Firebrand

by Antony John

  Were we measuring his life in hours or days?

  I’d promised to keep Griffin safe. We’d left Roanoke so that he might live normally, away from the pirates who’d risked everything to capture him. In the end I’d sacrificed him to Chief instead. Everyone else might have believed in a solution, but all I could see was a boy in pain, flesh scarred, body infected with the Plague.

  “I’ll look after him,” said Nyla.

  I hadn’t heard her enter. She looked so well, it was impossible to believe she might be sick too. “How do you feel?” I asked her.

  “Scared.” She padded across the floor and knelt beside Griffin, watching him. Looking back, it was impossible not to wonder if she’d used their friendship as a way to learn about us, to find our weaknesses. But the way she gazed at him now was genuinely caring. She was as scared for him as for herself.

  “I’m so sorry, Nyla. I wish there was something we could do.”

  “You rescued us from Sumter. That’s enough.”

  I touched the wound on my stomach. Another scar to add to the collection. “So I found out about Jerren’s element. What’s yours?”

  She didn’t look up. “I don’t think I have one. Jerren started twisting sound when he was young. Mom and Dad warned him to keep it a secret, so he did it in private. Then one day, he saw a bunch of guys hurting Mom. He didn’t even think about what he was doing. He just turned sound on them until they knew something was wrong. It distracted them long enough for Mom to escape, but when they worked out it was Jerren doing that, they went after him. Dad threw some stuff on a sailboat and we all took off. He said it was better to die together than to sacrifice a child.”

  “Did a clan ship really rescue you?”

  “Yeah. It’s incredible, but true. After that, Mom was convinced that we were destined to go to Sumter. That it was meant to be.”

  The door creaked open and Jerren joined us. “I heard voices,” he said. Leaning closer to me, he added, “You look terrible.”

  “Unlike you,” I replied, admiring his sling.

  “Flesh wound, fortunately.”

  “We’ll both have scars.”

  He shrugged. “Alice likes them, right? Could work in my favor.” He glanced at his sister, and peered around the door to make sure that we weren’t being overheard. “Is Griffin really the solution?” he whispered. “Back in that room, they were ready to risk everything on him surviving the Plague.”

  I had no answer for that.

  “I mean, I hated Chief for what he did to my family, but he was still the smartest man I ever met. The most cautious too. I can’t believe he’d have risked everything unless he knew somehow.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  Jerren closed the door and sat with his back to it, blocking anyone from joining us. “Look, there’s something I need to tell you. Alice says . . . you need to know.” He gave a frustrated sigh. “You know that Dare came here about a month ago. Not a surprise, really—he stopped off every year to trade food and materials and news. But this time was different.”

  “How?”

  “Well, we’ve always known the pirates had an island base in the Atlantic Ocean. Kell reckons some of them are married. But this was the first time Dare brought a woman with him. Just one. And she was . . . strange.” He clasped his hands together. “The men all stayed away from her, like they were frightened. At first, I figured she must be Dare’s wife because she was about the same age. But the way they acted around each other . . . no way they’re married.”

  “But you don’t know for sure.”

  Still seated, Jerren shuffled forward. “One night, she came to see Nyla and me. It wasn’t an accident, either. She wanted us to be alone. She started asking us questions: Where were we from? How did we get to Sumter? What were our elements?”

  My pulse quickened. “You must have done something.”

  “No way. Nothing. She just . . . knew. And so we told her everything. We didn’t even care if she passed it on to Chief, because we’d given up ever escaping. But when we were finished, she told us to be ready, that help was coming. She told us we weren’t alone.” He took a deep breath. “After Dare left, everyone was talking about the woman. Kell told me he’d seen her before, years ago. Back then, Dare had called her the solution.”

  I struggled to keep my voice even. “How long ago did Kell see her?”

  “About thirteen years, he said.”

  “Did the woman touch you?”

  He nodded. “She held our hands almost the whole time. It was weird at first, but also kind of nice. Our mother used to do it. Maybe that’s why we let her. She stared at us too, like she was looking right inside us. And even though I’d given up hope, I knew everything she said was the truth.” He shrugged. “It was a miracle. I really believe that.”

  Yes, it was a miracle. A seer around Dare’s age, mistaken for the solution and brought to Sumter thirteen years ago. What had Kell told us? It was simple math to work out that Griffin was the solution.

  The woman had to be my mother. But she’d died the morning after Griffin was born. Murdered by her own brother, Dare.

  That’s what my father had told us, anyway.

  Another memory returned then: of standing on a water tower on Roanoke Island, watching the pirates disembark in groups. I’d hoped that they would lead our families off the ship too, but Dare had kept them locked up on board. There hadn’t been any women among the crew, I was sure of that. I’d have noticed straightaway.

  Or would I?

  The pirates had lowered a large wooden box into a cutter that day. They’d done it gently too, reverently, as if there were something or someone important inside.

  Someone like Dare’s sister.

  “Are you all right, Thomas?” Nyla’s voice was full of concern.

  No, I wasn’t all right. The day I’d seen the wooden box, I’d described it to Tessa. Had she foreseen who was inside? Is that why she chose to stay on Roanoke Island?

  My head spun. I was so tired, and the hope I’d felt at hearing Jerren’s words already felt like old news. The only thing I knew for certain was that I’d had a chance to kill Dare, and I’d left him behind instead.

  I made a vow then: No matter what happened in the future, if Dare was alive, I would find him. And I’d make him pay for everything he’d done.

  EPILOGUE

  Alice brought a couple water canisters for us to share. Jerren took a sip from the first and tried to hand it to Nyla, but she wouldn’t take it. “You should share with Thomas,” she said.

  “I’m not going to get Plague from a water bottle, Nyla.” As soon as he’d said it, Jerren frowned. He passed the canister to me without another word.

  Alice remained standing beside the door. “I’ve been thinking about Dare. All that time on this ship, and he never showed himself.”

  “Are you afraid he’s on this ship right now?” I asked.

  She snorted. “Not a chance. I’ve checked every part of that secret compartment. He’s not on board. But still—”

  She broke off as footsteps pounded along the corridor. Ananias pushed the door open, hitting her. “You should come upstairs,” he said.

  Alice rubbed her back. “Now?”

  “Yes.”

  I pulled myself up and followed Ananias. Cloaked in darkness, the corridor still felt horribly familiar. Even smelled familiar. I was relieved to climb the steps and emerge into a fresh breeze and the first faint glow of dawn.

  Tarn stood at the wheel. She stared straight ahead, so focused that I assumed she hadn’t seen us. The massive sails had been lowered and the ship sliced a clear path through calm sea.

  My father was on deck too. Even Dennis and his mother. But they weren’t moving at all. They stood at the stern rail, staring at the ship’s wake.

  Or rather, the ocean behind it.

&
nbsp; I sloped across the deck toward them, drawn there by the vessel trailing us by a mile. It was the ship from Sumter, its massive sails unfurled to take advantage of every breath of wind.

  Ananias followed me. “It’s smaller than this ship,” he said. “Sleeker. Faster.”

  When I reached my father, I half expected him to hug me again. Instead he handed me a pair of binoculars.

  I didn’t raise them to my eyes at first. I was still struggling to make sense of everything that had happened. I wanted just one morning when we could all talk, open up, become a colony again.

  It would have to wait.

  I adjusted the focus on the binoculars and studied the ship. A group of five men stood at the bow. Each man held a gun.

  “Looks like they’ve found something worthy of their ammunition after all,” Alice said. “And this time there’s no Chief to tell them to save their bullets.”

  Beside me, Ananias huffed. “We can beat them. You said it: There’s no Chief anymore. No Kell, either. That’s a reconnaissance ship. Limited range. They can’t track us forever. They probably don’t even know these waters.”

  There was a murmur of agreement from the others. It was the closest we’d come to sounding like a team in days.

  But they weren’t seeing what I was seeing.

  A taller man stepped through the line of guns and took up position at the tip of the bow. He didn’t have a telescope anymore, so there was no way he could have known I was watching him. But he seemed to be watching me all the same.

  Dare raised one colored arm and gave a defiant wave.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

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  Sincere thanks to:

  The entire Dial team: my brilliant and inspiring editor, Liz Waniewski; also Regina Castillo, Jasmin Rubero, Heather Alexander, Lauri Hornik, Kathy Dawson, and Scottie Bowditch.

  The park rangers at Fort Sumter—Nate Johnson, Michelle Welker, Olivia Williams, Tommie Williams—for granting me an extended stay, and answering hundreds of the most bizarre questions any visitor has asked. Also the rangers at Fort Moultrie, who were subjected to similar interrogation, and never blinked.

  My father- and mother-in-law, Charles and Sandy Odom, who hosted me while I conducted research in South Carolina. And my Charleston insiders, Peggy Mitchem and Mark Hales, who guided me through the city’s lesser-known military installations and explained harbor fishing.

  St. Louis Public Library and St. Louis County Library, especially the teen librarians. Also the booksellers, teachers, bloggers, and readers who got behind Elemental and gave it so much love.

  My trusted beta readers: Audrey, Clare, and Christina Ahn Hickey.

  Tony Sahara, for the awe-inspiring cover. And Steve Stankiewicz, for the beautiful map.

  And my agent, Ted Malawer, a constant source of support and encouragement.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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  Antony John (www.antonyjohn.net) is the award-winning author of Five Flavors of Dumb and Thou Shalt Not Road Trip. In this sequel to Elemental, the action moves to South Carolina, where he briefly lived. During one memorable trip he visited Charleston Harbor and historical Fort Sumter, the site of the first battle of the Civil War. Fort Sumter is an eerie and awe-inspiring place, isolated and impenetrable, designed to be self-sufficient even during a siege. He couldn’t help wondering: What if the attackers weren’t humans, but rats? Antony now lives with his family in St. Louis, Missouri.