Arachne's Web

by Elizabeth Corrigan

  Tegan’s face shut down, and Cobalt realized she had considered Jack’s words until he pulled in the hated nickname. “Sorry, Night Thief. My orders are that she dies, even if the rest of you don’t. But I’ll tell you what… you can die first so you don’t have to watch her die.”

  Jack closed his eyes, and Cobalt didn’t think he’d ever seen his brother so defeated. But as Tegan approached, Jack looked up and laughed. “I love you. I’ll find you,” he said to the woman at his side. Then he turned and met Cobalt’s gaze. “See you tomorrow, Blue.”

  Tegan grabbed Jack by the hair and pulled his head back, exposing his throat. As she brought the knife toward it, Cobalt squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away. He prayed for death so he could forget the choking gurgle that was Jack’s last breath and the scream of the woman who apparently had the courage to watch her lover die.

  He kept his head scrunched against his chest through the abrupt end to the woman’s cries, until he felt it being tugged upward. The woman was strong enough that he didn’t think he could have fought the pull of her hand, even if he had wanted to. But where Jack went, he followed, even into death. He barely felt the pain when the sharp blade sliced into his jugular and an eruption of red flashed before his eyes.

  Present Day

  Cobalt woke up choking, and he could still taste his own blood flowing down his throat. He quickly checked to make sure he didn’t have a giant gash in his neck, but the skin was perfectly clear. After he gasped a few times, the air came more smoothly.

  “What is with you?” Jack asked. He was in the cot on the other side of the cell, fiddling with a datapad he had convinced the guard to give him. Jack had pled boredom, but Cobalt suspected his brother had a plan. He wondered what kind of plan could involve a datapad that didn’t connect to the datasphere, but he knew better than to ask his brother aloud.

  “Bad dream,” Cobalt said. He couldn’t explain to Jack the visions that had started when he saw the woman on the detective’s screen and had turned into full-fledged memories as he slept. “Memories” was the right word for what he had experienced. He had no doubt that woman, Tegan, had killed him once before and most likely wanted to do so again.

  “Blue.” Jack looked up from what he was doing and gave Cobalt a look almost as serious as the one he had given Tegan as he begged for his love’s life. “You have been acting weird since we got arrested. You’re making dire proclamations and having nightmares. It’s not like you.”

  What would you say if I told you I believed you now? That there is some girl waiting for you out there? “Maybe I’m just pissed at you for getting us into this mess.”

  “Well, if that’s all.” Jack flashed a grin. “I think I’ve got a solution.”

  “Does this solution involve hiring a lawyer and getting us acquitted of all charges?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. You know me better than that.”

  He did. In fact, he had known his brother for at least another lifetime, it seemed. Possibly many lifetimes.

  This should all seem weirder to me than it does. He was a practical, scientific sort. He should know reincarnation was impossible. Yet he had one dream, and he was certain he had lived before. Maybe he was grateful to latch onto any explanation for why he acquiesced to Jack’s plans so quickly. He had apparently been doing so for more than one lifetime.

  “You ready?” Jack asked, the grin on his face growing wider.

  “For what?”

  “This.” Jack pressed a button on the datapad, and sirens wailed outside the cell, accompanied by flashing red lights. Wooo-eeeee-ooooo-eeeee.

  “Come on!” Jack jumped up and peeked around the edge of the cell.

  I guess the force field’s down. Trust Jack not to look for guards before doing whatever he did.

  Footsteps sounded in the hall, not of guards but of all the other prisoners escaping their cells.

  “Are you insane? You can’t let everyone out! There could be dangerous criminals in those cells.” Not willing to let his exasperation delay their escape, Cobalt rushed over to his brother and followed him into the quickly filling hall.

  “That’s what I’m counting on.” Jack slipped between the criminals, and Cobalt had to push people aside to keep up. “Serious criminals will be a higher priority to recapture than we are.”

  “We stole diamonds from ZimmerCorp. I’m pretty sure we’re near the top of the detective’s list of people to track down.”

  “Shhh. I think I turned off the cameras, but they might have listening devices not on the datasphere.” Jack ducked down and fiddled with a panel on the wall. “That’s also why we’re taking the heating ducts.”

  Cobalt closed his eyes. “Of course we are. Do you realize what the ambient temperature will be in there?”

  Jack lifted the panel and set it aside. “About a million degrees? It’ll get us out of here, and that’s all that matters.”

  A tattooed arm pushed Jack out of the way of the opening. “Thanks for the escape for me and my buddies.” The beefy man gestured behind him to four equally large men, none of whom would fit easily through the heating vents.

  If we have to go behind them, we’re sure to be caught.

  A glint of metal flashed in one of the prisoners’ hands, and Cobalt realized they didn’t have a choice.

  “Hey, I opened the vent. I’m going first.” Jack’s going to argue with them. Of course.

  “What did you say to me?” The prisoner lurched forward, and Cobalt thought he would have to watch his brother die for the second time that day.

  “I said I’m going first.” Jack didn’t seem the least bit scared, but then, he never did. “I’m the one that broke us out, which means I’m the ones with the building plans, which means I’m the one who knows the way out. You and your buddies can follow me.” Jack offered a wink to the prisoner he had just stupefied with logic then ducked into the vent.

  “I’m with him,” Cobalt said, following his brother before the pack could recover enough to stop him. As the twins crawled through the vent, arguments over who got to go next echoed behind them.

  “How did you break into security with a datapad that didn’t connect to the datasphere?” Cobalt asked.

  “Palmed the wireless transmitter from my handcuffs. They should really be more careful with those things.”

  “You do know where you’re going, right?”

  “Of course. I even scheduled a stop to pick up our stuff from evidence.”

  “Is that safe?”

  “Blue, if life were safe, would it be any fun?”

  Cobalt knew better than to argue with that.

  Chapter 13

  Present Day

  Gavin pulled the hot dog out of his MRE heating bag and stared at it. He wondered if he would be better off if he skipped to the survival portion of the adventure then decided against it. For one thing, the food was probably more nutritious than anything he would find in the forest, despite its odor and appearance, and for another, he knew the survival benefits to the constipation that resulted from MREs. Oh sure, he would hurt like hell in the buttocks for the next twenty-four hours, but he wouldn’t leave behind biological remains.

  Yeah, but they’re not going to be chasing us for a week, and they’re going to be following us on vid that whole time. There is literally no benefit to eating this slop.

  Gavin forced his mouth open, his stomach threatening to upchuck his digestive juices if he had to smell that half-salty, half-plastic odor any longer. He took a bite of the hot dog, and the scent amplified a hundred times in his mouth. Bile rose in his throat as he chewed, and he needed every ounce of training in his life to swallow the hot dog. One bite down, about seven more to go. Cronos, I wish I had some Tabasco sauce.

  He looked over at Archon, who was humming to himself as he stirred jalapeño cheese paste into his piping-hot noodles. Gavin inha
led and marveled that the cheese, while still half-salty and half-plastic, was not nearly as stomach turning as the hot dog. He had lobbied hard for that cheese—well, actually, he had handed it over pretty quickly, but he had lobbied in his heart—but it comforted him to know it wouldn’t taste much better than the hot dogs.

  He stared down at the pseudo-meat in his hands. That’s a lie. The cheese wouldn’t taste good, per se, but it would be a world of improvement over this monstrosity.

  Gavin took about three minutes of deep breaths between each bite, but he choked down the rest of the hot dog. The last few cold bites were even less palatable than the first few had been, but the important thing was that he ate it.

  “Hey, man.”

  Gavin had been so engrossed in his eating that he had missed Archon coming over to him. That didn’t bode well for his performance in the competition.

  “I can’t believe you ate that whole thing. You look positively green.” Archon held out a package. “Here, eat the pudding to wash out the taste. You deserve it more than me. Let me have the granola I saw in your sack.”

  Gavin felt a smile light up his face, though he knew it wasn’t as bright as usual, given his current state of nausea. “Thank you.” He dug in his MRE box for the granola and traded it for Archon’s dessert.

  Pudding required some preparation but fortunately didn’t need to be heated. Gavin poured the accompanying packets of water and coffee grounds into the chocolate mush and mixed them up with the provided pestle. The granules made a grinding noise as he mashed them, and he knew the substance would be gritty and not at all like the smooth pudding his mother made for him. It might remove the lingering taste of hot dog from his mouth, though, and that was all he cared about.

  As he lifted his first spoonful of pudding to his mouth, a large figure came rushing out of the forest toward him. He started and dropped his cup, grabbing the knife from his belt and aiming it at the newcomer, and could hear Archon mimicking his actions behind him.

  The new arrival held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I’m not here to capture you. I need help.”

  Gavin thought he recognized the man as the champion from Terpsichore—Jesse something. Gavin held out a hand for Archon to stay back and gave Jesse a level stare. “What do you want? We’re supposed to stay separated.”

  “I know, I know, but it’s my partner! He got stung by one of those red wasps, and he’s having trouble breathing. I think he’s allergic.”

  Archon stepped forward next to Gavin. “I’m allergic too. I’ve got an allergen spray in my bag. Let me get it.”

  “No, man, you don’t get it. I already tried that. It didn’t work.” Jesse’s brown eyes were like saucers, and his hands were trembling.

  Sometimes that happens, a calm voice at the back of Gavin’s mind said. At this juncture, you need to apply the spray directly to the windpipe. Gavin didn’t know how he knew, but he was certain he could apply an allergen spray at the last minute and still save someone’s life.

  Gavin reached out his hand to Archon. “Give it to me. I know what to do.”

  Archon handed over the spray, but Jesse knocked it out of Gavin’s hand. “You can’t possibly know what to do! You’re not a medical professional. I came to find you to get the code phrase to get us out of here.”

  A prickle formed at the back of Gavin’s neck. “What?” Wait. Who was Jesse’s partner again?

  “Look, I wasn’t paying attention. I figured Abe was, so we’d have it if we needed it. But now Abe can barely breathe, and he can’t tell me. He’s going to die.”

  The world entered slow motion for Gavin, and he could see two parallel worlds opening in front of them. In one, Abe really was dying, and his partner was desperate for assistance. In another, it was some trick to get Gavin to say the words that would remove him from the contest. In the first case, he would say those words or at least give a hint faster than his father would appreciate. In the second case, he had no intention of being played for a fool.

  “Let me see Abe.” Even Gavin’s words seemed slow to him, though he spoke at a normal pace. “Let me see if I can help him. I don’t know him that well, but he wouldn’t want to leave the competition if he didn’t have to.”

  Jesse reached out to shake him, and Gavin couldn’t react quickly enough to stop him from grabbing hold, and his head shook back and forth. Bop-ba-bop-ba-bop.

  “You don’t get it,” Jesse said. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I thought it was all great, winning the competition for my region. But now we’re going to die. We’re for real going to die, and I just want it all to be over.”

  I could just tell him the words out of order or something. He could put it together fast enough to save Abe.

  “Gavin, what’s wrong with you?” Archon put a hand on Jesse’s shaking arm. “We have to help him. The code phrase is—”

  All at once, Gavin’s full senses returned to him, and he reached out to clamp a hand over Archon’s mouth. “Show me Abe.” His voice brooked no opposition.

  Jesse relaxed all at once. “Yeah, he didn’t think you’d fall for it.” He gave a rueful smile. “Though he’ll be pleased to know that the weakest link nearly gave himself up.”

  Archon sputtered. “What did you call me?”

  “Not now, little one,” Jesse said. “Grown-ups are talking.”

  “Having the generosity to try to save a fellow soldier, especially one who has treated him with disrespect, is not a sign of weakness,” Gavin said. “It shows a greater strength than someone who will cheat to win can ever understand.”

  Jesse shrugged. “It’s hardly cheating. It’s just a bit of trickery. If it were cheating, they would disqualify us for it, but that other team got taken out, and we didn’t.”

  “Other team?” Archon seemed dumbfounded.

  “Oh, yes.” Jesse’s gleeful grin made Gavin want to vomit more than the hot dog had. “You won’t be seeing Clio or Erato around anywhere. They were so eager to try to save Abe and so angry when they found out they’d been duped.”

  Gavin shook his head. “You’re never going to win the competition this way. The judges rate you on your attitude and team-spiritedness as much as your cleverness and survival skills.”

  “All we have to do is make sure we’re not captured,” Jesse said. “If we stay free and the rest of you louts get nabbed, they’ll have to give one of us the prize.”

  “That’s a pretty big if,” Archon said. “Especially coming from cheaters. What do you plan to do? Bribe the guards with your MREs?”

  Jesse smiled. “We have our ways. But bribing the guards… hadn’t thought of that. I bet we could think of something they want.”

  I’m sure Abe has thought of something. Gavin held out his hand. “Well, no hard feelings. You tried to trick us. You failed. Let’s try to have a good and honest competition from here on out.”

  Jesse sneered at him and glanced down at the ground to where the pudding had fallen. Though the heavy dessert stuck to the sides of the carton, Gavin didn’t want to eat what remained in the upside-down package. Jesse made sure of that as he stomped on the white container, grinding the brown paste into the dirt. “Enjoy that hot dog aftertaste. You’re going to be experiencing it for a while.”

  Chapter 14

  Present Day

  Will Turin collapsed onto his bed and wondered if he should bother to do his homework.

  Homework. Cronos, I can’t believe I went back to university. I’m… God, I don’t even remember. Three hundred ninety-three years old? Three hundred ninety-four? And that’s just in this lifetime. He didn’t really regret it, though. After all, Lexi was at university, and it had been too long since he’d seen her.

  Once upon a time, when the Turin siblings had been drinking and lamenting their terrible taste in significant others, Roslyn had asked him why he loved Lexi of all people. He would always re
member what he had told her.

  “Lexi is happy. You and I, we’re angry. Cuttlefish is disgusted. Gavin and Bliss are always sad. Jack is most happy when he’s surprised, and Cobalt’s constantly afraid of what Jack’s going to do next. I’m not sure Detrick has real emotions. But Lexi, in her natural state, is just happy.”

  “Yeah, until you tell her she can’t be famous,” Roslyn had said. “Then it’s all me-me-me diva rant.”

  “She enjoys the diva rant,” Will had said. “And there you go, being all angry again.”

  Will loved Lexi all the time, but he enjoyed her most at this point in a life cycle, when she still thought she had a chance at becoming famous. Soon enough, the memories would come rushing back, and along with them would be Demitrius’s edicts against them drawing too much attention to themselves. Then would come Will’s least favorite time of being with Lexi, the part when she went into denial. But she evened out eventually, and they would go on joyrides among the moons. Lexi would play at any little coffee shop that would have her, and he would be a freelance journalist for the fringe elements of the population, and for a little while, he would be happy too.

  She used him. He knew it. He was her tagalong lackey, but he’d always hoped that someday, her carefree, narcissistic happiness would rub off on him. For over three hundred fifty years, they’d gone on that way until the last time, when someone had to go and fuck it all up.

  Twenty Years Ago

  “They’re dead.” Lexi reeled back from Will’s office door and collapsed on the sofa. Her breathing was so shallow, he wanted to suggest she put her head between her knees. “All of them are dead.”

  Will hadn’t meant for Lexi to overhear his vid call with his contact on Arachne, but he hadn’t tried to hide it from her, either. He hadn’t known he would receive word that one of his fellow Transients had killed four others, and Lexi’s unfortunate penchant for eavesdropping had reared its ugly head at the worst time. He’d wanted to break it to her gently.