Boom.
Thunder rolled overhead. Everyone jumped and looked up at a comet of fire streaking across the sky, a great burning disc ten times the size of the mid-day sun.
The world turned orange.
The psionic children, most of the adults, and some of the police officers, screamed. The willowy blonde teen broke away from her escort and ran over, emitting a high-pitched wail. She fell to her knees in front of Althea and hugged her giant rag doll.
“Please save us!” cried Izzy, tucking her doll behind her to protect it. “Please stop the fire.”
A tingle of presence danced atop Kate’s consciousness. She looked at the conflagration with widening eyes, sensing the re-entry burn. Aaron glanced at her with a mischievous squint. Kate felt him peek at her surface thoughts but didn’t care. He squatted out of sight and murmured.
“What?” whispered Althea.
The flaming sky grew closer, hotter, more alive—falling right at them.
“Mommy!” yelled Althea, flinging herself against Kate. “Don’t let us die!”
Desperation welled from deep within. She had to protect her daughter. The world ceased to exist, save for the roiling pyroclastic horror plummeting out of the sky. Her mind wrapped itself around the combustion and crushed. Harder and harder she concentrated, pushing her arms up as if the inferno was a physical object she could hold back. Althea let out another shrill yelp, which caused Kate to strain with as much force as her body could tolerate. Heat built and rolled around her; for a veritable eternity, she struggled to focus her power into the sky. Eventually, the beating heart within the fire miles away succumbed to her influence and the burning overhead grew faint.
Cold wind embraced her.
“Bloody hell, it worked,” said Aaron.
The burn diminished to a point she could no longer feel anything from it. Kate opened her eyes. A far smaller flaming line traveled sideways across the deep, blue sky. What had once been a devouring portal into Hell had shrunk to the trail of a firework. Sunlight glinted from metal as the recognizable form of a starship turned, heading west. She watched it veer off, descending like a glimmering star toward the sea. Seconds before the faltering ember touched the horizon, a brilliant wave of white light in three expanding rings erupted from the dark spot at the center of the orange glow. Kate cringed from the intensity.
When she looked again, no trace of the ship remained. Fourteen seconds later, the roar of a great explosion silenced everyone in the area.
“Never got to replace that special uniform?” asked Aaron.
Kate kept staring at the distant ocean. “I’m naked again, aren’t I?”
“Yes,” said Althea. “You lit on fire. Your clothes turned to ash.”
“That was cruel, Aaron. Telling her to say that.” Kate looked down at Althea. “Do you really think of me as your mother?”
He cringed, grinning. “Aww, heard that, did ya?”
“Not exactly… she said ‘what,’ and then…”
“Worked, didn’t it?” Aaron smiled. “Figured you could use the motivational boost.”
Althea shot a guilty look at the ground. “I hope my mother isn’t mad at me.” She grimaced. “Is that a lie?”
“I don’t think so.” Kate patted her on the head. “I’m sure she’d understand. She wouldn’t want you to die either, and I want to protect you.”
“Sorry.” Althea offered an earnest wide-eyed look. “I didn’t want you to hurt me.”
“I” —Kate sighed—”It’s okay. I kind of like it. Besides, it helps keep him out of my head.” I need something to live for, don’t I?
“If you like, you can be my mother, but Father wants to join with Alejandra.” Althea smiled.
Arms slipped around Kate from behind, wrapping her in a blanket. She recognized David by his scent before he said a word. “You’re out of uniform, Officer.”
Kate twisted around to face him, her arms trapped under the blanket against her chest, and kissed him. She pulled back, looked into his perfect, chocolate eyes, and kissed him again. A few nearby people in uniform clapped.
“Are you gonna wife her now?” asked Althea.
Kate blushed. “David… I need you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” She choked up. “I can’t wait another minute.” She leaned up to whisper. “Let’s do it right here.”
His eyes flared open with a look of surprise and embarrassment. His hand on the back of her head pulled her close to his heart. “You want it to be special. Two hundred witnesses isn’t very special.”
“It’d be pretty special for them,” muttered Aaron.
“I want them to know how I feel. I want you, David.”
She tried to pull the blanket open, but he held it closed. When she looked in his eyes, he had the same expression of concern he had when she saw him standing in the breach of the wall, two seconds after she wanted to take her own life. If not for him, she’d have done it. She forced one hand up out of the gap in the fabric by her neck and held onto his shoulder. Tears came unbidden.
“Kate…” He swayed side to side in a gentle rocking motion.
“I don’t deserve all this. What you did for me, what Althea did… I’m just a monster that should’ve been flushed down the toilet when I was little. The scientists were right. All I’m good for is killing. Why did you spare me?”
Sorrow and despair faded, as if someone had freed her shoulders from the weight of damp, woolen cloak.
“You’re making me feel better.” She tried to sniffle, but found herself laughing.
“Enough sadness. You might’ve just saved us all. Kate, you are a beautiful person inside and out. I knew from the moment we first met, you did not deserve all the pain you carried in your heart.”
“Stay with me,” said Kate. “I’ll ask Captain Buckley to let me ride with you.”
Aaron cleared his throat and looked down. “I’d rather advise against that.”
Kate whirled to make a sarcastic remark, but the somber expression on his face stole her humor. She looked back to David and rested her head on his shoulder. With the light show in the sky at an end, Division 0 officers and medtechs resumed attending to the refugees as well as wounded starport security and police. Aaron went over to take a seat by Anna, who seemed reassured by his presence, though she still jumped whenever a cop got too close. Althea gave Kate a big smile before taking Izzy’s hand and walking with her over to Archon’s former army. The kids crowded around her, thrilled to see her alive.
David patted her on the back. “Look up.”
She followed his gaze to the sky, where a brief rising streak of white sparkled like a star before going out.
“Make a wish.”
Kate kissed the side of his neck, the corner of his jaw, and his earlobe before whispering.
“I already did.”
73
Home
Epilogue: Prophet of the Badlands
Althea
A curtain of dark green leaves wavered in front of Althea’s face, painting her with patches of sunlight in a shifting camouflage pattern. She crouched in the shade by the wall of the Water Man’s metal mushroom house. Her fingers and toes sank into the moist dirt as she crawled along, slow and quiet, spying on the people working the field. Althea crept to a darker spot where the rounded structure met the start of the wall that wrapped around the farm, hiding behind bushes.
As soon as she crouched, a little boy squealed and pointed at her. “Found you!”
Trapped against the plump building and the wall, she raised her arms and legs, squealing into giggles as he jumped on her.
The boy yelled, “You’re it!”
She crawled out of her hiding place, still laughing, and squatted in the field with her hands over her glowing blue eyes. They made her easy to find, but they also gave her an advantage. Other kids couldn’t hide in the dark because she could see them with ease. She had never known ‘dark’ as anything other than the absence of color. Out of fairness, she’d exp
lained that to them, but still, quite a few attempted to hide in darkness alone.
“One… two…”
The boy ran off, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Althea’s it!”
Althea counted up in a slow march to twenty before she stood and yelled, “I’m hunting!”
She waved to Karina as she ran across the farm field and headed out into Querq. The kids had agreed on sticking to an area within one block of the farm for the game. Since the farm spanned six blocks wide, even that restriction left her roaming a large portion of Querq. A few minutes of quick exploring yielded no results, so she circled back to her starting point. Walking at a creep, she searched high and low, peering into every black and white space where someone might be hiding.
Sarah, the five-year-old daughter of Carlos, the mechanic, hid under a car that had crashed into the side of a building long before Querq had been resettled. Althea knew the girl would wail and scream, thoroughly miserable if she were to be caught. She acted as if she couldn’t see her and walked right by. The giddiness emanating from the hiding place made her smile. Althea couldn’t care less about winning. Everyone having fun made her happy.
A rattle up ahead brought a grin. Althea darted into an alley between two buildings, catching Kim trying to get her hands on a dangling fire escape ladder on the back of an old red brick hotel. The former city girl’s dress resembled Althea’s, only peach instead of white. She jumped up to grab the bottom rung and grunted, but lacked the arm strength to pull herself up. Althea stalked up on her like a cat, but an abandoned glass bottle skittering away from her foot ruined her stealth.
Kim dropped to her feet, let out a cry of startlement, and ran. Althea sprinted after her, overtaking her before the end of the alley. She wrapped her arms around the taller girl from behind, held on until she stopped running, and lifted her off the ground.
“Ugh.” Kim gurgled. “Ow.”
“Gotcha!” chirped Althea. “You’re it.”
Kim rubbed her ribs once Althea put her down. “Ow. Your arms are so boney. How the heck are you so strong?”
Althea shrugged. “You’re skinny too.”
Parents’ voices filled the air, calling after the little ones they’d been playing hide and seek with. A dozen children appeared out of trash cans, old tires, and windows. One boy shimmied down a rain gutter from the roof of a four-story building.
“Fernando!” yelled Althea. “You’re not supposed to go up there. It’s dangerous.”
“Sorry!” he yelled, not slowing down.
“Guess the game’s over.” Kim shrugged.
They walked together to the porch of an old hotel (that had been converted to individual dwellings) and sat on the steps.
Kim brushed dirt off her bare feet and smirked at her dress. “Do they have any real clothes here? I’m so done with the peasant girl thing. Why’d Aurora make me leave all my stuff behind, even clothes?”
“What’s a peasant?” asked Althea.
“Us,” said Kim. Her mood darkened and she scowled off to the side. “Anyone who isn’t a f—damn senator.”
Althea held her hand. “Don’t have the sad. Are you happy here? We won’t tell the city police.”
“Oh, yeah, ‘cause no one will notice I’m the only other white girl in this whole place. One of those Zeroes looks at me, they’ll know I’m a telepath.”
Althea smiled. “They will let you stay here if you want. Paolo and Maria are happy to share family.”
“Yeah… I guess it’s kind of like having parents that don’t suck. They’re way cooler than my birth parents.” Kim leaned forward, hands together on her knees. Unkempt raven hair hung down to her shins. “It’s better than being in ‘the system.’ You were right, Archon was a total whack-job.”
Althea frowned into her lap. After a few seconds, she gave up trying to figure out what that meant. I couldn’t save him.
“I can’t believe they’re gonna make me work a job. I’m only fourteen.”
“Everyone’s gotta help.” Althea smiled.
“Easy for you to say, you’re ten. You still got four years before they make you work.”
“I’m eleven. Almost twelve.”
“Bullshit,” said Kim.
“Where?” Althea looked around at the road and checked her soles.
Kim laughed. “Maybe I should go back to the city. Get a real education, learn engineering or software development or something and spend the rest of my life wage-slaving until I die.”
Althea gasped. “No! Slavery is bad!”
“You are ridiculous.” Kim pulled her into a one-armed hug. “Well if I stay here, I’ll need some tech… and some damn shoes. Think the cops will get me some real e-learns?”
“What is eee learn?” Althea blinked.
“It’s like school, but you do it by yourself.”
“Altheeeeeaaaa.” Karina’s voice echoed.
She looked up at the darkening sky. “Time to go home.”
“Yeah,” said Kim, standing. “Feels kinda weird to have one.”
“Nice,” said Althea.
Kim grinned. “Yeah. It feels nice.”
Althea sat stomach deep in hot bathwater, a ring of suds tickling at the base of her ribs. Karina, sitting outside the tub behind her, poured soap over her head and worked it into a lather. Her sister ran her fingers over and over through her hair. Althea drew her heels close, knees poking out of the surface as she hugged them to her chest. Karina mumbled a song she’d forgotten the words to, something her mother had sung to her as a little girl. She clung to a vague sense of melody, but the words didn’t matter. Althea basked in her sister’s love.
She felt guilty over leaving for a few days, and worse at the reaction Karina had to the bloody slash on her dress when she returned. Althea didn’t lie, and told her everything about what happened. Her sister had missed two days of farm work after that, refusing to let go of her. Althea closed her eyes as water poured over her head. Karina dipped the pot in the bathwater and repeated the rinse. She added more soap for another round. Althea’s guilt increased; Karina still acted clingy.
Althea thought of Archon laying on the ground in the hangar. She shivered and let off a sniffle.
“What’s wrong?” Karina wrapped soapy arms around her, pulling her against the back of the tub into a hug. “Thea? You’re crying.”
She reached up and grasped the arm over her chest with both hands. “I have the sad ‘cause I am home an’ I have you and Father, but many people still have the suffering.”
Karina kissed her atop the head, holding her tight. “You can only do so much, Thea. Take comfort in the joy you bring to others. There will always be people we cannot help. That is the way of the world. You help everyone you can. That’s all anyone can ask of you. Do what you can and don’t fret over things you can’t help. Now, let me finish washing your hair.”
Althea smiled and wiped her tears, sitting up and stretching her legs under the water. Karina washing her hair reminded her of when they had first met. It would forever be a symbol of a bond stronger than any chain or cage.
The next day, a warm, dry breeze nudged a flock of tumbleweeds down the street. Althea walked backward across her porch, sweeping. She paused at a faint rumble in the ground. Sand particles on the boards vibrated into a beige blur around her feet. A tickle of fear brushed down her back. The noise grew louder, changing from an indistinct tremor in the earth to a loud, mechanical roar.
She looked up and to the left. A dusty, black truck rounded the corner four blocks down, with tires taller than her. Four dozen goats scurried out of its path, screaming and bleating. When the driver leaned on the horn, one decided to stand defiant. A little itch in the back of her mind said they’d kidnap her if she didn’t run and hide under the sink. Her knuckles whitened on the broom handle, a tremble rocked her body, but she held her ground—like that goat.
I’m not afraid of you. This is my home.
Rachel stood up in the truck bed and threw something to t
he road, which attracted the animal out of their path. When the truck passed in front of her, she waved at Althea. Beard and Darren raised their hands in greeting from the cab. Dean’s absence didn’t surprise her.
Her fear vanished. Althea waved back.
Karina rushed out of the house and up behind her, grasping her shoulders. “Thea, are you okay?”
The truck rumbled on by, lofting a rolling dust cloud in its wake. Den emerged from the haze, jogging across the street to the porch steps. His rifle hung on a strap over his back, and he carried a metal case with food packed for a short trip. She remembered he’d wanted her to slip away to have lunch by the stream that afternoon.
Althea grinned at him and leaned her head back to aim her smile at Karina. “Yes. I’m okay.”
74
Ol’ Jack
Epilogue: Archon’s Queen
Anna
Rain fell in steady sheets around Coventry Tower, saturating the coal-black soil into a field of mud. Anna stared at herself in the puddle around her boots, mesmerized by the dark glow emanating from reflected clouds. A fleeting memory of demonic shapes forming from the mist teased at the edges of her awareness. The wind gusted in short, chilly bursts, carrying a stink part rotting engine and part sewer.
A lanky man in a glossy dark plastic trench coat emerged from the rubble, his arm bearing the red ‘E’ logo of the East End Boys. “Oi, ‘avent seen you in a bit.” Metal fingers clicked as the cybernetic fist on his right arm opened and closed. “’Ere for a fix? Who’d ya bash for the kit?”
Angel Descended (The Awakened Book 6) Page 61
