“Of course, of course.” Voss leaned back and pressed her fingertips together and tapped them against her lips. “And I will help you, but only because of the child.”
“No, we don’t want your help,” Holly said, envisioning Voss messing up their work again and then the inevitable irritation of watching Shiro moon over the woman. Actually, she wasn’t so bad with Shiro not around behaving like a total idiot.
“But you won’t be able to do it without me,” Voss said, looking indignant.
“Why not?” Holly cocked her head to the side. If Voss gave them the key, they didn’t need her.
“The Skelty Key, Holly. I’m not letting it out of my sight this time.”
Holly held in a sigh. Could they convince the blonde woman to loan them the key again? If they couldn’t, would Holly be willing let Voss join then? Was the mission worth the irritation of having Voss around?
Odeon watched her, and when Darius looked at her, Holly nodded.
“Alright then,” Darius said.
TWENTY-ONE
“SO we’re letting her on the team,” Holly mused as they walked through the city streets, heading to the Spireway. There was currently a lull in the rain. The city smelled of wet earth and concrete, the dust and dirt of thousands of feet rushing through it and the winds that brought the volcanic ash from the far reaches of the planet. The streets weren’t as crowded as usual because of the storms. Most Kotans found ways to stay inside when there was a storm, although not every resident of the city was able to. Those that had to venture out carried umbrellas with them and most hunched lower as though afraid of the rain.
Holly and her friends stood straight as though taunting the rain. A few drops spattered against Holly’s neck and shoulders.
“Are we sure it’s the best move? She’s not my favorite person to be around. I have to admit it,” Holly said.
“Ah, Drake, she’s helped us a bit. I don’t think she’s too bad,” Darius said.
“No, you’re right, Darius. I agree, I was too soft. She’s terrible.” Holly kicked at a loose rock in the street, washed free in the rain. It scuffed away from them and landed in a gutter that carried the water to the canals.
“Jealous?” Darius asked.
“Of what, exactly?” She tapped the screen to call the elevator to go up to the spire tops.
“Her confidence. How she just does what she wants?”
“Yes, I am jealous of her ability to not care about anyone but herself. It’s a trait I’ve always greatly admired.”
“Sarcasm, Drake?”
“Do you think, Darius, that she’d be jealous of my amazing sense of humor and sarcasm?”
“More sarcasm?”
“I know, setting a record today, aren’t I?” She laughed.
“I’ve definitely gathered that you don’t admire her.”
“There’s nothing to admire about her,” Holly said, turning and leaning against the wall of the tower as they waited for the carriage. “Odeon, what do you think?”
“She is not my favorite human. Nor did I like the Centau much.”
“Odeon, come on. You like everyone,” Darius said. “Is this because Drake doesn’t like her?”
They boarded the elevator. The doors swept shut and the carriage lifted toward the sky as they talked and watched through the clear walls. Outside the elevator carriage, the colors of the Ice Jade spires warded off the gray of the rainy day. The soft yellow glow of the windows of the towers emanated a cozy sense that all was well with the universe. The sky above them was charcoal and full of potbellied clouds that looked pregnant with rain.
“Yes, Darius, that’s exactly it,” Odeon said, smiling. “Holly makes all my decisions for me. What is it that I don’t like about the woman? Hmmm. Countless things. But one is, perhaps, the way that Aimee Voss doesn’t listen to anyone else.”
They got off the elevator and walked across the platform to the queue to wait for a gondola. “You know what we need?” Holly asked.
“A few things for the mini dirigible slash drone,” Darius said, waving his fingers like he was doing a magical trick, and then he rubbed them together like a diabolical, evil genius.
“What is the dirigible for?” Odeon asked.
“Ah, that’s right, you weren’t there when we planned it, Odeon,” Darius said. As their gondola stopped and they boarded, Darius proceeded to fill Odeon in on the plan for the dirigible. The interior of the gondola was lit softly with automatic yellow lights that rose to greet them as they entered it. “So we’ve got to grab some things at Le Tissier’s to make it.”
“And I trust that you know what you’re doing?” Holly asked.
“Oh yeah, I definitely do, Drake.”
“He doesn’t Holly. Darius is doing what you call ‘winging it.” Odeon smiled and put his Ousaba club down like a walking stick as he leaned his back against the wall of the gondola.
Holly programed the windows to lower as they hovered over the city. With the clouds hanging so low, the gondola seemed to be floating through a dark mist that clung to everything as they passed through it. Darius took his tweed hat off and closed his eyes as the humid breeze rushed over his face. Odeon tilted his head back to catch the wind against his skin and silver hair.
“Odeon, you know that my winging it is the same as someone much dumber taking weeks to consider and execute a complex plan. I know exactly what I need to do, and I have a pretty solid idea of how to do it.”
“Darius, please,” Odeon said, holding up his hand. “There’s no need to begin telling me all the intricate parts that you’ll need to put together to make it work.”
Darius blew out through his lips and laughed. “You love it when I make you listen to my boring work.”
“As much as you love listening to me work out a complex musical score either by talking about it or playing it on one of my instruments.”
“Well, that’s because I’d rather have you focusing on another instrument,” Darius teased.
Holly began to feel like she was a third wheel. She hadn’t seen Odeon banter much, although it made her curious about their own relationship and what it was, precisely, if he was so into Darius, or men, in general. Maybe he was into both? She hadn’t really concerned herself with it too much, because she felt that the bond she’d developed with Odeon was distinct and pressure-less. There hadn’t been a need to define it or force it into a certain shape, just for the sake of having something to call it.
There wasn’t a lot of time to focus on it anyway. The Spireway ride ended and fifteen minutes later, they were inside Le Tissier’s basement shop and the madame herself attended to them, as usual.
She gave Holly a quick embrace and three besos—Holly felt a thrill: she’d worked up to three besos. After greeting the others with besos, Le Tissier discussed Darius’s needs with him. They sat around the coffee table made from stained glass, their feet resting on the elegant rug that covered the concrete basement floor. Around them, glass shelving hid the walls. Mechanical devices and old, analogue objects filled the shelves. Large glass beakers and flagons, strange metal objects with screens and ancient-looking keypads, and objects with working gears and cogs.
“And now, what it is you need, my friend?” Le Tissier was taller than the average female human. Even when she sat, her torso and head extended a whole foot taller than Holly.
Darius told her about the tiny dirigible that he would control from the ground, how it would migrate high over the city, sucking up messages as they beamed from device to device. Le Tissier tsked when she heard this, flipping her long, springy curls back over her shoulder, then gathering them with her fingers and long nails to arrange the hair down and display it across her chest.
“Darius, your plan is so nefarious, what’s the purpose of it?”
“You needn’t worry, Madame, it’s intended to flush out the workings of the Shadow Coalition,” Darius reassured her.
“I know that I needn’t worry. But do you realize how dangerous they
are? Even I avoid them. When they come to my club, I try to freeze them out. I give them terrible service. It would make my life easier if they never came back,” she said, lowering her eyelids. Her lashes were so long, she seemed to have spiders living upon her eyelids.
“The sole reason for getting involved in their affairs, Bea,” Darius said, using a shortened version of her first name, “Is because they have kidnapped a child we know.”
Le Tissier’s hands flew to her mouth as she gasped. “No!”
Darius nodded. He glanced at Holly and Odeon, then continued. “Before they take someone else, someone much closer to us, we want to get back the child and hopefully cripple their organization. If they had left the innocent of the 6-moon system alone, we’d have no issue with the bastards. But they fucked with kids. Now they’ll pay.”
“Then I will help you, Darius, Holly, and Odeon Starlight. We may belong to the underworld of this beautiful, fallen city full of the demons and angels of the four races, but no one hurts children and gets away with it.”
Holly smiled, exchanging a look with her friends. That feeling, that sense of right warmed through her body. It was nice to have someone appreciate their efforts. The job ahead wasn’t going to be easy, but Holly hoped she remembered this feeling when the moment came that she wanted to give up. Because she had enough experience by now to know that it would come.
TWENTY-TWO
SOON after they left Madame Beatrice Le Tissier’s Sveldt Encounters, Holly felt the prickling on her back and the crawling skin sensation up her arms and neck that she’d experienced earlier in the day when she thought she was being followed. She scanned the crowds pushing through the streets, shopping at the open market tents, bustling to and fro. The jade district that held Le Tissier’s was full of people—they didn’t have the same luxuries as the nicer districts. Staying in during storms wasn’t an option. A body had to forge ahead to put food on the table.
Holly glanced at Darius. The bag he held across his body was laden with parts he needed to construct the surveillance dirigibles. He would have a hard time running with it without jostling the parts and potentially ruining them.
“Anyone else get the sense that we’re being followed?” Holly asked Odeon and Darius quietly.
Odeon stopped and held his club, suddenly on high alert as his gaze swept the area.
“Shit, this is not a good time for me,” Darius said. “I can usually outrun them. But I don’t want to shake up the parts we just bought.”
“You won’t. Because you’ll sneak off. Odeon and I will stick together and throw them. Darius, you head back to the Bird’s Nest. Turn on your mic. We’ll turn ours on. Keep an eye on us. We might need you to do your magic with the Spireway. I think we can lose them, but not if you stay with us. You’re deadweight right now.”
“I don’t like the plan, Drake, but I don’t see a better option at the moment. I just spotted an SC thug on the other street, watching us and getting worried because we’ve stopped. Oh damn, he’s coming this way now.”
“Go, then and get lost in the crowd, Darius.” Holly shooed him away. “You alright with this plan, Odeon?”
“I think we can manage, between the two of us, Holly. You’ve gotten better at this. I’m proud of you.” He laughed and then grinned at her.
“It almost seems like you’re exciting for the chase, Odeon. If anyone else said that to me, I’d probably punch them,” she feigned a heavy sigh and shook her head. “But I let you get away with almost anything. Now, what do you think? Spireway?”
“Let’s head for it. They’ll be less likely to shoot at us if they’re on the Spireway as well.”
Trusting that Darius had gotten away without being seen or followed, Holly and Odeon headed for the nearest elevator that went up to the Spireway platforms, pushing through the crowds. The area outside Le Tissier’s was always packed more tightly with bodies than other places in the city due to the open market. Today was no exception. As they jockeyed for position to get around the press of people, Holly saw in her peripheral vision that one of the Coalition goons had gotten closer. She cursed and moved behind Odeon, telling him to force his way through the crowd using his club. He lowered it, then, and used it to plow a path through the bodies. Cries of shock and irritation accompanied their progress, as well as Holly flinging apologies back over her shoulder as she passed by those that moved aside.
Soon they were near the elevators. Many of the inhabitants of this jade district were too poor to afford Spireway transportation, so the area in front of the elevator carriage was clear. Holly rushed to the screen and pressed the call button to summon the carriage. Odeon stayed behind her, prepared to fight with his Ousaba club.
Holly spun as she waited for the carriage. The crowd suddenly spit out the thug who she’d seen in her peripheral vision. He crouched and crept toward them, ready to fight. There was suddenly a knife in his hand that hadn’t been there just a moment before. Holly considered pulling out her aether gun, then opted against it. There were too many people who would absorb projectiles that missed their intended target.
Odeon’s club was longer than the young thug’s knife and he seemed to know it, so he paused just out of reach of the weapon. Behind her, the elevator chimed its arrival.
“Come on,” she urged Odeon, then turned and ran for the elevator. She twisted around inside the elevator to see if the Druiviin was coming, and saw him swipe a warning swing at the thug. When the goon dodged away, Odeon turned and rushed into the elevator beside Holly. The doors closed just as the thug rushed to the control screen and presumably punched it to call another carriage.
“He’s going to be right behind us at the top,” Holly said. Her breath came in short pants from the excitement.
“Yes. They’ll be right behind us. And it won’t just be that one who reached us first—it will probably be all of them.”
Holly paced in the elevator. “And ideas?”
“I think you should get in line for the gondola. And I will fend them off with my Ousaba. Once we get inside the gondola, we should be safe.”
Holly nodded. “Let’s do it. If I have to, I’ll use my gun.”
“I agree. But only if necessary. We don’t want to hurt innocents,” Odeon said.
“Darius, can you hear me?” Holly touched her ear. Rain had begun to fall again full throttle outside the elevator.
“Got you Drake,” Darius’s voice said in her ear.
“You safe?” Holly breathed a sigh of relief.
“One or two followed, but I shook them.”
“Glad to hear it,” Holly said, still touching her ear. She leaned against the wall and starred down at the street below in a pointless attempt to see if the SC goons had gotten into another elevator carriage. “When you get back to the Bird’s Nest, we might want you to send a gondola or two back to home base for repairs.”
“Oh sure, repairs. I get it.”
The rain smacked against the window of the elevator in splattering sounds and ran in rivulets down the glass.
“Nearly there,” Odeon said. He leaned against the glass near Holly, one hand spread above him to support his long, lithe body.
“I’ll go straight for the queue. Come with me if you can. Maybe they’ll be delayed a bit.”
“Don’t count on it. I will be right behind you, however.”
The elevator coasted to a stop. The door opened and rain blew in immediately. Odeon went out first, then Holly followed, the rain soaking her right away. She hurried around Odeon and ran across the platform to the covered area where the queues were. She merged into the sparse line, and turned to watch for Odeon. He waited just outside the elevator doors for the other carriage. When it opened, a thug rushed out right away running at full throttle. Odeon swung and bludgeoned him in the head. Another SC foot soldier had remained in the elevator car and saw the vicious move. Odeon ran for the line, ignoring the other thug, his warning delivered.
Holly jumped into the next gondola, and turned, waiti
ng for Odeon. He leapt in just as the large carrier began to move out of the platform. The door closed and sealed them in, out of the rain.
They both collapsed against the wall, leaning their backs into it, watching the platform recede behind them through the windows. Holly sighed. Odeon ran his hand over his face, wiping the rain away.
“That was close.”
“So close,” Holly agreed. “Hopefully they’re far behind us, we can relax now. You really clobbered that one.”
“He’ll live.”
“Fortunately. Or unfortunately.”
“It depends on how you feel about people traffickers,” Odeon said.
“Doesn’t it? I don’t like them. Do you?”
“I can safely say that I hate them.”
They laughed quietly, though both knew that the subject wasn’t funny.
Holly felt her pulse reducing to a normal rate. She sighed and thought about Charm and the work she needed to do. Suddenly, there was a thud, followed by a soft hissing noise, and then the the hissing noise resolved into the rushing sound of wind coming from somewhere.
“What the hell?” Holly asked. She straightened, moving away from the wall, and looked around. The sound came again, and then she saw the hole developing in the outer wall on the far side of the gondola.
“They’re shooting at us,” Odeon said, pointing. Two gondolas behind them, Holly could just make out the flare of explosions from the barrels of the aether guns.
“Shit,” she said. She pulled her own gun out and waited. That seemed to be all that she could do. If she moved to the other side, she’d be in the pathway of the next projectile.
“Darius,” she said, “you there?”
“Yes, Drake.”
“You back at the Nest yet?”
“Almost.”
“Is anyone there at all? We need interference. They’re shooting at us. I don’t now how long our gondola will last.”
“Program it to go to the nearest stop. Get off.”
“Right, right.” She headed to the center pole where the v-screen was. The entire far outer wall had disintegrated in the aether projectile explosions. As she reached for the panel, the next projectile hit the pole. The purple fire of aether ate through a portion of the pole, and began to sear through the control panel, destroying enough of it that her touch did nothing to to it.
Hands of the Colossus Page 14