I was about to agree when the transmission resumed. A sigh of relief escaped me when I saw Harriet in the middle of the screen, ready to address the camera. “People of Lusteer, listen to me. I know you may be fearful, but you don’t need to be. Your savior is still at hand.” She stretched out her arm.
I frowned, confused. A savior? Who was she talking about? She was the one who had killed Beacon and saved the city.
She was gesturing forward, though, someone just out of camera frame.
“Shit!” Persia said.
I glanced across at her; she’d clearly figured out what was about to happen, and it wasn’t good.
And she was right. The person who came across to stand beside Harriet was Beacon, looking none the worst for having been shot three times in the chest. He was even grinning.
I couldn’t believe it; strength left my body, and I slumped against the wall behind me.
Harriet lifted Beacon’s hand to hold it above her head. The receptionist gave a shriek of joy, and from outside came the sound of loud cheering.
“The healing continues,” Beacon said. “Where once we were enemies, we become friends. Where once we were divided, we unite. Where once we fought each other, we clasp hands.” Beacon released Harriet’s hand, stepped briefly out of the camera frame, returning with a handgun. He handed it to Harriet. “This is the gun that you tried to kill me with.”
“And from now on, it will be used to protect you,” Harriet said. Soldiers crowded closer behind her. “And the soldiers who stormed this building will from now on guard you.”
“Look,” Persia pointed at one of the soldiers in the bank rank. “It’s Jeroah.”
And so it was. He wore the combat fatigues of a soldier and smiled sheepishly. “He’s seen which way the wind is blowing,” I said. “Jeroah has always been about taking care of number one.”
“Or he’s fallen under Beacon’s spell just like Harriet did.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, I guess. I still don’t get it though. Beacon can’t just have healed himself. The magic of Brimstone is gone.”
“Not for him,” Persia said.
“Then it’s hopeless.” If stopping Beacon hadn’t been impossible before, it sure was now.
Chapter 25
Wednesday 09:25
Thousands of people had swarmed the plaza outside LNN headquarters. They weren’t trying to storm the building or anything—based on the cheer I’d heard earlier, they all knew that Beacon was safe—but the crowd continued to grow in size. No doubt Beacon would come out to address them before long, reinforcing their brainwashing.
Some held up placards with slogans such as “Beacon of Hope”, “Beacon is our Salvation”, “Beacon for President.” The entity that I’d once known as Uro had adopted a persona that people had no problem rallying around. I didn’t know at what point he’d decided to use the name Beacon instead of Uro, but, clearly, even that was carefully planned.
I nodded toward the row of black vans, the roofs of which could be seen over the heads of the crowd. “Do you think we could requisition one of those?”
“I doubt keys were left in the ignition, and they could be guarded. I think we should go in the opposite direction.” Persia had dumped the AK47 before she left the reception area. “Get as far from here as we can before Harriet or Beacon turn their attention on us.”
“Back to the motel?” I sighed. Back to where we started, except worse much off.
“We’ll have to collect Jo and Alex, but our motel isn’t safe anymore. Both Harriet and Jeroah know where we were staying.”
“Jo and Alex are in danger?”
“Not yet,” Persia said. “Harriet and Jeroah have only just been turned. But we’ll have to find a new safe house.”
We chose the least crowded streets, aiming to get as far from LNN as efficiently as possible. Navigating through the crowd, my walk went into a fast skip and from there into a light jog several times. The fear that something might already have happened to Alex or Jo seemed irrational—I had no reason to think Beacon cared enough about them to bother capturing them—but protecting them had been a part of life for so long that I couldn’t help feeling anxious. Whenever I got too far ahead of Persia, I glared at her until she sped her steps to catch up with me.
Once the pedestrian traffic had decreased enough that cars moved freely, I scanned for a taxi. Before I had a chance to flag one down, however, a beat-up old Ford jerked to a stop in front of us. A head with a white handlebar mustache stuck itself out of driver window. “Looking for a ride.”
“Danny!” I exclaimed. “What are you… no, you can explain on the way.” I raced around to the other side of the car. The door handle wouldn’t open; I slammed the door with the palm of my hand, then tried again. It was still stuck.
“Handle’s a bit stiff.” Danny reached across and opened the door from the inside.
I jumped in and slammed the door shut behind me. Persia was already in the back seat. “Drive.”
“Hold up, now, you have to tell me where we’re going,” Danny said.
“Just press the gas to the floor, and I’ll give you directions as we go.”
“Hold your horses, partner. I can’t just run over people.” A man and two children were crossing in front of us. Once they were out of the way, Danny checked all around him, indicated, then he merged into the traffic.
Persia leaned forward to address Danny. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I was working out in my yard when I saw one of my neighbors about to head off carrying a sign. Got talking to him, and turns out he is a big fan of this Beacon fellow, and he tells me that Beacon is being attacked. I haven’t been following the news much—I was warned not to by you guys—so I haven’t seen much of this Beacon. But, I’ve heard about him—second coming of Jesus, according to some. This neighbor with the sign used to be an interesting fellow, but recently he can’t talk about anything else except this Beacon character. Anyway, he was going out to show support, and I figured that if Beacon was under attack, then likely my friend Rune wouldn’t be far away.”
“You shouldn’t have gotten involved,” I said crossly. Danny had no special skills for combatting our enemies, and I feared what would happen to him if he ended up in the middle of a fight. My conscience was already dealing with too many people dead or hurt either directly or indirectly due to my actions.
Danny shrugged. “I want to see this out and stop this Beacon guy. What’s he going to do? Wait, let me guess—use his evil powers to take over the world, right?”
“Something like that,” I said.
“I believe in helping out friends, so I came down,” Danny said. “And sure enough, after a few loops around the headquarters of the news station, who did I find needing a ride, but you two.”
“And we thank you,” Persia pointed to a junction up ahead. “Take a left up there.”
I ground my teeth in frustration at Danny’s slow and methodical driving as he made the turn. “Hurry.”
Persia reached forward and squeezed my shoulder. “Be calm, Rune. Jo and Alex are fine.”
I nodded, trying to relax. If Danny was traveling faster than he usually did, it was hard to tell. Finally, we arrived. “Pull in here.” I pointed out the parking lot of the motel.
Danny had barely parked the car before I was out and racing across the lot. Despite my anxiousness, I didn’t really expect anything to be wrong, so it was a kick in the gut to see the door to Jo and Alex’s room hanging open. I darted inside. A wardrobe was overturned, and several blankets lay strewn across the floor. “Jo, Alex!” I called out. I opened the dividing door and stepped into the other room, and quickly checked the bathroom, under the beds. I returned to see Persia sitting on Alex’s bed with her head in her hands. Danny hovered by the door.
“They’re gone.” I wanted to rage at Persia for not being urgent enough and at Danny for not driving fast enough, but I didn’t know if a faster pace would have made any difference. I sat besid
e Persia. “They’re gone.”
Persia put her hand on my shoulder and pushed herself back to her feet. “We’ll find them.”
“No, no, we won’t.” Tears leaked down my cheeks, and I bowed my head. “And even if we do, what then?” When I had powers, I’d just about been able to keep them safe. “We won’t be able to get them back.” Sobs shuddered through my body. Feeling Persia’s hand squeeze tighter on my shoulder, I tried to bring myself under control, and my tears dried up. “I’m…”
Before I could say anything more though, the tears returned. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was crying about, but I couldn’t stop. The weeping went on and on. I was distantly aware of Persia leaving the room and shutting the door, leaving a broken man alone with his tears.
Chapter 26
Wednesday 20:45
Once, I had thought myself a warrior.
That evening, lying in bed in Danny’s room, the idea of me being a warrior was comical, though not the type of comical anyone—except perhaps Jeroah—would laugh at. Over the course of the day—despite desperately trying to squash it—the memory of breaking down into a puddle of tears washed over me, soaking me in abject embarrassment.
I have no idea how long I wept, alone in that motel room, but when the tears dried themselves out, I went to the bathroom so I could wash my face before showing it outside. By then, Persia was gone.
Danny had brought me back to his house. I didn’t want to talk, and Danny, sensing that, had said barely a word on the trip. In his house, he pointed out a shelf of DVDs and invited me to chose. I selected an unopened boxed set of the original trilogy of Star Wars. He put it on for me, and we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching all three movies. Neither of us had much to say. I had the impression that Danny hadn’t watched Star Wars before and I wondered what he thought of it, but I didn’t want to initiate any conversation, so I didn’t ask.
I had tried to lose myself in the familiar narrative, and at times I succeeded. At other times, events on screen would just serve as a reminder of present circumstances. Like Luke Skywalker, I had discovered at a young age that I possessed great powers, but I envied Luke’s journey. When he had doubts, they were eventually answered. When he lost a hand, a robotic hand replaced his missing one as good as new. I glanced down at where I was unconsciously massaging my right hand. Better to be gone than hang around, useless.
Luke may not have had it easy, but at least he generally had a direction, or, at least, someone to point out his path. Also, his powers had never been stripped from him. I sighed. It was an old failing of mine, to stupidly draw comparisons between my life and the stories I saw on television. What did I expect to learn from the bedtime tales George Lucas invented to make himself a gazillionaire?
Of course, Lucas’s heroes never wept. He could write them however he wanted—so, of course, he made them strong and manly and confident. If I was writing about my own stories, I’d make myself heroic. Writing or reading about adventures was much more pleasant than living them. What had caused my controllable crying? Beacon’s victory? Alex and Jo’s capture? My own inadequacies? Everything together? Nothing at all?
Someone knocked on the door. Though lying on the bed, I was still dressed and on top of the covers, so I raised myself to a sitting position. “What is it?”
Persia entered. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it. “How are you?”
“Fantastic.”
“Sorry I left abruptly earlier.”
“No problem. All I needed was a box of extra-strength Kleenex.” And some extra-strength glue to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again.
“Danny said you watched some movies together.”
“Luke kicked some Vader ass. Just like we are going to do with Beacon, right?” I wasn’t sure why I was suddenly channelling an entitled asshole who never left the sarcasm stage of teenager development, but those were the words that came out of my mouth.
“I wanted to try and make contact with any other groups in the city opposing Beacon,” Persia said. “I checked in with a few old acquaintances, and I got lucky. Someone who works inside LNN headquarters is willing to help us.”
“Who?”
Persia shifted uncomfortably. “He asked me to keep his identity absolutely secret.”
“You can’t tell even me?”
“I’m afraid not.”
I got a strong impression that Persia was keeping something from me, even as she admitted she was keeping something from me. Strange! “And what did this mystery person tell you?”
“That Alex and Jo are under guard on the upper levels of LNN headquarters,” Persia said.
“They are?” I stood. “That means…” I sat back down again. It was exactly what we thought; Beacon had taken them, and we had no power to free them. “That means nothing.”
“You can’t say that. We know where Alex and Jo are, and we’ve an inside man.”
“Harriet Ashley attacked with an army, she actually got to Beacon, and still she failed. What are we to do?”
“Why do you think Harriet brought us in the first place?” Persia asked. “I’ll tell you why. She knew she’d likely fail, and she wanted us to learn from her mistakes.”
“That’s an optimistic read on abject failure,” I said. “Also, if that was her plan, and she’s now working with Beacon, he knows to expect us.”
“I’m sure Beacon was always expecting us,” Persia said. “Expecting you at least.” She sat on the bed beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Why do you think Beacon wants Alex and Jo so badly? He must have instantly sent one of his men to collect them as soon as he learned their location.”
“Jo’s expertise in the science of Brimstone, perhaps. If anyone can reopen the connection to Brimstone, it’s her. Or…” I considered. “More likely, it’s Alex. The summoning crystal. I don’t know what Beacon’s plans for it, but he wants to use its power.”
Persia was continuing to rub my shoulder. I turned to look at her hand. “What are you doing?”
Persia shrugged. “What do you mean?” She didn’t stop; pleasant sensations prickled my skin.
I frowned. “You know what you’re doing. It’s just that I don’t.”
“What can I say? I’m rusty at this.” With her other hand, Persia reached forward to cup my face.
I jerked away. “You want to seduce me?” The words sounded strange in my mouth, but I could see in Persia’s reaction that I was right. “You do.” It didn’t make any sense though. She was still in love with Noah. “You… you think I turned into a basket case. Because of the crying. And you think that comforting me—” I jumped to my feet. “You’re trying to fix me, and you figure this might do it. That’s it, isn’t it?”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Well, what is it, then?” For some reason I felt vaguely outraged. “You already made clear that you aren’t interested in me.”
“All I made clear was that my situation is complicated.”
“It hasn’t become less complicated, has it?”
“What cause have you to get upset?” Persia stood, her eyes flashing. “If you are no longer interested, then just say so.”
“It’s not that I’m not interested.” Though the top of her head only came up to chest height, that didn’t diminish her fierceness. My attraction toward her hadn’t dimmed in the slightest. “I don’t want something given to me out of pity.”
“I don’t pity you, and I’m not trying to fix you. I want this for me. I can spend forever being obsessed by the past, or I can make a choice to move forward. And I want to be positive and move forward.”
I wasn’t sure I believed her. “This is hardly the time.”
“That’s always the case though, isn’t it? We’re constantly fighting, being betrayed, fleeing enemies, losing loved ones, and we never get any time to just live our lives.”
“To just live my life.” I sighed. “That could be nice.”
“Look, it’s not just my choice.�
� Persia sat and patted the bed beside her. “Let’s talk.”
I sat down, but left plenty of space between us. Persia reached across, took my hand, and held it in hers. “Sometimes it easy to allow yourself to get stuck in one place. I think this could be good for both of us.”
“This isn’t how it’s supposed to happen.”
“How then? If we got drunk in the bar and we fell on top of each other, and woke up the next morning with crushing hangovers and sharp regrets? This is me wanting something. If you don’t want it, then just tell me and I’ll leave.”
“I don’t know what I want.”
She shifted closer. “Rune. There’s no need to overanalyze. You like me, right? You want me? Well, I want this to happen, too. Sometimes you can just take the uncomplicated win.” She cupped my face with her hand and this time I didn’t back away. Her lips against mine felt impossibly soft. After the kiss, she leaned back away. Our gazes held each other, and I felt my body stir. “Do you want this, Rune?”
A swarm of thoughts battled to get to the forefront of my brain, but I forced them back. We were both adults, and this was something we both wanted. Sometimes overthinking can trip one up quicker than the slipperiest banana peel. So I said only one more word, then I let the thinking part of my brain take a backseat, relinquishing control to my instincts.
The word was “yes”.
Chapter 27
Thursday 07:25
I gradually emerged into wakefulness, my dreams lingering. Darth Vader was giving a speech to a crowd of adoring followers. “Don’t you see, he lies,” I was saying to all those close to me. But no one was listening to me; all they could hear was Darth Vader’s growling distorted voice. How do they trust someone who is dressed all in black and wearing a mask? I wondered.
No. Darth Vader didn’t exist, and I wasn’t surrounded by a crowd of people. By concentrating on the whiteness of the ceiling, I managed to dismiss all other images until I was fully awake. It was only then that I became aware of Persia sleeping beside me, and I remembered the previous night.
Fire Sacrifice Page 13
