Crimson Rising

by Nick James

  If Theo hadn’t perished before, he’s surely dead now. That’s a small consolation, considering the rest of the casualties. But it’s not enough.

  Avery comes to my side and throws her arm around my shoulders. She pulls me close. We collapse on the floor, together. I’m done. I can’t do anything. I can barely move.

  This is it. This confirms it.

  I’m no hero.

  43

  Cassius forced himself into the cockpit, breathing hard. Madame glanced briefly to acknowledge him.

  “Have a seat.”

  He strode to the co-pilot’s station and collapsed in the chair. He wanted to put up a fight, to curse her out or hijack the ship, but he didn’t have the energy. He was afraid that he’d never be able to get up from this position again.

  “They grow up so fast, don’t they?”

  He turned his body so that he could stare at her without moving his head back and forth.

  “Theo.”

  She turned the cruiser southward, which was fine because Cassius didn’t want to look at the smoldering blaze that used to be Skyship Altair. The farther they went, the more relaxed he’d be.

  “I always knew he was dangerous,” she continued. “Rough and unbalanced, but I sensed something in him. Something similar to what I sensed in you at that age. And when I found him, I knew I needed to keep an eye on him. Anything that connects back to you, Cassius, is important to me.”

  "I’m nothing like him,” he countered.

  “Apparently not.”

  He met her eyes, only for a moment. It was hard to summon up any fear—or even much loathing—for her after what just happened. Somehow Madame paled in comparison to the Authority.

  She stared forward, focused on the skies. “You know what they say about keeping your enemies close. I track all of my children, but Theo was different. He needed constant monitoring. He didn’t arrive with a message like you had. I didn’t know where he was from, but I always knew where he was going.”

  “You tracked him?”

  “Of course.” She smiled. “You didn’t think I’d let him roam free, did you?”

  “Then why didn’t you do something sooner?”

  “That Fringe ambush in Syracuse stole the wind from my sails. I was without an army, but they could never take my wits. I escaped, at the expense of my battalion.”

  She glanced sideways at him. “But as you know, there are always more soldiers. They’re expendable. You and Fisher? You’re keepers.”

  “Stop gloating.” He felt his fist begin to burn, eager to release a torrent of flame. He could do it if he wanted. He could drag her to the floor, knock her unconscious, and be done with it.

  She pursed her lips. “You know I don’t approve of such things. The fact is, we’ve entered a new stage now.”

  He scoffed. “You don’t know the half of it.”

  “I’m sure you’ll tell me in good time. You never were one to hide things.” She paused. “For now, what has come between us in the past must be regarded as history. I’m willing to—”

  “I don’t want to hear it.”

  Her brows raised. “Would you rather I’d left you there to die? Do you think this is easy for me, Cassius?”

  “You always meddle. Some things are bigger than you.”

  “You’ve been through quite an ordeal,” she said. “I understand.”

  “Stop it. Stop talking like that.”

  “Like what?”

  He grit his teeth. “Like you’re being filmed or something. Like you’re playing a different person. I don’t want you here. I hate you.”

  She remained silent for a moment, eyes on the sky.

  “You have nowhere else to go. Word of this will spread, and spread quickly. The Tribunal will blame an event like this on the Unified Party—”

  He grabbed his hair, face shielded from her. “I don’t care.”

  “True or not,” she continued. “That’s what they’ll do. This may trigger the war we’ve always feared. It will be traced back to you and Fisher. Maybe not immediately, but it will happen. You are not safe anywhere.”

  He looked up at her, eyes watering. “And I’m safe with you?”

  She sighed. “You are familiar with me. That will have to do.”

  “I could kill you right now.” He shook his head. “All it takes is a thought.”

  “You could.” Madame smiled, then let out a soft chuckle. “But you won’t. We both know that.”

  Cassius turned away. He couldn’t look at her anymore. He couldn’t watch her smile as everything sunk around them. He glanced out his windshield.

  A flash of red.

  “What was that?” He pivoted to get a better look. Madame’s face bristled. She moved her attention back to the skies in time to see a second orb of red energy shoot past them like a comet plunging to Earth.

  She laid off the accelerator, visibly shaken. The red energy came and went in less than a second and the air was clear again. Her mouth opened.

  “I’ve never seen—”

  “A red Pearl.” Cassius leaned forward.

  She turned to him. “What?”

  He felt the emptiness on his wrist. Theo may have perished, but Matigo’s son had accomplished his goal. The bracelets were gone, and with them the scrambling power of the Ridium. “You don’t know as much as you think you do. You don’t know anything.”

  She swallowed. “None of the scanners detected—” A second Pearl interrupted her, carving a turbulent path about a hundred yards to her left. She gawked out the window and watched it fall before turning back to the controls.

  “History,” Cassius said. “You wanna forget the history between us? We’re gonna be lucky if we have any history left.”

  44

  They start falling soon after the wreckage of Skyship Altair disappears from our view. Eva’s the first to see one, but soon all five of us are plastered against the windows, staring out at the Surface below.

  They drop like regular Pearls, but far more frequently. It’s like Cassius said. Without the opposing force of our bracelets, the floodgates have opened. There are dozens of them at any given moment. Even without seeing it directly, I know they’re everywhere.

  Some might be striking Skyships or Chosen Cities. Many will hit the Fringes. There will be Pearls in Siberia, dangerously close to the Academy. They’ll land in Africa. The Commonwealth. The ocean, maybe. They’re blanketing the Earth. And here we are—six of us in a tiny cruiser. Insignificant.

  Avery’s shoulder touches mine. I can feel her trembling. “They’re not stopping,” she whispers. “They just keep falling, like a hailstorm.”

  I shake my head. “They’re coming too soon. There are too many.”

  We did everything we could, I tell myself. We followed the breadcrumbs. We were careful. Would things have been any different if I’d listened to Alkine and stayed at the Academy, confined?

  I’m a disaster. One after another, my allies have been ripped away. Killed.

  Mr. Wilson. Ryel. Morse. Bergmann. I didn’t listen, and now they’re dead. And I’m sure it won’t be long before the rest of us follow suit.

  I turn around and lean my back against the window. I can’t look outside anymore. I can’t watch them land.

  I can almost hear Theo’s laugh echoing in the sky. He’d love this. He’d consider it the greatest honor—the son paving the way for his father.

  I kick at the floor and let out a deep sigh before burying my head in my hands. Then, allowing tears to spill over my fingers, I wipe my face and stand. “I should go see Cassius.”

  But before I can take a single step, the door to the cockpit opens and Cassius walks out. He takes a breath as he scans the cabin. Then, voice trembling, he speaks. “We’re going underground.”

  We turn to look at him. Eva crosses her arms. “Where?”

  “There are Unified Party bunkers spread all around the Fringes. The closest is in Nevada. Madame has access. We’ll be safe until we can figure out w
hat to do.” His eyes meet mine, pleading not to argue. I sense that he’s already had a difficult enough time talking with Madame up front.

  “We can’t stay on the Surface,” he continues. “And we’re not in a position to … ” He stops himself. “We’re going underground. That’s all.”

  I expect someone to challenge him, but nobody responds—not even Eva. There’s little choice, really. We don’t have the energy to fight. We wouldn’t know where to start if we did.

  All of a sudden, green light filters through the windows, bathing the inside of the cabin in a soft, calming glow. I turn back to the window and see them instantly.

  The Drifters fly on either side of our cruiser, encircling us in a protective formation. I can see their faces from this distance, and make out their plain white clothing. They’re here, Sem and Talan and every one I freed on Altair.

  I spin around. My heart beats faster, or maybe it’s the energy outside. “Look,” I point. “In the sky. It wasn’t all for nothing. They’re here. They’re following us.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Cassius says. “We’re going underground either way. We can’t do anything like this. We’ll die, and then we won’t be of use to anyone.”

  I nod, even though I hate the thought of it.

  I am already here.

  Now Matigo has his army.

  The cruiser lurches beneath us. Skandar rushes to the window. “We’re heading down.”

  Avery crosses her arms. “That was quick.”

  “The ground’s opening,” Skandar continues. “I see it.”

  Cassius sighs. “Say goodbye to all of this, at least for a little while.”

  I take a last glance into the sky and watch the storm of red Pearls. Is it defeat? Are we running away? What would my parents want us to do?

  I shut off the questions. They’ll drive me crazy if I let them control me. Cassius is right. We can’t do anything in this condition. The world will have to defend itself for now.

  The windows darken.

  The ground swallows us whole and everything’s silent.

  45

  Thirty-eight hours later:

  The silence is what kills me.

  I don’t know what’s happening above us, on the Surface. Every minute that passes could mean another life extinguished, another city decimated. On the other hand, maybe none of the Authority’s Pearls have broken yet. The Unified Party communication feed cut out shortly after we landed. Last we heard, the Chosen Cities considered the red Pearls an attack by the Skyship Community. A new form of technology. Then they started to hatch. That’s when the feed broke. We’re cut off.

  We’re clueless. Clueless and isolated.

  But we’re not going to get anywhere on guesswork. This is a war, and you don’t enter a war blindly. It took some convincing, but everyone understands now. We’re safe, and safety is a luxury we need to harness while it lasts.

  Our bunker lies in the middle of a Fringe desert, far from the nearest Chosen and invisible to the unknowing eye. It will be our home for as long as necessary. Without the bracelet, Matigo has no way of tracking us. He wants to kill me, I know that. After all, I’m the Pearlbreaker. That’s never been as important as it is now.

  But I don’t know where he is. Or who he is. If he’s been here for awhile, he could have blended in years ago. He could be anyone. A Fringe leader, a government official. Maybe even a member of the Academy.

  Sem and Talan took care of triggering the remaining Drifters’ language processors. Twelve out of nineteen are now speaking fractured English. They seem to become more fluent with every hour that goes by. We’ll be ready soon. They can give us information.

  I spent the first ten hours sleeping. I didn’t want to. The thought of what might be happening over my head made me feel too guilty to sleep. I couldn’t abandon the fight just as it was starting. It was a coward’s move.

  But it’s the right one. Confinement. Not the way Alkine was keeping me a prisoner back home, but a different type.

  Cassius and I are the Resistance’s champions, and champions don’t go and get themselves killed at the first sign of danger. They learn and they discuss, and when they have a plan, they execute it to the best of their ability. I guess in a way, Alkine was right.

  This war was always coming. One way or another, Matigo would have found a means to invade. In the long run, there was nothing either Cassius or I could do to stop it. At least that’s what I repeat in my head to make myself feel better.

  The Unified Party bunker is remarkably spacious, much more than the Academy’s holding pen back in Siberia. The eerie stillness makes it difficult to imagine that the events of the past few days actually happened. After a night of drug-induced sleep, it feels like I might have dreamed the entire thing. Even the scars on my chest are beginning to fade.

  But it wasn’t a dream. The destruction of Skyship Altair was only the first strike.

  The door to my room opens and Avery enters. I feel stupid, sitting on the corner of my bed like a little kid when I should be out acting like the hero I’m supposed to be, but she caught me at a bad time.

  She joins me on the bed. “The Drifters are all awake. We’re calling a meeting in thirty minutes.”

  I sigh. “I wish I knew what was happening up there.”

  She bumps my shoulder. “The Chosen Cities has been fending off Fringers for years. The Skyship Community has their defenses. You can’t worry about what you can’t control. You need to get your strength up.” She pauses. “Look at you, you’re malnourished.”

  I shrug. “I’ve always been skinny.”

  “Madame sent Talan and Sem up to the Surface to report. They haven’t come back with anything major. No Theo, either.”

  “He’s dead,” I mutter. “I’m sure of it.”

  “Maybe.” She sighs. “The world will do without us for a little while longer.”

  “I don’t like this place.”

  “Neither do I. It reminds me of the medical labs under the Lodge.” She shivers. “Bad memories.”

  “Madame’s still okay?”

  “She hasn’t tried anything yet. Cassius is keeping an eye on her.”

  I grip the edge of the bed. “Of course he is.”

  “I think she’s just as shell-shocked as we are, Jesse. This is new territory, even for her.”

  I glance up at her. “I still don’t like being this close to her.” “You think I do? I was under her control for weeks. She’s done horrible things to me, and I feel like punching her in the face every time I see her. But she knows how this place works. And more importantly, she’s got contacts and access to the Unified Party. I think we’re going to need everything we’ve got at our disposal.”

  “Yeah,” I reply. “I understand it. That doesn’t mean that I have to like it.”

  She lays her hand on my knee. “Are you okay, Jesse?”

  “It’s all real,” I say. “Ever since Syracuse. There’s no putting this off or forgetting about it. It’s real. I mean, I always used to procrastinate at the Academy. I wasn’t anybody’s idea of anything. Not a good student, not a good agent. Not even a very good friend.”

  “Stop.” She squeezes my leg. “Jesse, don’t say things like that.”

  “I’m not even a good Pearlbreaker,” I continue. “Think about it. There’s only one of me in the universe—only one person who can do what I can—and I screwed it all up.” I lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. “There was supposed to be an army waiting for them, and what have we got instead? A bunch of Drifters, two of them kids. And … and our greatest enemy down here looking after us. It’s ridiculous.”

  Avery leans back with me. Her hair falls against my shoulder. She whispers, “Theo was more powerful than anybody could imagine, maybe even more powerful than you and Cassius combined. But you beat him. You lived.”

  “Yeah, but we—”

  “Never mind the buts,” she continues. “You beat him, and that’s what we’re going to do to the Authorit
y. This is our planet, Jesse. We have the upper hand. It may seem dark now, but when we climb up to the Surface, we’re going to be ready. You and Cassius? You’re the champions. You don’t get to be called that without a reason.”

  I close my eyes and let her words filter into my brain. Part of me doesn’t want to hear it, but the other part pulls it in like a drug. I need to hear it, even if I don’t want to.

  “Avery?”

  She smiles. “Yeah?”

  “I love you.”

  Her smile turns into a laugh. “Shut up, Fisher. Don’t you go getting all mushy on me. That’s one thing champions don’t do.”

  I give a hollow chuckle. It falls silent for a moment. Then, just as I’m about to fall asleep again, I yawn. “I guess I’d better get up.”

  “I guess you should. You don’t win wars sitting in bed.” I nod.

  She smiles. “You know, we’re not letting them take our planet.”

  “No,” I whisper. “We’re not.”

  I repeat this mantra in my head, and wonder if my parents had to repeat something similar back on Haven. They were able to lead a Resistance against Matigo before I even knew what a Pearl was. I’m not them, but if they could do it, I must have that same strength of will in me. Somewhere, buried like the Ridium under the Surface.

  I stand and stretch. One step at a time. Breakfast.

  It’s easier to focus on small things. If I linger on the bigger picture for too long, I start to freak out. I have to sit down and close my eyes and remember that I’m still alive.

  I’m Matigo’s biggest enemy. Without me, Pearls are just useless balls of energy. Ryel wanted me to build an army. I wasn’t fast enough. There are twenty-eight of us down here, waiting. We’re small, but it only takes one to make a wave. Altair was just the beginning. We’ll do what we have to. For Ryel, and Morse. And Mr. Wilson and all of those people brought down by Theo. We owe it to them.

  We may not like it, but we are the Resistance now.