by Quil Carter
“Who are these damn people?” I hissed. I wasn’t sure whether these people made me more uneasy or less. Either way, I decided it was time for me to put my sunglasses on. My hair was short right now, my face clean shaven. My eyebrows were a darker shade than my light blond hair as well, which would work in the favours of anonymity.
“Friends of mine I knew in Saltland,” Julian explained. “They owe me a lot, and don’t mind helping out a friend. Ivan has his men watching us and I want him to know we’re just as dangerous as he is.” When I let out an irritated breath, Julian smiled at me. “He thinks they’re yours. Remember, my lion, you’re a mighty prince; the heir of Skyfall. You’re powerful, dangerous, and a force to be reckoned with. He doesn’t know your past, he doesn’t know your scars… so make him believe you are who you wish you were… and get everything you want out of him.”
Just as I was dismissing his advice, I realized that there was some substance to it. These people didn’t know who I was, or what I’d been through or had to endure. Hell, they might not even know which chimera I was. I could be whoever I wanted to them.
But I found myself not wishing to pretend I was someone I was not… instead I looked forward to showing them, as I had been showing my family, who I really was, and was always meant to be.
Julian and I walked through the askew metal doors, both doors standing like awkward maître ’ds that framed the inside of the decrepit building Julian had led us to. I walked through and was blinded by the brief transition between daylight and night vision, but could smell the damp stench of wood soaked and dried many times, and a low yet acrid aroma of The Dead Ocean.
Our boots crunched as we walked deeper into the dark building, the smell getting pungent with every step, but eventually the dim silver glow washed away the darkness and in front of me I saw three people standing side by side.
CHAPTER 55
One of them, the largest one, reached over to a wooden platform with an object resting on top, and when he switched it on, a lamp illuminated the darkness and chased away my night vision.
“Mr. Remmington, glad to see you brought your friend along,” the man who’d turned on the light said. This must be Ivan, and he looked the part of a greywaster. The man was tall, but not as tall as me, with a stocky build and glaring narrow eyes that shone with mistrust. He had a dark-coloured beard and short hair that framed a square face and broad shoulders. Like Julian, he was also covered in scars, and when he held out his hand to me, I saw that two of his fingers were half the length they should be.
I shook his hand, our grips both crushingly tight but neither of us winced. I didn’t shake the hand of the two younger ones, a man and a woman, instead I stepped back and waited for him to make the next move.
“My name is Ivan Jackson,” the man said to me. Then Ivan looked to his left. “This is my son Vlad and my daughter Onika. We hear you have been having a bit of trouble with a family that calls themselves the Bratvas.”
“We have,” I said. “They seem to have a grudge against the Crown and have already taken lives with their revenge tactics.”
Ivan nodded. “I’ve lost over a hundred family members to the Bratvas over the years,” he explained. “We’re not looking for the Crown to do our dirty work for us. We’re greywasters, salt-of-the-earth men and women looking to take back what the Bratvas have stolen, and doing it in Skyfall, in no-man’s land, will make it cleaner.” Ivan took a step forward, and his arms folded over his chest. “I know what you want, Elish.” My teeth clenched. I know it was foolish for him to not know me, but directly using my name didn’t sit well with me. “And I think we can come to an agreement that the two of us will find beneficial.”
“What do you think I want?” I said, my voice low. I didn’t move, I stayed perfectly still with my own arms at my side. There would be no shifting feet, no involuntary movements that could be perceived as me being nervous; I was just as dangerous as these people and I would let them know it.
“You want a distraction,” Ivan said. “I don’t know why, and I don’t care to know why. All I need is two things from you: Enough arms to help us fight this family, and the thiens looking the other way while we do it.”
This was a dangerous proposal. This man knew who I was and could rat me out to Silas if I did something that he didn’t like. I was going against the Crown, arming greywasters I didn’t know so they could fight against a family I started fucking with in the first place.
Or that was one way of thinking about it. In reality, Ivan wouldn’t tell Silas shit. His family was just as much at risk as I was, and I’d provided him no reason to think that Silas wasn’t even in on this. Yes, this would be a valuable agreement if we could come to something solid. I would be the first to have any new intel that Ivan brought me in regards to the Bratvas, and, of course, I would have at my disposal, a myriad of distractions if I felt like Silas or Skyfall needed one.
If I played my cards right, this would be a grand move. Ivan and his family would be my ticket to absolute control over both Silas and Skyfall.
“The thiens will take a while, you need to be careful for now,” I said. “Eventually I’ll be skewing the media enough to make it known you are underdogs and heroes, helping the Crown as some sort of underground fighters. We’ll make you into heroes, and my family as well. But until the media reports come in… act with stealth and play the part.”
“You do your part, we’ll do ours,” Ivan said.
“I want to know every move that you make, every Bratva that you kill,” I said to Ivan. “Everything is reported back to me. Not Julian. Me.”
Ivan nodded, as did his kid on each side of him. “You’re the boss, Mr. Dekker,” Ivan said. “You say jump; we say how high. You say get the fuck out of Skyfall once this is done, we’ll gladly leave and regain the turf that those Russian fucks took from us.”
“And enslave them as well,” Vlad said under his breath. He was a sharp-faced man with a gaunt look that suggested he was on some sort of drug.
Ivan held up a hand and Vlad stood down, then the burly man turned back to me. “Can you get my family and I into Skyfall?” he asked. “You have at least a hundred of these Bratva living in Skyfall and at least ten of them are active from what Remmington has said.” Remmington was either Julian’s real last name or a handle he was using, I wasn’t sure which. He’d always been Julian Bigsby to me, but that was only due to the parents I murdered having that second name. Obviously, they weren’t his blood parents, he was never Julian Bigsby. “I have ten men I want to get in, my highest ranking, plus my sons and daughters and my husband. Will you be able to do this?”
“Yes,” I said. That would be easy, I always did last checks on all the immigration applications and even though we weren’t currently in a mass influx, Skyfall always accepted applications. “I’ll have your paperwork ready in forty-eight hours. But…” I looked the three of them up and down. They were dressed in greywaster clothing, stained grey, dirty and patched many times over. Ivan and Vlad also had knee and elbow armour sewed into their outfits, and Onika had a leather belt sewn into a ratty yellow dress so she could carry around a gun holster and a knife sheath. “You need to dress as Skylanders or the thiens will shoot you on sight for being suspected terrorists. I can get the heat of the thiens off of you, but you can’t be making yourselves obvious targets.”
“Understood,” Ivan said. “The radio that Remmington has, that’s a secure line? I want to make sure the Bratvas aren’t hacking it.”
“Skytech has disruptors,” Julian said. He looked over at me. “You can get us some of them?” I nodded. “We’ll be communicating solely through the radio and will set up meeting places when needed. Elish’s secrecy is top priority. The moment he’s at risk of being discovered…”
“I don’t give a fuck who he is, Remmington,” Ivan said, cutting him off. “We’re greywasters and we don’t mix with Skyfall shit, which is why I’m about to become Elish here’s best friend. He keeps his nose out of greywaster
matters, and we’ll clean up the mess the Bratvas made and put on a good show while doing it.” He then set his eyes on me. “If you have any targets for us, tell us. Other than that, as long as we have a secure line… there’s no reason for us to be seeing much of each other.”
“No, there isn’t,” I said. “Find any abandoned building along the outskirts of Skyland, they’re the ones that have the least monitoring and I’ll make sure they’re safe. I’ll have your weapons dropped off here with your paperwork, then it’s all on you.”
Ivan held out his hand again, and our steel grips met for a second round. “That’s all I needed to hear,” Ivan said. His children both nodded. “I hope you enjoy the show.”
Once I arrived home I gathered the forms I would need to create Ivan and his family’s paperwork and enlisted the help of Finn to get a jump on it. Before leaving, Ivan had given me a notebook full of the ten people that he wanted to have access to Skyland and now that notebook was in Finn’s hands.
“You’re sure this is a good idea, Master?” Finn asked quietly. He’d been a silent mouse since I’d arrived home with Julian in tow, and only after Julian had gone home for the evening did he speak to me.
“It is,” I said. “I’m not at all happy that this man knows who I am… but everything has their risks.” The realization that three greywasters who I only knew through Julian, had the knowledge that I was trying to stir up propaganda in my own city made my stomach churn. But I had to trust Julian with this, I didn’t have a choice. Was it an intelligent move? Only time will tell, but if there was one fact that was clear, it was that in order to advance my campaign and ensure my safety and Finn’s safety when it came to Silas… I had to do this.
I had to do this. If I wanted to play it safe, nothing would ever change. I would always be worrying about Silas doing that surgery, or shoving more pills down my throat, and Finn would be at risk too. In order to change my situation, risks had to be made… and this was worth the risk.
“What if he finds out…?” Finn’s tone was barely floating above a whisper, it seemed weighted down with nervousness and unease.
“He won’t,” I said plainly.
“But what if–”
“Finneus, he won’t!” I turned and snapped at him. Finn, who was on my bed clutching Dave to his chest, jumped from my tone and the cat scrambled out of his arms and skidded under my bed.
Finn didn’t even look up at me, he just stared down at the paperwork he’d been ignoring and nodded shallowly. “Okay,” he said, then he picked up the notebook. “He won’t.”
It was quiet after that but the atmosphere in the room had become awkward and thick. I tried to ignore it, but could feel the back of my neck burning as I continued working. This was eventually followed by sniffing, as Finn made his discontentment known to me.
I guess I had to do something about this then.
So I got up and left the room. If he wanted to sulk about good news, he could do so on his own.
But just as I stepped towards the door, there was a blur of black then a great crash as something smashed against the doorframe. Something that had been flung.
I turned around and saw something I don’t believe I had ever seen before.
Finn pissed off. And not just his normal pissed off which made him look like an angry, yet adorable, kitten with its fur all bristled, Finn was glaring me down with a homicidal rage that had me wondering how long left I had on this earth.
And I was right to think such things, because in a flash, Finn had an uneaten orange in his hand which was soon flung directly at my head.
I ducked, but not well, and the orange smacked me in the forehead before landing on the floor and bouncing away.
“You better get used to people throwing shit at your head, Elish. Because it’s going to be happening throughout your entire fucking life!” Finn snarled, his eyes torched sapphires that seemed determined to make me combust where I stood.
“What the hell is wrong with you!” I cried. “Have you lost your fucking–”
“What the hell is wrong with me?” Finn screamed. He reached for the only thing left in throwing range, a half-empty bottle of ChiCola and snatched it. “ME? Fuck you!” He flung the bottle at my head, but this time I grabbed it out of the air and threw it onto the floor.
I stalked up to Finn, who took several steps back before his legs hit the bed, then I grabbed him and smacked him right across the face. I pushed him then, and let him fall back onto the bed we both shared.
“Get a bloody hold of yourself, you raving lunatic,” I said coolly. “I’ve had about enough of your sulky attitude and pathetic need for attention. The day I replace you won’t come soon enough.” I turned from him and walked towards the door, anger stinging my body and filling my words with venom. I knew what I’d said was harsh, and I didn’t mean it, but his switch into the psychotic had caught me completely off-guard.
Then a weak voice sounded, one void of the strength and malice I’d heard mere moments before. “Three years,” that sad voice said. “Only three more years.” He broke down, fully and without restraint, and began to cry.
I turned around, further alarmed and confused over what was going on. “Yes, I’m sure you’re counting down the days until your freedom,” I said.
Finn folded his hands behind his neck, tears dripping from his lowered head and falling soundlessly onto the carpet. “His name’s Loren… did you know that?”
I stared at him. “No,” I said. Silas may have mentioned it when the boy was being chosen, but such things didn’t interest me. I didn’t really think of the day I’d be replacing Finn; it had always seemed so far away.
But I suppose it really wasn’t.
“He speaks highly of you… he loves you already,” Finn said in a wobbling voice. He sniffed and wiped his nose with his sleeve. “He’s going to do every thing you ask. He’s going to mindlessly obey you.”
I continued to stare at him. “What is this about, Finn?” I asked. “Stop putting on a show that I have to somehow find the hidden meaning to, and tell me what this insanity–”
“FUCK YOU!” he suddenly screamed, his head shooting up then his body propelling forward like he’d been pushed. He shoved me, as much as he could shove a man as tall as I was, and as he attempted his assault, the tears flowed freely. “You… you blind idiot. You stupid blind idiot.” His legs gave out and I caught him, and without thinking, I drew him to me and put my arms around him.
And why did I do that?
Because for some reason… I didn’t like seeing him this upset. There was… something inside of me that was hurt by it.
Another emotion I found alarming. That had been happening a lot lately.
“What’s wrong with you?” I whispered. I allowed him to cry in my arms, and I even went as far as to put a hand on his head.
Finn sobbed into my chest, until he got a hold of himself enough to speak. “You keep putting yourself in danger…” I heard him whimper back. “You keep allowing yourself to be manipulated, and eventually, I’m not going to be here to… to protect you.”
I chuckled. “Protect me?” I mused. “Is that what you think you’ve been doing?”
Finn pushed me away and tried to escape out the door, and when I attempted to grab him, he whirled around and shoved me. “I have been for eleven fucking years!” he cried. He pushed me again, but there was no will behind it. “For eleven years, I’ve been – I’ve been keeping you safe from Silas, from yourself, from the comments of the fucking elites whispering horrible things about you. For eleven fucking years, my entire life was keeping you safe and happy, and trying to find… trying to find out just what Silas was doing to you. Those pills he was giving you…” Finn stopped shoving me, instead he stood where he was and bowed his head, refusing to look at me.
“Then Julian fucking comes along… not only does he do what your brothers and I had been attempting to do for years… he puts you right in the face of more fucking danger… and what’s worse?” Fi
nn looked up at me, his face scrunched in inner agony. “You’re falling for him all over again. I’m seeing it every day… you and him become closer.”
My mouth twisted at the mere thought. “There’s nothing between us,” I said. “It’s business and survival.”
Like the room we were both standing in, Finn was silent, though his face was doing all but screaming the pain he seemed to be in. I wondered then what was hidden below that boy’s surface, and whether I wanted to lift up that translucent lair that was beginning to peel off of him.
It was a solid minute until he spoke, but his voice was so light it could’ve been lost in the crushing weight his emotions had left on my shoulders.
“You’ll fall for him again, Elish,” Finn said, his voice holding a matter-of-fact tone that stabbed my caring feelings in the back. “You’ll fall for him again, he will hurt you again, and I, as your loyal devoted sengil, will have to watch.” He looked up, the anger abandoning his face like the rage had his words, and smiled sadly. “Until I become too old for you, Master Elish, I will have to watch them hurt you. Then I will hear no more of it, because I’ll be just another man in Skyland, outside of the walls of Elish because I hit thirty and was tossed out.”
He walked past me and into the living room, leaving my bewildered self to stare at his back, wondering through the chaotic emotions, just what the hell was going on.
The realization came then, a realization that stole my breath and stopped my heart.
Julian was right.
“You are in love with me… aren’t you?” I suddenly whispered.
Finn froze, and all throughout Skyfall, I knew they could hear the desperate jump in his heart.
He stood there, glued where my words had left him. My own thrashing heart then met his in both strength and speed, and together they echoed through the room, reverberating off of the walls like a heavy bass.
Then Finn let out a muffled sob, and just as his hand flew to his mouth and his legs sent him running towards the exit of the apartment, I ran the several paces of distance that separated us, and grabbed his arm.