by Holly Hook
None of these people knew that it, along with them, would probably burn instead.
The driver took us around the perimeter of the pool. I spotted some teenagers walking through the ticket booth, already in swim gear. They were part of the sacrifice. There were no police here and no ATC agents, waiting to guard the place. Thoreau probably didn't want them to interfere. Any that he had already Bound were likely in the Infernal, ready to attack.
"You know," I said, hoping I was loud enough for Gaozu to hear me through the glass. I hoped he understood my language. He hadn't spoken it yet. "You never said that you weren't planning on betraying the Dark Council. Bathory? Gaozu? What are your opinions?"
Thoreau glared at me. I was causing trouble. It was the only hope. If Xavier was a god and neither of us could die because of that, I needed a different threat. "The Dark Council is united," he said. "I will keep it that way. Like you, we are all needed tonight."
My hope shriveled. Neither of my other two enemies said a word. I wondered if seeing the War God's burned remains had scared any rebellion out of them. Maybe Thoreau had counted on that to happen.
The limo stopped behind the podium where Thoreau would speak. A million microphones pointed at where he would stand, and several speakers overlooked the pool from here. Some people stared at the limo. None of them could see inside the tinted windows. It was obvious from how much the driver didn't care.
"We have a few hours before my speech," Thoreau said. "I need to go outside and mingle with the populace. Get them comfortable. Make sure everyone and everything are in position. Bathory, it is the job of you and Gaozu to make sure Alyssa does not leave this vehicle until the right time. Use the chains."
"Excuse me?" I asked.
Thoreau left the car, but Bathory seized my arm before I could move. The mayor slammed the door on me, leaving me inside with Bathory.
I might have been strong, but she was faster. The Mother of All Vampires locked her arm around my throat and squeezed, cutting off my air supply. I gasped, trying to get out of her grasp. I wondered if she'd try to bite me, but she held back. My blood would taste terrible to her.
My lungs burned, and dizziness swept over me. I clawed at Bathory's arms, trying to pry them off, but she tightened her grasp. Maybe Thoreau didn't need me alive for this merger. He was a liar. Xavier and I would die after all.
I put my hand on Bathory's back. Rage pumped through me. Heat. A fire crackled around my hand, and the space beyond my closed eyelids erupted. She screamed and released me. I managed to suck in some air and scoot away. The fire burned on the back of her black dress. The Mother of Vampires thrashed, hitting her back against the seat in an attempt to put it out. The air of the car smelled of burning fabric.
It would buy me a minute at the most. I turned to exit, but Gaozu already stood outside the car, holding my door open. He barged in before I could react, reaching for me. His hand flashed to scaly gold. Black claws wrapped around my arm.
He said something in what might be ancient Chinese and pushed me into the seat while Bathory recovered from her injury. The fire had gone out, but smoky haze filled the car. Gaozu wasn't bothered. Like me, the fire was no problem.
The emperor's eyes flashed to red, but he didn't glare. The wind picked up outside, and a brief shower of rain poured down, almost as if he had summoned it. He sat next to me and closed the door, shielding the three of us from the rest of Cumberland's Water Adventure.
"You have to help us," I said.
The look on Gaozu's face was unreadable. The red in his eyes faded. I wondered if he had any wise words for me. I needed them right now.
Bathory seized my other arm. I sat wedged between two immensely powerful beings. I was just one person. Even after my change, I couldn't resist the two of them. The Mother of Vampires dug her fingernails into my arm. I bit back a cry of pain. I would kill her when I got the first opportunity, and I would make it painful. Already, a thousand creative ways of committing bloomed in my mind.
I was dark, all right.
Sunk.
Bathory leaned close to me. "It looks like Thoreau will have to confine you next to your boyfriend after the worlds merge. You won't get to share in our plunder."
"He's going to screw you over, too," I said.
"I am loyal to him," Bathory said. "He created me, after all."
"What a great contribution to the world."
She tightened her grasp. "I'm not afraid of you. Once you're in chains, you'll pose no threat to me."
I thought of Xavier, shackled to that wall, powerful but helpless. Was what Thoreau said even the truth? He could be trying to lull me into a sense of security. Xavier might not be immortal. I might not be, either. I also thought of the Orb left underground. Thoreau could be going to retrieve it right now. He might even be going to Bind Xavier.
Or to destroy Janine and George and Liliana.
It wouldn't matter. No. I had to make myself care, but it was so much harder without Xavier here. What was it about him that made me feel like my old self? I had to figure it out. He had been trying to tell me something.
I doubted it would help, but there was no other hope here.
"The chains," Bathory said to Gaozu. They both held my arms now. Gaozu had returned to full human form. Outside, a couple of shirtless guys walked past, junk food in hand. They were oblivious. I was getting the idea that the limo had a glamour around it, perhaps even to make it look empty.
Gaozu reached under the seat with his free hand and produced the thickest chains I had ever seen, made of the same dark metal that imprisoned Xavier. He and Bathory went to work snapping the shackles around my wrists. Neither spoke. Time was running out.
The world would burn.
I closed my eyes and imagined it happening.
No one spoke. It was clear that I wasn't going to convince these two to go against the mayor and suffer the same fate as the War God. I didn't understand how a dragon emperor would succumb to an internal fire if he disobeyed Thoreau. There must be another bargaining chip involved.
I was hoping that his heart wasn't in this.
Bathory smiled at me. "You'll enjoy watching the world end," she said. "Well, it won't end, but it will become our playground."
I couldn't convince these people. The night darkened, and the lights around the food stalls came on. A DJ had shown up, and now pop songs played out of some speakers. They were loud enough to mask any sound I might make. I caught a glimpse of the sign for Death's Dive in the distance. The builders had lit the words in green, just like the energy in her underworld. The sign had a cartoon of a waterfall plunging into an abyss. How appropriate.
She was there now. I couldn't feel her presence, but if the mayor was right, she was already in position.
And so was Xavier.
I hadn't imagined that he would be the fifth piece.
Once midnight neared, Gaozu and Bathory would have to place themselves in their sections of the circle. Thoreau's podium stood off the central area a bit, just inside the section that held the Baron's Barbecue roller coaster. These two would have to stop guarding me close to midnight. It was my only hope.
I pulled at the shackles that held my arms. The metal refused to bend to my grasp.
"That's Infernal Iron," Bathory told me. "Demon fire is useless against it. It can hold almost all types of beings."
Gaozu nodded.
"Great to know," I said. If it were true that I had to live to keep the worlds merged, then Thoreau would keep me imprisoned, maybe forever. The thought was just as horrible as death. Xavier and I would stand side by side for all eternity.
Bathory said nothing. Instead, she watched the shirtless men walk past the limo, unaware that they walked past so many dangerous beings. I knew what she wanted to do to them. I wondered if Bathory had asked Thoreau if she could have them for herself.
The idea didn't horrify me. I was getting worse.
The full moon rose above the horizon and slowly climbed into the sky. Once
it was overhead, Thoreau would merge the worlds. George would be shifting right now unless the silver chains had the power to prevent that. Janine might have Turned. Liliana could be dead or tortured to death by the imps. I closed my eyes and leaned back into my seat, trying to make myself care, but it got harder and harder the more time passed. I was crossing the line into evil.
Xavier, I thought.
I waited for him to respond. We had spoken with our minds before, even though it was difficult and took a lot of concentration and effort. I had to hold onto something. My instincts told me that Xavier was the key to my freedom, even though my rational mind screamed that there was no hope.
He didn't answer. I could feel his distress and his terror, but it was as if there were a wall blocking his thoughts. It was these chains or maybe the magic circle.
I slowed down my breathing. What was the point? The pits between my thoughts turned into chasms. The chatter from outside increased. So did the music. Faint food smells wafted into the limo. Gaozu and Bathory sat, guarding me with patience. I reached out to Xavier again.
Answer me, I mentally pleaded.
Nothing.
The Infernal Iron must be preventing it.
I was on my own.
Outside, the crowd thickened. I opened my eyes and lowered the sunglasses. The audience was made mostly of young adults and teenagers ready for a night of partying. I wondered how many shared my school. Maisha, one of my old friends, might be here and searching for Janine. Some of the girls from my former soccer team might have come as well. Coach Laney may even be milling around the crowd. She had helped rat me out to the ATC. Janine's mother was the same way. Some of the police had even tried to help the ATC. They would all burn.
It wasn't like any of them accepted me, anyway.
The music continued to blare. I watched some of the older people take seats in the folding chairs that faced the podium. I bit my lip.
Applause rang out. I knew what it meant: the mayor was approaching.
Thoreau appeared outside the car, alone, without a single ATC agent with him. I found that unusual in this crowd. He opened the limo door from the outside and stood on the other side of Gaozu. He leaned down and smiled at me.
"It is eleven forty-five," he said. "I have our prisoners ready to be brought onstage. Alyssa, you will be the main attraction of this show. Elizabeth, get into position." He turned to Gaozu and said something in another tongue. I assumed he was giving the dragon emperor the same instructions.
The two of them shuffled out of the vehicle, leaving me sitting there, chains around my wrists and ankles. I pulled against the Infernal Iron again, willing it to melt, but nothing happened. My newest powers were useless against this metal.
Bathory vanished into the crowd, drawing stares. She walked towards where I guessed that the Vampire's Castle water slide was. Gaozu drew less attention now that he wore a regular suit. He wove through bodies towards the Dragon's Lair.
He gave me one last glance, eyeing the chains, and vanished.
Thoreau didn't notice. He kept his horrible grin and pushed his sunglasses further onto his face in a silent demand for me to do the same. "Are you prepared for the magic?" he asked. "Are you ready to see your enemies get what they deserve?"
I scooted away from him. Thoreau glanced to the side as if expecting someone to be there to help him, but he was alone. My thoughts turned stony and calculating. Something about the plan was off. It could be something that I could exploit.
He motioned for me to step out of the car. I glared at him, not moving. I knew that exiting the car from the other door was impossible for me. Marissa must have placed incredible dark magic around this limo.
"Alyssa," Thoreau said. "The more you hesitate, the longer you will wear those chains. I have waited for millennia for this moment. I have prepared you for this since the time you were born. You are not going to waste your potential. Come on. You will be known as the most powerful being ever to live."
His words were enticing.
Almost.
"Since the moment I was born," I said. I had to stall. "You told me that everyone else prepared me for this. So, what is it? Can you make up your mind, already?" I knew that Thoreau had no bargaining chips to use on me anymore, not with me turning so dark and selfish inside. He couldn't use Liliana or Janine or George to threaten me. It wasn't like my life depended on them. I'd go on living if any of them died.
He reached out and seized the chain that held my wrist shackles together. "Time is ticking," he said. "We're getting the others onstage right now."
Outside, the crowd quieted. Something was happening.
A growl followed. Chains rattled. A gun cocked. An ominous silence crushed the chatter. Even the music stopped. I sensed that all eyes were on this area. Behind Thoreau, I caught a glimpse of Liliana's jeans on the stage. George stood next to her, in human form and with the silver chains wrapped around his body. He thrashed as if attempting to shift. The silver was holding his transformation back. And next to George was Janine. I could see only her lower half. The three of them stood, facing the crowd.
Xavier wasn't with them, but soldiers were. They wore army fatigues as before. Thoreau's imps. He had brought them out in the absence of the ATC.
Thoreau pulled on my chains. Two soldiers walked over to help. One leaned down. It was a man with sunglasses. The imps had used glamours for this. The audience still had no idea what truly stood before them.
I slid across the seat and out into the open. Thoreau leaned down and stared me in the eye. "And now," he said with triumph, "You fulfill your destiny."
Chapter Twenty
Ten soldiers stood on stage, guarding the others. All wore glamours. Beatrix had also made an appearance. She wore a flower in her hair and a lavender suit. She looked every inch public official. So Thoreau had drafted her into his cabinet. Great.
Beyond the stage, about a thousand Normals had gathered.
Scores of people in swim gear, T-shirts, and shorts stood around the round pool about to turn portal. They stood ten thick, wedged between the water and the tape that separated them from the rest of the park. Gaozu and Bathory had vanished, but I knew that they stood in their sections, ready to take part in the ritual. A few police officers guarded the perimeter, but they would be no match for Thoreau and his forces. I didn't see a single ATC agent, which shocked me. In the chairs sat some employees of Cumberland's Water Adventure along with a middle-aged, suited woman who must be the manager of the place. She sat with her legs crossed. I couldn't tell from the calm, neutral look on her face if she was Bound or not. I was betting on the former. What else explained the design of the park?
The two soldiers took my arms and led me to the front of the stage to stand on the right of Thoreau's podium. Even though my sunglasses covered my eyes, the audience all turned their gazes towards me. A few gasps rang out. People hadn't been expecting the mayor to display captives here tonight.
People held up phones. Nearby, a man crouched with a big news camera.
We were on film, meant to be tomorrow's big story.
Thoreau tapped the microphone, which squealed. "Citizens of Cumberland," he said. "Welcome to the Grand Opening of Cumberland's Water Adventure."
A few people clapped. George growled again. I watched him pull against the silver chains. Hair rippled on the back of his neck. The full moon shined overhead. It was almost midnight. The water already looked darker.
Liliana stared at the ground. She, too, had iron cuffs on her wrists.
Janine did, too. She stood next to me. Someone had removed her sunglasses. She faced me with eyes as red as mine used to be.
The four of us were suffering the equivalent of being paraded as trophies.
Thoreau continued to speak. "It is with great happiness that I am here tonight. The City of Cumberland has been through rough and frightening times in recent weeks, leading up to the recent Abnormal attack on the ATC headquarters. However, I am even happier to announce that the pe
rpetrators have been captured and now stand before you."
I expected applause, but only uncomfortable silence hung over the water park. All eyes remained on us. Most people stared at George, who let out a pained growl and thrashed against the chains. Two soldiers in sunglasses held him in place. Liliana dared to eye the crowd. Someone muttered something about this being illegal.
Thoreau spoke before any dissent could spread through the audience. "Here stand four dangerous Abnormals," he said, standing back from the podium and gesturing to George. "We have the werewolf who, from what I understand, is responsible for the attack at Cumberland International Airport."
George struggled to speak, but the transformation fought so hard that he couldn't. Another growl emerged as he squeezed his eyes shut.
"And here," Thoreau continued, pointing to Liliana, "is a young War Mage who attacked our police force."
"That's because they stopped us for nothing!" Liliana shouted. Even now, she shared her brother's rebellious streak.
"That girl's a child," a man shouted from the crowd.
Thoreau was placing himself in a situation that would lose him votes in the future and maybe even his job. People looked at each other.
The mayor said nothing about Janine. He passed her over and stared at me, holding the mike close to his mouth. "And here is the infamous Alyssa Choy, responsible for several attacks on the ATC, a carjacking, and countless deaths."
I stood up taller, a strange sense of pride washing over me. Before, I would have shrunk away at the accusations. Something had happened to me.
"And here stands Mayor Thoreau, who is a demon baron who plans on screwing all of you over in about five minutes," I said. I might be bad, but I had to stop this. I wasn't going to spend the rest of time wearing these chains. "Have you ever wondered why he never takes those glasses off? Or why he's been ridding Cumberland of the people who can fight him?"
My voice boomed over the audience. The news guy looked up from his camera in shock while a few people muttered. A few people laughed, but it was clear that the party atmosphere was gone.
