Map of the Impossible

by J. F. Penn

  Yet, he was stronger now than he had ever been in flesh.

  “I’ve been expecting you.” Sir Douglas stepped forward, although it seemed as if he glided more than walked across the floor. In the half-light of the lamps, Perry could see within the folds of his cloak to the shaded contours beneath. His body was almost completely gone, transformed into shadows that rippled and twisted in and out of what had once been flesh.

  Perry raised his hands, turned his palms up and summoned his flame into writhing balls of fire. He lifted his chin, eyes fixed on his father as he channeled his magic, intensifying the flame until it burned hot as molten lava.

  He had trained for this moment, summoning his father’s face in the practice rooms under Bath Abbey, slamming fire into that gaunt visage over and over until it splintered into ash. But now he was here, he felt a heaviness in his limbs, a resistance to the one task he had set himself.

  His father drew closer. “Join us, my son. There is much opportunity for you here.” He reached out a hand toward Perry’s cheek, gentle fingers outstretched.

  In his eyes, Perry saw a flicker of the man he had known as a child. The man who had taken him to the woods and shown him the gift of fire, encouraging him to use his power in secret, to keep his Halbrasse status quiet in case he was chosen to fight for causes he did not believe in. A principled man — who had now given his life to the Shadow.

  Perry stepped back and raised his hands again, causing flames to rise in pillars before him.

  “We’re here for Zoe.”

  Sir Douglas waved a dismissive hand. A curl of shadow extended out from his reach to swirl under Zoe’s chin, lifting her face toward them, her skin marred from a beating.

  “She is nothing.” He snapped the shadow back and her head dropped again.

  Perry heard Sienna’s sharp intake of breath, instinctively knew that she would go to her friend. In that moment, he saw the trap.

  Sir Douglas had always and only wanted Sienna. Perry’s own power was nothing compared to that of a Blood Mapwalker, one who could be twisted to true darkness.

  Sienna ran forward.

  Sir Douglas wheeled toward her and opened his arms wide. He summoned a great veil of shadow that billowed high and wide, filling the air with dust and ash and the stink of the grave, obscuring the room with shade.

  “No!” Perry cried. He shot his flames into the cloud of darkness, momentarily illuminating Sienna as she ran from Sir Douglas toward Zoe, her arms outstretched. But his fire crashed down into the floor, extinguished by the weight of particles in the air.

  The Shadow Cartographer loomed tall above Sienna, his skeletal form suddenly filled out, as if darkness expanded his frame into some hybrid creature that straddled the realms of man. He stretched his arms wide and gathered her to him, enveloping her in shadow, their bodies shimmering as something rose in the darkness beyond.

  A corridor. A portal. Back to the Tower of the Winds.

  He couldn’t let his father take Sienna.

  Perry bellowed in rage, summoning flames to surround his entire body. He ran, a burning torch, head down into the cloud of dust and tackled the fading figure of Sir Douglas.

  The three of them fell to the floor, writhing in a pile of ash. Perry grabbed tight, wrapping his arms around his father’s chest, his knees latched on to what was left of the man’s legs. He called forth the flames within, burning hotter than he had ever tried to burn before.

  His father writhed beneath him, moaning in pain. The sound echoed through his very soul, his heart almost bursting — and yet Perry would not let go.

  As he thrashed in agony, Sir Douglas released Sienna, his grip loosening as his fingers crackled in the heat. She rolled away, hair singed, her clothes burning as she crawled along the floor, coughing and retching in the smoke.

  She looked back at him and Perry saw horror in her eyes, a reflection of two entwined still-living corpses, burned flesh oozing together, becoming one in their inevitable end. She reached out a hand, shaking her head as she begged him to stop.

  But Perry didn’t want to stop. This was his mission, the task he had come to complete. There would be no better chance to end the Shadow Cartographer. Flames roared in his ears, blood pounding in his head as the temperature rose. He gripped his father tighter, summoning all the power he had left, determined to burn them out of existence together.

  The door burst open.

  Brilliant white light shot through the cloud of ash, as sharp as a blade, throwing Perry off his father.

  He pinwheeled across the floor, driven by the force of the light and slammed against the back wall of the temple, his flames quenched by the frosted silver that froze his skin instantly. The crushing pain of ice spread through his veins and Perry screamed as the shock of it rippled through him.

  Sir Douglas lay moaning in a tattered heap of smoking rags, his arms a patchwork of oozing burned flesh with shards of bone visible beneath. Tendrils of shadow entwined with curls of smoke above him as the stench of charred skin filled the room.

  Elf stepped through the open door, two huge muscled mutants behind her. She held one hand outstretched to hold Perry in place with the silver light, her eyes flashing an icy blue as she stalked toward her prey.

  20

  As Elf walked in, Sienna looked at the floor, her eyes fixed on the thick wooden boards, noticing the whorls within even as she tried to dampen down the magic that flowed inside, trying desperately to stop the eddies of shadow emerging on her skin.

  Elf had only glimpsed her briefly in the refugee camp that night. Perhaps she would not recognize her now? Smoke and shadow shrouded the room, and the young woman’s gaze was fixed on Perry. But would like call to like?

  Some part of Sienna wanted to stand and show the darkness on her skin, share the ties that bound them together and embrace the way the young woman so freely explored her magic. But if Elf realized the power that sat so close, Sienna knew she might not make it to the Tower of the Winds. Elf would take all she was and use it for her own ends.

  Perry groaned and Elf stalked toward him, the others forgotten as she concentrated on her prey. She twisted her hand into a fist, crushing the silver light into a pinpoint. Perry doubled over, hands clutched to his belly where the beam focused.

  She opened her fist again, her fingers spreading like a flower. The brilliance expanded, licking across Perry’s skin as his flame awakened once more.

  But this time, it was not under his control.

  Elf tore it from him as she pulled the magic out, her breath rapid, her face transfigured into something like ecstasy as she fed on his power.

  Perry cried out, his tortured body shuddering as he convulsed in pain.

  Sir Douglas raised himself up onto one elbow, weakened by the attack but not finished yet. His face was human now, less shadow, more burned flesh. One piercing blue eye remained while the other was swollen shut, the eyelid red and oozing.

  “Leave him.” His voice trembled, but Sienna heard the edge of steel in his tone.

  Elf tightened her grip. “So, this is your son. The one who chose his Mapwalker friends over you.”

  She tugged harder on the silver cord and Perry jerked once, then collapsed into spasm, his body sagging in on itself as energy was sucked from him.

  Sienna wept as she watched her friend suffer, with no way to stop his end as she could not have stopped Elf killing Xander and his lion, Asada. In that moment, she wished for a different type of magic, one that would enable her to fight back. She wished for Mila’s water, for Perry’s fire, for Zoe’s ability to manipulate the strings of the world, for anything but her own blood. She could escape right now, mapwalk out of here, but that would leave her friends behind. And she was nothing without them.

  Elf laughed as she tore into Perry with both hands, teeth bared, nails ripping into the air, as her silver light dug deep within his bones for the last vestiges of power. He was silent now, a husk of the man he had been, his face pallid, eyes closed. Sienna felt the beat
of his magic slow.

  He was almost finished.

  “Enough.” Sir Douglas reached out one blackened, twisted hand. A bolt of flame shot from his outstretched fingers, cutting off Elf’s silver blade of light and blocking its path. Perry’s body slumped to the floor, his chest rising and falling in a jerky manner. He still lived, but not for much longer.

  Elf turned, her expression alive with cold anger but Sienna saw something else there. Excitement for a confrontation she had clearly wanted for too long.

  Sir Douglas had reined the young woman in, his power too much for her to challenge. But now the old man lay crumpled on the floor, the shadows that normally writhed about him in powerful arcs were now merely shreds.

  “Leave him. He’s mine to finish.” Sir Douglas stared at Elf, his one good eye meeting her piercing gaze.

  She smiled and shook her head. “Not anymore.”

  Elf raised her hands and shot darts of white light toward Sir Douglas.

  He thrust out one palm, flames erupting around it, pushing back the white light, burning it with his crimson blaze. The hiss of steam erupted into the air as fire met ice. Elf reared back as the force hit her, but then she leaned into the fight, redoubling her efforts. She seemed to grow taller in stature as she called forth her powerful magic.

  The last remaining shreds of shadow shrank from Sir Douglas, curling away from him like snakes deserting a home that would soon burn them alive.

  Elf’s silver shard of light inched its way closer, forcing him back. Sienna watched as the last shadows left his body, his face contorted in pain as he became more like the man who had come to her in the map shop that first day. It seemed a lifetime away now.

  Elf smiled in triumph. She walked across the still burning timbers of the floor, raising her hands higher. As her light broke through his wall of flame, Sir Douglas gasped in agony.

  She tightened her grip and tore the last vestiges of magic from him. “Your time is over, old man. The Shadow favors me now.”

  He convulsed as coils of magic shuddered from him. Elf threw back her head and screamed in pleasure as she drank in his power.

  A sudden explosion rocked the building, a series of blasts from outside at the vats. A heavy beam jolted loose above.

  Elf looked up, her eyes widening as it dropped.

  Mila heard the explosions from inside the church, a series of deep booms that rippled through the water. A moment later, the attack on the door stopped and the giant eels darted away back to the shore. She didn’t know what had happened, but she could imagine the chaos of the drunken revelers on the beach running for the water. Food for the eels, after all.

  She urged the children to their feet. “Quick, we need to get out of here while they’re distracted.”

  Dawn shrank back on the bench. “I don’t want to go out there.”

  Mila hunkered down in front of her. “They’re gone, but not for long. We can swim to the opposite side, get out the water there. I can take you to a safe place.”

  Dawn looked up at Daniel. After a moment, the boy nodded.

  They swam to the opposite side of the sunken church and Mila peered out the little window into the murky water. There could be more creatures waiting, but they had no time to wait and see.

  She held her hands out, and the children took them, trusting her. Their skin reminded her of Ekon, a dissolving of flesh to water, something only their kind could do. She had to take these children home.

  They darted together out into the gloom. None of them looked back.

  As the beam fell, Elf jerked her arms up, shielding herself with magic and pushing the heavy beam toward Sir Douglas. The weight of the wood crushed him to the floor, pinning what remained of his body under the smoldering shaft. Burning embers tumbled down around them as the flames took hold.

  Two more booms shook the building.

  Screams from the panicked crowd outside.

  Another beam came loose and crashed down. It glanced off Elf’s shoulder, sending her to the ground with a cry. The mutant bodyguards surged forward. One enormous brute picked the young woman up in his arms, shielding her as they ran from the building even as the beams tumbled down behind them.

  Zoe’s chair tipped over in the blast and Sienna dived to stop her head hitting the floor. She wrapped her arms around her friend; her face only inches from where Sir Douglas lay unmoving, half-crushed beneath the fallen beam. His remaining eyelid flickered, and he breathed in shallow gasps, his lungs clearly constricted by the weight.

  Perry sprawled only meters away, his body broken, his magic siphoned away, his mind possibly damaged beyond repair.

  The shouts of a frantic crowd came from outside through the roar of the flames that licked at the beams. The shifting sound of wood collapsing. It wouldn’t be long until they were buried in here or burned alive.

  But there was one way out.

  “Perry!” Sienna shouted, weeping as she called for her friend. “Can you hear me?”

  If she could get to him, she could mapwalk them all out of here.

  The sound of running footsteps and the creak of wood.

  Two figures entered the disintegrating building, big men with weapons at their sides, faces obscured by the smoke. Sienna ducked quickly back behind the burning beam, desperately hoping they wouldn’t see her.

  “Sienna?”

  His voice was everything she had longed for. Sienna looked out under the beam and her heart leapt at seeing the regal profile silhouetted against the flames.

  “Finn. Finn, I’m here.”

  He turned at her voice. Their eyes met, and the world melted away. For a second, Sienna could believe that everything would work out, that he would save her and they would escape this terrible place and be together.

  Then the building shifted once more, flames crackled and another beam fractured above her head.

  Finn and his companion darted forward, shouldering through the burning wood, sheltering Sienna as they untied Zoe from the chair.

  “Titus, carry her outside. I’ll be right behind you.”

  Titus nodded, hoisting Zoe into his arms and barreling back out into the chaos beyond.

  Finn put his arms around Sienna, pulling her close to his chest, his hands tender on her skin.

  He looked down at Sir Douglas. “What about him?”

  Sienna shook her head. “Perry first, he’s over there. He’s hurt.”

  Together, they climbed over the beams and dug through the fallen wood. Perry lay on his back, his face pale and waxy, ash in his hair, soot smeared over his skin. His eyes fluttered open as they helped him up to a sitting position.

  “My father?” His voice rasped from flame-cracked lips.

  Sienna pointed to the fallen beam. “He’s pinned. Elf took his magic and if he’s not dead already, he will be soon.”

  Perry tried to get up, but his legs crumpled beneath him.

  Finn took his weight. “We have to get out of here. The building could collapse at any minute.”

  “Please. I need to see him.”

  Sienna could see the conflict in Finn’s expression, his jawline taut with tension. The rebel leader had faced his own father on a battlefield, a man who still held the power of life and death over him.

  Finn nodded, swiftly lifting Perry to his feet and helping him around the back of the beam to where his father lay.

  Sir Douglas looked dead, a crushed corpse, but as Perry knelt and rested a hand on his blackened brow, the man opened his one good eye.

  His lips parted in a sigh. “Son,” he whispered.

  Perry leaned closer, tears spilling down his cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Dad.”

  Sir Douglas closed his eye a moment and then opened it again. “Inside my cloak. Reach in.”

  Perry frowned and bent to his father’s chest, easing his hand inside the burned clothing. He couldn’t help but touch the weeping, blistered flesh, coating his fingers in sticky blood. But Sir Douglas was beyond feeling anymore and Perry thrust his hand in
further. A second later, he withdrew his hand and uncurled his bloody fingers.

  Sienna gasped at the sight of her grandfather’s silver compass. Stolen by the man who had murdered him one stormy night in Bath in the grove of sacred plane trees in the center of the Druid’s circle.

  Sir Douglas looked up at Sienna. “Use it once more,” he whispered, his voice slowing. “For Galileo.”

  His eye drooped shut as he let out a final breath. His head lolled to one side and Perry let out a sob.

  A beam cracked overhead, and the sound of trampling footsteps came from outside.

  “We’re out of time.” Finn grabbed Perry with one arm, pulling him to his feet while he helped Sienna with the other.

  The floorboards creaked underfoot, weakening even as they darted between falling beams. Burning embers and ash rained down as smoke filled the building with choking fumes. Sienna could barely see what direction they should go in, but Finn dragged them on.

  A light ahead. The back door gaped open, the staircase burning up from below.

  “Jump!” Finn shouted, half-dragging Perry over the edge. Sienna followed close behind, rolling as she hit the hard ground behind the scorching temple.

  The crackling sound of flames filled the air alongside the screams and shouts of the panicked crowd. They flowed like a river away from the plaza, back to the barracks and shacks at the edges of the camp. Sienna pushed herself up quickly as two men ran past, unheeding of her on the ground. Another inch closer and they would have trampled her.

  She stood up and turned to find Finn helping Perry, and Titus waiting with Zoe over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Sienna wanted to be the one in Finn’s arms, but Perry’s face was blanched with grief and the aftermath of whatever Elf had done to him. She didn’t know whether he still had any magic left, but they couldn’t wait to find out.