Magic and Shadows: A Collection of YA Fantasy and Paranormal Romances

by T. M. Franklin

  29

  Jackson

  The sunrise peeked out over the treetops, bathing the cemetery and Kenny and Andrew’s rough-hewn caskets in reddish golden light. The children had picked wildflowers and laid them on top. The younger ones didn’t seem to understand what was going on, but the older ones stood stock-still, fat tears tracing the curves of their cheeks.

  Father Edwards, the oldest member of the community, presided over the funeral just as if he had been a priest, though I understood he wasn’t. He was just the closest the community had. Almost everyone turned out for the funeral—even the Crone and the Council members who had so vehemently opposed the mission that led to their deaths.

  I wasn’t sure if I’d ever truly hated anybody before, but what I felt for the Crone after what she tried to do to Nick was the closest thing to it that I’d ever experienced. The sight of her face triggered a spike in my blood pressure, an increase in my heart rate, and a very intense emotion… like anger, but less transient. I wasn’t sure how I knew it was less transient in the moment, but I suppose it was because I couldn’t think of anything I could possibly find out about her that would change my present opinion.

  And my present opinion was that she was evil. Not that she was a flawed human being who occasionally made poor choices… no. She was evil, pure and simple—she and Uruguay Stone and most of the Council, except for that Ethan kid.

  Evil by itself wouldn’t be enough for me to hate someone, though, because I’d known evil before. I remembered the gangs that had tried to destroy Frjósöm when I was growing up. What was different this time was that she was evil, plus something else that made her wickedness unendurable…

  Power.

  That was it. She was an evil dictator. It seemed she had quite as much power in the caves as the Potentate had in the Republic.

  No, not quite as much, I corrected myself. If she’d been completely omnipotent, Nick and Molly would be banished right now. Or we’d have a third casket for Nick.

  Sam and Violet, the hillbilly couple, stood on one side of me, while Brenda Halfpenny stood on my other, with Roger Dunne beside her. Kate caught my eye on the other side of Kenny’s casket; she had her arm around Rachel, Kenny’s widow, whose face was buried in her hands. I smiled at Kate, distracted, and nodded my approval. She gave me a halfhearted smile in return. I flashed back to the conversation we’d had last night.

  “I want to be useful to you guys,” she’d said. “In the Revolution.”

  “The Revolution? What Revolution?”

  “The one that’s coming. That’s what that trial was about, that’s the whole reason the Crone is upset, isn’t it? She knows it’s coming! Now that we have a strategy, we can set people free and amass an army. It’s not just about one at a time anymore—it can’t be. Jackson, we have the power to set the whole nation free!”

  I glanced at the Crone. If she had her way, we wouldn’t rescue even one more person.

  Even more than the almost mythical Potentate, I realized, she was our adversary.

  * * *

  The funeral service only took thirty minutes, but by then the sun had cleared the tree tops. The community wandered off to their tasks for the day after that, sober-faced or sobbing. No one spoke. In the thick silence, Nick caught my eye and lifted his chin meaningfully, like a summons. But when I moved toward him, he moved away. I understood: he wanted me to follow him, but to make it look like I wasn’t following him. After me, I saw him glance at Alec, Pete, Jacob, Harry, and even Jean, who stopped in her tracks and looked to either side of her, baffled. When she finally seemed convinced that Nick meant her, she too joined the trail of hunters surreptitiously following Nick. Long after all of us left the crowds behind, Nick still led us on, apparently not trusting that we were far enough away.

  “He’s headed to the bluffs,” I heard Alec’s voice in my ear, catching up with me.

  I turned. “The bluffs?” I hadn’t heard of anything by that name yet.

  “Nobody ever goes there by order of the Council, ever since a ten year old slipped over the edge about eight years ago,” he told me. “It means we won’t be spotted or overheard.”

  I pursed my lips but said nothing. Presently we emerged in the clearing and saw Nick sitting on a rock at the edge of the cliff, his back to the ravine, waiting for us. For a man nearly executed or banished the night before, and one who had just buried two of his best hunters and friends, he looked remarkably calm. The hunters and Jean filed in one by one, looking at one another uncertainly before sitting at his feet.

  “Molly told me not to do this,” he began. “She thinks it’ll get us banished for sure. And maybe it will. But now that we know it’s possible to rescue citizens from the grip of the Potentate, we can’t not do it. Do you all agree?”

  We all exchanged looks with one another and nodded.

  “Good.” Nick looked at Jean. “You know why you’re here, I presume?”

  “We have to get more names?” she guessed.

  Nick nodded. “Before we can do anything else. I also want to know if it’s possible for you to find out what happened on Thursday at noon. If the control center signals were somehow disrupted during that time, I want to know it at bare minimum, and if possible, I also want to know how and where, so that we can duplicate the effect. It will make subsequent rescue missions both easier and more efficient. Perhaps we can bring droves with us each time, like Jackson managed to do.” He glanced at me before he went on, “I know we have no provisions, but today’s should be a relatively short mission since we’re going no further than the edges of the Republic. Jean already knows how to hack in to the database, so, while I’m sure the agents will all be on the lookout for us now, what with Jackson’s little stunt, we should be in and out before the two hour time limit is up. They’ll never even know we were there.”

  “You want us to do this today?” protested Jacob.

  Nick nodded. “Before anybody has a chance to find out about it and stop us.”

  Jean cautioned, “It’s possible it might take a bit longer this time, if you want me to get a comprehensive list. I’ll have to copy them all down by hand.”

  Nick nodded again. “We can give you longer, I think, not a problem.”

  “But we have no weapons!” protested Harry, “we have to go back for that at least—”

  Nick glanced at me. “Jackson, what do you think? Do we have to have weapons?”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Why are you asking me?”

  “Because Sam and your converts swear up and down that the bullets hit you, but you were fine.”

  The others erupted in protest at this. “We just came from a funeral!” and “Didn’t Kenny and Andrew prove—?”

  But Nick ignored all this, watching my face. When the others quieted down, realizing he wasn’t going to acknowledge them, he asked me again, “What do you think, Jackson?”

  I inclined my head to him in acknowledgement of what he did not say. He believed me.

  I said, “I think that beliefs, even false ones, have the power to kill. Anyone who thinks he needs a weapon, needs a weapon.”

  Nick nodded, considering this. “You’re probably right,” he said, “but we won’t be there the full two hours anyway.”

  “I don’t think Jackson should go,” declared Harry. He glanced at me, and said, “No offense, man, but you’re the one they’re on the lookout for, not us. If they catch a glimpse of you, we’re through.”

  “Jackson goes with us,” Nick said flatly. “Whatever the reasons for it, he can do something the rest of us can’t. We need him. But,” he said, holding up a hand, “even though we may not need weapons against the agents, and even though we shouldn’t be there long enough to trip the control center system anyway—Alec, Jacob, Pete and Harry, go back for weapons. If anyone asks, you’re going on a hunting raid like normal. Jean, Jackson, you stay out here with me and wait for their return.”

  “What about Roger?” I interrupted as they were leaving. “Should he com
e too?”

  Alec shot me a dirty look. “If you trust him already not to betray us to the Potentate, then you’re an idiot.”

  Nick looked from Alec to me, his expression impassive. At last, he said, “I agree with Alec, for now.” He glanced at me and said, “We weren’t there to see what happened with him, Jackson. All we have to go on is your word that he has changed. For all we know, he might be a spy.”

  I knew this wasn’t true, but I also knew there was no point in arguing at the moment. The other hunters left to collect their weapons, and we let them go.

  Once we were alone, I glanced at Nick. “How’s Molly taking this, did you say?”

  He laughed shortly.

  I nodded with a smirk. “That well, huh?”

  “When we got married,” Nick murmured, “back in the old days before the Crash, we agreed that neither of us would ever make a decision that might affect our family without the complete agreement and approval of the other.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “And?”

  He looked at me squarely. “And today is the first time I have ever blatantly broken that rule.”

  Jean patted his knee soothingly. “Women want to feel secure, that’s all.”

  “She shouldn’t have married me, I guess.”

  “Oh, no, that’s not what I meant!” Jean protested, “you’ve kept her as secure as she can be, out here, in this kind of world. She knows she’ll never starve with you. You’ll always take care of her. I just meant—deep down, she supports you. It’s just her fear talking that says otherwise.”

  Nick stared out across the bluffs, the wind ruffling his salt and pepper hair. “There are some things more important than security. I never thought I’d intentionally go against her wishes, but I have to do what’s right. No matter what the cost.”

  I nodded at Nick solemnly. “If they banish you, I’m coming with you. Wherever you guys go.”

  He gave me a tired smile. “Oh yeah? And what about Kate, will she come too?” When I didn’t reply right away, he added idly, still staring over the cliffs, “I noticed she took off that ring of hers.”

  I’d noticed too, but I hadn’t asked her about it. Didn’t see the point. “Kate has a lot of things to work out,” I said evasively. “She… cares for me to some extent. But if I disappeared tomorrow, she’d be on to someone else in no time.”

  “Oh, I don’t think that’s fair,” Jean scolded. “I only talked to her the one time, but she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders to me.”

  “Are we really having this conversation right now?” I asked at last, unable to suppress a smile.

  Nick moved his head to the side like a concession, and murmured, “Better than most of the other conversations we could be having instead.”

  Well. I had to give him that.

  * * *

  When the other hunters returned with weapons, we moved through the forest in near silence for hours. Once, Alec observed that we’d better shoot some game on the way back to avoid suspicion, and everyone agreed. That was the end of the conversation.

  “We go for our second target from the last time,” Nick told us when we arrived at the edge of the forest, peering at the house. It looked almost exactly like the one before it: corrugated metal, filthy windows, garbage in the yard. “Go in pairs, like before,” Nick went on. “Alec and myself, then Jackson and Jean, and the rest of you cover us from here. Ready? Go!”

  When Jean and I got inside, thick dust covered almost every surface. I turned on the faucet, thinking at least I could wipe down the surface where she had to work, but I found the faucet had been disconnected from the water supply.

  “Guess we just blow off the grime,” I muttered, as she made her way to the coffee table before the couch. There sat the net screen, looking as if it hadn’t been touched in years. A mouse skittered across the floor.

  I wandered around the room while she powered it up, peering through the dirt-encrusted windows to the hunters outside. I tried not to think about what would happen if we were here long enough to trip off the agents… so far, every mission had had a casualty. At least the first time it was only Brian’s arm.

  I heard Jean grunt behind me and turned around. “What is it?”

  “It’s… blocked! There’s a new firewall!”

  I shook my head. “What does that mean?”

  “It means they must’ve figured out this was how we found Brenda and Nelson’s names. Before, there was almost no security. I guess because they didn’t think there was any risk. But now… this could take hours. Days, even!”

  “We haven’t got either. Do your best; I’ll tell Nick. We’ll just have to get out of here under the two hour mark, no matter how far you get.”

  I strode across the linoleum kitchen and opened the shredded screen door, where Nick patrolled by. He shook his head when I told him. “And then what, have to come back here some other time and have her start all over from scratch?” He shook his head even more vehemently. “No. We stay till she cracks it, or until we die trying.”

  “But you will die trying, don’t you see?” I protested.

  “No we won’t,” he said stubbornly. “The boys up in the trees are safe. The agents won’t even know they’re there. You’re bullet-proof, and I figure now that I know that, I am too. How about you?” He turned to Alec. “You figure you’re bullet proof?”

  Alec opened his mouth and closed it again, glaring at me.

  “There’s an easy way to find out,” I said. “When you look at this house, what do you see?”

  Nick blinked at me for a minute, like he wasn’t quite sure what I meant by the question, and then turned to look at the house. “I’m guessing… not upscale suburbia?”

  I shook my head. “Not remotely.”

  Nick took a few steps back and stared at it hard, as if willing it to reveal its true nature. After a long moment, his eyes widened. “Alec!” he declared. “What do you see?”

  Alec muttered, “Red brick, wrap-around porch—”

  “No!” Nick hissed, “Look closer!”

  Alec did, frowning skeptically, and stared at it for a good two minutes before he muttered, “Well, I’ll be—”

  “Jackson’s right!” Nick whooped, “the signals must still be working on us at least a little bit, even knowing what we know…”

  I stopped listening; through the grimy window, I caught a glimpse of Jean’s face. She’d gone white. I ran back inside.

  “Jean?”

  “Jackson,” Jean whispered, her eyes livid with fear, “The firewall… it’s taunting me. Like the person who put it up knew not only that someone would try to crack it, but that it would be us. The messages it sends when I try the wrong codes…” She swallowed, and her voice trailed off. “It could have just banned me after too many failed attempts… but it didn’t. It sent error messages instead—things like, ‘We are after them,’ and ‘With every second you waste, we are getting closer.’” She grabbed my arm. “It said, ‘we are hunting them,’ Jackson. Not you!”

  An icy coldness clutched my chest as I grasped her meaning. I grabbed Jean by her grubby hand and pulled her behind me, and she followed willingly, babbling the same story to Alec and Nick.

  “The agents know about the caves,” she blurted. “They’re in danger!”

  Nick paled. Without a word to us, he turned and fled to the forest. The rest of us followed.

  When we reached the edge of the forest, Nick told the other hunters, “We’re concerned for the community. Jean thinks the agents are headed there instead of here.”

  “But how would they know—” Eric began.

  “I don’t know, but if they do know, we have to get there before they do!” Nick shouted.

  We all ran back to the caves as fast as we were able, but Jean and a few of the others in poorer physical condition dropped off quickly. From there the group alternated between a light jog and a fast walk.

  With every step I took, my sense of foreboding grew.

  Nick glan
ced back at me when we were only a few miles away, and said, “I’m going to run the rest of the way.”

  “I’m with you,” I told him.

  With one final glance at Alec, Nick said, “Take care of the others. Meet you back there.”

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later, through the distance of the remaining miles, we started to hear voices barking orders. And gunshots. And screams.

  Kate!

  I hadn’t known it was possible for either of us to run faster, but Nick and I both had a surge of adrenaline at the same moment. The remaining distance seemed to pass in the blink of an eye.

  “Shh!” Nick hissed, grabbing my arm and nearly yanking it out of the socket just before I burst through the clearing. He held his finger to his lips, and with a supreme effort of will, I obeyed him, staking out the scene before we gave away our position. I unholstered my semi-automatic and removed the safety.

  Through the dark cover of the forest, we saw soldiers in grayish-green uniforms, bearing machine guns. Bodies littered the ground—old, young, mothers and children. The ground around where the bodies lay was riddled with holes.

  The bullets are real this time.

  I turned to tell Nick this, but before I could, he’d already sprung to his feet and run forward.

  “Nick!” I hissed desperately. “Nick!”

  Then I saw why. A soldier had emerged from a cave with Molly by the hair, and he forced her to her knees.

  “You son of a bitch!” Nick shouted, lunging himself at the soldier’s back. Molly let out a cry, and another soldier tried to take aim at Nick, but the two of them thrashed too wildly to give the other soldier a clear shot. Not knowing what else to do, I ran into the clearing and pressed the barrel of my gun to the forehead of a blond soldier with a cold, pale face. He turned to me, regarding me with indifference.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said coolly.

  To my other side, Nick bested the soldier who threatened Molly and put a bullet in his head. The soldier slumped to the ground. Nick helped his wife to her feet, and she threw her arms around his neck, trembling.