Secrets in the Mist

by Morgan L. Busse

  The world below the Mist was nothing like Theo had imagined. Land as far as the eye could see. Dozens of trees, sprawling vineyards with space between, and roads with nothing on either side. Even the presence of a Turned didn’t dampen his enthusiasm. If there really was a cure, someday people could live in that world.

  He had his microscope out and a handful of small glass slides on the desk. The airship’s engine thrummed gently through the walls as light spilled through the windows to his right. The sample from the Mist he’d studied this morning hadn’t revealed anything new. Hopefully that was good news. But to be sure, he would take his microscope with him the next time he went down to the surface and look at live samples instead of dead ones. The benefit of the spores dying at high elevation was the survival of humanity. The downfall? It was hard to study live spores unless he went into the Mist.

  There was a knock at his cabin door.

  “Come in.”

  The door swung open, and Cass stood in the doorway, wearing an oversized tunic tucked in a leather corset with loops and belts hanging from its waist. Theo wondered what Adora would think of the young woman. Cass was as different from a socialite as one could be.

  “I came to see if you would like to go for another dive today. The weather is perfect, and Bert assures me the area below is safe.” A trace of something like fear crossed her face, so slight that Theo wasn’t sure if he’d really seen it. He’d heard whispers around the ship of some fatal dive not too long ago, and he wondered.

  “Yes, I would like that. Let me finish this.” He turned back to his desk.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I . . . uh,” he glanced at the notes and slides spread across the desk. He’d never really told them what he did. Only that he needed them to help him retrieve a family artifact. There wasn’t really a reason to keep it a secret. “I study the Mist.”

  “You do?”

  The curiosity in her voice made him smile. “I do. Would you like to see?”

  “Yes!” came the eager reply.

  He started with the microscope, sharing how it worked, answering her flurry of questions. Then the slides, then his notes. The longer he spoke, the closer Cass drew, until she was bending over, her face near his as she studied the array of paper and equipment. He could smell the soft scent of soap on her skin.

  Eventually, she straightened, still looking at the display before her. “Theo.” There was a pause. “Are you part of the Alchemy Society?”

  “Alchemy Society?” His mind was still stuck on the few seconds before.

  “Yes, that group of scientists.”

  “Yes,” he answered reluctantly. He’d opened that door when he let her know about his studies of the Mist. Only the elite were a part of the Alchemy Society. Would she figure out who he was? It was only one step from the Alchemy Society to one of the Five.

  “Fascinating,” she said, her eyes still on the table. “Could I try it out?” Cass pointed to the microscope.

  “Of course. Would you like to take a closer look at the spores inside the Mist.”

  “Yes.”

  Theo took the slide he had been studying and documenting and placed it back beneath the lenses. “Here you go.”

  He stood up, pushed the chair away, then stepped back so Cass could stand in front of the microscope. He helped her work the knobs, explained what she was seeing, and how he drew what he observed so he could keep track of what he found. Before he knew it, the watch inside his vest chimed eleven o’clock.

  “Oh.” Cass jerked up. “How long have I been here?”

  “At least an hour,”

  “We need to go. Bert’s been waiting for us.”

  “Right,” Theo said. “I’ll change and meet you on the deck.”

  Cass started for the door, then stopped and turned. “Theo, thank you.”

  His hand stilled on the buttons on his vest. “For what?”

  She looked at him, her eyes serious. “For showing me your work. There’s so much I don’t know, and I want to understand. I want to know how the world works, where everything came from, and discover everything there is to find.” She glanced upward. “It’s kind of like how I feel about gliding. I feel free when I’m up in the sky. When it’s just me and the wind and the air. A sort of reckless freedom and discovery.” She met his eyes. “I heard that same passion in your voice just now. Maybe we’re the same in some ways.” She stopped herself and gave a quick shake of her head. “Anyway, I’ll meet you on the deck.”

  Theo continued looking at the door after she had closed it, his hand still on the top button of his vest. Maybe we’re the same.

  He certainly had never met a young woman like her before.

  Theo made sure the small wooden box containing his microscope was fully secured to his gliding pack. He cinched the straps, checking each one twice, then approached Cass.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  “Yes. Thanks for letting me bring my microscope.”

  She nodded and turned away from him. “Go ahead and latch onto my glider.”

  As Theo raised the clasp, he spotted a few of the crewmembers pausing in their work to watch. He’d overheard that there used to be more divers on the Daedalus, but now there were only Cass and Bert. And since Bert was the captain, it was really just Cass.

  Once he was ready, he placed his hands on Cass’s shoulders, then gave her the signal. As she raised her hand to indicate she’d felt the pressure, he saw a glint of silver around her neck as the wind picked up her hair. She began moving toward the opening between the rails of the deck.

  For one second, it felt like he’d left his stomach back on the Daedalus before the wind picked up the glider and sent them soaring. He almost laughed as the air blew over him, pushing his hair back. Cass glanced over her shoulder. He couldn’t see her expression but the next moment, she tilted the glider and sent them careening to the left. He had a feeling she, too, was grinning beneath the mask.

  Instead of taking them straight down like she did previously, Cass seemed to linger in the air, catching a breeze every few minutes, soaring high. A flock of geese came from the east, gliding along an invisible wind current. Cass turned and followed them for a minute. Then, finally, she began their descent.

  The moment they entered the Mist, it felt again like he’d entered a whole different world. Where the sky above had been sunny and free, down here felt cold, dim, and sinister.

  The Mist moved through a thicket of trees below like grey fingers. Something dark darted through it. A moment later, a deer came bursting through the forest and dashed across the meadow they were heading toward. It disappeared as they reached the top of the trees.

  With deft skill, Cass brought them to the ground. This time, Theo kept his balance.

  Cass glanced back at him. “Go ahead and unlatch yourself from my glider.”

  Theo nodded and reached between them to unclasp his pack.

  Cass pushed up her goggles and looked around. “Not much here,” she said, and Theo was sure he detected some relief in her voice. “I spotted a hill on the other side of those trees that we can use for takeoff.”

  “Do you usually land in deserted areas like this?” Theo asked as took off his pack and began to undo the small wooden box.

  “Not usually. But if we are surveying a new place, we never know what we will find once we enter the Mist. Even when we use pre-plague maps. The world has changed since the Plague Wars. There was a lot of damage that left cities and villages devastated. And many have become overrun with plants and trees.”

  Theo placed the box on the ground. “So what’s it like to land in an old town?”

  Cass stopped. “Like visiting a grave.”

  A grave?

  Theo looked at Cass. Her face appeared pale behind her mask. “Did something happen?” he asked.

  “Not here,” came the reply. But he saw her fingering the revolver at her side as she eyed the thicket. Whatever had happened, he was fairly sure now Cass had been a
part of it.

  He removed his microscope and placed it on the box lid. He gently pulled out a new glass slide and headed for a nearby tree. Most of the spores lived in the air, creating the greyish-green Mist, but sometimes they clustered on objects. He searched one tree, then the next. Finally, on the third he found a tiny patch of grey fuzz. Using a small knife, he scraped some of it onto his slide, then secured it with a second piece of glass.

  Cass was still standing where he had left her, one hand sitting across the holster of her revolver as she scanned the trees around them.

  “Find what you were looking for?” she asked as he approached.

  “Yes. It’s been a while since I was able to look at live spores, and I’m curious to see how these ones compare to the ones near the dead zone.”

  “Dead zone?”

  “The area between the Mist and civilization. The edge of the Mist.”

  “Where the Purges happen.”

  Theo noted how her face grimaced. “Yes. Another reason for my studies.”

  “Wait.” She looked at the microscope, then slowly back at him. “Are you looking for a solution?”

  Theo’s hand stilled near the knob he was about to turn. He hesitated, then said, “Yes.”

  “Is that why we’re heading to Voxhollow?”

  “Yes. There might be some information there that could help.”

  Cass didn’t say any more. Out of the corner of his eye, she appeared pensive, as if she were mentally chewing his words. He bent down and peered through the microscope. Not much had changed that he could observe. The spores were still elongated, oval in shape, and to the naked eye, a greyish green that appeared like tiny tufts of fuzz. Except . . .

  He turned the knob again. There, barely visible even with his microscope. A tiny barb at the end of the oval. Had he missed that characteristic before? If it was new, could that account for the change occurring in the Mist and why it was now rising at an accelerated speed?

  A shot rang out.

  Theo’s head shot up in time to see a smoldering corpse just beyond the tree line.

  “Time to go,” Cass said in a cold voice.

  Theo didn’t respond. Instead, he immediately began packing up his microscope and the sample he’d taken. The spores would die once they exited the Mist, but at least he could look at them again and take what notes he could.

  Cass fired again.

  Gales, how many Turned were around here? There were only trees and this meadow as far as he could tell. Where were they coming from?

  Theo hurriedly clasped the box shut and began to strap it in.

  “There’s more,” Cass informed him.

  His fingers fumbled as he attached the wooden box to his pack. He stood and quickly pulled the pack on.

  “Strap on your glider on as we walk,” Cass said as she strode off. Theo hurried to catch up to her while checking the straps across his chest. The ground began to slope gently up. Theo glanced back but couldn’t see any Turned. Part of him was slightly disappointed. He’d never seen one up close, and the scientist in him was curious to see exactly what the spores did to a human body. He knew they attacked the brain and fed on its nutrients, then used the body for mobility, but what happened to the body itself? Studying a corpse would help, a live one. He’d already looked at dead ones.

  At the top, Cass glanced back, and her face went ashen. “As soon as I deploy the glider, get behind me and attach yourself to my pack,” she ordered as she brought her revolver up. Halfway down the hill, shambling between the trees was another Turned.

  Cass pulled on the cord with her free hand, and the glider stretched out behind her. Theo moved in, working as fast as he could.

  “Done,” he informed her and pulled his goggles down. The Turned continued in their direction. Cass pulled out the guiding rods.

  “We’re going to run down the other side,” she shouted as she put away the revolver and began to turn them around.

  “Why didn’t you shoot?” he shouted in return.

  Cass didn’t answer. He couldn’t tell if it was because she didn’t hear him or was concentrating on getting them airborne.

  They started down the other side of the hill. It was fairly empty except for a handful of trees. It appeared to be an old dirt road with weeds and bramble on either side.

  Just as the straps tightened beneath his armpits and legs, Cass yelled. He couldn’t hear what she said through the mask and the wind. Instead, he let go and followed her lead. She steered them straight ahead, letting the air lift them higher and higher.

  Then he saw what made her shout.

  At the bottom of the hill were three more Turned.

  Within seconds he had calculated their trajectory, the speed of the Turned, and their own ascent. He wasn’t sure they would make it.

  Cass felt nothing, saw nothing. Everything inside of her was focused on one thing: flight. Every time the prickling of fear began to surge across her body, she slammed it back with everything she had and refocused.

  Her sweaty hands clung to the guiding poles, feeling every tiny updraft and adjusting the glider to catch the air. She barely registered Theo behind her, except for the feel of his hands on her shoulders and his extra weight.

  There was no room for error, no room for thought. Instinct was what would get them out of here. Instinct and . . .

  Elaeros, help us! she cried in her mind.

  The Turned staggered up the road. They were at the end stages of decomposition, with bones sticking through the rotting flesh and faces that looked as if they were melting off their skulls. And the smell . . .

  Just as she began to despair, Cass felt it. A slight change in the air, a bit of warmth. She turned slightly to the left and felt the glider catch the thermal. In answer to her movement, the glider soared upward like a hawk. Cass began circling the air, then realized she had been holding her breath.

  She let it out long and steady, then drew in a lungful of stale air through the mask. The thermal dissipated near the edge of the Mist, but Cass caught another one, and minutes later they broke through to clear sky above. As the wind moved over her body, she began to shiver. Her entire body was covered in sweat. Her hands began to tremble, but she steadied her grip on the guiding poles again and turned toward the Daedalus.

  Theo’s hands felt warm against her cold shoulders, and she slowly relaxed. They’d escaped. She’d been able to shoot the first two Turned, but then fear had taken over, causing her hand to shake so bad she knew her aim would be off and she could possibly set the woods on fire. So she did the only thing her body allowed her to: fly away. They were lucky to take flight before the Turned reached them.

  But what about next time? What if they reached Voxhollow, and escape wasn’t an option? When the mission was of utmost importance, no matter how many Turned appeared?

  As Cass crested over the Daedalus, she wondered if she should talk to Bert about her sudden fear. Perhaps he’d felt the same way and had found a means to conqueror it. But talking meant admitting that maybe she couldn’t do the job.

  I can’t afford that, Cass thought as she brought the tip of the glider up and landed on the deck. This is the only home I have. I need to keep on going on my own. No matter what.

  Theo detached his pack from her glider as Bert came down from the top deck. “How did the dive go?”

  Cass spoke casually as she pushed up her goggles and removed her mask. “Theo was able to find what he was looking for. We ran into a handful of Turned, but we got away.”

  Bert looked at her incredulously. “Turned? Down there? That area should have been empty. There isn’t a village within miles.”

  Cass shrugged as she stowed away her glider. It’d been a while since she had inspected the gliders and changed out the mask filters. She would do that this afternoon.

  “Cass handled it well,” Theo said from behind her. “She shot two and got us airborne.”

  “Well, she is the best,” Bert replied, but Cass could hear the tightness in h
is voice. Was that still a trace of jealousy? Another reason not to confess her newfound fears.

  “So when do I get a chance to dive by myself?” Theo asked.

  Cass looked at him, startled. Could Theo seriously still be so eager with what they had just gone through?

  “I can’t always be relying on Cass. Or anyone else.”

  “That’s true,” Bert agreed. “Even more so as we approach Voxhollow. You need to know how to glide should anything happen below.”

  Cass’s stomach tightened at Bert’s words. Should anything happen below. Like the last time they were along the western mountains. When Oliver and Captain Gresley—

  “Cass, are you all right?”

  Cass found both Theo and Bert staring at her. She blinked. “Yes, of course. Theo needs to know how to dive by himself.”

  “Then let’s plan on diving tomorrow. All three of us. We’ll be near Decadenn, and there is a large clearing below the city.”

  “I’ll make sure our equipment is ready,” Cass offered. “In fact, I’m doing an inspection this afternoon.”

  “Good.”

  “Can I join you?” Theo asked her before she could leave.

  “Join me?”

  “During your inspection. I want to make sure I know all I can about the gliders.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Bert said before Cass could respond.

  Her heart fell. She’d been hoping for some time alone. “Yes, that’s fine. Meet me in the storage room down on the second level after lunch.”

  Cass quickly left the deck, searching for her moment alone. She needed a chance to collect herself after the last incident.

  Theo quietly watched as Cass inspected the gliders, checking for any cracks along the wooden frames or tears within the canvas. Everything looked good. After stowing the gliders away in their packs, she pulled out the gas masks and started changing out the filters. The sun trickled through the portholes on either side of the room, lighting the area.

  “Why are you using those filters?” He pointed to the circular one in her hand.

  She gave him a puzzled look. “Because those are the ones we have.”