by Ben Zackheim
Rebel reached out to the floating image.
“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you,” Ronin said, grabbing her sister’s wrist gently.
“Why not?”
“Because it will fry your brain,” Polk said. He pointed to a serpentine line and traced it with his fingertip. His skin was millimeters from touching it. “This one here almost killed a new recruit.”
“He’ll be fine,” Ronin said, defensively.
“So the Ley Line’s power is dangerous,” I said, though it was really a question.
“I wouldn’t say that, Polk said. “It outputs power on a level we don’t quite understand yet,” Polk said. The glow of the Lines reflected in his eyes. I could see that Polk had a new obsession.
“What kind of output?” I asked. Sometimes it took Polk hours to get to his point. We didn’t have hours.
“Psychic output, I guess you could say.”
“Oh, that clears things up,” Rose said.
“Dirty little moron asshole!” he screamed at himself. “This is the Magicist in me talking, mind you, not the Scientist. The Ley Line infrastructure appears to be a foundation for all life on the planet. We stand on them. We feed off of them. And they, us. You touch one and you touch the essence of every life form it touches.”
Where were Dino and his ganja when I needed them?
“But what are they?” Rebel asked. “Skyler said the Lines were the power of the earth. You say they touch our essence. But why do they exist?”
“I only have a theory, but have you heard of the idea of the human brain processing reality so that it makes sense? Reality, with all of its dimensions, is a complex image for our senses. We have a limited ability to see, touch, hear, smell and taste our world.”
“Holy crap,” Rebel said. “Then Dino and his stinkweed brain were right. Our senses construct our perceptions so they make sense.”
“Can I have what you guys had?” I asked.
“You were asking about this stuff months ago, Kane,” Rebel said. “Stop fucking around.”
She was right, of course. Ever since I received the Swap Portal from Skyler as a gift I’d been digging into how time and space respond to magic. And vice versa. How could I travel around the world in an instant without losing my marbles?
“Well, that may be the function of Ley Lines,” Polk said. “They ground us on a psychic level while our senses ground us on a physical level. With both of them healthy we can go about our business and never see reality for what it is.”
“Which is what?” Cassidy asked.
“A construct. A plan for the next step, the next thought, the next taste. It turns off during sleep which causes dreams, as much as our brains try to fight it or forget it.”
“So those people in Kansas are stuck in a dream,” Rose said.
“From the looks on their faces, nightmares,” Cassidy said. He was right. I couldn’t imagine the pain those poor people were going through.
“Why do the Ley Lines look like…” Rebel got distracted by one of the lines opening it’s lizard-like mouth, as if in agony. Its head was bent around the head of another line.
They squeezed together until it looked like they would burst.
Then they slid past each other, spared their pain until they passed each other again.
“Why do they appear to be creatures?” Polk finished Rebel’s question for her, so I knew he’d yell at himself. “Asshole! Maybe because they are creatures. I don’t know. But they may have followed a parallel process in evolution. They may be as much a part of our existence as atoms.”
“Meaning what?” Rose asked.
“Maybe they evolved along with us, but on another plane. A metaphysical plane. I just don’t know yet.”
“They’re in such pain,” Rebel said, transfixed by the slow movements of the Ley Lines.
“Yes, like I said, they’ve never known a moment of peace since they were isolated. That’s their lot. But I don’t know why they’re suffering.”
Ronin crossed her arms and studied the image.
I shouldn't have stared at her. I knew how dangerous that could be. But I couldn’t help myself.
She looked a lot like Rebel.
She was older than her sister but it didn’t show. Her black hair was as black as Rebel’s was red. Her fair skin was just like Rebel’s. Her smarts and disposition were pretty close too. But they were fundamentally different in one way.
Ronin hated me.
I’m not sure the exact moment that fun dynamic started. It may have been that her sister decided to stick with me instead of her. Rebel could have been a staple of Spirit’s operations.
Put her anywhere and she could make shit happen.
But when Rebel chose to stick by the guy who could keep the Vampire relics safe, Ronin was pissed.
Still, I wondered if the hatred came from somewhere else. Somewhere more personal. Because Ronin also had about as much magic in her as my coffee cup. She’d become an incredible tactician and a hell of a good politician. You had to be good at both of those things to stay on top of an international body politic like Spirit.
But her focus on her work was some borderline shit. Ronin pushed herself to the limit time after time. It was as if she wanted to see how hard a mere human could drive toward a goal without cracking.
Like she was studying herself.
So part of me wondered if her hatred of me was more about her hatred of Rebel’s well-rounded life.
Yeah, you heard me right.
Rebel’s well-rounded life.
Sure, she battled creatures of the supernatural an average of once a week. She pulled magic from her fingertips like a trucker spits. She’s been to Hel and Valhalla and been possessed by Excalibur.
But she also had friends.
A team that she trusted.
A life.
Ronin couldn’t say the same.
And I think the fact that I realized this made her consider me an enemy. Maybe I was. If I had to choose between Spirit or my team I would choose my team. Zero question.
Ronin caught me ogling her. She froze me with a glare as cold as space. I tried to stand mt ground but damned if I could stand that chill for more than a few seconds.
“You two going to start fighting again?” Rebel asked, catching us in our little frozen moment in time.
“He’d better hope not,” Ronin said. She took a step toward me and Rebel held out an arm to stop her.
“So what do we do with this information?” I asked Polk, ignoring how close to bodily harm I was.
“Well, go ahead and examine them closely, Kane,” he said. He wanted me to figure it out for myself.
“I’m examining, Polk. And it looks like an aquarium of sad eels. So what?”
“Watch,” he said.
I sighed. Cryptic motherfucker. I don’t think I said it out loud but Polk looked at me like I did.
I stared at the Ley Lines and I did notice something after a minute. The light that flowed through them had a bright spot. The bright spot was slow to move.
But it did. Just enough for the naked eye to notice. It jerked.
It moved like it was stuck.
“The energy is plugged up,” I said. “There.” I pointed, not getting too close with my finger because that shit was freaking me out.
“That bright spot on the Lines appeared last night,” Polk said. He was leading me somewhere.
I followed.
“It’s the shield,” I said. “The shield’s power disrupted the Ley Lines.”
Polk shot a glance at Ronin, who frowned at the floor like it had just farted.
“And the Ley Lines are driving us nuts,” she said.
Chapter 25
“You need to go to Santa Fe, New Mexico,” Ronin said.
This was what she liked to do. Spring our destination on us before we went through the song and dance of finding out why.
“That’s random,” Rebel said.
“It is actually,” Polk said. “At
least a little random. It was chosen out of eighty thousand possibilities as being the most likely place for the next surfacing.”
“Surfacing is what we’re calling the phenomenon when it hits humans,” Ronin added.
Polk brought up a map on the monitor.“The surfacing has happened in five places,” Polk said. Five red spots marked the map in southern Canada and northern United States. “Before Kansas, we saw small populations in southern Canada go through the same hell you saw on the news. No one knows about Boncarbo, Colorado but that news will break soon.”
“There’s a pattern to the surfacing?” I asked.
Polk smiled at me. He liked me when I was his kind of smart. “Not a clear pattern. But we built a model to guess where its next victims will be.”
“And Santa Fe is the best guess?” Rose asked.
“It is,” Ronin said, putting an authoritative tilt on her words that made it clear she didn’t want it to become a discussion.
So I made it into a discussion.
“Why is it the best guess?”
“We don’t have time to data dump, Arkwright,” Ronin said. “We’ve arranged...”
“Hold on a minute, Ronin,” Polk said. It wasn’t like him to interrupt. He didn’t yell at himself, which meant he felt justified. Everyone listened.
“The model has fourteen solid guesses. But Santa Fe is the best guess because of Zozobra.”
“Anxiety?” Rebel asked. I looked at her, confused. “It’s Spanish for anxiety.”
“Santa Fe is anxious?” I asked Polk.
“Actually, yes. No more than anyone else in these trying times, but they have an annual ritual where they burn their anxieties in the form of a sixty foot tall puppet.”
“I’ve heard of this,” I said. “It’s a burning of the previous year’s sin, heart break, grief and all of that. A real show.”
“When it burns there’s a palpable energy to the air,” Polk said. “Even mere mortals like us can feel the primal release. The screams from the crowds that watch the burning of Zozobra are frightening and hilarious and exhilarating at the same time.”
“And you think that energy is attracting the power of the shield in the Ley Lines?”
“Maybe,” Polk said. “But even if Santa Fe is not the location of the next surfacing, Zozobra could release some of that power.”
“And give you a chance to open the portal and get the shield back in Baldr’s hands,” Ronin said.
I didn’t like the plan. “Sounds like a long shot.”
“It is,” Ronin said. “And you have eight hours to see if Polk and his team are right.”
“Eight hours?” Rose asked, looking worried. “What happens in eight hours?”
“From what we’re seeing, we think there’s a 90% chance that the surfacing will hit the entire continent in the next cycle.”
Cassidy shook his head. “Fuck.”
“So it’s Santa Fe, or bust,” Rebel said.
“Eight hours?” I asked. Polk nodded. Not a lot of time to save the world from madness. “I can try to use my Swap Portal.”
“Go ahead and try,” Polk said.
“Really?”
“Yeah, knock yourself out.”
“This is not a good idea,” Rebel said. “Last time he tried this was a fucking mess.”
“Do it,” Ronin said. I could tell she wanted to see what would happen.
I closed my eyes and relaxed. I tried to get the Swap Portal to open.
It wouldn’t.
I tried again. Nothing.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Your connection to the Ley Lines is broken,” Polk said.
“If you knew the portal wouldn’t work then why didn’t you tell me?”
“I had to be sure,” Polk said. “When you call for the portals to open they need to be able to hear your plea. But if they’re overwhelmed then they can’t hear you.”
I shook my head. “Fine,” I said. “No portal. So who’s our pilot to Santa Fe?”
“No one,” Ronin said, chucking a set of car keys at me. “Take the Land Rover. Keep your eyes on the horizon. We’ve heard reports of the sky turning red sometime during the surfacing. Before, during, after, we don’t know. If you see it happening, get off the road and drive for it. We’ll monitor you from the satellite and we’ll help as best we can, but we need feet on the ground.”
“What’s going to keep us safe from the surfacing?” I asked.
Polk and Ronin glanced at each other.
“What?” I asked, not liking that silent moment.
“It’s another guess,” Polk said.
“This mission just keeps getting better and better,” Cassidy said.
“There’s a spell that could help,” Polk said. He handed Rebel a slip of paper with handwriting on it. I recognized it.
It was Skyler’s.
“The Seven Senses Spell,” Rebel said, reading the paper.
“What’s wrong with that?” Rose asked.
Rebel didn’t want to answer that question. It hurt her pride.
So I answered it for her. “It’s the only spell she ever failed at learning.”
Chapter 26
“Get over it, Rebel” Ronin said.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Rebel asked.
Ronin tried to salvage the briefing. “Nothing, I apologize. We need to get going.”
“No way, sister,” Rebel said. “How did I offend you this time?”
“You know that you didn’t talk to your family for a full year after you failed one spell. You slinked off...”
“Slunk off,” I corrected. Ronin slashed me with her eyes.
“You slinked off to who-knows-where for a year.”
“I know where,” I said.
Ronin took a step toward me and stopped. She took a deep breath.
“Go,” she said. “Here’s your chance to redeem yourself for your failure, Rebel.”
Cassidy and Rose looked at each other wide-eyed, not sure if they should smile or run away before the fight began.
But Rebel stormed out of the room before things could get worse. I was proud of her.
“That was fun,” Rose said, clapping her hands together. “Okay, then, let’s get going.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Ronin said.
“What do you mean?” Rose asked. Her voice climbed the scale with every word that came out of her mouth.
“I mean that you and your brother are staying here,” I answered. “We need to figure out what happened to both of you in Iceland.”
“You mean you’re going to study us,” Cassidy said. I didn’t like the way his mouth moved. His teeth flashed past his lips like he was a cornered wolf. It was a glimpse of the beast he could turn into at any minute. The Wendigo.
“We’re a part of the team,” Rose yelled, banging a table with her fist and looking a little scary herself. No one was sure what she transformed into, but it was a floating creature with a featureless face and a nose for treasure. I could see both of them being valuable team members. But only after we all understood what they could do.
“You have new powers,” Polk said. “It’s standard procedure. We examine agents who show signs of new abilities.”
“It’s not standard procedure for me to let you study me like I’m a lab animal,” Cassidy said.
“Study us in the field,” Rose said. “Watch what we can do and then make your judgment.”
“Are you just going to stand there and enjoy the argument, Kane?” Ronin asked.
Everyone looked at me.
“It’s my idea,” I said. “I can’t have you with us this time. Get checked out and maybe we can get some answers.”
“You are such a coward,” Cassidy said, taking a couple of steps toward me.
“Back off, kid,” I said.
Rose marched right up to me and put her finger in my face. “They say they want to study us and you just bow down to your boss like you can’t even think for yours
elf.”
“First of all, she’s not my boss,” I said. Ronin crossed her arms and frowned. “Okay, technically, she’s my boss. But I’m my own man. Got that?” She looked unconvinced. Like she was going to let me bury my own argument by letting me keep going. “Second, I’m not willing to put any of our lives at risk, including yours, because you don’t want to educate yourself on why the fuck you turned into a floaty, weird woman with balls of stuff that blew shit up.”
“You also enhanced Rebel’s and Kane’s powers when you were in Iceland, Rose,” Polk said, smiling, completely clueless that he was this close to releasing Armageddon in the map room. “After you drank Skyler’s whiskey you almost changed your very beings. It’s fascinating.”
“Did you see how he just looked at me?” Rose yelled. “Like I’m a thing that needs to get pricked in his lab.”
“Poor choice of words, but yeah, I saw it,” I said. “Listen, Polk. I don’t know what your standard procedures are exactly, but I want you to promise me the kids will be treated with respect.”
“Of course,” Polk said.
“There you go,” I said, gesturing to the scientist.
The twins glared at me.
“Coward,” Rose said again. She stormed out of the room. Cassidy stood there, staring at us, breathing hard.
It looked to me like was getting ready to transform.
His eyes flashed and his fists clenched.
“Cassidy!” Ronin yelled. Everyone in the room jumped. Ronin could turn up the volume when she had to. But it worked. Cassidy’s eyes blinked and then went back to normal.
“You keep pushing us away and maybe we’ll leave,” Cassidy said as he looked at all of us. But I knew his words were for me.