Ascension (6 page)

“Of course I do,” Laura said, taking his hands in his.  “This isn’t something you would lie about.”  She looked at Alexander.  “What do we do now?  We have to go back if the repository is in the building.”

“It’s up to you, Laura,” Alexander said.  “Personally, I think we have a few options.  One, we go back right now.  We risk getting caught, or at least noticed, by Logan’s watchers.  I don’t think any of us are eager to find out who they are.  Two, we stay until nightfall and try again.  Logan’s first time here was at night, and he didn’t notice the watchers then.  Three, we go back, and look for the repository elsewhere.  There’s a chance it’s not even in the building.  But I fear that isn’t much of an option for us.”

“No,” Laura agreed.  “We can’t go back empty-handed.  Logan, you said you found a way into the tower?  Where?”

“There’s a window on the third storey that I noticed wasn’t secured as tightly as the others,” Logan answered.  “If we could scale the building without being seen, I think that could be our ticket in.”

“But we can’t do it in broad daylight, can we?” Laura asked.

“No,” Logan answered.  “We have to get up there, but in the day somebody is bound to notice.  Even if there are no watchers.”

“Wait a minute,” Laura said, suddenly coming up with an idea.  “You said the watchers were on the roofs, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, what if
we
go on the roofs, too?  We’ll be on the same playing field as them, and I have to think that three
Vassiz
would have an advantage.  Moreover, nobody would notice us from the ground.  And Logan, the window – does it face one of the buildings on a different block?”

“It does,” Logan said, starting to understand what Laura wanted to do.  “You mean to try jumping to the window, don’t you?”

“That’s right,” Laura replied.  “We don’t have to worry about how we’re going to scale the side of the building, and we’ll be safe from prying eyes on the ground.  And the watchers – whoever or whatever they are – won’t be able to hide there any longer.”

“A brilliant idea,” Alexander said enthusiastically.  “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it!”

“There’s just one problem,” Logan said.  “And that has to do with the noise.  If we do this at night, the sound of us crashing through the boarded window will alert everybody within fifty miles to our presence.”

“I don’t mean to do it at night,” Laura said.  “I mean to do it right now, during the day.  It’ll make it easy for us to spot the watchers, too, if they’re really there.”

Logan grimaced.  “I’m telling you, there was something… unnatural… about what I felt.”

“Realistically, what’s the worse it can be?” Laura asked.  “Another
Vassiz
or two?  We’ll be careful.”

“What about the noise?” Logan asked.  “That’s still a very real problem.  Even if we manage to avoid anybody who might be up there, the sound of us crashing through the window will echo through the whole neighborhood.”

“Firecrackers,” Laura answered.

“Firecrackers?”

“You said this is gang territory, right?  I say we light a bunch of firecrackers just before we jump.  To distract anybody paying attention.  If we get enough, it might even sound like gunfire.  Amid the confusion, nobody should see us.”

“I have to admit, that does make sense,” Alexander said.  “But where are we going to get firecrackers on such short notice?”

Laura smiled.  “You leave that to me.”

Chapter Six

~The Repository~

Laura stood on the roof of an old three-storey building.  She could see the city spread all around her.  It stretched out far into the distance, and the tower before her was the only structure standing out amongst the uniformity. 

The tops of nearly all the buildings around her were flat.  Here and there, a few balconies had been built, but it looked like they had not been used for generations.  Laura wondered absently how many people still lived in this region.  It could be a lot, or it could be very little, and she couldn’t tell the difference.  People gathered on the large streets during the day, some selling wares and others idling, but she knew the majority of the population stayed inside.  It was a dangerous neighborhood.

Somewhere close by, the cries of a baby broke out.  After a few moments, she heard a man yell in a language she did not understand, and the baby went quiet.  This was definitely a rough part of town.

In her left hand, she held a bundle of Chinese firecrackers.  She had spotted a vendor on one of her earlier expeditions, in fact, she had quizzed him about what he knew of the repository back then, and he was happy to see the “girl with hair like the sun” return for another visit.  He was even happier when she offered to buy his loudest, most expensive firecrackers, and offered to pay with American dollars.  She had gotten those thanks to Alexander.

So, supplies in hand, Laura stood on the roof, waiting for Logan and Alexander to return.

She could see them in the distance, jumping from building to building, checking the surroundings to make sure everything was safe.  They were circling around the tower, checking every single rooftop for a threat.  The watchers were gone, or at least, weren’t visible.  Laura wasn’t even sure if they ever existed, but judging by how relieved Logan had been to find them missing, he shared none of her doubt.

“Ready?” Logan said behind her, and Laura jumped.  She had been so entrenched in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed him approach.  She looked back, and right beside him was Alexander.

“Ready,” Laura confirmed. 

“Let’s do it then,” Alexander said.

Laura nodded, and in a second had a lighter in her hand.  She lit the fuse to the firecrackers, and threw them high into the air.  They flew over a row of buildings and fell onto a nearby street. 

“GO!” Logan screamed behind her.

Laura ran.  A blast sounded from where the firecrackers had fallen, and then they started going off in turn, like dozens of gunshots being fired at once.  Laura was impressed at how loud they were.  The sound would be heard from hundreds of yards away.  Perfect.

She gathered speed, racing toward the tower.  They only had a few seconds in which to jump.  She was the first, as she had insisted.  Logan had showed her which window it was, and it actually lined up perfectly to the buildings surrounding it.  With enough speed, it would be easy to clear the distance to get inside.

As she got closer, Laura realized that the outer wall of the tower may have been white mortar once, but had accumulated so much dirt over the years that it had become an unpleasant grey.  That was the last thought that ran through her mind before she leapt off the side of the building, and flew toward the tower.

The window was nailed shut, but it was by a flimsy board.  Laura went feet-first into it.  The panel shattered, and she was through.

The landing was trickier.  She had been expecting a solid floor, but instead was greeted by a stone staircase.  She tried to right herself in time, to land accordingly, but it was too late.  Before she knew it, she was crashing down the stairs.  Instinctively, she made her body go limp so she wouldn’t break anything.

She landed with a heavy thud at the bottom of the stairs.  It felt like she had been beaten with a hundred clubs.   Groggily, she picked herself up.  The pain itself was not unexpected; rather, it was the
severity
of it that surprised her.  She remembered being thrown into stone walls and picking herself up without any pain.  Perhaps the effects of her feeding were finally wearing off.

She looked up, and saw a shape against the light now streaming through the window.  It was Alexander.  Unlike her, he managed to catch himself before falling down the stairs.  He stepped aside quickly to leave room for Logan.  The light was shielded again, and Logan came through.  Alexander caught him by the shoulders before he had a chance to repeat Laura’s mistake.

“Laura,” Alexander called down, “are you alright?”

“I think so,” she answered, starting up the stairs.  “I didn’t expect these stairs to be here, though.”

“You have to be careful,” Logan said gravely when she arrived.  “We don’t know what might be in here.”

“I know,” Laura said.  Light streamed in from behind them.  “We should cover the window.  I don’t want anybody outside noticing that the board is broken.”

“Good idea,” Alexander replied.  “But with what?”

Laura looked around her.  The window they came through opened to a hallway, with the stairs leading down to a lower level.  A thick coat of dust covered the floor, and Laura could see the impression she made in it when she fell down the stairs.  But otherwise, the entire space was barren of anything useful.  “We’ll need to look for something suitable.” 

Logan went a few paces down the hall.  He turned to a doorway, and Laura heard a piercing groan as he ripped the door from its frame. 

“That’ll do,” Laura said sardonically as Logan came back carrying the door.  He placed it over the window, blocking most of the light that came from outside.  Some still streamed in on the sides. 

“It won’t fool an attentive eye from the ground,” Logan said, “but I doubt there’s going to be anybody looking up here anyway.”

“And besides,” Laura added, “you said all the entrances are barricaded off.  Even if somebody did notice, it’s not like they could do anything.”

“Unless they had the keys,” Logan said.  “But we should be safe for now.”

Laura noticed Alexander shifting his weight on his feet.  He looked… uncomfortable.

“Is everything alright?” she asked him.

Alexander looked at her.  “Something about this place is off.”

“Off?  What do you mean?”

“I don’t know.  But I can’t shake the feeling that our entrance has been… noted.”  He glanced at Logan.  “Let’s hope it doesn’t have anything to do with your watchers.”  He barked an uneasy laugh.  “Maybe it’s just my imagination getting the better of me.”

“No,” Laura replied.  “It’s too much of a coincidence for that.  We’d better hurry.”

Alexander nodded.  “If we split up, we can search the building faster.”

“But if we stay together, we’re stronger,” Logan said.  “In case anything happens.”

Alexander frowned.  “What do you think, Laura?”

“We stay together,” she said.  “I don’t want to take any unnecessary risk.”

“Alright,” Alexander agreed.  “Together it is.”

“Let’s start on the lower level and work our way up,” Laura said.  “We’ll need to check every room.  If the repository is in here it’ll probably be hidden or locked away.”

Laura started down the stairs, but Logan stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Let me be the one to go first this time,” he said simply.  Laura nodded, and fell in behind him.

They followed the stairs all the way to the bottom level.  There, they began their search.  The entire building was dirty and old.  Rats and other vermin left trails that still showed in the dust on the floor, even though the animals had long since disappeared.  Laura knew that since she couldn’t hear any of them in between the walls or under the floors.  Usually, her hearing was sharp enough to pick out sounds like that.

They went from room to room methodically, tracing out every square inch so that nothing would be overlooked.  Most of the rooms were empty.  The ones that weren’t, however, were mostly filled with old, rotting pieces of furniture covered by musty fabric.  Laura wondered what purpose this building had served before.  There was nothing to suggest that it was ever inhabited as a home.  Maybe it had been a storehouse or something of the like.

There was nothing on the first level, or the second, or the third.  As they got higher and higher up, the air became thicker, and, for some reason, dustier.  The heat from the powerful sun penetrated the walls and warmed the air more and more as they got higher, making Laura less and less comfortable.  There was something uncanny about the way the dust irritated her airways.  Together with the increasing heat, it made for an uncomfortable search.

Some of the doors they encountered were barred with locks, but, unlike the ones on the outside of the building, these locks had grown frail and brittle with age.  It didn’t take much force to open any of them.  Each time they found a door like that, Laura’s heart skipped a beat, because a part of her hoped to find the repository on the other side.  Each time, however, she was bitterly disappointed.

It was only on the fourth level that they encountered something that didn’t fall into the category of old furniture or discarded rubbish.  At the end of a long, narrow room, stood a single wooden chest.  The rest of the room was empty, as if to emphasize the chest’s presence.

Laura walked up to it carefully.  She was conscious of the age of the building.  There had already been a few incidents where the weight of one of her steps caused the wood beneath her feet to groan and nearly give.  Alexander and Logan both experienced the same thing.

“Do you think this might be it?” Laura asked as she stood before the chest.  “The way Rafael made it sound, I was expecting an entire storeroom full of
torrial
.”