“Do it and this thing will let go!” Six called back to her. “We’ll both die.”
Eleni faltered. Six knew the Mog was weighing both the likelihood of the creature letting go and the value of her own death against taking Six’s life. Six counted on Eleni’s vanity winning out over her desire for revenge.
Eleni threw the fireball out into the night, where it streamed like a meteor through the dark, slamming against the wall of a building across the street. Six breathed a little easier, but only for a moment. She still had to figure out what to do next.
She looked up, past the thing’s open mouth, to the side of the hotel. Each floor had a ledge running around it. Between the floors, the walls of the hotel had a brick-like texture. It might be possible to climb them, if she could hold on. And if she could get past the monster’s mouth.
She had no choice. She inched forward. The monster was moving its head around, twisting its neck as it felt her crawling. Six swung away from the building, then back again. She didn’t look down.
When the creature moved its head back towards the building, she jumped. She landed on a ledge. Her heels stuck out over the narrow strip of metal, and there was nothing to hold on to, so she pressed against the glass. The monster’s head swung within inches of her back, its breath hot on her skin. She heard its teeth clack together.
Slowly, she inched her way to the left, until the glass ended and the wall began. The beast’s claws were embedded in the wall above her, and she skirted the curved talons as she began to pull herself up. She didn’t dare look to see what Eleni was doing, concentrating on moving up the wall one painful step at a time.
It felt like hours passed as she rose slowly up the remaining distance to the top of the hotel, although she knew it was only minutes. Several times she had to stop as the monster’s head came within inches of knocking her off, but she kept going. She didn’t think about how high up she was, or what would happen if her broken hand refused to hang on just one more time. She only thought about taking the next step, keeping her eyes on the edge of the roof as it grew closer and closer.
Finally, she reached it. She threw one hand over the edge and started to pull herself up the final stretch. Then someone grabbed her wrist. Six looked up.
“It’s about time,” Magdalena said. “I thought you would never get here.”
CHAPTER TEN
SAM
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
NINE WAS COVERED IN WHAT LOOKED LIKE BLOOD and oil.
“It’s not mine,” he reassured Sam, who was staring at him with concern. “Well, not all of it. Turns out, those things are part machine. But only part. The other part is real bitey.”
Sam had encountered him while racing towards the Saturn Hotel. Actually, he’d had to stop because a dead grindle was blocking the street. Then Nine had appeared, climbing over the side of it, looking like the victim of a hit-and-run.
“They’re called grindles,” Sam said.
Nine turned and looked at the scaly-hided monster lying behind him. “Grindles? That’s actually kind of cute. Too bad they have such shitty attitudes.” He turned his attention back to Sam. “Also, how do you know that?”
“Magdalena told me,” Sam answered.
“Oh?” said Nine. “You two been chatting?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Well, you look like you feel better,” Nine said. “Which I assume means Nemo and Max found you.”
Sam nodded. “But then Ghost showed up and teleported me away. Like I said, long story.”
“Well, it worked on Six, too,” Nine said. “So yay for science.”
“Where is she?” Sam asked.
Nine glanced towards the Saturn Hotel, where a grindle was clinging to the side. He pointed. “I’m guessing on about the sixty-eighth floor, give or take.”
Sam followed his gaze. “We have to get up there,” he said. “Magdalena’s on the roof. And Eleni has a Legacy now.”
“That part I knew,” Nine said. “And that’s super great for everybody. But you’re going to have to handle that one on your own, at least for the moment. There’s another one of these things a couple of streets away. I should probably go kill it. Stop it? Whatever you do to something that’s part animal and part robot.”
Sam nodded. “Go.”
“I’ll get there as soon as I take care of Mr. Grindle,” Nine said.
He ran off, leaving Sam to scale the dead grindle to get to the other side. When he did, he saw the gaping wound in its side and the mechanical innards visible through the gore. He hesitated a moment, then focused on the machinery. He told it to move. When one of the grindle’s claws twitched, he jumped back, surprised. But it gave him an idea, and as he turned and ran the rest of the way to the Saturn Hotel, a plan formed in his head.
At the hotel, he slipped through the crowd of police and clueless gawkers and raced through the lobby to the elevators. As he rode up to the roof, he prepared himself for whatever he might find. He was feeling like his old self, but part of him feared that it wouldn’t last and his Legacies would falter at the worst possible moment.
When he reached the top floor, he dashed down the hallway to the exit, surrounded by the sound of an emergency alarm clanging a warning. The door to the roof was open, and when he stepped outside he found himself in the middle of a battle.
On one side were Eleni, Seamus and Spike, who had formed a ring around Six, who stood in the middle using her telekinesis to fend off their attacks. Magdalena was kneeling on the rooftop not far off, cradling one arm in the other. Sam suspected Six was somehow responsible for her wounded arm, although there was no time to wonder too much about it. Something was obviously wrong with one of Six’s arms as well. It hung limply at her side, and she was using her other one to shield herself.
Sam kept to the shadows, trying to remain unnoticed for as long as possible and maintain some element of surprise. He went for Spike first, using his telekinesis to shove the boy aside. Spike, unprepared for the attack, skidded across the roof, shouting. Before he could right himself, Sam hit him again, lifting him into the air.
Then he stopped. What was he going to do with Spike now? He couldn’t kill him. But what else could he do to take him out of the game?
He lifted Spike and slammed him into the side of the statue of Saturn. “Sorry, dude,” he said as Spike’s limp body fell to the roof, unconscious.
Next, he looked for Seamus. But Seamus had disappeared. Sam knew this was bad news, and his worry was confirmed a moment later when he found himself surrounded by a cloud of flies and bees. Unable to see, and instinctively shying away from the bees’ stings. As he was stumbling around, trying unsuccessfully to get the insects off his face, he was hit with a blast of telekinesis, and fell. He thrust his hands out, and his palms scraped against the rough surface of the roof, cutting them open and adding fresh pain to the torment of the stings.
“I’m getting so good at this,” Seamus said, his voice cutting through the hum of the insects.
Sam struck out blindly with his telekinesis. The bugs dispersed, and he saw Seamus clearly for a moment. He pushed with his mind, and Seamus faltered. But he righted himself again and resumed his own attack, so that Sam found himself once again surrounded by bees and flies.
Anger flooded him like poison from the bees’ stingers, giving him the strength to get to his feet. He still couldn’t see Seamus, but he struck out with everything he had. He heard a shout of pain, and once more the attacking insects left him alone. Seamus was picking himself up, and now he attacked, abandoning the bugs for pure telekinetic force.
Sam met him head-on, and for a moment they remained deadlocked, each pushing with equal strength. But Sam was more experienced, and Seamus’s frustration became his undoing when he attempted to summon the bees and flies again and couldn’t maintain his assault. Sam used the opening to hit Seamus with a blast that spun him around. Then he ran at him, tackling him and throwing him to the rooftop.
Seamus bucked, trying
to throw him off. Again, Sam had to decide what to do with him. Part of him felt like tossing the guy over the edge of the roof for all of the trouble he’d made for the rest of them. But he knew he couldn’t bring himself to do that. Underneath everything, Seamus was still just a kid trying to figure out who he was. Besides, Sam knew that Peter McKenna would be able to reach him with enough time and help. Or at least he liked to believe that he could.
For now, though, he needed to do something to get Seamus out of the way. As he was trying to figure out what that was, something struck him in the back of the head. Not hard enough to knock him out, but he saw stars as he rolled off Seamus and onto his back.
Magdalena stood over him, still holding one arm with the other. She had kicked him.
“Your girlfriend broke my wrist,” she said. “And I was just trying to help her up.”
“Somehow I doubt that’s all you were trying to do,” Sam said.
Magdalena stamped her foot. With her pink hair and an outfit that should be on a little girl, she looked like some kind of child playing dress-up. Sam had to remind himself that she was actually insanely dangerous. She somehow created the parasites and the grindles; who knew what else she had up her sleeve.
“Get up!” Magdalena shouted, not at Sam but at Seamus, who already was struggling to his feet.
The monster on the side of the hotel bellowed again. Sam reached out to it as he had to the dead grindle in the street. Because this one was still alive, it wasn’t quite the same as interacting with only the mechanical parts. This time, the creature’s living brain was part of the equation. He hoped that whatever control center operated the nonbiological parts could override it.
He told the monster to move. Because he couldn’t see it, he wasn’t sure if it was working. Then he heard the sound of claws piercing metal, and of glass shattering. The grindle was responding.
Hurry up, he urged as Seamus stood and prepared to attack him, the sound of buzzing insects filling the night air. Then there was another crunching sound, and Magdalena turned her head. Her expression changed to one of delight, and she clapped her hands.
Don’t get too excited, Sam thought as he sent more instructions to the beast. The grindle heaved itself over the edge of the roof, slowly pulling itself up. Sam saw that it was injured, and moving awkwardly. But it was moving, and that was all he needed.
“Tell it to attack!” Eleni shouted to Magdalena, pausing in her battle with Six long enough to move away from the grindle’s snapping jaws.
Magdalena let go of her injured arm and pulled something from the pocket of her dress. It was an ordinary phone. Sam watched her tap at the screen. Don’t tell me she’s got an app for it, he thought incredulously as he focused again on the monster, which was standing in one spot, leaning to one side and roaring.
He looked again at Magdalena’s phone. Within seconds, he had connected with it, taking over the app. He ordered the grindle to move. It took a step towards them, looking as confused as a giant creature could that its body was doing something its brain hadn’t told it to. It opened its mouth and bellowed in distress, but kept coming.
“That’s not what I told you to do!” Magdalena yelled.
The grindle ignored her. Eleni, back to fighting with Six, dodged out of the way of its claws. Seamus, watching the beast approach, seemed to forget all about controlling the flies and bees, which Sam now swatted away easily.
The grindle was growing angrier as its injured body was forced to move. It lurched to the side, falling on one shoulder as its organic muscles failed. But Sam told the hydraulic parts to take over, and they did. The monster stood again. It turned its yellow eyes on Magdalena.
To Sam’s surprise, she walked towards it, shaking her good hand angrily as she repeatedly pressed something on her phone. She was acting as if it was a dog disobeying her commands, and not some giant beast capable of tearing her to shreds with one swipe of its claws.
Now she was right underneath it, screaming at it to do as she said. She turned and pointed at Sam.
Sam told the grindle what to do. It bent down and picked Magdalena up in its mouth. She kicked and punched at it as it rose into the sky, standing up on its rear legs until it towered over everyone watching. Then it kept going, tumbling backwards over the edge of the roof. Sam closed his eyes as it disappeared, hating that he’d had to do it. But both Magdalena and her creations were too dangerous. He’d made the right choice.
When he opened his eyes again, Seamus was staring at him. But for some reason the defiant look was gone from his face and he looked frightened instead. “You did that,” he said. “You made it take her.”
Sam nodded. “I did,” he said.
Seamus turned and ran, heading for the open door to the stairways. Sam started to go after him, but stopped when Six called his name. He turned around.
“Let him go!” she shouted. “Nemo and Ghost are on the statue, and they’re hurt. Help them.”
Sam didn’t understand what she meant at first. Then he realized she meant the statue of Saturn. But he couldn’t see where Nemo and Ghost might be. His eyes scanned the enormous structure, still finding nothing.
“The ring!” Six yelled.
Now he understood. He ran over to the base of the statue and started to climb the ladder affixed to its side. Eleni threw fireballs at him, which Six pushed aside. Then he was inside the giant sphere, and all he could hear was the sounds of Six and Eleni continuing to fight. The lights inside the planet were dazzling, almost blinding as they twinkled merrily, oblivious to the battle raging around it.
He found the little door that opened to the ring and pushed himself through it. Then he inched onto the ring itself, staying on his hands and knees as he circled Saturn, looking for the girls. He found them a quarter of the way around, huddled against one another.
“Nemo!” he called.
There was no response. Sam crawled faster. When he reached them, he saw that Ghost was badly injured. Nemo’s face was swollen from what appeared to be dozens of bee stings, and she seemed unconscious. He shook her gently. To his relief, she opened her eyes.
“Hey,” Sam said.
“I killed Boomer,” Nemo said, her voice hoarse. “He was attacking us, and . . .” Her voice trailed off as she gasped, trying to draw in breath.
“Don’t talk,” Sam said.
“Ghost,” Nemo said, ignoring him. “Is she . . .”
“She’s alive,” Sam reassured her. But not for long, he thought. He had to get them out of there.
All of a sudden, the statue shuddered. Then something hit it again. Sam turned and crawled around the ring, trying to see what had happened. When he saw what it was, his heart dropped. Eleni had launched a fireball onto the base of the statue. It was melting the pole on which the model of Saturn rested. Now Six and Eleni were engaged in an exchange of punches.
Sam returned to where Nemo and Ghost were seated on the ring. As he crawled, he felt the statue shake again. Then it lurched, leaning farther out over the edge of the hotel. Sam saw Nemo and Ghost start to slide.
“Nemo!” he shouted.
Nemo stirred. When she saw what was happening, she suddenly became alert. She grabbed Ghost, holding on tightly with one hand as she gripped the edge of Saturn’s ring with her other, trying to prevent herself and Ghost from sliding off and into thin air.
The planet continued to fall, and Sam realized that there was no way he was going to get to the girls in time. Even if he did, he had no way of getting them off the statue and onto the roof. He might be able to save himself, but only if he abandoned them. And he wasn’t going to do that.
He thought fast. “Nemo, try to use your telekinesis to push the statue back towards the building,” he said.
He did the same, attempting to create a force strong enough to counteract the weight of the statue. He felt the giant sphere resist, and for a moment he thought it might work.
“Keep pushing!” he encouraged Nemo.
But the weight was too m
uch. The planet continued to fall as the pole holding it up came apart. Sam saw Nemo lose her grip. She and Ghost slid to the edge of the ring, then over it. Sam wanted to shut his eyes, but couldn’t. He could only watch as the girls, still holding on to one another, fell.
Only they didn’t. They hovered in the air, the planet looming behind them. Something was holding them suspended in place. Sam, clinging to the ring, looked to see what might be going on.
“A little help would be nice,” said Nine’s voice. “This thing is heavy.”
Sam couldn’t see him, but the voice was coming from somewhere below him. With no time to ask questions, he once more used his telekinesis to try to move the statue. And this time, it worked. Slowly, Saturn returned to an upright position. Once he was no longer in danger of falling, Sam crawled to Nemo and Ghost. Then Nine finally appeared, riding on a floating platform.
“This thing is awesome,” Nine said. “I can see why Eleni liked it.”
“We have to help Six,” Sam said. “But take these two. Then help me push this thing over.”
Nemo was able to climb onto the platform with Nine, holding the still-unconscious Ghost. Sam remained standing on the ring. “Showtime,” he said to Nine. “Give it all you’ve got.”
Nine grinned. He backed the floating platform away from the building and lifted his hands. Sam felt the planet begin to tilt the other way. He turned and faced the hotel, and as Saturn began to topple over, he ran across its surface, looking down at the roof below him. Eleni and Six were still fighting, and didn’t notice what was happening.
“Six!” Sam called.
Six looked up. She looked exhausted. But she nodded.
She sent out a telekinetic burst that knocked Eleni over, then collapsed onto her knees. The Mog looked up, saw the statue as it came down and tried to roll out of the way.
She didn’t make it. Saturn crashed into the roof of the hotel, breaking through and coming to rest half in and half out of the structure. Sam jumped, landing on the roof beside Six.
The Legacy Chronicles: Killing Giants Page 9
