Copper Veins (17 page)

Lopez smiled, more a baring of teeth than an expression of happiness. “Good.” Lopez beckoned us forward, shoved some paperwork around on his desk, then pushed two folders toward us.

“And these are?” I asked, since Max and Sadie were content to remain silent.

“We have two separate raids planned,” Lopez replied. “Mike Armstrong is on the campaign trail, and today he will be speaking at Northeastern University.” Lopez opened one of the folders and handed us a flyer for the appearance. I remembered that Juliana had gone to Northeastern to study psychology. When she'd gotten her acceptance letter I was so happy for her—now, I wondered if Northeastern was just another front for Peacekeeper operations.

I dragged myself out of my memories and forced myself to pay attention to Lopez. He was detailing all the ways they were planning on disrupting the rally—rather than an overt attack, Lopez wanted to compromise the sewage systems and make the bathrooms inoperable. His theory was if he made those attending the rally miserable, their impressions of Mike would sour as well. I wasn't so sure I agreed,
but the image of a sewage pipe backing up into the kitchen and dining areas while his supporters were eating lunch was rather enjoyable.

Based on Max's grin, the idea of ruining Mike's lunch appealed to him as well. “What's the other raid about?” he asked.

“Armstrong's right-hand man, Langston Phillips, will be speaking in Portland,” Lopez replied. “Word is Armstrong is going to name Phillips as his running mate.”

“Really,” Max said, taking the second folder from Lopez and paging through it. “This is where we're going.”

“You don't think it would be better to mess with Mike?” I asked. “Isn't he the big bad and all?”

“That he is,” Max affirmed. “However, I have a score to settle with Langston.”

“Score?” I repeated. I remembered the look on Max's face when we'd seen Langston at the rally in Portland—Max had looked like he wanted to rip Langston's throat out. “Exactly what did he do to you?”

Max's brown eyes went cold. “The worst thing you could imagine.”

I stared at Max, simultaneously wishing he would elaborate and not wanting to press him to reveal things in front of Lopez and Aregonda. Yeah, they were resistance and therefore technically on our side, but something about Lopez rubbed me the wrong
way. As for Aregonda, she remained an unknown entity.

“Great,” Lopez said, clapping his hands together. “Max and Sara can attend the raid against Langston, and the Inheritor will accompany us to Northeastern. We will have Corbeau support on both fronts.”

“No way,” Sadie said, shaking her head. “I don't want to be separated from Max and Sara.”

“Think we can't protect you?” Lopez growled.

“I can protect myself,” she snapped. “Since we came back to the Mundane world, we've been separated from our father. I refuse to be isolated from my siblings as well.”

Lopez's face reddened, and he took in a deep breath as if he was about to call Sadie out. Beside me, Max clenched his fists, ready to go down fighting rather than let Lopez's schemes split us up. Before either of them made a move, Aregonda placed her hand on Lopez's arm.

“It's all right, Jovanny,” Aregonda soothed. “With these three in Portland, we will have a strong presence. I and another of metal will accompany them, thus splitting our strongest fighters evenly between events.”

As the angry redness faded from Lopez's face, I somehow knew that Aregonda had worked some sort of spell on him. I made a mental note to never let her touch me.

“Okay then,” I murmured, still eyeing Aregonda's
hand on Lopez's forearm. “The three of us will go to Portland and cause some trouble. Max, do you think the static portal from the Promenade to the Whispering Dell is still operational?”

“Only one way to find out,” Max replied. “Even if it's been shut down, I can probably get the supplies I need to make one right at the Promenade.”

“You can make portals?” Aregonda asked.

“I know a few tricks,” Max replied. “Sara, Sadie, you guys down with a bit of shopping?”

“Of course,” Sadie replied as I nodded, hoping beyond hope that the static portal was still there. If it was, I'd be home with Micah in a few short hours. If not… well, if it was shut down, we would just find another route to the Otherworld. I was going home to Micah, one way or another. If I could make that homecoming happen in a few hours, so much the better.

I looked at Aregonda and asked, “So, when do we leave?”

After the rest of the resistance had come to an agreement as to who was traveling where, Sadie and I went down to the stream to clean up as best we could. Aregonda had supplied us with a lump of soap and a few washcloths, yet no matter how hard I scrubbed my hands and neck, I still felt dirty. It wasn't that I was covered in actual dirt, but after our three days in the cell and the three since we'd escaped, I was feeling pretty ripe. Of course, I could have just stripped down and bathed in the stream, but there was one rather big problem with that—Jerome. For reasons that Sadie and I could not fathom, Jerome had decided that he was our guard. Chivalrous, yes, but also decidedly unhelpful when you wanted to
take a quick bath.

“Seriously, we'll be fine without you,” I said for the umpteenth time. “Max is here.”

“Are the drugs fully out of your systems?” Jerome countered. It irritated me that he knew our main weakness, but at least he hadn't told anyone. Well, not that I knew of.

I glanced at Max, who barely shook his head. “As I thought,” Jerome said. “Until you're up to fighting strength, more protection is better than less.”

I scowled, mostly because he had a point, and stomped over to where Sadie knelt. She was beside a pool, rinsing out the socks and shirt she'd worn the day before. Since Jerome had made it clear that he wasn't going anywhere, and there was absolutely no way I was getting naked in front of him, I laid flat on my stomach and dunked my head in the pool, swishing my hair back and forth in order to loosen whatever bits of grime I could. If I'd been missing the Clear Pool before, I was positively pining for it now.

After I'd squeezed most of the water from my hair and finger-combed it into something presentable, Max plopped down beside Sadie and me. “What I can't figure out,” he murmured, “is which of you two Jerome there is desperate to see naked.”

“Maybe he's waiting on you,” I smirked.

Max leaned back, buffing his knuckles on his shirt. “Can't blame the man. My looks are legendary.” After
Sadie and I stopped laughing, he continued, “Still, best to keep an eye on your boyfriend. I think he's starting to get the wrong idea.”

I nodded, ignoring the joke Max had made at my expense. I'd been thinking the same thing. “Hopefully, we'll get to that portal and get back to the Whispering Dell,” I murmured. “I bet Dad's already there.”

“Or he's still here, making some disruptions of his own,” Max said as he got to his feet. “Either way, let's get this job done and move on.”

“Agreed,” Sadie grumbled. “If I don't find a working shower soon, I might go crazy.” I laughed inwardly—a pissed-off Inheritor was just what we needed.

As we climbed up the slope toward the camp, I spied Aregonda speaking to Lopez. “What do you think of her?” I asked, jerking my chin toward the two.

“More than meets the eye,” Max replied. “My advice—steer clear of that one.”

“Which one?” Jerome asked, falling into step beside me.

“Oh, you know,” I demurred. “How are we getting to this rally? Portal?” I asked hopefully. Mainly because if we had a portal, we could return to the Otherworld and skip this nonsense altogether.

“We have a couple military-grade trucks,” Jerome replied. “We'll drive in, right under the Peacekeepers' noses.”

“You gonna drive the truck?” Max asked.

“No, I will,” Aregonda replied for Jerome, falling into step beside us. “Follow me. We're ready to depart.”

Aregonda reached toward Sadie, who conveniently knelt down to retie her shoe. Aregonda frowned, the creases alongside her mouth deepening when Max also evaded her outstretched hand. There was my answer—Aregonda
did
work some kind of mojo via touch. I maneuvered myself so Jerome was between her and me, having finally found a good use for the big lunk.

We filed into the back of the truck, and Aregonda drove slowly and carefully toward the rally, so slowly and so carefully that I thought I was going to explode. Would it have killed her to speed up a little? I wanted to get this stupid expedition over with as soon as possible.

“Sis.”

I looked at Max, my raised eyebrows asking him what the heck he wanted. “Check it out,” he murmured. I followed his gaze to his hand, splayed flat against the metal seat. Then the metal wavered, and when he lifted his hand a perfect impression was left behind. I touched a finger to the center of the impression—a moment later, the bench was smooth again.

“Good things,” I whispered, then I looked up at Max and grinned. “Very good things.”

We fell silent and bounced along on our way to the rally. Since the back of the truck was fully enclosed, I had no idea what direction we were traveling in. I only knew that we were going toward Portland, and that Portland had a few static portals that could get me back to the Otherworld and home to Micah.

Eventually we arrived, though if I'd been driving we would have arrived about half an hour earlier. After Aregonda and Jerome had talked their way through a few checkpoints, the truck rolled to a stop, and all us Elementals dutifully filed out of the back. Once I'd climbed down from the bed, I looked around. We were parked in a field, and everyone was filing toward a set of gates, smiling and laughing as if there was a carnival on the other side.

“This way,” Aregonda called. Apparently we were using the “hide in plain sight” approach. As we all queued up behind Aregonda and Jerome, my curiosity got the better of me. I left Jerome jabbering away at Sadie and strode up to Aregonda.

“You did something to the guards,” I said.

“Excuse me, dearie?” she hedged.

“My name is Sara,” I corrected. “And you
did
something to the guards. That's why you were driving, why no one searched the truck.” Aregonda pursed her lips, but nodded. “Is that the entire plan? To have you mojo the Peacekeepers into submission?”

Aregonda's eyes darted about, then she hissed, “I
do not make a habit of speaking about my abilities in public.”

“I don't make a habit of accepting lies and half-truths,” I stated. “You want Corbeau assistance? You spill.”

I could almost hear her grinding her teeth. “I have a talent for persuasion,” she admitted. “But I do not wish to discuss it here. Assist us with this operation, and once we return to the base I will tell you everything you wish to know.”

“Fair enough,” I allowed.

We passed through the gates with no delays or awkward questions thanks to Aregonda's persuasive “techniques”. Beyond the gates was a large field with a tented stage at the far end. Along the way were food vendors, souvenir stalls, and even games like ring toss where you could win stuffed animals.

“This is surreal,” Sadie murmured. “The only things missing are the swings and a roller coaster.”

“This is what they do,” Max murmured, glaring at a poster of Langston that had been hastily tacked to an electrical pole. The picture wasn't even all that flattering, depicting Langston in all his bug-eyed, fish-belly-pale glory. “Lull unsuspecting folks into a false sense of security, then brainwash them.”

I nodded—before I'd met Micah, my life hadn't been happy, but I'd felt safe. Well, safe-ish. I jerked my head to the side, and Sadie and Max followed me
out of earshot of the others.

“I think you should tell us why you hate Langston so much,” I said. When Max stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground, I added, “C'mon. Sway us to your cause, and we'll help you.”

“Yeah,” Sadie chirped. “We'll hate him too—we just need some backstory.”

Max rubbed the back of his neck, refusing to meet our eyes. “I told you the story about how I made the girl at the Institute a flower?”

“Yeah,” I murmured. Max said that he'd ended up in the tube after he'd made a leftover scrap of iron into a flower and presented it to a girl he was crushing on. “A lily, was it?”

“It was.” Max raised his head, but still wouldn't meet our eyes. “He took her from me.”

“He—” I let the question hang unfinished—obviously, Langston had gotten between Max and the object of his affection.

“If she was so easily swayed, why bother with a grudge?” Sadie asked gently.

“She loved me,” Max insisted. “Me, and only me. He…he did something to her, I know he did.”

Aregonda picked that moment to join us—she'd been eavesdropping, most likely. After we made our way back to the Otherworld, Max and I were going to have a serious conversation about two women—the one harassing us now, and the one who'd broken
his heart. “It is time for us to move into position,” Aregonda said.

“You do what you need to do,” Max said. “I have my own ideas.”

Aregonda's nostrils flared as she snapped, “We have planned this operation for weeks.”

“Yeah?” Max said, his head swiveling around until Aregonda was locked in his gaze. “I spent years being tortured by them. I get to mess with them however I want.”

Aregonda pursed her lips so tightly I wondered if she would burst a vein, then she nodded and walked away.

“You're definitely Mom's kid,” Sadie murmured.

“You know it,” Max said. “C'mon, let's do some damage so we can get out of here.”