“And what kind of trap might this be?” Jay asks. He discreetly hits the red alert on his MMA.
“Oh, it’s quite simple, really,” Ellis says. She skips back to the other rebels and spreads her arms wide. “Either you join us, or we’ll kill you.”
29
LAI
MY STOMACH DROPS. Even though I knew this was going to happen, even though we’ve been planning for an ambush, the reality of it hadn’t set in until just now. There must be dozens of rebels hiding in this run-down place. We don’t have a chance of winning, especially if all of the rebels are protected the same way these four are.
No. To hide that many people over such a wide range, the Nyte with the neutralization gift himself must be present. Gabriel is here somewhere.
“As I’m sure you’ve noticed, your gifts won’t work on us, and we have more of our number hidden within this place,” Ellis goes on, confirming my suspicions. “You won’t be able to make it out of here alive if you refuse us.” She pauses to bring her hands together. “Though I rather hope you’ll join because you want to, and not under force of threat. Especially you, Erik. You have no reason to fight for the military, and every reason to come home. Please.”
You’re sure about your decision, Erik?
I’m not with them.
You could easily get out of this alive by going over to them. They wouldn’t even be suspicious.
I watch him carefully as a muscle in his jaw works. The thought had occurred to him as well. But despite all the questions he has, despite this being his long-awaited chance to finally be able to find out about his past, despite the fact that this could be his only chance to save his life and get out of here unscathed, he genuinely thinks, No. I’m not a part of them anymore.
Good. I reach out to the others’ thoughts so they can hear me, too. Forcing my way into seven minds at once is harder than I would’ve thought, but simpler than if I had more than one message for all of them. We’re going to split up and run. Me and Paul, Al and Peter to the right. Erik and Jay right and back. Fiona and Syon, front and right.
I should be able to extend my neutralization crystal’s power to Al to protect her from any direct attacks, and Peter and Paul each have their own. Fiona and Syon are a strong pair; I don’t need to worry about them. And so long as Erik is with someone who trusts him, they’ll both be fine.
The idea of splitting up is a terrible one, and something I wanted to avoid, but it feels like our best option. We’ll hopefully be able to move faster this way, and divert the rebels’ power.
Ellis’s gift is shadow manipulation. If you step on a shadow that can connect to hers, she’ll be able to track you. Don’t let your guard down. Try to avoid fighting if you can. Just keep running. Our top priority is returning alive. Run as soon as one of them speaks.
Grim confirmation resounds through everyone’s thoughts. Ellis has been watching us closely, and when I meet her familiar gaze, I almost look away again. I still remember too clearly the look in her eyes when she left. I received the messages she sent me in the form of shadow butterflies. But until I actually saw her, some part of me had rejected the idea that the joyful, sister-like Sara I knew could lead an army against her old home. Against me. I’ve missed her for so long that even though I know this isn’t my Sara, I can still imagine it being her. I want to run over and hug her. I want to punch some sense into her. Everything I feel is a contradiction.
She opens her mouth and I tense. “I—”
My feet kick off the broken mosaic so hard I hear the skittering of pieces skipping across the ground. I swing onto my byc with Paul right behind me and we take off. I listen to everyone’s thoughts as they disperse, and Al’s and Peter’s as they follow close behind. The fact that I can’t hear Ellis’s or the other rebels’ thoughts still unsettles me, but that’s nothing compared to the knowledge that there are groups hidden around this ghost sector whose presence I won’t be aware of until they’re right on top of us.
The power crystal resting under my shirt warms against my skin as I activate it. I telepathically ask Peter to extend his crystal’s power to Al since he’s closer to her. At the same time, I tell Paul not to activate his, that I’ll cover him with my own, so that I can talk to him telepathically if need be. If anyone tries to directly attack us with their gift, it won’t work. But anything indirect will still have its full effect, which leaves a lot of dangerous possibilities. Including Ellis’s shadows.
“Paul, take the controls,” I say, and we switch places.
I pull my compressed spear from its sheath and hold it tightly in one hand as it expands and forms into my familiar weapon. My ears and eyes strain to catch the slightest hint of anyone waiting to ambush us as we speed past on our bycs, hurtling over half-fallen buildings and debris as we go.
It isn’t until after we’ve passed by one of the destroyed buildings that a group of rebels springs out behind us on stolen bycs of their own. I shout, “Heads up!” to warn Al and Peter, as well as Paul so he can be prepared to maneuver us out of the way of any incoming attacks.
I whirl my spear up to block a rebel’s sword. I slide my shaft along the edge of his weapon until there’s less of my spear underneath his blade than over—then spin the tip of my spear into the gap between him and his sword, into his chest.
Our eyes meet. I wish they hadn’t.
His partner driving the byc calls back to ask if he’s okay as I rip my spear out of his chest. I thrust my weapon into their byc’s back engine. When I pull it out, the byc instantly drops back and collides with the pair of rebels behind them.
It’s not much of a deterrent, as two new bycs appear to take their places. Behind them, more rebels zoom around collapsed buildings blocking the street. I can see Peter and Al holding their own, Al swinging her halberd, Peter maneuvering their byc to avoid the wreckage of the destroyed sector. At least the rebels can’t use their numbers against us with the bycs and ruins in the way.
“Duck!” Paul yells.
I drop without question, just in time to miss the top of a decrepit archway.
The rebels behind us are not so lucky. They slam into the weakened stone structure full force, bringing it down on top of them with a thunderous crash.
For a panicked second, I think Al and Peter went down with them. Then I see their byc pull out of the dust cloud thrown up by the collapse. I allow myself a single sigh of relief before I whip my spear up and around to block the blade of another rebel coming at us from our right side. He was aiming for Paul—but no one touches my friends.
“Take us up a bit, Paul,” I yell over the revving engines and shouts around us. He complies and we rise over the rebel who attacked us. His weapon is a polearm, good for long distances. That’s going to be a pain. Worse is that a similarly equipped rebel has just appeared on our other side, too. Not good odds.
Paul, I’m going to give you directions telepathically. I need you to follow them exactly.
Got it.
Be calm. Read my opponents’ movements. Catch them off balance—which shouldn’t be too hard given our current modes of transportation. So long as I can throw them over the edge of their byc, it’s my win.
The rebel on our right thrusts his polearm toward us. I flip my spear up to send the blade glancing harmlessly off the shaft.
Down.
The byc drops as Lefty swings her own polearm in the space we once occupied.
Up.
Before she can pull her weapon back into a proper fighting stance, I’m right beside her again. I swing my spear around the shaft of her polearm and twist up, ripping the weapon from her grip. It goes flying.
Before I can send the rebel herself flying, Righty swings his polearm in a wide arc, once again aiming for Paul.
I twist my spear around to block his blade. The hit sends shocks through my arms with the strength of it.
Lefty pulls a dagger out of her sheath and lunges for my side. I overpower Righty and his polearm to lift the other end of my spear u
p to block Lefty’s blade.
Up.
Lefty is quick to slip under my shaft, but Paul steers the byc up before she can connect a hit. She lunges too far. If not for her driver grabbing the back of her jacket and righting her balance, she would’ve fallen off. So close.
Righty rises to our level, but before he can attack first again, I thrust my spear at his stomach. He blocks with the shaft of his polearm, and then Lefty is up on our other side as well.
Stop for two seconds and then go full-speed toward the byc on our right. Put them between us and the rebels on our left.
You’re going to have to hold on.
Don’t really have a free hand for that right now.
Just as Lefty is about to aim for another hit, Paul’s arm wraps around my stomach from behind and our byc abruptly lurches to a stop. I nearly go flying. As it is, my stomach jerks up into my throat.
The rebels continue full-speed ahead with surprised looks on their faces, and after the briefest of pauses, we whip back after them.
We pull up on the other side of Righty, which cuts Lefty off from helping and makes it easier for me to concentrate on the one fight. But Righty is fast to recover. When I swing my spear at him, he knocks it back and thrusts his own weapon into the opening.
I duck, and in the moment when his polearm is extended, before he can pull it back in to defend himself, I stab my spear into his chest from below.
He sputters.
I rip my spear free with a downward motion to set the byc off balance as the dying rebel, his feet still strapped to the floor of the byc, tumbles over the edge and brings the vehicle and his partner shouting down with it.
Lefty watches in horror as her friends fall, then looks back at me with pure hate. “Why can’t you bastards just die already?”
I don’t say anything in response. There’s no point.
Pull up beside their byc.
I don’t think she poses much of a threat with a short-range weapon. Let’s just run.
What if she follows us?
Then you can beat her. You’re the one who said our goal is getting out of here alive, aren’t you?
I hesitate, but not for long before I turn and wrap my arms around Paul. As soon as he feels my grip tighten, the byc plummets. And my stomach along with it. We can’t free-fall for more than four seconds before he revs the engine and we kick forward once again, this time in a more zigzag pattern. The ground below us is fast-moving, close. All the motion is a wreck on my stomach, but I force myself to ignore it. Lefty doesn’t follow us. I can still hear Al’s and Peter’s shouts to each other close behind. Everything is still okay.
Then the byc lurches underneath me. Paul grabs my arm before I can register what’s happening, and we jump. We hit the ground rolling and spring straight back up as the byc we were riding bursts into flame. Some kind of starlight arrow with a mechanism attached to it is sticking out of the back engine.
Another explosion sounds, and I can guess that Al and Peter have found themselves similarly grounded.
I barely have time to readjust before I have to turn to defend against a rebel on the ground, this one armed with claws. When I block her first attack, her other hand comes swinging underneath my spear. I skip back just out of reach, freeing her first hand as her second shoots toward me.
I’m so far away I know she can’t reach me, but I realize too late that’s not what she was aiming for. Vines shoot out of the ground and wrap around my arms. Shitshitshit.
She rushes me, and before I manage to fully cut myself free from her vines, she slashes her claws across my arm. I’m lucky I broke free fast enough to escape any worse wounds, but my arm stings and burns and hisses and I know the cuts run deep. Don’t focus on it. Concentrate.
Wound notwithstanding, I hold my spear at the ready, more cautious this time. I have to watch out for her vines.
But before either of us can move, someone falls into the rebel from behind and knocks her off balance.
I use the chance to send her sprawling with the heel of my foot against her jaw, but another rebel comes up behind me, sword raised overhead. Someone who’s not used to fighting.
I swing my spear into his neck before he has time to bring his sword down. A sickening crunch reverberates all the way up my arm.
Before he even hits the ground, two more rebels are on either side of me. I twist and turn to deflect each of their attacks, raising and lowering my spear as necessary, alternately swinging and thrusting as I spin in a defensive circle until I find the openings I’m looking for—and then they, too, are on the ground.
There’s seemingly no end to the rebels as three more step forward, this time more cautiously.
I feel a back against mine as Paul manages to break his way through to my side, his thoughts cool, daggers raised.
“Don’t be reckless,” he says softly.
“Same to you,” I murmur back. “Don’t leave my side.”
Through the crowd, I can see Al from where she’s wreaking havoc amid a grouping of rebels a little ways away. A one-woman army even without being able to directly use her flames. Peter fights nearby, daggers gleaming as he maintains a careful distance so as not to get in Al’s way nor get too far from her.
“We need to regroup with the others,” I say to Paul. “Follow me.”
I don’t wait for his confirmation before charging headfirst into the rebels.
It takes time to make our way to Al and Peter, but once they catch sight of us, and with Al’s strength, it becomes easier.
As soon as we’re all together, I say, “We have to cut a path and escape. Al, your fire?”
“It doesn’t burn them.” She swings her halberd round to keep the rebels at bay as she speaks. They’re holding their distance now that the four of us are together, but I’m sure that won’t last long.
“But you can still summon it?”
“Yeah.”
I lower my voice so only my friends can hear. “We’ll use it as a surprise attack. Pretend it still works, attack with confidence, and the sight of all that fire should be enough to scatter them, however briefly. As soon as they’re out of our way, we’ll run for the edge of the city.”
“Got it,” Al says.
“I’m always down for running from a fight I can’t win,” Peter says with a nervous laugh. Paul murmurs his agreement.
“Then get ready.” I raise my voice so the rebels can hear me loud and clear. “Al, burn ’em down!”
“With pleasure,” Al says. She wears a wicked grin as flames swirl around her. Looking at her, I’d believe that fire would kill me, neutralization gift or not. A few rebels fall back with shouts. When her flames turn into a towering wave of fire, about to crash down, our opponents completely break formation and run for it.
The flames follow, but Al is careful to control their speed so the rebels won’t realize the fire can’t actually touch them. It’d be a problem if they double back too soon.
Our way is clear. The path that leads to the outer edge of the city is open, and all we need to do is run for it. My knees are already bent to run when Al says, “Brother?” And again, a shout this time, “Brother!”
I turn to look at her, but she’s already running in the opposite direction of the path she just opened, back toward the ruined buildings and a collection of rebels heading straight for us.
“Al, what are you doing?” I scream after her. “We need to go, now!”
But she ignores me and keeps running.
“What do we do?” Peter asks in a panic, looking between me and Al’s quickly receding back.
“Of all the fucking—” Stop. Think. With every second we waste, the rebels we scattered are realizing the flames can’t hurt them. Our path will be closed soon. I have to go after Al. Do I send Peter and Paul ahead to safety? They can still make it. They’re not as suited to battle, they’re not soldiers who’ve been in hundreds of fights, and the sooner I get them out of here, the better. But I don’t like all of us getting separ
ated even further. And if any rebels are waiting on the edge of the city for us, it’ll be like sending them straight to their deaths if I have them go alone.
I close my eyes. Open them. “We’re going after Al. Follow me. Do not leave my sight.”
“Got it,” Peter and Paul chime.
Cursing her all the while, I run after Al.
It seems ridiculous that she could’ve gotten so far ahead of us in such a short amount of time. But she’s already fighting some of the rebels who had been headed our way. Whether any of them are her brother, I have no idea.
Nor do I get the chance to find out. A rebel brings her axe down on my spear shaft before we reach Al. I stand my ground and push back, but she’s strong. Paul sweeps in from below to attack while Peter moves a little farther ahead to block another incoming attacker.
But something’s wrong. I don’t know why, but I’m suddenly terrified. “Peter, fall back!”
Paul darts toward his brother in the same instant the rebel swings her axe back my way. I shuffle back and forth with her, our weapons clanging against each other, until I’m finally able to slip around and stab her through her side. I don’t watch as she falls.
“Paul!”
My head snaps up. Peter is on his hands and knees not far in front of me. Before him, that rebel Devin has Paul pinned to the ground with a knee on his back and a dagger to his throat. A steel ball lodges itself in my lungs.
Devin’s grin widens sharply when he sees I’m watching. Paul winces as the rebel’s dagger presses harder against his skin.
“You know, Sara reeeally wants you to join us,” Devin says. “I’d bet she’d be super happy with me if I got you to come over. So what do you say? You join us and I’ll let your friend go. Easy, right?”
“Lai, don’t,” Paul says. Devin shoves his face into the ground.
“Stop!” Peter looks at me desperately, panic swimming in his eyes. Lai we have to save him what do we do.
I wish I could give him an answer. My thoughts are whirring too quickly to latch on to any substantial idea. They’re too far from us. I won’t be able to attack without Devin killing Paul first. Our gifts are useless. But I can’t join the rebels. There’s no way. What if I pretended to agree to get him to let go of Paul? No, I won’t be able to—
A Soldier and a Liar Page 27
