by K W Quinn
“Oh, Helori has an amazing collection of supplements. And fresh wheatgrass, Marv.”
“I’m glad you’re happy,” Marv said sourly and headed to the front door. “I’m going to take a walk.”
“Good idea.” Juji bounced up to join him. “I think we can get a couple of miles in. No one is reporting flooding yet, so we should be good, right?”
Marv nodded, shoving his arms into his jacket and pulling the hood up. He pulled a scarf and gloves from the pockets. Juji’s only concession to the weather was a light sweatshirt. Her strong legs remained visible in her trademark shorts, despite the freezing temperatures. Every layer she wasn’t wearing, Marv was.
“It’s a shame about the trees,” Juji said. They walked through the neighborhood, and she touched the bark of every tree they passed.
“We’ll help rebuild. There are dryads and Naturals ready to help with the cleanup. We’ve got Ags on board too. It’s a sucky sacrifice, but we’ll make the best of it,” Marv reassured her.
“There’s gonna be a lot of mess.” She let her hands trail along the fences of neighboring houses.
“There will, but think about how the Earth can reclaim their name as they help all the people the Conglomerate has been hurting.” He realized Juji was stating the obvious because she knew Marv would try to reassure her and, in doing so, reassure himself. He confirmed his suspicions by watching Juji grin around her straw.
“How did you get all tangled up with this, Juji? You were such a good kid.” Marv shook his head.
“Oh yeah. Just a grifter Water, trying to scam a living out of the richest kids in the district. Such a good kid.” She snorted and tucked her free hand into Marv’s pocket.
“I’m still grateful that Andy introduced us.”
Juji nodded. “I thought I was gonna pick your pockets and be gone.”
“You did pick my pockets.” Marv nudged her with his shoulder.
“But I stuck around. Bought you dinner.” She tilted her face up at him, smiling.
“With my own money.” Marv laughed.
“You need to stop fixating on the details,” Juji said, waving her sludge. “Just be thankful for the outcome.”
“I’m trying. I am.” They walked quietly for a while. “I’m nervous about seeing my dad again.”
“From the other side?” Juji chewed on her bottom lip. It was sweet the way she was worried about him.
“I’ve always been on the other side,” Marv said.
“Yeah, but this time you’ll actually be on the other side of a declared war. Not just a moral argument.”
“Yeah. That.” They continued in silence.
“You know you’re doing the right thing, Marv.” Juji squeezed his hand inside his pocket. “You’ve always used your resources to help people, even when it went against the most powerful man in the world.”
“It’s one thing to fund rescue organizations behind fake company names. It’s totally different to stand next to the Mistwalker when he tries to negotiate with my dad.”
“You’re not a coward, Mardav.” Juji’s face was solemn.
“I’m glad you think so. I’m still not sure.” Marv watched the pavement, focusing on the cracks.
“Well, you should trust me. I’m the brains of this operation anyway.” Juji slipped her hand out to gesture between them. She jogged a few paces ahead before turning around to walk backward.
“Oh, really? If you’re the brains, then am I the brawn?” Marv laughed, lifting his slender arms in their uncountable layers.
“Nah, I’m the brawn too. Full package, you know.” Juji smiled until her eyes disappeared in crinkles. Marv couldn’t resist and smiled too.
They rounded a corner, and his smile froze.
“Juji, stop,” he hissed.
“Don’t be jealous. You know you’re pretty too.” Juji surged forward to cup his face, but he caught her wrists and hauled her behind him.
“The door,” he whispered, nodding toward Helori’s house. The door was open. Juji pressed close as he took small, measured steps forward. The door wasn’t just open; it was hanging from the hinges, twisted inside in a puddle of shattered glass.
Marv surged forward, Juji keeping step beside him. There was no use in screaming, though the names of these women he’d barely gotten to know pressed against his lips. He raced up the porch and peered into the gaping hole where the door should have been.
He searched for the thick, black vans the Enforcers used, but the street was empty. If not for the clink of broken glass under his feet, it would have seemed to be a peaceful evening.
“We weren’t gone for that long,” Juji said, peering around Marv’s shoulders.
“It wasn’t a coincidence,” Marv said through clenched teeth. “No way they could have just stumbled upon them while we were conveniently out of the house.”
“You think your dad had you followed?”
Marv’s jaw was tight, and there was mud in his veins. He nodded and screwed his eyes shut. Blood and ash, he didn’t want to make this phone call, but he reached into his pocket anyway.
“Juji, watch your step, but see what’s left inside. I’ve got to tell Cass.”
“There are still too many people down there,” Cass argued. The living room was stuffy with barely repressed opinions. Amel, Art, and Lerae all stared at him. Reyah and Andy stood at his side. Dez hovered between.
“We’ve offered them all the options. Everyone has been given a chance to evacuate,” Lerae said, crossing her arms. “We can’t save everyone, and we can’t wait any longer.”
“I’m not gonna flood the whole city until I know we’ve done everything we can to make it safe.”
“We have.” Lerae threw her arms up. Cass hated arguing with her, but it was all they seemed to do these days. He’d melted the lakes and pushed the water down the river. His tornadoes had torn whole blocks apart, ripped cell towers out of the ground, and smashed warehouses. But they wanted more damage, more destruction.
Amel rubbed his palm against his chin and opened his mouth to speak, but Art cut him off. “Cass, the people down there don’t want our help. They don’t want to leave, and we can’t force them out. They trust the Conglomerate and think we’re a bunch of liars and thieves out to steal their jobs, money, and homes. They won’t budge.”
“Don’t they know what’s coming? Why would they stay?” Cass paced between the couches. None of it made any sense. Why wouldn’t they get out of the way? He didn’t want to hurt them.
“They don’t believe the severity of things,” Dez answered. Her face was drawn from many late nights on the trail. “The Conglomerate isn’t telling them the danger they’re in. And these people trust what the Conglomerate says and what they see, which right now is clear skies and dry streets,” Dez replied.
“The Mountain doesn’t believe we’re a threat. Just a bunch of rebels making inflated promises. He doesn’t take us seriously,” Art said, pulling on his beard.
“The suburbs? He doesn’t care about them. The flaming bastard is probably grateful to us for cleaning them out,” Lerae spat, and Art was nodding. “Until this reaches his front door, he won’t do anything.”
Cass shook his head. “But those people—”
“Have made their choice. I don’t want to hurt people, but I’m not going to force them onto our side.” Lerae leaned in, planting her hands on the back of the couch.
“Have we told the rest of the Capital?” Cass pleaded. “Do the people below the waterline know?”
“Cass, we’ve been up and down the streets, relocating those who want to get out. The upper levels of the high-rises are safe, and some people are retreating there. Most of them don’t think anything will happen. Businesses will be destroyed, and the central business district will be several feet underwater. We’ve spent so much time telling them all this. What more can we do?”
“We could . . .” He paused to swallow. “We should . . . I mean, I have to . . .” Cass sputtered.
; Reyah put a hand on his arm. “You’re doing the right thing. You’ve taken all the precautions. You saw how it worked in Hutchings. Your mom warned people, and so many of them have taken what steps they could. Houses can be rebuilt, but we have to focus our energies on the people. These people, they deserve our help, too, but they won’t accept it until they need it. We have to be ready to help them when they do ask.”
“Help them recover from the damage I’m causing,” he said with slumped shoulders.
On the end table, his phone began to vibrate itself off the edge. Reyah caught it, and he took it from her hand with a sigh. Marv’s wide grin flashed on the screen.
“Brace yourself, Marv. The water is on the way.”
“Cass, blood and ash, are you at the house? Are the witches there?” His voice was ragged.
“Charly is making dinner, but I’m busy trying to convince everyone else that we shouldn’t break the dams until we get more people out of the city.” Marv would understand. Marv would be on his side. Maybe they would respect his authority and experience since Cass had neither to offer.
“Get Charly. It’s important.”
“Why are you out of breath, Marv? What’s wrong?” Cass jerked his head toward the kitchen, and Reyah nodded, darting down the hallway.
“I’m such an idiot, Cass. This is all my fault. Juji and I just went for a walk. To clear my head. I was overthinking, but I wasn’t thinking at all. I’m sorry,” Marv babbled.
“Calm down, Marv. What’s going on?” Cass nodded to Charly as he walked in, flanked by Reyah.
“They followed me. The bloody Enforcers followed me. I don’t know how much they know, but they must know that they’re important, or they wouldn’t have taken them. I’m trying—”
“Taken who, Marv?” Cass cut in. Andy pressed closer to his side, leaning in to try to hear the other half of the conversation. Reyah squeezed his fingers tightly. He briefly wondered what he must feel like to her now.
“Your mom. Cass, they took your mom. Andy’s too. I don’t—”
“To the Dome?” Cass’s blood was ice. His fingers ached from gripping the phone. “Would they take them to the Dome, Marv?” Andy was so close Cass could feel his frantic breath. Cass’s lungs could barely move. His pulse should be racing, but everything had slowed.
“Probably, yeah. The deep dungeon there is where the high-profile prisoners are kept, but—”
“Good.” The word felt like a hammer, ringing in the silence around the room. His fingers, cold and stiff, curled around the phone. “The whole point of this was to free those prisoners, keep them safe.”
“Cass, are you all right? You don’t sound all right. Let me talk to Andy.”
Andy’s hand reached to pull the phone from Cass’s grip, but Cass shook him off. “No. I’m fine. I’m the Mistwalker, right?” Everyone in the room was staring at him, looks of confusion and worry. “I’m going to be the Mistwalker and save the world.”
“Cass, what if . . . ?”
“There is no ‘if.’ Get Juji and whatever else you need and come to the cabin.”
“Cass, we shouldn’t leave. We’re supposed to be helping when the flood hits.”
“It’s going to hit hard, Marv. Whether you’re there or here, be prepared. No more waiting.”
Cass thumbed the phone off and licked his lips.
“They took our mothers.” Gasps and curses rippled through them, but Cass held up his hand. “They want to hurt us, but they don’t know what hurt is.” The words echoed in his chest, creating cracks in the ice around his heart. “No more waiting. The flood is heading for the suburbs. Let’s get ready to break the city.”
“Finally,” Lerae said, fists clenched.
“Someone must think we’re enough of a threat to try to take hostages,” Amel muttered.
“Won’t they hurt them? If we do this, won’t they hurt our moms?” Andy’s voice was high and tight, like a whistle through his teeth.
“They captured; they didn’t kill. What does that say for strategy? Andy, help me think this through. They took them, probably to the Dome. If they’re prisoners, they’re probably not going to be killed. They would have killed them right away, right?”
Andy nodded, jaw tight. “They’re hostages, and that means they want to negotiate. Threaten us to call things off.”
“If they’re captured, they’re already hurt. We can’t stop that. But if they’re being used as leverage, they have to stay some level of safe.”
“That’s a big risk, Cass. I don’t like it.”
“None of us do, Andy. But that’s why we’re here,” Lerae said simply. “If we liked this kind of destruction and power plays, we’d be with the Conglomerate instead of trying to fight it.”
Cass felt Andy’s stare burning into him.
“Cass, this isn’t like you. What are you going to do?”
“Whatever I can,” he answered. Andy wasn’t wrong, but Cass knew he was right. Everything had pushed him to this point.
“We’re working with the tools we have to try to do things right, but the Conglomerate won’t be talked away. They have to be broken,” Lerae said, stepping close to Reyah, and two sets of dragon eyes stared at Cass. Two striking, blue faces. They all turned to Andy.
He nodded. “Then let’s break it.”
Fly
“Are you ready?” Reyah asked. She rubbed her arms, and Cass pulled her close. It was chilly from their vantage point above the city, but he needed to see the Water to be able to control it.
“No,” Cass sighed. He was going to do this. He’d already done so much. Relics in his pockets, soulmate at his side, he was full of power and worry and need. Everyone was counting on him. His mothers were down there.
“Second thoughts?”
“And third and fourth.”
“You feel like soup.”
“Soup?”
“A bunch of different things all floating in the same broth, so they all taste similar, but they’re different.”
“Makes sense,” Cass conceded but fell silent again.
“Soup, but thicker.”
“Are you telling me I’m stewing?”
She rolled her eyes and bumped him with her elbow. “No puns. Leave that to Charly.”
He nodded and looked at the valley. His home and so many towns like it were in shambles after the water had ripped through last night. He forced himself to look at them, soaking and stewing. Shantytowns and camps sprinkled through the higher ground, where people had escaped the flood, made Cass’s stomach churn. He’d caused this. And he would do more.
Now water and debris pressed against the dams around the city. Sandbags had been erected to try and keep water out.
From inside, Andy’s friends would open a series of holding tanks, sending water into the city center. From the outside, Cass would stir the floodwaters and push them in and over the dam, overwhelming all the defenses. Whatever trees, rocks, and furniture were trapped in the flood would be a scouring brush down in the city streets.
He closed his eyes and squeezed Reyah’s hands. “I’m gonna start. Let Andy know.” Reyah squeezed back and touched the pendant around her neck.
Leave it to the witches to keep ancient communication methods around to distribute during this siege. With all the cell phone towers down and the electricity to the whole region reduced to a trickle, this mystical version of a string and tin can was the best they had.
Cass closed his eyes and shut out all distractions. He felt for the relics tucked in his pockets. Air, Water, and something that felt like Reyah’s unusual strength. He’d strung them all together on the chain of the pocket watch. He felt stronger when they were touching.
Opening his eyes, he stared at the floodwaters. Murky and deep, they surged. He took a deep breath, feeling the Air fill his lungs and sing in his blood. He pushed it out through pursed lips. The Water began churning, swirling, and rising. Froth and mist hovered above the waves.
His hands moved in the forms Amel h
ad taught him. Reyah stood behind him, her chest pressed to his back, her arms moving with him. She was warm and steady and strong. Better than the relics for his anxious mind. He could hear and feel her breathing, an echo of his own Air.
The flood rose, and the water from the holding tanks began to spill out onto the streets, moving slowly toward the city center. He pushed that water along. He pulled the floodwaters against the dam. Wind whipped around him, a mirror image of the gale he was controlling down below.
Air and Water roared in his ears, and the power from the relics surged through him like heat rising from his gut. Heartburn and bile and magic.
Reyah pressed against him tighter, leaning forward against the pull of the wind that whipped her hair around. Tears leaked from Cass’s eyes, but he had no spare movement to wipe them away.
Below them was a desolate stretch of ground, once green and manicured by the park services but now scrubbed raw by the flood. Up the rise to their outcrop, Cass whipped the Water to new heights.
Without understanding the impulse but knowing that the only way to succeed was to yield to it, he stepped forward to the edge of the cliff. Reyah moved with him, warm and steady. The Water rose until the churning mists were tickling their feet. He lifted his foot, stepping out.
Reyah’s sharp intake of breath in his ear was the only sign of hesitation she showed. Her leg moved in concert with his.
He stepped out onto the mist, and with Air and Water holding them up, he rode the wave over the dam wall and into the center of the city. Beneath and around them, trees and boulders collided with glass and steel.
The destruction was deafening, louder than his doubts and fears.
As they approached the heart of the city, other waves from the other rivers rushed to meet them. They would all join around the Mountain’s stronghold, the building that was the pinnacle of Earth construction. It was sleek and beautiful, but inside was the heart of all the hatred and selfishness that had robbed the world of its rightful balance.
In that building, the Mountain waited. Cass hoped he was watching. He wanted Jedrek Rowan to see the destruction that his stubbornness had brought.