Dom shook his head, not convinced. “I don’t agree with Mandy, that the marbles are bad and all that, but some of what she says makes a lot of sense. Hunter’s playing with fire, but she’s too in love with the marbles to see it.” He shrugged. “Hell, how do we know that Gold doesn’t have some sort of hold on her?”
Feeling a rising resentment, Sully asked, “What do you mean?”
Dom scowled. “Come on. You know what I mean. Her skin is gold. There’s something inside ‘talking’ to her. It’s in her head, in her brain.” He hesitated, because he saw Sully was getting pissed off. “For all we know, it’s controlling her.”
“It’s Hunter. Is she a little different from before? Sure. You would be too, if you’d been through what she’s been through. But it’s still her. She’s the same funny, intense, occasionally frustrating girl she was the day I met her.”
Dom heaved a big, fat sigh. “Occasionally frustrating. Yeah.” He gestured toward the exit. “Fine. Let’s go.”
“What? Where?”
Dom crossed his eyes. “Where do you think? You think I’m not coming with you? I’m guessing Mandy will want us to swing by and get her, too.”
Sully shouldn’t have been surprised. Hunter was their golden goose; of course they’d want to watch over her.
As Sully slipped into the back of the SUV, Hunter gave him a kiss. She seemed wary but excited.
Sully wiped his sweaty palms on his thighs. He had no idea what to expect from Holliday. One thing he was sure of was that Holliday wasn’t going to let Hunter have the Midnight Blues just because he couldn’t burn them himself. Best-case scenario, they’d have to build up a mountain of spheres to trade. Sully didn’t want to think about the worst-case scenario.
—
“Can you explain again what’s going to happen if you burn the Midnight Blues?” Sully asked Hunter.
Hunter took one of his hands and held it in her slender golden ones. She never wore gloves anymore. Her hands finally felt warm.
“The third wave will come. More spheres. Some of them bigger—much bigger. I’m thinking maybe they can cure diseases, maybe we’ll live longer, but I’m not sure.”
“And they all lived happily ever after,” Mandy said. “This doesn’t strike you as too good to be true?”
It did. But then again, spheres were too good to be true.
“Where are these things from? Can they tell you?” Mandy asked.
Hunter closed her eyes. “I get glimpses of it sometimes, from the Golds’ memory. There’s no ground, no up or down. Colors everywhere, shooting around, sometimes spraying like a rainstorm. Sometimes patches of night sky with stars open up, so it’s out in space, I guess.”
Sully had never taken an astronomy class, but in physics Mr. Cracovia had taught them about some weird stuff out there—black holes, dark matter, hypervelocity stars. Maybe the spheres evolved in one of those places.
The driver took them to the Holliday’s flagship store in Manhattan, where Cosette waited to escort them to an elevator around back. She told Dom and Mandy they’d have to wait outside. After a good deal of bitching and moaning on Dom’s part, he relented.
Cosette led them through the huge lobby and into Holliday’s office. Hunter went right to Holliday with her hand extended, maybe to show him she was not intimidated. For his part, Holliday barely flinched at Hunter’s appearance. He seemed somewhere between impatient and enraged as they shook hands.
“What is it you want?” Holliday asked. No pleasantries, no offer of a drink or even a seat.
Hunter shrugged. “I want the Midnight Blues. One of them is mine already.”
“Is that right?”
Hunter nodded. “I was just loaning it to you, in case that wasn’t clear. How much do you want for the other?”
Holliday looked at Sully, as if expecting him to weigh in.
When Sully said nothing, Holliday turned away and paced across his office. “It’s not for sale.”
Hunter’s eyes narrowed. “You already know it’s not any use to you. I’ll give you a fair price.”
Holliday glanced sidelong at her as he paced. “Oh, will you? Why are you so sure you can burn them when I can’t?”
Hunter put her hands on her hips. “There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?”
Anxious as Sully was, he enjoyed seeing Alex Holliday off-balance. They had him. Besides the Golds, the Midnight Blues were the only spheres in the world Holliday hadn’t burned, and they always would be.
“What do they do?” The way Holliday paced, he looked like he was imprisoned in his own office.
“Don’t you already know?” Sully said. “I thought you knew everything about the spheres.”
“They’ll bring a third wave,” Hunter said. “New marbles with new powers. I’m not sure what powers.”
From what little Sully understood, everyone would get the new powers when third-wave spheres were burned, or something like that. It was smart of Hunter to leave out that detail. If Holliday thought the Midnight Blues would bring new, rare spheres that would give him powers that no one else had, he might bite.
Holliday combed his fingers through his hair. “All right. I’ll give you the Midnight Blues. In exchange, you agree to hunt for me, exclusively, for a period of five years.”
“No!” Sully shouted.
“Deal,” Hunter said.
Sully grasped her shoulders. “Hunter, no. That’s millions and millions of dollars.”
She turned and kissed Sully softly. “It’s not just you and me in this. If I can burn the Midnight Blues, I have to do it, even if I don’t like the price.”
“No. Hunter, no. It’s way too much.”
Holliday looked like he was trying not to smile. “I’ll have my lawyers draw up a contract. In the meantime, can I get you two something to drink? Have you had lunch?”
Sully shook his head. Holliday was back to wearing his smug, charming expression, which made Sully even more certain that Hunter was getting screwed.
“What about Dom and Mandy? They should have a say in this. We still owe them way more than they’ve gotten.”
Hunter squeezed her eyes shut. “Please don’t make this any harder on me. I have to do this.”
Sully pulled out his phone. All he could think to do was call Dom and tell him what was happening. Not that Holliday was going to allow Dom and Mandy to storm into his office and stop the deal.
“Don’t you understand?” Sully said, not even trying to keep his voice down. “He’ll own you. You’ll spend the next five years flying around the world so he can scoop up every last marble, the new ones as well as the old, and sell them in his damned stores. He’ll run the competition out of business.”
Hunter only gave the tiniest shake of her head.
Sully took a big, huffing, frustrated breath. “What if the Gold isn’t telling the truth, or you’re misunderstanding?”
“You said it yourself. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith.”
The door whisked open, and a woman in a teal jumpsuit and silk scarf breezed in. She handed a sheaf of papers to Holliday and left without a word.
“Here we go.” Holliday spread the papers on a marble desk built into the wall. “Hunter?” He curled one finger and gestured her over, already getting accustomed to treating her like one of his employees. Sully was certain the contract had been prepared days ago, and was airtight.
“Hold on,” Sully said. “You can’t sign until we have a lawyer look the papers over. The contract could say anything.”
Hunter accepted a gold pen from Holliday that all but disappeared in her hand.
Sully was gasping, breathless. How could she do this, knowing what had happened when Sully signed a Holliday contract? He grasped her elbow. “I want to talk to you outside, in private.”
Hunter turned to Holliday. “I’ll be right back.” She followed Sully into the lobby.
The door clicked closed behind them. They were alone in the huge, glass-ceilinged sp
ace.
“We always do it your way. From the Forest Green deal to who keeps the Gold to going after the Midnight Blue, you always get your way.”
As Sully glared, Hunter took his hand and squeezed it. “Sully, this is bigger than you and me—”
“It sure is. Dom and Mandy risked their lives right beside us to find that Gold. They should have a say in what goes down now.”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying, and you know it. It’s bigger than all of us. The Gold wants this. I’m not doing this for myself, I’m doing it for the Gold.” She gestured at the door. “You think I want to be that jerk’s gofer for the next five years? The only way he’s going to give up the other Midnight Blue is on his terms. You know it, and I know it. He has to feel like he won, or he’s not going to play the game.”
Sully folded his arms, shook his head. They didn’t need the second Midnight Blue that badly. Hunter was so stubborn. He was seeing that, really seeing it, for the first time.
“Don’t we owe the Gold this, with all it’s done for us?” Hunter asked.
“We don’t owe it anything. You said it yourself, we give them a place to live, and they give us something to pay the rent. That’s the deal.”
Hunter put a hand on top of her head and exhaled in frustration. She was still holding the gold pen. “We’re so close. Just trust me one last—”
“No.” Sully closed his eyes, trying to calm down. “No. I’m sorry. I’m not trusting you one last time.”
Hunter swallowed. Her hands were shaking. “We can’t stop now, Sully. We’ve come too far.”
Sully didn’t answer.
“Please, Sully. We have to do this.”
“You mean you have to do this.”
They faced each other, silent. Sully had said everything he wanted to say. And so, evidently, had Hunter.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I hope you can forgive me for this.”
Hunter turned and went back into Holliday’s office.
“Excuse me, Mr. Sullivan.” Cosette whisked past him carrying the Midnight Blues, one in each hand. She disappeared into Holliday’s office as well.
Sully headed outside.
—
Dom and Mandy were on Fifth Avenue, waiting in the SUV. When they spotted Sully, they jumped out.
“What happened?” Dom asked.
“They made a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
Sully had trouble looking Dom in the eye. He didn’t want to tell them.
“What kind of deal?” Dom repeated.
“She agreed to hunt for Holliday exclusively. For five years.”
They gaped at Sully, dumbfounded.
“I tried to stop her.”
“Sully.” It was Hunter, running toward them. She was carrying both Midnight Blues.
People on the street immediately began to notice the Midnight Blues in Hunter’s hands, or maybe it was Hunter herself who had them staring.
Sully turned his back on her, but Hunter came around and forced him to look at her.
“I don’t blame you if you hate me. You’re right—I’ve been a selfish asshole. You’ve been nothing but good to me, and I took advantage. But can’t you see I’m not doing this for me? It’s for the kids out there with no homes to go to, for the moms who’ve gone crazy. For the old people in hospitals dying of Alzheimer’s.” She held out the Midnight Blues, one in each hand. “I don’t know if this will help them all. I don’t know what it’ll do. But can’t you see I have to try? I’m giving up everything, giving up my freedom, to do the right thing.”
Dom and Mandy were watching, their faces stony.
Sully believed her, though. It didn’t make it okay, but he believed her. Burning the Golds had almost driven her out of her mind, and here she was, ready to burn the Midnight Blues, with no guarantee it wouldn’t be even worse for her.
There’d been that day at the flea market, the second or third time he’d seen her, when Sully had thought, This girl could make a big score one day. If only he’d known.
She was right: this was bigger than him and his hurt feelings. Things didn’t get any bigger than this.
Sully looked into her golden eyes and said, “What’s it going to be, Bronx? You going to burn them, or what?”
Hunter looked down at the spheres. “That’s the plan. Only my hands are shaking so bad, I’m not sure I can.”
Sully took the Midnight Blues from her. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Dom glowering, but Dom didn’t try to stop him, even though Sully was about to burn a hundred million dollars’ worth of marbles. Maybe Dom saw it as well: they’d gone too far to turn back now.
What would the world be like in a few seconds? Sully wondered.
Different. That much was certain.
He lifted the Midnight Blues and touched them to Hunter’s temples.
They looked around.
When the second wave had come, at least one or two spheres had been visible just about anywhere you happened to be, but this time nothing had changed that Sully could see.
The Midnight Blues began to fade, becoming glassy, chalk-colored.
“So where are they?” Dom asked.
In the distance, someone screamed.
Another scream, closer. Higher pitched.
A moon rose silently over the buildings. It was Forest Green, and blotted out half the sky.
“Oh, my God,” Hunter cried. “There it is.”
When Hunter had said the spheres would be bigger, Sully had expected them to be the size of bowling balls. This was a small moon, soaring just over the rooftops.
As it passed out of sight, Sully spotted another—a Lemon Yellow, higher up, like a balloon carried on the wind. His heart was tripping wildly. Did people realize what they were? Were they making the connection?
“What is that?” Dom asked, pointing down Fifth Avenue.
A few blocks away, in the direction of the Empire State Building, something was sliding along the ground. It was ink black and eel-like, with dozens of yellow-tipped tentacles jutting from what must have been its head.
“What is it?” Sully asked Hunter.
She squinted, frowning. “I don’t know. Neither does the Gold.”
The thing had no eyes or nose that Sully could see, nothing like a face, but it looked alive.
People were running from it, wide-eyed and screaming.
“There’s another!” someone shouted.
It slid around the corner half a block away, sideswiped a pickup truck, and plowed into the back of a double-parked car before moving around the vehicle. It was huge—like a giant, bloated eel—and was covered in oily spines that rippled in the breeze. The tips of this one’s tentacles were pink instead of yellow. It moved quickly, eagerly, winding this way and that as if searching for something, yet it was oddly clumsy as it bumped its way along.
A young woman came bolting around the same corner. She jolted to a stop when she saw the thing, then turned to flee back the way she’d come.
The creature was lightning fast. A tentacle snapped out, wrapped around the woman’s leg, and yanked her to the ground. She shrieked, thrashing, trying to break free as more tentacles snared her waist, then her arm. They dragged her toward the thing.
A mouth opened among the tentacles, strands of saliva stretching and snapping as it opened wider and wider. The woman clawed at the blacktop as first one leg was dragged into the mouth, then the other. She reached down, tried to push against it with her free hand, tried to stop it from pulling her in, but it was too powerful. For an instant nothing was visible but her screaming face; then she was gone. The mouth snapped shut.
As the creature moved away, Sully could hear the woman’s muffled screams from inside it.
Hunter clapped her hands over her ears. “Oh, my God.”
Another creature, this one with tentacles bloodred at the tips, was heading toward them. Sully wrapped an arm around Hunter and steered her toward the front doors of Holliday’s, with Dom
and Mandy on their heels.
“What did I do? God, what did I do?” Hunter said as they merged into a crowd of hundreds who were staring out the store’s window. Her eyes were wild with shock.
“Shhh. Keep your voice down,” Mandy said.
“We need to get out of here.” Sully spotted Alex Holliday being whisked toward the back of the building by a bodyguard. Any minute, Holliday was going to snap out of his initial shock and realize Hunter was the key to this, and he’d send people for her. They had to get out of there, but they didn’t have a vehicle.
Sully was still clutching the spent Midnight Blues. He dropped them and tried to call Mom, but reached a recording saying all circuits were busy. Everyone in the city was trying to call someone.
Or was it everyone in the world?
The roar of jet engines rose outside. The people closest to the window looked up. Sully and his friends drew closer so they could see.
Three fighter jets in formation flew right at an Aquamarine moon. They fired missiles that left contrails, and the jets pulled off sharply as the missiles struck the moon with a cracking, booming explosion that reached Sully’s ears a half second after he saw the flash.
When the smoke cleared, the moon looked no different. It wasn’t even singed.
Sully yelped as one of the creatures slammed into the window, tentacles splaying across the glass. It turned in a wide arc, pushing a car out of its way and bending a lamppost before finding a path between them. It was fast and powerful, but clumsy as hell.
It circled back around as the crowd surged away from the window. People screamed, panicking. Someone stepped on Sully’s foot, stumbled, and fell against him, bringing them both to the floor. Boots and sneakers landed around his face as people rushed past. A foot landed on his fingers, and lancing pain shot through them.
“Sully?” Hunter shouted, trying to reach him.
The man on top of him managed to roll off and get to his feet as the crowd fled deeper into the store.
Hunter grabbed Sully’s arm and helped him up. His fingers were throbbing, already swelling.
He spotted Dom pushing against the surging crowd. Dom shouted, “We gotta get out of here!”
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