Firestarter

by Tara Sim

  “I didn’t want this, you know,” she said softly. “I did what I could to resist it.”

  “I know. This … all feels inevitable, somehow. Still, you don’t have to go.”

  “I never thought I would.” She stared at the plane, its engine idling, waiting for her. “I didn’t want Zavier to win. But now that I’ve come home, I’ve realized that it can’t stay the same. If freeing Aetas is the only way to prevent more deaths from happening, to stop Archer, then I have to help him.”

  “Be careful, Daphne,” Colton said. “Please. I’ve felt Aetas’s power, and it’s … strong. He might be dangerous. Oh!” He snapped off Big Ben’s cog from his holder. “Take this. It might help.”

  Daphne accepted the small cog and slipped it into her pocket. “Thank you, Colton.” She looked at Danny, waiting for him to protest more. When he said nothing, she gave him a brief, hard hug, and then another to Colton. “I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Promise me you two will stay out of trouble.”

  “We can’t promise,” they said at the same time.

  She laughed, but the sound caught in her throat. Pressing her lips together, she looked between them, her eyes lined with silver tears. “I’ll see you,” she said, as if trying to convince herself. She turned to the plane and hopped in after Zavier.

  They watched the hangar doors open and the plane wheel around to the small tarmac outside, where it lifted into the night sky to rejoin the Prometheus.

  Danny stared after it. His mind was crowded with concerns—Sally, Aetas, his parents, Colton’s tower. A girl who had long ago been his enemy, now his friend. A boy who had very recently been his enemy, now an ally.

  The proprietor of the hangar closed the doors. “Quite a night, eh?”

  “You could say that,” Danny said. “Are these your autos?”

  “That they are.”

  “May I borrow one? I promise I’ll return it.”

  She raised her hands in resignation. “Might as well.”

  Danny turned to Matthias. The man was looking pointedly at the ground, arms crossed. Danny’s stomach twisted, even as he knew what he had to do.

  “I’ll go with you,” Colton whispered, but Danny shook his head.

  “I need you to find Cassie and Brandon. One of them can take you to Enfield.”

  Colton nodded and touched Danny’s arm. “I’ll wait for you to come back before I leave.”

  Colton was always waiting for him.

  Danny opened the driver’s side door and looked across the bonnet at Matthias. “Get in.”

  The man eyed him with confusion. “Why? Are you having second thoughts and bringing me back to the Tower?”

  “No. We’re going to Maldon.”

  Shock etched its way across Matthias’s face. Slowly, he opened the door and slid into the seat. Danny started the engine and gave Colton a small wave before he turned the auto around and out of the hangar.

  They drove in silence, passing under the sodium glare of gas lamps along cobblestone streets. Few autos were out this time of night, but those that were left ghostly trails of steam in their wake. The city felt restless, excited, like a breath being held before a plunge into water.

  Danny passed through Charing Cross and out of London. It was much darker as they neared the countryside, in the middle of the inky unknown. He thought about Daphne leaving with Zavier and Akash, heading toward a question mark. He thought about Colton leaving for Enfield, another question mark. Somewhere between them was where he stood.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  Matthias’s voice was low and rasping. He stared out the window, up at the stars he probably hadn’t been able to see from his prison cell.

  “Why did you protect me in the Tower?” Danny countered.

  Matthias sighed. “Do you honestly think I would sit back and let them interrogate you? I may have made mistakes, but I’m not a monster. I watched you grow up, Danny. Believe it or not, I care about you.”

  “Cared about me enough to betray me, apparently.”

  “If that’s what you want to think.” Matthias sounded tired. Older. “Also, the guard who walked me to the interrogation room told me to stall long enough for your friends to break you out.”

  Danny started. Matthias had known Zavier and the others were coming for him, and lied so that Danny would have a shot at escaping. His guard must have been the same one who had freed Danny from his cell.

  “I answered your question, now answer mine,” Matthias said. “Why are you doing this?”

  Danny chewed the inside of his cheek, still reeling from the night and all its revelations. “You probably overheard,” he said, “but the others are going to free the god of time.”

  “Aetas is dead.”

  “That’s what we’ve been taught, isn’t it? But I felt him. Colton’s seen his prison. Chronos trapped Aetas under the ocean, and now Daphne, Zavier, and the others are going to bust him out, just like they did us.”

  Matthias frowned. “But that would mean … The spirits would …”

  “Yes.” Danny swallowed hard. “I figured you would want to see her. Before …”

  Evaline and Matthias had parted over a year ago, and not on good terms. But Danny had seen her longing, her guilt, her inability to stop loving the man who’d lied to her just so they could be together. He thought it might be cruel, to reunite them one last time before Matthias experienced such a loss again, but Danny had a suspicion he would always regret not giving the man the chance to choose for himself.

  Matthias curled his hands into fists. “Why aren’t you stopping them? Why not just leave Aetas in his prison if he’s been there this long?”

  “It’s a long—”

  “Story, I know. And it will take some time to get to Maldon.”

  Danny sighed. Slowly he unraveled what he’d learned over the past months, and all he knew about the sacrifices. He heard Matthias draw a sharp breath once, but otherwise the man was quiet.

  “So now the Builders want to turn more people into spirits to fuel the towers,” Danny finished. “But we can’t let that happen. Freeing Aetas still seems wrong to me, but letting Archer create these new towers would be even more wrong. At least this way, the clock spirits can rest in peace at last.”

  “What about Colton?”

  “It’s … complicated. We might have a way to save him, but it’s not a method we can use for the other spirits.”

  They fell back into silence. Danny wished there was no rift between them, no sullied history. He could have comforted any other man in this situation. But not Matthias.

  Maldon came into view up ahead and Danny rolled to a stop. They stared out the windscreen as the engine idled, steam spiraling up to join the murky stars above.

  “Does he make you happy?” Matthias asked quietly. Danny nodded. “I wish you luck, then. I wish for you to have what I cannot.”

  Danny tried to respond, but the words wouldn’t come.

  “Whatever you’re about to face, remember that you’re far from powerless. I know that firsthand.” Matthias opened the door. “Your father … Tell him I’m sorry for what I did. I never did get to say it.”

  “Just go,” Danny whispered.

  “I never meant for everything to get so out of hand.”

  “Don’t! You—don’t.” Danny’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Just leave. Please.”

  Matthias nodded and climbed out of the auto.

  Danny took a few rattling breaths, trying not to think of the man who snuck him sweets, sang old sailor songs, and bought him his first drink.

  “Matthias,” he choked out. “Thank you. For tonight.”

  The man was nothing more than a dark shadow, but Danny saw his teeth flash in a sad smile. “You’ve been through enough. Try to remember the good in me, Danny Boy.”

  He watched Matthias head toward Maldon like a man sleepwalking. Danny turned the auto around and drove away, leaving that part of his life behind him for good.

&nbs
p; He was headed to whatever awaited him next. To the last question mark.

  He came to a stop in the hangar sometime in the middle of the night. The old woman had fallen asleep on a stool, so Danny turned off the ignition, leaned back, and also fell into an uneasy sleep.

  The sound of the hangar doors opening jolted him awake. He rubbed his face and got out of the auto. The woman raised an eyebrow at him, then jerked her thumb toward the approaching planes.

  “Your friends are back.”

  Danny opened his mouth to reply, but his stomach answered for him with a loud gurgle. The woman laughed and said she’d fetch him something.

  The Prometheus planes minus the Silver Hawk taxied into the hangar. As their propellers slowed to a stop, the crew—or what was left of them—hopped out. Edmund was directing them, talking loudly over the others to make sure that everyone was properly armed.

  An auto rolled in through the opposite side of the hangar, and Colton, Brandon, Cassie, and his parents tumbled out.

  “Danny, thank goodness!” Leila swept him into a hug that could have fractured his ribs. “God, if it’s not one thing with you, it’s another!”

  Christopher ruffled his son’s hair, then cuffed his ear. “I told you to wait.”

  “Sorry.”

  “I’m just glad you’re safe, Ticker.”

  Brandon nodded in greeting. “Danny. Thought I’d never see you again.”

  “I’m glad to see you, too, Brandon.” He turned to Cassie. “Thank you for taking care of them.”

  “Don’t worry about it. We should be worrying about what’s going to happen next. Erm …” She looked at the Prometheus crew. “What is going to happen next?”

  Edmund finally noticed him. “Danny, c’mere and get yourself situated. We have to head out.”

  Danny took a step forward, then stopped. Colton had been watching him throughout the reunions, his face a storm of longing and fear and resolve. Something in his eyes threatened to shatter Danny. Remake him.

  Danny drifted toward him as if he had no other tether, ignoring the sounds of prebattle at his back. Colton was trying to be stoic, trying to be a player in this morbid game, but Danny wouldn’t allow it. He took his face in his hands and brushed his thumbs over Colton’s cheeks.

  “You’re going,” Danny said. It was only half a question.

  Colton nodded. “I have to be in Enfield when it happens. If I’m here …”

  “I know.” Danny slowly dropped his hands to Colton’s shoulders, his chest, his waist. He had the dual sensation of giving and receiving those touches, the both of them working in harmony.

  “Danny, you have to be careful. You know what they’re capable of.”

  “I’ll be fine.” It’s you I’m worried about.

  “Danny, come on!” Edmund called.

  Danny tightened his hold on Colton’s hips, refusing to let go. He remembered the first time they met on the scaffolding outside Colton’s tower. Colton had shown him not to be afraid. That there could be no possible reason to be afraid as long as he was there.

  Colton touched Danny’s face, his lips, his throat. He leaned in, and Danny desperately closed the distance between their mouths. Warmth, safety, and the ticking of a distant clock. Time seemed to stop around their bodies, a moment of privacy from the rest of the world. They were apart and the same, connected by blood and something thicker. Something both fleeting and permanent.

  Edmund called his name again. They broke apart and broke the spell, but Colton dug his hand in Danny’s hair, looking him straight in the eye. Danny leaned their foreheads together. Tried to find himself there, next to the boy who had changed everything.

  “Wait for me,” Danny whispered.

  “I always do,” Colton whispered back.

  Then Colton was slipping away, getting back into the auto as Brandon made for the driver’s side.

  “I’ll look after him, mate,” Brandon told Danny.

  “I know you will.”

  The auto turned out of the hangar. Colton stared out the window until they disappeared from sight, but even then Danny still felt him firmly lodged in his chest, crowding his bones and muscle with the memory of him.

  Danny was turning back to the others when he thought he heard a whisper in his mind.

  I’m sorry.

  He whirled back to face the road, but Colton was long gone.

  “Danny.” Cassie tugged on his sleeve. “Those people are waiting for you.”

  “Right.” He shook his head and finally joined the Prometheus crew.

  “Have Zavier and Daphne gone?” he asked Edmund. The boy nodded. “When do you think they’ll arrive?”

  “They left eight hours ago, so I suppose it’ll take them a couple more hours.”

  The hangar proprietor returned with a thick slice of bread slathered with butter. “Here you are, lad.”

  “Thank you.” Danny took a bite as he eyed the equipment strapped to the others. “What’s all this?”

  “Gotta be ready for anything.” Liddy pointed out the various weapons on her person. “Gun, second gun, taser, rope, knife, and a nice little device that shoots out gas when you throw it. Dae made it before …” Her expression shuttered, but she quickly composed herself. “Oh, and Felix has a couple of bombs, too,” she added as he lifted his grenadier bag. Danny was glad to see that Charlotte hadn’t accompanied him, likely staying with Jo back on the ship.

  “There’s plenty for you, too,” Prema said, handing him one of the metallic discs that shot out rope, a tin canister probably holding more of the aforementioned gas, and a small gun. Sighing in resignation, Danny strapped the holster to his belt and pocketed the other weapons.

  “My son isn’t carrying a gun,” Leila argued, but Christopher placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “It’s going to be dangerous with those Builders and rebels out there.”

  Cassie held up a hand. “Anything left for me?” Never mind that Danny saw the imprint of a wrench in the deep pocket of her coveralls.

  “You’re not fighting,” Danny said firmly.

  “I’m going wherever you are, whether you like it or not.”

  Astrid flicked out one of her throwing knives and handed it to Cassie while Liddy tossed over her second gun.

  “I like these people,” Cassie said.

  “Ugh. By the way, Cassie, Prometheus crew. Prometheus crew, Cassie. And these are my mum and dad.” He gestured at them. “Mum, Dad, meet my kidnappers.”

  Christopher scowled, but Edmund held out a diplomatic hand.

  “May I just say, sir, that I’m terribly sorry for any distress we’ve caused your family. However, today there are much bigger fish to fry.”

  “As much as I hate to admit it,” Christopher grumbled, ignoring the proffered hand, “I agree. But I’m going to be handing each and every one of you over to the police when this is finished.”

  “Fair enough. All right you lot, I think first off we need to—”

  Something boomed through the air, rocking the building. The proprietor shrieked and ran into the office, returning with an old rifle in her arms.

  “They tracked our planes,” Edmund shouted as mortar dust rained down on them.

  “Well, don’t just stand here!” Liddy cocked her gun and ran toward the street. Cursing, Danny fumbled with his own.

  “You’re not going out there,” his mother said, holding his arm in a too-tight grip.

  “Mum, I have to! I need to get to Big Ben!” That was where the Builders would be—and Sally.

  There was another small explosion, followed by screams. He shared a desperate look with his father, who nodded for Danny to go.

  “Danny!” Leila screamed as he tore from her grip, running out into the street with the others.

  There was too much dust and smoke to see clearly. Coughing, he held his sleeve over his mouth and squinted through the murky dawn air. Shots echoed as people darted in blocky shadow, avoiding cracked cobblestone, while others rushed from nearby buil
dings in search of safety.

  Danny identified the blue jumpsuits of the Builders. Some wore justaucorps jackets that must have denoted rank, as if Archer had turned them into her own private militia.

  He ducked as one of the Builders shot at him, answering in kind but missing widely. Then Liddy was at his side. With a sweep of her arm, she hurled an object that sang through the air and cut straight into the Builder’s neck, downing her with a spray of blood, before whizzing back into Liddy’s palm.

  “Neat, eh?” she called to Danny over the sounds of fighting, showing him a curved wooden handle attached to a wicked blade.

  Anish charged two fleeing Builders, grabbing the backs of their suits and smashing their heads together. Edmund stayed to one side, firing the rifle he’d had slung on his back. Astrid weaved in and out of the crowd, using the smoke and debris as cover to throw her deadly knives.

  Someone gasped behind Danny. He turned and saw his parents standing horrified in the hangar door, the proprietor shooting down the blue coats nearby.

  “Get back inside!” he yelled to them.

  But Leila hurried toward him instead, her hand outstretched. “Danny, get out of the street! Come with me, we’ll get you away from here!”

  “I can’t, Mum, I—”

  Felix yelled somewhere nearby. Danny turned to help him when his eyes locked with a Builder across the street and he stopped dead in his tracks. The world seemed to fall away until it was just the two of them: Danny and the man who had seen him kill his comrade on the Builders’ airship.

  The man’s face twisted in loathing. He opened his mouth, but whether he was shouting words or just screaming in rage, Danny didn’t know. Danny couldn’t even lift his gun. He was frozen, watching the man approach through the smoke and grit like an angel of retribution.

  Leila reached Danny and grabbed his arm.

  The man lifted his gun and fired.

  Danny staggered against the heavy pressure. He remembered what it felt like, being shot: the slam of the bullet, the second of numb shock before the pain tore through muscle, limb, every bodily cell. This didn’t feel like being shot.