Crimson Rising (22 page)

Morse clears his throat. The dryness of the air is getting to him. “Come back with us, Jesse. We’re family. We’re doing what we can.”

I swallow a mouthful of thick atmosphere. “I … ”

A voice comes from behind me, breaking my concentration. I glance over my shoulder to see Theo limping toward us, head low and arms at his sides. “What the hell is this?” he coughs. It nearly sends him tripping into the dirt, but he catches himself, keeping a slow pace toward the center of our standstill. Sweat drips from his hair. His shirt is torn in at least three places. Even more than normal, he looks like an animal.

I hear the cock of weapons behind me as every Academy pistol locks onto the boy.

Theo continues to approach. His right foot drags along the dirt. He coughs into his arm again, then pulls the sticky hair from his face. “Leave me in there like you thought I was dead,” he continues. “Like you wanted me to die.” He stares at the ground as he mumbles. I can barely see his face.

Avery moves to let him pass. He stops several feet behind me.

Morse motions for the other agents to hold their fire. “It’s just a kid.”

Theo cackles under his breath, which only elicits more coughing. I picture his body laying against the wall, still.

Morse frowns. “This a Fringer you picked up, Fisher?”

I shake my head.

Theo takes a deep breath. “You’re freaking useless. All of you.” He coughs again. “Jeez, I feel like I’m about to puke.”

He raises his head and stares at us all for the first time. Avery gasps. I take a step back from the shock of it.

Theo’s eyes glow a bright red—a glow that matches the energy from the red Drifter. Gone are the pupils and whites. It’s pure light, like someone carved out his eyes and replaced them with tiny generators.

Sweat pools on his face. His legs shake beneath him.

The agents raise their weapons again. Morse shouts. “What’s wrong with him?”

Cassius puts more distance between himself and the boy. “I don’t know.”

Theo smiles. “Did you morons do something to me when I wasn’t looking?”

Bergmann nudges Morse’s shoulder. “Shoot and ask questions later. That’s what I say.”

Theo stretches his right hand into the air, waving it in slow ripples like he can barely keep it up. “I feel like I swallowed a Pearl.”

Morse tightens his finger against the trigger. “You gonna tell me who this kid is, Fisher, or am I gonna have to shoot?”

I grit my teeth.

Theo’s lips curl into a wide smile and his hand drops to his side. Despite my better judgment, I lean in closer to get a look at him.

Then come the sounds, like enormous daggers slicing through the air.

Choking. Sick, wet gurgles.

I spin around and lose my footing as I watch the ground rise up to attack the agents.

Sharp knives of black metal slash up from the dirt, protruding with such force and speed that they’d be impossible to dodge. There’s one for each agent, the tip of which slams into their bodies and doesn’t stop until it juts back out the tops of their heads. Armor doesn’t stop it. Nothing does.

Ridium. Buried underground. No longer.

There isn’t blood at first. It’s too quick for that. The noises alone are enough to send me into a dizzying shock. The agents freeze in horrific, unnatural positions before the blades retract into the dirt, leaving massive incisions.

Then comes the crimson. Blood spilling onto the dirt, quickly darkening the brown.

I watch in horror as all seven agents topple to the ground in lifeless heaps. Skandar stands in the middle, looking like he’s about to faint.

I can’t quite process it. My mind’s still stuck several seconds in the past. Seven agents, dead. Morse. Bergmann. Gone.

Skandar stumbles over to meet us, face drained of color.

Theo closes his fist. He wavers in place before letting out one last chuckle. I turn to see the red fade from his eyes. Before anyone can say a word, he sinks to his knees. His face plants into the dirt. I watch his shoulders rise and fall. He’s unconscious, but alive.

Everything’s quiet. Nothing but the swarm on the horizon.

We bunch together instinctively, staring at the bodies of the fallen Academy Agents, trying to understand it. Their eyes stretch open, staring at the sun. Soon they’ll be barbequed in this heat, cooked meat for whatever predator wants to swoop down and get them. I never liked Bergmann, and what little I knew of Morse I liked him even less, but they didn’t deserve to die. Not like this.

My bracelet buzzes. So does Cassius’s. They tremble like they’re applauding the scene around them, like they have minds of their own. Cassius and I look at each other.

Black. The daggers from the ground, the seamless bands wrapped around our wrists. I know he’s thinking it, too. It’s more than just the visual. It’s instinctive. It all fits together.

Ridium.

I grab my chest and feel the indentations of the symbols beneath my shirt. I am already here.

A blast of triple-digit heat throws my hair to the side. My bracelet settles, but I feel it in my heart, now. I don’t know if I’m making things better or worse. Have I set something terrible in motion just by coming back to the Fringes? Why didn’t Alkine tell me about this “fork” before? If the possible consequences are so horrible, I should have been the first to know.

I repeat Morse’s words over and over in my head. The troubled look on Skandar’s face lingers with me. And then I remember the red in Theo’s eyes, the same red that carved this warning into my skin.

I’m being followed. These aren’t just random events. It’s because of me.

I don’t know what step to take.

Legs shaking, I take a seat on the ground. The heat will consume me if I stay put much longer, but I can’t move. Maybe Alkine was right after all. Maybe I’m dangerous. To myself. To everyone.

I close my eyes. It could be better if I sat here and did nothing. Me and the wind. I can’t hurt anybody if I’m dead.

Cassius leapt into leader mode. It was the only thing he knew to do. He didn’t want to consider what had just happened, but they had to move before the heat of the Fringes got to them. The full horror of it all could be analyzed once they were safe.

“Rodriguez.” He turned to Eva. “Get us access to one of the Academy ships. Keep the radar operational. If we tamper with it, it’ll be a dead giveaway that these Agents are gone.”

Eva stared at him for a moment, lip shaking. Then, without a word, she grabbed Skandar’s arm and pulled him with her toward the line of ships.

“I can help.” Avery ran after them, eager to be away from the bodies.

Cassius yanked Fisher from the ground. “Come on.”

“That was Ridium,” he said. “It was … it was underground. How’s that even possible? Ryel said it only exists on Haven.”

“I don’t know.

“And Theo … his eyes. It was like he was possessed.”

Cassius frowned. “Madame warned me about him. Just like she used to tell me I was special. It’s the same with Theo. Special means dangerous to her.”

“He’s a Shifter,” Fisher continued, “isn’t he? Like Ryel was talking about.”

“Maybe.”

“He … they’re all dead. Except Skandar.”

“Skandar wasn’t armed.” He craned his neck to look back at the cruiser. No explosions or fire. Yet. “He wasn’t a threat to him.”

Without another word, Cassius stepped away, heading toward the cruiser.

Fisher tensed. “Where are you going?”

“Just wait.” He moved past Theo’s body, then Ryel’s, and climbed up the ramp until he was in the cruiser’s cabin once again. He bolted toward the weapons cabinet and grabbed the closest stunner. Tucking it in the waist of his trousers, he pulled another and gripped it in his hand.

Then he bounded down the ramp and approached Fisher. Stopping over Theo’s unconscious body, he fired two rounds of stun darts straight into the boy’s back. They stuck in his skin, steadily releasing tranquilizer.

“What are you doing?”

“We’re taking him with us,” he said. “Now that Ryel’s gone, we need someone on the inside. If Theo really is a Shifter, then that means he’s from Haven.”

“But Shifters—”

“Are part of the Authority,” Cassius interrupted. “I know.” He looked down at the kid. “Which makes this a hundred times worse. But if we leave him here, we’re not going to get any of the answers we need.”

“What if he makes those knives come back?”

Cassius lowered the stunner. “He won’t be waking up again for awhile, let alone attacking us.”

Fisher’s hands shook at his sides. “Do you believe what Morse said? Do you think the Drifters are really talking about me like that?”

“Does it matter? What’s done is done.” He looked at the ground, half expecting more blades of Ridium to pop up and skewer them. “You’re not a bad guy, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Fisher shook his head, then moved to Ryel’s body and kneeled at the Drifter’s side.

Cassius turned to watch him. “It’s no use. That bullet shot right through his heart. Did you see the way he fell?”

“There was so much he could’ve told us.” He turned to meet Cassius’s eyes. “We didn’t have time.”

Cassius tapped his foot. “There’s not much we could’ve done. Considering Madame and everything else.”

“He wanted me to build an army. He was so disappointed.”

Cassius moved closer. “He’s gone. We need to move.”

“Just wait a second.” Fisher leaned in closer. “I want to check him. There might be something we missed.”

He watched Fisher scan the contours of Ryel’s legs with his eyes, settling on a single pocket stitched into the siding of his blood-stained clothing. Hand shaking, he reached down and unbuttoned it. As soon as he slipped his fingers into the pocket, he recoiled. “It’s like ice. There’s something in there, but it’s freezing.”

“Go on.”

Fisher clenched his fist and pulled out a metal box, no bigger than a die.

It was remarkably plain. No symbols or indentations or anything. Its silver exterior gleamed in the sunlight, yet seemed to repel it at the same time.

He looked up at Cassius. “This thing should be scalding out here. What do you think it is?”

Cassius shrugged.

“Feel it.” Fisher dropped it into his waiting hand. The moment it touched Cassius’s skin, he felt a pleasant jolt of iciness. Even the warmth of his hand didn’t seem to heat it. He held it up to the sun to get a better look. “It’s from Haven, surely.” He tossed it back to Fisher. “Keep an eye on it. Let’s get Theo into the ship.”

Fisher stood. “You sure this is a good idea?”

Cassius glanced back at the boy’s body. “Would you rather leave him to die?”

“Would I be a terrible person if I said yes?”

“No.” He sighed. “But I think I can handle him. If he can’t tell us anything, we’ll chuck him out. Right now, we need every lead we can get.”

Fisher nodded. “Okay.”

“Alright, then. Help me get him up. Too much longer out here and we’ll both get Surface Stroke.”

Even after all we’ve been through, it feels safe to be back in an Academy ship. I know I’ve lost all their trust, and vice versa, but at least it’s familiar.

Theo sits in the very back of the cabin, wrists and ankles cuffed to the seat. It’s a stronger hold than back in the cruiser, not that he’s awake to feel it.

Eva takes the pilot’s seat. Everybody else spreads around the cockpit. Cassius stands in the corner, shoulder against the wall. Skandar reclines in the co-pilot’s chair. I sit on the floor next to Avery.

“As far as I see it,” Eva starts, “we’ve got two options. Either we head back to the Academy and beg them to forgive us, or we keep flying around in circles.”

“Nope,” I say.

She scoffs. “What do you mean, ‘nope’?”

“We don’t do either. You heard what Ryel said. The invasion’s begun. We’re gathering an army. That’s all we can do.”

Skandar raises his head. “But Jesse, you didn’t see what Alkine—”

“I don’t care what Alkine showed you,” I reply. “It’s too late.”

Cassius taps his foot against the wall. “We can’t do anything if we’re too weak to fight.”

I wince. “I haven’t eaten since before Syracuse.”

“A few more hours and we’ll be exhausted,” he continues. “We need to refuel.”

Eva frowns. “And where are we supposed to do that? Skyships will have checkpoints. Chosen Cities are impenetrable. Even the Fringes … we’d waste all sorts of time trying to find a place with any food.”

The cockpit falls silent. Cassius’s foot taps echo along the walls.

Avery stands. “I know the place. It’s perfect!” She moves to the console and punches in a set of coordinates.

Eva glances over at the information. “What’s Lenbrg?”

“The Fringe Town Avery and I stayed in last spring.” I sit up. “Of course!”

Avery turns. “It’s peaceful, and it’s off the radar. They have food, and it’s on the way to Siberia. If Alkine contacts the shuttle, we’ll just switch off the volume. Play dumb. It’ll look like we’re heading back to Skyship. Then, when we land outside Lenbrg, we’ll dismantle the radar. Disappear. I can do it. By the time the Academy sends someone looking, we’ll be gone.”

Eva crosses her arms. “You can disable the radar?”

“I trained at the Lodge,” she counters. “I can do a lot of things with a shuttle.”

My shoulders slump. “The Fringers won’t be happy to see us coming back. Not after all the trouble we caused them.”

“We’ll have to deal,” Avery says. “I’ll take a bunch of peaceful Fringers over Madame or the swarm any day.”

I glance over to Cassius. “What do you think?”

He’s silent for a moment. I notice a twinkle at the end of his finger—a spark ready to ignite. “Go ahead. Wherever we go, we’re screwed. Just keep that in mind. We’ll recharge, but we won’t have long before we have to fight again.” He pivots and leaves the cockpit.

I turn back to Eva. With a great sigh she pulls on the steering and changes direction. “Setting a course for Lenbrg,” she mutters. “You better be right about this.”

––––

Every last bit of me wants to give in to sleep, but the fact is, I haven’t had a chance to talk properly with Avery since Syracuse. And there are things I need to know before I can let myself drift off peacefully.