displayed its sheer size in a sea of endless green that stretched on beyond comprehension.
Arial dropped me into soft ferns from five feet up, and I rolled through the verdant landing patch before reaching my feet. I brushed dirt off my pants as she faced me, her feet a foot above the ground. For a moment, neither of us spoke, then I broke the silence.
“We’re still pretty far from the road,” I said, gesturing in its general direction.
“I know. I thought we might want a couple minutes away from the others,” she said, dropping down to the balls of her feet, landing far more gracefully than I had.
“You also didn’t have to push me off a cliff and drop me,” I said, rubbing my heels, which were sore from the impact.
“I think I did; you deserved it,” s
he retorted. “Is there a reason why you’ve been keeping me out of the loop?” Then her voice softened. “Should I know about something? Have you been seeing Lola?”
“Lola? No, it’s not like that at all, Arial!” I said, stepping closer, but she bristled. “Look, we had to take her in. There’s nothing between us at all, and there’s no privacy at our home, so there’s no way we could hide it.”
“Just don’t lie to me, SC,” she said, avoiding my gaze, choosing instead to look towards the ferns. “And I’m sorry about not telling you about Lacit. I didn’t know it was important.”
“It was my fault for not checking up on you sooner,” I said, hugging her. At first she stiffened, but then relaxed, and I felt her head on my shoulder as the sweet scent of her hair filled my nostrils. “Things just got carried away.”
“I’m sorry if I’m not good enough,” she muttered. I released her, then looked into her eyes, searching them as I spoke.
“Arial, that’s not it at all. Of course you are. But it’s not about how good you are; it’s about who you are.”
“Good, just don’t leave me behind again, okay?” she asked. “I know I’m not living with you right now like everyone else is. I don’t want to be forgotten.”
“Trust me Arial,” I answered. “You’re the last thing I would ever forget.”
“That means a lot, SC,” she said. “I’ll go fetch the others.”
She rose into the air and streaked away, back to the top of the crag. But Arial had forgotten something herself— I was still several hundred feet away from the road.
Then I sighed and started trudging through the forest.
Maybe she had not forgotten.
***
Twenty minutes later, I reached the road, just as Darian settled the last of the luggage down on the gravel.
“It’s much easier when you get the hang of it,” he said, smiling, and turned a slow backflip in the air. Halfway through, he stopped, the angle interfering with his new power as he tumbled to the ground, his shoulder hitting the road first as he let out a grunt.
“Oi, we got a master flyer here,” said Slugger, nudging Darian with his foot as he groaned. “MVP for sure. Good thing you only carried luggage. That’ll teach ya for showing off.”
We started walking towards the city, each of us with arms full of bags. Slugger moved back and forth across the line, his fingers brushing against each of the items to decrease their weight, making it feel as if we carried bundles full of air.
“Was all this really necessary?” asked Lola to Lucio as a package slipped from her hand and she fished it out of the dirt.
“Careful with that!” he scolded, picking it up to balance it in a tower of items already in his arms. “We can’t damage the props! And yes, we need it all. Speaking of which, it’s time to discuss the plan. We’ll be calling the first taxi we see after we reach the city center, and you’ll need to be ready by then. So at the first chance, we have to get changed. And leave your personalities behind. You are you no more— it’s time to become someone else.”
Chapter 41
“Hybrids?” shouted a voice from a nearby tent. “Hybrids for the lady? Only the best from here! Like nothing you’ve tasted. I swear it on my own mother!”
Just thirty minutes before we had entered the city, the gravel road yielding to concrete as dilapidated buildings started to buzz with life. Short-haired cats stalked out of alleyways, their yellow eyes watching us with suspicion as we marched forwards. Young faces peered down from open windows, then quickly ducked out of sight before we could meet their expressions. And gradually, we left the outskirts behind to enter a market thick with merchants shouting their wares, eager to sell us flashy goods identical to their neighbors’.
“Hybrids!” shouted the man again, catching Arial’s attention. He jiggled as he walked over, strands of beads sewn into his shirt jostling against each other, and locked her in his gaze as he smiled to reveal a chipped front tooth. Grey strands mixed with the sweat in his hair as he grasped her hand and pulled her closer before she could react, gesturing towards the shelves behind him. Dozens of fruits lined the wood, each plump and ripe, shining in small lamps that amplified their color.
“Sorry,” said Arial, trying to pull away. “I don’t—”
“The best hybrids in the city,” the man insisted, then picked a grape and a strawberry from the shelf. He pushed one into each of her palms, then clasped the backs of her hands in his own, pushing the fruit together in the center of her cupped fingers. He paused, holding them there for a second, then released her, peeling back her fingers like a blooming flower.
There, the two fruit had merged into one, a single small oval the size of a grape with the texture of a strawberry.
“For the lady,” said the man, plucking it from her and holding to the light. “I have a special deal— half off any orders over a dozen.”
“Erm—” started Arial, subconsciously reaching for her wallet, but Lola stopped her hand.
“Just the one!” she ordered, dropping some loose change onto the merchant’s countertop as she pulled Arial away. “The rest of you, keep moving. Lucio, check your pocket.”
“Hey!” Lucio exclaimed as he reached down only to find another hand extracting his wallet. He whipped around to spot a boy his age crouched behind him, his task nearly complete.
“Scat, get!” Lucio shouted, waving his hands as the boy scurried away. “Keep your fingers off me! Thieves code, we don’t steal from each other!”
“Looks like we need to go over some ground rules,” said Lola, pulling us into a small alcove between stalls. “Here, you are tourists. And tourists are generally incompetent. That means anyone who can sell you anything will try to rip you off, and anyone who can target you will try to steal from you. First rule,” she said, pointing to Arial, who still held the grape-berry in her hand. “Is never to make eye contact with a vendor. Once you do that, it’s game over, and they’ll reel you in. Second is never to show where your wallet is. There’s plenty of watching eyes, and we stand out here. Which brings us to rule three, that Lucio just learned— keep your wallet secure. Now we’re walking targets here with all our luggage— let’s get out into a main street.”
“Good idea,” said Lucio, then commanded in an overly loud voice, “Like she said, to the main street!”
Lola led us around the back of the stalls, ducking and weaving as we moved. We passed hundreds of merchants, men and women selling bright fabrics and oddities, plus a dozen others offering hybrids when they saw the fruit Arial carried. When we broke out away from the market and into an intersection, she popped it into her mouth, then pulled a face and spat it on the ground.
“Ugh,” she said, spitting again to scrub away the flavor from her tongue. “That’s disgusting! I don’t think I’ve ever had anything so tart, and the texture is slimy!”
Lola laughed, turning back to her. “Anyone with enough skill to make a hybrid worth eating certainly won’t be found at a back market stall. They’ll have their own shop— the power is in demand for the talented, but the lower strength ones can only control a single aspect. It’s the top ones that can truly blend essences, but you won’t find them for cheap, should you find them at all.”
“I’m not sure if I’d ever want to find them,” said Arial, her face still puckered.
“Oh, but you will!” said Lola. “Some of the best foods are hybrids, and many of the greatest exports. But food is just one application. I’m sure you’ve seen some of the pets they can make— but those take the greater part of a month to craft, and if you skimp on cash, the temperament can be quite challenging.”
“Pets?” asked Lucio. “What do you mean by that?”
“Why have a cat or a dog, when you can have both?” Lola asked. “But that’s a simple example. Flying monkeys or fish that survive off sunlight alone are just a few other possibilities. Like I said, expensive, and often unstable. But mere trinkets for the rich.”
“And illegal,” Aria
l said. “Sounds like it’s animal cruelty.”
“Only if butchered,” said Lola. “And we have no such laws here. I’d advise caution when saying that to a Blender— many of them are vegetarians from their love of animals. Now, Lucio, we’re near the city center.”
“We need to get off the streets, the sooner the better,” I said. “Let’s get moving.”
Lucio found a dark alleyway, and we took turns changing our clothes and replacing the contents of the luggage. Then he raised a hand to call a cab and regretfully parted with some of our dangerously low cash as the vehicle darted through the city blocks.
Chapter 42
The six laughing teenagers who entered the hotel lobby snubbed the doorman on their way inside, leaving their luggage in a scattered pile on the pavement. Other guests looked up in irritation as their raucous voices echoed through the expanse, jarring with the chords of the pianist seated at the glossy black grand in the corner and overriding the white noise of the sparkling fountain centerpiece. One accidentally dropped a glass at the complimentary infused water station, then impatiently gestured to the attendants to pick up the shards before serving himself another and following their leader at the head of the group.
In contrast to the insufferable climate, he was dressed sharp— his cufflinks sparkled brighter than the chandelier, he could see his own reflection in the shine of his shoes, and the kerchief that peeked out from his breast pocket touted a monogram of his initials. There was a spring to his step, a pompous swagger that demanded attention, and declared that any who opposed him would be sued into a lifetime of crippling debt. He sneered when he reached the front desk, ringing the bell twice despite an attendant already hurrying his way, annoyance crossing his face as he drummed his fingers on the counter.
Only on close inspection could the hole in the suit on his left elbow be noticed, one that was currently being covered by the chatty brunette girl who linked arms with him, her hair cascading over the flaw. Or the black paint that covered the chip on the wooden base of his shoe, as well as the glue seam that held it together. Perhaps most obvious were the ripped belt loops of his pants, secured with electrical tape and hidden under the sway of his suit, that threatened to be exposed with every step.
Negative Film (Star Child: Places of Power Book 2) Page 13