Mortal Sight

by Sandra Fernandez Rhoads

  Maddox lies on the ground several feet away, groaning in pain with his knife nowhere around. The hair on his forehead is tainted with blood. He’s too injured to get to his feet and run. Another hit and he’ll be dead.

  The monsters spin high above Maddox, ready for the final blow. I can’t see the blade anywhere. I stagger to my feet, weaponless.

  Something uncontainable wells deep inside of me. I curl my fists tight and scream over the approaching sirens with every bit of breath I have. “Leave him alone! It’s me you want. I’m a Blight.”

  As soon as the words escape my lips, my skin turns cold. Both vile, misted creatures stop midstrike. My stomach wrenches. I know in that moment that I’ve done something very wrong. Irrevocable. But I didn’t know how else to protect Maddox.

  He stirs on the ground, saying something about making a mistake or not listening—or both—but he’s alive, and that’s all I care about.

  The Legions transform into two sallow men: the colossal one that attacked me, and the smaller, squared-jaw one I didn’t take down when I had the chance. The smaller one fixes its hollow eyes on me. Its mouth foams with stringy saliva and opens wide, releasing a scream so shrill that windows shatter, raining glass on the shadowed sidewalks. The vile creature sails into the sky and flees to the clouds. My blood turns cold. I have no doubt he’s gone to inform Sage. It’s only a matter of time before it brings more beasts to the fight.

  But as soon as the larger Legion torpedoes toward me, I swallow my regret and sprint away from Maddox and the others. I shift left and right, weaving through the intersection, along sidewalks, under awnings and back onto the road. The Legion hits the asphalt inches away from my heels and explodes into a cloud of black dust. But I’m not stopping, even as I race around a corner, unscathed. Not while the beast spins wildly behind me, inches out of reach, and moves farther away from Maddox. My legs pump at full speed. I’ll get the Legion far enough away from everyone, and then I’ll hide.

  I turn another corner only to find cars backed up at a traffic light. Getting through the mess will only slow me down, so I cut through an alley instead.

  I give one quick look over my shoulder. The Legion spreads over the open road like black smoke riding on an oil spill. I’ve gained some distance, but not enough. A train roars not too far away. I must be close to the station. As I pass a parking lot, I picture the city grid from my time in the cell tower. If I run between buildings, maybe I can ditch the Legion by jumping on the train, the same way Maddox and I did with the Cormorant. Giving everything I’ve got, I slap my feet hard against the asphalt and run between the narrow buildings, catching a view of the cell tower in the morning light. I’m close. The station should be four blocks down. I race across the street and duck between the next set of narrow buildings.

  Halfway down, I slide to an abrupt stop before plowing into buzzing generators blocking my way out. I’ve made a mistake. I can’t double back, and I can’t climb over fast enough without being caught. Just then, soft amber headlights glow from somewhere on the other side of the generator, lighting up a path of wires against the brick wall. That’s my answer. Squeeze around the side of the generator. I’m small enough to navigate through the hoses until reaching the other side. The whirring sound is loud enough to hide me. If not, then I’m trapped.

  Sweat drips down my face. I suck in as much oxygen as possible, press up against the cold brick, and step over a ratty maze of wires and hoses. The space is tighter than I expected. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. I keep my head turned and watch for the Legion.

  Another mistake. Now the space is too tight. I can’t turn and look the other way. I’ll have to blindly feel my way out.

  I step over another pipe, carefully lifting one leg and then the other. I press my palms against the rough brick and take another step. When I glance at the alley entrance, my heart nearly stops. Wisps of black mist curl up, swaying and searching for prey. The mist slithers along the ground in my direction. I hold my breath and step over another mess of pipes and tubes. There’s no telling how much farther I have to go. The smoke wafts back and forth, unsure of my path. Maybe the Legion can’t sense my presence through the greasy air and humming motors. I can only hope.

  As my foot searches for the ground, I kick a hose and trip. The sound ricochets. My heart stops. I’ve given myself away. The mist slinks toward the generator, following my path. Stupid me. I lift my leg higher and step over another pipe as fast as I can. The train shouldn’t be more than a block or two away.

  I set my foot down, ready to move again, when a tingle burns against my calf. Then I smell singed fabric. An exposed pipe sizzles into my leg. I yank my foot up, pulling away, but the damage is done. Pain blasts through my skin, eating away at my muscle.

  I swallow my scream and fight to break free from the tangled wires. As I do, my shirt gets caught on a broken coil. I pull on the fabric, but my fingers won’t stop shaking. I yank again, but I can’t break free. The cold brick seeps through my clothes, chilling my back like a coroner’s slab. My other hand searches for the edge of the generator. I’m inches from the other side. I strain, almost pulling myself out, but the shredded coils claw my shirt, keeping me trapped.

  The mist snakes over the pipes, moving along the wall, inching closer. I try to step over another hose, but my throbbing leg won’t cooperate. I tug harder. The shirt tears, but I can’t get myself loose.

  I grip the edge of the generator and pull with all my might to break free. I’m so close to getting through. But it’s too late. The black mist weaves around my legs, burning through my clothes. The heated smoke slithers up my body, coiling around me. If I die, it will appear to be a natural death, like Jess. Like Silvia in the fire, or Alan drowning in a lake . . .

  I’m suffocated by sulfuric ash. The burning mist cradles my cheeks like tender fingers before brushing over my lips. The feel and the sulfuric smell sickens me. I clamp my mouth shut and try not to breathe. The mist skims the side of my neck before tracing an outline around my collarbone. Burns sizzle on my skin. I writhe, struggling to break free, but the mist tightens like a noose. That’s when I gasp, choking for air that now seems depleted of oxygen.

  Right beside me, the mist forms into half of a sallow man. Not my father. Looks nothing like him. The beast contorts its face. His neck strains to push raspy sounds through his pulsing throat.

  I open my mouth to scream, but it won’t matter—no one can hear me. The generator is screaming for me. I’m light-headed, cocooned by ashen darkness. My skin burns as his arms constrict my body. I pound against the heated generator, fighting to break free, but it’s no use. I’m bound. His sagging skin, sticky saliva, and vacant eye sockets hover right beside me.

  The Legion has caught me.

  Blackness swirls in my vision. I’m bound by the vile creature, suffocating in bitter ash and greasy sulfuric air. I scream out the last bit of breath in my lungs. A golden flash flickers through the darkness. The Legion hisses. Frothy, rotten saliva lands on my cheek. Someone grips my elbow. Sparks fly. The next thing I know, the monster bursts into a shower of red embers, completely disappearing.

  “It’s okay, Cera.” Maddox’s voice cuts through my haze. “I’ve got you.” He takes me out of the mess of hoses. I sputter, gasping for air. My cheek lands hard against his chest as I slump into him. I’m alive . . . Maddox . . .

  I cough, finding air. Several deep breaths cleanse the burning stench of sulfur in my nose and lungs. Maddox holds me tight against him as I find the strength to stand. My leg throbs.

  He wraps his arm around me and helps me limp away from the generator toward the street. I can’t take two steps without wincing because the fabric of my pant leg is melted into the wound.

  “Why didn’t you listen to me?” His voice rumbles in his chest.

  I glance up. His eyes are hard behind his tangled hair, and he won’t look at me.

  I wriggle out of his arms and prop myself up against the brick wall. “I did what I had to.” Pain
sears through my calf as I accidentally put full weight on my leg.

  “I told you to run.” Maddox paces the alley in front of me. “I told you to hide. I told you not to let the Legion know who you are, and you ignored everything I said. Not only that, you ran off alone. Unprotected.” He tramples over pieces of a broken beer bottle and scans the area for more Legions with the gold blade in his hand.

  My own anger flares up in response. “The Legion was after you. I couldn’t run. Who in their right mind could?” I bend my leg, swallowing the pain. “Not me. Especially after . . . after you . . .” I search his face for any signs that he’s softening, but my words only seem to make him scowl even more.

  “I messed up; I know.” He exhales and runs his hands through his hair. “I shouldn’t have kissed you,” he mutters, pressing his palm against his forehead as if trying to block that moment from his mind.

  I press my lips tight to keep them from trembling. I feel about as shattered as the glass under his feet. This must be what Harper meant when she said Maddox had a “knack for making you feel one of a kind,” and I fell for it. I even kissed him back. How could I have been so stupid? Either that, or it’s because he’s an Elite Legacy who could never get involved with someone like me. A Blight, a tainted half-breed. “What I did kept everyone alive.” I push away from the wall and hobble to the street.

  Maddox follows after me. “Calling out the Legion, then running off alone so it would follow you? That was your plan?”

  “And what was yours?” I shout over more sirens as they blare through the streets. Heat boils my cheeks despite the frosty air. “Have me just stand there, doing nothing, and let the Legion come after you? That was your plan, huh? Wow.” Despite everything, I still scan the rooftops and under parked cars for any lingering mist.

  “Yes!” Maddox ruffles his hair, exposing his jagged scar. His face turns splotchy red. “You didn’t have to tell it who you were. I could have killed it. I had Devon’s knife.”

  “I did whatever it took to keep everyone alive.” I set my foot down too hard and gasp at the pain. Maddox reaches for me, but I move myself away. “To keep you alive! You were on the ground. That Legion was barreling right at you. If I’d stayed quiet, that Legion wouldn’t have followed me, and you wouldn’t be standing here screaming at me right now. You’d be dead!” I hobble away from him. “I changed a vision. I saved a life—two lives—and that’s all I care about.”

  He grabs my arms, holding me the same way he did back in the alcove, but I won’t look at him. “I can’t protect you anymore.” His breath is labored, and his white T-shirt is drenched with sweat.

  My knees soften as the rain-scented air smothers the narrow space between us, but I lock them in place with steeled determination. Maddox doesn’t have the right to toy with me ever again. “I never wanted your help in the first place.” I plant my palms against his chest. His muscles tense as I try to push him away.

  “Cera, listen—”

  “No, you listen!” I break away. “You dragged me into this without asking and then used me as an excuse to run so you wouldn’t have to train with your brother. On top of that, you kiss me as some sort of stalling tactic so I wouldn’t fight the Legions. And now you have the audacity to be mad because I told it I’m a Blight just to keep everyone alive? Unreal.” Tears threaten to erupt from the pain inside. I bite my bottom lip to keep it from trembling.

  Maddox steps in front of me, blocking my path. His face turns red, or flushed, or mad. Who knows. Who cares. “It wasn’t some sort of stalling tactic.” He runs his hand through his hair again. “I thought—”

  “Doesn’t matter what you thought. Don’t ever do that again.”

  As I try to step around Maddox, Devon rushes around the corner with Harper trailing a few paces behind. “Cool it, both of you. We can hear you shouting all the way down the block.”

  A roaring pain shoots up my calf. I crash against the wall, stifling my cry. Devon’s concerned glance sweeps over me. “Cera, you did it. You stopped the vision from happening. Everyone’s alive,” he says. “Now let’s focus on what matters and get you back inside.” He looks over his shoulder as a motorcycle speeds past. “It won’t be long before the cops start searching around—not to mention the threat of more Legions. We need to get out of here, fast.”

  “She can’t run with her leg like that.” Harper stays close beside Devon. Her voice quivers. Her hurt expression falls on Maddox, telling me she heard everything. “My kit. It’s at Hesperian . . .” She takes the vial from her pocket and opens it. “The best I can do for now is give you some serum to numb the pain.” Harper holds out the vial. “A small sip. I’m running low.”

  I glance at the serum then back at her. Hesitantly, I take the vial.

  Devon spots the wound on my leg and then looks away. “Do it quick. Then, Harper, I want you and Maddox to head back to the apartment. Brief Pop on what happened and fetch a bag for him from the closet. Be sure to let him know that a Legion got away. There’s no telling how fast the rest of them will get here. We need to have Cera long gone before they do.”

  Harper glances at the wound. “I’ve got better supplies at Hesperian to fix this.”

  I shiver and knock back a swig of the serum. The sweet taste of the medicine burns my mouth, erasing the lingering feeling of Maddox’s lips. Good. He can’t just kiss me and then call it a mistake, lie to me, then expect me to trust him.

  “There’s no time, we’ll have to make do with what’s back at the apartment.” Devon looks around at the surrounding buildings, but there isn’t a trace of mist I can see.

  Harper quickly inspects the burns on my neck and hands. She’s wearing even less makeup than before and not only looks younger, but more vulnerable. “We’ll need to clean these marks up as well. Don’t want them to fester or scar.” Her voice is quiet, almost kind. I hand her back the vial.

  She wraps her arm around my shoulder and helps me walk as she spills a confession. “I thought it was safe to go out. I was running low on the balm and needed to make more, you know, to show Council, but I was out of lavender. Everyone said the Legions were gone. I thought I’d just run out super quick.” Her eyes well with tears. “Thanks for . . . for what you did.” She wipes a runaway tear with the tip of her ring finger. “I’ve been a total . . . I’m so sorry.” She looks up at the morning sky and blinks away more tears. Her voice trembles. “You cared enough about me to stop them, even though I . . . I was so horrible.” She chokes back a sob.

  She didn’t have to thank me. My heart swells. I lean my head against hers for a brief moment. Pop is right, her hair smells like roses spritzed with perfume, and it still overwhelms. “The vision was changed. You’re alive. But it wasn’t only me. Devon and Maddox”—his name gets caught in my throat—“they both sacrificed a lot for you.”

  She sniffles and blots her tears. Devon comes up on my other side. His eyes are sympathetic. “I know it’s not what you want, but now that the Legions know you’re a Blight and one got away, it’s only a matter of time before Sage knows.” He doesn’t say what comes next and doesn’t need to. I remember our deal.

  Devon lifts my arm over his neck and slides his other around my waist. “Let’s get moving.” He holds my hand as it dangles over his shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze. Maddox trails behind us.

  Before we step across the road, Harper lifts my other arm around her neck.

  Sandwiched between the both of them, I shuffle a little faster, but not by much. A bird sings a quiet melody as morning softens the clouds blanketing the gray sky. Curious cars slow at the sight of us and then speed off. Not far, a shopkeeper sweeps a storefront, while another tosses more bags onto the piles loitering on the sidewalk. Their tired faces hold the monotony of another day.

  Only it’s not.

  Today, a life was saved. A vision changed.

  At what cost? I’m not entirely sure. Maddox and I will never be the same. Battle scars are a given. But as I limp down the road, tucked
safely between Devon and Harper, I don’t feel so alone. And despite the throbbing in my calf, the burdened weight in my chest feels a little lighter.

  “I remember our agreement,” I say to Devon. With help from both Harper and Devon, I hobble over the cracked sidewalk. “You give me the chance to stop a vision from coming true, and if I survive, you turn me in.”

  “You don’t know what you’re agreeing to,” Maddox says from behind us. He no longer sounds angry. It’s more frustration edged with hurt. I grit my teeth and don’t dare turn around. Instead, I focus on the road ahead and search for signs of Legions, breathing through every painful step.

  Devon looks over his shoulder at Maddox. “You know as well as I do there’s no way we can keep Sage from finding her. We don’t have the manpower or the resources to do this on our own.”

  Maddox whips around us and charges down the sidewalk before disappearing around a corner.

  Devon glances at Harper and then up at the sky. “Why don’t you run after him and make sure his burns are taken care of? I’ve got Cera.”

  Harper hesitates. “You sure?”

  Thunder rumbles in the distance, even though the clouds are light. Devon’s face tightens. “Hurry back to the apartment.”

  Harper releases me. Her ballet flats patter over the pavement as she races around the corner after Maddox. “Let’s get you back quickly.” Devon places one hand on my back and the other down low like he’s about to lift me into his arms, even though his right arm has burn marks from the Legions.