Rook (Bridge & Sword: Awakenings #1): Bridge & Sword World

by JC Andrijeski

  I stared at her, feeling my jaw harden as that constricted feeling in my chest worsened. Still looking at me, Ullysa made a slash mark in the air with her fingers, the same gesture Revik told me meant “no” the night before.

  “It is absolutely not our place to explain this,” she said. “I apologize for saying anything at all to you, sister. He would be furious with us, if we discussed this with you before the two of you have spoken about it. And rightfully so.”

  I looked at Ivy, who only nodded, eyes serious.

  “You should do it soon,” Ullysa added. Her violet eyes met mine, hardening as her voice darkened. “Kat will not be able to help him with this for long, sister. And I won’t have you retaliating, not in my home.”

  She gestured again sharply, as if in judgment.

  “What you just did––it was an open offer. We both saw it. If you let it happen now, you have absolutely no recourse if he accepts.”

  At the serious look in both women’s eyes, a kind of fear grew in me, but not one that impelled me into movement. I had no intention of chasing down Kat.

  If he didn’t want her there, he could damned well tell her himself.

  As I pictured Kat in there with him, though, the pain came back in a sharp swell, along with fear, a sudden realization that I didn’t really trust myself to go after her, whatever I told myself. The last time I got jealous, I’d nearly killed someone. What if Revik told me to leave? What if I walked in on them in the middle of… whatever?

  I didn’t trust myself to handle any of those scenarios well.

  Remembering how angry he’d been when he first woke up, I wondered if he’d handle them all that well, either.

  Even as I thought it, I realized I didn’t feel Revik anymore.

  He’d completely disappeared from my light.

  When I didn’t move, Ullysa sighed again.

  That had been over a week ago.

  When I’d finally returned to the bedroom with the orange walls, later that same day, Revik was no longer in it. No one came out and said anything, but it was pretty clear I’d committed some kind of major faux pas.

  Ullysa’s voice jerked my mind back to the present.

  “Are you going to try?” Ullysa said, exasperated. “Or will you simply stand there? With all respect, I have other things that need doing, Esteemed Bridge.”

  I raised the gun half-heartedly, aiming at the dark human outline in paper hanging from a clip attached to a mechanized pulley about twenty feet away. Forcing my mind to a blank, I steadied the gun with my other hand and fired off three shots. Each one threw both of my arms back into their shoulder sockets.

  When the sound died, I refocused on the target, lowering the gun.

  Only one bullet had even hit the white paper, and that was a tear in one corner even I had to admit was likely dumb luck.

  Clicking at me, seer-fashion, Ullysa held out her hand.

  “Give it to me.”

  I handed over the gun, swinging my arm to get the kink out of my shoulder. Something caused me to glance back as I did it. Once I did, my breath caught.

  Revik stood by the door. His long body leaned halfway against the frame. His eyes narrowed, focused on mine, then shifted to the paper target.

  He raised an eyebrow.

  I felt my face flush. Wiping a few strands of hair out of my eyes, I found I didn’t know what to do with my hands. I focused back on Ullysa, trying to listen to her.

  “Watch,” Ullysa said, raising the gun. “You are closing your eyes… and jerking every time you squeeze the trigger. You are not even looking at the target, Allie! There is no way you would hit it like that.”

  I nodded, swallowing. I felt Revik’s eyes on me still.

  “Revi’ told me your father taught you to shoot—”

  “Rifles.” I heard the defensiveness in my voice. “I was a kid. I never took it up as a hobby.”

  “Well, fine. But with a rifle you must also aim. With your eyes open. And it is normal to flinch, but you must train yourself not to jerk.”

  I nodded again, then glanced back in spite of myself.

  Revik had vanished from the doorway.

  I felt a pang that made it hard to breathe.

  I’d never been the mooning type, not even with Jaden, so it made me crazy how I found myself reacting to him. Worse, it felt completely outside of my control. He was even starting to look different to me––and definitely not worse, unfortunately.

  I felt Ullysa watching me, a curious look on her face. I waved the weapon away with a grimace when she tried to hand it back to me.

  “Forget it. I don’t think guns are my cup of tea, ‘Llysa.”

  “You must learn, Alyson.”

  “No. Not right now.”

  Ullysa frowned, glancing at the door. For an instant, her eyes slid out of focus. When they clicked back, she frowned again, muttering under her breath. She indicated toward the target with her free hand.

  “Once more. I insist.”

  Sighing, I caved, taking the gun. Once more. Right.

  I raised it to eye level, pointing it resignedly at the target.

  As I concentrated on aiming that time, however, a grid appeared behind my eyes. It reminded me of the grid I’d seen while driving, the one Revik had shown me. I felt him with this one too, and flinched. He held me in place, almost as if he stood behind me, gripping my arms.

  Just watch, he sent. Trust me.

  I bit my lip, but forced myself to relax.

  In the middle of that grid, a sharp spot of light hovered near the target.

  I fought not to react as his presence retreated, leaving me standing there, shaking and a little sick-feeling, staring at the grid and that sharp spot of light. Once I relaxed a little more, I saw that the grid originated from one of the geometrical shapes above my own head. I aligned the grid and the sharp bright spot with the silhouette on the paper.

  “Gently,” Ullysa said.

  I glanced at her in surprise. I’d forgotten she was there.

  I started to pull out of the Barrier, but a faint pressure told me to stay.

  So he hadn’t left entirely.

  Aligning the grid once more, I forced a deep breath––and squeezed the trigger.

  Inside the Barrier, there was no need to flinch.

  Without clicking out of that calm state, I aligned the grid over a different part of the silhouette, firing again. I fired a third time, and a fourth. It all seemed to happen slow, like in a dream, but when I opened my eyes, the corridor between me and the target still drifted with smoke.

  Ullysa laughed aloud, clapping her hands.

  I stared at the target. Four neat holes punctuated the head, chest and abdomen of the shadowy outline. For a bare instant, I flushed in elation, tinged with a near relief that I’d finally managed to hit something.

  Better yet, I might even be able to repeat the trick on my own.

  Behind me, I felt his presence withdraw.

  It left gradually, almost reluctantly, leaving a faint whisper of nausea in its wake.

  17

  HORSEMEN

  “ANY MORE NEWS of Jon or Cass?” I said.

  I didn’t wait for an answer before plopping down on the enormous, faux-suede couch in front of the wall-length monitor. The feeds ran as a gentle hum on that same monitor, the sound low, text running beneath flickering and morphing images.

  Mika flopped down beside me, gesturing what I now knew to be a “yes” in seer sign language.

  We had just come from the kitchen.

  She handed me a glass of grapefruit juice and half a sandwich filled with something called iresmic, a chutney-like spread made by seers. Truthfully, it was weird-tasting in the extreme, but I could bear it, at least. Most of the seer food they’d tried to give me I couldn’t get down at all.

  Mika, who was the same, short, Chinese-looking seer from that first night I’d gotten there, gestured at the monitor.

  “Your friends have been moved by the government,” she s
aid. “Your mother, too. It is good, Allie. It means they are handling it through the humans. The Rooks are leaving them alone.” Mika rolled her eyes, smiling faintly as she finished swallowing her bite of sandwich. “It is the Rooks’ new favorite toy, to call everyone a terrorist.”

  I tried to smile back. I couldn’t quite feel the same relief she did at the prospect of my mom and brother in a federal prison.

  “I suppose breaking them out is out of the question?” I said.

  Mika laughed, poking me in the ribs with a finger. “You human-borns are all the same. It is all pow-pow with guns.”

  “Yeah,” I said, exhaling. “That’s me. Gun girl.”

  Mika smiled, but her eyes remained serious. “The Rooks have infiltrators all over the human government, Allie. And in every branch of law enforcement. It would be very dangerous for your family if we were to try such a thing. But do not worry! They will let them out soon. Our intelligence says your mother should be out in a few days. And in some ways, they are safer in there. The other humans may harass them once they are out.”

  I frowned, not reassured by that, either.

  From above us rose a loud bang, like someone knocking a table to the floor.

  I glanced up, then back at Mika.

  When the seer didn’t react, I forced a shrug.

  “What about when they’re out?” I said. “Can your people pick them up then? Or do you think they’d be safer where they are?”

  “We will monitor the situation closely.” Mika hesitated, then added, “I know Dehgoies feels very responsible. He is talking to our infiltrators in California several times a day.”

  I looked back at the television, keeping my face neutral.

  “He shouldn’t,” I said after a pause. “Honestly, I don’t know enough about what he could have done differently to blame him for any of it. Anyway, he didn’t make me a seer.”

  Mika patted my leg. “We will keep them safe. Do not worry, Bridge Alyson.”

  The banging above us started up again.

  It grew louder, more rhythmic, broken by thick female cries.

  I glanced up, then smiled wanly at Mika. “Someone’s having fun.”

  Mika clicked in irritation, shaking her head. “Kat… always Kat. ‘Llysa should give her a soundproof room, or at least one away from the common areas. Poor Ivy. Their rooms are right next to one another.”

  She noticed my expression then, and her irritation faded.

  “Oh. Sorry, Allie.”

  I shook my head, taking another bite of the sandwich and chewing.

  Mika sighed, staring back at the ceiling. “It’s not you, you know. She would never admit it, but she has always been weak for him.”

  I let the sandwich drop to my lap, suddenly not hungry at all.

  Mika clicked her tongue. “It is no excuse. She would not be doing this if you had been raised seer. If it were me, she would wake up missing an ear.”

  I forced a smile. “Wow,” I said. “Remind me not to piss you off.”

  Mika only made an irritated sound, aiming it at the ceiling.

  Hesitating, I started to ask, but she gave me a direct look.

  “I can’t, Allie,” she said. “I really can’t. Please don’t ask me.”

  I hesitated, then let it go, nodding. Still, everyone’s silence on the topic of me and Revik was starting to feel pretty weird. It crossed my mind that Revik must have made them all take some kind of blood oath not to tell me anything. But that seemed paranoid.

  “No,” Mika said, glancing at me again. “It’s not.”

  I turned, staring at her. I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off.

  “I can’t tell you, Allie,” she said, sighing with a soft clicking sound. “We all promised. You will have to ask him.” Rolling her eyes, she added, “I think he’s trying to force you to go to him. Or maybe he’s just punishing you for offering his body and light to Kat.”

  Ignoring my stunned look, Mika gazed up at the ceiling when the banging started up again. Her voice grew apologetic. “It could be a customer.”

  I snorted. “At ten in the morning?”

  “It could be.”

  I didn’t argue. When the cries got louder, I glanced deliberately at the clock. Placing what was left of my sandwich on the ceramic platter, I nodded to Mika.

  “I need to get going. Thanks for the food.”

  Mika looked at my barely-touched sandwich, then up at the ceiling. “You going to go play with guns again?”

  “Sight training. Ullysa’s turn to make me throw up while I try to block her and can’t.”

  “You’ll get better,” Mika said, sympathetic. “It’s like that for all of us at first. Only we’re younger…” Flushing a little, she made an apologetic gesture with one hand. “You know.”

  I tried to ignore the sounds coming through the ceiling. “Even Ullysa says I’m learning slow. All those years of human conditioning screwing with my head, or something.”

  “She says that,” Mika said. “And Ullysa acts like she is a novice, but she is really good at finding holes. She’s an infiltrator, too, you know.”

  The cries above grew louder once more, even as the banging slowed, punctuated by more masculine groans.

  I cleared my throat. “Can I practice on you later?” I said.

  “Sure. My first customer is at four.”

  Nodding, I rose deliberately to my feet.

  I made a point of moving slow, but still felt like I walked too quickly from the room, heading for the nearest corridor without paying much attention to where it led. I was about two hours too early to meet Ullysa. Biting the inside of my cheek, I decided to go to the compound’s small temple, look at some of the paintings, maybe read more of the old books they had lying around in there.

  As I passed the industrial-sized kitchen, I saw movement and paused, peering through the swinging doors.

  The kitchen was huge, even for the size of the building.

  One wall consisted of an oven range with ten or so burners. It also held two stainless steel refrigerators, along with rows of cabinets and counter space. A massive, wooden chopping block crouched by two porcelain sinks. In the middle of the room stood the high, marble table where I’d sat that first morning, polished to a mirror-like sheen and surrounded by barstools.

  Revik stood by one of the cabinets. His shirt hung open on his shoulders as he moved cans around.

  I stared at him. I was still staring when he turned.

  He flinched when he saw me there, then stared back, his pale eyes shining faintly in the kitchen’s lights. I watched him reach for his own shirt. He buttoned it up while I watched, still not really looking at me.

  “What?” he said finally. “What is it, Allie?”

  I fought to suppress the feeling that rose in me, couldn’t.

  It was relief, but more than that, too. From his face, I could tell he felt it, and that it startled him. His eyes flickered between mine, wary, but I saw something else there now.

  “Allie?” His voice got lower. “Tell me.”

  For a second, I hesitated. I glanced down the hallway, then back at him.

  I did want to talk to him. I didn’t know how, exactly, or even what I wanted to say, but I was more tired of the impasse between us than I knew how to express. I heard voices in the corridor, heading in our direction, and glanced at him again, feeling like the moment was about to pass. When I saw the wary look sharpen in his eyes, I found myself thinking about Kat, what I’d told myself about staying out of his business, leaving him alone.

  He continued staring at me as the voices got louder. I forced a smile, my nerves rising when it occurred to me he was probably reading my mind again.

  I felt a whisper of anger on him.

  Backing away, I shook my head, stepping away from the doorway.

  “Sorry, I just…” I shook my head again. “Sorry.”

  I had just let go of the door when his voice rose.

  “Allie. Wait.”

  I c
ame to a stop, in surprise as much as anything.

  He exhaled when I turned, running his fingers through his dark hair. For a moment he only stood there. Then he looked up, meeting my gaze.

  “Do you play chess, Allie?” he said.

  His voice was low, almost stiffly polite.

  I continued to stare at him. “Chess?”

  “Yes.” He motioned vaguely towards the marble bar, his accent thicker. “There is a board. We could play. Eat lunch.”

  I hesitated, but only for another few heartbeats. “Yeah,” I said. “Great.”

  “Are you hungry?” he said. “I could make us something.”

  I thought of the sandwich in the other room, then pushed it from my mind.

  “Sure,” I said. “Whatever you’re having.”

  I just stood there as he poured a large can of soup into a pot. He put it on the burner and lit the flame, then walked to a cabinet on the other side of the kitchen. I remained by the door as he pulled out a wooden chessboard that folded with hinges on the side, the black and white pieces housed within. He opened up the box on the marble bar, and started to pull out the pieces when I took another breath, and walked up to where he stood.

  “I can do that,” I said, feeling my cheeks warm. “You’re making food.”

  He hesitated a bare instant, then put down the piece he was holding.

  “Okay.”

  He retreated to the stove while I set up the board. I toyed with asking him other things. Maybe something about the sight training with Ullysa, or the gun range trick he taught me, or more about me being the Bridge. Finally I settled on,

  “You want to be black or white?”

  When he looked over his shoulder, he surprised me with a faint humor in his eyes.

  “You’re the Bridge,” he said. “You have to be white.”

  “Really?” I said, smiling back. “Why is that?”

  “The White One,” he said. “It is another name.” Seeing my puzzlement, he gestured vaguely, facing the stove. “You know. There is the human myth. With horses. The Bridge is the white horseman.” He glanced back, bowing slightly.

  “…Woman,” he amended. “Horsewoman.”

  I smiled, but the comment stayed with me as I sat there.