Stealing Phoenix

by Joss Stirling

  ‘I’ve got bigger shoulders than you.’

  ‘And a bigger head by the sounds of it. Stop the “me heap big man” act and be rational. We can only go in there if we are united on the best way forward.’

  Yves tapped my nose in reprimand. ‘My dad’s Native American, did you know that? I could have you arrested for perpetuating racial stereotypes with your “heap big man” crack.’

  Oops. ‘No offence intended.’

  ‘None taken. But in return, you have to let me run this show. If we both try to call the shots we’ll end up stumbling over each other into the crossfire.’

  I didn’t like it but I could see some sense in his suggestion. My fear often paralysed me when it came to dealings with the Seer; I could allow that he would be more objective on this occasion. ‘OK, I’ll let you lead this once, but only if you say you won’t do something stupid and put yourself in danger. We go in, hear the deal, and then try to leave together.’

  He gave me a hug for my grudging concession. ‘Yes, that’s the plan. I won’t push the last point too far and get us hurt, but I want you to know I’ll be aiming for taking you with me. Stand back and let me make the running—I’ll know what I’m willing to concede to get you out safe.’

  I closed my eyes briefly. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this.’

  He placed a gentle kiss on each eyelid. ‘Trust me, Phee. We’ll be fine.’

  ‘You don’t have your brothers somewhere nearby, do you? As, like, back-up?’

  He shook his head. ‘I promised I’d come alone this morning. I haven’t even told them where I’ve gone.’

  Shame. Part of me wished he hadn’t been so honourable. ‘OK, let’s do this. I’m supposed to make sure you come alone so maybe it’s just as well that they don’t know what we’re up to.’

  ‘The only ones who might know are Mom and Zed, but they are in the air heading for London.’ He gave a crooked smile. ‘If they do get a future news flash, I’m going to be in deep trouble when they land.’

  I squeezed him back. ‘Don’t worry: I’ll protect you from them.’

  ‘Now that I can allow.’

  First through the doors as the Tate opened, we entered an empty Turbine Hall. This exhibition space was cavernous, like an ugly back alley in a giant’s castle. The current display added to the uncanny atmosphere: huge metal spiders crouched splay-legged on the concrete, invaders from space in a 1950s ‘B’ movie poster. Several hung suspended as if about to descend on our heads; tiny ones scuttled up the walls to exploit any cracks in human defences.

  ‘Nice,’ Yves commented ironically.

  We wandered among the metal forest of arachnid limbs, killing time.

  ‘What makes an artist spend their life making these?’ I asked with a slightly hysterical laugh.

  ‘Exorcizing nightmares maybe?’

  ‘And giving them to us?’

  ‘Phee?’

  We turned warily on hearing Dragon call my name. He was alone, standing framed by the pincers of the largest of the metal spiders.

  ‘Um … hi. Dragon, this is Yves.’

  The two glared at each other.

  ‘We met yesterday,’ Yves said curtly. ‘Let’s hope modern art has a better day.’ He cast a significant look at the suspended spiders, reminding us all of the fate of the mobile at the Barbican.

  Dragon gave a gloating smile. ‘Don’t go putting ideas in my head, mate.’

  ‘I doubt you need my suggestions to cause pointless destruction, dude.’

  Enough sabre-rattling. ‘Dragon, I’ve brought him here as asked. What happens now?’

  With the arm looped casually around me, Yves squeezed my waist, reminding me who was supposed to be in charge of this little confrontation. But if he insisted on picking a fight with Dragon before we’d even got off the ground with the negotiation, then of course I was going to intervene!

  ‘The Seer is here.’ Dragon folded his arms and nodded up at the wall separating the main body of the art gallery from the Turbine Hall. A couple of floors up, there was a window, a perfect vantage point from where our leader could look down on us, much like he did at home. Naturally, he wasn’t going to put himself anywhere near an enemy; he was too much of a coward, and he always sought to make us feel subordinate.

  Yves curled his lip in a sneer at the white-suited hulk of a man surveying us. ‘Is that him?’

  I felt humiliated letting him glimpse even this much of my background. ‘Yes.’ I could see Unicorn beside him. Kasia was probably lurking to check we weren’t using telepathy to anyone outside but I had forgotten to warn Yves of this possibility.

  ‘How are we supposed to talk?’ Yves asked. ‘Megaphone?’

  Tell him I will speak through you.

  I gasped as the Seer forced his message into my head. ‘Me. He’s using me.’

  Yves rubbed my back in sympathy. ‘OK, then, let’s make this as short as possible. We can do without him bouncing round inside your mind. Ask what he wants.’

  The details of the members of the Savant Net.

  ‘And what’s he going to do with that, as if I couldn’t guess?’

  That’s for me to decide. Your soulfinder only has to hand them over. Tell him.

  I couldn’t imagine Yves agreeing to any deal like that. This was hopeless.

  Yves pondered the deal he was being offered. ‘And then what? You’re allowed to leave? He’ll let you go?’

  The Seer chuckled at Yves’s audacity. Phoenix stays with her daddy. I couldn’t bring myself to tell Yves that part so I didn’t relay it to him and just shook my head. Explain to your soulfinder that he has to remain within the Net and feed me all the information I require. He will spy for us.

  ‘And why would I do that?’

  Because if you don’t, Phoenix will suffer.

  On his signal, Dragon forced a miniature spider from its wall bracket; it rocketed straight for me. With quick reflexes, Yves pulled me down so that it passed overhead to smash against the far wall, leaving a dent in the concrete.

  ‘You forget: you’re not the only ones with powers.’ Yves stared up at the Seer and smoke began to curl from his suit pocket. As his wallet burst into flames, the Seer and Unicorn frantically tried to put out the blaze.

  ‘Yves, stop it!’ I whispered.

  He reluctantly extinguished the blaze. ‘I went for his heart and that was the nearest I could find to one,’ Yves explained to me with a wicked smile.

  We were so going to pay for that—but I had to admit the sight was one to savour for the rest of what was probably now going to be a very short life.

  Tell that Yank of yours that he had better produce the goods or you’ll be the one to burn! screeched the Seer in my mind, his voice like the grating of metal on metal.

  ‘He’s not happy,’ I glossed for Yves.

  ‘I bet he didn’t put it quite like that.’

  ‘No. Not exactly. I’m the hostage for your good behaviour, much as we expected.’

  ‘And you’ve lived with that squatting on your life?’ marvelled Yves, his disgust at the Seer all too apparent. He was sure to despise me if he ever discovered that the man could be my father. I hoped he never found out; I had more than enough points against me as it was.

  Under his own set of orders, Dragon stepped forward and attempted to pull me away from Yves. ‘Time to leave.’

  Predictably, my soulfinder would not let go. Fury sparking in his eyes, Yves pushed me back and placed himself in Dragon’s way. ‘If you touch her, I’ll singe every hair on your head.’ And he would too—I could see determination in his expression. ‘She’s staying with me from now on.’

  ‘Not happening. She belongs to the Community.’

  ‘She belongs with her soulfinder.’

  ‘Look, mate, I’ve played nice so far. There’re three of us and one of you. How exactly do you think you are going to get out of here with her?’

  Yves gave a ripple of a shrug. ‘Tell your leader that if he wants that information, he
has to let her go with me, or there’s no deal. I don’t trust you not to hurt her while she’s with you and there’s no point in this for me if she’s not safe. What I do, I do for her.’

  ‘How touching. I think I’m gonna throw up.’ Dragon rolled his eyes at Yves’s defiant talk.

  I wanted to butt in and forbid Yves from promising anything that put his family and the Savant Net at risk but I remembered in time that I’d said I’d let him make the running. It terrified me that he was getting in over his head, but I’d given my word.

  Yves stood firm. ‘I’m sure it is not beyond the capabilities of your Seer to put in safeguards to keep her from spilling your secrets, but my interests are only protected when I can see her. That’s a red line for me.’

  Dragon must have been reporting what was said for the Seer came back quickly with his counter-offer.

  Tell him he can have you for forty-eight hours and then he must bring you and the information to me.

  ‘Where does he want to us come?’

  To the London Eye.

  The Seer’s concession was more than I had expected. I passed the message on to Yves. ‘Are you OK with that?’ It would give us time at least to untangle this mess.

  ‘We’ll take it.’ He checked his watch. ‘We have until ten thirty, Friday.’

  But Phoenix, you must come up here first. I have a message just for you.

  That would be the safeguard. ‘I have to go up there. He won’t let me leave otherwise.’

  ‘I’ll come with you.’

  ‘No,’ Dragon interrupted. ‘We’re staying right here.’ He then changed tactics; rather than push at Yves, he used his power to tug me free. Yves had to let go or risk hurting me. I staggered but caught myself on a spider leg before I fell. ‘Up you go, Phee. I’ll babysit your soulfinder for you.’

  I hated the idea of the two of them being alone together for any length of time. I worried that Yves would lose his temper and set fire to something—Dragon probably. ‘I’ll be quick.’

  Call if you need me. Yves didn’t look happy to let me out of his sight.

  I didn’t reply, fearful of eavesdroppers, but nodded. Sooner this was done, the better. I ran up the escalators to the floor where the Seer waited. He had commandeered the entire window niche for himself, Unicorn deterring any tourists who wanted to share the privileged view down on the exhibits. His spotless suit was marred, the jacket now sporting a blackened circle on the pocket. I hid the gleeful smile that threatened to give away my pleasure at the small humiliation Yves had managed to hand him. I couldn’t remember anyone ever getting one over on our leader.

  The Seer had his back to me, still looking down on Yves and Dragon who were circling each other like two wild cats about to rip at each other with their claws.

  ‘So that is your soulfinder. Interesting. He is foolish and bold to come here for you. The bond must be as strong as legend says for him to risk himself. And for what? A girl he met only a day ago.’

  There wasn’t much I could say to that.

  ‘As for my safeguards, I know how to ensure he keeps his word. Come here.’ The Seer beckoned me closer. In this public place, he didn’t demand I kneel; instead he took my hand and covered it with his other. Anyone looking at us would think he was a caring father offering me an affectionate pat on the back of my wrist as we enjoyed the gallery together.

  If he reneges on his deal to bring us information, if he betrays us to anyone in the Savant Net, you will punish him by hurting someone he loves. And you will come back to us after forty-eight hours—nothing will stop you even if you have to fight to the death to return.

  He dropped my hand and patted my shocked face. ‘Don’t look so horrified, Phoenix. If you were loyal to us, you would be happy to agree to do these things without compulsion. Are you faithful to us or should I think again about letting you go with him?’

  Please no. ‘You can rely on me.’

  ‘Good girl. I expect a full report when you get back. Learn as much as you can about the Savant Net. Now run along before your soulfinder and Dragon draw attention to themselves. I can already see the security guards gathering in anticipation of trouble.’

  With a nod to Unicorn, I hurried back to the escalators. I reached Yves just in time. He must have just insulted Dragon because the latter was about to take a swing at him.

  ‘OK, ready now!’ I announced chirpily, bouncing into the middle of the fray. I caught Dragon’s arm by darting under his guard and giving him a mock-friendly hug, propelling him back and away from Yves. ‘Glad to see you are getting on so well but we must go.’ On tiptoes, I put my mouth near Dragon’s ear. ‘The Seer says “behave”. He doesn’t want trouble.’

  The gaggle of worried guards gathered by the main doors visibly relaxed on my arrival to defuse the fight. One spoke into his walkie-talkie, cancelling his request for more staff.

  Dragon gave me a crushing bear hug in retaliation. ‘Tell your pretty boy that this isn’t over between us.’

  ‘See you later.’ I held out a hand to Yves. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  Yves didn’t need asking twice. He sent Dragon a last challenging look as he took my offered palm. I immediately felt a hundred times better, his warmth replacing the shivery feeling left over from my encounter upstairs.

  ‘How bad?’ he murmured as we escaped up the slope and out into the sunshine by the side exit.

  ‘Bad,’ I admitted.

  ‘Can you tell me?’

  ‘Yes. I think he wants you to know. If you go back on the deal, I hurt someone you love. If you don’t return me, I fight to the death to make the meeting.’

  He swore.

  Remembering how studiously polite he had been to me only the day before under the provocation of my repeated attempts to mug him, I wondered what I was doing to my soulfinder to lure him into using vocabulary outside his normal comfort zone. ‘I’m a really bad influence, aren’t I?’

  Yves looped an arm over my shoulder, the now familiar weight feeling just right in that place. ‘I don’t know exactly what you are, Phee, but I certainly saw red in there a couple of times. All of the people you grew up around act like monsters.’

  ‘OK. I was raised by wolves, I admit it. But remember that, won’t you? You can’t expect me to behave better than them when the chips are down.’

  He shook his head. ‘No, you’re nothing like them.’

  I was everything like them, probably even sharing the same tainted genetic inheritance. ‘Kind of you to think so, but consider yourself warned. I’m a crappy bet for a soulfinder.’

  ‘I’ll take the gamble.’ He rubbed my upper arm. ‘You come first with me now. No monsters are going to drive us apart.’

  We arrived back at Yves’s flat without settling the major issues hanging over us. I wasn’t going to let him betray family and friends for me; he refused to talk about what he was planning to do. I could understand that: if he’d said immediately that he had no intention of going through with the deal, then I’d have to hurt someone—not the best introduction to his parents. Still, he insisted that I came first in his decisions and he wouldn’t let me down.

  ‘Trust me, Phee. It’ll work out,’ he said as we took the ride up in the lift.

  I shook my head slightly, keeping my eyes fixed on the changing floor number.

  ‘Easier than the stairs, huh?’

  I winced. ‘Yes. Sorry about that. I thought I had to go home.’

  ‘So we saw.’

  ‘I think it was a bad decision.’

  He smiled at that. ‘Yeah, I think so too.’

  ‘I should’ve disappeared—just gone away. Then you wouldn’t be in this fix.’

  Yves frowned. ‘Now that would have been a really bad decision.’

  Getting out at the twentieth floor, we walked up to the entrance to the flat. Fitting his key in the lock, he pushed the heavy door open to let me enter first. The sight that greeted us was a pile of luggage in the hallway.

  ‘Uh-oh.’ Yves gave m
e a pained smile.

  ‘They’ve arrived?’

  ‘Yeah. That’s amazingly quick. They must have hopped on the first flight.’

  ‘We’ve only just got here.’ A tall man in late middle age came out of the nearest doorway, arms stretched out. I thought he was heading for his son, but he came at me instead. I almost cringed back but Yves’s firm hand on my shoulders prevented me from doing so. I was folded in a hug that had the strength of the Rocky Mountains behind it—stone, forest, and river. He smelt of trees too—a pine-scented aftershave. Yves had already told me that his father, Saul Benedict, had been born and bred in Colorado. He had the thick, black, grey-streaked hair of his forefathers and a burnished skin from spending most of the year outside. I could see where his sons got their stature from: he had to top six feet easily. ‘You’ve found her.’

  Yves cleared his throat, overcome with emotion at seeing his father’s unquestioning joy for him.

  ‘Yeah, Dad, I did.’

  ‘Great news, Yves.’

  No sooner had Saul let me go than a small woman bustled into our midst. A fraction shorter than me, she squeezed me to her chest and kissed the top of my bent head. ‘Clever Yves!’ she exclaimed in her throaty voice.

  ‘I was lucky, Mom.’

  ‘Karla, let the poor girl breathe!’ chuckled Saul.

  Karla pushed me gently away and then thumped her son in the stomach. ‘But where have you been, you bad, bad boy? Your brothers have been frantic—they didn’t know what to do until we turned up! Zed told them that you would be OK and that was the only thing that stopped them calling in the police!’

  ‘Love you too, Mom,’ said Yves, replying with an apologetic squeeze of a hug. ‘So you knew we were coming?’

  She waved that point away as if of no importance. ‘Yes, yes, he saw you turning up here with Phoenix, none the worse for whatever you have been doing to fetch her.’