by K. Gorman
“He said he’d be around mid-town,” Meese said. “This way.”
“Okey dokey.”
*
It took another ten minutes and two alleys to find mid-town. When they got to the mouth of the last one, Meese stopped dead.
Robin, not paying attention, nearly ran into her. She stubbed her toe into the concrete as she backpedaled, the heel of her hand scraping into the brickwork for support.
“What?”
Streetlight slanted into their alley, driving a line across Meese’s shoulders. Strands of hair glistened like strings from a broken spider’s web. She stood close to the wall, eyes fixed on something up the street.
When Meese didn’t answer, Robin stepped to the side and craned her neck around the redhead’s shoulders.
The street was bigger than she’d thought, widening into an intersection less than a block away. An old roundabout stood in the middle, piled high with rubble. Concrete barriers hemmed it in.
A small crowd stood on just this side of the barriers. A small, dead silent crowd. With Roger in the middle.
A tingle of unease crawled up her spine. They were just a little too quiet, their faces a little too serious.
“Trouble?”
Meese nodded. “You see that guy talking to Roger?”
“Tall, baldy? Dressed like Principal Russeau?”
“He’s the Earth Mage.”
Meese had gone dead still. Her face mirrored the serious looks on the faces in the crowd.
“Really?” Robin squinted. Roger and his posse had managed to find the only dim patch of street on the block, which played hell on her eyes—especially since she’d spent the last day and a half hunched over her math book, staring at its tiny font. “So… like Aiden, but Earth Element?”
“Yes.”
The man had a dark, Middle-Eastern tint to his features, with high eyebrows and a distinguished tilt to his chin. Or—wait, was that a sneer? Her heart leapt. Anyone with the balls to sneer at Roger either had a death wish or packed some serious firepower.
From Meese’s tone, she guessed it was the latter.
“He doesn’t like me much,” Meese added.
“Which is why we’re standing over here, and not over there?”
“Yes.”
Her friend had shrunk back from the entrance, putting more wall between her and the Mage. Shadow slipped over her shoulder as she stepped back, her eyes never leaving the street.
Robin folded her arms over her chest. “Are we going to stay over here until he goes away?”
The alley had a faint smell to it. Like urine. And trash. And cigarette smoke.
Meese gave her a sheepish grin. “Roger looks busy, anyway.”
Busy chatting up a Mage. Now that she knew some backstory, she could guess who populated the rest of the crowd—Roger’s posse. All members of the Society that ran the Underground. All of them trained fighters.
This wasn’t just a nice Sunday chat. It was a confrontation.
“What can he do against an Earth Mage?” Robin asked. “We’re underground.”
Meese didn’t answer. Even though she’d backed up, she’d never let the Earth Mage out of her sight. A second tingle of unease shivered up Robin’s back. She stiffened.
“How badly does this guy hate you?”
“He thinks I stole the power of the Fire crystal. Heard that he might try to get it back.”
“Doesn’t he have to go through Aiden first?”
“Not if he catches me alone.”
Robin touched her hand to Meese’s shoulder, ignoring her friend’s flinch. “I brought my gun.”
“With metal bullets?” Meese glanced her way. Her eyes flashed orange. “You’re right. What can we do against him? We’re underground.”
Robin stared. “Wait, wait—look back at me a sec.”
Meese turned back. “What?”
Orange light threaded through her irises. It spread from the pupil, moving through each filament like hot, liquid gold, shifting Meese’s normally brown eyes to a fiery cast. It shimmered and shifted, like embers.
“Your eyes are glowing!”
Meese’s eyes widened. The light spread.
“What?”
“Here—” Robin pulled out her phone, switched the camera to selfie mode, and turned the screen toward her friend. “Take a look.”
“What the hell?” Meese stumbled back, bumping into the wall.
“Is it supposed to do that?”
“No? I don’t know. I just started training yesterday!” She fumbled through her pockets and extracted her own phone. “I’m taking a picture.”
“Body modifications weren’t part of the training program?” Robin grinned.
“This isn’t funny!” Meese hissed. The phone clicked as the image took. She narrowed her eyes, the light dimming into fiery slits. “What the fuck?”
“Would Roger know? He’s an Elemental, right?”
Meese shivered, twisted her nose. “Is the party still on over there?”
Robin craned her neck around the alleyway. “Looks like the Earth Mage has left. He’s walking up the street.”
“Which way?”
“Not our way.”
“Good.” Meese took a breath, hunched against the wall. When she closed her eyes, the light blinked out. “Can you go get him?”
Robin stiffened. “Er, me? Get Roger? Alone?”
“It’s okay. He doesn’t bite.”
The Fire Elemental flexed her fingers. She opened her eyes, and fractals of golden-orange light fragmented down her shirt. They seemed darker now. A deeper color of orange than before.
When Robin didn’t move, Meese glanced up. “Please?”
Okay. Robin adjusted her backpack, running a nervous hand down the strap. Her fingers shook. Walking up to Roger with Meese was one thing. Alone was another.
And he had a crowd.
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. It wasn’t too late to turn back, was it? He hadn’t seen her yet. She could give Meese the gun, skulk back to the upper city, and hide in her room, where only her mother could find her.
The thought made her face twist. She stepped forward before she changed her mind, straightening as she walked into the street.
It would be fine. What was he going to do, shoot her?
A streetlight hummed behind her, its yellow glow highlighting the repairs in the road. She scuffed her shoe against a worn crack, kicking a loose chunk of concrete onto the curb. The crowd seemed bigger when she got closer. The people closest to her looked around as she approached.
In the middle, Roger spoke to a woman at his side, head bowed and arms crossed over his chest.
She’d once thought of him as an assassin. He certainly fit the stereotype. He wasn’t tall, but he had a long, lean body, a penchant for black clothes, and a violent personality that he hid behind a genteel veneer, as sharp and subtle as the knives he carried.
His eyes missed nothing. And when he looked over at her, his gaze hit her like a brick.
She tightened her jaw and kept walking. The crowd parted around her.
“Long time no see, little bird.” His voice was smooth, without a hint of an accent. A bandage wrapped around his right hand. “Have you thought about my offer?”
“I have. I’d like to accept it. Would you like the gun back?”
The woman beside him raised an eyebrow at the mention of a gun. Roger’s eyes glittered.
“Keep it. You’ll need it for training. What is your schedule?”
“I’m free starting Thursday evening, mother permitting. After four o’clock on weekdays, once school’s back in.” She’d rehearsed this part. Part of her math cramming had involved calculating the amount of time it would take to finish her other subjects. With a good amount of cushion time.
He lifted an eyebrow. “‘Mother permitting’?”
Robin blushed. “She’s a bit strict.”
“I see.” He shifted. The streetlight slanted across his face. “Come
down Thursday evening. Meese can show you the way. And you can tell your mother that you enrolled in kickboxing. I will see you then.”
He made to turn away, back to the woman beside him, but Robin stopped him. “Meese is here, too. She’d like to talk to you. Alone.”
The woman beside him lifted both eyebrows this time, and her eyes scanned the street. Robin noticed some of the others do the same.
“Where?” Roger said.
“Alleyway.”
Chapter 9
“This just happened?”
Roger stood at the mouth of the alley, a grin spreading across his face. It might have been the first time Robin had ever seen him smile. The streetlight bisected him, catching the threads of his jacket from behind but leaving his front in shadow.
Meese retreated farther into the alley’s dimness—but there was no hiding those eyes. They flashed in the dark, flickering like candle flames. She looked like something wild, trapped.
Roger had paused when he’d first caught sight of Meese. Now, he slipped into the alley’s mouth with a smooth, predatory gait. His shadow stretched over the concrete.
“Yes.” Meese spoke quickly, as if her words might keep him at bay. “Has this happened to you?”
“No.” He hid a smile behind his hand. “But Sophia might know. Hold still.”
He pulled out his phone. Meese backed against the brick wall, crossing her arms over her chest. Her mouth was a tight, unamused flat line. The material of her hoodie bunched where she gripped her elbows, the tension turning her fingers into claws.
Roger steadied the phone in front of her. It made the shutter sound.
“This is going to be all over MyLife, isn’t it?”
“Just the local network.” Roger smiled. “How did it happen?”
Meese shrugged. “I dunno. It just happened.”
“It was when you got here,” Robin reminded her. “You were looking at the Earth Mage.”
“Really?” Roger never took his eyes from Meese. “Fascinating.”
“What was he doing here?” Meese asked. “I thought he was a hermit.”
“He is.” Roger's tone sobered. Shadow slipped back into his smile, as dark and clear as the night sky. Suddenly, his expression wasn’t so jovial. “I aim to keep him that way.”
Quiet followed his reply. For a second, it seemed as though the world had stopped. The joking dropped from both Elementals’ expressions. They exchanged a long look. Meese's eyes burned; his had the quiet darkness of a crow's. Fire and shadow. When Meese shifted, it was so quiet that they heard the gravel grind under her shoes.
When she spoke, her voice had dropped. It was softer. Quieter.
“How? Against Earth? Underground?”
Teeth appeared in his smile, cradling his words like knife edges. “Even Mages bleed, Meese, if you get close enough.”
“Your knives are made of metal.”
“Not this one.” He pulled something out of his pocket. Robin had to step around him to see what it was—and even then, it was barely visible. Transparent. It caught the light like water on a lake, its top edge briefly shining to its point. She could see right through it to the bricks beyond.
Meese’s breath caught. “Glass?”
Roger nodded. “And this water is laced with acid.”
A neon green bottle hung from his belt, its presence somewhat detracting from the monochromatic color scheme. The liquid inside sloshed up against its walls when he moved.
Robin took a step away from it.
Slowly, Meese smiled. “You’re fucking crazy.”
He tipped his hat. “I have been called worse things. If there’s nothing else—I’ll see you Monday.”
He moved back out onto the street, leaving them in the alley.
They watched him go.
Robin sidled closer to Meese. “What happens Monday?”
“I start his boot camp.”
“Oh.” She glanced back at her friend. “It’s fading now.”
“The light?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
Meese closed her eyes and relaxed against the brick wall. There was no graffiti on this one, just regular, even paint. When she opened them again, her eyes were back to normal.
“Well, what now?”
Robin shrugged. “Dunno. I got all day.”
Meese’s phone chirped. She pulled it out and glanced at the message. “So do I, apparently. You wanna go shoot things?”
“Okay.”
*
The underground mall opened up around them, dark, cavernous, and still. It had an open floor plan that split the central walkway in two, making it much different from the cramped, space-saving malls in Uptown. A series of rounded balconies rose on either side, overlooking the floors below. Farther on, Robin could just barely see the bridges that crisscrossed the chasm.
She rested a hand on the guardrail, peering down into the gap. An outdated kiosk sat abandoned on the floor. Broken pieces lay scattered around it. Beside her, a frozen escalator led up to the next floor. Its metal stairs glinted in the scant light.
Only the left side of the mall had lighting—a string of rudimentary but well-tended bulbs meant to lead people from the Core to a large population of dug-out apartment buildings about ten minutes away. According to Meese, the mall was a main thoroughfare.
But she didn’t follow the path of lights. Instead, she pulled out a flashlight and turned right, following the less-traveled part of the walkway into darkness.
Robin jogged to catch up. “Where are we going?”
“To find a replacement mannequin.”
“A what?”
“A mannequin. You know, the store dummies? We use them for target practice.”
Meese’s eyes hadn’t glowed again since the alley, remaining their original brown color. In the dim light, they looked almost black. Robin wished she’d taken a picture of it, but it had seemed a bit rude. Maybe she could get one later, when Meese was in less of a mood. She'd taken a selfie of it, after all.
The flashlight made the shadows jump as they walked. Storefronts rose in the darkness, broken glass reflecting the scene in a dim, dismal glow. Their footsteps echoed.
“I assume you know where to find one?” Robin asked.
Meese nodded. “Yeah. A place Jo and I found. She’s gonna meet us there.”
Robin had met Jo once, a few months ago. When Meese had been comatose in the hospital. There hadn’t been much to say back then. A whole lot of standing. Cards, flowers.
Dirt and grime covered the storefronts. From what she could see, most of the furniture inside had been turned over. She smelled urine in a doorway.
Meese tilted the flashlight up, illuminating a dark spot on the ceiling. There was a matching spot on the floor. The remains of someone's fire.
“Meese?”
“Yeah?”
“What’s it like to have an Element?”
Her friend shrugged. “I dunno. Haven't really used it much.”
“Didn't Aiden ban your fire or something?”
“Yeah.” Meese paused, sidestepping a broken bottle on the floor. The flashlight’s beam skittered over the grimy linoleum before returning to the distant railings. “I don’t get cold anymore.”
“What?”
“Temperature-wise. I don’t get cold. I’ve been jogging in shorts lately.”
“Snow doesn’t bother you?”
“Not really.”
Meese turned left, heading for an escalator. Their feet made metallic taps as they went up. Robin glanced over the side as they ascended. The bottom floor was shrouded in darkness, a long way below her. No head-high safety walls guarded the sides, just the waist-high railing.
Guess that was before they got strict on the regulations. This escalator would have never passed in Uptown today.
Meese stumbled at the top step. A piece of debris ricocheted off the escalator’s base and skipped into the darkness beyond, rattling against the old flooring. Robin sa
w the flashlight gleam against the serrated metal step, move across the floor, and pause on a smooth, disembodied plastic leg.
The air felt cold. Her thighs burned from all the exercise, knees shaking from the effort. Fuck, she was out of shape. She leaned on the railing, wary of the steep drop below. It was quiet. Eerie. Meese’s flashlight followed the floor forward, then tilted upward. The sight ahead made her grip the railing a little harder.
There had to be at least fifty dolls on the landing. All sizes. All shapes. Adult, kid, male, female—even some different colors. Meese’s flashlight beam panned over them. Vacant eyes stared back.
She repressed a shiver. “Is this someone’s idea of a joke?”
“I guess.” Meese had paused by the nearest one, flashlight focused on its face. Someone had drawn a mustache above its lip. Another doll wore a fedora.
Robin shuffled forward. The floor was slick with dust. Around her, dolls stood in a variety of poses, modeling nothing but their own naked bodies. A child model next to her held a dead flower in her closed fist.
“Seriously, who did this?”
Meese examined a doll ahead of them, its hand outstretched in a classic ‘vive la révolution’ fist. Behind it, a female mannequin stood with her head on the floor next to her pointed toe.
Darkness closed in behind her as Meese moved forward. Robin watched the light vanish from the doll beside her, its vacant, lifeless eyes staring beyond her shoulder.
She hurried to catch up.
“This is either super creepy or super awesome,” she said. “I can’t decide which.”
“These ones are new.” The light panned across a series of dolls by the edge of the group. “Someone must have added them.”
“Well, they didn’t walk here,” Robin said.
Their shadows jumped high on the storefront behind them as Meese moved the light. Robin shivered. The dolls surrounded them. They looked like short, stumpy trees in her peripheral vision. Creepy, human-shaped trees.
She kept close to her friend.
“You know, I think I’ve learned something today.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She ducked around another child-sized one. This one had a small plastic knife. “I don’t like dolls much.”
