“There is no way—”
“You have to help me. You’re the only one who can.”
He caught her hands in one hand and held her chin to stop her moving. “I don’t know how to do that. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I’d help you if I could, but I don’t know how.”
“What about a testing arch? Don’t they have one here?”
“Are you seriously asking me to put you back in one of those? They are built to remove those things, not put them back.”
“But maybe I could fix it somehow. Maybe find whatever I lost. I don’t know.” Lost. She felt lost.
Elden reached for her hair and trailed his fingers through it. “I don’t want to put you through that again. Last time...” His voice grew gruff and he coughed.
Images from last time flooded through Evazee’s brain. She’d stepped into the arch expecting horror. Instead she’d found breathtaking beauty, a waterfall pool, and Elden. The feel of his skin on hers. Heat flashed through her. It may have been beautiful, but the experience had robbed her of her imprint, the symbol of her gifting, and taken her ability with it. “How do you know what happened the last time I went through the arch?”
Elden shrugged. His eyes were fixed on something over her left shoulder. Evazee resisted the urge to turn around and see what it was.
“Let’s just say that they are not designed to fix things. The only thing they can do is corrupt or remove.”
“But that’s perfect. It can remove this thing on the back of my neck. You owe me, you know you do. So, you’re saying that there is one here at the OS?”
The poor boy was shifting from one foot to the other as if dancing on hot coals. Evazee wanted to jump up and down and scream in his face, but she forced herself to stay still and glare at him.
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you didn’t deny it either.”
“OK, fine. I’ll take you. But I need to do something else first.” Elden held a finger to her lips as she was about to object. He shook his head with a smile that made her tummy flip and that got her irritated. With that, he extricated himself and aimed at the stairs.
“I will find you. You can’t avoid me forever!” Yelling at Elden’s back as he disappeared up the stairs to the roof was not satisfying at all.
10
Kai looked out across the group in front of him. They sat in the afterglow of their time of singing, some chatted quietly, others lay stretched out with their feet crossed, staring up at the stars, nobody in a hurry to leave. Kai’s Affinity pulsed through his veins, and in a flash he saw a deep sea of green lodged over each and every one. How was it possible that nothing had changed?
"This is the dumbest army training I've ever seen." Zap picked his way through the rooftop full of blinking kids.
"Yeah! We wanna fight." Paintbrush sat at Kai’s feet, as close to him as she could get without being bopped on the head by his guitar. She jumped to her feet and boxed the air in a flurry of fists that made her paintbrush ponytails bounce alarmingly.
Kai tucked both her fists into one hand and lowered them. He frowned at Zap. "How did you get on in the lab?"
"Yeah, about that. I came to tell you that we might have found a way to un-taint the serum."
"Might?"
"I'm still running tests, but it looks promising."
"Promising isn't enough. We have to figure out how to destroy or neutralize room-full’s of the stuff. Might and promising don't cut it."
"When did you become such a pain in the rear? I know all that. I've been in that lab now for days. Barely slept."
"Bree's dad—"
"I know that too. He's running out of time. Why is he so important anyway? It's not like any of us have ever really had a dad, and we're all OK. Right?"
Elden stepped out from the edge of the group. “A word with you? Away from here.”
Kai’s belly twisted in the usual contradiction of whether to trust the man or not. Elden’s face gave no clues. “Sure.”
They moved away from the crowd, closer to the edge of the rooftop.
Night lay thick, but the black canopy was peppered with stars and the air was fresh and cool, laced with the smoky aroma of barbequed sausage from a street vendor. This darkness was wholesome, natural, lit slightly by the lone streetlight below. Nothing like they’d been trapped in before.
“What’s up?”
“You know I’ve been involved in recruitment and training on the other side.” Elden coughed, looking like a lizard on a hotplate.
Was it guilt, or was he hiding something? “I know that.”
“There’s something else you need to know. I’ve watched you work with these kids to reverse the training they’ve been through. Tell me if I’m wrong, but you don’t seem to be getting anywhere.”
“If you’re here to gloat, I can save you the trouble. I know. I’m just out of options.”
“I’m not trying to rub it in. I just know something that might help you.” Elden fidgeted, flicking his thumb off his forefinger. His gaze darted.
Kai watched the pulse in Elden’s neck beat faster. Kai rested on the edge of the rooftop wall, leaning casually, but his mind zoomed, trying to suss out what Elden was attempting to achieve and whether he could be trusted. What kind of man allows his friend to be marked and does nothing to stop it?
Elden rubbed his chin. “Let me get this straight. You want to reverse the effects of the training so that you can send these kids home, right?”
“I want them untwisted. Free.”
“You’re not going to achieve that with what you’re doing now.”
“But it worked on Paintbrush.”
Elden’s nose crinkled up.
Kai realised he’d need to spell it out. “The little Chinese girl. She’s free.”
“Oh, you mean Ziqi? The one with ponytails that stick out like this.” Elden waggled his fingers next to his head.
“Like paintbrushes. Yes.” Ziqi. Now she had a name. Kai wished he hadn’t found out. Some things are better not to know. As much as he hated to admit it, Elden was right, Ziqi was the only one he’d seen a change in. “What do you suggest I do?”
Elden took a deep breath, and hunched towards Kai as if he were scared of being overheard. “The process they go through in training is brutal. They get pumped full of dark Affinity Enhancer and then they get put into simulations that are designed to annihilate trust and belief. Let me put it this way, you can’t free something in the natural that is locked up in the spiritual world.”
“It was the opposite with Runt.”
“Exactly. While her body was locked up in a dingy room, nearly starving to death, her spirit was free and full of life.”
“So I need to go back? Where, though? This building is ours now. Nobody is trapped here in either realm.”
Elden shook his head. “I don’t mean it like that. During their training, certain things can get,” he struggled for the right word, “siphoned out of them and stored. At headquarters, the Crux, there’s a vault—”
A drawn-out screech of tires skidding on tar screamed from the road three stories below. The crash shook the building. An explosion of shattered glass rocked the air. Streetlight dipped, replaced by a dirty orange glow that flickered.
Ruaan ran towards the edge of the roof but stopped before looking over. His eyes glowed grey in the dark. “The building is on fire.”
11
Dusty haze billowed up from the chaos on the road below. A bus parked diagonally across the road. Two or three cars had collided, it was hard to tell. One had been catapulted straight into the side of the OS, taking a sausage vendor’s barbeque fire with him. Liquid ran in puddles on the road. Gas. They had to get the people out before the fire sent the whole lot up in smoke.
Kai took off down the stairs.
Elden’s voice rang out across the rooftop, calmly directing the crowd off the roof safely. He had them covered. Kai ran.
Bree kept pace with him. They hit the gro
und floor running. The bus was closest to the blaze. The door had jerked open in the collision.
Alarm slammed through Kai. Screams, smoke. Kai climbed the bus steps two at a time and found an African driver draped over the wheel. Kai undid his safety belt and hauled him out of reach of the fire. He seemed familiar, but Kai didn’t waste time studying the man. Back on the bus. It was full of dark-skinned guys, some conscious, some not.
Bree flew up the stairs and started guiding the able-bodied ones off the bus and out of reach of the fire.
Sweat ran down Kai’s spine as he carried another unconscious one to safety. The fire was closing them in. There were still too many on the bus. Panic ran hot through Kai.
Something crashed. The burning door had come off the twisted hinges and fallen across the opening. They were trapped. Sweat blurred Kai’s vision and he blinked hard, looking for a way out. Time melted, blurred. Kai took it all in. The building flames, the blocked doorway. Through the window someone stood watching from the shadows, casually leaning on the wall. Kai blinked, and then there was no one.
A hissing sizzle filled his ears, louder than the crackle of flames. White foam smacked into the windows with force. A jet of foam carved through the solid wall of flames and somebody screeched like a banshee. Sweat poured off Kai. He stood paralyzed, but his mind darted frantically as he tried to find a way out. He needed something to smash a window. He staggered through the bus to the driver’s seat and found a canister of CO2 latched underneath. He unhooked it and struggled to break the seal with sweat-slicked fingers.
It wasn’t working. He lugged it through the bus, aimed at one of the windows covered in foam and flung hard. The canister smashed into the glass and shattered it. White foam poured in through the gaping hole, sizzling on the seat that had caught alight, turning melted plastic to hard, brittle and charred.
Evazee stood on the street with her feet planted wide, holding the fire hose as if it were a loaded semi-automatic. Sweat ran in rivulets through the dust on her face, and her chest heaved. With a last defiant whoosh, the flames flared and imploded in on themselves. The fire was out.
Kai ran to the mangled door and kicked hard. The damaged hinges gave way. He jumped down the steps of the bus and rushed towards Evazee. He tried to hug her, but she was frozen stiff. He coaxed the hose out of her hands, shut off the stream.
Evazee snapped back to reality with a jolt that brought tears to her eyes.
“Are you with us, Zee?”
“Did it work?”
“You put the fire out. It did!”
“I can’t believe that worked.” Her face was a mess of sweat and tears.
“I never thought I’d see you armed with a fire hose. It’s a good look for you.”
“We should help.” She stood up and moved away from him, but for a moment stopped dead still.
Kai expected to see her in full swing, moving, stopping blood flow, running triage. Instead, she stood and stared at the bus driver.
“It’s Zulu. Look!”
Kai stepped carefully between the injured. So much blood, pain.
Sure enough, there was Zulu. Stretched out on his back with a bleeding head wound. Blood trailed down the side of his face.
Kai knelt and ripped off a wide strip of Zulu’s own shirt to press against the wound. “Evazee, help me.”
The entrance to the OS was charred and smoking.
Elden and some of the older kids picked their way through the damaged doorway. He came across to where Kai and Evazee were struggling to lift the deadweight of Zulu. Without asking, Elden moved Evazee out of the way and lifted Zulu’s feet.
Kai sweated under the weight of the African. His fingers were buried deeply into Zulu’s armpits. “Let’s take him to my office.”
Evazee hovered around Zulu like a fly. “Your office?”
“Torn’s office. Make yourself useful and clear a path for us.” Blood rushed to his cheeks.
“Are you blushing?”
“Oh, please. This is from lugging this hunk of muscle around.”
~*~
Evazee sat opposite her enormous dark friend with her feet drawn up onto the couch. Zulu’s head was wrapped in bandages, and he looked like a zombie in the semi-light. She’d only ever seen him in the spiritual realm before where he towered and presented a commanding presence. In real life, he was no less impressive, though rougher around the edges. The scar that chiselled across his face seemed harsher, deeper, and less romantic. A romantic scar? Evazee, what are you thinking?
She shut off her thoughts and tried to focus on the words coming out of his mouth. His voice rumbled from his chest with the same deep vibration that she remembered.
“Are you hearing me? Friend-Evazee?”
“I’m sorry, what?” She shook her head to bring her focus back to the here and now. “What are you doing here?”
“I came looking for you and Kai. Things in my village are not good. It is time for change, but I cannot make this change. I need help.”
“I don’t understand what you mean by not good. Why did you bring all these people with you?”
“They were planning another ceremony. A turning ceremony.” Zulu’s dark eyes bored into hers. “You remember the boy?”
A chill tingled down Evazee’s spine. “The boy who drank and died. That boy?” The image of his lifeless body being shoved off the wooden deck into the river was forever stuck in Evazee’s mind.
“Yebo. All these were to drink tonight. I brought them to escape. To show them the better way. I asked your Tau to show me where to go. He brought me here.”
“With an accident that nearly killed you all?”
“The accident was not His idea. The accident was because of a drunk man. But this way, or that, we are here now.”
“I don’t know how to help you.”
With a knock on the door, Kai came in, followed by Ruaan and Zap.
“Zulu, welcome. Your friends are being cared for downstairs. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Evazee knew she should let Zulu speak for himself, but the words popped out. “He’s asking for our help. They do this ceremony thing in his village. It would put all of those who are with him at risk. They could all die. Kai, there must be something we can do.” She frowned at Zulu, “You didn’t want to go back to your village. What made you go back now?”
“The smallest one is my brother. He sent me a message, he was scared of ceremony. I couldn’t leave him.”
“But they wanted to make you a priest. What about that?”
“Tonight, I would wear my Priest-clothes. Tonight, I would make them drink.”
A chill skittered across the back of Evazee’s neck. “You would have to make them drink. I can understand why you left.”
Kai rubbed circles on his temples. “So how would we help you? Do you want somewhere to hide?”
Zulu shook his head. “They would find us. It might take time, but they would come.”
“What, then?” Kai plonked himself in a chair opposite with his feet propped up on the coffee table as if he were completely relaxed. Evazee knew him well enough to recognize the clench in his jaw, the white spots on his knuckles as he clenched and unclenched his hands.
Zulu’s gaze flicked over the room, taking in all the minute details before levelling with Kai’s. He breathed deeply before answering.
“Come to Benan. Come show my people this Tau that you speak of. They will listen to you.”
“But what if they don’t? What, then? They don’t sound like the kind of people who will wave farewell and let us leave with their blessing if they don’t agree with what I would say about Tau. Especially not as you lot ran away and trashed the family bus all in one afternoon.”
“No, no. Not family bus. Bus came from bus stop.”
Evazee sat upright and turned towards him, hoping against hope that she’d heard wrong. “This is funny. I could have sworn I heard you saying that the bus came from a bus stop. As in you’d stolen it from a bus stop.
”
“Not stolen, borrowed. Like Beaver and Shrimp’s boat. Yes?”
“I can’t believe you’re bringing that up.” Evazee reddened.
“Borrowed and broken. But no life lost. All good.”
Kai’s elbows were propped up on the armrests, fingers tented in front of his mouth. It was hard to read his thoughts. His face gave away nothing. He shut his eyes, and Evazee watched his lips move wordlessly.
Evazee was about ready to throw a cushion to wake him up when his eyes shot open.
“I’m sorry Zulu. We can’t help you. There is some horrific stuff going down here that we have to prevent. This lot need me here.”
~*~
Kai shifted a box out of the way with his foot. It sent a cloud of dust up his nostrils, and he sneezed. Meeting in the basement was not his first choice, but he didn’t want eavesdroppers or anyone walking in on them unexpectedly.
Zap was rubbing his arms as if being here made him itchy.
Ruaan studied them both with cool eyes.
“So you guys agree that our attempts to reverse the OS training haven’t worked?”
Zap huffed. “We’ve been telling you this for days now. Are you only just figuring it out?”
Kai waved off his sarcasm. “And you agree we need another plan for these kids?”
“Where are you going with this?” Ruaan brushed dust off his hands from the box he’d been leaning against.
“Elden told me about a vault in a place called the Crux. If I can get into the vault, I can free these kids.”
“And we can get our lives back.” If Ruaan was excited at the thought, he didn’t show it.
Zap snapped out of his thoughts. “Do you trust Elden?”
“That’s where you guys come in. I want you to come with me to help keep an eye on him.”
“Where is this place again?” Zap wasn’t falling over himself with enthusiasm.
Ruaan snorted a laugh. “So we either babysit a bunch of kids, or we babysit an ex-OS trainer. What a choice.”
“Guys, come on. When I say I’ve got to go on a quest and face unknown danger for the good of all mankind, you’re supposed to say that you couldn’t possibly let me go alone, and that you’d follow me to the ends of the earth. That’s how it’s supposed to work.”
Cadence Page 8
