End of the Line

by N. D. Roberts

  Sarah Jennifer squeezed her eyes closed to halt the fresh tears that formed there. “She was short-tempered and always had something to say when people were behaving like dumbasses. She always had time to talk, always offered comfort and tea when the magnitude of the task ahead got too much. She never once put up with my bullheaded stubbornness. She pushed me to be the best version of myself, to be the leader we needed to get us through the Madness. Well, the Madness is over, and Esme is gone, but I will never, ever forget the impact she had on my life. On everyone’s lives. This whole world owes its future to her sacrifice.”

  She stepped down and went to sit with Ezekiel for the rest of the eulogies. One by one, people shared their stories about Esme. At some point, Ezekiel put his hand in hers and leaned his head on her shoulder, his tears flowing freely.

  At last, it was his turn to speak.

  He got up and walked to the front, head bowed, and faced the crowd. He said nothing for a long moment, listening to Lilith’s voice in his mind.

  His hands opened and clenched as he processed the Kurtherian's grief along with his own.

  Then, he spoke.

  “Esme was the first to say that the gifts we have are magic. She taught me how to apply what I learned from Lilith to the real world. I was a child when I was brought here. I was afraid, and I had lost my parents to the Madness. She was warmth. She was stability. She was the voice of reason whenever I was worked up about anything.

  “We stood together on the battlefield, and she put everyone on the Earth ahead of herself. She… She died doing what she knew was right. She didn’t back down. She didn’t surrender even though she knew the price for holding back the Skrima. For holding back that bitch Laughter.”

  He looked down. “I failed her. I failed everyone every time I allowed fear to make my judgments for me. I avoided the responsibility I have always known was mine, and now Esme is dead.”

  Sarah Jennifer shook her head to deny his words, but Ezekiel knew what he had said was the truth. He lifted his chin, his tears still coming even through the resolution he felt hardening inside his soul. “I will never fail in my duty to humanity again. I will take the road fate has decided for me and bring magic to the world. Esme always supported my dream of teaching people how to access the gifts the Matriarch gave humanity. Until this moment, I have been selfish, whining like a child because what I wanted didn’t fit with what the Defense Force was doing. No more. I will go back to Europe and begin the work I know is needed to take humanity into an age of magic.”

  He turned to face the darkened doorway, his next words for Esme alone. “I swear, I will not let your sacrifice be for nothing.”

  He faced Sarah Jennifer. “I’m not going to blame you for leaving anymore. You have given enough. It’s my turn to take the mantle now. I’m ready.”

  He stepped down and walked out of the cemetery.

  The departure from Salem was subdued, no one wanting to acknowledge that Esme’s passing had marked the end of an era and it would soon be time for the Weres to leave Earth for good.

  As the Enora set off under an unnaturally red sky, Sarah Jennifer wanted nothing more than to close herself off in her cabin and avoid discussing next steps with everyone aboard, but she knew she couldn’t.

  She walked into the crew lounge and nodded at Ezekiel, Olaf, Amelie, Reika, Brittvi, Linda, and Adrien before taking a seat at the head of the table that took up most of the space in the cabin.

  Theor remained standing as Caitlin, Mary-Anne, and Kain squeezed in.

  Sarah Jennifer waited for everyone to get comfortable before beginning the meeting. Esme would have made some comment that broke the ice, but that wasn’t her style, and she felt the absence of her friend keenly. She suppressed her emotions and turned her head to look at Ezekiel. “What are your plans?”

  Ezekiel had his hands folded on the table in front of him. “To do what I always said I would. I’m going to build schools where people can come to learn about their magic.”

  “Where?” Sarah Jennifer asked. “How, with what resources?”

  “We can help,” Linda put in. “We have the whole valley to build in. More space than we need, really.”

  The town of Bad Salzig had been lost to rising sea levels, and the people had relocated to what had formerly been the Rhine Gorge some four or five years previously, expanding the town the Defense Force had evacuated during the Madness.

  Adrien looked like he was going to argue her offer.

  “Problem, Adrien?” Sarah Jennifer asked.

  “No,” he replied after a long pause. “Not exactly.”

  Sarah Jennifer had little patience for the man. “If there is a problem, air it now, before we divert resources for this project.”

  He lifted a shoulder. “I have to think of our people—”

  “Linda’s people,” Sarah Jennifer corrected.

  “Linda’s people, then,” he modified sourly. “How will they be affected by floods of new magic users descending on our home?”

  “I should think they will be glad to be a center for the marvelous future ahead,” Reika commented, giving him a suspicious look.

  Linda put her hand over Adrien’s. “I think what Adrien means is that we need to make sure we are prepared for a population surge.”

  Sarah Jennifer kept her counsel, knowing that had not been the slimeball’s meaning.

  Ezekiel seemed blind to Adrien’s personality. He leaned forward. “What is needed is a city. We only need enough people with physical magic to raise it from the ground, and the rest will follow. Reika, I know you have the mage-power. Are you willing to help?”

  The Thane considered his request. “I am, on the condition my people will be guaranteed places at this school of magic.”

  Linda stuck out her hand. “Done.”

  Reika shook the proffered hand. “Very well, Chancellor. I will prepare my people to travel on my return to Agatha’s Mountain.”

  “I have to return to my post at New Romanov,” Olaf told them, “but I will send any warriors who wish to broaden their horizons to this new city to provide protection for the people living there. The Rhine Valley is close to the former Danelands. There are still many who see conquest as a valid route to personal glory.”

  Amelie nodded. “Agreed. I will provide safe passage to those crossing the seas to reach this new city.” She smiled at Ezekiel. “I also have a desire to pass on my knowledge.”

  Ezekiel nodded enthusiastically. “We will need teachers for all types of magic.”

  Sarah Jennifer listened to them all with half her mind on Mars. “Could be you’ll get some magic users who want to move on from Salem once I’ve fully withdrawn the Defense Force. Failing that, there’s always the option of searching out new forms of magic as they develop.”

  Caitlin cut in, “Is that what’s going to happen? People are just going to wake up one day and find they can suddenly pull fire from thin air or move mountains?”

  Sarah Jennifer chuckled. “Maybe not mountains. Not right away, at least.”

  “No one has explained to us how we got from vampires and Weres to magic in everyone,” Kain stated in confusion. “I mean, I have a rough idea about nanocytes and Kurtherians using the planet like their own personal petri dish, but how does everything you’ve done translate for Ma and me? Is Caitlin going to get magic?”

  “How long will the BYPS be up for?” Mary-Anne added. “Or more accurately, how long until you take the Weres away and leave people to fend for themselves?”

  “One question at a time,” Sarah Jennifer told them. “Caitlin is already enhanced. That’s clear to me, even if you two can’t see it. Not everyone with nanocytes was a vampire or a Were. There were always people like my grandfather who were a little stronger, a little faster and harder to hurt. I don’t know how the saturation will affect Mary-Anne. I’m guessing since her nanocytes come from Michael, however indirectly, she will retain her vampiric abilities. Same for you, Kain. The Pod-doc fixed your nanocytes so
they can’t be affected by the Affliction. Even the Madness didn’t take you completely when you were infected.”

  She paused. “I’m hoping that the three of you—and Jaxon—will decide to come with us when we leave.”

  Caitlin blanched. “I can’t leave Earth. I have family I want to get back to.”

  “Where Caitlin goes, I go too,” Mary-Anne declared.

  Only Kain was silent.

  Caitlin turned to look at him. “You’re going to leave us, aren’t you?”

  Kain closed his eyes and sighed. “I don’t know. I need time to decide what’s right.”

  Mary-Anne put her arm around Caitlin. “Whatever you decide, we will understand.”

  Caitlin shrugged her off, her face reddening. “What? No, we won’t! Kain, what about everything we’ve been through together? Doesn’t that count for anything?”

  Kain’s gaze was on Sarah Jennifer. He tore his eyes away from her to look at Caitlin. “It counts for everything. I’m torn right now.”

  “The heart wants what it wants.” Olaf smiled softly. “And the pack bond is not something a Were can cast off so easily. You are a wolf with two packs, it seems to me.”

  Kain nodded. “That about sums it up.”

  Sarah Jennifer didn’t voice the dual discomfort and relief she felt at her deep-seated knowledge that Kain was going to choose to leave with her. She saw it in his eyes, and she knew he saw in hers what she was feeling.

  “Let’s just focus on what’s in front of us right now,” she told the group. “The BYPS will be up for another four months. Ezekiel’s plan is solid, but it’s going to take some work on everyone’s part to make it a reality.”

  “We have the benefit of experience,” Theor added. “I can get with Izzy and arrange for everyone who isn’t needed elsewhere to be deployed to Germany.”

  Sarah Jennifer nodded. “That’s a start. We’ll need more than magic to raise this city. We can expedite the planning stage. You’re right, we have the experience, and we’re not going to face any of the problems the Mars team has had to overcome.”

  Linda clapped her hands, a wide smile lighting her features. “This will be fun! Hard work, but fun!” She glanced at Ezekiel. “A new city needs a name.”

  Ezekiel tilted his head. “What do you suggest?”

  “There’s only one name for the city, silly. You already know it.” Linda beamed as Ezekiel’s eyes misted over.

  “Arcadia.”

  Germany, Rhine Gorge

  Within four weeks, the sleepy gorge had become a hive of activity as the Defense Force, Reika’s mages, and the warriors Olaf had sent arrived in fits and starts around the initial clearing of the city’s foundations.

  Even pre-WWDE, the area had been mostly given to agricultural use. After more than two hundred years of nature reclaiming the land, the forest had encroached on most of the territory outside the valley. However, the valley itself had housed people continuously, making it the perfect place to raise the shining city of Ezekiel’s and Linda’s childhood dreams.

  Sarah Jennifer relished the opportunity to bury herself in physical labor while she worked through what life looked like without Esme.

  She spent the majority of her time with Ezekiel, the two of them heading up training in the magical efforts involved in raising the city from the valley floor.

  Bethany Anne’s original plan had been to have the changes take effect over a number of generations. However, the calculations made by Esme, Lilith, and Enora had taken into account the likelihood of another corruption occurring before humanity evolved the abilities the Queen intended, and the BYPS could not remain activated indefinitely.

  As a result of the modified enhancement process, which relied on the will and need of the individual, many of the residents of the old town were already developing the beginnings of magic. Ezekiel had split them into two groups. In the first, he’d placed anyone showing physical types of magic such as telekinesis and the manipulation of the elements, and in the other, he’d placed the people who styled themselves in the mold of the ancient Druids of Celtic and Germanic lore.

  The first two hours of the day were spent in the open fields outside the city walls, teaching the people how to access and control their nascent abilities.

  Linda joined them in the mornings, working with those whose skills leaned toward working with rock, while Sarah Jennifer worked with the nature magic adepts who had expanded their connection to the land. Ezekiel darted between the groups, his acceptance of himself and his role giving him more control of his abilities than he’d ever had before.

  Training ended with the midday meal, then everyone shifted their focus to the construction of Arcadia until the sun set. At the end of the day, everyone came together to eat and make plans for the next day under the red-rippling sky.

  The arrival of the Defense Force brought engineers, who quickly got to work teaching the basics to the mechanically minded.

  Slowly but surely, the city took shape as winter passed into early spring and the temperature began to rise. Grand buildings were raised in the citadel to provide centers of learning, commerce, and leadership. These presided over the residential quarters that spread out to the city walls, the houses of the inner-city boulevards separated by market squares and quaint rows of storefronts set aside for people who wished to start businesses of their own.

  Farther out, there were larger houses planned for the next stage of expansion, when the need to stay close to the citadel was less of an issue for the citizens and people were able to focus on growing their families instead of working to survive.

  Six weeks into the build, Sarah Jennifer was down in the belly of the magic school, working on the conundrum of how to provide a magical solution to the city’s power requirements, when she heard a familiar voice filtering down from above.

  “Make sure no one followed us,” Adrien told someone. “I don’t want this getting back to Major Busybody.”

  Sarah Jennifer realized she was hearing his voice from the air vent high on the wall above the table she was sitting at.

  “We are alone,” a feminine voice replied.

  Sarah Jennifer’s lip curled. What Linda saw in him, she couldn’t figure out.

  “Good,” Adrien told the woman, whose soft reply was lost before it made it down the air duct to Sarah Jennifer. “Tell me what you found in the mountains.”

  Sarah Jennifer strained to hear, realizing her initial assessment of Adrien being a cheating sonofabitch was wrong and the woman must actually be a spy.

  “They live in the mountains a few days’ walk from here.”

  “And their abilities?” Adrien pressed, his sharp voice carrying clearly. “Do they pose any threat to us?”

  “…made me see things that weren’t there…”

  Mind magic? Sarah Jennifer hadn’t heard of anyone with that ability besides Esme.

  The reminder stung her, and she missed what Adrien said next. Admonishing herself, she downed tools and climbed onto the table to press her ear to the air vent.

  “They must be dealt with before Ezekiel finds out about them,” Adrien snarled.

  “Must they?” the mystery woman asked. “Or could this be the perfect opportunity to get him out of the city?”

  There was a long pause, and Sarah Jennifer wondered if they had left whatever room they were hiding in. Then Adrien spoke again.

  “That isn’t the worst idea. Linda is much more…malleable without that twerp around to fill her head with ideas about justice and equality for all. Good work.”

  “Good work deserves a just reward,” the woman purred. “What say you and I—”

  Her suggestion was cut off by Adrien’s voice. “Don’t embarrass yourself. Linda is going to be my wife. Nothing will get in the way of that, not even one as…charming as you.”

  Sarah Jennifer had heard enough. She leapt lightly off the table and landed noiselessly on the naked stone.

  The news of a community developing mind magic was huge. Adr
ien might well want to remove the threat he perceived from the mind mages, but it would be a cold day in Hell before she let him get his way.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Ezekiel and Caitlin worked side by side to clear the plant life while Kain and Mary-Anne dug ditches for Arcadia’s graywater runoff.

  Caitlin was showing promise with nature magic. Tree roots pulled back at her direction, leaving a channel for the Were and the vampire to dig.

  “How much farther do we have to go?” she asked.

  Ezekiel released the boulder he was moving out of the loose earth, the bubble of magic dissipating as he lifted a hand to shade his eyes. “Maybe another half-mile?”

  Caitlin smiled. “I could get used to magic taking the challenges out of projects like this.” She sat back on the bank as Kain and Mary-Anne moved in with their shovels.

  “Speak for yourself,” Kain told her with a laugh. “Some of us like getting our hands dirty.”

  “Makes you feel all strong and manly, right?” Mary-Anne teased.

  Kain grinned. “Damn straight. A Were's gotta work his energy out somehow.”

  Caitlin arched an eyebrow. “Well, you don’t seem to be getting anywhere with the major.”

  “Hey!” Ezekiel scowled at her without malice. “Sarah Jennifer has been through a lot.”

  “That means she needs to keep rejecting my boy?” Caitlin inquired.

  “No one is rejecting anyone,” Kain cut in. “It’s just not the right time for either of us.”

  “Oooh,” Caitlin teased. “So you have been talking?”

  Kain lifted a shoulder. “A gentleman doesn’t tell.”

  Mary-Anne leaned on her shovel, her eyes dancing with mirth. “Good thing you’re not a gentleman, then. Spill!”

  “Not happening,” Kain stated. He grinned as the ladies booed him. Caitlin was softening to the idea that he wouldn’t be returning to Canada with them. He was almost ready to voice his decision.