by S. C. Green
After leading them on a mad chase around the mausoleum, I swiped my finger, and the raven projection soared out the door and away over the cemetery. A long trail of wraith zoomed after it. Their bodies caused a chill to rise on my arms as they zipped past, their hisses growing faint as they trailed up over the hill after the bird. I engaged the ‘repeat course’ function for the projection, and slipped the scanner back into my pocket.
I rested my hand against the stone again, just in time to see the Mayor dart out of the door behind the rest of the wraith. The place was deserted. Now was my chance.
I scrambled around the front of the mausoleum, keeping low to the ground. The Mayor’s hat bobbed as he raced up the hill. He wasn’t looking back. I darted inside.
The air inside the cemetery felt heavy, oppressive. My breath inhaled as a short gasp. I knew without checking the scanner I was nearing out of time. I leapt up the steps onto the plinth, grabbing the edge of the coffin.
The lid was solid and heavy. I pushed against it with all my weight. It gave a loud scrape as it shifted an inch. I glanced over my shoulder, but no wraith had returned. I gave the coffin another shove, and the lid slid another inch.
“Stay the fuck away from me.” A voice, thin and muffled, came from inside.
Despite myself, I smiled. Clearly, this May was not a shrinking violet. A woman after my own heart.
“I’m not the wraith,” I whispered into the thin slit of black I’d opened. “Alain sent me to—”
“About fucking time.” A delicate hand reached through the thin gap, the fingers wiggling in the air. “Hurry up and get this off me.”
“I’m trying.” I gave another shove and managed to push it open wide enough so May could get both her hands through.
She gripped the edge of the stone, and together we grunted and swore as we pushed it off. May sat upright. She looked around seventeen years old, a younger, female version of Alain, her long black hair dulled and powdered in dust, matted against her high, regal forehead. Her clothes—the Reaper’s black tunic, pants and long coat—hung in tatters around her thin frame, and her arms poked out like two white chicken bones, coated in dust and grime. Long scratches marred her cheeks and neck. I didn’t even want to guess what she’d been through since arriving in the Citadel.
“God, it’s good to breathe real air again.” She sucked in another breath. “At least, somewhat real air.”
“We don’t have much time. Can you walk?”
“I’m not sure. I haven’t tried yet.” She gripped the edge of the coffin with both hands and tried to lift herself. I moved in to help her, but she held up a hand to stop me. “Give me a second. I’m not sure if my legs are trapped or not.”
Outside, my raven squawked. I checked the program on my phone. It was still flying in circles high above the cemetery.
“Where’s the Mimir?” I asked.
“The Mim—” May’s face fell as my words sank in. “You mean the wraith’ve taken it?”
“They broke into the Compound last night. Your fellow Reapers tried to fend them off, but the weapons have stopped working. I thought they might be keeping it in here with you.” I glanced around the interior of the mausoleum—it wasn’t as bright in here as it was outside.
Stands for flowers ran down one wall, formed from curved wrought-iron frames ending in pointed arrows. On another wall, there were ten niches for the eternal remains of family members, sealed up tight and marked with brass plates. At the back, a thin, winding staircase led up to the second storey. I couldn’t see anywhere else for the Mimir to be hidden.
“No, not in here with me. That explains what the Mayor was talking about. They haven’t said where they’re keeping it, but I think I have a fair idea.” May pulled her legs over the edge of the coffin so her feet rested on the plinth below and her elbows held her upright. She winced.
“Upstairs?”
May shook her head. She tried to rest her weight on her legs, but they collapsed beneath her. She slid down off the plinth. I rushed over to catch her as she sank against me.
“Sorry. It looks like I’m going to need more help than I realised. I hope you have a good getaway plan. Can I shift out here?”
“I wouldn’t. Your father tried to come in to rescue you in his raven form, and he got some form of particle poisoning before we even breached the inner wall. Speaking of which”--My hands shook violently--“I’m not far behind him.”
“Just lead the way, mysterious woman rescuer.”
I threw May’s arm over my shoulder, and together we shuffled out the door. As soon as we were outside, she raised her hand over her eyes. “Oh, this isn’t good.”
“What isn’t?”
“This blinding light. It wasn’t this bad when they brought me here.” She pointed up to the bright orbs hanging high above the cemetery. “Those spheres are like power cells. The wraith seem to be storing energy they collect inside them. I think that’s why they’ve increased their forays into the city. The more energy they have, the brighter the orbs burn. It looks to me as though they’ve recently acquired a massive influx of energy.”
‘You mean the Mimir is in one of those spheres?”
She nodded. “And I can’t see any way to get to it, not without wings.”
“How do the wraith get up there?”
She laughed bitterly. “They cooperate, something I’ve always been told they didn’t know how to do. They build pyramids out of wraith like high school cheerleaders, and one of them clambers up to the top. They get quite high if they need to.”
That didn’t spell good news for my holographic ruse. I picked up the pace. “But what are they doing with it? Why do they need all this energy?”
She opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, a ghostly hand clamped over her mouth.
“Nice trick with the projection,” the Mayor hissed, his gaping mouth inches from May’s throat. All he had to do was thrust his hand into her chest, and she’d be gone.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I yanked the particle weapon up to my shoulder, pointing it at the wraith’s head. As I did, I flicked my knife up into my wrist, hiding it under the edge of my sleeve.
The Mayor stared at my weapon and shook his head slowly. “Nice try,” he croaked out, his blackened mouth twisting into a smile. “But it won’t do any good. I’m beyond being affected by those weaponsss. You, however, are about to become vasssstly outnumbered.”
I whipped my head around and could just make out more shapes moving through the white fog toward us. In moments, they’d be on us, and we’d never be able to escape.
I fired the particle weapon at him anyway, because who trusts the word of a demonic ghoul? The beam hit him square in the forehead and elicited nothing but a cruel laugh.
But his laugh turned to a wince as May bit down on the hand that cupped her mouth. She bent down, pulling his head forward. I lunged for him, plunging the knife into his throat. If particle weapons no longer hurt the solid bastard, then ordinary weapons still did.
He gagged and gurgled, stumbling back and dropping May as he clawed at the knife. It had stuck fast in his throat. I could see the tip of the blade lodged in his translucent—yet somehow corporeal at the same time—body. He grabbed the handle and tried to dislodge it, his eyes bugging from his head as he danced madly from foot to foot.
“You want to be a real, fleshy motherfucker?” I snapped as I helped May to her feet. “Then prepare to bleed.”
The Mayor tried to respond, but all that came from his throat was a strangled gurgle. We staggered away from the mausoleum as I dragged May as fast as I could. Her legs wobbled unsteadily, but she managed to propel herself forward.
A hissing sound rose up from behind us, starting low, but growing in volume and proximity. I didn’t have to look behind us to know the wraith were nearly upon us. I had to hope they were as corporeal now as their master.
I grabbed one of Cory’s grenades from my belt, yanked the pin out with my teeth, and tossed it
behind us, not even looking at where I aimed.
“Down!” I shoved at May. She dived for the concrete, and I followed her, landing hard on my knees. I flung my arms over my head and pressed my nose to the ground, just as the world around us exploded.
My ears rang. The ground rolled away beneath me, and my body slammed into something hard. Everything shook. Behind my closed eyelids, the world turned to red dots. Clumps of dirt and stone rained down on my back and head. I tried to lift my head, but my whole body seemed to be plunging into the earth. I couldn’t tell which way was up. Was I standing or falling into the earth itself?
A hand threw itself over my shoulders. My stomach clenched and my body convulsed with wracking coughs.
“May?” I choked out, my mouth filled with dirt.
“Here!”
She dragged me … up, I guessed. Slowly, my sense of direction returned. I crouched on the ground, my head in my hands, May’s arm across my shoulder, leaning heavily against me. I opened my eyes, the red dots still dancing across my vision, but now they sat against a background of glaring white, speckled with dusty grey.
“Come on!” I yelled, my throat closing once more as dust filled my lungs. I grabbed May and dragged her forward.
“What about the Mimir?” she cried, craning her head around. “You could destroy it—”
“That might be for the best,” I snapped. “But we don’t have time.”
Together, we helped each other up and continued on into the blinding light, not even looking back to see if any of the wraith were following us. There wouldn’t be much we could do if they were.
“Where are we going?” May panted as I led her along a path between a line of crumbling Victorian graves marked with elaborate statues of angels, crosses, and mourning figures. Nothing looked familiar.
“There’s a hearse,” I said. “If we can find that, we can return through the breach I made in the wall. But I don’t—”
“I know where it is,” she said, pointing ahead of us into the glare. “Turn right at the end of this path. We’re not far.”
The walk back to the hearse seemed to take hours, though. Every step forward sent flashes of pain through my body. My ears still rang from the grenade blast, and my limbs shook violently. They felt heavy, as though I were moving through water.
I squinted into the light. Ahead, I could just make out the edge of the black bonnet behind the next line of stones.
“We’re nearly there,” I cried, surging forward with a jolt of energy.
May started to say something, but her words were cut off by a frightening hiss.
Two wraith appeared on the path in front of us, blocking the way. They moved toward us.
I reached for the second grenade, but May pushed my hand back.
“You’ll cover the breach with debris. We’ll never get out!” she cried.
She was right. Unfortunately, I had no idea what else to do.
“Run left,” I said. “I’ll run the other way, draw them away from you.”
“Fuck that,” May said. She stepped back from me, her dark eyes flickering with determination. She lifted her hands, and I watched in horror as fire licked her fingers. She opened her mouth, her features frozen in a silent scream.
“You can’t do that here!” I yelled, remembering what Cory had said about the energy shield, and the way Alain’s body reacted as he tried to enter the Citadel.
The wraith moved toward her, fingers raised like talons.
May stretched her hand high into the air, and an arc of lightning shot from some point in the sky and connected with her fingers. Her black cloak billowed around her as the flames grew, pouring from her hands, surrounding her body in a halo of fire. She tossed her head back, her mouth open, her scream no longer silent but high-pitched, and terrifying.
The flames shot from her hands and engulfed the wraith. Their hisses turned to shrieks as the fire tore through their limbs, peeling away their translucent skin and turning their bodies to dust. They burned quickly, their remains scattering across the path.
The fire encircling May faded, and she collapsed in a heap.
I knelt over her, pulling her head up. “May!”
She looked awful. Her skin was covered with scorch marks, her eyes sunken and dead. She coughed violently.
“You have to get me to the Compound,” she gasped between coughs. “Now.”
Her head dropped against the concrete path, and she lay still as stone.
Fuck. No.
I didn’t have time to question what May had done. I knew she was in serious danger. I gritted my teeth and lifted her body over my shoulder, then ran full-tilt toward the hearse. Once I reached it, I could easily spot the dark hole of the car window in the wall. I glanced behind me. No wraith.
I shoved May through the window into the car, then climbed in after her. I had to roll her onto her back and fold her arms on top of her like an Egyptian mummy in order to push her through the gap I’d cut in the door and along the concrete conduit. My breath came out in short, ragged gasps, and my chest heaved with effort as I pushed her stiff body toward freedom.
A little farther. Come on, Sydney.
My head burned. My whole body flared with hot pain, like fire in my limbs. I knew it wouldn’t be long now until I succumbed to the particle sickness. I thought I heard a hissing behind me, but it could have been the sound of my blood rushing in my ears.
May’s legs dropped away from me, and her body toppled out of the conduit.
I’d made it. My body surged with adrenaline. I was so close. I dropped out of the hole beside May, scooped her up into my arms, and stumbled down the road, my body groaning in protest from her weight. Outside, the world seemed dim and cold, the light difficult to navigate after so much time in the blinding whiteness.
“I’ve got her,” I yelled into the mic on my shoulder, not even certain if it was still on. I pumped my legs faster, putting as much distance between me and the Citadel as I could. “Cory, get me out of here.”
“Sydney, how did you—”
“Never mind that. Just do it!” I glanced over my shoulder, just in time to see a wraith crawl out of the conduit behind me.
A flap of wings, and hundreds of black birds appeared on the horizon. They surrounded me, and I stopped running, unable to see the road in front of me. Their wings beat against my flesh, their warm bodies scraping against mine. They pressed against me, tighter and tighter, pulling at my clothes, burying their bodies into my skin.
“What—” I tried to cry out, but my mouth filled with feathers.
I could no longer see anything except a whirring black cloud. My feet were swept from under me, and I was lifted from the ground. Something tugged at May, trying to force me to release my grip, but I held her tight against me.
Up, up, they carried us, away from the Citadel, the beating of their wings like a great heartbeat drumming in my ears. My whole body lurched, the fear and pain overwhelming me as the adrenaline faded in my veins.
Somewhere over the outskirts of the Hub, I passed out.
9
I awoke with a start as my knees cracked against hard stone. I opened one eye, then the other, waiting for the world to come into focus.
For a moment, I imagined myself back in prison. I was in the quad, being pummeled by the Dimitri brothers. That was why my whole body hurt. It took me a moment to remember where I was, what had happened.
The Citadel … The grenade … May ....
My surroundings came into focus. I was kneeling in the centre of the main courtyard of the Compound. In front of me stretched one of the long garden beds, the tops of radishes and carrots peeking out over the edge, single spots of bright colour against the grey. Reapers’ black coats flapped around their ankles as they rushed down from the staircases and dark halls, forming ranks around me.
No, not around me. Around the black lump on the ground in front of me. I lifted my head, staring in horror as the shape of the lump revealed itself to be a human.
>
May.
She lay sprawled across the cobbles on her side, her black hair splayed around her pixie face, her scorched hands drooping and her coat riding up around her waist.
She wasn’t moving.
The Reapers stared down at her body, their chins to their chests, their hoods pulled low over their eyes. In the still air, I could hear the faintest intake of breath. A door slammed, and I jumped. Alain pushed through the crowd. He dropped to his knees beside his daughter, lifting her limp, stiff head and cradling it on his lap.
“May,” he whispered, his voice choking.
I felt his pain as though it were my own, a knife twisting in my heart. What was wrong with her? Was she dead? How could I have let her die? I should have saved her. I should have—
Another robed figure stepped out from the crowd.
“Alain.” It was Malcolm’s voice. “We have to take her to the Sanctum. There’s still a spark of life left in her. Let me—”
“No.” He turned to me, his eyes blazing. When he saw my face, his expression softened a little. “Sydney, you’re alive.” His voice hitched with relief.
I nodded, his words washing over me in a wave of joy. He cared that I lived.
“What happened in there?” he asked, his words soft, delicate, as if he couldn’t bear to hear my answer.
I crawled forward on my knees, the movement sending stabs of pain down my legs. I reached him and grabbed his hand, clasping his fingers in mine. He squeezed, his eyes searching my face. My chest ached for him, for the pain he must’ve been feeling to see May like that. I squeezed back, though in my weakened state I bet he barely felt it.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “We were trying to make it to the breach, but two wraith stood in our way. My weapons don’t work against them. May thrust her hand in the air, and this lightning arced down from the dome and struck her fingers. Then she burst into flame and killed the wraith. But when the fire died away, she looked like this.”
“Shit.” Alain’s grip tightened. His face crumpled.