Before the Raging Lion

by Everly Frost

  When we’d arrived, I had no way of knowing where we were. Now I knew—we were under the river.

  The cavern had to be a tunnel, built under the river itself. The many layers of rock and water above us would obscure this place from any aerial or heat signature search and its location would make it so unlikely that nobody would think to look.

  My brother Quake had said that if Seversand were ever to attack Evereach, they would use their Devourer machines to chew through the rock beneath Evereach and invade from beneath the ground. He didn’t say whether Seversand had attempted to do just that during the world war hundreds of years ago, but I suspected that’s where I was standing right now.

  I was in a war tunnel.

  Alexander was Seversandian—I’d learned that from Michael’s mom. I wasn’t entirely sure when he’d left his home country, but he could have known about the tunnel for years before deciding to use it.

  I paused, turning back to Alexander. Although he squinted, he seemed determined not to take his eyes off me.

  I said, “I will be your angel of death. But I’ll do it my way. I won’t kill them one at a time. That would be cruel. They’ll die all at once.”

  I needed to split myself into many shadows—enough so that my message could reach each of the children at the same time. That way, I could coordinate their responses. But I’d never split into more than three shadows and that wasn’t enough to communicate directly with twenty children.

  I took a deep breath as I reached them. Before now, they hadn’t even looked up, but now their eyes were open wide, the reflections in their eyes dancing with flames. Their heartbeats were slow and fragile. They had no energy for fear.

  One, two, three of my shadows peeled away from my body. I pictured myself stepping beyond what I thought possible, forcing myself thin. Two more of my shadows appeared. But that only made five. I still needed more…

  Breathing heavily, trying to hold in the explosive force inside me, I attempted to release more of myself, to believe in the impossible, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t do it.

  And then I realized: the flame creatures above me had maintained their forms—strong powerful lights—which meant they were part of me too: a different kind of shadow.

  The dragon roared from the ceiling, the tiger growled, and the horse stamped its hooves. The bird took flight, guiding the other flame creatures down to the waiting children. Shadows and flames curled around them. I hoped it would be enough.

  For myself, I approached the center two children—a boy and a girl. The little boy whimpered, but neither of them struggled. With my heart in my throat, I leaned into them, building warmth and energy into my hands.

  Nearby, Michael’s father had sunk to the dirty floor, resting his head in his hands. Aaron still held Sarah where she couldn’t see, but he wasn’t looking at me either. He stroked her hair and with my strong hearing, I heard him whisper to her that everything was going to be okay.

  I wrapped my arms around the two children. I bent between them to kiss their cheeks. They were so small, as bony and fragile as tiny, flightless birds.

  As my lips touched the skin in front of their ears, one after the other, I matched my heartbeat to theirs and breathed words so quiet only they could hear.

  “Listen.”

  Their eyes met mine and I suddenly knew how Pip’s power felt—his ability to know what others were thinking and feeling. Rift had said I had all of the powers, that I reflected all of my mortal brothers. I’d never tried to copy Pip’s power before—his power of empathy. But now I needed it.

  I sought out all the young minds around me, counting them to make sure that my shadows and my flame creatures had connected with them. Some of the children scratched their ears. One of the boys tipped his head, staring at the flame dragon whose tail curled around his legs. It didn’t burn him, casting only light over his body.

  I waited for the flame creatures to crackle and hiss to mask the sound of my words.

  “Swim when I tell you.”

  Those were the only words I could risk. I waited a brief moment, sensing that my shadows and the flame creatures repeated my words in two batches after I spoke them, while the others took turns crackling to mask the words.

  I clung to my control over the flames and shadows. It was too much, holding them all together, and the chances of being overheard were high.

  I had to end this fast.

  I made a show of placing one hand on each of the children’s hearts and pausing there.

  Then I cried out. “Now die!”

  Every child dropped, crumpling to the dusty cavern floor.

  The weight of the children in front of me shifted, but I held them as easily as the birds they resembled. As they fell, I brushed their chains between my palms, crushing the metal and releasing them from their shackles. I pretended to catch them, lowering them to the ground side by side, positioning them over the remaining parts of the chains to hide the broken shackles.

  As I stepped away from them, I was aware of everything around me. My shadows and flame creatures had copied me. All of the children lay on the ground, their broken chains concealed beneath them. The heartbeats of the guards watching me raced, especially Alexander’s.

  My shadows snapped back to me, but the flame creatures floated toward the pool of water so that the guards stepped back and away from them. Satisfied that there was now an opening between the children and the water, I returned to Alexander.

  The flame bird’s wings puffed my hair as I walked toward him, a smile on my face. “I did what you wanted.”

  Against the wall, Sarah sobbed. Her paralyzed body gave way to muffled screams and there was nothing Aaron could do to shush her. Even he looked at me as if I’d just become what he thought I was: a murderer. He’d told me on the mountains of Starsgard that I was dangerous.

  He was right.

  “You are an angel,” Alexander said, awe washing over his face. “My angel. All mine.”

  The glow around me heightened. I opened my arms. “Will you not embrace me?”

  The power waited for me to unleash it. My flame creatures waited to release their fury. The children waited, their heartbeats flickering with hope.

  Calm. Be calm.

  Alexander hesitated only for a moment. “My daughter. My most special of children. You’re welcome in my arms.”

  I stepped into his embrace, reaching out, calm, as I pressed my palm to his heart. I smiled.

  His heart glow was like nothing I’d ever seen before. My own bright light had surrounded me until now, but focusing on his heart glow was painful. So much more painful than looking at Michael’s ever was.

  Alexander’s was bursting bright. Too bright.

  Not for long.

  I would end him, and Olander would be next. And then I would find all the other cells and release every prisoner. I covered his heart glow with my palm, blocking it out, firm in my resolution.

  In the next heartbeat, I unleashed everything I had.

  Energy burst through my hand into his chest. It surged from me to him so fast that the air charged around us and cracked like lightning.

  But it wasn’t like when I’d touched Cheyne and stopped his regeneration. His breathing had stopped. He’d dropped to the ground straight away.

  Alexander barely moved.

  There was a block. A wall. It was like thumping bricks. My energy slammed into him and … stopped.

  Confusion roared through me. I’d shot so much energy into him it should have stopped his heart in an instant. But still he stood tall in front of me, alert, alive.

  His smile turned cruel.

  He laughed. “You can’t kill me. Nothing can.”

  Chapter Seven

  Josh, 1 year ago, the day of Implosion

  THE MESSAGE ON my phone changes everything.

  I lurch out of bed, the device clutched in my sweaty fingers. “No, no, no. This can’t be happening.”

  I read it again in case I’m in a nightmare.
>
  Aaron’s text reads: They’re coming for her this morning.

  Alexander’s plan has changed. He was supposed to snatch Ava at the Implosion ceremony tonight, but he’s coming for her now. This isn’t what I’ve planned for. I have it all set up to get us both out tonight. Mr. Bradley has Starsgard on standby to receive Ava, me, and our parents into safety. He’s given me the codes to get us through the Terminal, through the secret tunnels, and out to the river where there’s a transporter waiting.

  If Alexander takes Ava this morning, I’ll never get her out. I already gave everything I had—played all my cards—to secure Arachne’s release and I’ve got nothing left to bargain with…

  I try to calm my wild thoughts.

  I text back to Aaron: Tell him to wait. Tell him…

  I have nothing Alexander wants. He already knows he can’t make a weapon from me. He already has my nectar ampule—not that it’s much good to him. He’s desperate for a raw sample…

  A raw sample.

  My mind spins to my last stash of nectar on the roof, to a single vial of raw nectar. I was saving it for the journey north to Starsgard’s border, but it won’t do me much good if I can’t get Ava out in the first place.

  My fingers fly over my phone.

  Tell Alexander I have raw nectar. I’ll give it to him. All I ask is a final day of freedom for my sister.

  There’s a pause. Then my phone rings.

  Alexander growls through the earpiece. “Bring it to me now. Your sister has her day.”

  I collapse on my bed, taking deep breaths of relief. But I can’t pause for long. I throw on the first clothes I find, sneak along the hallway to the balcony, and slide the doors open. I’m grateful that mom and dad are downstairs and Ava is still in her room. I’m supposed to drive her to dance class this morning and she’ll hate me for leaving her behind. But I can’t wait, not when her life is at stake. I have to get the sample to Alexander right away. He’s volatile and unpredictable. He changes his mind on a whim.

  I’ve done a lot to make Ava hate me lately. But Alexander has me acting like a puppet ever since he found out about me. Since then, I’ve only managed to contact Mr. Bradley a few times. He knows I’ve been made, but he doesn’t know Alexander has my ampule.

  Alexander’s watching me, Cheyne’s watching me, Douglas Reid is watching me. My whole world is filled with eyes.

  I’m just glad Arachne isn’t here. She begged me to go with her, but I can’t leave this mess behind and leave my sister in it. I have to get her out.

  I have to try.

  I reach the roof and slide across it to my concealed stash. I don’t normally climb up here when other people are in the house, so I have to be careful they don’t hear me. I’m surprised my heart isn’t hammering a beat against the roof.

  Finally with the vial in my hand, I shimmy back down the piping and sneak out of the house to my car. Ava’s footsteps tap-tap behind me and I have to hurry or she’ll snag me. I’m so tired of lying to her about what I’m doing and where I’m going. I can’t stand to see the disappointment in her eyes. She thinks I hate her, but there’s nothing I can about that right now.

  It takes me half an hour to drive to Bridgefield Park, run through the crumbling brick archway at the entrance, and enter the overgrown wilderness of trees and shrubs. This park isn’t on the nice side of town and it shows. I dodge the empty syringes nestled in the grass. Finally, I reach the clearing with the old oak tree where Alexander gives me orders now. He’s stopped allowing me into the cells ever since I helped Arachne escape. But he hasn’t stopped controlling me.

  Mr. Bradley’s warning all that time ago repeats on me a thousand times: make sure you don’t have any weaknesses.

  But I do.

  It’s taken me a long time to accept that that’s what makes me who I am.

  Alexander waits alone at the base of the tree, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. He looks casual, relaxed, but his hair’s tied back from his face and that gives me pause. I’ve learned to judge his mood by what he does with his dreads. He only pulls them back when he’s about to clobber someone.

  I grip the vial until my knuckles turn white.

  His eyes are blank and cold. He has this way of hiding his emotions, lashing out when I least expect it. “You have it?”

  I lie. “It’s the last one.”

  I know Mr. Bradley has one more, but in the last two years I, too, have learned how to hide the truth, to wipe my emotions clean and bury them under a mask of constant anger.

  “Really?”

  He doesn’t expect an answer and I don’t give him one.

  I say, “You’ll keep your word.”

  “I always do, Josh. Your sister can dance and play the day away, but tonight she’s mine.”

  I drop the vial into his waiting hand and spin on my heel, my shoes digging into the mushy earth. I’m determined to leave him behind. I suddenly realize I’m starving. I didn’t eat breakfast and my mortal body doesn’t do well without food.

  “Wait,” he says. “I’m not done with you yet.”

  I clench my teeth without turning. He’s never done with me.

  He says my name like he’s my friend. “Josh, don’t you want to know why I’m so determined to get my hands on raw nectar?”

  “No.”

  I walk away, one foot in front of the other, almost slipping in the slimy patches where the light doesn’t reach and the grass can’t grow. I brace with every step, because I know what’s coming.

  He slams into me and I don’t resist. I’ve learned how to fall without hurting myself. Drop. Roll. Protect my face. Breathe out.

  He forces me over onto my back and pins me, his face inches from mine. He presses the vial to my cheek.

  “Drink,” he orders.

  “What?”

  He hauls me to my knees, forcing me to stay there. He uncorks the vial and shoves it at me before I can take a breath.

  “Drink!”

  I turn my face away. “No, seriously, man. You don’t want me to do that.”

  “Why not, Josh?” He’s laughing now, a laugh that grates on every nerve in my body, and even though he’s laughing, his face is still cold and blank. “Are you afraid of what you’ll become?”

  “Yes, and you should be too. I’ll kill you.”

  “Isn’t that what you want? Me dead?”

  He’s right. I want Alexander’s hatred wiped from the face of the earth. But death is fleeting. I could kill him a thousand times and he’ll get right up and laugh in my face.

  He shouts so loudly that the birds in the surrounding trees take flight. “Drink!”

  I haven’t touched raw nectar since the day I killed Kristy. Even the synthetic stuff makes me angry, but this … I’m scared of what I’ll do, what I’ll break. I’m more scared of raw nectar than I am of Alexander.

  I snatch the vial from him and gulp it as fast as I can. I wait for the crimson tide and my old friend, the lion, to come snatch my soul.

  Nothing happens.

  Except maybe my hunger disappears. And maybe my hands are warm for the first time in days. I definitely haven’t been eating enough or getting enough sleep.

  I could seriously use some peace right now, some certainty, some hope.

  Please, all I need is some hope.

  The park is suddenly really quiet. Darkness and shadows fill the edges of my vision and it’s as if the rest of the world has dropped away. There’s nothing but me and Alexander and the ground we stand on.

  Alexander takes a step away from me. For the first time, real emotion flashes across his face. It’s not the emotion I expected. It’s not victory. It’s not glee. It’s not even fear.

  It’s … shock.

  “Brother,” I say, in a voice that doesn’t sound like mine. “Why have you killed me?”

  There’s a tree behind him but it isn’t the right tree. This garden is not the right garden. This place is all wrong. He’ll never die here.

  “You had what was mi
ne,” he answers. And then, there it is: the envy that I know is always burning inside him, the envy that fuels all his choices, his actions.

  “I would have given it to you if you’d asked,” I say, not knowing why I’m speaking these words.

  The color bleeds from his face. He turns sickly white. He begins to shake. He lifts one hand as though he wants to ward me off, protect himself.

  As he moves, shadows form in the dark behind him: two shadows under the tree. One is the shape of a girl and the other a man. The girl is made of golden light and her heart beats so strong that she glows. The man is ferocious and the red light surrounding him bleeds in every direction, staining the ground, staining everything he touches. Except the girl.

  She waits, standing tall until the last moment when everything has turned to blood—the sky, the ground, the tree, every blade of grass and every particle of dust, crackling, shiny fragments, all of it stained with envy except for her.

  She’s singing. I’ve never heard my sister sing, but her voice washes over me like the sound of freedom.

  The man lashes out.

  The girl waits.

  And then the air explodes into a thousand pieces.

  The vision fades and clarity strikes me like a knife slammed into my heart.

  I have to get Ava out.

  It doesn’t matter what happens to me. I’m not going to make it to the end of the day, I know that now, but I have to keep her alive.

  Only she can end this.

  This time I speak in my own voice. “You will die, Alexander.”

  He roars back at me, his teeth bared. “You are not the angel of death! You are not the one!”

  I smile back at him. He’s right. I’m not.

  And that’s when the lion arrives, padding along the grubby pathway, a sleek creature with a fierce growl. Alexander can’t see it, but I can, and this time I’m not afraid. I know why it’s here.

  When I first saw the lion, it showed me Alexander’s hatred and it drove me to join the Bashers to try to defeat them. Now, the lion’s here to tell me I’m not alone. I can do what I have to do. I can be what I have to be.