“How many have they got in there?” the short-haired man asked.
“It's gone viral so fast... If this gets out into Tokyo...” Rose responded.
“It doesn't. We stop it here. Whatever it takes.” The Asian woman glared at us as she swiped down with the katana to make her point.
“Shouldn't we consult the Council of Venice first?”
“Shut up, Alex,” Rose responded sharply. “Mei is right.”
The short-haired guy, Alex, had said that in such a dry, sarcastic voice that I knew this was an old argument between them.
I also knew what the Council of Venice was. I had worked with them firsthand at the Innsmouth Academy on Solomon Island when they arrived last fall to assist with the familiars that were over-running us. Why did Alex make consulting the Council of Venice sound like a bad thing?
Before I could finish my thought, six more infected breached the vents and jumped down to attack us. Rose raised her shotgun and took the opening shot, blasting away from the left side. Mei swept her blade before her on the right, holding them at bay, while Alex threw fireballs from a little further back. I positioned myself sufficiently that I wouldn’t shoot any of my group, pumped the shotgun again, and aimed at the infected with both barrels as they swarmed towards us.
Rose gave them the full salvo, her shotgun making a bang, bang, bang sound as she laid waste to the infected lurching toward her with fast, repeated blasts. Mei decapitated the filth man nearest her, her blade moving like a tsunami, barely visible with the speed of her strikes. Alex continued to bombard the infected with fireballs, his arms flowing forward as the flaming energy erupted from his palms. I did what I could, one shot at a time, trying to hit my targets with the new weapon.
Because this was a dream, I didn’t have my chaos or blood foci. I was effectively as dangerous as a newborn, my earlier lucky shot notwithstanding. Thank goodness my companions were capable fighters.
Before long, the infected were dead and covered the floor in front of us. I took in a shuddering breath. Screeches and hissing in the distance indicated there were more on the way. Who knew how many would breach the ventilation ducts this time?
“We have to get the gate open and move deeper into the subway. Here, we’re sitting ducks,” Mei said as she crouched down again in front of the gate’s locking mechanism, grunting as she fiddled with the latch. I heard a click as it finally gave and she raised the gate up, jumping to push it up into its casing.
The opening yawned like the entrance to a netherworld. Alex must have felt the same, as he quipped, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
“Thanks for the encouragement, Alex,” Rose said with a scowl.
Mei cut her off with a gesture. “Let's do this. Take it like all the other occult disasters, right?”
“We really have to stop meeting like this.” Alex pulled a lighter from his pocket and toyed with it. Rose grabbed it from his hand and stuffed it in her vest pocket as he sputtered in protest.
We started down the stairs to the next landing. I turned away as we moved past the torn-up victim of the first infected man. Shame and sorrow burned in my chest at her death. The Filth had to be stopped, and I was ready to fight it.
Below I could see another gate between us and the actual train platform. I couldn’t read the signs posted on the walls, which probably described where the trains traveled, because they were all in Japanese kana. But it didn’t matter. The infection was right here, covering the floors, the walls…everything.
As we moved out onto the landing to the next set of stairs, the wall to our left began to bulge, as more of the infected ran up the stairs toward us. With a squeal and a crash, the tiles lining the wall split open, and a cloud of black filth exploded outward. A piece of flying shrapnel from the wall hit me in the chest, and I was knocked back, the air leaving my lungs in a whoosh. I hit my head hard against something behind me, and the scene faded to black.
CHAPTER ONE
Ordinary World
June 13, 2012
The small clock on my nightstand buzzed as the alarm went off, flipping on the radio. The BBC announcer’s voice filled my tiny dorm room with the 8 o’clock morning news briefing.
“…A new development in Tokyo, where the military is maintaining a heavily guarded perimeter around the site of last month's terrorist attack. The Japanese government has stated that an unidentified radical political group released a biological agent in the Tokyo subway less than one kilometer from Orochi Tower.”
Weird. I lay there on my bed listening to the news and contemplating what I could remember about my dream. Maybe I had tuned into the radio waves while I was sleeping. The news coming out of Tokyo was terrible. There had been some bomb released there on the subway a month ago, which must have set the stage for my dream. No wonder. The world had been a crazy place recently.
On Solomon Island, a dense fog had rolled in after the return of a lost fishing boat. With that fog came a siren’s call that pulled many of the inhabitants of Kingsmouth town out into the sea to drown. Only those who had been somehow unable to answer the call had survived. The wards on the campus walls had protected Innsmouth Academy at first, but many students had died in the aftermath as the residents of the island came back to shore—dead, but animated by whatever dark magic had pulled them into the sea in the first place. On Halloween, we were attacked en masse by the zombies, and the wards had failed, leaving the students and teachers at Innsmouth Academy vulnerable.
Those of us who survived that night had spent the past few months trying to pick up the pieces, secure what was left of the island from more trouble, and protect the survivors that remained, including ourselves.
“Although the area has been evacuated, there have been eyewitness reports of activity inside the perimeter, including ongoing fighting between Orochi security personnel and armed civilians,” the voice on the radio continued. “Authorities are denying these reports and the military has barred anyone from approaching within one hundred meters of the temporary perimeter.”
Last autumn seemed like a distant memory now. Things had been relatively quiet and stable for months on the island. I had graduated from Innsmouth Academy on schedule and was now planning to take the next step forward in my life by initiating with the Templars. The recent events in Tokyo were disturbing, but Japan was a long way away from Solomon Island, Maine, with plenty of ocean in the middle.
I stretched on my small dorm cot, about the size of a twin bed. The sun crept in through the windows on the south wall, beneath the coverage of the roll-up shades. As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I thought some more about the dream. Who was Sarah anyway? She was a young woman for certain, but I wondered what her role was and why she’d been in the dream. I also wondered what had happened to Alex, Mei, and Rose in that subway. It had felt more like an intense and horrible movie than a nightmare, and I felt a little bereft that I did not get to find out how the story ended. Silly, but I hoped they’d made it out all right.
Probably too much orange drink, I thought. Nah, most likely it was the cup of coffee I’d bummed off the Council of Venice soldiers before I headed off to the dorms to bed.
The Council of Venice. Alex had said something about them. What was it?
The dream continued to linger in my head as I propped myself up on my elbows and contemplated the day. I looked at the open suitcase sitting on the chair next to the closet. A thrill went through me anew. I needed to finish packing. I was headed to London to join the Templars!
I climbed out of bed and reached for my leggings and a clean T-shirt. I quickly got dressed and threw my hair up into my trademark bun. My best friend, Zandria McCullough, known as “Gypcie,” was also leaving this week, but for New York City. She was planning to initiate with the Illuminati. I couldn’t wait to tell her about my dream, mainly since the Illuminati were in it too. I think that had been Alex. Mei must have been a Dragon, like Renee, this guy I’d occasionally been dating when he visited Solomon Island in his tra
vels. Rose, the one in the red vest, must have been a Templar.
I thought about how Rose was dressed in my dream as I opened my closet door to see how much I still had to pack. I was taking just a few of my best outfits with me to London. I had no idea what a Templar agent wore, and most of my clothes weren’t suited to a big city or an opportunity like this one. Whatever didn’t fit in the suitcase was going to be given away or thrown out.
I’d spoken to a recruiter last week to finalize the details. I recalled the conversation clearly although it was very one-sided. I hadn’t gotten the chance to get a word in edgewise while the woman had rattled off the details in a crisp English accent.
“I represent an organization headquartered in London,” she had said. “A very large organization with branches across the globe and connections in every government. Although we see ourselves as a, hmm, a silent partner. We pull strings. Big strings: prime ministers, presidents, kings. Dark days are coming. The world is in turmoil, and we're recruiting. Soldiers, agents, adventurers...Crusaders.
“And we offer good terms. A fresh start. A network unlike any other. Unlimited resources, a fantastic medical plan, and a way to harness and use your incredible powers. It may be a big transition, but look at it this way: This is a unique opportunity. You have been chosen. You have been granted powers beyond what most can imagine. So you can either be an outcast in a world that will never understand or accept what you've become...or you can join others like you. Take a stand against the rising darkness and embark on a journey into the unknown, into the hidden places. Into the secret world.
“The choice, as we're so fond of saying, is entirely yours, but know this: Your emerging powers will attract plenty of attention. And not everyone is as, hmm, as accommodating as we are. On your own, you'll be easy prey. You might not last the week. Choose or don’t choose, it's your prerogative. Either way, you won't hear from me again. I trust you'll make the right decision,” the recruiter had concluded, then hung up the call.
I sat in stunned amazement for at least a minute after it ended.
What the recruiter didn’t realize, of course, was that I needed very little encouragement. My mother was a Templar agent and was currently deployed on a mission somewhere in the world. I was excited to sign up. I’d been waiting for it for years. It was why I had talked her into letting me go to Innsmouth Academy after I swallowed Gaia’s bee.
I didn’t know yet when I would be heading to London other than it would be “soon,” according to Ms. Usher.
There was a quick rap on my dorm room door, and I put down the shirt I was folding to open it.
“Ready to go collect some anima charges?” Gypcie stood in the doorway, looking fresh and chipper in a T-shirt and shorts with some lace-up work boots, her brown hair laying in soft layers around her face. “Time to renew the library wards again.”
“Is it Wednesday already?” I stuck my tongue out. “I’m not going to miss this chore when I head off to London.”
“Oh, come on. It’s simple enough. We’ll get it done and get back to packing before noon,” she coaxed me.
“When do you leave for New York? Have you heard yet?”
“Two days,” she said. “Ms. Geary said they were going to send someone to get me on Friday.”
“Wow, that’s exciting!”
My enthusiasm for her was not feigned, but I felt sorrow well up in my throat. Gypcie and I had been friends the entire time I had been enrolled in Innsmouth Academy, but our friendship had deepened as a result of our adventures together in the last few months.
Through a series of mishaps and “learning experiences” last fall, Gypcie and I had captured a vengeful wraith who was bent on destroying the Innsmouth Academy Headmaster, H.J. Montag. The confrontation had been challenging and at times painful, but it had given us some hands-on experience with magical combat. I expected I’d be getting a lot more shortly with the Templars.
Other than that, our daily chores consisted of helping hold down the fort, so to speak, which mostly meant containing the familiars loping around the campus and renewing the wards on the yard walls and buildings every couple of days. That was to keep the other monsters roaming around the islands—the sea draugr and the former residents—at bay, and away from the mighty magical tomes inside the Innsmouth Academy library. The wards fed on anima and needed to be renewed regularly to control the chaos and protect the island.
Headmaster Montag and Ms. Usher helped coordinate the overall security of Solomon Island as well, so Gypcie and I were well used to taking on the responsibility for the wards. I wasn’t quite sure what would happen once we were gone. Carter, our friend and the only other student left at the Academy, was a couple of years younger than we were and she was still working on her control over her powers, which tended toward thermonuclear.
A trickle of unease filled me. What would Ms. Usher and Headmaster Montag do when Gypcie and I were gone? Sending Carter off to renew the wards alone was a potential disaster in the making. The Council of Venice soldiers who were stationed at Innsmouth Academy now were mostly just that, soldiers, without the magical skill to collect the charges and convert them to shards to power the wards. But recently, Venice had started sending some Bees of their own to back up our meager defenses.
I also knew there was a fairly steady trickle of agents—Illuminati, Templar, and Dragon—who stopped by the Academy on assignment willing to help out. That was how I’d met Renee Laveau, my erstwhile boyfriend. Well, okay, we’d gone out on a couple of dates when he was in town. He was a few years older than me, so things had been very casual, but I liked him. He was Creole, handsome and dark-haired, and had an absurd sense of humor that cracked me up. I was always glad when he was in town, and I could sneak out to spend some time with him. I didn’t know where the relationship was headed, but I was enjoying it while it lasted. Plus, sneaking out was fun, provided Montag didn’t catch me at it.
Ugh. Once again the prospect of all the changes ahead stopped feeling exciting and started feeling worrisome and sad. Would I see Renee any more after I went to London? And what about Gypcie? Indeed, I could write to her and send her emails to stay in touch, but New York was a long way away from London.
“What are you frowning about?” Gypcie prompted me, drawing my attention back to the present.
“Oh, I’m just thinking,” I said glumly. I shook my head to clear it and dug deep for some enthusiasm. “Let’s go get those charges so we can get back to packing. I’m sure you’re anxious to have it done, so you’re ready for Friday.”
CHAPTER TWO
Call to Adventure
We started collecting charges in the yard, where there were a host of familiars running around. By running them into the existing wards, or hitting them with a fireball or blood curse, we were able to disintegrate their bodies and collect the anima charges that animated them. Once we had five charges, we could use the W.A.N.D. Anima manipulator to create an anima shard, which was then used to renew a ward. There were at least ten wards inside of the Main Hall as well as at least that many on the Academy yard walls, so we had our work cut out for us. Our adventures last fall had given us a full appreciation for the need to renew them. Luckily, Innsmouth Academy seemed to have an unending number of familiars that could be harvested for this purpose.
“Gotcha!” Gypcie yelled as she incinerated a Sparring Partner that had been running circles around a lamp post on the right side of the main stairs with a fireball. “That makes five. Shall we renew the front gate ward or keep collecting shards until we have enough to do all the yard wards at once?”
“One sec, busy,” I grunted as I drew the intricate blood glyphs necessary to cast two Dread Sigils in short succession at a pair of Sparring Partners hiding in the bushes near the front path to the stairs. They sizzled and dropped to ashes, and I ran over to grab the glowing gold charges left where their bodies disintegrated. Familiars were not alive per se. They were animated by the charges, which had been donated by the students who creat
ed them originally as part of their Innsmouth Academy magical education. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your view, their animation did not require their original maker to still be at the school or even still alive. That left us with plenty to harvest even all these months after the fog rolled into Solomon Island.
“OK, got two more. I say we do the front ward while we’re here. We can finish the yard and then move inside to do the wards in the Main Hall. We’ll leave the library for last, once we’ve had a chance to thin out the population a little today.”
Gypcie nodded her agreement and pulled out the W.A.N.D. to create a shard.
“Girls!”
I turned to look over my shoulder at the call. Ms. Usher was standing on the steps at the entrance in her neat, dark-red suit jacket and plaid wool skirt, her curly auburn hair pulled back into her usual messy ponytail. She had fabulous hair. Mine shared its color somewhat, but I didn’t have her natural curl, which Ms. Usher came by honestly as a Scotswoman. She was the Academy’s Witch Doctor and had been a friend and mentor to both Gypcie and me since we’d arrived here.
“Hi, Ms. Usher,” Gypcie called in return, looking up from the W.A.N.D. “What’s up? We’re just working on the wards.”
“I need to talk to Wedd for a moment. Can you finish up, Gypcie? I can send Carter out to help if you like.”
I looked over at Gypcie with wide eyes. Her lips quirked up in a smile. She was guaranteed an exciting morning if Carter came to help.
“Sure thing. Send her out,” Gypcie responded, laughing at my comical expression of doubt. Gypcie was far more capable and patient than I was at helping Carter. After all, she’d had lots of practice dealing with the unpredictable running around for the last few months with me.
I nodded my agreement and ran over to give my collected charges to Gypcie before heading up the stairs to join Ms. Usher.
London Underground: An Unofficial Legend of The Secret World (Unofficial Legends of The Secret World Book 2) Page 2