by Fletcher, MJ
Before I could open my mouth to respond his son stepped in front of me.
“You’re wrong, Dad, there is no talking with the First Kind.”
“Michael Slade this not the time; we will discuss this later.”
“No, Dad, we’ll discuss it now. Chloe’s right, we’re the ones who’ve been fighting against them while the Council twiddles its thumbs over what to do. Now they come here and offer us a deal and you want to consider it? They want to destroy the Old Kind and dissolve the Societies. It would mean the end of the Impossible Engineers.” Slade glanced back at me, his eyes heavy with regret as he spoke “I for one have given up too much for my Society to even consider that.”
“Son, there is more to this than you know. I won’t have you getting more mixed up in this than you already are.”
“That’s not your choice anymore,” Slade said adamantly. “I’m standing with my friends. Chloe is right, she has been all along and maybe if you and the Council stopped worrying about your differences and worked together, we could win this thing.”
Mr. Slade jumped up out of his chair. “Don’t dare talk to me that way!”
“I’ll talk any damn way I want. I don’t care what anyone thinks anymore. How can you expect any of us to be loyal to Societies that allow our friends to be kidnapped and killed? We’re the ones fighting this battle not you. It’s easy to sit in judgment, Father, when you aren’t the one spilling blood.”
“How dare you—”
“That’s quite enough,” Mr. Tower cut in.
Slade’s father dropped back in his seat staring at his son with an anger I’d never seen before. I think Slade might have just crossed a line that there was no coming back from.
Jess reached out gripping Slade’s arm and tugged him back away from the Council. He was shaking with anger and I wasn’t sure what else he might say.
Mr. Tower looked down at me and I saw a flash of annoyance in his eyes. “I understand how you all might feel, but the Council must consider the First Kind’s proposal.”
I refused to let him intimidate me. I had Edgar to think about and nothing was going to stop me from rescuing him. “This isn’t the Paladin Academy, you can’t trust them.”
“Regardless, the Council will deliberate their offer and then proceed. You and your team are ordered to take no action until we’ve made our determination. Are all agreed?” He glanced around at the other members of the Council. The Impossible Engineers led by Mr. Slade nodded their agreement while the other members of the Skeleton Key Guild near Mr. Tower also agreed.
“My Society is the only one who has been attacked by the First Kind.” Jeremiah of the Mapmakers Union sat at the Council table his fingers steepled before him as he considered his words. “They’ve killed and kidnapped our members... there can be no peace. I agree with Ms. Masters, they intend to destroy us. I vote we don’t negotiate.” The two junior Mapmakers both sided with Jeremiah which left only the Doorknob Society.
Dante sat with his hand rubbing his chin. He looked from Jeremiah to me, lingering on my face for a moment as if searching, for what, I don’t know, and then turned to Uncle Archie.
“Archibald Masters, you’ve been a member of DS for close to two decades. What do you think?”
I looked over my shoulder at my Uncle. He glanced my way briefly before turning back to Dante.
“My niece is hotheaded. She acts before she thinks and doesn’t always consider her options when she should.”
I gritted my teeth as I listened to him describe me.
“But she is one of the most natural and instinctive leaders I’ve ever seen. She’s right... there is no dealing with the First Kind.”
Dante nodded taking in everything my Uncle had said. I couldn’t help but smile and think about Dad. He had always said that Masters stick together and I felt his presence with me now. I nodded to Uncle Archie and he smiled back at me, and I knew he would have my back no matter what my next move was.
Dante and the two junior DS members conversed quietly as we all waited for their answer. I knew one way or another I was going after Edgar and the First Kind but I wasn’t about to tell anyone that. If DS sided with the Council that could cause more problems for me, I just hoped Dante would heed Uncle Archie’s advice and do the smart thing.
“Dante?” Mr. Tower’s voice broke the silence and Dante pulled away from the junior members and sighed deeply.
“After much thought DS has decided that the best course of action is to negotiate with the First Kind.”
“What?” I was too stunned to say more. I’d thought Dante more intelligent than that.
Mr. Slade slammed a small gavel on the table. “The motion is passed three to one. I move to place the rescue team for Edgar Magnus into protective custody until negotiations are ended.”
“What?” Mr. Tower and Dante’s hands rose in agreement and suddenly the guards from around the room were moving toward us.
“Chloe, what’s going on?” I heard Jess’ voice behind me and my fingers slid around my Doorknob.
“They mean to stop us?”
“What’s the plan?” Slade asked and I felt his abilities beginning to activate behind me, as did Jess’.”
“If we don’t get the hell out of here, Edgar is dead.”
“Agreed,” they both said in unison.
“We need to leave now.” I flicked my wrist and an energy whip flipped out of my Doorknob.
“Stop them,” Mr. Slade yelled and the guards began surrounding us. The Council backed away from the table and watched the scene unfold in front of them.
“Chloe, don’t do this,” Dante called out over the buzz of power filling the room.
“You made your choice, we’re making ours,” I yelled back and jumped forward snapping the whip toward the nearest guard.
Chapter 23
Status: Here we go again.
The room exploded with action as everyone attacked at the same time. My team had the advantage of having worked together before so we knew how to avoid one another. One of the benefits of having friends in other Societies is knowing how to fight alongside each other. Most Old Kind only ever trained with their own Society so when you have guards from all the different Societies, they tend to get in one another’s way. Like the DS guard in front of me who was taken out by the Impossible Engineer next to him throwing up a device meant to knock me out. All I had to do was deflect it into the DS guard and he was out like a light.
Slade extended his arm and a series of gears rolled off his glove attaching one after the other, forming a hammer. He pivoted and swung it in an arc bringing it down on one of the Guilder’s shields. It shattered under the force, falling like glass around the stunned guard. He looked up at Slade who smiled and followed it with a left hook that dropped the guard.
Jess worked on the other side of me as a DS guard flanked by an Impossible Engineer made a move. Her Skeleton Key glowed crimson as she spun it between her fingers.
“Come on boys,” she teased and the DS guard took the bait, he rushed her letting loose with a blast of energy off of his key. Jess brought her key down deflecting the shot with ease. She sidestepped as he came toward her and reached out to grasp him by the collar, and spin on one foot, pulling him off balance and swinging him back around, and then she sent him crashing into an Impossible Engineer. They fell in a tangle of arms and legs screaming at one another.
“Stop this now!” Mr. Slade yelled over the fighting as he stepped forward and slammed his fist down on the Council table.
“Unlike you... we don’t give up,” I shouted.
“You’re fools.” Mr. Slade stared at me as if I was completely insane.
Hell maybe I was, but I would rather go down fighting than fail Edgar. “Maybe, but we protect our own.” I jumped forward, my whip snapping out and smashing into the Council table cracking it in two.
Mr. Slade stumbled backward and I brought my whip around so that it wouldn’t hit him. I wasn’t planning on hurting the Coun
cil, I just wanted them to back off so we could make our exit.
Energy built up on my side like a nuclear reactor. I twisted my energy whip in a circle, spinning it to create a powerful shield just as a torrent of energy slammed into me from the side. It pushed me backward and it took all my concentration to hold off the attack. When it finally abated I saw Dante facing me down.
“You have to stop,” he pleaded.
“That was a mistake.” I turned to see Uncle Archie hurrying over to stand protectively in front of me.
“Archibald, she can’t get away with attacking the Council,” Dante said.
“As far as I’m concerned the Council lost all authority the moment it decided it could negotiate with the people who murdered my brother. And you stepped over the line when you attacked my niece.” Uncle Archie’s doorknob slid into his hand and his entire body was enveloped in blue energy as he prepared for battle. Keeping his eyes on Dante, he said, “Get out of here, Chloe, you know what to do.”
I nodded and ran as Uncle Archie raced forward and attacked the three DS Council members. I made my way to the doors leading into the Council room. They were locked as before but I reached out with my abilities and tried to break the seal. Nothing happened. I urged everything in me to turn the knobs and open the door. It was useless, something was holding it back. I closed my eyes as the fighting continued around me knowing my friends would protect me.
I concentrated on not the knobs, but the lock holding the door closed. My mind drifted back to when I was first at the Paladin Academy and I had successfully accessed a Skeleton Key lock on a doorknob. The sensation I had felt of the lock answering my call and opening it had felt natural, as if I had done it a thousand times before. Then I felt it... the lock on the doors spoke to me. Its energy opened to me and I knew exactly how it worked and how to open it.
I opened my eyes and my hands hovered over the doorknob, my breath caught in my throat as my hands glowed bright crimson... the color of the Skeleton Key Guild.
The door unlocked and swung open, the corridor leading into the Infinity Library filled with people waiting for the Council session to end.
“They attacked the Council stop them!” Mr. Tower screeched, his voice filled with malice and his eyes burning with an intense hatred I’d never seen before.
The crowd before me surged forward and I felt a wave of energy rush at me. It was such an intense tidal wave of power that there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it. Blasts of energy from multiple people knocked me off my feet sending me tilting and whirling backwards to crash into a set of chairs. I struggled to stand as I watched them rushed forward. There were too many of them, we’d never be able to get away from them on our own.
“Mapmakers were betrayed, protect them!” Jeremiah yelled and jumped over the remains of the Council table. He ran forward as golden symbols floated over him and turned into a phantom Griffon that screamed as it flew toward the attacking crowd.
Jeremiah slid to a stop beside me, hooked his arm under mine, and lifted me up. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll survive.”
“You and your team need to go; we can only hold out for a short time.”
“Understood.”
“Guys, we’re leaving!” I called out and both Jess and Slade began making their way toward me.
“Now what?” Slade asked.
“You need to get out of Council chambers; portals have a way of going awry from here.” Jeremiah pointed to the doors leading out of the room.
“We’re out of here,” I said “Slade you take point, Jess hold up the middle I’ll cover our exit.” They both nodded and we started for the door.
“Chloe,” Jeremiah spoke just so I could hear him. “Stop the First Kind, you’re our only chance.”
“I will,” I assured him and watched as Jeremiah rushed back into the fight. I caught a quick glimpse of Uncle Archie but I couldn’t see what was happening to him. I wished he could come with us, but we had to get out of here now and he’d told me to go.
We pushed through the crowd fighting off some stragglers on the way, but made it quickly out of the doors. I activated my knob and opened a portal, Jess and Slade rushed into it. I took one last look back at Old Kind battling one another and couldn’t help but feel as if the First Kind had won. They had us fighting one another instead of them.
Maybe I was already too late.
Chapter 24
Status: Time to gather the troops.
I stepped out onto the street in London right beside our apartment. I would have rather gone straight to the Reliquary, but it was far too dangerous to open a portal there in the middle of a battle. The Reliquary was one of the few safe places left, and we needed to keep it that way at all costs.
“What’s the plan?” Jess asked, Slade standing stoic behind her.
I couldn’t imagine how he was feeling having just turned against everything he’d ever believed in to help us. “We’re gathering the team and going after Edgar now.” I didn’t mention my plan to trap the First Kind in Storm Reach, but I figured the fewer people that knew about it the better.
“The Societies will send trackers after us. Well at least my father will.” Slade’s voice was choked with emotion, and he clenched his fists at the mention of his dad.
“He’s right. Mr. Tower has most likely contacted DeAndre and already has put him on our trail.” Jess pursed her lips and looked up and down the block as if expecting him to appear at any moment.
“You’re right, we need to be quick,” I agreed. “We have fifteen minutes to gather anything we might need. No one bring anything that isn’t necessary and we meet at the Reliquary and go from there.”
“What about Nightshade?” Jess asked.
“I’ll contact him and see if he’ll help,” I said.
“You think that’s a good idea?” Jess shrugged when I shot her the death stare.
“He’ll just have to deal with it.”
“Okay.” She backed off and turned her Skeleton Key opening a portal of crimson and stepping through.
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked Slade as he pulled a set of metal bars from his backpack and began forming one of his crazy devices.
“I’ll be fine. My dad was wrong; you were right. I just wish I’d figured that out earlier.”
He didn’t look at me as he spoke, something had changed for Slade. He’d always been the Boy Scout, obeying his father. But now he was breaking away and questioning everything. Maybe I did have a lasting influence on him.
“You’re smarter than him.” It wasn’t that I was trying to make him feel better, I simply told him the truth.
“No, I finally realized who the people are that I can trust and who I should be looking after.”
He glanced my way and I ran my hands through my hair worried that I would only add to his upset. “Slade, you know how I feel about us.”
“I know you can’t trust me and I know you have something going on with Declan.” He stood and slipped his fingers through mine, gripping my hand. “I still care about you, Chloe, and I don’t know how many times I have to admit I was wrong—though I’ll admit it as much as you want me to—but I’m making things right now.”
“I don’t want to give you false hope. I care about you too, but not the way I once did.” I didn’t want to hurt him, but I also didn’t want to lead him on.
His head drooped and he took a deep breath. “If you say so, but I had to try. Here.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace and held it out to me. A small disc was attached to the end of it with several tiny gears moving in concert. “Please take this.”
“What is it?”
“I made it for Val, it’ll warn her if any Old Kind are using their powers near her. It should give her enough time to get away safely.”
“Like Spidey sense?”
“I suppose so.”
“Thank you, Slade, that’s thoughtful of you.” I tightened my grip on his hand squeezing. I didn’t want to do
this to him, but I was never one of those girls to lead a guy on when it was truly over. Slade and I were over and I knew it, but I wanted him to know how much it meant to me that he was joining us. Not to mention that he had made something to protect Val. “She’ll love it.”
“It’s not like we can leave her unprotected, Edgar would kill me.”
I laughed and found myself wishing things could be different between us. But I knew that was a ship that had already sailed.
“I better go, can you get where you need to go from here?” I asked and he just smiled as he turned a final gear and the series of bars he had built formed into a large rectangle then turned into a motorcycle before my eyes. He threw a leg over it and sat down smiling.
“See you at the Reliquary.” He twisted the throttle and the engine roared and he disappeared in a trail of smoke.
I pushed open the door to the apartment and rushed in. Val was sitting on the couch in the living room reading a book and jumped at my sudden appearance.
“What’s going on?” she asked as if she already knew it wasn’t good news.
“I’m leaving and I can’t tell you what’s going on, but I wanted you to know.” I wanted to tell her more, though it wouldn’t really help for her to know. She would worry incessantly if she knew what I had planned.
She came around the couch and launched herself at me, dragging me into a hug so tight I could barely breathe. “You bring him back and make sure everyone comes home, everyone.” She emphasized her point by grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me.
“I got it,” I assured her. I lifted the necklace Slade had given me and handed it to her. She took it, dangling the chain from her finger to take a closer look. “Slade made it for you. It’ll tell you if Old Kind is nearby and using their powers. It’s Kind of an early warning system telling you to get out of there.”
“How does it work?”
“He didn’t mention that part, I guess it’ll be pretty obvious.” As if on cue the gears started spinning quickly and the necklace started vibrating and twirling.
