Incarnate n-1

by Jodi Meadows

  Dragons snaked through the air, diving into the streets. There were hundreds of them, shrieking and making thunder shake the world. Their cacophony drowned any screams my fellow humans might make. They’d never hear mine, either.

  I clutched the temple harder, inching faster.

  A mistake. My heel slipped in water, sending me weightless for a split second as my other foot followed. I threw my weight back, hoping beyond reason I didn’t overcompensate and push myself off. My tailbone thudded against stone, sending shocks through my spine.

  My legs dangled off the ledge. The stone cut at my thighs, revealing exactly how much room I didn’t have to move. Trying to stand again would get me killed, so I pressed my hands to the ledge and scooted like that. Water soaked the seat of my pants. Chills surged through my legs and stomach.

  The temple shuddered as a dragon latched onto it far above me. I didn’t look. If what I’d seen during the market attack was an indication, the claws wouldn’t even scratch the stone.

  Meuric had said there were sylph. I couldn’t see any through the blinding lights and sleet, but no doubt they were out there. They were creatures of shadow and air; did that mean they could fly?

  I focused on scooting without falling, and fought the urge to look down. I’d see the Councilhouse when I was over it. Roof first. Ground later.

  The view of the north half of the city was frightening enough without adding dizzy to that.

  I couldn’t discern the cannonballs through the distance and misty light, but the booms rattled the air and made dragons scream. Dark shapes wove through the sky, pursued by laser blasts. Lights shone off city walls, Councilhouse walls, and all along the main avenues. Heart would have been as bright as day, if not for the sleet and clouds and pressing darkness.

  At last, a white expanse appeared under my ledge. It was still difficult to tell how far a fall it would be. Too far. I’d shatter every bone in my legs and arms. As far as I could tell, the temple wall beneath me was sheer, so that ruled out dropping from ledge to ledge.

  Claws shrieked against stone. I looked up just in time to duck a swinging tail. A dragon flailed, struggling to keep its hold on the temple. It scraped and tried to scramble up again, lashing its tail for balance. The end of the tail was close.

  I grabbed the dragon’s tail and jumped.

  Screaming, I wrapped my legs around the tail and squeezed as hard as I could. The backpack over my stomach made it difficult to keep my grip, but I ducked my head down and didn’t let go as the tail whipped through the air, flipping me upside down and stopping just short of smacking me into the wall.

  Bad idea. Bad idea.

  The instant the tail was close to the Councilhouse roof, I let go.

  My back hit first. Air whooshed from my lungs. I gasped and coughed as I turned over, barely quick enough to keep from puking on myself. Then I spit until the acidic taste faded.

  Above me, my dragon smeared gore across the temple wall, still thrashing as lasers speared its stretched-out wings. It gave a last deafening roar as it fell, making the Councilhouse shake when it landed, draped from the roof down.

  It had just given me another way to the ground.

  I switched my backpack again. My shoulder twinged, but the shooting pain had faded. Whatever had come out of place must have been jarred back when I landed.

  Thanking the dying dragon for three things now, I trotted to where its tail and hind legs hung on the south side of the roof. I couldn’t see whether it went all the way to the ground. Regardless, I had to hurry before it slipped the rest of the way; with ice making everything slick, the beast wouldn’t stay here long.

  Twice, I skidded on the roof and scraped my palms catching myself, but I reached the dragon’s hind legs just as the body began to shudder. Hoping it was dead, I climbed up its talons and leg, then up the side to its back. The scales were sharp and cold, wet with sleet. But it was a lizard — albeit a huge one adapted for the tundra — and cold-blooded, so cold scales should be normal. Maybe.

  I scrambled onto its back and used scales like a ladder over the edge of the building. My hands froze and ached, but I didn’t stop moving.

  The body convulsed when I was halfway down, near the stretched wings. Everything slipped. I held on tighter, but when it didn’t stabilize again, I leapt onto the wing and slid the rest of the way down, jerking and stumbling over bones beneath the thin, smooth scales.

  Wind cut at my face and up my sleeves as I sped down. Finally the slope eased at the wing tips resting on the cobblestones. Momentum threw me onto the ground just as the dragon crashed behind me.

  Someone running by stared at me and swore, then tossed a laser in my direction as he headed north. My hands were too cold and stiff to catch the weapon, but I grabbed it off the ground, then tried to decide where I was in relation to Sam’s window. Not far. I scrambled over the dragon’s corpse. The building and beast created a narrow gorge, sheltered from wind and noise.

  I found the prison window easily enough, and they hadn’t shut the glass. “Sam?” I knelt and peered inside the dim room.

  Empty.

  I sank to my heels and rested my forehead against an iron bar, trying to figure out what could have happened. It was possible he could have escaped, but he barely remembered how to use a data console. Disabling the soul-scanners was beyond him. Orrin had been in there, but he was as hopeless as Sam. Stef would have been able to do it, but it probably required tools she didn’t have.

  The other possibility was that Li had discovered my absence and known where to find me. She wouldn’t have hesitated to kill Sam.

  Then I would avenge him. Li would come back, and like Meuric, she’d hunt me for the rest of her lives, but at least she’d suffer the same soul-ripping pain as Sam.

  My stomach twisted. When had I become so blasé about killing? My knife was still wet with Meuric’s blood, and I was already thinking about what to do to my mother? I wanted to throw up again, but there was nothing left in me.

  Keening and moaning jolted me from my thoughts.

  Tall shadows drifted about the dragon’s remains, charring scales. I scrunched my nose at the ashy reek and bolted away from the sylph. They weren’t interested in me yet, and I didn’t have sylph eggs.

  I sprinted into the stinging night, battle din rising as I pulled away from the Councilhouse. Airborne drones roared around dragons, shooting lasers every chance they got. The dragons spat globs of acid. I pulled my hood on tight. If anything fell on me, I’d hear it sizzle and I could throw off my coat. It’d work only once, though.

  My muscles ached, but I ran as hard as I could, avoiding anything shadowy or glowing green. I wished I had a flashlight or SED — mine had been confiscated — but my knife and laser were better than nothing.

  I searched the faces of everyone I passed. Most of them were running, too, and looked like they knew what to do. More than I did, at any rate. None of them were Sam, or my friends. I pushed on, hiding my fists inside my sleeves for warmth.

  People and lights and acid piles packed North Avenue. I wished I could duck into the residential quarter, but I didn’t know my way around that maze well enough. Li’s house was right by the guard station, anyway.

  I wished I were cowardly enough to hide in someone’s house until everything was over.

  Heart’s north wall loomed ahead, brilliant as it reflected light across the guard station. I pushed my weak legs harder. What if Li wasn’t at her house? She was a warrior. No doubt she’d be single-handedly killing half the dragons, not waiting for me to confront her.

  I focused on rage. She always hurt what mattered to me. Collections of things I’d found in the forest, the purple roses, and Sam’s song. She’d done nothing in my entire life to give me a reason to trust that she wouldn’t kill Sam just to spite me.

  Lungs and legs burning, I darted around a trio of children firing lasers into the sky, and skidded to a stop near the guard station. Everything was so bright it made my eyes water. My nose ran from t
he cold. It seemed like, if I was going to face my mother, I should at least look like I could take care of myself.

  I wiped my nose on my sleeve and clutched the laser. The path there was familiar by now, though the dead dragon and acid-marked cobblestone were new. Shadows lingered everywhere, but none made sylph songs.

  Shivering, I stood at the end of her walkway and stared down the front door.

  It swung open, framing Li.

  She seemed bigger. Angrier. “Where have you been?” She didn’t move. Li always waited for me to go to her.

  I flexed my fingers around the laser grip. “What did you do to Sam?”

  She cocked her head. “Sam?”

  “You heard me.” I stepped forward. She wasn’t holding anything but the doorknob. I could fire before she could. Maybe. I’d never used a laser; my aim was probably terrible. “What did you do with Sam? He’s not there anymore.”

  “I don’t know what happened to him.” She checked over her shoulder. Distracted. Agitated. It was natural, considering the war going on around us, but not for Li. She liked conflict. She liked opportunities to see me hurt, and here I was without the one person who meant everything to me, worried he was dead, and she was distracted? “Is that where you went?”

  “He was in prison. Now he’s not.” I stopped halfway down the walk and straightened my shoulders. The sore one stung, but I tried to make my expression frozen with anger, like she did. I didn’t want her to know how much I hurt.

  “Why do you think I’d do something to him?” Her familiar sneer returned.

  “You always do things. It’s what you are.” I lifted my laser and let my free hand rest on the rosewood handle of Sam’s knife. “You tried to make my life miserable, make me believe that no one could ever care about me. But you’re wrong. Sam does. Sarit, Stef, and the others do. I’m not a nosoul.” My hand shook as I took aim. “Now tell me what you did to him.”

  Her mouth dropped open.

  At first I thought it was shock because I’d finally stood up to her, but then her expression went slack and her eyes focused on nothing. One last flicker of rage, and she crumpled.

  Dead.

  I staggered backward. A dragon wouldn’t fit inside, and a sylph would have been more obvious. I hadn’t done it.

  A man stepped out of the shadows, over my mother’s body, and lowered a handheld laser like mine. “You must be Ana.” Odd that it took only one small man with a laser to kill her. He didn’t look like much. Short. Clipped auburn hair. Pale.

  Oh. I knew those features, though I’d never seen him before.

  “I’m Menehem,” he said. “We should talk.”

  Chapter 29

  Darkness

  I KEPT MY laser aimed at his chest. “You killed her.”

  “Yes.” He raised his eyebrows. “Wasn’t that what you were here for? I thought I’d get it over with. You weren’t going to stop accusing her of murdering Dossam, and she wasn’t going to admit to it. She didn’t, by the way. She’s been here with me.”

  My jaw ached from clenching it as he strode toward me. I held my ground. “But the battle—”

  “Yes, that’s where she was going. And she could have done a lot to help people, but honestly, I didn’t want her to.”

  This, too, was like drowning. My questions were like drops of water, enough to fill an ocean. “I don’t understand.”

  I hated feeling stupid. I hated having to ask. And I hated being delayed, kept from finding Sam. If Li hadn’t killed him, he was somewhere in the city. With dragons.

  I steeled myself. “Tell me everything or I’ll shoot holes in your arms and legs.” As if I had that kind of skill.

  But he didn’t know.

  “Okay.” He headed inside the house, stopping just before he hit shadows. “Aren’t you coming?”

  I nodded toward his hand. “Your weapon.”

  He rolled his eyes and tossed it on the walkway. “I have no plans to harm you.”

  “You’ve given me no reason to believe that.” I didn’t lower my laser as I followed him to the door. Li was motionless on the doorstep, ice already collecting on her face. If I touched her, she’d be cold. “Are you working with Meuric? Did you attack Sam and me after the masquerade?” He was smaller than the man who’d tossed me around the street, but I’d been terrified then. I was terrified now, but at least I was armed.

  Menehem grabbed my laser and flung it out the door with his. “No, I’m not working with Meuric or anyone else. I didn’t attack you, and I didn’t send sylph after you. If I’d wanted to hurt you, you’d be dead now. Never take your eyes off the person you’re threatening.”

  My heart stuttered and tried to catch up with itself, but I nodded, using the door frame to hold myself up. The cold stone chilled my hands. I jerked back. “All right. You’ve made your point. I’m a lousy interrogator. Now are you going to tell me why you abandoned me, why you killed Li, and why you want people to die?”

  He motioned me to sit. Li’s parlor was sparsely furnished, holding only a few chairs and tables. Once, she’d had swords and axes displayed on the walls — hers were real walls, not like Sam’s — but she took down the weapons when I moved in.

  We left the door open, both of us angled toward it. And Li on the ground, a clean hole in the back of her head. “When she comes back,” I said, “she’s going to kill you. Probably several times.”

  “She won’t come back.”

  I jerked around. “Of course she will. Everyone comes back.” Except Ciana. Maybe except me, too. We couldn’t know unless I died, but it didn’t seem likely.

  And there was that thing Meuric had talked about, something that was supposed to happen next Soul Night….

  He shook his head. “I’ve been working your whole life to redo what I managed only once. I stopped a reincarnation.”

  “What?”

  “Several years ago I was experimenting on the market field. It was the only open area I thought was safe enough if anything should go wrong. I couldn’t go outside Heart, either. I didn’t want gases interfering. I’m sure you know how terrible it can smell out there. Imagine that when you’re trying to focus on other flammable chemicals—”

  “Menehem.” Just like the diaries I’d read, he really liked to explain things. “Your point.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Anyway, as things so often do with experiments, something went wrong, but it was mostly unexpected in that it went right when I’d originally assumed otherwise. That was the night Ciana died.”

  “That doesn’t make sense.” And if Li wouldn’t come back, like Ciana hadn’t, what about everyone else who died tonight?

  He smiled, not cruel or calculating like Li, but not one I wanted aimed at me. “I know it’s hard for you to understand. Here’s the truth. Anyone who dies tonight is dead. Gone forever. Like you replaced Ciana, I suspect other newsouls will replace tonight’s casualties. I’ve poisoned Janan, Ana. He’s responsible for reincarnations. Tonight, he’s incapable of fulfilling his duty.”

  I couldn’t fit it in my head. Janan was real, I was certain, but poisoning him? Janan seemed to live within the walls of the temple. I couldn’t imagine a way to poison stone. If I hadn’t been born — proof that what Menehem had done had worked — I’d have called him crazy.

  “The effects won’t last more than a few hours, but it will be enough to bring more newsouls into the world.”

  “Why? Why would you want your friends to die? And Li? And maybe you?”

  He lowered his voice, almost sounding hurt. “I thought you’d appreciate that Li won’t be back. She was nothing but awful to you. At least that’s what it sounded like.”

  “That’s not the point. She’s never coming back. You destroyed her completely.”

  “And everyone else who dies tonight. I only chose Li for your sake. Nature will choose the rest. The strong will live. They will be reborn. Newsouls will replace the rest.”

  I bolted for the door. “Sam is out there. Dragons always kill him.
” I stepped over my dead mother and scooped up both lasers. “If he dies tonight, so do you.”

  Menehem kept up with me easily and didn’t appear upset by his lack of weapon. “If dragons or sylph kill me, so be it, but you won’t. Not even if Dossam is dead.”

  “You wouldn’t say that if you knew me.” I waved for him to go first. If something attacked, I’d prefer it ate him while I had a chance to run away. That, and I wasn’t over the way he’d disarmed me earlier.

  “I think I know you well enough. Your need for knowledge is insatiable. I have answers you want. Isn’t that what you were doing at the library so late at night while you were living with Sam?” He glanced over his shoulder. “I’ve been following your progress since you arrived in Heart, and mostly managed to keep my return a secret.”

  So he’d been the one following me that night? I shook my head and kept moving. It didn’t matter anymore. “Is that why you came here tonight? Looking for me?”

  “Exactly.” He smiled over his shoulder. “You’re the one person I wanted to save tonight. You haven’t had a full life yet. Or dozens of them. It wouldn’t be fair if you died so soon.”

  “Will I be reborn?”

  We turned onto the road, lights and sleet shining again. Drones and dragons swarmed overhead, and we could see North Avenue from here, where sylph chased people, burning corpses as they went. I was morbidly glad we didn’t have sylph eggs; I would have been compelled to stop and help people. Since I didn’t, I focused on finding Sam.

  But something was different. Unusual darkness caught my eye.

  In the center of Heart, the temple was dull. Exterior lights illuminated the building, but its pearlescent glow had vanished. Stone screamed as dragons wrapped around it, straining to crush it or—

  Jagged black lines appeared on the temple.

  I’d stopped walking. Menehem stood next to me, gazing at the temple that rose above the treetops and other buildings. “Huh,” he said. “I wonder what will happen if they rip it down.” After a moment’s contemplation, he shrugged. “Well, maybe no one will be reborn.”