by s. Behr
“Calm down. If Penelope’s own security says she’s here, then she is. This is a big tower, and she’s probably stuck in a lift, or simply lost in the crowds.” Sifting through the hundreds of people milling around the edge of the grass, it would be easy to miss her, I told myself.
“Look! There’s the rest of Kai’s team now.”
With only ten minutes until they were scheduled to start, Kai’s team finally arrived. To my great shock, the giant man and Francesca were standing next to Kai, along with four others I didn’t recognize. By the way they moved, I suspected they were the rest of the team that had been at the Ark. I wondered which twin stood across the field. I was certain it had been Kai with me watching the children grow the field, but now I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know how they would have been able to switch with this many people around, but I was beginning to believe they could pull it off if they wanted to.
Wishing I had the Ark’s magic suit to get a better look, I grimaced, knowing it was under lock and key somewhere in the palace, I turned to Lily and said, “Let me check with her brother.”
“What are you going to say? Thorns, my father is going to be so angry with me.”
“Lily, Pen is in a new place. She’s excited. She probably just wandered off, got lost, and came back on her own. Her people say she is here. You’ll see, she’ll show up,” I said, trying to remain calm.
Lily wiped her eyes and straightened her shoulders. Her courtly demeanor replaced her worried look, and she said, “You’re right. Panic won’t accomplish anything. She’s a smart girl. She’ll be here soon. I think I might just go check inside the ballroom one more time.”
I nodded, and Lily ran off. I had every faith that if anyone could find the little human, it would be Lily.
I turned toward Rall, who had just arrived along with an equally large human matching him stride for stride. “Ah, the referees have arrived!” Kai or Lance declared.
I walked across the newly grown grass to stand next to Rall as all the players gathered. Spectators moved in, too close for comfort. There was no way I could ask Rall what to do without alerting everyone, and I desperately wanted to believe Penelope was here, somewhere.
The rules were being announced for clarification to the players, and for the rest of us who were clueless. I didn’t hear a word of it. While still searching for Penelope, I leaned closer to Rall to get a better look at the captains of the teams. Siri, to my annoyance, swayed from one leg to the other, making it hard to get a clear look at whichever twin stood next to him. At some point, I realized someone had said my name, apparently several times from the looks and snickering from some of the courtly “ladies” who stood by, trying to impress whoever they were trying to impress.
“Princess Violet, would you do the honors?” Rall asked with a slight cough.
I glanced around at the faces, embarrassed at being caught not listening. “Sure?”
The large human referee handed me a coin. “Flip it in the air and call heads or tails before it hits the ground. “
“Okay.” I flipped the coin. The undetermined twin pulled his hair back into a ponytail, and I saw it was Lance. Distracted by the scar on his face, I barely managed to yell “Heads!” before the coin hit the ground.
“Amerans, your call. Choose a side.”
“We will take the south,” Siri decided.
“How does that matter?” I asked Rall.
“It’s a good choice, better wind, and it makes the human goalie have to stare into the sun.”
“Oh,” I replied as if that made it any clearer.
Lance caught the ball, balancing it on two fingers, and gave Leo a piercing stare that had the whole crowd concerned. As he stepped forward someone in the crowd yelled, “Where is she?!”
I twisted around to see Lady Yzer running toward Lily.
Oh no! I ran to Lily’s side as everyone else froze when Lady Yzer slapped Lily across the face.
“Mother!” Lance yelled. He outpaced me and reached his mother in seconds. “Where is Penelope?” she cried as her son grabbed her, forcing her to focus on his face.
“Calm down. What is wrong?” Lance asked. “What’s happened?”
Lily clutched her face, where Lady Yzer had struck her.
“I knew better than to let her go with you,” she said, pointing at Lily. “I knew she wouldn’t be safe.”
Lance shook his mother and spoke very slowly, “What are you talking about?”
She looked at her son, recognition flashing in her eyes. “Kai,” she said with care, “you said you would look after her. But when I returned from our session, I found this.” She pressed a button on her sleeve, and a video display appeared, just as Hailey had in the Ark.
A white hooded figure appeared. The robes obscured everything from gender, to age, to height. Then, a voice that sounded like a thousand voices speaking at once said, “Have you seen your daughter, Yzer? Withdraw from the Asiatic Sector Forty-Seven if you wish to see her alive. To prove our sincerity, we bestow this gift we hope your new allies will take it into consideration before the ink is dry.”
The playback disappeared, and lady Yzer looked at Lily. “The ocean queen’s daughter said she was with you.”
“She was, but–but,” Lily stammered as tears streamed down her face.
“How could you let this happen?” Lady Yzer cried, her fury now focused on me.
“How could we know someone would do something like this? Amera is peaceful. Nothing like this—” I turned as Leo interjected.
“I am the Phoenix Regent, I have the highest rank here. Your anger should be directed at me. But wasting our time on anger will not help us find her any sooner.” Leo turned and looked at Siri. They shared an unspoken conversation. Then like a discorded harmony, citizen bracelet alarms began going off all around us.
I read the alert on my wrist aloud. “My father has called a realm-wide alert.” Spinning around to face everyone staring at me, I yelled, “Everyone is to aid in finding her!”
Amerans who were gathered around dispersed by teleporting, flying or simply running and starting the search.
To Lady Yzer, I declared, “We will find her.”
Suddenly someone screamed, “The marina!”
In horrifying slow motion, three things seemed to happen all at once. A projectile hit an Hg-1 vessel that was harbored in the seaside dock. It was meant for a cruise in the bay later that evening, but instead, it exploded, pieces shooting into the air.
From Lady Yzer’s wrist, the figure reappeared. “You have one minute to comply, or that was just the beginning.”
To everyone’s horror, a small body floated hundreds of feet above the marina. It was Penelope. An unseen force held her while her head, arms, and legs dangled like a ragdoll. I couldn’t tell if she was alive or dead.
“Mother,” Lance cried. “You can’t.”
I didn’t understand what he was saying.
“I’m sorry,” Lady Yzer whispered. As soon as she pressed the button on her sleeve, the little girl dropped.
“Pen!” Lance screamed.
Just then a ripple of space opened in the air above the marina, and a blur of light the color of the sun exploded in the sky and headed straight to the limp body of Penelope. The Queen of the Angels reached the small human in a flash, caught her with a gentle grip pulled up away from the water, and headed back toward the city.
Another explosion erupted below them as if a bomb had exploded on the ocean floor. Half the ships that had been docked at the marina were blown into the air, shattered and torn. The marketplace huts dotting the shore were flattened by the ripple of the blast. Queen Catalina was knocked out of the air, as she desperately tried to hang on to the dead weight of the unconscious Penelope.
Leo’s body hovered about ten feet off the ground, his eyes concentrating on the plumes of smoke billowing in the sky.
“Siri, go!” Leo commanded, and without hesitation, his brother grabbed hold of Aspen, and they vanished.
&nbs
p; Rall barked commands into his com and disappeared into the tower.
As the explosion reached its peak, water and debris started falling back to the Earth, Queen Catalina and Penelope among them.
I heard Lady Yzer choke down a cry as she watched her daughter tumbling rapidly toward a fatal collision with the water.
At the edge of the beach, Siri reappeared with Aspen. With his hands raised in the air, everything around the Queen and Penelope fell, but their decent slowed until they seemed to almost freeze in midair.
The crowds that had gathered to watch the match now lined the edge of the terrace, watching in shock as hovers descended on the beach. Bodies dove for the water before the crafts had a chance to slow down. Empty hulls turned back to the city to gather more people and supplies.
Leo spun around, his voice booming. “Amerans! Go!” Everyone who had been watching in stunned horror, jumped into action as a group of hovers landed on the soccer field.
I twisted around searching for Lance, but his team was already boarding a hover. Before they had the chance to take off, I jumped in. “No arguments. Let’s go!” I yelled.
When the hover was full, we lifted off and headed straight for the billowing smoke.
“Who would do this?” I asked with what little breath I could pull into my lungs.
“The TSA,” Lance barked.
“Or your people,” the giant spat in reply.
“William, apologize to the princess immediately,” Lance commanded.
“Yes, Ambassador Kai,” he scoffed, turning to me. “I apologize, Princess. Old habits.”
I looked at him with wariness, but nodded. I wasn’t sure that was a real apology, but as we descended through the smoke, the havoc, and the butchery it had masked, it didn’t matter. Insults, games, and differences between our people no longer mattered. I saw them. The bodies floating lifeless in the angry waves. Even in the ash and smoke and spray of the bitter ocean, you could see that whatever their differences were, Amerans and Hg-1 had died side by side. Enemies in life, but united in death.
I stood on the beach, water washing and waning against my feet. This marina had been built in a natural cove of crystal-clear turquoise water, with secret caves and breathtaking sunrises. It had been a landmark of happiness and peace. A place where two realms met, not just a border, but a harbor for trade and community.
Now, it was the remains of tattered dreams, a waste of beauty and life. Nothing here deserved this. Not the rocks, the sand, or the water. Not people who cared for this place and appreciated it. Not even the people who we believed were once our enemies and who came here in good faith. This was evil. Vile. Unfathomable.
I couldn’t believe for the second time in a few short weeks I had this unshakable feeling of helplessness. But this time I knew why. If it wasn’t for this serum, for my parents’ choices, I could be doing something. I could be useful.
Hundreds of creatures cried out in pain from shrapnel embedded in their bodies. Every atom in me was desperate to help, to ease the suffering. To do more than be a witness to their pain. I didn’t know what my abilities were, or if they could have helped even one person. I didn’t even have the option to try, and it infuriated me.
I walked into the salty water, oblivious to anything but the tragedy around me. The chaos brought tears to my eyes. Fire and smoke filled the air, covering the scent of blood and chaos, but I was unable to drown out the sound of despair. Humans and Amerans alike cried out. Cried for help, for mercy, in anger, and some for revenge.
A spray of water filled the air as I moved toward the large mass of a young whale floating helplessly on its side, a gash cut across its smooth body. I reached out, placing my hand on its skin, just below the plate-sized eye that stared at me, begging for help.
I didn’t know how to say I was sorry; that there was nothing I could do. But I stood there anyway, running my fingers along its cold skin, hoping beyond hope that its pain would end soon.
More screams sounded when another explosion sliced through a ship farther out from shore. Suddenly, dozens of glowing balls of energy shot out of holes in the sky. They were people from the Angelian court, carrying dozens from the ocean courts that had been present, the Maie, the Orlea, the Portlanians. Like a summer storm, they rained down diving head first into the water disappearing into the depths to help those that were beyond our reach.
Others began appearing with the help of the teleporters from Ico: my parents, Leo’s parents, along with other kings and queens. The Iconian teleporters worked double duty, bringing those who survived back to the palace and bringing more healers and able-bodied people with skills to help.
“Take her back to the palace,” I heard someone command.
I turned to see my mother drenched as she knelt at the water’s edge, people carrying wounded, dying, or the dead to her. She touched each and commanded teleporters where to take them. The Royal Guard had appeared along with Ambassador Yzer and more humans from the delegation to join in the efforts.
I felt a set of hands close over my shoulders, and before I could say a word, I was already gone, back on a balcony in the palace overlooking the ocean. I turned long enough to see a pink-haired waif of a girl, and a grim look on her face as she said, “Sorry,” and vanished.
Our differences were what made us unique. Special. But in death, differences faded away, and we were all the same. Same grief, same pain. Same loss.
The rescue and relief efforts went on for hours. I stood on the balcony, chained like a prisoner would be to a stake in the center of a town square thousands of years ago. Able to see everything but allowed to do nothing.
My room had been sealed by an authorization higher than mine. I was trapped, but I knew better than to try to escape. Everyone had something more important to do than worry about me.
Everyone I knew was out there. Even Hailey was in the Archives miles away. I turned inward, trying to reach the voice that had been achingly silent. At the Ark when it first disappeared, his absence felt like a piece of me was missing, as if my right arm had been cut off and I couldn’t find it. And since I returned home, it was like yelling at a wall. Like someone on the other side could hear, but they chose to ignore me. It made me feel crazy. Crazy for trying, and crazy that I needed it back. I wasn’t sure if my mother had altered my brain while I had been unconscious after being rescued, but that thought tore me apart, and I didn’t want to think that she would. Instead, I chose to believe it was the serum, and I seethed at the poison for keeping it from me.
I stood on the balcony like a statue until the last of the smoked died away, carried off by the wind, along with the smell of iron and blood.
The sun still hovered above the horizon when I pressed the button I hardly ever dared to use before: the newsfeeds. For most of my life, that jewel on my wrist had represented Amerans’ opinion of me and my family. The reported stories about my parents’ accomplishments and my insignificance.
Now, they all replayed the horror and tragedy that had unraveled the very fabric of peace that was once Heart’s Cove. In the dying light of day, my bracelet projected a holographic screen, and the face of Amera’s most popular reporter appeared.
“This is Crest Ryans still with you live at the scene of today’s tragic events.” The view panned away from the somber face of the reporter. My heart leapt to my throat as the chaos came into focus.
The camera projected an overall wide shot of the beach from the marina out to the edges of the harbor. The usual deep blue-green of the water was dotted with colors that belonged to the injured, the dying, the destroyed.
Tears spilled down my cheeks as I saw the remnants of huts, boats, and sea life floating between the splashes of rescuers still appearing above the water. Angelians caught transporters in midair, and as soon as they located their next target, they were lowered enough to catch an arm or leg and vanish with the next victim.
“I have been informed that nearly all the survivors have been found. The teams are making their sixt
eenth sweep across the perimeter grid.” Crest’s voice was uncharacteristically wobbly as he continued to report on the rescue. The shot zoomed into darkened pools of brownish water, and bile rose up from my stomach as I crumpled to the ground and wretched.
My eyes closed, but I could still see the transporter pull up half a torso. I switched to another feed, unable to bear the sight of more body parts being pulled from the water.
The commentator, Willow Dane’s voice caught my attention. “Here are scenes of the shocking attack on the sleepy border town of Heart’s Cove. Dozens of boats were in the harbor when the bombs went off. The toll of lives lost has not been released, but as we can see from this footage taken from the weather cams, it will be a long night ahead of us to account for all the missing. This is a replay of our earlier transmission as it happened. Stay with us for the update after the rebroadcast of today’s tragedy.”
The screen dimmed, and the weather cam showed the little village with dozens upon dozens of shoppers searching for dinner or trinkets being sold in the market place. By their fashions alone, you could see the diversity of the people. A group of humans were admiring the sparkling stones in bracelets, necklaces, and rings at Colin’s jewelry hut.
“Raya! Colin!” I couldn’t see them, but I was certain they were there. All the smiling faces of the shoppers chatting happily, completely unaware of what was coming.
I continued to watch the feed. The boat had been docked close to shore at the center pier as it was loaded with food and drinks for the sunset cruise. As several people pushed carts of delicacies down the wooden planks, I saw the projectile barreling toward the boat, exploding on contact. Thousands of pieces flew in every direction as the little human dangled high above the water.
The cameras mounted along the shores were engineered to resist hurricanes, and while the shockwave flattened everything else in its wake, the camera shook wildly, making me dizzy. The feed switched to another camera farther away and showed the explosion again.
