Black Knight (24 page)

“Did you tell him my secret?”

“Yeah, that you think I look like the first girl you ever got a crush on. I saved it for last, when I dropped him back at his car.”

“How did he react?”

“He kissed me.”

“Then he’s thinking about it.”

“I’m serious, Marc. Will he go through with it?”

“If it was me, I wouldn’t. Not with what he knows.”

“It is you, damnit. Are you saying he’s just bullshitting me?”

“What do you want? You just met the guy and you ask him to die for you so he can help save you on a mysterious island in another universe.”

“Joke all you want. You don’t change into a witch in the next day or two and you won’t be leaving this island.”

“I have an idea.”

“What?”

“Listen without jumping on my case. You say I’m him and if that’s true then I do know him. I know the way he thinks, how to make him trust you.”

“How?”

“Have sex with him.”

“Go to hell.”

“Listen! If he’s like me, he’s a lot more romantic on the inside than on the outside. Once he sleeps with you, he’ll feel all protective and shit. Look at us, we’ve only kissed once and I’m out here risking my life so I can watch your back.”

“I kissed you on the cheek, once, and I was being friendly. Besides, I have a boyfriend.”

“Jimmy? It’s not like you have to tell him that.”

“By ‘him’ which one do you mean?”

Marc shrugs. “If it was me, I wouldn’t tell either of them. Look, I’m just trying to give you a heads-up on the way he thinks. But I still say we’re better off trying it here. At least I know for sure that my ass is fried if I don’t do something desperate.”

I stop him. “Talking about dying is one thing. Doing it is something else. We can’t kill you and then change our minds. If we do it, we have to go all the way.”

Marc considers, staring at the forest on the far side of the river. When he speaks next, his voice is somber. “I know why you want my twin instead of me. Your logic make sense, but it’s not the reason. You figure it will be easier to kill him than me.”

“I don’t feel that way.”

“You do. You care about me and I care about you, and it doesn’t matter if you have a boyfriend or not. For an all-powerful witch you’re not very good at hiding your feelings.”

I go to make a wisecrack but my throat constricts. What he says is true. I do care about him, more than I want to admit to myself, and it terrifies me. Because he might die. Because of Jimmy . . .

Marc can see I’m struggling and takes my hands. “No matter how much you work my counterpart, he’s never going to know you the way I know you.”

I nod, regrettably. “But we can’t do it here. We don’t have the meat lockers or the drugs or whatever we’re going to use. And we don’t have the time. I can’t be watching over you for hours with Nordra and Viper circling us.”

“But we do have one thing here that you don’t have in witch world.”

“What?”

“Li. You were passed out when she worked on Ora but I saw what she did. You helped him plenty but she closed that wound so perfect a doctor would never know he’d been stabbed. If Li can’t bring me back to life, no one can.”

“Li can heal but she’s not a true witch.”

“I thought you said it was the healing gene that was the key?”

“It is. But Li doesn’t know what it means to be connected. I don’t trust her to guide you through the process. I hardly trust myself. But at least in witch world I’ve got people who can help us.”

He puts his hand over my shoulder. “You’re scared, admit it. It’s because of what happened to Jimmy.”

“Yeah.” I’d told Marc how Jimmy had overdosed in Las Vegas.

He pulls me closer, hugs me, kisses me on the side of the head. “It’s all right, Jessie. We do it here or we do it there. But we both agree we’ve got to try it. Okay?”

I sigh. “We’ll do it.”

We continue on our way and Marc fills me in on what he knows about the witches who want to be our allies. Turns out that nineteen-year-old Kyle Downing of London is already known to us. He’s a rock star. His debut CD has already produced three hits and both Marc and I have seen his videos on MTV. His music taste is eclectic—a cross between grunge, goth, rock. On TV he wears dark and white makeup, black leather, acts like a vampire in need of a bloody hit. I seem to recall reading something about him being the new bad boy on the block.

Sam Verra, Marc tells me, is an ambitious gay fashion designer who is extremely well read, lifts weights, has run the New York City Marathon, has numerous tattoos, and seems to be overall just a nice guy. Marc says he trusts him more than Kyle.

“Because he’s gay?” I ask.

“No. Sam’s just got a genuine quality to him. He definitely grew up in Brooklyn. He’s got the accent and knows the town. You’ll like him.”

“They sound like an odd pair. I wonder if Kyle’s used his powers to get ahead in the business.”

“If I were him I would have,” Marc quips.

“It’s important because the Tar frown on that sort of thing. It might mean Kyle’s a Lapra, and if he is we can’t believe a word he says.”

“What about that razor-sharp intuition of yours? Can’t you tell when someone’s lying?”

“It doesn’t work so good on other witches. Particularly if they’ve got a lot of witch genes, like all the witches on this island.”

“Great,” he says sarcastically. I sock him.

“Hey, my intuition is for real. For example, I know you were lying when you said you cared about me.”

“I wasn’t lying.”

“You were. You don’t just care about me. You’re crazy about me.”

He laughs but his face reddens. I know it’s not easy for him to talk about his feelings.

Yet he lied to me to come along. Turns out Ora and company are hidden inside the same cloud of steam where Ora and I spoke the previous day. However, the spot makes sense; except for the strong sulfur smell, it’s a great place to hide.

Ora introduces the newcomers. Kyle is more elfin than he appears in his videos. Pale, blond, with unhealthy blue eyes, he outweighs me by twenty pounds if he’s lucky. His accent is thick; he sounds like an early Beatle, which makes sense since he says he grew up in Liverpool. But he has a charming smile and he seems genuinely happy to meet me.

Kyle’s uniform is a dull red, his bracelet bright red. He says his group is down to five and two of them are seriously injured—courtesy of Viper.

Sam’s group has been cut in half; there are only three of the brown gang left. Nordra’s people blindsided them, Sam explains, although he managed to take out one of Nordra’s clan. Going by Sam’s timetable—and the bodies I discovered in the meadow—he ran into the monster before I did.

“Did Nordra offer to form an alliance with you?” I ask Sam. The guy is more reserved than Kyle, definitely more wary, which I can appreciate. He’s not as big as Ora but he’s got muscles and it’s clear from his description of his encounter with Nordra that he must have the speed and strength gene.

Yet he holds his left arm awkwardly. He says he’s fine but his sleeve is bloody and his arm looks a little crooked. It’s clear he doesn’t have the healing gene, a dangerous defect when it comes to the Field. For some reason I just assumed all the witches I’d have to fight would be self-fixers.

Unless Sam’s lying. They could both be lying. For that matter, they
should
be lying. As the rules say, only one will survive; and I’m confident they’ve seen the same plaque we have.

“Are you joking?” Sam says in response to my question. “Nordra’s like a force of nature. He smashed into our camp and started hacking away. I was lucky to take down one of his people at the start and pick up a machete. None of my group would have escaped if I’d been unarmed.”

“Are your people far from here?” I ask.

Sam gestures vaguely. “Not far.”

Kyle steps up. “I can see already the direction this is heading. None of us trusts the other.” He turns to Ora and Marc. “Would either of you be offended if we borrowed your leader for a bit? There’re things we best discuss in private.”

Ora doesn’t mind but Marc’s suspicious. “Leaving us out in the cold is a lousy way to gain our trust,” he says.

Kyle grins and slaps Marc on the shoulder. “It’s a witch thing, it’s nothing personal.” He stops and looks at me. “But it would help move our plans along, if you know what I mean.”

I nod. “Ora, Marc—I’ll talk to them alone. We’ll sit over there on those rocks. You’ll be able to see us at all times.”

Kyle leads us to the boulders. It’s a small thing but the fact that he walks in front shows that he doesn’t expect to get stabbed in the back. Me, I’m wound tight as a spring. Besides having Ora’s sharpest knife hidden beneath the tail of my shirt, I have the machete I stole from Nordra’s minion poking out the top of my backpack. Sam keeps his machete handy as well. He walks beside me but keeps enough distance to have time to raise his weapon—should I attack.

We sit in a rough semicircle. Kyle pulls out a bottle of water and takes a deep drink before offering us some. We decline. Kyle shakes his head.

“This is no way to start a friendship,” he says.

“We’re not friends,” Sam says bluntly. “We’re three people who have common enemies. Nordra, Viper, and those damn ghosts. Let’s at least be honest about that. We need each other if any of us is to survive.”

Kyle is amused. “That might be true about you and me, Sam. But Jessie here, she’s got a reputation. The high-school witch who took down Sinful Syn. It sounds like even Nordra likes her. Assuming you weren’t jiving us about his proposition?”

“It was a serious offer on his part,” I say. “He’d kill his people and I had to kill mine to show good faith. Then we’d go after everyone else until the two of us were left. Then we’d fight.”

“Sounds like true love,” Kyle says.

Sam snorts. “Nordra’s afraid of Viper. That’s the only thing motivating him.”

Kyle doesn’t agree. “I told you, most of what you’ve heard about her is rumor. She’s not a snake, she’s not a dragon. She can’t breathe poison or vomit flames. She’s got telekinesis is all. She can fire off whatever shit is handy, nothing more.”

“And turn invisible,” Sam growls.

“I thought that talent didn’t bother you,” Kyle says.

Sam doesn’t dispute Kyle’s remark, which naturally stirs my interest. “You can see through her cloak?” I ask.

Sam hesitates. “I think so.”

“You’re not sure?” I ask.

“A witch in New York can turn invisible and I can spot her night or day. But I don’t know about Viper. Haven’t run into her yet.”

“So you have the witch gene that controls the senses,” I say. “How’s your hearing? Your sense of smell?”

“I’m not here to divulge my entire repertoire,” Sam says.

Kyle groans. “Here we go again. No trust. It’s because of the rules of the game. No matter how we play it, in the end we’ve got to kill each other.” Kyle stands and gestures with his hands to make his point. “Well, I say fuck the rules. Let’s make up our own game. Sure, Nordra and Viper have to go. They’re murderous lunatics. And the ghosts—I’m not sure about them yet. But who says we have to behave like barbarians with each other?”

“Maybe the people who put us here,” I say. “Maybe they don’t let us out of here until there’s only one of us left.”

Kyle holds up his hand. “I’m right there with ya. Besides our lack of trust in each other, that’s the key. But Sam here might have found out a way off that will let us say ‘fuck the plaque.’ A way off this island.”

Sam grumbles. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Tell Jessie what you saw,” Kyle says. “Go on, Sam, you told me. We’ve got to start building some kind of bond here or we’re just spinning our wheels.”

Sam glances in the direction of the volcano before answering, and there’s something in his voice, in the way he gestures and now and then looks me in the eyes, a quiet sincerity, that makes me feel he’s being honest. I can see why Marc trusts him.

“I think it’s clear by now that we were each dumped here in different locations. The director behind this sick charade probably wanted each of our groups to have a chance to get settled before the fun began. That’s the way I see it at least—that we’re here to entertain some pretty sick witches.”

“With your special sight,” I say, “have you seen any sign that we’re being watched?”

“Nothing,” Sam admits. “I’ve not seen a single camera or microphone. That puzzles me and it probably means my theory is crap. I don’t know, you tell me when I’m done talking. My group set down west of here, near the base of the volcano, a mile or so higher than where we’re sitting now. Right away I decided I needed to get the lay of the land, maybe spot where each cell had been dropped. I hiked to the top of the volcano, or at least close to the top. The smoke pouring off that lava gets pretty nasty when you get near the peak. Anyway, Jessie, I was able to see your cell buried in the valley on the other side of this hill. And I spotted Kyle’s cell farther over, on the beach.”

“They put you right beside the sea?” I ask Kyle.

Kyle nods. “When I read the plaque, I assumed everyone was somewhere along the coast. That’s where my group started their search. But we didn’t get far before Viper hit.” He pauses. “A quick point before Sam goes on. I can only talk so long. I’ve got to get back to my people. They’re defenseless without me. Worse, I’ve got two girls who are hurt bad. That tall African guy, Ora, he told me you’ve got a superhealer in your group. I need to borrow her if that’s okay with you?”

“Let Sam finish talking and then I’ll decide,” I say to Kyle before turning back to Sam. “Did you see where any other cells put down?”

“No,” Sam says. “But I assume they’re on the other side of the river. It makes sense in a weird sort of way. Three groups on this side of the river, three groups on the other side. Anyway, let me tell you what else I found up on the peak. For one thing it’s taller than it looks. I started a mile above sea level and had to hike at least another two miles higher. I put the volcano’s high point between sixteen to eighteen thousand feet. I suppose you know what that means.”

“There’s snow up there?” I ask.

“Yeah. There’s more on the back side than this side because of the direction the wind blows the fumes. But the snow’s thick. The runoff from it is the main source of water for the river. It starts close to the top as a trickle but it picks up water fast.”