by Ramsey Isler
“How do you know?”
“I just saw it blow up.”
The line was silent for a moment, and when Cecil spoke again there was fury in his voice. “What . . . what in the bloody blue blazes are you on about? You didn’t actually go there did you?”
“I had to. I had to.”
“Where are your parents?”
“I was hoping you would know that,” I said. “They’re not here. Looks like they left in a hurry a while ago. I guess the gas was leaking at the house. That’s maybe why the place blew up.”
“Maybe?” Cecil asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe it was an accident, maybe it was just meant to look like one.”
“Well this is just beautiful,” Cecil grumbled. He was quiet after that. All I could hear was his breathing coming out in loud gusts. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Not a scratch. Got out in time.”
“Did you see any signs of the agents that were posted there?”
“Not really. There was some takeout in the living room but I don’t know if that was theirs.”
“Are you by yourself? Newton’s not there?”
“He’s not. I didn’t even tell him I was coming out here.”
“Have you seen Kellar or Madison?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“As sure as I can be.”
“And where are you now?”
“In front of a gas station about two miles north of the house.”
“Okay,” Cecil said. “Listen. You need to leave now. I was on my way to the house anyway so I’m close. We have a facility in Philadelphia. Do you know where the football stadium is?”
“Yeah. I know the spot.”
“There’s a train yard right across from it. It’s just freight trains, mostly empty and no lights. It’s got some sturdy fencing but the area is back in the Rift zone so you should have no problem getting around that. Just find the tower with the red light on it and I’ll be there. From there we can gather intel and see what the hell happened.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’m on my way.”
“So am I. Don’t worry, Kal. We’ll get this quagmire sorted.”
“I know.”
I hung up and walked straight to the car. I had no time to waste, and I needed some place to focus. I wasn’t quite ready to trust Cecil completely, but he was making a good case for himself. And I would be more than happy to meet him somewhere where I had the advantage of the Rift back.
Even with all this shit going on I remembered my promise to return the Escort to its rightful owner. The spot was on the way to the stadium anyway, and I felt it was important to do something right tonight. So I drove back to the house I’d stolen the car from. It was two in the morning and the neighborhood was quiet. I’m pretty sure no one ever knew the car was even missing.
I parked the car and stepped into the night air. I opened myself to the Rift and found it there, strong and welcoming. I was so glad to have it back. Power rushed to me, and that tight feeling around my chest was gone. I stretched my arms wide and cast the spell to phase to the other side. The second I was through, I repeated the process that had created my wings. They reappeared and a few downward beats pushed me high into the air. A quick recasting of the phasing spell brought me back onto the light side, and the city was far below me.
Navigating while you’re trying to fly is kind of tricky, but I made it work. The football, basketball, and baseball stadiums were all clustered together in one area near the Delaware river. A quick review of the city light patterns below me revealed the spot I had to go to. All I had to do was fly straight.
I was there in just a few minutes, and I eyed the train yard far below. It was almost completely devoid of light but I thought I could see train cars. After a second, I saw a slowly blinking red light which must have been on top of the tower Cecil had mentioned. There were no houses around here so I felt confident I didn’t need to hide my descent. I just pointed my head down, put my arms at my sides, and fell gracefully. This time, I didn’t phase back through the Rift. I opened my wings, flapped once, and let a powerful gust of air halt my fall. I landed quietly and Cecil was right under the tower, waiting with what appeared to be night vision goggles.
“Good to see you in one piece,” Cecil said.
“Same,” I said. “I was half expecting Kellar or Madison to have killed you by now.”
“The old dog still has tricks they haven’t seen yet,” Cecil said. He moved to the side and I saw there was a rusty metal door behind him. He motioned for me to follow him.
The old door led to a dark hallway with dim lights installed along the ceiling. The floor sloped downwards. As we walked, I could tell we were going pretty far underground. The place was completely silent. Even our footsteps didn’t make a sound on this flooring.
“What is this place?” I asked.
“Old bomb shelter,” Cecil said. “Gives you the collywobbles doesn’t it? It was built in an era of Cold War nuclear paranoia shite. It was meant to serve as a safe place for local government officials to hide out. Pretty much everyone has forgotten about it.”
“What do you use it for?”
“Practice,” Cecil said. The hallway ended and opened into a wide, pitch-black chamber. I couldn’t see anything in there with my eyes alone, but my other senses told me there were old desks and chairs scattered about. That python squeezing my chest made a sudden reappearance. Something was wrong here.
“Are you sure you weren’t followed?” Cecil asked as he continued walking into the chamber.
“I didn’t detect any other nightcrafter presence around me.”
“Oh. What a pity.”
“Why?”
“I was hoping Kellar would have fallen for my trap this time.”
I stopped walking. I could feel my body start to tense up and my heart race. My senses started working overtime. I could feel Cecil clearly in front of me, but he was somehow different. There was just a wrongness to him that I couldn’t explain. In that moment I knew he’d been lying to me all along.
“You’re working with the nightcrafter spy,” I said.
Cecil turned around, and I swear I could see his bright beaming smile even in this complete darkness. “Kal, you stupid boy. I thought Asians were supposed to be smart. I guess Newton really is the brains in this team.”
I suddenly felt another nightcrafter presence. It announced itself in the Rift like a ten ton truck dropped into a pond. The waves cascaded over me, overwhelming me and bringing me to my knees. For a quick second I thought that Kellar had showed up because only he would’ve been strong enough to make that kind of impression. But then I saw a huge plume of red feathers appear from behind Cecil. I was sure they weren’t actually there, but a result of the crisscross still playing with my neurons. It was almost like he was some sort of crimson peacock that had been hiding his plumage until just the right moment, and then he unfurled his full spectacular assets to intimidate a rival. In that moment I knew how wrong I’d been all this time.
“You’re not working with the nightcrafter spy in NATO,” I said. “You are the spy.”
Cecil gave me a halfhearted actor’s bow, as if he’d just finished a Shakespeare play for kids who hardly understood what had been going on. “Congratulations on finally figuring it out, lad. At least you weren’t completely oblivious.”
“I’m going to end this here and now,” I said.
“You will try.”
I reached into the Rift, drawing more power than I’d ever attempted before. Then I threw everything I could at Cecil. A wave of invisible force hurtled towards him, tearing up the flooring as it went. But it didn’t hit meat like I was hoping. It just kept ripping through the chamber, tossing and splintering desks and chairs like they were made out of wet paper. The wave didn’t stop until it hit the wall at the other side, and I heard bricks crack.
But I couldn’t find Cecil.
He’d disappeared, but fo
rtunately I knew how nightcrafters pulled off that trick. He’d gone through the Rift. I could chase after him, but that might have not have been the best idea since he’d proven himself quite adept at traps. Besides, he wanted me. He wasn’t going anywhere.
I was proven right when I saw a flash of red and felt something like a chilly breeze to my left. I duck and spun in that direction, just in time to miss a piece of debris that had been aimed at my chest. I could sense Cecil in the room again, his presence in the Rift dominating the entire chamber.
Right then, in that moment, I realized I was going to have to do something I never wanted to do again. I was going to have to kill this man if I wanted to get out of here alive. I felt it in my bones. In the span of about two seconds I debated whether I could really do that after that incident with the female nightcrafter at the Empire State Building. I found that I was quite okay with it. I’d reached that point Newton had talked about — acceptance.
The grid appeared in my vision, subtle but definitely there. I used it to pick a few points on the ground, and I pulled with all my strength. A massive clump of earth, rock, and floor tile jumped from the ground and hung in midair for a heartbeat before I hurled it at Cecil’s head. This time he didn’t dodge it. He ran towards it headfirst, and broke the projectile into dust as fine as sand.
But I’d never expected that attack to hit him. It was just a diversion. As soon as I launched the giant glob of dirt at him I focused on the non-existent grid vertexes on the ceiling and pulled down just a bit. Steel beams and bolts gave way and gravity did the rest. Cecil was buried under about a ton of debris.
At least I thought he was.
I felt that chilly breeze again, but this time I didn’t have enough time to duck his attack. Cecil was right behind me. I turned to face him but he grabbed me before I could turn around. His arms felt like they were made of iron. I could feel him breathing in my ear as he tried to squeeze the life out of me. I thought about phasing through the Rift to escape, but there was no telling what kind of surprises Cecil might have put over there to trap me. But . . . I could still put his ass back over there.
All I had to do was push him into the Rift using the old spell, like I’d done with hundreds of objects over the years. He wouldn’t survive the trip through the Rift using that method. He’d die just like everyone else who had tried it before the phasing spell was invented. All I had to do was cast one little spell that I knew better than any other. He’d be dead before he knew what happened. But I needed some space between us first.
Cecil’s superhuman grip was slowly crushing the breath out of me. I was sure I’d be suffering broken bones soon. I willed away the fear and focused on my magic, using the Rift to surround my body in a dark cocoon. Then I expanded it with explosive force, breaking Cecil’s grip and knocking him back.
This time, I could feel Cecil trying to open up another crack in the Rift so he could slip away. For some reason it didn’t happen as fast as it had before. Maybe he was just sloppy this time, or maybe the drugs in my system had helped me react to it faster. I didn’t know for sure, but I was glad to be able to see it coming, and I could see a little tear in the fabric of the universe open up in midair.
So I closed it.
I don’t even know how I did it. I just reached out and pinched the crack closed like I was sealing a plastic freezer bag. Cecil turned to me, and his expression was priceless. Now it was my turn to smile. I shouldn’t have taken the time to gloat though.
Cecil’s shock lasted only a scant moment. He used the Rift to conjure a giant invisible extension of his hand and grabbed me by the midsection. Before I could think of a way to break his hold, he squeezed. Pain appeared before my eyes like bright red spiked orbs. My ribs popped like chicken bones. I screamed. I couldn’t believe anything could hurt so bad.
Cecil released his hold and I slumped to the floor. More pain shot through my body as I hit the ground. I tried to focus, tried to will the pain away. But it was too much, and the crisscross which had been so helpful before was now working against me. My brain was a confused mishmash of sights, sounds and tastes that had my head swirling. Closing my eyes didn’t help. Nothing helped. All I could do was suffer.
But, through the storm of sensation, I managed to hear a voice calling my name. I opened my eyes again. The chamber was still pitch-black, but I could sense Cecil’s aura clearly above me. He squatted so our faces were just a yard apart.
“Kal, you’ve surprised the hell out of me,” he said. “All this time I thought you were just getting in the way or getting lucky. But now I can see you’ve . . . well bloody hell you’ve blossomed like a beautiful rose. Imagine the things we could do, Kal. We really need to work together.”
“Together?” I said. “Weren’t you just trying to kill me?”
“No no no my lad! I wasn’t trying to kill you. I never wanted to kill you. I was just going to put you in storage for a while. After I had incapacitated you, I’d take you back across the Rift border and hide you in a nice little government facility in Virginia. You’d keep rather well there until I was done with my plans, then all would be merry. The only nightcrafters left would be us, the ones willing to give up the craft.”
“But now you’ve changed your mind about putting me in a cell to rot,” I said.
Cecil nodded. “Up until a few moments ago I thought you were getting in over your head. You just weren’t trained well enough to play with the big boys. Your only real use was as bait.”
“I get that a lot,” I said.
Cecil laughed, and it sent shivers through me. “But now, somehow, you’ve become quite a powerful crafter. You almost had me there. I can’t think of many others who could do that. We could do marvelous work together.”
“What kind of work?”
“Exactly what we’ve been doing,” Cecil said. “Resolving the danger that nightcrafting poses to the general public.”
“You want me to help you close the Rift?”
“No. No, that’s not going to work. The Rift can never be closed, Kal. You’ve been at this for months and you’ve made practically no progress. You’re fighting something that has been growing for hundreds, if not thousands of years. You can’t close it. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a way to keep it from hurting more people. There is one way that will certainly work — killing all but a few nightcrafters.”
This guy is batshit crazy. But I didn’t share my thought with Cecil. Every second he spent talking was another second of him not trying to kill me, and I really needed that because it felt like my ribs were trying to escape my body.
“What exactly is your plan?” I asked.
Cecil giggled. He was apparently happily surprised that I hadn’t flat out denied him. “The problem isn’t the Rift,” he said. “You and I both know that the Rift-kind are perfectly happy to stay on their side as long as nobody is using magic. It’s the nightcrafters that are the problem. There are simply too many. We can fix that.”
“And what happens when we’re the only ones left?”
“We give up the craft.”
“You expect me to believe that you’d just give up magic?”
“Of course I would,” Cecil said. “I’ve already done it once before, for my military career. I didn’t craft for years. Wouldn’t be a good idea to attract Rift-kind to your bunk-mates, you know? It was only when my niece died that I picked it up again.”
“So you’re sticking to that story?” I asked.
“It’s not a story,” Cecil said, and all the mirth was gone from his voice. “That part was true. I wish it weren’t. I lost someone dear to me because of greedy bastard magicians, and I’m not alone. I will not sit idly by while the people who caused this mess bask in glory and ill-gotten riches. I will not do it, Kal. I know you don’t want to either.”
I couldn’t say anything to that. It was partially because the pain in my sides was making it difficult to talk, but it was also partially because what he was saying was starting to make sense.<
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Cecil waited for me to add something. When it was clear I wasn’t going to, he spoke again.
“You’ve been looking for someone who was honorable enough to know how much was enough,” he said. “You thought that Kellar was that kind of person. He is not. But myself, and my friends, we are of nobler stock. We realize we have enjoyed the full benefits of our magic and the world has suffered for it. But we are just a small minority. The others will not give up magic until we’ve passed the point of no return. This is the best way.”
I let his words rattle in my pain-soaked head for a little. I was in no condition to make quick assessments of the situation. I needed time to think, so I changed the topic to something else that was a pressing concern for me.
“Where are my parents?” I asked.
Cecil sighed. “I’m buggered if I know,” he said. “That hag Dominique keeps her secrets well. But I am fairly sure they are safe. My spies tell me there’s been no word of their capture in the nightcrafter ranks. Give me time and I swear we will find them.”
“The safe house was a lie,” I said.
“That’s such a terrible word,” Cecil said. “It was a trap dear boy. A trap meant to lure you, Kellar, and Madison into the same place again. I leaked the location of the safe house to Kellar shortly after I gave it to you, knowing that you would jump at the slightest hint of your parents being in danger. The part about Madison being seen around the house was true though. She was there. She moved on the info a lot faster than you did. But apparently she also figured out it wasn’t real faster than you did. No sign of her since. A pity, really. I would have rather enjoyed seeing her go up in flames.”
“The explosion was for them?” I said.
“Of course. I told them you would be there and then I delivered you as promised, just like at the Empire State building.”
Suddenly, a lot of things made sense.
“You sent that drone to shoot up the observation deck,” I said, as I started to put the pieces together. “You knew Newton and I would be up there so you gave us up to Kellar as bait.”