by K. A. Tucker
I gave Susan a slight push, urging her forward. Finally, her worn navy-blue sneakers dragged along the pavement as she took several steps forward, her arms coiled around her chest tightly. “You’ll be fine. They’ll get you somewhere safe,” I assured her. When a soldier appeared from the truck with a gray woolen blanket to quickly wrap her up, her pulse finally slowed.
I watched them lead her away, my heart full for one brief moment because I’d been able to save one person and it’d been so easy. Spinning on my heels, I took quick steps toward Caden, anxious to be out of the spotlight.
“Why are you off the search grid?” One of them called out.
I faltered for one … two … three beats, unprepared for that answer. Apparently that was too long. Several clicks set my hairs on end.
Lilly stepped into the light beside me, her suit at least four sizes too big for her. Still, she managed to carry herself with an air of authority that surprised even me. “Who said we’re off the search grid? And why are you pointing guns at us?” she demanded.
“Sorry. The sergeant major’s got us keepin’ our eyes peeled for anything suspicious. Where’s your truck?”
“We just delivered a survivor to you. I’d say that’s quite unsuspicious. Why don’t you get her to safety,” Lilly calmly suggested, ignoring the last question.
“Right. Okay.” The gun muzzles lowered. It appeared that the threat had been squashed.
“Nibbs!” The driver ushered the soldier we were speaking to over with a wave. The soldier—Nibbs, I presumed—sidestepped over and leaned in close. With the truck’s engine purring loudly and the voices muffled, it was difficult to interpret what was being said. I heard “eight” and “movement” and “no heat.”
And then Nibbs’ raised his gun and pulled the trigger.
I watched the bullet sail through the air as if in slow motion, a sizeable missile-looking thing aimed for my chest. It was nothing to avoid it, letting it continue on until it hit a brick wall across the street and detonated.
In that brief time, though, the rest of the soldiers raised their guns and fired into the darkness.
Now we had a problem. We could easily run and avoid the bullets. But something had made them fire on us. This would be reported, and the witches would be notified.
I watched with trepidation as everyone—Sofie and Mage included—descended on the armed soldiers. In seconds, none stood. The engine on the truck revved as if to pull away but one of us reached into the driver’s seat, ready to dispatch the driver as well.
“Wait!” I cried out, rushing forward to find the soldier’s head pressed back against the seat, his neck vulnerable to the twist of an expert hand. “We need him to take Susan back.” As if on cue, Susan whimpered softly in the back. “Compel him.”
There was a pause and then Sofie pulled her mask off.
She tore the man’s gloves off, revealing an angled cross tattoo. “We can’t compel him. The witches have somehow blocked my ability.” She paused. “Care to do the honors?” I couldn’t tell if she was pissed at me for veering off the plan, but her tone certainly didn’t leave me feeling warm.
I removed my mask again and gripped the man’s chin, surprised at how quickly his heart raced, how afraid he was. I’d already disassociated the Sentinel from the innocent human population, seeing them as cold, villainous creatures who needed to be stopped. But he was human. He probably had a family somewhere. He probably thought he was fighting for a good cause.
Maybe he was.
“You will drive the girl back to the barricades and ensure that she is safe. You will say nothing about this.” I paused, taking in the bodies. “If someone asks where your group is, say … say they’re investigating a building where they heard people yelling.” I knew it wouldn’t be convincing but it might buy us some time.
His head bobbed sluggishly, that cloudy haze swirling within his irises. “I think it worked,” I said to Sofie. Mage, her mask also off, climbed into the passenger side.
“I think it did,” she echoed, her suspicious gaze flickering to me.
What did they see when they looked at me? Was there a pink glow around me when I healed Susan? If I was wielding magic, I hadn’t the foggiest clue how I was doing it. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I still needed Sofie very much. There would be a time and place to ask those kinds of questions.
“What is this?” Mage demanded to know, tapping at the screen mounted on the dashboard.
Still in a haze, the man explained, “Motion detectors … infrared scanners … sound monitors …”
It clicked—his warning to Nibbs, just before the soldier shot at me. Eight, he’d said. Their scanners picked up our movements. And no heat. Right. We didn’t emit body heat. That made sense.
“Do all vehicles have these?” Mage pressed.
“Yes.”
“Does this feed into anything at the base?”
“No.”
“Did you radio this in before you called Nibbs over?”
“No.”
The three of us released a collective breath. It didn’t last long, though.
“I tripped the emergency switch to tell them we needed urgent back up.” The admission came a split second before Bishop’s bellow.
“We’ve gotta go!” Lights appeared on the horizon, bouncing up and down as they raced over debris.
Susan had folded herself into a crevice behind the passenger seat and was shaking uncontrollably. Leaving the girl like that made me sick with guilt but we didn’t have a choice. “Nobody will hurt you. Just stay in here until someone asks you to come out.”
I didn’t wait for her answer.
We escaped down the street and around the corner just as the sounds of squeaky brakes and boots hitting pavement carried through the night’s silence.
“Lilly? Check in with Isaac!” Mage called out, peering back around the corner. We could’ve easily outrun the trucks but I knew what Mage was worried about. Attracting the witches’ attention.
Lilly’s gloved hand raised as if asking for silence; her other hand pressed against her ear. “No alarms yet.” She tore her mask off. “Well, at least we learned something. Perhaps we stick to the plan, going forward?”
Was she referring to the Sentinel’s tactics or my abilities?
Sofie’s next words told me what she was focused on. “You healed that girl.” It was a statement, not a question.
“I guess I did.” I paused, and then the panic bubbled. “Do you think they could see it? The witches, I mean.” I hadn’t even given it any thought before. We still had to somehow get to the thousands of fledglings in the tunnels before they broke free! Had I just screwed up our entire plan because of my impulsiveness?
“No,” Sofie quickly confirmed. “That’s not sorceress magic you’re channeling.”
Not the same magic? What other kind of magic was there? “What does that mean?” Déjà vu washed over me. Hadn’t we been here before, so many times? Hadn’t I asked her this question so many times? The only difference was I trusted Sofie then.
“I’m not sure yet,” she whispered. I so desperately wanted to believe her soft words. But I knew better.
“It means that the witches cannot sense it, either,” Mage said. “That could be a big advantage for us out there. Evangeline, if you learned how to wield it properly, if you figured out your limitations, this could help us tremendously.”
“I doubt anything that the Fates have done will help anyone but the Fates,” Caden interjected, his tone sharp and so very readable. Don’t trust what they’re saying, he was reminding me.
“But what if you could turn this war around?” Mage said.
“What if this is a trap that will end up killing her?” Caden yelled back, taking several steps forward to place himself as a barrier between Sofie and me. “I won’t let you use her!” Another thirty seconds of this and we wouldn’t need the witches or the fledglings or the Sentinel or Viggo; we’d all be trying to kill each other.
“I don’t know how I end up doing anything that I do,” I admitted with frustration. “And we have somewhere we need to be.” I didn’t wait for a response, instead running down the street. In seconds, the others followed, weaving in and around cars and fallen power lines.
We ran in silence, our suits creating a strange rumpling sound as we moved. If any survivors existed here, they were hiding because I sensed nothing stirring, not even a stray cat. I kept my eyes forward, trying not to count the growing number of bodies in my peripherals, the ones I had to sidestep or run over. By the charred remains of both people and buildings, we were well within the radius of the fire. I couldn’t wait to get closer to the epicenter, the expectation that I wouldn’t be able to identify anything a relief.
We passed a collection of busses—likely a station—when that eerie sixth sense kicked in again, the one I’d felt back at base camp.
The one that instantly made me think of Viggo.
“It’s him!” I hissed.
Caden closed the gap between us. We ran side by side, our shoulders bumping against each other. “Who?”
Without turning my head, I scanned the dark recesses surrounding us, hoping I was merely paranoid. I couldn’t find anything. Not a flash of movement or a glimmer of an eye.
And yet I knew I was right.
“We need to stay together.” Why wasn’t Viggo attacking?
Rounding the corner, Caden stopped and grabbed my arm. His hand moved to pull off his mask.
And it clicked. Viggo didn’t know which one of us was Caden.
“No, don’t!” I grabbed his hand, yanking it down before he could reveal his face. The face that one day, I would be able to sit by a quiet river and stare at all day if I wanted. “Come on. Keep running.” We had a clear advantage here. I didn’t want Viggo to know that I was on to him.
“What is going on?”
“Don’t stop running and keep your focus forward,” I warned. “Viggo is following us.”
Chapter Twenty-Four – Sofie
They had begun traveling in a tight two-by-two formation with Max bringing up the rear.
Whatever was going on, clearly Mage and I were the outsiders.
“What do you think triggered that?” Mage asked.
“No clue, but I’d love to know.” They were obviously worried about something.
“Then let’s find out.” She released a sharp, high pitched whistle—our signal for rounding up for an important decision.
In seconds the group surrounded Mage. “Here.” Mage pointed to a narrow alleyway. “I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of these noisy suits. We can stow them in here for the time being.”
Her fingers curled around her neck to remove her headpiece when Caden said quietly, “You should keep it on.”
Mage paused. “And why is that?”
Lilly—it was impossible to mistake her tiny size, drowning in the suit—maneuvered casually, doing a sweep of our surroundings.
Yes, there was definitely something happening.
“Has Isaac told you something?” So help me God if they were hiding anything from us, I would—
“Viggo is following us,” Evangeline said in a low voice.
The hairs on the back of my neck spiked. “Did you see him?”
“No. But I can feel him. He’s close.”
I felt Mage’s questioning gaze through her mask. No, I couldn’t sense him. Was this real?
Evangeline tilted her head slightly, as if to catch a scent. “He’s watching us right now. He’s … angry. He can’t figure out which one of us is Caden. He’s afraid he’ll lose his chance if he gives too much warning.”
I sighed, but it held no relief. Only a sense of foreboding. I wanted to dismiss Evangeline’s warning as simple paranoia. Everyone was on edge after how quickly things had spiraled out of control with this plan. Again. But after what I’d witnessed with the injured girl, and how Evangeline was able to break the compulsion spell with that soldier, I could not ignore it. If Viggo was in fact lurking in the shadows, that meant our attention was now divided, our safety compromised.
“What do you want to do?” I directed the question to anyone but really, to one.
“I think there’s no way he suspects that we know and we need to keep it that way,” Evangeline said. Slow nods prodded her on. “I think we keep heading toward the subway site and the plan. And when he shows himself …” Her voice suddenly turned hard. “We need to be ready.”
*
Miles of rubble and ash stretched ahead of us, canopied by the remnants of a looming, thick cloud. I imagined that beyond was a sky full of twinkling stars, the likes of nothing New York City had seen in over a hundred years, thanks to its city glow. If any stars existed beyond that cloud, though, they wouldn’t be shining down on us tonight.
In the distance, the edges of the city rose again where the blast’s radius had lost its awesome power. But in between here and there … nothing.
Central Park was gone, not a hint of a tree or statue to identify it.
The tall, luxurious buildings that built the Manhattan skyline, gone.
All evidence of a thriving city, gone.
On the only bright side, there was nowhere for Viggo to hide. But there was also nowhere for us to hide. He could watch us from afar and pounce if we were distracted.
“Where are we exactly?” Julian asked as we stood in a semicircle, taking in the devastation. I could only imagine how much worse it would look in daylight.
I knew that Julian’s question wasn’t so much about where we were as it was about where the broker building from Viggo’s video was. The problem was, I couldn’t answer it.
There wasn’t a single marker left.
I honestly don’t think it mattered. Judging by the fear and the finality in his voice, Julian might have just come to terms with reality.
Amelie could not have survived.
“I don’t see any fledglings,” Lilly murmured, kicking away at a chip of stone.
“They might still be buried deep, if they survived.”
“How will we get to them?” Fiona asked.
Good question. I had planned on using my magic to clear a passage in. Now though, with the witches watching closely, I needed an alternative.
Chapter Twenty-Five – The Fates
“She is getting too close.” Unda’s kaleidoscopic eyes flashed with fear.
“Relax. They are mere mortals. They are not clever enough to comprehend the magnitude of this.” Incendia patted the air soothingly. In truth, he was just as apprehensive, but when Unda became aggravated, waves typically started crashing around the vessel. As the God of Fire, Incendia naturally despised water. He’d prefer not to deal with it right now.
“We should end this game now.” Terra leaned forward to study the image pool.
“Are you saying that you are willing to lose?” Incendia was determined to win. This was his opportunity. If their players were pitted directly against each other, they all knew that Terra’s player would willingly concede. They wouldn’t allow a game to end with that kind of self-sacrifice.
Terra’s eyes shimmered with rage. She hated to lose but she knew there was no other choice. “And if I concede to this and you win? That doesn’t solve our problem.”
“After I win the game,” Incendia eyed the small world sitting atop the pedestal, “we no longer have use for that world or anything in it.”
And so it was agreed.
Chapter Twenty-Six – Evangeline
I didn’t need to look at Julian’s face to feel the despair radiating from him. Even with healing, even with compulsion, I knew that what had truly been driving him all this time was a shred of hope.
That hope was gone.
“We should have stolen one of those trucks,” Mage murmured. “We could have detected the movement underground. I can’t even tell where the station was.”
Listening to Mage’s words, I closed my eyes to block out the unsightly mess before me, trying
to picture what Manhattan used to look like. But the innocent memories of months ago had been replaced with images of carnage I’d run through nights ago as I was whisked away into this fantasy, one that quickly morphed into a nightmare.
I wanted to experience that innocent awe again, just one more time.
If I inhaled deeply enough, I could still catch the more unpleasant odors—the exhaust fumes mixed with cold air and whiffs of sewage—coupled with the more pleasant scents—street car vendors, wafts of perfume flowing from hair salons as patrons pushed through the door.
If I squeezed my eyes tight enough, I could see the busy streets stretched out ahead of me, the bustle of people and cars at all hours of the day and night.
If I listened hard enough, I could hear the angry horns and splashes of slush against moving tires, and the pleasant chatter of friends moving along the sidewalk.
All the tiny details that were so easily dismissed and ignored in everyday life.
I didn’t want to open my eyes. I wanted to absorb this feeling—a part of the past now, a time when Amelie was still alive and hope still existed. But I needed to focus on the future, as dismal as it may seem. And so I dared open my eyes.
I gasped.
“Do you see it?” I whispered as I took in the long stretch of street. To my right, a sign hung overhead, the streetlight illuminating it. “Fifty-Seventh Street,” I read it aloud. Taking steps forward, I pointed to my left. “And Central Park is just over there.” I couldn’t see it past the stretch of tall buildings blocking my view.
All perfectly intact.
The city was no longer in ruins.
“What is she talking about?” Bishop said. “Sofie?”
“Is she hallucinating?” Fiona asked.
Maybe I was.
Their footsteps echoed as they trailed me. The streets were deserted of people and cars but they were clean, free of debris and victims. I moved as I would over smooth terrain, though I knew that it was not.