by R. T. Lowe
Felix wheeled around and nearly lost his balance. A churning curtain of snow as wide as the northern slope of the mountain rushed toward them, shattering trees as if they were reeds, burying them like storm surge flowing over a beach. Felix watched numbly, wondering what had triggered it. The Deathhead’s body, he thought, then shook himself from his train of thought. Pull it together, Felix. Pull it together.
Shooting a quick glance at Allison—she’d dismounted the dead creature and was running toward him—he conjured a shield at the head of the avalanche, extending it across the face of the mountain.
“Shield?” Allison asked casually, scrubbing her mace in the snow, plunging it up and down to scrape off the Deathhead scraps clinging to it. She didn’t appear concerned that an avalanche was barreling toward them, obliterating everything in its path.
“Uh-huh,” he said slowly, readying himself. “Any second now.” He felt the distance between the avalanche and his shield shrink. “Any sec—”
Millions of tons of snow, ice and rocks crashed against Felix’s shield, a barrier created from his mind encountering one of the most powerful forces of nature, and stopping it in its tracks. The snow climbed higher, trapping boulders and splintered trees in its flow, creating a great white wall that spanned the mountainside as far as he could see.
“Cool!” Allison whispered, glancing at him. “You okay? Is that… hard?”
The impact had left Felix’s arm and shoulder practically numb and the wounds from the Deathhead throbbed dully, but the bleeding was under control now, a bare trickle, and the wooziness was gone. “I’m alright. Bill yelled at me the first time I used my powers. I was so proud of myself for moving a few books I literally did some stupid dance. I guess, well, now I know why he was so pissed.” He looked at Allison and grimaced; it appeared she’d bathed in the creature’s blood. “It’s actually not hard at all. I… it’s hard to explain, but I feel the shield. I know where it is. It’s like I can see it without looking at it.”
Allison slipped off her hat, turned it inside out and used it to wipe at her face. “Just make sure you keep feeling it until we get out of here. Once you drop it, the avalanche is going to erase this place.” Her gaze shifted to the burned, severed skull beside them, tapping her mace against the craterous wound at the crown, the thick flaps of skin folding over like a flower in bloom. “What happened to you anyway?”
“You didn’t see?” Felix indicated the sky with his eyes.
“Just when it got you. I was a little busy with my friend over there.” She threw a glance over her shoulder. “Those things came out of nowhere. It’s crazy how quiet they are. On the ground too. You can’t even hear them.”
“Sorry I couldn’t help.”
“Would’ve been nice, but I managed.” She shrugged.
“Managed?” Felix laughed, staring in wonder at the creature behind her. “I’d say you did a bit more than that.”
She smiled modestly, giving him another shrug.
“I was like a mile up in the air,” Felix explained, “and I tore off its head. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but I can’t fly.” He paused. “So I tried to control this thing”—he kicked its head—“but whenever I did, I felt so sick I… I wanted to die.”
Allison studied him for a moment, biting on her lip, nodding slowly. “You can move things and even other people, but if you move yourself, you—”
Felix cut her off, not wanting to relive the experience. “Just thinking about it makes me sick.” He made a face like he was about to throw up.
“Well then don’t think about it.” Her brow wrinkled in thought. “So you can’t fly and you can’t control things on the other side of your shields. I suppose you can’t do everything.”
“My kryptonite?”
“Nah. Just don’t jump out of planes without a parachute. It is interesting though. You’re finding out these things about yourself—call them weaknesses, I guess—but the flip side is maybe you have powers you don’t even know about.”
Felix considered that, watching the wall. It seemed to have peaked and the mountain had gone mostly quiet. The avalanche, apparently, had spent its energy.
“Wait a minute!” Allison suddenly burst out, patting her chest, shaking her head in confusion.
“What is it?”
“The basement in Inverness. Then your head. When you got hurt before, I experienced your injuries. Now look at me.”
Felix did. Spattered in blood, but all black, not her own, and no wounds that mirrored his. “How come?”
“Not sure.” She frowned. “Maybe because we were together?”
Felix frowned thoughtfully. “We can test that theory out later though I’m not really into self-mutilation.”
“We should go. We’re already gonna be late.”
“Late?” Then he remembered the podcast. “Shit! I totally forgot! We’re never gonna make it.” They started for the chair lift, running past the smoldering ruins of Brunn’s Warming Hut. When they reached the lift, they hopped on the first chair and sat side by side, beginning their slow descent down the slope, staring silently ahead, taking a moment to decompress.
After a while, Allison narrowed her eyes questioningly. “You can keep that shield up, right?”
Felix tapped a finger to his temple. “I got it right here. As long as another Deathhead doesn’t take me for a ride, we should be okay.”
Allison gave him an apologetic look. “I didn’t see that thing coming. Sorry. They’re just so weirdly quiet for being as huge as they are.” She paused, looking him over. “You’re okay, right?”
The bleeding had stopped. So had the pain. “Fine. Tough day though.” He smiled, putting a hand to where a stone wedge had split his head open earlier that day. “Looked like you were having fun with that Deathhead.”
Allison held her mace on her lap, the spikes now retracted, and gave it a gentle pat. “I love this thing. It was so nice of Kayla to…” She fell silent. “I wish she…”
“I know,” Felix said, understanding Allison’s anguish. Kayla was gone and Allison would never see her again. Coming to terms with the suddenness and finality of that sad truth would take some time.
She sighed and wiped her hands on her jeans. “I had my feet in its ears. They have these smallish slits and I stuck my feet in there and held on.” She nodded down at her mace. “This thing did the rest.”
“I think that thing had a little help from you. I can’t believe you just did that. I mean, that was fricken’ amazing!”
“It was, wasn’t it?” She smiled, tilting her head to the side as if deflecting his praise. “Sometimes I surprise even myself.”
Felix had a thought. “Why were they even there? Everyone in the world besides us knew Hamlen’s podcast wasn’t going to be here. So why would… why would Lofton send Deathheads? Who were they after?”
A network of fine lines worked their way across Allison’s forehead. “Not for us—I don’t think, anyway. No one knew we were coming here. We only have our burners and they weren’t even on.”
They sat quietly, thinking.
Felix noticed that Allison was shivering and bundled her with his tattered and bloodstained coat, slipping a hand around her waist to keep her warm.
“You’re such a gentleman,” she told him with a sarcastic smile. “Giving up your own comfort to help a poor damsel in distress.”
Felix laughed. “I don’t get cold and you’re definitely not a damsel.”
“I am too!” she objected. “Check out my nails.”
“Very goth,” Felix remarked. “I’m not sure black’s your color.”
“That’s blood!” She scrubbed them against her pants.
“Like I said—you’re no damsel.”
Allison laughed. “So what’s our next move? You don’t think Lofton would have Hamlen killed when he’s on campus, do you? I know he told you he’s not going to allow another podcast, but he couldn’t have known Hamlen was going to go against the administration and d
o it at PC.”
“Maybe he thinks I’m gonna kill him. I never told him I wouldn’t.”
“Okay, but how long will Lofton wait? At a quarter to five, you think Lofton’s waiting for you or calling in the B Team?”
“But on campus?” Felix exclaimed. “It’s too public, isn’t it? Lofton’s B Team can’t just walk in there and kill a professor. Even Lofton has… limits. Don’t you think?”
Allison took out her phone. “I think I agree with you, but we need eyes on what’s going on.”
“Lucas and them?”
“Yeah. They can go to the room where Hamlen’s doing his thing and maybe someone can wait outside the building. If they see anything weird going on at least we’ll know what we’re walking into when we get there.”
“Good idea,” Felix said.
Allison finished her texts and they reached the base of the trail. Hopping over the chains and slipping past the signs reading AVALANCHE DANGER and NO TRESPASSING, they followed their foot tracks through the unplowed parking lot to Felix’s Jeep which they’d left on the road leading to it.
Allison rummaged through the duffel bag she’d filled with Felix’s clothes, finding extras she’d had the foresight to pack. After washing the blood off their faces and changing—and laughing about how they had to stop ruining their clothes and stripping to their underwear in public places—Allison settled into the passenger seat and Felix got behind the wheel.
“Ready?” he said with a grin, turning to her.
“For…?”
He closed his eyes for a moment. “Hear that?”
A low rumbling sound seemed to vibrate the air, growing steadily louder.
“The shield!” Her eyes went wide and she smiled. “This thing better start.”
“C’mon, when have I ever had trouble with the Wrangler?”
“When have you not?” she objected. “Think you should turn that key?”
He did. Nothing happened.
“Felix…?”
He tried again and it started up at once. Shifting into drive, he stomped on the accelerator and gave her a grin. “My baby always performs in the clutch.”
She rolled her eyes. “Just a suggestion, but you may want to consider getting a new baby. You do have fifty million dollars, you know.”
“I keep forgetting about that.”
“I know, right? But if you need help spending it, I’m your girl.”
“You’ll always be my girl.” He said it with a straight face, but couldn’t hold it, and as they sped down the road, they burst out in laughter.
Chapter 36
AFTER LIFE
“This can’t be good,” Allison muttered to Felix as they came around the side of the building and caught a glimpse of LaPine’s back entrance. The Yard had become a staging ground for students protesting Hamlen’s podcast, and LaPine’s main entrance, and the buildings next to it were unapproachable, a thousand signs thrust angrily in the air: FIRE THE FANATIC, REJECTIONISTS ARE MURDERERS and HAMLEN MUST GO. Harper had texted earlier, telling them to meet her in back, but even here, the protesters swarmed the paths and campus security couldn’t keep them off the steps, the chanting mob (“Freedom from fear. Freedom from fear…”) appearing combustible and eager to storm the building. Felix had a bad feeling. The situation looked dangerous, a crowded room stocked with explosives awaiting a carelessly tossed match.
Felix saw Harper coming toward them, giving their odd attire—gym shorts and hooded sweatshirts—a once over and a strange look. “What happened to you guys?” she asked.
“Deathheads tried to kill us on Mt. Hood,” Allison answered, shaking her head at the stirred up crowd.
“Really?” Harper replied, startled. “Deathheads?”
Felix nodded. “Two.”
The mob started a new chant: “Hamlen must go! Hamlen must go! Hamlen must go!”
“Hear anything from Caitlin and Lucas?” Allison asked.
“They’re up there.” Harper waved at the ivy shrouded stone building behind her. “The podcast started on time. Apparently it’s a zoo—worse even than out here. Room’s packed and a bunch of protesters are trying to disrupt it. Campus security’s in over their heads—again.”
There seemed to be a disturbance at the top of the steps. The crowd parted and two guys carrying baseball bats jumped down to the path and sprinted away from the building, heading west, turning for a moment to see if anyone was following them. Felix saw their faces: Jimmy Clay and Grayson Bentley.
“Bats?” Harper remarked, a curious note in her voice. “What the hell would they be doing with bats?”
“There was something on them,” Allison pointed out. “They looked stained. You see that?”
Felix hadn’t noticed, but Allison’s words set off an alarm in his mind.
The doors burst open and students flooded out of the building, screaming, crashing into the protesters, stumbling and tripping down the stairs.
A shooter? Felix wondered. Is there an active shooter in there?
“Hey!” a familiar voice called out. “Felix!” Lucas jogged awkwardly toward them, helping Caitlin along with his arm around her waist.
“You hurt?” Allison exclaimed, going to her.
Caitlin, her face pale and her eyes wide with fear, shook her head. Then she doubled over and threw up in the grass.
“They killed him!” Lucas’s eyes were as wild and fearful as Caitlin’s. “They killed Hamlen!”
To their backs, students continued to pour from the building, falling over one another, screaming in panic. Campus security was shouting something into their bullhorns.
“Who?” Felix demanded, though he already knew the answer. “Who killed him?”
“Grayson and Jimmy!” Caitlin stood, unsteadily, and wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. “They walked up to him and they… they attacked him. They… they hit him so many… so many…” Felix was about to chase after them when her legs gave out and she fell into him.
“Grayson and Jimmy beat him to death!” Lucas shouted. “Beat his brains right out of his head in front of everyone! The cops didn’t do a goddamn thing! They stood there and watched. I swear to God this guy from the Sheriff’s department was smiling. Then they just let them go! Didn’t even try to stop them!”
“With bats?” Felix exclaimed. “In LaPine?” He had thought doing the podcast in a public place would afford a measure of protection. Caitlin felt limp in his arms and she dropped to her knees, retching alongside the path. Students were fleeing the scene now, running in every direction, and Felix knelt beside her and held up an arm to shield them, fearing someone was going to trample her.
“Those fuckers!” Allison took off.
“I’ll help!” With surprising quickness, Harper bolted around a group of sign carrying protesters and followed behind Allison, the two of them cutting through the grass.
“I’m sorry.” Caitlin laced her arms around Felix’s neck, pulling herself to her feet.
Felix stood, keeping his eyes on Allison and Harper, watching as they disappeared behind the trees and the buildings on the other side of LaPine. “You okay?” he said to Caitlin, shifting anxiously on his feet. Allison had just killed a Deathhead, but she couldn’t take Jimmy lightly. He was a steroid freak and the strongest kid on the football team—and he’d just murdered a professor in plain view of law enforcement and a packed classroom. Had he lost his mind? Grayson too? Were they Lofton’s B Team? They had to be. Who else would do something so brazen?
“Sorry.” Caitlin reached out for Lucas and he took her in his arms. “Go after them, Felix. We’ll catch up with you. Don’t let anything happen to them.”
Felix sped past the scattering crowds, searching for Allison and Harper in the fading light of dusk. The paths were desolate and winding, the yellow lights glowing in the windows a reminder that nightfall was approaching. Where were Jimmy and Grayson going? he wondered, distancing himself from The Yard and the buildings that bordered it. Off campus, most likely,
and that meant they needed a car. They lived in the Beta house, but Greek Row didn’t have its own parking and most of the kids in the frats and sororities used the main lot by the Bryant Center. That, however, was on the other side of campus, a long way to run if they were hoping to escape unseen. That left Adams Street. There weren’t many spaces and most kids avoided the meter parking, but it was closer than—
He saw movement within the Star Trees and thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, perhaps projecting a memory of the night he’d first met Agatha standing there beneath the spreading branches. He slowed, jogging past one of the huge trunks, the clearing opening up before him. In the center, a girl with long blonde hair and a leather coat knelt on the ground, holding someone’s hand. Felix approached, tentatively, and the girl raised her eyes to him, her face streaked with tears. Harper, he realized. But who was she… on their back… a girl… but who? Dark hair fanned out around her head as if she was suspended in water. Felix went cold.
Allison.
He ran and threw himself on the ground beside her. Allison’s eyes turned desperately to him, normally so fierce and fearless, now staring wide, wet with tears. Allison was afraid. Her lips began to move, blood streaming from her mouth, and she coughed, choking on her blood. She raised a trembling hand from her chest and Felix couldn’t find the football. Where is it? he thought numbly, his mind reeling. Allison was wearing his sweatshirt, the one with the football on it. So where’d the football go? Why was there a dark red circle, like the setting sun, in its place? Why couldn’t Allison talk? Why was she afraid? Why was… why was she…?
“…out of nowhere,” Harper was saying, her voice shrill, sobbing. “She had a red beret. I thought she was a student.” Harper pressed Allison’s hand against her face and cried.
What was happening? What was Harper saying? Red beret?
