by J.T. Stoll
“Look at this,” Vero said.
“‘Help?’” Pieter muttered. “What could she need help for? She’s got a soul armor.”
Realization dawned on his face. Pieter flicked his left blinker on and made a fast, illegal U-turn. “Call Neil, fast,” he said, an edge of fear in his voice.
After a few rings, Neil’s voice greeted Vero. “Welcome to the voyages of the starship Neil’s phone. Our mission, to boldly record what no…”
“Voicemail.”
“Tell him to get to Gloria’s. Now.”
As Pieter rushed through a past-yellow light, Vero said into the phone, “Gloria texted us. We think she’s in trouble. Get to her place!”
Vero grabbed their masks out of the backseat as Pieter rolled through a stop sign. She put hers on and tossed the other on her boyfriend’s lap. A few blocks later, they arrived and found that white minivan in front of Gloria’s place, under the glow of a street light, parked a chasm away from the curb. Vero’s insides lurched. Had her desire for dinner just killed her friend? Gloria’s front door stood wide open.
“I’m an idiot,” Pieter said, pulling his mask on. They leaped out of the car.
In the distance, a golden glow flew through the air. She recognized the armor’s hue as Gloria’s. It soared away from them, over a row of houses. Two lights followed her.
They grabbed their weapons out of Pieter’s trunk. “Go!” he shouted.
Vero leaped onto Gloria’s single-story roof. About a block away, the three lights fell to the ground. Vero jumped across a street, her legs and arms sluggish. Her very core protested using Diotein again. She landed on another rooftop, and a thud told her that Pieter had landed beside her.
Under a shaggy mulberry tree, Gloria lay in an overgrown lawn with Dek on top of her, one hand on her neck and the other holding his mace. She wore the bunny mask, wrinkled, as though put it on in a hurry. Her staff lay just out of reach.
“How nice to see you again,” Jed said to Gloria.
Pieter leaped off the roof toward Jed and shouted, “Hey, ugly!”
Jed flipped around and swatted the sword away. “Oh, two more? Looks like you couldn’t wait your turn.”
Pieter lunged. “And stab you? I’ve been dying to for weeks now.”
Vero jumped down and aimed for Dek, who rolled to his feet. Gloria grabbed her staff and hid behind Vero.
Pieter parried a slash then sprang back to stand next to the girls. “You followed us, didn’t you?”
“Of course.”
“How’d you find us?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know that little secret?”
Vero’s phone vibrated. She held her axe in one hand and glanced at the screen. A message from Neil; she didn’t risk checking it and hoped he’d arrived at Gloria’s place.
“Tonight, I bathe in your blood,” Jed said.
“Explaining why you smell as bad as you look,” Pieter replied.
Gloria swung her staff down. The mulberry tree uprooted itself and crashed onto the two Ruachians. Voices shouted from somewhere inside the house.
“Run!” Pieter yelled.
As they leaped onto the roof, Vero said, “Neil’s here.”
“Back to Gloria’s, then,” Pieter said.
Vero jumped again, this time aiming for Gloria’s. Beneath, she saw little flames flickering in an untended barbeque. It gave her an idea.
“Nice work with the tree, Glori,” Vero said as they sailed through the air.
“Hey, I may not be good hand to hand, but don’t call me useless.”
“Yeah, I mean, have you tasted the burritos at Bueno Taco? This girl can cook,” Pieter said.
They landed on Gloria’s driveway and saw Neil standing next to his car, wearing his Batman mask and staring at his phone.
“Finally,” he said. “Where have you been? What happened?”
“Jed’s right behind us,” Pieter said. “Get ready to fight.”
Neil waved them into the car. “No, it’s an awful time to fight. We’ve been training all day. Into my car!”
“Do it,” Pieter agreed, taking shotgun.
Vero and Gloria piled in back, and Neil took off just as Jed and Dek landed behind them. The soldiers jumped again, and Vero lost sight of them.
“Disable your armors,” Neil said. “We’ve already used a lot of strength today. We have to conserve our energy. We either need to escape or make this a quick fight.”
Vero released her armor; exhaustion washed over her.
Neil slowed at an upcoming stop sign.
“Gun it!” Pieter yelled. “This isn’t driver’s ed.”
Neil blew through the intersection, barely missing a tiny electric car.
“Get us to the closest gas station,” Vero said.
“I know. I have to pee, too,” Pieter said. No one laughed.
“Just do it,” Vero said.
“Why?” Neil asked.
“Remember me in the campfire?”
Vero looked out the back window and saw Jed and Dek land half a block behind them. Jed raised his sword and paused for a moment. Vero felt some kind of energy building.
Vero turned back to Neil. “He’s about to do something.”
“Something? That’s real helpful,” Neil said. The car swerved as they turned a corner.
Behind them, the asphalt splintered and cracked. “He threw something along the ground,” she said, unsure exactly what that had happened. When she turned back to look again, the two Ruachians had vanished.
“Almost there,” Neil said, accelerating.
“Good,” Vero said. She gripped her axe.
The entire car shook as Dek landed on the hood. He raised his mace and swung it into the front fender. It dug into the guts of the engine with an ugly, screeching sound. The steady rumble of the car stopped.
“Out,” Pieter commanded.
Their armors lit up. The air shook like a huge subwoofer, and windows shattered. Vero pushed her car door open and launched herself onto the sidewalk. They stood under the streetlights of a quiet neighborhood street next to a park. Dek jumped back to Jed.
“Just a couple blocks,” Pieter said to Vero. “We’ll hold them, but get back here quick.”
Vero ran, her armor empowering her. A tall red sign with the words Trex Gas towered over a well-lit parking lot. At the sight of two cars filling up, she realized, really realized, that she planned to start a fire. She stopped, breath heavy and warm inside her mask.
The faint sound of clashing metal caught up to her. They needed her. Needed her to do something—and fast. She dashed into the lot.
“I’m gonna blow up this gas station,” Vero shouted uncertainly. “Get out of here.”
The man and woman fueling their cars stared at her. “You drunk or something?” the guy asked.
“No, quite sober,” Vero replied. She chopped a nearby trashcan into two pieces; water from the embedded squeegee bin spilled onto the ground. “Get outta here!”
Vero grabbed the pump from the guy, who jumped into his car and sped away. She turned to the lady.
“Didn’t you hear me?”
The lady, middle aged and well dressed, gave a concerned look. “Girl, I don’t know what’s going on, but if you’re in some kind of crisis…”
Vero ripped the pump away and pointed her axe at the woman. “Drive away!”
The compassion turned to fear, and the woman jumped into her car and sped out of the parking lot. Vero dropped her axe, held two gas nozzles high, and pressed the handles.
Both gave empty clicks.
She glanced at the displays in the closest pump. They should still be working from those customers. She tried the triggers again and heard the same empty clicks.
All right, some kind of safety mechanism. But she could beat it. She dropped one nozzle and pressed against the rubber piece surrounding the spout of the other, just like if it was pressed into a gas tank. That did it; it shot a stream, and the stench of gasoline filled the air.
An attendant rushed out. “What are you doing?”
“Making a fire,” Vero replied. “Better run.”
He glanced for the big red emergency shutoff button.
She picked up her axe and charged toward him. “Touch it and die!”
He glanced at the shutoff for just an instant then ran. Vero returned to the pump and covered the area with gas.
Now, how to light it? Diotein rested at her feet. Duh. She picked it up and struck the octane puddle.
A boom nearly knocked her deaf, and the explosion propelled her backward, a blinding flash consuming her vision. Glass shattered around her, and when she came to a stop, she found herself inside the station building, wedged into a row of shelves. She pushed herself to her feet, the world spinning and lurching a bit as she did. Melted chocolate dripped from her body as she stumbled out into the inferno near the pumps.
Inside the blaze, the world stopped spinning. She spread out her arms and breathed deeply. In her ears, nothing but the roar of fire. In her eyes, nothing but its towering flames. In her sinews, nothing but its raw energy. She clutched Diotein.
Vero jumped from the blaze with the ferocity of a tiger and sailed over two blocks of houses, cold air flowing around her. She looked down and noticed that the fight had moved. Soul armor lights danced in the darkness of the park. She landed on a nearby sidewalk and jumped again.
Gloria fought desperately to keep Jed at bay. Pieter stood back with one bloody hand on his stomach, sword clutched in his other. Neil lay on the ground beneath Dek, his armor off, his weapon at his side. The wildian lifted his mace.
Vero’s blade fell directly into Dek’s head and continued into his chest. She lifted her weapon and flung the twitching body off into some bushes. Dully, somewhere, her mind registered that she’d just taken a life.
“Stay away from them,” she screamed at Jed and charged.
He dodged her first swing, close enough that her blade touched the fabric of his shirt. His sword trembled as he attempted a counter. She slapped the flat of the blade away with her bare hand and kicked him in the side. He spun and tumbled into some playground equipment.
Vero advanced on him, her feet leaving spots of blackened grass. “Give up. You want to live? Take off the soul armor.”
Jed smirked. “Who said I’d surrendered?”
He crouched then leaped skyward, Vero following on his heels. As the air whipped around her, she felt that bubbling from earlier in the day, that heat like lava pouring into her axe, telling her to just flick the blade toward him.
She obeyed.
A sizzling ball of fire launched at Jed. It hit and exploded with a pop, flaming streaks falling to the ground like the trails of a spent firework.
He lost control and tumbled head over heels onto the roof of a nearby house. Vero landed hard on his chest. The roof crumpled and the two fell into the living room, Jed landing hard on a piano.
“Off of me!” Jed bellowed, swinging his sword.
She swiped it aside. She struck back and planted her blade in his shoulder. He stabbed out again, weaker. Her counter removed his arm at the elbow.
The fire inside cried for vengeance. This man had murdered its last master. She brought down the axe, again and again. Flames licked up a nearby bookshelf.
Vero stood back, the wrath of Diotein expended.
“Did you feel that?” he rasped.
“The fire?” she asked.
He turned his head to the side, as though looking at something. In the dancing yellow and orange light, he seemed to be grinning. “No, the rift. It’s open. I feel it. A breeze from Ruach. Someone steps through. They’re coming, little girl. They’re coming for your world. You picked the wrong side.” He stopped breathing, that grin frozen on his bloody face.
For a moment, Vero’s fire faltered. And she saw, really saw, what she’d done. An arm lay across the room. A leg stayed on by a flap of skin. Blood flowed from the corpse. Smoke and flames filled the room. They emboldened her, strengthened her, and kept her from falling to the ground and crying.
One final task. She felt Jed’s thigh, the place where his soul armor had glowed. She fumbled with a hot metal band. It would be quicker to remove the entire leg. The thought sickened her. She finally found a latch then slid the band off the leg, taking both it and the sword.
Vero punched open the front door and walked onto the street, axe over her shoulder, flames licking up and down her body.
12. Sooty Embrace
