The Paradox

by Lola StVil

  “No mercy.” Sailor laughs.

  She moves her sword and helps him back to his feet. That’s when I notice something that sends me to my feet, a burst of anger filling me.

  “Are you for real, Jinx? That’s not a training dagger. It’s real,” I shout.

  “Yeah it is. But believe it or not, I know how to use it and how not to use it as well.”

  “You fucking idiot. You could have killed her,” I yell.

  “Rye, stop,” Sailor shouts. “I don’t want you guys to go easy on me.”

  “That dagger was too close to cutting you,” I say.

  Jinx ignores me and turns to Sailor.

  “You were never in any danger, Sailor,” he says.

  “I know,” she replies. Her face breaks into a grin. “You couldn’t get close enough to hurt me even if you wanted to.”

  “Right, that’s it. Let’s go.” Jinx laughs.

  With a pointed look in my direction, he throws his dagger on the ground and picks up a training sword. He runs toward Sailor, who easily evades him. They’re laughing and taunting each other as they circle around, and I wonder if I was a little too harsh on Jinx. He was right. He knows when to stop to make sure no one gets hurt. I am still musing on it when Mel runs into the warehouse.

  “Grace is missing,” she shouts.

  “What do you mean missing?” I demand.

  “She disappeared as soon as you and Sailor came out here and she hasn’t been back since. And she’s not answering her cell phone,” Mel says.

  “It’s possible she’s just busy with something,” Ya-Ya says.

  “I know. But I have a bad feeling about this,” Mel says. “When have any of you ever known Grace to ignore her cell phone?”

  “I was the last one to speak to her before she left. She said she was going to see Nexus,” Jinx says. “She had a pile of notes about the possible identity of the horseman. She seemed pretty excited. She could have just gotten caught up in it all and not heard her phone.”

  “But Nexus was with us,” Mel says.

  “No she wasn’t. She portalled straight back to her cave before Sailor’s dad even knocked on the door—she was chasing the voice,” Jinx says. “I remember because Grace was annoyed she snuck away before she had time to talk to her.”

  “I’ll call Nexus. Hang on,” I say.

  I move away from the others. I can see Ya-Ya and Aziza trying to comfort Mel, but Mel looks pretty scared. It’s not like her to overreact, so this feeling must be strong. I can feel my own nerves kicking in as Nexus finally takes my call.

  “Rye, what’s up?” she says.

  “Maybe nothing,” I reply.

  “Oh there had better be something. You know I hate these phones. They fry your brain you know,” Nexus says.

  “Is Grace with you?” I ask. “Just she was on her way to you and Mel is worried about her.”

  “I haven’t seen her since the mission,” Nexus says.

  Dammit.

  “Okay, thanks Nexus. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. We’ll find her.”

  I go back to the others, my face grave.

  “Nexus hasn’t seen her. We need to go and look for her. She’s probably headed into town,” I say.

  I try to keep the worry out of my voice, but I can hear the slight tremor as I speak. I swear if we find Grace happily cocooned up in the library, which is my guess as to where she is, then I’ll strangle her.

  Sailor heads for the door to the warehouse and turns back with a frown when no one follows her.

  “Don’t we need to go look for her now?” She frowns.

  “Well sure but we’re hardly going to walk into town, are we?” Aziza smiles.

  “But Grace is the one who makes the portals,” Sailor says.

  “She’s the best one at it so it usually falls on her, but the rest of us can do it too. I’ll do the honors,” Aziza says.

  She slams her palm forward and a portal appears before us. It’s not as big or as bright as the ones Grace makes, but it’ll serve the same purpose. We step through and emerge just on the outskirts of town. We move quickly, heading toward the town square.

  “When we get into town, Sailor, Ya-Ya, and I will take the library. Mel, Jinx, you guys take the row of shops. And Aziza and Sunday, you guys take the park,” I say.

  We head into the town square and it’s immediately apparent something big is going on. People scramble around all over, some walking slowly, white faced and shocked. Others run in blind panic. I can hear a voice calling over a loudspeaker.

  “This is the sheriff. The town is in a state of emergency. Please return to your homes in a safe and orderly fashion.”

  I glance at the others, who look as shocked as I feel. A couple deputies are making their way along the street closing down businesses. A couple of the residents put up an argument when they are told to return home, but most of them just follow the orders. I spot the sheriff’s car up ahead. The message is being blared out of a small speaker on the roof.

  “Wait here,” I say to the team.

  I jog toward the car and tap lightly on the window. The sheriff winds the window down.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  He pulls the loudspeaker away from his mouth for a moment. I can see how white his face is and I can’t help but spot the strain lines around his mouth and eyes.

  “There’s been a virus outbreak. It’s a bad one. You guys should get home,” he says.

  “Grace is missing,” I reply. “Have you seen her anywhere?”

  He shakes his head.

  “No. If she’s been affected by the virus, she’ll be at the clinic. Otherwise, I would assume one of the residents has taken her in.”

  “Thank you,” I say.

  I jog back to the team and pass the news on. As one we head in the direction of the clinic. Several ambulances with their sirens blaring pass us in both directions.

  “This is bad, isn’t it?” Mel says quietly.

  I nod grimly.

  “Yeah,” I say.

  I leave the rest unsaid. The team are all thinking the same thing. And if Sailor hasn’t worked it out yet, then she can have a few more minutes without fear gripping her heart while we run to the clinic.

  We reach the clinic and pile in. The waiting room is jam-packed, and nurses and administration staff move through the crowd issuing instructions. I glance down the hall to the emergency area. Several curtained cubicles are clearly in use. Harried doctors dart in and out of them.

  “This place is chaos,” I say. “It’s no good waiting around for someone to find the information for us. We need to split up and search the place.”

  Aziza quickly organizes everyone and we all scurry off in different directions. Sailor is with me and we hurry toward the first cubicle. I pull the curtain back. A young man lies on a bed, his face deathly white, screwed up in obvious pain.

  “Sorry. Wrong place,” I say.

  He barely glances at me as I let the curtain fall back into place.

  We try the other curtains. None of them hide Grace. We’re heading back to the waiting area when Sailor nods to the right. I follow her glance to a room marked as a quarantine area.

  “We should check in there,” she says.

  I nod and head for the door. I march through it, almost daring anyone to try and stop me. Sailor is right behind me. The room contains ten beds, all full. Nurses move back and forth between the beds, issuing jabs. I spot Dr. Hill in the center of the room and we approach him.

  “Rye, Sailor,” he says. “You’re not feeling sick are you?”

  We shake our heads as Jenny comes running over to us. She hugs Sailor and then high-fives me. She’s wearing a protective mask.

  “This is serious, guys. Four people have died already,” Dr. Hill says. “And just between us, I’ve never seen anything like this virus before. I should probably tell you two to put masks on, but honestly, I don’t think it will do any good. They’re dropping like flies.”

 
He shakes his head, catching himself saying too much.

  “I’m sorry,” he says. “This is all just a little overwhelming. I thought Whisper was meant to be quiet. Safe.”

  “What happened?” Sailor asks. “Where did the virus come from?”

  “It seemed to originate in the elementary school. My wife’s a nurse in the ER and when the first few cases arrived there, she walked out and went to the school to pull Jenny out. She’s around here somewhere now, trying to help out. Then some people came in saying they were at the restaurant when they started to feel ill. They just keep coming. We’re overfull already but it’s not like we can turn people away, is it?”

  “The restaurant?” Sailor says.

  I can see the horror on her face.

  “My dad…Adam Monroe,” she says.

  “I haven’t seen him. Leave me your number and I can call you if I hear anything,” Dr. Hill says.

  Sailor quickly writes her number on the scrap of paper Dr. Hill offers her. Jenny pulls on my sleeve while Sailor is writing.

  “Lots of people are sick, but it’s okay because my daddy is a doctor and he can make them better,” she says.

  I rub her head.

  “Yeah, your dad is going to fix everyone.” I smile.

  She skips away and I turn my focus back to Dr. Hill.

  “I don’t mean to sound rude, but if you two aren’t sick, then this really isn’t the place for you to be,” he says.

  “Actually, we were looking for Grace,” I say. “She’s missing and the sheriff said to try here.”

  “Ah. Grace. Yes. I—”

  “Doctor? Do you have a minute?” a nurse says, poking her head around the door.

  “Give me a moment,” he says to us.

  He’s gone before I can ask anything further, leaving Sailor and me in the middle of the ward.

  “She’ll be okay,” Sailor says. “You know Grace. She probably saw what was going on and came here to help.”

  “Yeah.” I smile. “That would be Grace all over. And it would explain why she isn’t answering her cell phone too.”

  Dr. Hill comes back into the room. He gestures for us to follow him, and I know it’s bad news. I can tell by the way he looks at us with sympathy in his eyes. Sailor senses it too, groping out blindly for my hand as we follow Dr. Hill. He takes us into his office.

  “I’m so sorry,” he says. “Grace passed away.”

  “Are you sure it was Grace?” I ask, still hoping that somehow this is just a coincidence and Grace’s death is nothing more than a mistake.

  “Yes,” Dr. Hill says. “One of her teachers from school brought her in. Said she found her in the street like that. She was barely breathing and she was quite delirious. She was muttering on about the horsemen of the apocalypse of all things. She lost consciousness quickly. We tried to resuscitate her, but it was too late.”

  He’s still talking but I can’t hear him for the blood pounding through my ears. I feel my knees give way and I fall heavily into the chair beside Dr. Hill’s desk. Sailor puts her hand on my shoulder, squeezing it. Her touch is an anchor, the only thing that stops me from drowning in grief.

  How can Grace be gone?

  “Rye? Are you alright?” Dr. Hill says, peering at me.

  I force myself to focus on him. To get control of myself. Grace’s death confirms it. This is bad. Really fucking bad. And I need my head screwed on.

  “I’m sorry, yeah, I’m alright,” I say.

  “I was just saying I would never normally give information like that to anyone but immediate family, but I have no contact details for Grace’s parents. Do you happen to know how I could reach them?”

  I shake my head.

  “Grace is emancipated from her parents. We all are. We’re the only family she has.”

  Dr. Hill looks at me like he wants to say more, but I don’t have time to play twenty questions with him. I stand up and open my mouth to thank him, but before I can say anything, a wailing sound comes from the corridor.

  “Help me. Please. Someone help me. My baby. My baby is sick. Help me, please.”

  “Go,” Sailor says as Dr. Hill looks at the door. “We’re fine.”

  He nods gratefully to her and dashes out into the corridor. Sailor turns to me, tears shining in her eyes and running down her cheeks.

  “Rye, I’m so sorry,” she says.

  I get to my feet and hug her quickly, needing to take a moment to feel the closeness between us, the lifeline I can cling to.

  “We have to find the others,” I say.

  Sailor nods and we leave the room.

  “Rye? Grace is a god. How did this virus affect her?” Sailor asks.

  I look at her and see the understanding on her face. She knows but she wants to believe she’s wrong. So, do I, but she’s not. This is really happening.

  “Because this is no normal virus. It means Pestilence is here. And for him to have killed Grace, he had to have gotten to her personally. He had to have laid his dirty fucking hands on her.”

  “If he got to her, that means…” Sailor says, trailing off, still not able to bring herself to say it.

  “It means the war has officially begun,” I finish for her.

  Sailor and I find the others and we leave the clinic. I lead them to a side street where it’s quieter and try to tell them the news. The words won’t come and I just stand there, mute, looking at the team. Sailor slips her hand into mine and speaks up.

  “Grace is…Pestilence got to her,” she says.

  “But she’s okay, right?” Aziza says, in a voice that tells me she doesn’t believe that for a second.

  Sailor looks down at the ground and shakes her head. Silence falls over the team for a moment and then Mel chokes out a sob. We come together as a group, holding each other. There isn’t a dry eye in the group as sobs fill the air. I let everyone take a moment. They need it. I need it. The moment stretches out, going on too long. We have work to do, a horseman to hunt down, but I don’t have it in me to order everyone to stop feeling their grief. How can I order that when I can’t do it myself?

  Finally, Sunday steps away and addresses the group.

  “Guys, I don’t want to sound like a dick, but we have to put the grief to one side for now. Grace will get the send-off she deserves, but not now. Now, we have to find the bastard who did this to her and end him.”

  I look at Sailor, so strong and yet so fragile. She isn’t ready for this. She wipes the tears angrily from her cheeks. She looks at me as though she can read my mind.

  “I’m ready for this,” she says. “I didn’t think I was, but then Dr. Hill told us what happened, and something in me just, I don’t know, clicked into place. The horseman fucked with the wrong person. And I’m going to make him pay.”

  “We’re all right there with you,” Aziza says. “This is personal now.”

  “How do we find him though?” Mel says.

  “We don’t. He knows who Sailor is now. Who we are. He’ll come to us,” I say.

  Mel nods. “I heard from one of the nurses that there’s going to be curfew. We need an excuse to hang around town until then though.”

  “The town hall,” Jinx says. “I heard they’re taking bottled water and fruit around to the more vulnerable residents. They’re struggling to get volunteers to deliver the packages. If we volunteer, we have a reason to be here.”

  I nod my head. It’s as good a plan as any.

  “Let’s go,” I say.

  We head toward the town hall. Sailor hangs back a little and I fall back beside her.

  “Are you okay?” I ask.

  “I will be. I’m ready for this. But I’m worried about my dad,” she says.

  “Give him a call,” I say. “He’ll be worried about you too. Just tell him we’ve been evacuated and told to stay in the cabin.”

  Sailor nods and gets her cell phone out. Adam answers almost immediately. I can hear the conversation as I walk beside Sailor.

  “Sailor. Thank God y
ou’re okay. Where are you? I’ll come and get you,” he says.

  “No, Dad,” she says. “The sheriff wants everyone inside. Are you at home?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Stay there where it’s safe. I’m at the cabin with the girls. One of the deputies brought us home. He told us to stay here until further notice. I’m safe here, I promise.”

  “I don’t know, Sailor,” he says.

  “Dad, listen, I get that you’re worried, but the cabin is the safest place to be right now. It’s not even in the town,” she says.

  “Yeah. You’re right,” he says. “Promise me you’ll stay there.”

  “I promise.” Sailor winces. “I love you, Dad. Be careful.”

  “I love you too, Biscuit,” he says.

  She hangs up the call. She looks so scared and I want to make her feel better. I nudge her with my shoulder.

  “So, he’s okay then, Biscuit?” I tease her.

  She elbows me, laughing. “He’s fine. And don’t even go there.”

  “Biscuit though? Really?” I laugh.

  She shrugs.

  “I know right? He’s called me that ever since I was a little girl. My friends in New York were convinced he picked it up off Shadow Hunters,” she says.

  “What the hell is Shadow Hunters?” I ask.

  Sailor laughs and shakes her head.

  “It’s a TV show. Honestly, Rye, you are so clueless. My friends used to tease me about it all the time. My dad had no idea who they were talking about of course, he’s about as up on teen trends as you are, and when they explained, he declared that they’d clearly picked it up off him as he’d been saying it for longer.”

  “Hey, I’m not clueless. I just don’t watch sappy teen shit.” I laugh.

  Sailor laughs with me.

  “When this is over, you and me are going to binge watch every season of the Shadow Hunters and Riverdale and then we’re going to have a Harry Potter marathon. I’d say Twilight as well, but I wouldn’t wish that on anyone,” she says.

  “I can’t wait,” I say sarcastically.

  We catch up with the rest of the team as they reach the town hall. Ya-Ya and Aziza head inside to offer our services.