by S. C. Green
“That’s why it’s even more important that we do this,” Alain said through clenched teeth. “It’s not just about May now. The whole of Petrified City is in danger if we don’t get the Mimir back. The wraith will be anticipating something, of course, but they won’t expect a human woman, and not one with your power.”
“You just said you didn’t care about any of that!”
“I don’t. But you do.”
Damn him. He was right. Petrified City was my home. Everyone in side had been trapped against their will, just like me. And if there was a chance I could stop the wraith from killing more of us, I had to take it.
Besides, I was curious. No one had ever been inside the Citadel before. I would be like Indiana Jones, discovering a secret tomb for the first time. I just hoped like hell there wouldn’t be any snakes.
“Sydney?” Diana lifted her head from the cloak pile, her eyes sleepy. “Why are you yelling?”
“Just a minute, Diana.” I crossed my arms and, glaring at Alain, hissed, “I’m not some kind of hero mage. I only see through objects. I don’t know how much of an advantage that really is.”
“In the Citadel, it will be invaluable. And Dorien and I believe you may have power you don’t even know about.”
“Because it was written in some ancient text? I’m the chosen one? That’s a load of fucking bullshit.”
“Maybe. But wouldn’t it be interesting to find out?” Alain said in a soothing tone I understood was meant to placate me, but instead made me seethe. “Besides, now I don’t have to sneak you around. Now you have the whole force of the Reapers behind you, not just Dorien and I.”
“A lot of good that will do me. I saw what happened. Your power and your weapons are growing useless against them.”
“I’m not useless yet.” He extended his hand to me. “Please, Sydney. You won’t be doing this alone, I swear. I will be with you the whole time.”
“You will?” My heart beat faster, though I wasn’t completely sure why.
He nodded. “The wraith have some kind of energy shield to prevent Reapers entering the Citadel, but as far as I can go with you, I will. I got you mixed up in this, Sydney. I’m damn well going to help you make it out alive.”
“I’m relieved to hear it.” I strode toward Diana and pulled her out of the pile. “We’re ready to go back to sleep now.”
WE RETURNED TO OUR BEDS, but I was too wound up to sleep. I wasn’t the only one, for the once silent cloister was alive with bodies shuffling, whispered conversations, and lanterns bobbing in the darkness. The wraith attack and Dorien and Malcolm’s argument had clearly stirred some long buried resentments for the Reapers.
Sex trafficking in the Compound? I knew it went on in the city, of course. The gangs would steal women from the streets of the Rim—women without families, without people to miss them—and sell them into the gambling halls and opulent apartment blocks of the Hub. I’d heard horror stories from the streets, of women led to twenty different suites each night, women forced to service five men at once, women fed a cocktail of drugs to keep them weak and pliant.
But here? To service Reapers? I hadn’t seen a single woman since I’d entered the Compound. From the way the Reapers stared at me as Alain bundled me up the stairs, a female’s presence clearly wasn’t a common occurrence. And it seemed to me that it would be pretty difficult to hide any kind of illicit activity on that scale from the piercing eyes of Dorien and Alain. They both seemed to think Malcolm was making the whole thing up in an attempt to keep his power. If he had a crusade that he could win – and it was easy to win a crusade that was a lie – then he would continue to be leader despite losing against the wraith.
Unless all the illicit activity took place underground or outside the Compound. Instead of the whores coming here, the Reapers went to them. I guessed that was possible, but I didn’t think there was a way out of the Compound besides the front gate. I just couldn’t see Reapers sneaking off for illicit acts without anyone in the order noticing. Anyway, I couldn’t think about this right now. I needed to focus on the task that lay ahead of me, on the true enemy—the wraith.
Just after sunrise, Dorien came to us with a tray of oatmeal and watery juice. There was a small bowl of cocoa pops for Diana—another treat she’d never experienced. She moaned in pleasure as she sipped down the chocolatey cereal floating in its cocoa-flavoured powdered milk, and Dorien grinned.
“I want you to know I’m going to stay with Red while you go Hubside,” he said. “Alain tells me you heard some of the conversation I had with Malcolm last night. Even though I think he’s making this whole sex-trade thing up, I don’t want you to worry about her. She’ll be safe here with me.”
“Thank you.” I smiled weakly back at him as I scraped up the last of my oatmeal. After witnessing the argument last night, I knew now that Dorien was a very powerful man inside the Compound. He stood in opposition to Malcolm, but clearly had a number of Reapers willing to follow his word. I couldn’t imagine a better guardian for Diana. “I guess Alain will be here soon to go over the plan.”
“Malcolm wants to see you first,” Dorien informed me. “He’s very curious to meet you.”
“Well, he can damn well wait.” I dragged myself out of bed and threw on my sweater. “I knock heads with the wraith in a few hours’ time. I need to practice.”
“Malcolm doesn’t take well to being ignored.”
“Yeah, well. He clearly doesn’t take well to having his authority undermined, either. But you did that.”
“I did, didn’t I?” Dorien pulled the chess board from the trunk at the end of Alain’s bed and started to set it up on the empty breakfast tray. “Go. I’ll stay with Diana. If Alain comes for you, I’ll tell him where you are.”
In the hall, I passed three Reapers huddled together in hushed conversation. They fell silent as I passed by, not even bothering to hide their stares. I gave them a big smile and silly wave, which they didn’t return, the rude bastards.
As I rounded the corner toward the stairs, I thought I heard one of them whisper, “She’s the whore” to his comrades.
My face stung. As if I needed this shit right now.
They wouldn’t be calling me whore when I returned their precious Mimir.
When I arrived in the training room, Cory was already there, fiddling with the computer behind the simulation machine. “There you are. I knew you’d come here as soon as you woke up. I’m just making some adjustments to the program to match what we now know about the wraith.”
I stared over his shoulder at the complex computer system. “I never even knew holographics like these existed before. How do you know how to do this? Where do you get all the parts?”
“I collected a lot of old computers and smartphones, back before the city was closed off. I was somewhat of a geek, and I had an interest in VR and holographic projections. Most of what the Reapers use throughout the Compound—from refrigeration to weapons—is stuff I programmed.” He grinned. “Some of it I picked up on the black market, some of it I just … you know ... found.”
The way Cory said the last word strongly implied he’d “found” property that belonged to other people. Now that was a line of work I knew well. He showed me an environmental scanner he’d built from an old smartphone.
“It’s basically an average phone with apps. But none of it is connected to an internet. This app”--He tapped the screen--“measures particles and frequencies in the air. It can tell you if there are any wraith nearby. This one creates a portable hologram. You can click one of the options to create a realistic raven hologram, and then as you move your finger on the screen, the bird will fly in that direction. They’re great for leading wraith away from potential victims.”
“What does this one do?” I tapped another icon. The screen lit up with a harsh white light.
“That’s a flashlight.”
“I knew that.” I patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t make the wraith too easy to kill.”I went over to t
he racks of weapons and withdrew a crossbow. I shoved a particle gun into the holster on my belt. The dagger in my boot rubbed against my leg as I walked to the centre of the room.
“Ready,” I called to Cory.
He tossed me one of the particle weapons. “I’ve made some adjustments to this. It’s now emitting on a different frequency, so it should work against these new wraith. However, you need to be careful. It you accidentally hit yourself, it will give you some serious burns.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I set my feet wide apart and rested the stock of the bow against my shoulder, bracing myself for the first attack.
Cory flicked the switch. A single wraith slid out of the wall, a red bandana wrapped around its neck. It moved toward me with the same shuffling gait as yesterday, but now there appeared to be something different about it, some newfound confidence lurking behind its glowing eyes. Cory must have done some significant program alterations to breathe this level of detail into the simulation.
I raised the gun to my hip and slammed it in the chest with a particle beam. It staggered back slightly, but then kept right on coming.
“That’s odd,” Cory called out. “The beam should have more effect on it. I must’ve programmed it wrong.” He turned back to the controls, punching in numbers frantically.
Not sure what I was supposed to do, I hit the wraith in the chest again, but it only acknowledged the beam with a short wince before continuing toward me. Its hands stretched out, fingers reaching for my chest, its blackened mouth sagging open.
Fuck this shit. I wasn’t about to be fake wraith food. I lunged at the wraith, slicing through its torso with the sword. It shuddered as the blade slid through its body, leaving a long cut from its shoulder diagonally across its chest. I knew immediately something wasn’t right. The wraith’s body didn’t feel solid; it was like slicing through water.
“Shut it off!” I yelled to Cory as the wraith stretched its fingers out toward me, plunging its cold digits into my chest. I gasped as ice encircled my body, spreading out to my limbs. The sword dropped from my fingers as my whole hand turned to ice.
“Shut it off!” I choked out.
The wraith’s glowing blue eyes bore down on me with glee. Why did Cory have to make this so goddamned real?
“Sorry!” Cory yelled.
A moment later, the wraith disappeared. I slumped to my knees, gasping as I filled my lungs with rich, beautiful, warm air.
As the feeling returned to my chest and arms, I realised I had onlookers. Someone was clapping slowly, the way you would for a child who’d just lost a softball pitch.
I whirled around. There, leaning against the wall beside the door, was Malcolm, surrounded by five of his followers. His eyes swept over my body, cold and calculating. Cory looked at me from the computer by the wall, his face guilty.
“Bravo,” Malcolm called out, lowering his hands.
In the harsh light of the training room, his features stood out to me, whereas last night he had been only a shadow. His face was long and gaunt, like all the Reapers, but he was much older than Alain and Dorien. Lines crossed his forehead and puckered at the edges of his lips, and his shoulder-length brown hair was streaked with grey. It was his eyes that grabbed me most. They were a smoky grey, beautiful and haunting, almost wraithlike in their pale luminescence. They focused on me with an intense gaze, and I felt myself wavering, unsure. No wonder he was their leader.
I collected myself, determined Malcolm wasn’t going to see me afraid. For good measure, I glowered at him in a way I hoped was at least somewhat threatening. Maybe he could intimidate some Reapers, but I wasn’t a Reaper. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Sydney, the woman who’s going to save your ass.”
“Charmed,” Malcolm drawled in a tone that clearly implied the opposite. “Alain and Dorien have every confidence in your victory. I can see their hopes are as well-founded as usual.”
“At least they don’t have their heads stuck so far up their own asses they have to pull on their eyes just to have a shit,” I snapped back.
“Petty insults? This from the great savior of the city.”
Behind him, his comrades tittered. The sound reminded me of birds on a wire fence. Not Malcolm, though. He was a hawk, circling overhead.
“What’s your grand plan for retrieving the Mimir, then?” I quirked my eyebrow. “If I should fail, that is, as you clearly expect me to do.”
“Simple.” Malcolm took a step toward me. “We will have to bargain with them.”
I rose to my feet, resisting the urge to back away. “And what bargain would see the safe return of a device that controls your link to the otherworld? If I had that in my possession, I’d never give it back.”
“The kind of bargain you wouldn’t live to see.” Malcolm continued toward me, his eyes blazing with something dangerous. “What has made you so concerned with our cause? You’re a petty thief who has spent her life hiding from the law. And yet, you have known Alain barely a day, and here you are.”
I wondered how he knew who I was. I guessed if Alain had been following me, the Reapers must have had a way to keep tabs on me.
I bent to pick up the sword I’d dropped. I’d feel better about this conversation with a weapon in my hand. “Maybe I have more concern than some people when the wraith start kidnapping people instead of husking them.”
“Maybe, or maybe he has something on you that has bound you to him?”
“I don’t know what you’re suggesting,” I hissed, even though I knew exactly what Malcolm implied, that I was some unfortunate whore trapped in a sex ring. “But I wouldn’t continue this line of inquiry if I were you. I am currently in possession of a sword, after all.”
But Malcolm continued, as though he hadn’t heard me. He ticked off points on his long, bony fingers. “Alain took you from your home and brought you here under coercion, made you promises he has no idea if he can keep, and placed your companion in unimaginable danger—”
“I came of my own free will. Alain simply offered me a bargain I didn’t want to refuse.” I waved the sword in front of his face. “You might even learn a thing or two from that if you’re intent on negotiating with the wraith. And if you’re taking this sex-trafficking business seriously, you’re looking in the wrong place.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Of course I’m sure. Alain is grieving for his daughter. He has gone to untold trouble to disobey your council and recruit me to get her back. Any man who shows that degree of fatherly instinct is not selling women into prostitution on the side. ”
“If you say so.” Malcolm gave me a thin-lipped smile. Those grey eyes bore into me, laying me bare. I longed to look away, but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.
“Is this what you came to say to me?” I gestured at the room with my sword. “Because I’m quite busy at the moment.”
“I came to talk to you about the Mimir.”
“I’ll try and get it back for you,” I said. “But retrieving May is my first priority.”
“You have that backward. I’ve no doubt Dorien has informed you of just how important May is to us. He is to wed her, after all. But May is unimportant compared to the Mimir.”
“Well, I’m working for Alain, not you. I’m not under anyone’s command.” I did my best at a condescending smile. “Understand?”
His eyes narrowed. “Fine. But know this--I control the supplies in the Compound, and that means the medicine. There will be no more medicine for your friend … unless you agree to retrieve the Mimir.”
“Bastard.” I swore at him, my grip tightening around the handle of my knife.
“We are desperate.” Malcolm said. His voice rose a little. “Will you do it?”
“Let’s just say you twisted my arm.”
“Then you have our thanks.” Malcolm bowed his head. “I leave you now with a warning. When you retrieve the Mimir, it’s vitally important you don’t look into it or touch it in any way. It is kept inside
a wooden box. Do not open the box or attempt to remove the Mimir.”
“Afraid I’ll learn all your secrets?”
Malcolm scowled. “This is serious. It could cost you your life.”
“You don’t seem to care very much about life if you’re willing to withhold vital medicine from a sick girl.”
Malcolm continued talking as though I hadn’t spoken. “Only those in the highest ranks of our Order can tolerate the force of the Mimir. All Reapers must train their minds for years before they can manipulate its power, and even then we have only touched the surface of what it can do. Humans are never meant to look upon it. I know you have some kind of special power Alain thinks will get you into the Citadel, but you’re still only human. You were not meant to see into death itself.”
“Is that what the Mimir is?”
The door behind him banged. Malcolm didn’t look, but his eyes flickered.
“Sydney.” Alain’s voice reverberated through the room. He crossed toward me, pushing past Malcolm. Alain’s strong, warm hand settled on my shoulder. My body, already tense from the conversation with Malcolm, shuddered. “It’s time to go.”
“Nice meeting you.” I tipped my chin toward Malcolm as I followed Alain toward the door.
“I hope we will meet again soon.” Malcolm’s chilling words hung in the air.
I slammed the door to the training room and rushed down the hall after Alain. He walked with long, brisk strides, his head bowed, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his black coat.
“You should have waited for me,” he growled. “I could have been there while Malcolm spoke to you. He wouldn’t have dared—”
“He wouldn’t have dared threatening to withhold Diana’s medicine if I didn’t retrieve the Mimir?”
“Did he say that?” Alain’s face darkened.
It’s fine, Alain. I’ll do it. I probably would’ve done it even if he hadn’t bullied me into it.”