Evan Burl and the Falling

by Justin Blaney

  Pearl reminded me of the shades who sometimes found their way through the jungles to Daemanhur's gates. They would beg and curse and beat themselves against the thick iron bars. Their screaming was so loud, especially at night. On nights like those, we had to shut the castle's windows, no matter how hot we were, if we wanted to have any chance of getting some sleep. The screaming could make minutes feel like hours.

  Sometimes the shades would give up and crawl away. Others died, still clinging to the gates. They didn't stand a chance without the mums their bodies had come so desperately to need.

  Eventually, when their tongues got so swollen they could no longer scream, their faces turned white and sweaty. The last stage was retching; it meant they only had a few more minutes to live. As much as I hated to see those shades suffer, they always reminded me of how much I had to be thankful for.

  Something about how Pearl was acting reminded me of the shades; as if she was coming off the mums too. She wiped her mouth and looked across the room, finding me. My eyes were just cracked open so I didn't think she knew I was conscious. If I could only find that skull pendent, I would know what she was suffering from. I had to find a way to sneak out of the Caldroen.

  Her eyes stayed locked with mine. There was a whole room between us, but I knew something had changed. She was shaking with fear, arms wrapped around her shoulders, but she looked more like I remembered her. More like a little sister.

  Was the feeling real? She had tried to kill me the last time she was awake. Would I ever be able to trust someone to love me again? Look what happened when I trusted Henri.

  I felt my mind wandering. The stuff in that syringe wasn't effecting me as bad as last time, but I wasn't myself. I tried to concentrate on what I had to do, but I couldn't. I looked around the Caldroen for any other girls, but didn't see any. They must have run away after the the explosion. I hoped they were all safe in their rooms. I would find them all as soon as I could, make sure they weren't too frightened.

  My mind hovered from thought to thought until I began to think of my mother. What would it feel like to have a mother? A mother's love could always be trusted. Yet I couldn't imagine a mother's love. I didn't have one.

  The only person I ever wanted to be loved by was Henri, but I had to face the fact that Henri was no longer mine. Mazol had taken everything from me. Even my best friend.

  What had Mazol said? "We were saving this for later."

  He was waiting for the perfect time to show me whose side Henri was really on. He wanted to inflict maximum pain.

  No, that was wrong. It wasn't Mazol's fault. Henri had done that. She had a choice. She didn't have to betray me.

  "Ẋry Mazol, the girl is awake," Yesler said from somewhere behind me. At first I thought Yesler meant the girl who had fallen through the ceiling. I risked cracking my eyes open a little wider to check, but the fallen girl was still where she landed. The peaceful look on her face made me jealous. But maybe she was just as tormented on the inside as me; maybe she was just wearing a mask like I always did.

  "It's not possible," Mazol said. "Get over there and finish her off. Both of you."

  My blurry vision snapped back into focus. I didn't have time to feel sorry for myself.

  "No, don't!" I recognized Henri's voice and my chest flared with pain again.

  "Get out of my sight," Mazol said, "before I make you finish what you started." He was talking about finishing me off. Would Henri do it if he told her to? I could only guess that she would.

  There was some scuffling, then an iron door slammed. Mazol must have pushed Henri out one of the Caldroen's fire-sealed doors. Her cries were faint now, but I could still hear them. She banged on the door a few times, then stopped. I tried to block her out and focus on what was happening around me.

  Ballard's huge feet pounded the pile of debris under him in a heavy, methodical rhythm. Each step made a different sound; the crunch of glass shattering, the ping of thin metal popping, the heavy boom of cast iron. Passing in front of me, Yesler jumped down into the debris and headed for Pearl too. I cracked my eyes open more to take in the scene and plan how I was going to save Pearl. If they knew I was awake, they would just use another syringe on me. I doubted I would be awake if they emptied another vialus of that black stuff into my blood, then I wouldn't be any good to anyone.

  Yesler pried an ax out from under a broken beam and looked back at my uncle who was still standing behind me. I snapped my eyes shut, hoping he hadn't noticed.

  "Just one thing," Yesler said. He spit on the ground. "How exactly are we s'posed to kill a girl who's immortal?"

  "She's not immortal idiot" Mazol said. "Four of her sisters are buried in the courtyard—"

  "They were different," Yesler said. "We don't know what killed them."

  Were they putting on an act for me? Did they know I was listening and they just wanted to throw me off? Mazol had murdered the four fallings. I knew it. Who else could it be?

  "No, but the point is, they're not immortal. Obviously."

  "Why don't we just use the spider?"

  "Shut your mouth fool," Mazol hissed.

  I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. I had guessed right; the spider from my father's letter was the tool that killed the fallings. But if Yesler and Mazol hadn't used the spider on the fallings, who was the murderer?

  I risked cracking my eyes open and saw Ballard standing beside Yesler. He wasn't saying anything. Could he be the killer? Maybe he stole the spider from my uncle and was using it on the Fallings.

  Yesler and Mazol began to argue about how to kill Pearl. This would have been the perfect time to save her, if the three warts weren't surrounding me. But they were distracted and I may not get another chance. My heart beat faster as tensed my muscles, ready to make a run for it.

  I focused my sapience and tried to shove them backwards, but nothing happened. A moment later, my head split with pain like Yesler had buried his ax in it. Through stinging tears, I looked up and saw that they were all standing exactly where they were before. They weren't even looking at me. My legs were tingling even worse and I realized I couldn't feel my arms.

  The potion in the syringe had worked better than I realized. I was trapped; unable to move and unable to use sapience.

  I saw Pearl scooting further into the shadows, but she wasn't thinking straight. She had backed herself into a corner.

  "It just ain't gonna happen," Mazol said.

  "Why not?" Yesler said.

  "That's not your concern."

  "It would be a lot easier—"

  Ballard remained silent. Could he really be the killer?

  "What do I pay you for?" Mazol said. "Can't you two manage to kill a little girl?"

  "She ain't just any girl," Yesler said. "She's a Falling."

  "Figure it out. See if she's still immortal without a head."

  Yesler seemed to sense he had pushed Mazol far enough. He turned to Pearl and Ballard followed. She had crawled as far as she could. Her back was against a wall; she looked around desperately, but I could see on her face the realization that there was no where to run.

  "No don't," she begged. "Please."

  Yesler climbed the stairs two at a time, leaping gleefully onto the platform directly in front of her with a crash. Ballard climbed a second set of stairs on the other side of Pearl, blocking her escape.

  I tried to lift myself from the floor. My body felt like it weighed more than a clanker, my veins like they were filled with lead, but somehow I was beginning to move. I pushed my muscles even harder, grunting from the strain.

  Mazol was about 20 feet away when he heard me grunt. His head snapped towards me, his eyes wide with fear. He took a step towards me as he reached for something inside a satchel. I knew what it was without seeing. Another syringe.

  "Hold her down so I can get a good swing at her neck," Yesler said as he stood above her and hoisted the ax over his head.

  "I'll do whatever you say," Pearl said between sobs, "I'll work.
I promise. I'll be good."

  I managed to rise to my feet, swaying like a shade drunk on mums. I could feel the blood beginning to move and sense was coming back to my arms and legs. To my left I saw Ballard push Pearl over on her back with his foot and press down hard as she whimpered. To my right, Mazol was approaching, fear and purpose written in the lines of his face, like a tiger hunter coming in for the kill. Instead of a knife, Mazol wielded the syringe filled with black liquid.

  "It ain't about being good anymore, sweetie," Yesler said as he spat on the floor. He took a moment to aim and a gleam entered his eyes. It was all happening so fast. I hated myself for being weak; I had blown my chance.

  Yesler's muscles flexed and his hands dropped with a huff. His swing had the grace and strength of an executioner who enjoys his job.

  "Stop!" I yelled as I took a single, painful step towards Pearl, knowing there was nothing I could do to save her now.

  But the ax didn't move.

  Yesler's hands slipped over the handle and he fell head first to the floor. The ax was hovering in the air above where he had just been standing. Mazol stopped dead, just a few steps away as Ballard and Yesler turned to me in one synchronized motion.

  Yesler came to himself, jumped to his feet and launched himself at Pearl. In the tick of a clock, a 10 foot Clanker lever bent down with the groan of twisting metal and wrapped around his neck. Yesler was dangling in the air, his feet inches off the platform, before I even realized what had happened.

  Ballard pushed past Yesler, but I ripped the rest of the lever off the machine, pulling Yesler with it and wrapped the free end around Ballard's ankle. They both fell with a bolt-rattling crash to the platform floor at Pearl's feet.

  I'd never had this much control over sapience. I couldn't believe what I had done. A smile began to form on my face, until I turned to find Mazol. He was gone. I thought he had run, maybe to take some of the other girls hostage. But I heard a scream behind me and realized my mistake.

  I spun around to find Mazol behind Pearl, a knife pressed to her throat.

  "Release them," Mazol said, "or I promise, the blood of every last falling in Daemanhur will be on your hands."

  I hesitated, nearly doing as I was told out of instinct. He pressed the knife in harder and a line of blood appeared on Pearl's neck. She screamed and tried to squirm away, but that only caused the blade to sink deeper in. She was a falling, her wounds would heal, but Mazol was right; even fallings can't survive if cut deeply enough.

  "Wait," I said.

  "Why should I?"

  "Pearl, don't fight him, he won't hurt you anymore. I'll do what he wants."

  I needed to buy a little time, but I had no intention of doing what he said. I only had hours before I transformed into a monster so evil, the most powerful men in the world wanted me dead. I wasn't ever going to do what my uncle said again, but he didn't need to know that yet. I could get information from him if I kept him guessing about what I was going to do.

  He relaxed his hold on Pearl. "I'm waiting," he said.

  "You were lying about not killing them," I said. "I know you used the spider on the fallings."

  Mazol glared at Yesler who avoided making eye contact. "You're not in a position to ask any questions, gimp."

  "But it can be reversed, can't it?" I said, adding a hint of desperation to my voice. "The affliktion is curable."

  He paused, as if thinking of a plan to use this information against me. "It could be."

  "And, if I help you, will you cure Pearl?"

  "How do you think a gimp like you could help me?"

  "I heard you last night. I know you want to take me somewhere. I won't fight you. I'll go."

  "I don't believe you."

  "If it means saving my friends, then I'll do it."

  He thought for a few seconds. "All right. We have a deal. Now release Ballard and Yesler." He probably figured he had nothing to lose by making me think he had agreed.

  "Before I do, I need to know you're not lying. I need to know how to cure the affliktion."

  "But if I tell you, you won't need me anymore. How will I know you'll keep your end of the bargain."

  He was right and I didn't want to waste time arguing. I decided to change tactics.

  "Why did you do it?"

  "What are you talking about?"

  "You killed Little Sae and Anabelle. You murdered four children. I just want to know why."

  Mazol laughed. "Why would I kill my own slaves. They make me money."

  His words sounded exactly like what Henri said to me. Like she had gotten them from him. Henri and Mazol must have discussed this topic before. That thought made me feel sick.

  "So then why did you do it?"

  "I didn't kill them," he paused, smiling cruelly. "But I know who did."

  "Who? Ballard? Marcus?"

  He rapped me on the head with his knuckles. "You're not using your brain gimp. Tell you what, I'll give you a hint."

  I don't know why, but when he said this, my chest began to pound. I didn't want to know what he was going to say next.

  He paused again, smiling wide, showing his crooked black teeth. The fear built inside me.

  "Why don't you ask Henrietta? See if she has any ideas about who killed your friends."

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Evan

  Friday

  6:22 pm

  4 hours, 27 minutes until the Falling

  People's faces turn blue when they're hanged by the neck. I'd never watched a hanging, but Marcus had seen plenty in town. He said if their necks didn't snap from the drop, they would writhe and gasp until their faces turned blue. Then they would die. It could take minutes, but I always wondered how long it felt to the person hanging. Did it flash by in a moment or did it seem to last hours to them?

  I was furious with Henri, but when Mazol told me to ask her about who was killing the fallings, I felt like I was hanging from a noose. I wondered if my skin was turning blue. I felt like I couldn't breath. The moment seemed to slow down time; my focus grew stronger; conflicting emotions that had been gnawing at my insides started to sort themselves out.

  That was when I realized just how much I hadn't given up on Henri yet. Even after betraying me so horribly, I still wanted to believe she was a good person. I had to believe that some people were good. If there were no good people, then what was the point? I had accepted my fate; I was destined to become something terrible. But there was still hope for Henri.

  There had to be an explanation for what she did. What if Mazol threatened to kill more fallings if she didn't help him? What if she was helping Mazol to buy us time, or to figure out how to cure the affliktion?

  I looked Mazol in the eye. "I know it was you."

  "You're thicker than I thought," Mazol said. "You can't even see the truth when it's slapping you in the face."

  "You killed them. Admit it."

  "It wasn't me."

  "They who?"

  "I told you, ask Henri—"

  Mazol didn't finish his sentence. The syringe in his hand burst, the thick black liquid dripping down his arms as the unfinished words hung in his open mouth.

  He was just going to keep lying to me and I had heard enough.

  My body was shaking, but when I put my hands out in front of me they were steady as they always were. I felt like I was watching myself from outside my own body. I saw my hands move as if they belonged to someone else. I didn't even realize what I was doing until it was done, but I knew it was me.

  I watched Mazol, Ballard and Yesler rise into the air, kicking and wriggling like marionetts until they meet in the middle of the room directly over the girl who had fallen through the ceiling.

  Mazol yelled at me to release them as the others cursed and writhed and spat. But there was nothing they could do. I was surprised by how easy it was to control their movements, even hold them all in their air. I didn't even have to think about it, like breathing or making my heart beat. Everything I wanted to hap
pen, just happened.

  I jumped down into the pile of debris. Scooping the girl into my arms, her shimmering orange dress flowed to the ground. I stepped carefully over the debris, not wanting to fall while I carried her, until we reached the stairs that led to the first platform and set her down against the handrail.

  As I stepped off the last stair onto the platform, I stopped short. Mazol burst through the door Henri had been locked behind. I looked up at where he was supposed to be hanging in the air, but it was just Ballard and Yesler. Somehow he'd gotten loose from the sapience that was holding him in the air.

  Mazol was more powerful than I realized.

  "You don't have any idea who I am do you?" he said.

  "Evan!" a voice screamed above me.

  A girl's voice.

  I looked up to see Henri floating with Ballard and Yesler. My head was swimming, unable to processes everything that was happening. I felt like I needed to lay down, but I fixed my jaw and willed myself to stay upright. I found it hard to remember what had happened. Had I gotten Mazol and Henri mixed up? I must have lifted Henri into the air with Ballard and Yesler by mistake. That was the only explanation.

  "This is your chance Evan," Henri yelled. "Stop him."

  It didn't sound like Henri. She was hysterical. I lifted my hand in the air to release her, but she stopped me.

  "Don't worry about me. Kill Mazol!"

  I looked back at my uncle. His head tilted back and he let out a loud, deep laugh. Could Mazol be a sapient too? The thought had never occurred to me, but it made sense. Who else would Terillium leave to watch me? Mazol held his hands in front of him, like I had when I lifted him into the air.

  But before he was able to act, four ghost-like girls appeared out of the air behind Mazol.

  Little Sae, Anabelle, Lucy and Parkrose.

  The four fallings who had died under the power of the spider. I had seen their dead bodies. Now they were standing on the ledge behind Mazol—their skin was pale and translucent, but their clothes looked as real as mine.

  They attacked him as one and Mazol's face turned to horror. They took his flesh in their hands and began to squeeze. Mazol screamed in pain. His body went limp, but his weight was held up by an unnatural strength in the girls' hands.