The Madness Project (The Madness Method)

by Bralick, J. Leigh

  Kippler didn’t glance up from his gauges, just flicked a hand over his shoulder. “Fine, just be fast. Don’t trust him.”

  Toma met my gaze again, and turned purposefully back to the stretcher. I grinned. Waited while one of the guards sighed and dragged out his ring of keys, and slipped one into the lock on my manacles.

  I felt the precise instant the lock gave, then everything happened in a blur. As soon as the cuff opened I slammed an elbow back, felt it smash into the guard’s throat. Spun and grabbed the other guard’s rifle. Drove the barrel of the gun into his face, watched him stagger and collapse. Drew back the rifle’s bolt, and turned to fix my sights straight on Dr. Kippler.

  He froze, pale with terror, both hands hovering, shaking, somewhere near his head. I reached down and grabbed my open manacles from the ground and tossed them to Toma, then pocketed the ring of keys the guard had dropped.

  “Put him in cuffs,” I said, giving an edge to my voice so it sounded like an intimidation. I really didn’t want Toma being arrested as a traitor too.

  Toma fumbled with them, but as he fastened them around Kippler’s wrists, he gave me a hidden sort of smile. I nodded, barely, and turned to the factory floor to face the other guards. But I winced and threw my arm over my eyes because the sun…the sun blazed so bright on the swallowing sea, the pulling sea…the crashing waves…

  I staggered and shouldered the rifle again, blinking to drive away the image.

  Focus, I told myself. Focus.

  Fourteen guards held fourteen rifles aimed at me. I smiled, because really, they should have known better by now than to try that trick. I stretched out my hand, and the sun blazed red and brightest white, showering light like raindrops. And I was screaming, on my knees. Other voices screamed with me, and somewhere, something fell with a deafening crash. When the blindness faded, I saw what I’d done. I hadn’t just taken the rifles. I’d dragged down the walkover. One of the guards had been unlucky enough to be caught under it, and now he lay motionless. Somehow I knew he wouldn’t move ever again.

  I swallowed and used the rifle to push myself to my feet. The world spun and I tasted blindness and fear…

  I bit down hard on my tongue, hoping the pain would drive back the madness, and waved the rifle at the remaining guards. They held up their empty hands and retreated into two knots, one by the collapsed walkover, the other by the door.

  “You won’t win,” one of them said. “The guards outside will have fired a flare gun, of course, soon as you made that racket. Reinforcements are already on their way, and then you will all die.”

  And it will take them two hours to reach us, I thought, but I said, “No. If any one of you moves, you will all die. Now, who’s got the key that will unlock their chains?” The guards just stared at me, so I pointed at the unconscious guards by the EMS device. “Will that key work? The one they used on mine?”

  “It’s not the same lock,” one of them said.

  “Who has the key to their chains?” I asked again, then shouted, “Who has it?” Behind me, I heard Dr. Kippler laughing, and I spun toward him. “Do you have something to tell me?”

  “I had the key,” he said, with a smile like a devil.

  “Had?”

  He jerked his head toward the drainage grates that edged the whole factory floor. “You might find it down there. As soon as you turned on your guards, I got rid of it.”

  I swore and dragged my hand over my head.

  Kill him, a vicious voice whispered deep in my mind. You know what he is. Do everyone a kindness and make him pay for the lives of all the mages he has killed.

  I raised the rifle to my shoulder, staring down its barrel at Dr. Kippler’s head. I felt nothing. Knew nothing but the pulse of blood in my ears, and the coldness in Dr. Kippler’s eyes. I counted ten slow beats of my heart and let out my breath, and lowered the rifle.

  “You will pay for your crimes,” I said. “But I’m not a murderer like you.”

  Still, it didn’t keep me from using the butt of the gun to render him unconscious. Once he was down, I turned away and scanned the rifle over the two groups of guards. “Don’t any of you move.”

  As soon as I was sure they would obey me, I turned and made my way straight for Hayli. Tears streaked her cheeks, but she had that brave, fierce light in her eyes that I loved so much.

  “Hayli,” I murmured, stopping in front of her. “I’m so sorry. I don’t have the key.”

  “No,” she said, as if she hadn’t heard a word I’d said. “I’m sorry. After Bugs…after that…I was so cruel, but you came back for me anyway…”

  I swallowed hard, and bowed my head. “I deserved it. Every word you said.”

  “No. Shade, I’d take a lashing twenty times over if it meant I could take back those words. What Bugs did…he saved your life. And it was worth saving. Dan’ you ever doubt that. D’you hear me? It was worth saving.”

  I stared at the stained cement floor, not trusting my voice. Finally I lifted my eyes to hers and said, quietly, “I’ll make it worth saving.”

  She smiled, snaring my heart. I set down the rifle and took another step toward her, still so far away, so impossibly far away.

  “Listen, Shade. You have to gan out of here,” she whispered. “Dan’ let them do aught to you.”

  “How, Hayli?” I asked. “They locked the door from the outside.”

  “Use one of the guards. Make him ask the sergeant to open the door for you. Then get out! Get out and get to safety. We’ll be fine. We’ll…we’ll get through it.”

  “No.” I turned away, dragging my hand across my head. “I’m not going to leave you. You really think these grobbing guards are going to stay true to their word? Honestly? Almost every mage in Brinmark who hasn’t been killed by these fanatics is chained in this room. See those holes?” I nodded toward the wall behind her, where I’d spotted several ominous looking black holes spaced at precise distances. “At a word they could flood this whole room with gas. Every last one of you would be dead in an instant. I can’t…I can’t leave you to that fate.”

  Close behind me, almost in my ear, I heard the click of a hammer being cocked.

  “Shade!” Hayli gasped, straining to reach me. “Look out!”

  I glanced over my shoulder and saw one of the guards standing directly behind me, gun aimed at my head. I turned to the row of mages, all staring at me, and held up my hands.

  “You could have warned me he was moving,” I said.

  “You’re brave, I’ll give you that,” the guard said. “But this is the end of the line for you, Mage. I don’t care what those damn boffins say, you’re a menace, and you will be executed.”

  I swallowed and turned to face him. The white electrical lights blazed like suns overhead.

  “You fools,” I said. “You always make this mistake.”

  “What?” he asked, his fingers twitching on his revolver.

  I lunged toward him, grabbing his wrist with one hand and his shoulder with the other, twisting his arm back. When I had him pinned I wrenched the revolver from his hand and slammed the grip against the back of his head.

  He crumpled to the ground, and I said, “You always talk. You should have just killed me.”

  I tucked the revolver in my belt and turned back to Hayli, taking a few steps closer to her. My heart hammered like mad. Funny, it had nothing to do with the notion that I’d just escaped an execution.

  “What’re we ganna do?” she whispered, head bent. I could see the faintest trace of tears on the tips of her lashes. “We’re all ganna die.”

  “There’s a way,” I said. “But you’re not going to like it.”

  She jerked her head up to stare at me. All the grief vanished from her eyes, driven out by a terrible fury.

  “No. Shade, no,” she said. “Dan’ even think about it. It’s too dangerous. You’re…you’re falling apart already. Can’t you see? Look what happened with that walkover! I can’t let that happen to you.”

  She
turned aside, clamping down on her lower lip.

  “You don’t know all of what I’m about to do,” I murmured, taking one more step toward her. I stood nearer to her now than I ever had before, and I could almost feel the hum of the air between us. “Hayli, there’s…there’s something you need to know about me.”

  Her gaze flashed back to mine, surprised, as if she didn’t realize I’d come so close. I swallowed and cursed myself under my breath.

  Then I reached out and clasped her arms.

  Nothing could have prepared me for the pulse that tore through me at the touch. Hayli jolted, gasping. After a moment she flinched and pulled a step back, confusion warring with wonder in her eyes.

  “I’ve…I’ve felt that before.”

  I drew a thin breath. “I know,” I said. “You felt it the first time we touched.”

  And I waited, my heart paralyzed, watching her face turn a perfect shade of white. Her eyes widened.

  “Oh…oh God. No.”

  “Hayli,” I whispered.

  She didn’t say anything else, but her lips parted like she wanted to speak. And before I could think, I slipped my hand behind her neck and drew her close, and placed on those lips the kiss I’d wished for a thousand times or more. Electricity shivered through me.

  All at once I felt the energy of the whole universe around me.

  The earth moving beneath me, the course of the stars wheeling above.

  The long death of rocks and the breath of space and the forgotten souls of forgotten men.

  The quiet song of the moon, the longing of rain, the wild rapture of lightning twined with thunder.

  Stronger than anything I felt the warmth of Hayli’s spirit, the sweetness of her mouth against mine.

  Overhead, every one of the electrical bulbs crackled and dimmed. I could feel it like the burn of blood in my veins. Could feel the energy in them straining toward me, a thin wire pulled taut, coming to my command.

  I reached one hand upward, and closed my fist, and every light in the building shattered and went black.

  Cries of alarm tore the darkness, but I ignored them all. I held Hayli, and the whole mad and shining universe held us in that moment, that one moment I would have died to prolong. But already the electricity I’d drawn in from the lights wreathed my hand, sparking with a blue sheen, like Alokin’s lightning device. In some corner of my mind I realized I could bridle that power—but not for long.

  My fingers stirred in the feather-soft fringes of Hayli’s hair. I could feel the pulse in her throat beneath my thumb, tremulous as a bird’s. I could taste the salt of her tears.

  The static surged down my arm with a force like fire. I released her with a gasp of pain and reeled back, pushing her away before the electricity could reach her.

  “No, Shade!” she cried, staring at the web of sparks, then at my face again with the shock of realization. “Tarik.”

  I gave her a faint smile. “Call me Shade,” I said, and sucked in a gulp of air through clenched teeth.

  There was too, too much to say, and I had no more time. I winced and pushed back against the creeping lightning, giving myself one more moment to twist my fingers in the wisps of her hair.

  “I’m so sorry, Hayli,” I said, pressing my forehead to hers. “For all the lies, and all the deception, for the pain and every way I’ve failed you. And for what I’m about to do.” My lips brushed hers again, like a sad refrain of music, and I murmured, “But this was always truth.”

  She kissed me fiercely and didn’t say a word, and when I stepped away I didn’t look at her again. I swallowed, and turned to the door and the knot of guards staring at me like they’d seen the end of days. The sparks danced across my chest and spread over my other arm, the crackle of its power molding the rhythm of my heart to match. I drew one long breath and the sparks faded into my skin.

  “Stand down,” I said to the guards, wishing my voice were stronger. Wishing I didn’t sound like I was about to die. “This is your last chance. Stand down, or I will kill every one of you.”

  Some of them moved. A few laughed, as if they were blind to everything I’d just done. I breathed out, and the web of lightning breathed out of me, twisting into a tangled net around me.

  Somewhere, somewhere past the hiss of static in my ears, I heard Hayli say,

  “Shade.”

  I closed my eyes and pushed out with all my strength.

  Chapter 14 — Hayli

  “Shade!” I screamed.

  The web of lightning chased over the fallen bodies of the guards, slithering up the metal beams around the door, flickering away over the rafters and down the fallen walkover with a noise like the devil. Then there was silence. Silence, and darkness. No one moved. No one screamed or cried. We all just stood paralyzed, because no one could believe we were still alive.

  When the last finger of lightning finally vanished, I thrashed against the chains that held me, again and again until I could feel the blood on my wrists from the chafing metal cuffs. I paused, reaching with my fingers, brushing over each wrist. Slick, slick with blood.

  I twisted my wrists, slow now, trying to spread the film of blood over as much of my hands as I could. Then I folded my fingers tight, and pulled. My hands, always too small, slipped in the metal rings. I tugged hard, biting my lip to stifle my scream of pain, and fell to my knees as my hands pulled free.

  I ran straight to Shade’s side. He lay flat on his back with his arms spread wide at his sides, that enormous black coat pooling around him. A faint shaft of light splintered past the door and fell across his face—his skin white as smoke, his lips parted like he meant to say something.

  I collapsed beside him, grabbing his shoulders with my bloody hands and laying my head on his chest. Nothing. Not even the faintest prickle of static.

  “Come on, Shade!” I cried, too loud in the silence. I choked in a breath, tears streaming down my cheeks. “This isn’t fair!”

  I shook him roughly, then laid my hand against his cheek and pressed my lips against his, the sobs tearing me apart. And he didn’t even respond to that.

  “Hayli,” someone said, coming up behind me.

  I froze in the middle of all my tears, because that voice could only belong to Derrin. But that was impossible, because Derrin hadn’t even been captured. Still, when I glanced back he was there, crouching in the sliver of light where I could see his face, his hands free and unshackled at his sides.

  “Derrin!” I gasped. “What…”

  He just measured me quietly, then his gaze fell on Shade. “We have to get him to Doc,” he said.

  “Where is Doc? I haven’t seen him…”

  “He got out with Rivano before the coppers came rounding everyone up. Hayli, Kantian’s dead. Jig killed him.”

  I thought maybe I should be stunned, or horrified, but I was so numb that I couldn’t even bring myself to comprehend.

  “How’ll we get him out of here, though? We’re kind of locked in.”

  “I can go for help,” he said, getting to his feet. “Just hang on a bit longer.”

  He stopped when he realized I was still staring at him. “Derrin, I just said, we’re locked in. How’re you ganna get out? How did you even get in in the first place?”

  “I’m sorry, Hayli,” he said. “We all had our secrets.”

  He backed up a step, and then he was gone.

  He just disappeared, the way only a Ghost could disappear.

  “Derrin!”

  Everything inside me froze with horror. I knelt there, staring at the blank space where Derrin had been, while everything shifted into place in my mind. All the secrets. All the lies. The whole tangled web. I saw it all, but I couldn’t comprehend.

  From the corner of my eye, I caught a bitty little movement. Shade’s finger, twitching. All my breath shattered out in a sob and I dragged him off the cement floor, cradling his torso against my legs because I couldn’t move him any more than that. Barely, just barely, I felt the faintest prickle of sta
tic when I took his hands in mine.

  “Oh, God,” I said, and tipped my head back, trying to fight away the tears. And then, even though I knew he couldn’t hear me, I bent and whispered, “Derrin can never know. I’ll never let him know.”

  We sat that way for so long, minutes or hours. It felt like a lifetime. I kept letting go of his hand and then taking it again, just to feel the spark of energy that was all I had to tell me he was still alive…and because I’d imagined for so long how it would feel, holding his hand.

  It isn’t even really his hand, the crow whispered to me. It’s just a Mask.

  Shut up, I told her. Shade isn’t just a Mask…he’s who Prince Tarik wanted to be. He is Tarik. I always wondered why he felt so familiar.

  And suddenly I wasn’t sure which one I meant, Tarik or Shade. Now that I knew the truth, it made such perfect sense…I couldn’t understand how I hadn’t seen it from the very beginning. He’d always been just…Shade. So many memories flashed through my mind—how surprised, or amused, Shade had been when the lads teased me about Tarik, how he’d never wanted to be an anarchist, how he’d mocked Tarik so ruthlessly. How surprised Tarik had been when we met in the Science Ministry…

  How many times he’d come so close to death.

  And Derrin? Oh God, Derrin. He couldn’t possibly be the Ghost. Not my Derrin. But it occurred to me suddenly that I’d never touched him either, except the time when he carried me to the Hole, but I’d been so out of sorts then that I wouldn’t have noticed if he’d been breathing fire.

  I was blind not to have seen that, too. The way he could disappear into the shadows, the way he was always coming and going…oh, stars. He was the Ghost, and he shot Shade’s father.

  That thought made me frown. Trabin…King Trabin…he couldn’t possibly be Shade’s pop, not unless he was a mage too. But why would a mage be sent to kill a mage king? And why would a mage king let his own kind be targeted like this? But if he wasn’t Tarik’s father, then who was?

  It was all so complicated, such a tangled knot of lies and secrets. And I had no one to explain any of it to me.