Copper Girl

by Jennifer Allis Provost

  The beginning of the journey was the worst; we were sucked into a piece of metal, then forcibly thrown into the next piece. More than once, I thought I’d be sick, and I might have been if not for Micah. He expertly steered us from one metallic island to the next, his calm never wavering, his arm around me never loosening.

  Once we’d made our way into the woods surrounding the prison, the metal breadcrumbs lay closer together; Micah, who’d recently freaked over my driving, took off at a breakneck pace. When we finally arrived before Micah’s silver house, I had the distinct feeling that my stomach was still a few feet behind me. Micah, in order to set down Max, unwound his arm from my shoulders, which turned out to be a bad idea. Still off-balance from our swift travels, I tumbled to the ground.

  I hadn’t realized that any time had passed when I opened my eyes, my first sight Micah’s concerned silver gaze. “Where’s Max?” I mumbled. I looked around and wondered why we were in the knot garden.

  “The silverkin have brought him indoors.” Micah gathered me to his chest, and I felt him shudder. “My Sara, don’t ever frighten me in such a way again.”

  “What happened?” I dimly recalled our journey, but we were here—Max was here—so everything must have worked out.

  “Once we leapt free of the metal, you fainted. It has taken me more than an hour to revive you.” His embrace tightened, and I had to admit that it felt good to have him worry about me. No one but my mother had worried about me like that for over ten years.

  “I’m okay,” I murmured. “Really.” I got to my feet only a bit unsteadily. “Let’s go see Max.”

  With Micah’s arm about my waist, we went indoors and found my newly-freed brother lying upon a makeshift bed of cushions on the hall’s main floor. He was still out cold, but the silverkin attended their strange guest as if he were a prince. They had washed his raw, tender skin, and dressed the many puncture wounds. Now they gently chafed his limbs, warming him to a normal temperature, and had tucked a myriad of shawls and blankets, along with the coverlet from Micah’s own bed, about him. A bowl of steaming broth waited on a side table, ready for him when he woke.

  I sank to my knees next to him and took his hand. “Hey,” I murmured. I couldn’t believe he was here, alive and (mostly) whole. I’d dreamed of finding him since the moment he’d been arrested. Weird. What girl’s dream come true was her older brother?

  Maybe I had been his dream too, because Max opened his eyes. “Sara?” he rasped. I smiled, and he blinked. “Sara, where are we?”

  “We’re still in the Otherworld, at Micah’s home.” Micah came to stand beside me. Max’s eyes flicked over to him for the barest second, widening in shock and terror.

  “He’s a freakin’ elf!” Max sat bolt upright and grabbed my shoulders. “Sara, it’s not safe! You have to get away from him!” That outburst brought on a fit of coughing; once his hacking subsided, I continued.

  “Don’t worry, I’m his consort!” Wow, that sounded stupid.

  “You’re his what?” Max, weakened by his many years of captivity, still managed a disapproving tone. Mom would be proud—at least, if I told her about it. “Never mind,” he grunted. “Why are we here? I’m supposed to be at the Institute!”

  “Max, we rescued you,” I soothed. “You’re safe here. They won’t hurt you anymore.”

  “I went there on purpose!” Max, far past exhaustion, leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees, resting the weight of his head in his hands. “I was distracting them,” he muttered.

  “What the hell from?” I demanded.

  He blew out a deep breath. “All magic is governed by one of the elements. You know how we’re metal?” I nodded. “Every generation, there’s one really powerful member of each element born. An Inheritor of Power, they’re called. The Peacekeepers thought it was me.”

  “It is you,” I said. “Isn’t it?”

  “No.” He raised his head, eyes wide and jaw trembling. I’d never seen Max scared before. “It’s Sadie.”

  chapter 17

  “Well, this has gone from bad to worse,” I grumbled. Shortly after Max’s revelation that Sadie was the true metal Inheritor, and that he’d gone willingly to the Peacekeepers in order to keep her (and me) safe, he had succumbed to his mingled fatigue and anxiety. He’d only managed a few spoonfuls of broth before leaning back and closing his eyes; ironically, just before he fell asleep, Max had been ranting away about the regimens of drugs that had been pumped directly into his bloodstream. Some had kept him in an REM state for extended lengths of time, for days or even weeks, while others had held him on the edge of deep sleep so he was unconscious for hours, but never actually rested—then, they had added stimulants to his pharmaceutical cocktail, and kept him awake until his eyes were like sandpaper. All of this had been done to study the effect of dreamwalking on various areas of the brain. Yeah, it would probably be some time before those poisons worked their way out of his system.

  Micah draped an arm across my shoulders and kissed my temple. “You did not know,” he murmured against my skin. “Would you describe wanting your brother returned to you, whole and safe, as a fault?”

  My ignorance of the facts didn’t make the present situation one bit more appealing. I glanced over at the bed where Max slept fitfully; after the unsuccessful feeding, the silverkin had moved him to a bedroom close to the kitchen, apparently so they could rectify his lack of a proper meal as soon as he woke. As I watched Max’s eyes move to and fro behind his lids, the small, jerky movements of his arms and chin, I wondered if my brother would ever again sleep peacefully.

  Probably not, not after what I’ve done. After Max’s initial freak-out, we’d calmed him down and convinced him to eat something. While he’d spooned the thin broth past his cracked lips, he had enlightened me as to my stupidity.

  “They always knew it was one of us,” he’d mumbled.

  “Who’re they?” I asked. He shot me a knowing glance, and my curiosity deflated like a balloon. Yeah. The Peacekeepers.

  “The Inheritor of Metal hadn’t been located in any of the other families,” said Max. I must have looked utterly befuddled, because he explained, “You can track where the heir is likely to appear, based on the strongest bloodlines. There are charts.”

  Of course. Charts. “What makes you think it’s Sadie?”

  “I don’t think. I know.” Cocky, cocky Max. He slurped some more of the broth before he continued. “I never thought my first meal when I got out would be chicken soup.”

  “Really?” Max had never been picky about food, but then, his diet at home hadn’t been nutrients pushed through a tube. “Want a steak or something?”

  He grinned. “Only if it’s rare and bloody.”

  I wrinkled my nose; he’d always eaten his meat extra rare to gross me out. I explained what steak was to the silverkin, and asked for a side of mashed potatoes and asparagus for good measure. As they scurried off, Max resumed his tale.

  “They’d gotten to the rest of the families before us,” Max continued. “Then Dad told me—”

  “Wait.” Max dropped his spoon, and Micah, who’d been lurking about the doorway while I spent time with my brother, rushed to my side. I think my commanding tone might have sounded a bit like Mom. “Dad?”

  Max didn’t pretend to misunderstand me. “Yeah. Dad and I stayed in contact for a few years after the wars.”

  Ever take an elevator up to the top level of a skyscraper only to let it plummet back to the ground floor? “What about Mom?”

  “I don’t know. I never asked.” Great. I gestured for him to continue; clearly, this bit of family drama wasn’t getting sorted out today, and possibly not within my lifetime.

  “He said that when Sadie was born he’d felt it, the huge swell of her power. He was able to mask it while he was home, but then he got called up by the war mages. She remained hidden for a while, but then the old Inheritor died.”

  “Olquin,” Micah said. “A good man, he was.”


  Max glared at Micah but kept his tone civil. Barely. “Once Olquin was gone, the Peacekeepers started turning things upside down looking for the new Inheritor. Dad had told me it was Sadie, but she was just a kid!” He shook his head, raking a hand through his shaggy hair. “How’s she doing?”

  “Good. She’s in school, going for a master’s degree. She wants to be a research librarian.”

  Max laughed soundlessly. “Sounds like Sadie. Always with her books and stories.” He fell silent for a time, fingering the ornate handle of the spoon. I wondered if Micah had made it. “I couldn’t let them take Sadie. They would have broken her.”

  “A noble sacrifice, but foolish,” Micah stated. Max’s head snapped up, but Micah continued, “No matter what you had done, eventually it would have become apparent that you are not the Inheritor. In fact, if one sensitive to magic is in close proximity to either of your sisters, they would be able to feel her powers.”

  “Sadie doesn’t even know how to use her power!” Max defended. “She was never trained!”

  “Neither was I, but Micah found me,” I said quietly. “He knew that I’m an Elemental and a Dreamwalker.”

  “Sara’s power is quite remarkable. It washes off her in waves, no less strong than the sea,” Micah said, a gleam in his eye not unlike pride. “Her strength went so far as to make the Iron Queen uneasy.”

  “Ferra?” Max asked. My recently captive brother was on a first-name basis with the Iron Queen? “Sara, you’ve got to stay clear of her! She hates our family!”

  “Really? Why?” I remembered Micah telling me that Ferra was Dad’s enemy, but I’d never asked why. Ferra seemed like the kind of woman who cultivated enemies the way others tended roses. “Is that why those iron warriors were following us after the first time we escaped the Institute?”

  Micah and Max shouted in unison, both demanding why this particular bit of information was late to the party. “I was distracted,” I mumbled, remembering rainy escapes and accommodating oak trees. “So, what’s her deal?”

  “I don’t know,” Max replied. “What I do know is that, after the war ended, Ferra acted like she was an ally to the remaining Elementals. Then she got pissed, and then Dad was gone…”

  His voice trailed off, so I finished for him. “Then, you took matters into your own hands.” Max only nodded, looking so despondent I couldn’t stay mad at him. Shortly thereafter, the Peacekeeper drugs knocking around his system had sent him back to sleep, a luxury I didn’t think I’d have for some time yet. It was all right; Max had done the best he could. He’d been a fifteen-year-old kid desperate to protect what was left of his family. It was time for me to handle things.

  Now, as Micah and I watched Max sleep, his steak gone cold and his potatoes a congealed lump of glue on the bedside table, we planned our next move.

  “Should we get Sadie from college?’ I asked.

  “Yes,” Micah murmured. “She and Maeve should be brought here to safety.”

  Micah didn’t mention Dad. Max had claimed to have lost touch with Dad a few years after the wars had ended, but a girl could hope. “Then what will we do?”

  “Then, we wait. We will let our enemies move first, and we will watch. We will learn. When we know all that they can teach us, we will strike.” That speech was similar to the one he’d given me while we had been hidden in the oak after I’d dreamwalked my way to Max. I wondered if Micah was some sort of elfin warlord, experienced in rallying spirits. I hoped so, since I felt like we were in need of someone who’d seen more than a few battles.

  I rested my head against Micah’s shoulder. “Have I told you that I love you, Lord Silverstrand?”

  “You haven’t.”

  I reached across his body and laced my fingers with his, the words he’d spoken in the Clear Pool echoing in my mind: we are much stronger together than apart. “Consider it done.”

  chapter 18

  By the time Max woke, as cranky as a wet cat, Micah and I had prioritized our next tasks:

  1. Get Sadie

  2. Get Mom

  3. Determine what the Peacekeepers are doing with Dreamwalkers (and all Elementals)

  4. Try not to get killed

  Numbers One and Two would be relatively easy, and we already knew part of the answer to Number Three. The trick would be adhering to Number Four. Of course, both Micah and I wanted to leave Max in the Otherworld while we completed Numbers One and Two. My darling brother, true to form, wasn’t having any of it. I was remembering that he was definitely the stubborn one.

  “Max, you cannot go,” I said. Again. “You’re too weak from being cooped up in that plastic box for so long!”

  “Am I?” he demanded. To prove his point he glared at a metal bowl, and we watched it crumple like so much paper.

  “Your body is what’s weak,” I bit off. “Small wonder, after ten years as a lab rat.”

  “I wasn’t always in the tube,” he pointed out. “In the beginning, they were good to me.”

  “Were they?” I sneered.

  “Yeah, they were. Besides, unlike you, I know how to use my power!”

  “Then why didn’t you escape?” I demanded. “Why weren’t you ruling the Otherworld, O Great and Powerful Max?”

  “There wasn’t enough metal,” Micah said quietly. Our sibling rivalry was getting on his delicate elfin nerves. “They hobbled him. Or perhaps it was a punishment.” Micah turned to Max and fixed him with his silver gaze. “What had you done to displease them?”

  Max’s eyes narrowed, but he answered, “You’re right; they kept only the bare minimum of metal in the Institute. I couldn’t have broken out if my life depended on it.” He was quiet for a moment, fingering the edge of his sleeve. “One day, a few years into it, I found a piece of metal in the exercise yard. It was

  nothing really, just a scrap. So I took it, and made a little sculpture for one of the techs. It was a lily; she liked the lilies that grew near the fence.” He was silent for a moment, staring at his hands. “I thought she liked me.”

  “Perhaps she did,” Micah murmured. He regarded Max for another moment, then turned back to me. “We should bring your brother.”

  “What?” I demanded, while Max snapped, “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here!”

  “Maeve is unlikely to accompany us without good reason,” Micah explained. “What better reason than her long-lost son, returned? Also, once Max’s disappearance is discovered, your government will likely begin monitoring the known portals, as well as your family. Therefore, it would be foolish to retrieve your sister and bring her here only to make a second journey between worlds in order to bring your brother to the Raven Compound.”

  I chewed the inside of my mouth; between the two of them, I was mad enough to spit. Micah’s logic was sound, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. “Fine,” I grumbled, glaring while Max smirked. “But if you die, don’t bitch to me!”

  With that I stalked out of the room, not slowing until I reached the knot garden behind Micah’s palace. Exhausted, exasperated, and all other sorts of ‘ex’- emotions, I sat heavily on one of the stone benches near the bathing pool. I heard Micah and Max follow, then stop while they argued in hushed tones. A few moments later, only one set of footsteps approached me. Surprisingly, it was Max.

  “Hey,” Max murmured. I ignored his voice, so he stood in front of me. Jerk. “You know we’re right.”

  “Max, you can barely stand. You can’t even eat anything!” After he had woken, he’d made a valiant effort to consume his steak dinner, but that had ended… badly. He’d joked about just how spectacularly he had vomited, downplaying our concerns, and asked for more broth. “I didn’t get you out of there just to let the Peacekeepers kill you in some other way.” My voice caught on the last word, and I covered my face with my hands.

  “They won’t kill me.” His voice was hard as nails, and that was the Max I remembered. I hazarded a glance at him, and his eyes burned like hot coals. “They hurt me, but that was because I l
et them. They needed me too much to kill me.” He dropped his eyes. “I’d do anything to keep you and Mom and Sadie safe. I thought I was doing the right thing, biding my time, waiting for them to slip up, but now… now, all bets are off.” He flexed his fingers, wincing when his knuckles cracked. Yeah, he was really fit to strike terror into the hearts of millions. My thoughts must have been written across my face, because he sat beside me and draped a gaunt arm around my shoulders. “Listen, I don’t need to stand. I’m just as powerful sitting down. And I don’t need to eat, either. For now, I can get by just fine on chicken soup and coffee. Before you know it, I’ll be eating peanut butter and bologna sandwiches. With pickles!”

  I laughed, remembering all the gross concoctions we used to make each other eat. Whoever didn’t puke was declared the winner, inasmuch as one could win that kind of event. “Yours were always the worst,” I said, remembering an unfortunate incident with chocolate frosting and sardines.

  “I am the master.” Max grabbed my hand, his flesh baby-soft. I guess that green liquid had had some benefits. “C’mon. Let’s get the little one.”

  Now, let’s get one thing straight: Sadie is not like me. She’s always gotten straight As, and she’s been on the dean’s list since her first semester at college. She never got in trouble, never made Mom roll her eyes and pray to the old gods for guidance, never practiced magic after we were told to stop. From the day she was born, she was always the perfect baby sister, and we all loved her for it. She was sweet, and kind, and saw the good in every person and situation.

  Like I said, we’re not all that similar.

  What’s more, I was about to waltz into her life and turn it upside down. More than anything, Sadie loved school. All her life, she’d wanted to be either a college student or a librarian; now she was a college student studying to be a librarian. And after today’s visit, she wouldn’t be either.