by Nick James
“No,” she says. “It’s all I can do to-” Her teeth clench. “Run away, Jesse. Run.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Run!” She backs into the doorway, bumping against the frame.
My heart sinks. “Avery, you sounded fine on the communicator. I thought you-”
The street erupts.
Footsteps echo in a clamorous beat, kicking up dust and sand in clouds around us. Men in dark battle suits rappel from buildings. The clicks and whizzes of artillery come next, locking on the center of the street where we stand. Avery doesn’t move, not even to flinch. She still won’t look at me.
I’m too stunned to speak. Everything happens in one moment. Before I know it, someone grabs me by the wrists and throws me to the ground. I eat dirt before struggling to bring my chin up. I can’t see anything through the brown cloud that obscures the alleyway.
The air begins to clear. Avery stands beside the hotel door, away from the front steps. She stares at me with wide, pleading eyes.
A second figure approaches from beyond the doorway. I don’t recognize the shadow at first, but as soon as her face comes into view she’s unmistakable, even with a scar carved into her cheek.
Madame. She’s alive. And smiling-the kind of smile that tells me that all she needs to do is raise a finger and I’ll be dead.
21
Madame clears two steps down from the doorway, arms crossed. “Pull him to his feet,” she orders. “I want to see his face.”
The soldier behind me yanks my arms so hard they nearly pop out of their sockets. I wince in pain as I’m brought to a standing position. My face is covered in dirt. I taste it in my mouth, feel the sharp grit between my teeth.
“Ah.” Madame smiles. “There he is.”
I try to look around for Eva and Ryel, but the soldier’s got my face pushed forward. All I see is Madame, and Avery behind her, hunkered against the safety of the building.
I struggle against the man’s grip. “What have you done to her?”
“Never you mind.” Madame moves closer and grabs my chin, pulling up and forcing me to look at her. I spit. It lands on her cheek, just below the scar. She ignores it. “Look at you. You’re not the same boy I met in Seattle.”
I kick at her ankles, but she releases my chin and moves away before I can make contact.
She turns to Avery, grabbing her wrist. “He’s loyal. You’re a lucky girl. Come, see him. You deserve it after all you’ve been through.”
Avery resists, but Madame pulls her forward until she’s within reaching distance. My arms are twisted so tightly behind me that I don’t have a chance to move, let alone grab her hand.
“What did she do to you?” I whisper. “Did she hurt you?”
“Jesse,” Avery starts. “I don’t know what to say.”
Madame creeps up behind her. “Say what he wants to hear, darling. You know how to talk to him.”
I look past Avery, directly into Madame’s eyes. “I’m gonna kill you.”
“That’a boy.” She glances skyward. “This city is filled with Unified Party Cruisers. You can’t see them from where you’re standing, but I’ve got one prepared just for you.” She lays her hand on Avery’s shoulder. “I’ll let the two of you sit together if you’d like. You can catch up.”
I notice movement behind her, another shadow in the doorway. With the last bit of leverage available, I shift an inch to the side to see Cassius standing there, expression grim.
My heart jumps at the sight of him. He’s thinner than I remember, and wears an unadorned white shirt and pants. “Cassius! Thank god. Do something!”
Madame turns to look at him, wiping what’s left of the spit on her cheek. “You’re supposed to be upstairs.”
A boy emerges from the door and speaks before Cassius has a chance. “He slipped away, Madame.” He has the voice of a child, but the swagger of a soldier. “You told me not to hurt him-”
“It’s alright, Theo,” she says. “We might as well have everyone in the same place.”
I wait for Cassius to summon a burst of fire, or at the very least tackle her to the ground. Anything to turn the tide in our favor. But all he does is stand there, looking as helpless as Avery. His eyes meet mine. “Sorry, Fisher. We can’t do anything. It took all my strength to get down the stairs.”
My mouth falls open. I turn back to Madame. “It’s a chip, isn’t it? Like last spring… like the one you put in Avery’s head.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she replies.
I’m about to respond when Ryel’s voice comes from behind me, louder and more forceful than I’ve ever heard it. “Your attention, please!”
The soldier behind me pivots, dragging my feet across the dirt until I can see Ryel. They’ve got a half-circle of guns pointed in his direction. Eva’s not too far off, threatened by a second firing squad.
Madame marches toward him. “And you would be?”
“My name is Ryel.” His voice is remarkably calm. “Let the boy go.”
Madame laughs. Then, the longer she stares at him, the realization dawns on her. “I see. You’re one of them, aren’t you? An invader.”
He swallows. His eyes lock onto hers. “Yes. And I’m asking you to release us before I’m forced to access my special abilities.”
Her eyes slit. “What special abilities?”
“I can flatten this entire battalion with a blink of my eye. I can do it standing right here, several yards from you. And you will feel the brunt of it. I can guarantee that.”
I stare at him. There’s no way he’s telling the truth. If he was that powerful, he could have escaped from Alkine’s island weeks ago.
Madame clears her throat. “You’re lying.”
“You know nothing of our people.”
“I know more than you think.” She smiles. “And you, sir, are lying.”
“Is that a chance you want to take?”
She crosses her arms and motions to a soldier beside him. The hilt of a gun slams into the side of Ryel’s head. He stays standing, though visibly disoriented.
“Yes.” Madame motions to another soldier. “This one will be worth studying. Don’t damage him more than you have to.” She turns back to me. “We hunt Pearls, Jesse, as always. The Fringes are more chaotic than ever. A war with the Skyships is inevitable. We need power.”
“You’re not gonna get it,” I reply. “I won’t let you.”
“It will not be your decision to make,” she says. “But think of it this way. At least you and Cassius will be together again. No more running. Won’t that be nice for a change?”
An explosion rattles the silence. It comes from behind us with enough force to knock me forward. The soldier releases his grip on my arms. I stumble to my knees. Bits of dirt and wood fly through the air. For a moment it’s so chaotic that I can’t tell which direction is which. A brown cloud envelopes me, thick and hot. It feels like fingernails scratching my body. Just as the echo of the blast begins to fade, a second explosion rips through the street a quarter mile to my right. Then another.
The entire city’s coming down.
With each explosion, the air becomes murkier. Soon, it’s impossible to see my own hands in front of me. Alarms wail in the distance, sounding from cruisers along neighboring streets. The clicks and hums of readied artillery join the fray, though it’s impossible to tell how near or far I am from anything. Madame yells in front of me, but can’t get all the words out before succumbing to a succession of coughs.
And then, a battle cry. A hundred voices arrive at once, shouts and yells as dark figures cut through the dust cloud in rapid snapshots. Some carry sticks. Others brandish chains or knives. One trips over my outstretched leg and slams into the dirt. I brush my hand through the air to get a better look. The stranger turns, his face obscured by an oval-shaped, translucent mask. His skin is bronzed, turned dark from Surface Tan.
Fringers.
Another explosion rattles the street. A sulfurous stench
clogs the air, along with dark billows of smoke. They’re bringing down the city. TNT, or some sort of old bombing device like that.
Unified Party troops rush into action around me and try to ward off the attack. It’s still too dark to see, but covered by their masks, the Fringers have the advantage.
A hand reaches out to grab me. I recognize Madame’s polished fingernails. I push myself back and kick, connecting with her stomach. She grunts in pain as her arm gets sucked into the cloud again.
I stand and stagger back, off balance. Three steps and I run into someone’s shoulders. Before I can fight back, a pair of hands grab me around the biceps and pull me close. The air thins and I see Ryel’s face, staring at me through the dust, eyes unblinking. It’s as if the cloud doesn’t bother him at all.
“The others-” I choke on the dust.
A Fringer bolts past us, nearly knocking Ryel sideways. Shouts and cries fill the street, joined by a few bullets. But in the dust’s low visibility, Madame’s soldiers can’t risk firing. It’s hand to hand.
Another body collides with mine. At first I’m convinced it’s a soldier, but then I turn and see Eva’s panicked face. The three of us stand pressed together, waiting for a fist or leg or blade to emerge from the brownness and attack.
Eva coughs. “We have to get out of here!”
I want to argue, tell her that we’ve got to grab Avery and Cassius first, but she’s right. The longer we stay inside this cloud, the more dirt we breathe in. If it gets much thicker, we’re going to suffocate.
Ryel releases his grip on my arms. “I can breathe through this.” He points to his left. “Run in that direction until the air is clear. I’ll find Cassius and meet you at the edge of the cloud.”
“And Avery?”
He bolts away without a word and disappears into the dust. Eva yanks on my wrist, pulling me along as she sprints through the street. We avoid most of the soldiers, now too busy defending themselves against an army of Fringers, and loop around the chaos. Nobody notices us, especially this far from Madame. With every step, the air begins to clear.
Eva stops. I run into her shoulder. “Freeze.” She steadies me.
I push on her back, eager to get as far from Madame as possible, but she holds firm.
Seconds later, an empty water tower plunges from the collapsing roof of a Fringe building in front of us, cutting through what’s left of the cloud on its way to the ground. The structure collides with the dirt and smashes inward like an aluminum can. I pull Eva to the ground and we huddle as a tsunami of dirt and debris comes at us. Shards scrape against my back, ripping holes in my shirt. My hair whips back behind me, caked with dust.
Once the air settles, we resume our sprint, moving through the tunnels created by the sideways support beams of the tower that stretch in diagonals from the ground. The air clears considerably past the structure. Soon, we can breathe again.
I cough. “What if Ryel doesn’t come back?”
“We have to find our shuttle,” she says.
I point back into the expanding cloud. “It’s all the way on the other side. There’s no way.”
“Then a cruiser,” she pants. “We’ll steal a cruiser.”
“I’m more worried about-”
“Jesse!” A voice comes from beyond the water tower. I turn to see Ryel crawling through the wreckage. Two others follow him. I move forward, watching the dust intently, waiting to see who it is.
Avery and Cassius stumble behind him, covered with dirt and sweat. I run forward and grab Avery in my arms. Her hands stay limp at her sides. Cassius pulls me away, breathing heavy. “I saw Madame fall. I can’t hear her in my head.”
Eva motions us into a nearby alley. “This way!”
We run, all five of us, though each scratchy breath sends bristles of pain through our chests. We arrive on a clear street, free from the carnage of the last one. A building to our right lies wrecked and gutted. Flames lick the air from charred holes. A cloud of smoke rises into the sky, but the wind pushes it back toward the soldiers, away from us.
Cassius stops. “Do you hear that?”
We pause to listen. There are so many noises in Syracuse right now, but I realize almost instantly what he’s referring to. He’d know the sound better than me, after all. A cruiser alarm system.
Eva claps her hands together. “It’s coming from over there.” She points to a second alleyway, farther from the cloud.
Cassius nods. “If we can get inside, I can get us into the air.”
Ryel pushes forward. “Let me.”
Cassius flashes him an incredulous look, then meets my eyes. “Who’s he?”
“Don’t worry,” I say. “He’s a pilot.”
“Alright.” He cups his ears. “We’ve got to hurry. Before Madame gets back inside my head.”
We dash into the alley and are immediately greeted by the sight of a government cruiser loading ramp open against the ground. Cassius crouches to look into the body of the cruiser. After a moment’s consideration, he motions us forward. “It’s clear.”
We rush up the ramp into the cabin. Ryel moves to the cockpit. Avery collapses on the first available seat, breathing hard. The ship rocks with the onset of energy-filtered Pearl energy, most likely. If Ryel knew what was powering this thing, he might not have been so eager to climb into the driver’s seat. I wish we had the luxury of worrying about it, but right now we need to get away.
The ramp begins to close behind us. Dust flows into the ship from the faraway cloud. The temperature control kicks in and bathes us in cool air while sucking any foreign particles from the atmosphere.
We’re just about to take off when something slams against the cruiser’s backside. I watch as the ramp shudders and a hand grips the top, several feet from where it will close and seal. Moments later, a face pulls itself up to the crack, followed by a thin body. Soon, a boy falls forward, looping around and colliding with the floor. A knife slides to the far corner of the cabin. The kid pulls himself to his knees and grabs for the weapon. The ramp seals behind him.
He turns and stares at us, eyes wild, heart beating so fast I can practically see it. I recognize him instantly. Avery tenses. “Theo!”
The kid coughs, gripping the knife tightly. “Nice try, guys, but I’m sure you didn’t think it was gonna be that easy.”
22
Cassius grabbed onto the nearest railing to avoid stumbling. Theo crashed into the secured ramp behind him as they rocketed into the sky, past any remaining fragments of the dust cloud, away from Syracuse.
When the cruiser stabilized, Eva lunged at the kid, trying to force the knife from his hand. Theo ducked and kneed her in the gut, sending her slumping to the corner. He raised the knife.
“Stop!” Fisher yelled.
Theo spun to face Cassius, eyes wide. “Turn this thing around.”
Eva remained on all fours, unable to right herself.
“Who’s piloting?” Theo pointed the knife at Eva. “Tell them to bring this down or I’ll kill her.”
Cassius waited a moment, just to make sure he couldn’t hear even the slightest echo of Madame’s voice in his head. His brows lowered, eyes locked on Theo’s. He was free from her. Even if it was only temporary, he had the opportunity he’d been waiting for. His fingers clenched into fists.
Theo’s expression wavered as he glanced around the cabin.
“You’re outnumbered,” Fisher said.
Cassius kept his attention on the boy. “Don’t underestimate him.”
Theo gave a weak smile. “That’s right.”
“What was that you said down there?” Cassius took a step forward. “Madame won’t let you kill me?”
Theo backed away, still pointing the blade of the knife at Eva. “She didn’t say anything about this one. Turn the cruiser around or she gets it.”
“Not a good idea.”
“You can barely move,” Theo scoffed. “She’s got you harnessed-”
“I ran,” Cassius said. “All th
e way through the dust cloud, on my own.” He advanced another step.
Theo brought the knife in front of him, pointing it at arm’s length, shoulders tensed. “She’ll find you, no matter where you go. It’s only a setback.”
Cassius smiled, enjoying the panicked look in the boy’s eyes-like a cornered animal. “You know,” he started, “when I was your age we had our first parachuting trials. Back at the Lodge, with Lieutenant Henrich. I still remember the control sequence. There’s a button to seal the back end of the cruiser. Then you strap yourself in and open the ramp. When you’re ready, you let go and release your chute. Did they take you parachuting yet, kid?”
Theo’s eyes widened, lip trembling. “What are you getting at?”
“I’m just saying,” he continued. “Maybe it’s time. Except I don’t know if we have any chutes onboard. You might need to go without. We could open the hatch. There’s not a lot to grip onto, and we’re awfully high.”
Theo kept the blade in front of him. “I took down three fully grown men back there. Three times my size. I could do the same here.”
“Could you?”
Theo’s feet arched. He tensed, then lunged forward.
Cassius darted to the right, but Theo’s knife connected with his side, spilling a splotch of blood that stained the far wall. It had been too long-shackled to the wall in the Lodge, no control of his own body. He grimaced as he shifted away from the boy. Theo spun around for another attack. Fisher rushed forward, but the kid swiped at the air with the knife, keeping him at bay.
Theo turned, momentarily distracted. Taking a quick breath, Cassius seized the moment and jumped on him, twisting Theo’s right arm behind his back. The boy tried in vain to slash at his stomach. Cassius swung him around and forced him into the wall. Theo kicked at his legs, but before he can do any damage Cassius grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head into metal.
That was it. One move and Theo sunk to the floor, unconscious. His knife clattered to the ground beside him.
Silence.
Cassius gripped his wounded side. “Bandages, Fisher. Please.”