Zero Sum

by B. Justin Shier

  Rei stopped climbing.

  “Dieter!” She gasped. “You’re squeezing my…”

  I ignored her. The scent of lavender was comforting. So was the perfect, hand-sized pillow my left hand was holding. It was soft and tender on the outside, but nice and firm at the center. I felt a tiny pebble growing inside my palm.

  “Dieter!” she squealed. “Stop it! That really hurts!”

  Blood rushed to my head.

  Boob. I was holding onto Rei’s boob…

  “Sorry!” Rei was going to kill me. I released my grip, and my Sight sparked to life.

  It actually took a few moments before I realized I was falling. I was grabbing at the air for about the third time when the ocean of silver shrapnel greeted me. Death. It was all around me. Impatient for its prize, it overloaded my Sight. The blades raked against my skin, caressed my hair, and whispered with delight. I could hardly believe it; this was all happening so fast. I didn’t want to be eaten. I didn’t want to be swallowed. But my body was already on its final trajectory. There was nothing more I could do. And it all felt so wrong. There was so much to see. Questions I never asked. Feelings I never explored. I didn’t want to fall. I didn’t want to lose her hand.

  And so you won’t, my child.

  I would find out later that the thing had been waiting for my call. It guided my hand upward. I reached out into the void for the hand that fit mine all too well. The silver blades screamed in fury, and the world popped once again.

  And then I heard her voice...

  No…not like this. Not after finally finding him: Someone who sees me. Someone who needs me. A person that’s so warm. A person that fills the emptiness. A person that asks for nothing but me in return. That soft hand. That easy walk. That sad smile…I want this one. He shall not fall. I shall not allow it…

  Rei’s voice and a strange world of white…

  I’ll slaughter the whole world before I…

  Nothing but white…

  Pain. Bátor’s Ghost, there’s so much pain…

  The rush of wind against my face…

  But I feel his weight…

  Her hand, satin smooth…

  I have to climb…

  The brush of silk against my skin…

  Almost there. Almost there…

  Gentle…so soft…

  I must. The top. The top. The top. Not alone. Not again. But the world is so white…

  Just like when I…

  Just like when Dieter…when he…

  The link…Rei’s using the…

  Oh, fasz kivan!

  +

  A full moon filled the sky over my head.

  I wasn’t falling anymore.

  I felt my body to make sure it was still there. This wasn’t supposed to be. I should’ve been dead, but there hadn’t been any splatter. No sayonara, Dieter Resnick. Instead, I was lying on a slab of concrete, my feet dangling below me. I urged my body up and looked down.

  I was sitting on a 350-meter tall bench.

  Terrified, I dragged myself away from the ledge of the building until I ran smack into a wall. My senses returning, I spotted Rei. She was lying near me. Unconscious. Everything below her waist was dangling off the side.

  A surge of adrenaline got me moving. I scrambled over and pulled her away from the edge. Satisfied she was safe, I wiped dried blood from my nose. I felt spent. Exhausted. I leaned against the wall and took stock. We were on the wrong side of a safety barrier, a good four feet below the main deck. This was the very edge of the tower. Nothing but a thin ledge with a bunch of mechanical equipment. A/C units and the like. I counted my blessings. This ledge was probably only accessed for maintenance. The lighting was poor, and there was excellent cover. As quietly as I could, I grabbed hold of the top of the wall and pulled myself up.

  There was a ton of activity up on the observation deck. Talmax mages were milling about, working at the perimeter of an array. It was monstrous. The darn thing had pentagrams inside its pentagrams. I spotted Carrera at the middle of it. He was on top of the platform that housed the crazy drop tower ride. He was directing the efforts of the other mages. I counted ten of them in all, plus about twenty others: a dozen or so gunmen; Anna and her henchmen; a group of seven men that looked exactly like the two Rei had faced in New York; and in the center of it all—being led towards the large obelisk—were six of my fellow Elliot initiatives.

  The strain of holding myself up was getting to be too much. I let myself back down and checked my watch. We only had half an hour left till midnight, and Rei was out cold. She looked paler than a ghost. Not even her lips bore any color. And Rei’s beautiful dress was in absolute mess; I must have torn the back of it when I fell. I cursed. My stupid phobia had almost gotten us both killed. Thank goodness Rei had somehow managed to catch me.

  I shook my head at it. What incredible strength it must have taken to manage that climb with only one free hand—and she had already been straining to lift the two of us. There was a moment back there were my Sight told me I was going to die. Then there was that blinding whiteness and that odd sensation of warmth. I couldn’t explain any of it, but whatever Rei had done, she had managed to save my life yet again. I took off my suit jacket and wrapped it around her. Buttoning the front, I chuckled. A smirk was plastered across Rei’s face.

  Typical.

  I’d worry about piecing together what happened later. We had a reaping to avert. I checked my pants pocket. It was cracked, but the chalk was still there. I clicked on my earpiece and reported in:

  “Captain, we’ve reached the observation deck. Rei’s out cold, but I’m okay. Talmax has got about thirty people up here. I count Carrera plus his ten mages, about a dozen guards, and seven of those big guys we encountered in New York—oh, and there are a few Nostophoros playing for the opposing team.”

  Monique let out a curse. “Roger. What about those kidnapped students?”

  “Guarded at gunpoint. And, captain, they’re being…” I peered over the barrier again. “Captain, you’re not going to believe this. Carrera is strapping them into that ride.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “That drop tower thingy. The one that goes up and down the obelisk. Those Talmax guys are locking them into the harnesses. I count six total.” I re-examined the perimeter. “Carrera’s coven-mates are working on a mondo array. I can’t make heads-or-tails of it. The symbols are way too complicated.”

  “The big ones always are,” Jules chimed in. I let out a sigh. It was good to hear Jules’ voice. “Dieter. Carrera may be plannin’ on usin’ the initiates as some sort of catalyst. Remember how I said that ACT acts as a Ki center?”

  “Yea.”

  “To attract mana using a Ki, ya need ta spin some starter mana around it. He might be usin’ the grubs as catalysts to set off his reapin’. Dieter, we absolutely cannot allow Carrera ta start the cast. Once that array fires up, I think the initiates are done for.”

  Human catalysts? Stars above…“Got it,” I replied.

  “Okay then, Dieter. I’m goin’ ta walk ya through some sketches, okay?”

  “Roger, Jules. Lecture away.” It was time to call in the cavalry and end this shit.

  +

  “So, like an ‘S’ but more boxy?” I asked.

  “That it is. And be sure to notch those edges—otherwise you’re gonna invert the spectrum and spray us all over the desert.”

  My eye twitched involuntarily. “Okay, got it,” I said, chalking out the last part of the translocation circle. This particular circle was way above my pay grade, but I had an above-average tutor talking me through it. Finished, I pushed in the slightest bit of mana to form the seal. Volume control wasn’t an issue. I barely had enough mana to get the job done.

  “Alright. It’s set,” I said wiping my brow. Even spending that little bit was physically taxing.

  “Good work, me apprentice. Ya get an A if we arrive with all our pieces prim and proper.”

  I scratched my head. “About that
. If you guys just gate in—”

  Monique clicked in: “It’ll cause too much of a ruckus and we’ll just get chewed up by gunfire. Can you manage one of your diversions?”

  I looked around. We were on the westernmost edge of the tower. If I stayed on the dark perimeter ledge, I could probably make it to the southern side of the tower unnoticed. I told Lambda to wait for my signal and got ready move out, but then I realized I had another problem. Rei’s body was still as limp as a ragdoll. She was snoring peacefully, but I couldn’t just leave her here. If the rest of Lambda gated in, Rei would be snoring in the line of fire.

  After hemming and hawing, I decided I would have to take her with me. I hefted her onto my back and got my arms under her legs. With a huff, I started treading around the perimeter. I could hear the music, shouts, and the cheers echoing up from below. The booze must have been really flowing.

  No surprise, really. Las Vegas had made New Year’s Eve the event. They gave you all the drinking, partying, dancing, and gambling you could ever want compressed into the span of a few crazy nights. Big gamblers flew in from around the world to be lavished with amazing year-end dinners. Half of California drove in to party through the weekend. Famous entertainers sang. World-class chefs diced, sliced, and broiled. Extra strippers flew in from the East Coast. New Years Eve was the busiest night of the year—and it was about to become infamous. No one below knew about the other clock ticking away. No one knew about Carrera’s plan.

  I wondered if Ms. Curray had managed to get away.

  I hoped she had. I wasn’t so sure we could stop it.

  Reaching the South side of the building, I found a large AC unit humming away. I looked at Rei’s sleeping face. She looked peaceful. Content. Rei looked almost human when she slept.

  Maybe it was because she was so vulnerable.

  My jaw tightened. There was no way I was leaving Rei out in the open, but there was no way I could get her off the tower, either. So I did the best thing I could think of. I set her down and dragged her underneath. Stowing Rei under an AC unit wasn’t glamorous, but it was the safest place I could think of. I looked out across the valley. If Carrera won—if we all died tonight—no one would find her. She’d be protected from the sun in the morning. I felt relieved by that thought, like a boulder of worry had been lifted off my shoulders.

  Rei safely hidden, I continued around the tower. I ran to the east-most point—the spot directly opposite to the first circle I drew—and knelt down to prepare another. It was time to catch some attention, and I knew just how to do it. I sketched out the three circles of a trefoil and began the process of sending mana into them. Pushing in the mana was incredibly hard. By the time I had started on the third, I was sweating heavily and spots were forming on my vision. It was like the finish of a hard run. I had to push myself through it.

  Circles charged, I prepared the transmutations. I was on the second when I sensed someone was approaching. My heart sped. They were coming around the perimeter from the northern side. I fumbled for the gun strapped to my back and pointed it into the darkness. I checked the safety and repeated Rei’s instructions: Three shot bursts. Aim low. It will kick up as you shoot. I cursed my nerves. My hands were shaking badly.

  “Dieter?” a female voice whispered. “It’s me, Dieter. Don’t shoot.”

  I strained my eyes.

  “Is that you, Sadie?” I asked.

  “Yeppers,” she answered. I could see her creeping towards me. “I got separated during the extraction. Lost my radio too. Freakin’ crapper of a night, man. Thank God I found you.”

  The tension went out of my shoulders. Damn, it was a relief to see her.

  “How the heck did you get up here?”

  “Same way you did. Up the side. Freaky as hell.”

  A gust of wind buffeted our bodies. Reflexively, I grabbed hold of a support beam. Sadie wasn’t as shaky. She swept the hair from her face with her gloved right hand. The fingers of the hand remained motionless, the result of that terrible burn. I was recalling the terrible smell of her scorched flesh when my nose pricked—the air stunk of sulfur.

  “So what’s the plan?” she asked. “Are we still gonna blow this bitch?” She looked around. “Where’s Rei? Didn’t she make it?”

  “Rei?” I muttered. Sulfur. What had Rei said about sulfur? As if by instinct, a firm metal shutter latched shut inside me. “I don’t know. I lost track of Rei.” I looked up at Sadie. Her robe was in perfect shape. There wasn’t a scratch on her. She looked as good as new…except for that paralyzed right hand.

  “Sadie,” I asked, my shoulders tensing, “how’d you manage to climb up here?”

  She smiled.

  “Why Hans helped me, of course.”

  I turned right into the punch.

  Chapter 19

  IT’S A TRAP

  I spit out the blood filling my mouth and shook my head clear.

  “You hit like a girl, Hans.” He did actually (well, one girl in particular).

  “Oh, hush, magus. We’ve just started our relationship and you’re already hurting my feelings.”

  Hans was dragging me across the deck by the collar of my shirt. I struggled to free my hands but found they were bound tightly behind me. Felt like Zip-ties.

  “Like we would allow you to cast freely after our yeoman’s report. A Dealer…what a rare and delicious treat.” Hans was smiling like a kid in a candy shop. Unfortunately for me, I was the candy. “We’ve been looking for one of you for so long—and here you were right under our nose. No warts on you, either! Do you have any idea your value?”

  Sadie was following us. She was sporting a green cloak I’d never seen before. I spit out another mouthful of blood and glared at her.

  “Why? Why the fuck are you doing this? Stars above, Sadie, they killed your parents!”

  Sadie smiled and shook her head. “Incorrecto, Dieto. The fam is right over there.” She gestured to her right. A man and woman in matching green cloaks stood off to the side in conference with Carrera. They were Sadie’s parents, all right. I recognized them from her dorm room pictures—but Sadie’s dad had always worn a beard. I blinked twice. No wonder. Sadie’s dad had scars on both his cheeks, two enormous brands, actually. Both were in the shape of the letter D.

  “D-shaped brands,” I muttered. Everything in my over-libraried brain fell into place. I had made a classic Imperiti mistake: My time scale was off. I looked back at Sadie. “Stars above. Those brands…your father was a member of the Batallón San Patricio?”

  Sadie looked surprised. “Spot on, Dieter.” A slight smile crept across her face. “That’s my star pupil for ya. Thompson is my mother’s name. My pa’s name is Riley. Albright must have had you doing some extra reading. You know who John Riley is, dontcha?”

  I looked up at the moon-drenched sky. John Riley? I knew all about John Riley. His story was a huge chunk of Carrera’s book. John Riley was the leader of the Batallón San Patricio, a group of Irish immigrants forced into service by the U.S. Government during the Mexican-American War. Being Catholics, they were treated terribly by their Protestant superiors. They got fed up and decided to desert and join their fellow Catholics on the Mexican side. By all accounts, they fought valiantly throughout the war, but during the same battle that Carrera had lost his brother to, the Batallón San Patricio’s positions were overrun. As Mexico City fell, every last one of John Riley’s men was hung in front of him. But the U.S. generals didn’t kill John Riley. They branded both of his cheeks with D’s for desertion, lashed him for a full day in front of his dangling men, and then handed him back to Mexico.

  Not our most shining moment.

  “Stars above,” I managed.

  “Rights, Dieto. And might I just say you’ve been one serious pain in the ass. I spend a whole year cracking Elliot’s defenses only to have you screw the whole operation at the last second. Do you have any idea how long it took to learn how to do a frameshift? It was a freakin’ perfect one too. I was about to toast the
entire faculty before they could launch a single cast—and Kit was about to get the TNT-kiss he so royally deserved—but you had to stumble in and wreck everything.” She kicked my boot and tsk-tsked me. “And after my ma and pa did such an awesome job leveling Portland’s academy. Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was?” Sadie itched her hands through her gloves. “I even lost my temper.”

  Not paying much heed to Sadie’s tirade, Hans flung me into a lawn chair and checked the state of my Zip-ties. A thorough one, this Hans.

  I glared at Sadie. Her spiky black hair was its usual frosted perfection—but her smile was all wrong. Something was bothering her. “Are you out of your mind? How many innocent people have you and your family killed?”

  “Sorry, Dieter, but I’m afraid the body count is slanted a bit in the direction of the US of A. We’re just evening the score a bit.”

  “A bit?” I spat. “A bit? What about the drugs? How many people are dead because of the drugs?”

  “Really, Dieter?” Sadie shook her head. “You children of privilege are all the same. Carrera ain’t forcing them down anyone’s throat. He merely offers. Your people buy. Letting America destroy itself? That seems pretty fair to me.”

  “Fair?” I looked over at the glowing array. “You’re about to sacrifice thousands of innocent people! What’s fair about that?”

  “That’s not my fault!” she boomed. For a single second, I caught a whiff of doubt. “There’s no other—”

  “You are mistaken, Young Master Resnick,” a silken voice interrupted. “This reaping is the epitome of fair. I do believe it’s nearly the same amount of natives Fremont spent in order to seal the Great Western Flow in the first place. And your dear Kit did nothing to stop him. Or should I say, your dear Albright.”