Queen of Avalon

by Jamie Davis

  “You did it, Win. Now reach up and open the door. You’re almost there.”

  She looked up and saw the door’s knob a few feet above her. Reaching up with a trembling hand, she managed to grab the knob and pull herself to her knees.

  She only had a few more seconds of strength. She willed her fingers to turn the knob.

  But they wouldn’t tighten like she wanted, and they slipped off the door knob.

  An explosion rumbled on the other side of the door. The blackness claimed her.

  ———

  Winnie felt hands lifting her from the ground. She opened her eyes and saw Tris holding onto her arms, pulling her up.

  “Hey, sleepyhead. You shouldn’t fall asleep out here. There’s still work to do.”

  “Yeah, well, I couldn’t help myself.” Winnie saw James helping Cricket to his feet. Katie was helping the twins into their van. The rest of the team was behind her, ready to load.

  Winnie said the only thing that made sense. “You shut the Harvester down.”

  Tris nodded. “The explosives got me inside. The rest was simple. We fed the system back into itself, like you did to the smaller version in Baltimore. It caused the overload and release of the magical energy back into the camp. Everyone should be feeling better soon.”

  Gunfire crackled across the camp, coming the main gate.

  Winnie looked toward the sound, her hand reaching up to touch her earpiece. “Morgan, tell me what’s happening.”

  “Cait reported in. Guards in the barracks are starting to wake up and fight back. She says you have to get out now. She can only hold them back a few more minutes.”

  “Okay, Morgan, tell her we’re leaving now. Just hold on a few more minutes.” Winnie turned to Tris as Danny drove up with the other van, with her mom sitting right behind him. “Tris, get the rest of your team loaded up and out of here. I’ll be right behind you. Cricket, let’s hit it.”

  She headed to Danny’s van and climbed in the passenger side, surprised to find that her mother wasn’t alone. Marian, one of their neighbors from the old apartment, was sitting beside her. Winnie nodded, then turned to Danny when Cricket climbed inside and closed the door.

  “Go. We’ve got to get out so Cait can disengage and pull back to her van.”

  Danny slid the gear lever into drive and accelerated away from the central building.

  There was a deep rumble. Winnie looked behind her and saw the walls cave in on themselves, the tower crumple and sink into the hole left by the crumbling building.

  This Harvester — like the one in Baltimore — consumed itself and the ground around it, creating another massive crater in the center of the camp. Winnie felt satisfied, turning to watch the camp pass her on their way to the gates.

  Cait’s team was loading their van, their blond leader waving for them to hurry as they ran past her toward relative safety. Cait turned, shouldered her assault rifle, and fired back towards the barracks. Two Red Legs spun and fell as her well-aimed shots took them out.

  More guards poured out behind them. Several stopped to fire back at the retreating security team.

  Cait turned to check on the last of her team as they climbed into the van.

  Bullets riddled her body, causing it to jerk and stumble, as if some puppeteer was randomly pulling the strings of her body.

  She fell to her knees as shots pocked the ground around her. Dirt sprayed everywhere as she pitched forward face-first onto the ground.

  “No!” Winnie screamed.

  Danny sped past. Winnie spun around to look behind her, but the view was blocked by Cait’s van and she couldn’t see a thing.

  “What?” Danny asked.

  “Go back! Cait’s been shot!”

  Danny shook his head, accelerating past the main gate then barreling back onto the road behind Tris’ team. “No way, Win. It’s suicide to turn around now.”

  “But — ”

  “No.” Danny tapped his earbud. “Morgan, do you have eyes on Cait?”

  The answer tore at Winnie’s heart. “I saw her go down. A few of her men pulled Cait into the van. They’re pulling out now and should be coming right behind you. Victor and I are shutting down. We’ll contact you once we’re back in Baltimore.”

  Winnie sank back into her seat.

  Cait had to be alright.

  They couldn’t afford to stop and check on her now, and there was nothing they could do that Garraldi and the security team couldn’t do, if she was alive. Red Legs would be gathering resources and giving chase soon. They had to be far away before that happened.

  They were supposed to split up and take different paths to their rendezvous at The Pike. Winnie took the comm from her ear as she heard Morgan shut the system down, then she lowered her head and sobbed.

  Cait had to be alright.

  She just had to be.

  CHAPTER 30

  With all the vans taking different routes to Philadelphia, the return trip was excruciating.

  Everyone in the van had seen Cait fall and knew how close she and Winnie were. Because they had all agreed to stay silent with their phones until their rendezvous, there was no way for Winnie to contact Garraldi or anyone in Cait’s team to see if she’d survived her wounds. Hours were spent watching dark shadows pass them as they drove the northern.

  Cricket produced some sandwiches from the common supplies them passed them around. Elaine tried to hand her one of the wrapped packages, but Winnie waved her away, still staring out the window.

  “Winnie, love, you have to eat something. Your strength is sapped.”

  “I’m not hungry, Mom.”

  “Your mother’s right,” Danny said. “We might need you and your abilities again soon. You can’t keep going all night without eating, especially after what the Harvester did to you.”

  “I should have gone back to help her,” Winnie said.

  “Then you would’ve been shot, too.” Danny put a hand on her arm. “Garraldi and the others got her into the van. You going back would have endangered everyone. Stop second guessing this, Winnie.”

  Marian said, “Where are we going? It’s not like we can go back to the Enclave.”

  “Philly,” Cricket said. “We got a new hideout set up there where no one will think to look for us.”

  “We hope,” Danny qualified. “We’re going to lay low while planning our next move. The other camps are bringing their Harvester programs online soon. If we don’t stop them, chanters in the other five camps will die.”

  “That thing you destroyed was stealing our magic?”

  “Kane wants all the magic for himself,” Winnie answered Marian.

  “What would he do with it?”

  “Use if for himself. He’s a chanter, like us. He’s hidden it from the government but we’ve all seen plenty of evidence.”

  “That’s awful.” Marian fell silent and started eating her sandwich.

  “What’s going to happen to the other chanters in camp?” Elaine asked. “Won’t they fix the Harvester and start siphoning everyone’s magic again?”

  Winnie shook her head. “The magic’s too volatile, and doesn’t want to be contained. When we break the controls that are keeping it stable, it feeds back through the system and essentially triggers a meltdown within the equipment. According to Tris, who’s spend a lot more time figuring the theory of it all, the magic backlash makes a location too unstable. They’ll have to build another camp, tower, and Harvester. That’ll take more time and resources than Kane currently has.”

  “He has all the country’s resources at his disposal,” Elaine said.

  “But he doesn’t,” Danny argued. “He has to do all this in secret. He’s filling the Assembly with fears of a chanter threat. He hasn’t told them anything about his pet project because he knows they’d never agree to the wholesale slaughter of every man, woman, and child chanter. They’d demand he find another way to fix the country’s problems.”

  “And the cities are failing, no matter w
hat the techs do to stabilize the failures,” Cricket said. “He doesn’t have a lot of time left before it all falls apart.”

  “Which is why we have to find a way to expose him,” Winnie added.

  Danny looked from the road to Winnie. “You sound like you have a plan.”

  “I do. Well, Artos does. I had to agree to help him in exchange for his aid.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Danny sounded worried. “What does he want?”

  “I didn’t tell you because we had to focus on the job. I didn’t want people worrying about what we had to do next.”

  “Good Lord, Winnie. This sounds ominous. What does he want us to do?”

  “Raid the DMC Headquarters in the capital, find the proof that Kane is a chanter so we can expose him to the Assembly. We also need to destroy the database there with all the chanters’ names.”

  “Oh, is that all?” Cricket sighed from the backseat. “I thought it would be a suicide mission or something.”

  Winnie surprised herself with a burst of laughter. It felt pleasant and unexpected. But, quickly, her mind turned again to Cait. She changed the subject. “How much longer, Danny?”

  He glanced at his watch. “We should be there around eight in the morning. Another three hours or so. I’m fine driving. The rest of you should try and get some sleep.”

  “You’re probably right. I don’t feel much like sleeping. I’m exhausted, but my mind is still racing.”

  “Try. Close your eyes and calm yourself. Artos taught you all those mediation methods. Try some. We need you awake and ready when we get to The Pike.”

  “I’ll try,” Winnie agreed, not believing that she could.

  Closing her eyes and trying one of Arto’s mind-clearing exercises, her tension eased. She slowly relaxed.

  The last thing Winnie remembered was the pavement’s expansion joints rhythmically rumbling under the tires. Then, the first snore found her.

  ———

  Danny laid a hand on Winnie to wake her. She lifted her head and looked around. The sun was up and its brightness surprised her. She blinked her sleep away. “Where are we?”

  They were on a deserted road. It looked like the barrens surrounding the cities, rather than the wilderness and scrub brush of the western mountains.

  “We’re almost there, maybe five minutes from The Pike,” Danny answered. “Why don’t you start waking everyone? We had the longest route back, so the others should already be there if everything went according to plan.”

  Winnie sat up and stretched. She remembered Cait and her mood turned somber again.

  Had she survived?

  Winnie heard movement behind her. She turned to see her mother sit up on the bench seat. There were three seats in the back, and each of the occupants had claimed a seat. Marian stretched, waking up next to an already wide-eyed Cricket. He smiled when she caught his eye.

  Danny turned off the main path onto the access road to the abandoned amusement park. A large rusted sign stood crooked on the road announcing, The Pike: The World’s Eighth Wonder.

  Winnie considered the arrangements that were supposed to be waiting for them. Philly’s Sable boss, Colten Sico, was supposed to have set up a cache of supplies and furnish a few of the buildings with beds and equipment. She hoped he’d come through as promised. Winnie generally trusted the bosses that had sworn their allegiance, but Colten was the newest one, and she didn’t know him as she knew Cleaver. She wanted to call the New Amsterdam boss and tell him how their operation had gone, though it was probably a good idea to wait until they made sure the camp was all clear and they got some new burners.

  Danny pulled up to a delivery gate. One of the men from Cait’s team was standing guard in the shade of an overhanging roof. He opened the gate and Danny drove through. Winnie scanned the man’s face as they passed, trying to get some read on what might have happened to Cait, but his stoic expression revealed nothing.

  She looked down at her trembling hands and clenched her fists to stop them.

  They followed the access road between a group of storage buildings until they arrived at a large structure with a sliding garage door. Another of one of their crew — this one from Tris’s team — pulled the door back to allow their entry. The other two vans were already there, as expected. Once Danny stopped the van, Winnie was out and racing across the room to where Tris and a group of others stood with their backs to her.

  She forced her way through the crowd and followed their eyes.

  Cait lay supine on a beat-up leather couch. She was pale. Her eyes were closed, but she was perfectly still.

  She was dead.

  Falling to her knees, Winnie grabbed her friend’s hand, cold to the touch. She held Cait’s hand between hers and squeezed.

  Cait couldn’t be dead. She and Tris had been her constant companions for so long; it didn’t feel right that she was gone.

  Red splotches blotted Cait’s chest where the bullets had pierced. Other than those obvious signs of trauma, she looked at peace. Her face held no expression. No wince or grimace of eternal pain. Just Cait. Dead.

  A hand fell on her shoulder. She looked up to see Tris standing behind her, tears flowing.

  Danny came forward and put his hand on her other shoulder. Tears welled in his eyes, too. She turned back to look at Cait again, lost in thought.

  A voice cut through her grieving. “We tried to bring her back, Boss.”

  Garraldi standing off to one side. The big man had been crying, too.

  “I’m not blaming you, or anyone here, Garraldi. I know you did what you could to save her.”

  “I told her to go get in the van, boss. She covered me while I climbed into the driver’s side. When I looked for her, she was down. It all happened so fast.”

  Winnie stood and crossed to where Garraldi was standing, separated from the others. She reached up, put her hand on his shoulder, and looked into his eyes. “You brought her back. That was all you could do. It has to be enough.”

  Winnie wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and turned to face the teams. Some, like Tris’s techs, hadn’t known Cait and were somber but clearly not affected like the rest of them.

  “Cait wouldn’t want us to stand around weeping over her,” Winnie said. “Get your vans unpacked, then settle into your bunks. We’ll meet back here in an hour and tend to Cait’s burial. We can all say a few words then. For now, get to work.”

  The team dispersed in ones and twos, ambling back towards the vans to unload. After the last of them turned away, Danny came forward to embrace Winnie.

  She wept for her fallen friend, hidden from the others.

  She would have to lead again soon enough. For now, she grieved.

  CHAPTER 31

  Cait’s brief graveside service was held just after dusk. Garraldi and other members of his team found a landscaped area, overgrown with tall grass. They dug a shallow grave and created a marker from sheet metal. One of them etched the metal: Caitlyn Marr — Soldier, Friend, Leader.

  Winnie smiled at the fitting epitaph. Cait would’ve appreciated it. Nearly everyone who knew her had stories to tell. After the service, Winnie stayed behind while Garraldi and two of his men shoveled fresh dirt onto her freshly-wrapped body.

  She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, breathing in the cool evening air filled with magic, letting the flows direct her for a change.

  Moments passed, then she opened her eyes.

  What had been bare dirt mounded over the grave was now covered with a blanket of blooming wildflowers. Lightning bugs fluttered from flower to flower, flittering under the moonlight. She smiled and looked one final time at her best friend’s grave.

  “Goodbye, Cait.”

  Winnie turned and found her mother, Danny, and Tris all standing behind her.

  “That was beautiful.” Elaine came forward and embraced her daughter, kissing Winnie on the forehead before turning around and walking away.

  Alone with her two remaining compa
nions, Winnie took Danny’s hand and wrapped her other arm around Tris’s shoulders. Then they walked back to their temporary home.

  They had plenty of work to do. They needed to make sure that the other bosses knew that the East Coast Harvester had been disabled. They needed to know how powerful she was. How capable. They had to plan for the next operation, to ensure that Kane was exposed as a fraud. It would gut his operation, and hopefully end his evil plans for good.

  “Where are the twins?” she asked. “I haven’t seen them since we got here. Did you get them, Tris?”

  “I did. They’re with Katie and James. I didn’t think we needed to have them standing around watching us grieving over Cait. They’re settled in their room together.”

  “I need to meet them,” Winnie said. “There’s so much I want to ask.” Winnie looked at Tris’s strange expression, then, trying to decipher her thoughts. “What, Tris? What is it?”

  “You were right, Winnie. We needed to get them out. They can do things I didn’t think anyone could do.”

  “Like what?” Winnie practically whispered.

  A beat, then, “They can create matter, Winnie. It shouldn’t be possible, according to our understanding of science and magic, but I saw it with my own eyes.” Tris pointed to the wildflowers. “And I suppose they’re not alone. How did you do it?”

  Winnie shrugged. “I don’t know. I just wanted to do something special for Cait. I thought about it, and her, then the magic did as it wished.”

  Tris looked pained.

  Winnie laughed. “You’re the scientist here, Tris. You want to know how it’s done so that maybe it can be replicated. But I don’t tell the magic what to do, it just knows. My job is to let it do as it wishes.”

  “There has to be a way to use it to stabilize the city’s failing magic.”

  “What did the twins do?” Winnie asked.