He needed Zee.
Kai hung back, running fingers through his spiky hair. She hadn’t moved.
He needed Zee, but he didn’t want to go any closer.
What if...
Two lives on his head. Two on his conscience. That was more than he could bear.
What if…
What if you’re wrong? Hmm?
“Tau, I’m too scared.”
Do it anyway.
Kai took a step, then two. Dodging darKounds, he ran. He dropped to his knees next to Zee, lifted her cold hand to feel for a pulse in her wrist. Faint and fading. Her breath came in short gasps, shallow.
“I don’t know what to do.”
Let Me flow through you.
That sounded simple. He closed his eyes and surrendered. Not the need, but the Source. Like a spring that feeds a waterfall, LifeLight flooded through him into Zee. She half-sat, sucking in a gasp of air. As she fell back, her breathing slowed and deepened. Kai couldn’t see what had just happened, but he knew that she would be fine given time. Not soon enough to fix the doorway.
Runt.
He had to find Runt.
He ran from circle to circle, peering down into the amber glow. Without exception, the people inside the tubes wore dazed looks, some laughed, and touched the sides of their tubes as though pressing towards the hands of a loved one. Others lay on the floor, faces washed with tears, but radiant.
There were too many. He had to find Runt. All his instincts urged him to speed up, run farther, look harder. A small sliver of thought suggested he stand still. The idea was so ludicrous, he did it. Stood perfectly still amidst writhing dark ones, bent over Sons.
Breathed in with eyes closed. Breathed out as he opened them.
Warm amber shone upwards from all the tubes but one. On the far side of the roof, one shone upwards, iridescent light, whiter than white, sparkling. It danced in time to the music of the OS.
It could only be Runt. Kai picked his way across the chaos on the rooftop, dodging the thrashing claws. The smoky hiss that followed when they scraped across the cement turned his stomach. Call it a hunch, but those claws on his skin probably wouldn’t be the best idea.
Music played on from the four corners of the building, sweeping along as if the notes were dancing on the air he breathed.
The roof button to Runt’s tube lay beneath a writhing darKound. Kai would have to touch the thing. Ugh. He hunkered down behind it, the safe side—the one without acid claws. Cringing, he placed both hands on its back and pushed. A running commentary on the shocking state of his insides slammed through him.
“Oh shut up. I’m not listening to your nonsense.” The stubborn thing wouldn’t budge. Kai sat on his rear and propped his feet up against its spine. Bracing himself with his arms, he shoved. Millimetres, a fraction of the distance it needed to move. Thoughts hammered at him from his feet up.
It won’t work. You’ll fail as you always do. No wonder your mother dumped you.
The words made his fingers itch. The itch pushed him over the edge.
“You aren’t getting to me.” Shove. “I don’t care what ancient feelings you go poking around in.” Push. “It’s history, mongrel. Doesn’t touch me anymore.” LifeLight sparked white-hot inside, pumped from him in a shockwave, blowing the animal clean off the glass and button. It rolled, kicking up puffy clouds of dust until it came to rest just short of another tube.
Kai lost no time. He found the switch and flicked it open. Glass retracted into the ceiling, the floor of the tunnel began to rise, clicking as it rose. He was right, it was Runt’s tube.
Spectacularly unaware, she danced suspended in midair. Twirling with her eyes closed, face alight with love.
“Runt! Psst!” He reached out and tapped her foot. “I can do with some help here. If you’re not too busy?”
She opened one eye, focusing on him reluctantly. The exact look of a kid woken for school who has no intention of going.
“Come on. For Zee.”
Her waving arm stopped in midair and she dropped like a rock, landing hard. “Ouch.” Rubbing her elbow, she took in the sea of darKounds, the Sons lying curled up with their hands pressed to their ears. “Woah! What did you do?”
“What do you mean me? I didn’t do this! We have to get them back in, and the door is closing. And Zee...”
“What about Zee?” The girl stretched, fingers laced above her head.
“She’s...in trouble. I don’t know—”
Runt scanned the rooftop, found the gate with Zee lying beneath it, and took off like a gazelle. She ran straight, not dodging darKounds or picking a careful way through, but running over the top of them, using their bodies as springboards.
He’d have to catch up. Kai took off after her and picked a careful path between the darKound claws. He reached Runt as she dropped to her knees next to Zee, her ear on her friend’s chest.
DarKounds began stirring across the rooftop. The music was fading. Playing the building had bought them time, but it wasn’t keeping the gate open or getting rid of the darKounds.
“They’re waking up. What you gonna do?” Runt peered up at him from the pillow of Zee’s chest.
His mind scrambled. Maybe…
“Not me. We. Runt, we need to get the four corners of the building playing music at the same time, at the same intensity. I don’t understand it, but we need the music. The problem is, it’s not enough.” His gaze scanned the sea of rippling dog flesh, consciousness returning with every passing second. “We need a reverse doorway.”
“LightSong turns darkness upside down. Open a door. Play.” Her hands swooshed to the side and up, indicating some sort of rapture. She shrugged as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She turned back to Zee and placed a soft kiss on her nose.
Zee’s eyes opened and she smiled at Runt as though seeing an angel.
Runt rolled her eyes. “You’re not dead yet. I’m really here. We need you!”
Zee propped herself up on her elbows, taking in the carnage across the rooftop. She flopped backwards and threw an arm over her face.
Kai’s hands shook as he took hold of her shoulders. “Hey, you in there?” He schooled his voice to gentleness despite the urgency pounding in his chest. Zee’s eyes opened a crack and she frowned. “You up to throwing another doorway?”
Zee grimaced, rubbing her temples. “Doubt it. What happened here?”
“There was a doorway and dar—”
“Who opened it?”
“You did.”
“I caused this?”
“You were forced. It doesn’t matter now. We need to open another and reverse it.”
“To send all these back where they came from?”
“Exactly.”
“Help me up.” Her face pale and drawn, Zee leaned on them both to get to her feet. Runt’s skinny arms strained under Zee’s weight. “Sorry, Teva.” Trust Zee to apologize for being heavy after a miraculous recovery. She could hardly carry her own weight.
Kai gently let go of her arm to see if she would stay on her feet. Zee wobbled, but didn’t fall. “Good girl.” He spoke fast. The darKound nearest them was up on all fours, groggy but standing. “Here’s the plan. The music from the building seems to knock out the darKounds—for a bit, at any rate. We’re hoping that it will also reverse the doorway. So when we start playing, you do your thing.”
“Hoping? That doesn’t sound great.” Runt had slipped an arm around Eva’s waist.
“I don’t know what else to do. They won’t go away by themselves.” He squeezed his hands and cracked his knuckles. “Runt, you take those two corners. We’ll play the opposite two together. Zee, stay put. When I signal, throw it open, as big as you can.”
Runt took off, leaving him with Zee.
“What are you doing?” Zee asked.
“I told you! I’m going to—”
“No, I mean what signal?” Zee’s head tilted and her mouth pulled in the same exasperated way that had infur
iated him before. Seeing it now made him grin. Without a thought, he raised a fist and dropped it.
“A fist pump. Seriously?”
“Just make a doorway, girl, and make it big.” Kai ran, dodging a darKound who was shaking as if he’d been doused in water. These things were nearly back to their full senses. By the time he reached the first corner, he could hear the hiss and ticking of nails on cement following him. He dived at the strings, strumming an open chord that shuddered through the air. He came down hard, smacking his shoulder into the low wall. Hauling himself to his feet by the strings, Kai plucked out a tune in E minor.
Runt picked up on the rhythm and played on the drums. Music swept through the air, a shimmery wall of cyan light shot from each corner, meeting in the middle over Zee’s head with a sparkling explosion like miniature fireworks. It stayed suspended as they ran to the opposite corners. Runt reached her corner after Kai. She’d been forced to dodge a darKound that staggered her way before collapsing on its back, clawed paws flailing wildly.
He led with a run of notes, ending in a solid G. Runt copied as best she could. Some of the notes were off what Kai had played, but the same wall of light shot across and collided in a puff of colour at the centre of the cyan wall. It was now or never.
Kai fist pumped Zee feeling like an idiot. He could almost swear he heard Zee laugh as she stood under the glowing cyan cross. She flung her arms wide, slightly steadier on her feet than she had been. A ripple shot through the cyan wall of light, opening a slit in the one wall that held steady for a moment before shutting with a hiss.
Come on, Zee.
She tried again, and the same slit appeared, holding for a fraction longer than before. Still not an opening large enough for a single darKound to pass through, never mind an entire rooftop’s worth. The notes began to fade.
Zee tried again. This time, as she flung her arms wide, she pushed her way through the writhing darKounds, the incapacitated Sons, taking the side of the slit with her. She made it to the corner, the walls of light forming a triangle between herself, Kai, and Runt. The side of the slit that had moved above her opened a triangular gap in the fabric of the physical to the spiritual.
Kai reminded himself to breathe. He picked out a new phrase of melody and the cyan brightened. Runt followed with her version. The cement vibrated beneath their feet. Zee stared at them both, shaking her head. The wall of sound light between Runt and Kai glowed bright, but the two lines that ran to Zee were dimming.
“Play, Zee!” Kai yelled, not even sure she could hear him.
Zee’s eyes were fixed on the lights above. She must have realized what was going on. She spun around and strummed the wires. There was no finesse to how she played, no careful tune, but the notes rang out and it was enough. The cyan walls brightened, highlighting a world that seemed to hang upside down above them, visible through the brightly edged hole.
The doorway stabilized and held. Kai tried to breathe. This might just work. Seconds ticked by and nothing changed. Nothing moved from here to there. An open doorway and music were not enough.
With a snap, the music stopped, light retracted, and the doorway collapsed. Kai searched for the cause and blanched when he saw Elden coming at him, arm outstretched, running a damping hand over the wires. His eyes were sunken pools of fury in his contorted face. Kai barely recognized his deep and raw voice.
“Tell me you have a plan.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, Elden, but you can’t stop me. I have to fix this.”
“What is your plan?”
“Whose side are you on?” Kai looked over his shoulder. The sea of darKounds were coming to. They probably had less than thirty seconds to get the music playing again. “There’s no time. Trust me.”
Elden passed a shaking hand over his eyes. When he took it away, his face was wet with tears.
“Look, I don’t know what is going on. If you’re with us, get to the corner and play.” The darKounds were on their feet.
“An instrument? Music isn’t my thing. I can’t.”
“It’s a drum. Hit it.” He waved Elden to the far corner. “Go now!” He turned back to his corner with no idea whether Elden would do as he asked. Kai took a moment and inhaled.
Tau, only you can fix this and make it right.
As he exhaled, he let the LifeLight inside him flood out through his fingers. A melody spun through the air like a living thing, beautiful and free. He pointed at Zee. She struggled, doubling over under invisible weight. Yet inside her pulsed brilliant LifeLight.
Come on, Zee!
She flung herself upright, throwing her arms up. LifeLight blazed. She picked up on his tune and played. The wall of light that materialized between them was blinding.
Runt!
Runt was ready. She spun around, balancing on the tips of her toes to reach. The melody she blew tumbled through the air to meet Zee’s. All that remained was Elden.
Three darKounds stood snarling between him and the drum. Their teeth glinted, lips pulled back. Elden faltered, then sped up and threw himself feet first at the middle one. He slid between its legs as it leapt for him. He scrambled to his feet and ran.
Reaching the drum, he balled his hands together in a single, tight fist and reached way back, his arms stretched high over his head. Bringing them down hard, they connected with the tightly pulled skin. A deep boom shuddered through the building. Two lines of light shot from Elden’s corner, one towards Kai, the other towards Runt. They snapped into place and the rectangle of sky above them slid open in a shimmery haze. The melody took on a Life of its own, building in intensity and beauty.
It tugged at every emotion in Kai. He shut his eyes against the buffeting pull. Every memory and thought. Hooking them out, rearranging them, straightening those buckled and washing clean those defiled. They slid back into place and he felt whole.
Light.
Free.
~*~
He opened his eyes.
Runt was dancing. She twirled along the perimeter of the walls of the gateway they’d opened. As she moved, Light swirled along with her, creating a current of air that twisted and spun, picking up speed.
Zee was still in her corner glowing in full brightness, her eyes open, flicking across the sky as if she were reading. She laughed and began to sing. Her voice left her mouth as glowing Light that mingled with Runt’s, building speed and momentum. They were starting a vortex.
Kai turned back to his wires, his strings. As he played, a melody came from him that was not his own.
Elden kept a steady beat from his corner as if he could somehow call Bree back if he just kept thumping long enough.
The swirling started slowly at first, but it quickly built to a twister. Kai felt the disconnect—he could see and feel the brush of the air as it spun past him, but he was not pulled along with it.
The darKounds, however, were not unaffected. They were swept along, blown like tumbleweeds and sucked up into the swirling mass of light and colour.
31
The darKounds were going, but the Sons remained. The music couldn’t play forever. Kai ran through the chaos. He found the button on the tube closest to him and hit it. The floor of the tube began rising upward. Before it came to a stop he was onto the next, and the one after it. Soon the roof was littered with those who’d been trapped in green tubes.
Most sat still as if wrapped in a moment they didn’t want to let go of. They stayed on their circles dazed, blinking.
The doorway snapped shut, cutting off all sound. Kai rubbed his ears, unsure if the vacuum-like silence came from around him, or if his eardrums were history. There was no time to lose. Kai ran to the closest Son—Vin. Gently shooing a dazed person off their greentube platform, he rolled Vin onto it and hit the button. Vin and the tube began sinking down to the lower floor washed in amber light. Five more to go, not counting Torn. The next four moved easily, but the fifth wouldn’t budge. Kai sat on his bottom and pushed with his feet. He was sweating by the time he push
ed the button.
Now for Torn, who weighed as much as a drugged elephant.
“Elden! Help!”
Runt landed on her feet and ran to Kai. “What did you do?” She waved her hand across the mess on the roof.
“Not me, us.” Kai patted his ears, happy to know they still worked.
Runt stared upward into the blue bowl of early morning sky, “Where’d they go?”
Kai frowned up at the sky. “Back where they came from. I think. I need Elden to help me move this lump.”
“Oh, I dunno...” Runt positioned herself close to Torn, grinned at Kai, and spun. Lifewaves shot off her and smacked into Torn, flopping him over onto his belly, in the middle of the platform. With a flourish, she bent down and pressed the button, sending him down.
“OK, then.” Kai swung between embarrassed and impressed. She held up a palm and he smacked it with his. “Nice one, Runt. Get back to your instrument and keep playing. I’m going down.” Kai sprinted through the doorway and down the stairs.
Inky shadows filled the vast space of the room below. Insulated from the music above, eerie quiet hung thick. The only light came from the seven tubes that held Sons of the City. Kai wasn’t sure why he’d come down here. Whatever they’d pumped into his veins had worn off and he had a feeling his Affinity was back. The prod in his belly to come downstairs had a distinct Affinity feel to it. Affinity, or a hint from Tau? He was beginning to think they were one and the same.
The first tube held a Son he didn’t recognise. In the amber light, there were none of the telltale signs Kai had grown used to on the other side—the black eyes, the serpent on the forehead. The man stood cringing, eyes shut and face turned away, hidden behind his hand. Glowing green lines criss-crossed around his head, super-imposed in the 3D hologram-way Kai was used to.
Kai put his hands on the tube. Impressions blasted at him. A small boy with paint spilled on his new school uniform. A Mother’s Day card written in the shaky writing of a six-year-old with the word spelled Mutha. Shame washed over Kai with each image and with it a skewing of self—foreign feelings that he knew didn’t belong to him. It was all to do with the Son in the tube. From deep within arose an overwhelming love that defied logic. Tau’s love, clean and strong. Kai let it flow. Through his fingers, into the tube. Love that reversed years of twisted believing.
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