'Again?'
'Well, Morrigan did it so successfully. We thought we could as well.'
'Successfully? Look how that ended up.'
'Hm, well, there's a theory that bait is best when it doesn't realise just what it is. Even Mr D agreed on this. Why do you think we allowed you to have him as a mentor? You are the first RM in the history of the Orcus to have such a guide!'
Mr D was in on this, too? I thought we'd reached a nice balance of trust and untrust, and now…
'Who else knew about it? Tim?'
'Tim's canny, but no. He does now. All the Ankous do. He loves you too much to keep something like that quiet. Steven, people love you, despite you making it so hard for them. They really do.'
'So you baited the hook with me? Thank you very much.'
'You were being watched. We wouldn't have let Rillman hurt you very much. And as for your relationship with Lissa, you did a good enough job of messing that up yourself, despite my help.'
'But did your spies have to punch me in the face?'
'Let me tell you, he was disciplined for that.'
'For punching me?'
'No, for being caught and needing to.'
The lightning cages and crackles around us, a net of fire that sets the hair on my flesh on end. The other RMs look at each other, and then at Suzanne.
The Ankous' marquee follows its twin into the air. Twelve Caterers rush towards the kitchen, place their hands on it and are gone. Can't guess how much this is going to cost.
I can hardly hear Suzanne's voice. 'You have to get away from here,' she's saying. 'The Ankous are already gone, including Tim. They're safe for the moment. And find your Lissa. Things may not end as badly as we fear, and if that's the case we'll find you. If they do end badly, well… you'll know.'
But I know it will end badly. I know they're all preparing to die. This is the path they have chosen, the plan they laid out when I became RM.
Suzanne is shaking her head. 'Steven, you may be a bit slow on the uptake, but really, your heart is in the right place. You're the only one of us who might stand a chance with the Hungry Death inside of them. You're the only one who might hold out against the coming darkness.'
I want to hit something, anything. 'So all that shit about you having a plan, about doing something. The plan was to leave it all up to me.'
'Not just you. You will have our Pomps, our Ankous, and your precious Mr D. Let me tell you, he won't give in to the One Tree for anything now with the kind of influence he'll have.'
Like I'm ever going to talk to Mr D again. Fuck him. Fuck all of them.
'You have to realise that the Hungry Death has been manipulating us all these years, driving our Negotiations to greater and greater violence. We started playing its game, and that's not how you control something like the Hungry Death. You made me realise that. So, Steven, you're not as stupid as you think.
'You'll succeed at this in a way that none of us can. Surely you can perceive what an important moment this is? Just what we're giving up? This is you. This is all your doing. You've made us all a little bit human again with your presence, your… flaws. Don't forget that.'
She leans towards me, fast, and kisses my lips hard, one more time. My face burns. 'There has to be another way. It's not too late. Please -'
'No. You're going to need all of the Hungry Death inside you to defeat what's coming. We're giving up our disunity in favour of your sense of purpose. Madness, isn't it?'
'Neill didn't want this, did he?'
Suzanne winks at me. 'Why do you think he's dead?'
'You organised that somehow. Made it easy for Rillman to get to him!'
'I'm a ruthless RM when I have to be. Don't hold it against me, de Selby. It's all I know, it's the reason I can't do what you have to.'
Lightning sparks against the bridge, a flashing beat of fire that webs its steel masts. Everything seems caught in the flame. I feel like I'm in an out-take of Highlander.
'There can be only one,' I mumble. My legs are weak. This is too much. Here I am, sick with fear in the eye of the storm.
Suzanne smiles. 'Now you're getting it. But there will actually be two. You, and the Hungry Death inside you. It will test you, oh, how it will test you. But then what doesn't? You'll be Death, Mr de Selby. Death of a whole world. What a glorious thing.'
The bridge shudders, jolts. And then Rillman shifts onto Kurilpa, followed by his Stirrers. Lightning flashes everywhere, arcing around us. Suzanne and I look at each other, almost embarrassed by the melodrama of the moment.
'He's nearly tiresome enough to make death pleasurable,' Suzanne says.
Rillman shifts to the rail of the bridge. He smacks the knives together. Lightning shivers from the blades, dancing between him and his Stirrers. They're generating it between themselves somehow, just as they've been generating the storms in Brisbane, I realise. The lightning curls around Rillman in a way that no lightning should.
I can feel something building. Electricity crackles in my ears. There's a moment of silence, an indrawn breath.
'Death is coming!' Rillman roars, and lightning drives into the assembled Orcus. They don't even flinch, though behind them I'm throwing my hands up over my face.
'Just get on with it!' Li An yells, ripping off his Akubra, and batting out the flames.
More sparks. Rillman has really invested in the show. With each burst the Orcus loses more of its civility. Clothes sear and burn, but flesh remains unharmed.
This isn't going to hurt them. It's what will come next: the edge of stony knives.
Kiri turns to me. He pats my back, reaches out a hand. 'No hard feelings, eh?'
'None,' I say, biting down a harsher response. This is not the time or the place.
Kiri grins, then bows. 'Let's get started, eh?'
He's surprisingly light-footed as he sprints towards Rillman. The knives flash out. Kiri drops beneath the first blade, swings a fist towards Rillman's face. He connects, but barely. The second knife juts from his chest, eight inches of blade. Kiri looks at me, and then at the rest of the Orcus.
'Well, c'mon!' he roars, spittles of blood trailing his exclamation.
Whatever seal of indecision there was, breaks. The rest of the Orcus run towards Rillman, Suzanne pulling back. 'You really can't stay here,' she says.
'I want to stay.'
'There's nothing you can do here. Just be ready for what comes. Promise me you will go.'
'Why do I get the feeling I'm still being played?'
Suzanne shrugs. 'Steven, I think it will always seem like that. But the truth is that you're always bigger than the game. That's one of the main reasons why we chose you.'
Rillman pulls the blade from Kiri's chest and blood fountains from the wound. Kiri stumbles back. But he doesn't fall. He swings another fist at Rillman's head, but there's a grey blade arcing, dancing in front of him. Kiri's fist goes one way, and his arm the other in a spout of blood.
Now Kiri falls.
Suzanne shoves my shoulder, pushes me back. 'Just go!'
'And what if I don't?'
'Then we've made the biggest mistake of our lives. Christ, Steven, man up. Don't fail us.'
I try to shift. Nothing. 'I can't,' I say.
'Of course, there's too much electrical disturbance, far beyond any normal storm. You're going to have to jump off the bridge.'
'Really? But that's water beneath. What if -'
'He will not interfere. We have treaties, it's not like you're snatching souls from him. Go, or I'll throw you over the fucking edge myself.'
'I could -'
Suzanne grimaces. 'Get the hell out of here.'
I run to the nearest rail, clamber to the top. Electricity races up my arms and I smell hair burning. It's a long way down. I glance back at Suzanne, but she's already striding towards the melee with a sense of purpose that I can only envy.
Right then. I take a deep breath and step off into the air.
When I hit, the water's warm and mur
ky, the current strong. I'm down deep, and thrashing in the dark. Something brushes my arm. I kick out and up, no breath in me, my clothes heavy.
When I break the surface, coughing and spluttering, my lungs burning, snot running down my cheeks, the bridge is already forty metres away, the air still crackling. Someone's screaming, but I can't tell if it's Rillman or an RM.
There's a gentle tugging on my foot. A dim, streamlined shape beneath me.
Please, no more sharks. I've had enough of sharks.
I close my eyes. And shift.
32
My head throbs, feels like it's about to pop. What the hell have they asked me to do? What were they thinking? All Suzanne's talk of disunity, but then to be so unified in marching towards their destruction. Surely that belies their argument!
I can't do this.
But I have no choice.
They've chosen me. Does it make them brave or cowards? After all, they're leaving me with one god awful mess.
I can't do this alone. But then I realise that I'm not. That I've never truly been alone. Lissa, Tim, Alex – they've got my back. They've never failed me.
Lissa! I need to find Lissa.
Suzanne's logic seems right on this one. Rillman will hunt her down if he can't find me, and I doubt Solstice's protection will be up to the job. But they're the least of my reasons. I would die for Lissa.
I shift to a point in the centre of the city. To the immediate west, the lightning storm is a webbed incandescence. My senses have expanded, but they are still dulled by Rillman's electrical web. I search her out. There is nothing. She is not in the city. I try her hotel room. It's empty. No, not quite. I can sense something, a recent death nearby. I shift to the room next door. There's a body there. A Pomp, one of Suzanne's. The poor guy's throat is slashed. This is not good.
I grab my phone. It's dripping wet, but it seems to be working. A no-signal message flashes at me. Maybe that's from the dunking. Maybe it's Rillman's electrical attack. I shift to Number Four.
Chaos! All the Ankous are here, their heartbeats clamouring. I stand in the middle of them, saturated with river water. I can't help scowling at them all.
'How many of you knew about this?' I demand. None of them look me in the eye. They're all frightened.
'Tim?'
He shrugs. 'I didn't know anything. You think I could keep this a secret?'
'Is there anything I can do?'
'Not unless you can shift back onto that bridge,' Li An's Ankou says. I don't know her name. I'm going to have to learn all their names. No time for that now.
'No, not with the amount of electricity being generated,' I say. 'There's no way.'
'And while we quake, our masters die on that bridge,' she says.
I grimace. 'Well, if there's nothing we can do about Rillman, I need you to return to your offices. Keep everything running. We can't let the Stirrers take advantage. The Death Moot is a bust, but we have work to do. Your people need you. I need you, all of you, to keep doing what you do best. They're not dead yet.' Though I can't help thinking of Kiri, the blade jutting from his chest; the ease with which Rillman took out Travis. 'Go! See to your schedules.'
One by one the Ankous leave.
Now it's just Tim and my staff. They're all looking at me. 'And that goes for you, too. We have souls to pomp. Stirrers to hunt down.'
They scatter quickly to their workstations. I motion to Tim. 'Meeting, now.'
'I swear,' Tim says. 'I knew nothing about this. Not until they shifted us here, together.'
'That's OK,' I say. 'I've got to find Lissa. I can't feel her, she's not in the country anymore. Rillman's likely to go after her.'
'And just how are you going to find her? She's not a Pomp anymore.'
'I have my means.'
Tim raises his eyebrows. 'And I have her email password. It was an accident,' he says quickly. 'I didn't mean to uncover it, but -'
There's a commotion at the lift. Alex. He's paler than I've ever seen him. Someone tries to stop him but he just pushes past them, and stalks over to us.
'I've been trying to call,' Alex says. 'But the phones are out, all over the city. Did you have anything to do with that?'
'Rillman,' I say. 'He's killing the RMs, and I'm stuck here. Maybe Solstice -'
'That's just it. That's why I've been tyring to call. There is no Solstice,' Alex says. 'There are no Closers. It's a front. I don't know how he managed it, who he bribed, but Internal Affairs are raiding his offices now. The staff – half of them are Stirrers. We're going to need your help, or more people are going to die.'
Lissa! Solstice had people following Lissa! If they're Stirrers…
Tim's already running through the office, directing staff to call every Pomp they can. I look at Alex.
'You and Tim are going to have to deal with this. I need to find Lissa, she's in danger.'
He nods. 'We can handle it.'
I shift home and rifle through what is left of Lissa's things there as I boot up my Notebook. No clues. My phone chirps; a text from Tim: Lissa's email password.
I get online, open her email and there it is. A ticket booked to Wellington. She has an aunt living on the North Island. Flights to New Zealand are so cheap these days it makes sense she'd visit her. By my laptop is the photo album of Lissa's. She must have been flicking through it before our fight. There's an old Polaroid from a Death Moot marked '1974'. Lissa's parents are pressed into a small group with Suzanne – she's looking as fresh as ever. I recognise that forced grin.
Lissa's mum's face is fixed. She must have known by then. Christ, any business is a small world. I know how I would feel if I thought Lissa was seeing someone behind my back. How did I ever let this happen? I should have been up front about the deal from the beginning.
Then I see Rillman, his tight smile, his arm around Don, Alex's dad, at the side of the group.
It's him all right. But that's not what catches my eye, makes me suck in a sharp breath. There's a tattoo running down his forearm. A tattoo I've seen before.
Smauget. The dragon.
Solstice is Rillman.
Or Rillman became Solstice.
What might Stirrers do on a plane?
I focus my mind on Lissa, reaching out across the distance, reaching out beyond the edge of the shore. And there. I sense her! I've never shifted into a moving vehicle before, let alone a plane, but she is my centre, my heart. I could shift to her anywhere.
A moment later I am thirty thousand feet in the air, standing next to Lissa.
I exhale, a sigh that really wants to become a scream, but I stop it before that. Shit, how did things get so bad, so quickly? Lissa looks at me and scowls, but that doesn't disguise how tightly she is holding onto her seat. It seems the plane's hit some nasty turbulence.
The flight's crowded. If anyone is surprised by my sudden appearance they don't show it. I look down the aisle. No one seems to have noticed me, but that may well be because of the bad weather.
The seat next to Lissa is empty, and I drop into it.
'That seat's taken,' Lissa says. She looks tired, but resolute. There's maybe one too many Disney pins on her blouse, as though she's overcompensating.
'We need to talk,' I say.
'I told you not to follow me.' She doesn't let go of her seat. The seatbelt sign is flashing. She sniffs the air. 'I can smell smoke. You've been smoking?'
I shake my head. 'Of course not. I only smoke when I'm drunk.'
'And when aren't you drunk these days?'
I brush the insult aside. 'There's something you need to know.'
'You've left it a bit late, wouldn't you say?'
'I don't think it's ever too late for us. I have to believe that.' I lower my voice to a whisper. 'It's Solstice. He's Rillman.'
'What?'
'I don't have time to explain, but he's got two guys tailing you. Don't ask me how I know. I think they're Stirrers.'
Lissa's face hardens. 'The prick!' Then her eyes narrow. 'You go
t him to tail me. You're the reason they're here in the first place.'
'Look, no matter how much it might look like that, he wants you dead. He knows I'm hopeless without you.' I don't mention Suzanne's guard or the fact that he's dead.
Lissa doesn't look too satisfied with the answer I've given her, but she's already thinking the problem through. 'Right. If they're Stirrers you're going to need a Pomp by your side.'
'You'd do that?'
'Bloody hell, de Selby, I love you.'
Yeah, she does. No matter how things turn out, no matter how stupid I've been, she loves me!
'Then you have to know I would never cheat on you. That I couldn't.'
'But why did you lie to me?'
'Because you were so against the whole idea of Suzanne's offer. Lissa, I didn't want to hurt you.'
'How about a little trust?' she says.
'Exactly!'
And now we're glaring at each other again.
'This isn't over,' Lissa sighs. 'Just do what you have to do.'
She reaches up and touches my lips with her fingers. There's serious voltage in that gesture, more electricity than anything Rillman generated on the bridge. It silences me and, oddly enough, focusses me on the job at hand.
I hold her head and transfer my power into her: feel that familiar link. It's such an intense intimacy. For a moment, we are closer than ever. Bound in each other. Feeling what the other is feeling. It's like gazing in a mirror with another's eyes. The familiar becomes unfamiliar. Our eyes widen. Our breaths quicken. What wounds me most of all is the hurt I sense within her. This is my fault. I caused this pain, and anger.
I shudder with the strength of it, and then my fingers drop from her brow. Lissa is a Pomp again. She blinks at me, and I catch myself blinking, too.
'I should never have hurt you,' I whisper.
'Steven, this is about us. Not just you. We got into this quickly; it was always going to be difficult. I – I'm not used to long-term relationships. I thought it would be easy, and – but I wouldn't have it any other way. Trust me next time. Trust me to be strong enough, because I am.'
Yeah, she's stronger than me.
'And what about you? Why don't you trust me to do the right thing? I made a mistake, but I would never cheat on you. I'm not your father, and -'
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