See These Bones

by Chris Tullbane

  In my mind, I saw Mom die—felt her die—all over again. “That’s not a problem.”

  “A man of conviction. In this day and age, that might be even rarer than the toy I brought you.” She swung one impossibly long leg up and over the body of her bike and brought the electric engine to life with the flick of a switch. “Guess this is it then. I’d tell you to look me up in a few years, once your balls have finished dropping and you’re ready for some grown-up fun, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be dead long before that happens.”

  “I’m pretty sure you’re right.” I watched as she pulled away through the carnage that had been some of L.A.’s finest gangbangers. Within moments, her bike’s tail light had faded into the night.

  “Goodbye, Your Majesty.”

  •—•—•

  I didn’t have a chance in hell of climbing the wall I’d fallen from, let alone doing it in the dark. Luckily, I didn’t have to. I followed the wall around to one of the main gates. There, I flashed my student ID to the guards on duty. The Academy scanners didn’t emit so much as a warble as I carried the gun through, and within ten minutes, I was back in my dorm room.

  I had both transportation and a weapon.

  One month to go.

  Nothing was going to stop me now.

  CHAPTER 62

  “What would you like to talk about in today’s session, Damian?” Alexa was all in black, as usual, and as still as a screenshot behind Dr. Gibbings’ wooden desk.

  “I don’t know. The Graduation Games, maybe? That and the dance are the only things anyone wants to talk about these days.”

  The former-Cape studied me for a minute or so, and I wondered what it was she saw. The distance between us—a distance that had started to narrow after summer break—now seemed like an un-crossable chasm. I hadn’t told her about my mom’s vision, and I sure as fuck wasn’t going to tell her how I intended to celebrate Remembrance Day, and that had left me feeling like I was going through the motions, session after session, searching for something meaningless to discuss.

  Midnight wasn’t dumb—far from it—and I knew she’d picked up on the slow disintegration of our relationship, even if she didn’t understand the reason for it. I wasn’t surprised at all when she finally decided to call me on it.

  I was, however, surprised with how she broached the subject.

  “I suppose we could talk about the games, as if you cared even the smallest bit about them, but I think I’d rather talk about you leaving campus Friday night.”

  “How did you…?” I stiffened, part of me unconsciously reaching for my power even as the truth hit me. “The gate guards.”

  “The guards,” she agreed. “They record every individual that passes through their gates. Imagine my surprise when I received an alert that you had been one of them.”

  “What do you want me to say?”

  “I want to know why you left. And given that the guards only have record of you coming back in, I’d like to know how too.”

  “I hopped the wall by the forest’s edge,” I told her, figuring a little bit of truth might help the rest of my lies go down. “As for why? You try being cooped up on this campus for a full year, let alone sleeping in the same room with The Human Snore. For one night at least, I wanted some space.”

  “You jumped the west wall?” Alexa’s voice sharpened. “Fascinating. Did you know that the police found several dead members of the Blood out in that direction yesterday morning?”

  “I don’t watch the news, so no.”

  Black eyes met mine from across the room, and I felt the light in the room dim almost imperceptibly. “I will ask you this once and only once. Did you have anything to do with those bodies?”

  I shook my head and told the literal truth. “I didn’t kill anyone, Alexa.”

  She waited for a long moment, still studying me, then nodded. “Good. Now let’s get back to you leaving campus in the first place. That’s the second of Bard’s rules that you’ve broken. Are you trying to get kicked out of the Academy?”

  “No.” If I’d been smart, I would have just left it there, but the anger inside of me surged back up. “But let’s be honest. It’s just a matter of time now.”

  “Meaning what, exactly?”

  “Don’t bullshit me, Alexa! I know the teachers talk. You know exactly what I mean. Combat was my best shot at becoming a Cape, and that’s gone to hell now.”

  “And that’s why you’ve started paying even less attention in class than usual? Why even Macy has publicly wondered why you’re still showing up to Mobility?” She caught my surprised look. “As you said, teachers do talk. And I have ears in place to hear when they do.”

  “The end of the school year—and my time at the Academy—is less than a month away,” I told her. “They should be happy I’m showing up to class at all.”

  Alexa shook her head. “I would have sworn you were the sort of person who would die before he quit. Clearly, I was wrong.”

  That stung, as it was no doubt intended to. “What did you want me to do? Become a postal service employee?”

  “A what?” She frowned, but moved on. “I told you not so long ago that there were other ways for a Power to serve than as a Cape.”

  “For a first-year dropout who’s doomed to go crazy? I bet the recruiters are just lining up.” They could join the non-existent line of women other than Vibe who wanted to go to the dance with me.

  “You’ve been here a year, and you’re still sane. You don’t know—”

  “Sally told me—”

  “Sally Cemetery said a lot of things,” she interrupted, eyes flashing, “most of them contradictory. And that’s assuming her ghost was even real!”

  “If it wasn’t, then I’ve already gone crazy.” I smiled the smile that Silt still said gave her nightmares. “Either way, I’d say I’m fucked.”

  For just a moment, Midnight’s careful mask slipped, and I saw something that looked suspiciously like weariness and very real concern.

  “Hold it together for three more weeks, Damian. I’ll have answers for you by Remembrance Day. I promise.”

  That brief moment of naked compassion almost did me in. I almost told Alexa everything; the truth about Christmas, about what I’d seen of my mom’s death, and what I was planning to do. Part of me wanted to know what alternatives she had in mind. Part of me wanted to imagine a future where I didn’t die, insane and alone.

  Ironically, it was Gabriella Stein’s lessons in Control and Alexa’s own instruction over the past year that helped me choke down that part of me. There was a shuttle leaving Los Angeles two days before Remembrance Day, and I was going to be on it. Everything else was just a dream.

  I met her eyes and lied. “Okay.”

  Felt almost as bad about that lie as the one I’d told Kayleigh, weeks earlier.

  •—•—•

  I was in a weird mood as I trudged back across campus. Some of it was guilt, of course. Whatever our differences, Alexa had spent months trying to help me, and necessary as it had been, lying to her didn’t feel good. But mixed in with the guilt was a whole lot of other stuff. Anger. Exhaustion. Impatience. Even sadness and regret that nobody would know what had happened to me until the vids hit. That I wouldn’t get to say a real goodbye to the handful of people I called friends.

  Like I said, a weird mood. Maybe that explains what happened next.

  •—•—•

  On a Sunday afternoon, the common room was normally packed, so I was surprised to find only two people there when I entered. Olympia and Tessa. Spectra and Poltergeist. Could’ve been worse. Could’ve been Winter. The Weather Witch was still lacking a date for the dance, and she was taking out that frustration on everyone she saw. But that was Penelope to a T; you’d almost feel bad for her if she wasn’t such a raging pain in all of our asses.

  Anyway, Olympia and Tessa weren’t the worst two people who could’ve been there in the common room, but they were a long way from friendly, so I headed straight
for the men’s dorm. Halfway across the room though, I stopped. Felt almost like I was standing outside my body, even though I hadn’t summoned a shred of power. Finally, I turned and made for the nearest couch.

  Whatever conversation the two women had been engaged in came to a screeching halt as I took a seat one couch over.

  “Can we help you, Damian?”

  By all accounts, Poltergeist had found a date almost as fast as Silt. Great tits notwithstanding, I pitied whoever she’d chosen. It was a sure thing that he’d end up regretting it before the night was done. It’d be a minor miracle if he escaped with his pubic hair and dignity intact. For once, I didn’t say that though. Instead, I just looked over at her and nodded.

  “I was hoping to talk to Spectra, Tessa. Do you mind?”

  Where Tessa’s tone had been a flawless blend of needle-sharp sarcasm and contempt, mine was… almost as polite as the words themselves.

  Maybe weird mood didn’t cover it. Maybe I had finally gone insane.

  Tessa seemed almost as taken aback by my tone as I was. She blinked her green eyes, stopped a moment before she was going to say something, and threw an exasperated look in Olympia’s direction. “Spectra?”

  “It’s fine, Tess.” Olympia’s voice was firm. “I’ll talk to him. You’ve got your fitting anyway.”

  “If you’re sure…” At the answering nod, Tessa rose to her feet, still looking puzzled, and headed outside.

  “Fitting?”

  “For her dress. I had mine this morning.”

  “Oh. I didn’t realize you had a date—”

  “What do you want, Crow?” Olympia interrupted. “You asked for a moment, and you’ve got it. But I want you to know,” she continued, her hands glowing with a light almost as silver as her eyes, “that I’m not scared of you. If you try anything, I will burn you down where you sit.”

  “Ishmae already tried that,” I shot back. “I’m still here.”

  “Not for much longer, from what I hear.”

  That took the wind right out of my sails. “Yeah. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”

  “If you’re looking for someone to help you cheat, you can just…” Her voice trailed off. “Actually, I don’t see how that would even work.”

  “It wouldn’t. I’m gone in less than a month, and we all know it.”

  “Oh.” For the first time, she budged slightly from her defensive position on the couch. “What do you want then? Money?”

  Honestly, it wasn’t until that very moment that I knew the answer, although some part of me must have known long before I sat down. Maybe that guilt I’d mentioned was stirring up trouble, the way guilt so often does. Or maybe I just wanted to accomplish one decent thing before I headed off to commit murder. Either way, I thought of Bard and the impossible mission he’d given me after Shane’s funeral.

  “I wanted to apologize,” I finally told her.

  I’m not sure which of us was more surprised.

  •—•—•

  “Apologize? For what?” Just like that, she got suspicious. “What did you do…?”

  “Nothing.” Not yet anyway. “I just know what it’s like to lose family to a Crow. I’m sorry that happened to you, and I’m sorry me being here this year has made things worse.”

  “Oh.” Olympia had gotten better control of her power as the year progressed, and no longer broadcast her emotions in light form for everyone to see, so when the glow around her hands dimmed, I took it as a good sign. “Did you know I was born with silver eyes?”

  Fucking Lightbringers. Work up to an apology and they just change the subject on you.

  “It’s not a Power thing, I mean,” she continued. “At least I don’t think so. My little sister had them too. You wouldn’t believe the amount of teasing we got growing up.”

  “One of the kids at the orphanage had horrible gas.”

  “What?!?”

  “Fat Joey. Sometimes I wonder if he was such an asshole because he didn’t want people making fun of his farts.” When her confusion showed no signs of clearing, I shrugged. “We’re talking about embarrassing qualities, right?”

  For just a moment, I thought Spectra was going to carry through on her threat to liquefy me. “What I was saying,” she continued, perfect nose now wrinkled in disgust, “is that we can’t always help what we are. It’s not your fault that you were born a Crow. It’s not your fault that a Crow murdered my family and most of a city. It’s maybe not even your fault that you’ve been an asshole this whole year, considering that we were assholes to you first.”

  Mission accomplished, Bard, I thought to myself. If I survived killing Dad and somehow escaped afterward, maybe I could tour the country and show the people that Crows weren’t all bad.

  “What is your fault,” Olympia continued, voice going hard, “is whatever you do after you leave the Academy.”

  For one terrifying moment, I thought she knew somehow, but before I could say anything to incriminate myself, she was speaking again.

  “Crows go crazy. That’s a fact. It sucks for you, but it’s still a fact. So what are you going to do to keep from hurting people when you do?”

  “It won’t be a problem.”

  “Oh really? How can you know for sure?”

  The short answer was that I’d be dead or in the Hole, but I obviously couldn’t say that. So I went with the answer I’d have given three months earlier, back when I thought I still had a future.

  “I have the word of someone I trust that they’ll take me out before I get that far.”

  Olympia scowled. “Silt may talk a big game, but—”

  “It’s not Sofia. It’s not a first-year at all.” As I spoke, I realized for the first time that maybe I had an idea what Alexa’s other job entailed… and exactly what sort of work a Power who wasn’t a Cape could do. “They’ll put me down when it becomes necessary.”

  “Oh. Well… good.” Spectra rose to her feet and, after a moment’s hesitation, extended her hand. “I can’t say I’m going to miss you, but… good luck wherever you end up.”

  Her skin was just about the softest thing I’d ever touched. “Good luck being a Cape.”

  “And if you’re not the perfect gentleman with Kayleigh at the dance,” she continued, still holding my hand, “neither you nor this mysterious watcher will need to worry about you going insane.” Silver eyes sparked for just a moment, and then she was past me, heading for the women’s dorm.

  Sometimes you just can’t win.

  CHAPTER 63

  If the Remembrance Day dance was the first topic on my classmates’ lips, the Graduation Games were a close second. Everyone was busy dredging up tales of past games and vids of some of the more notable contests. One of the second-years had even set up betting pools on how this year’s crop of third-years would perform. By the time the games had arrived, I was almost as sick of hearing about them as I was the dance.

  That didn’t keep me from piling into the stands with everyone else for opening day. With finals and Power examinations behind us—all of which I’d happily flunked, since that shit didn’t matter at all anymore—the chance to watch someone else sweat had a certain appeal.

  Most of you have probably seen the Graduation Games on vid; third-years competing against each other in power-related competitions. After three years at the Academy, the graduating Capes had been ranked first to last, and that week of competition was their last chance to show that they deserved the rank they’d been given… or one even higher.

  What the vids didn’t capture is what a madhouse the whole thing was.

  At any given time, there were multiple events happening concurrently. The field had been divided into a dozen smaller arenas; obstacle courses on one end and open sparring circles on the other. Some of the action didn’t even take place on the field, but above it; Flyboys and Wind Dancers making sure their contests occurred within visual range of the bleachers holding the Cape team recruiters.

  In those same stands were the fa
milies of both third-years and graduating normals. From what little I could see, only the latter group was having much fun; the parents of future Capes were white-knuckled and tense as they watched their children perform.

  As first-years, we’d been relegated to bleachers at the very far end of the field, wedged in with the freshman normals. For that one week, the shortage of space and the excitement of the games combined to erase the invisible barrier between our two groups. Silt and her Remembrance Day date, Debbie—a blonde almost as slim and small as Vibe—sat on one side of me, with Kayleigh on the other. I was busy watching Paladin’s hulking laundromat buddy, WarChild, battle a Stalwart who was as thin as she was tall, but no less deadly for that fact.

  Seeing those two third-years fight drove home the massive gulf in skill between their class and even the best of the first-years. It also reinforced Nikolai’s words the day he’d kicked me out of his class. If the other first-years in Combat kept improving like these two third-years clearly had, I really would have ended up dead sooner or later. Skill is all well and good, but skill and power wins every time.

  Vibe’s excited shout pulled my attention from the bout, just moments after the unnamed Stalwart vaulted over WarChild’s head, avoiding a charge that might very well have flattened her. The Empath was pointing to the recruiter stands.

  “There’s Aspen! Supersonic said she’d be here!”

  Sure enough, a slender woman in a glittering silver costume had swooped down from the sky to take her seat with the other recruiters. From this far away, I couldn’t make out her features, but there wasn’t a person in the Free States who didn’t know what Aspen looked like.

  Dominion was the Free States’ most powerful Cape and Paladin was its most popular, but nobody was as famous—or at least as recognizable—as Aspen. A lot of people make headlines when their powers first emerge, but few do it on national vid like she had. Major Disaster had been laying waste to San Diego, having already disposed of that small city’s unofficial Cape squad, when he made the mistake of picking up a bus and throwing it through two downtown skyscrapers. One of the passengers on that bus? Sixteen-year-old Aspen, who’d been in town with her high school team for a volleyball tournament. She hadn’t just walked away from the wreckage, she’d flown… right back through the smoke and the destruction. As the nation watched, she traded blows with the infamous Black Hat, delaying him just long enough for the Los Angeles Defenders to arrive.