At the sound of Mid’s cry, I snapped out of my reverie and shot to full attention. My romantic concerns—or lack thereof—would have to wait.
“Damnit.” Ebon leaped to the back of the boat and stared into the inky blackness behind us. “I thought we were in the clear.”
“You thought wrong, hon!” Mid’s voice was thick with tension. “The war-self is out there, coming in fast.”
“Skimming the surface on a big pebble, no doubt,” said Ebon. “Or a slate surfboard.”
Just as the words left his mouth, the hum of a high-performance engine rose in the distance. Even from so far away, I could tell it put our measly motor to shame.
“Try a speedboat, heading right for us.” Though we were long out of her strait, Georgia still communed with and controlled the waters to some extent. Her sensitivity weakened the further we went from the strait, but she still had a handle on local phenomena.
“Shit.” Ebon played with the controls, but we knew we were already going as fast as we could. “How much farther until we reach the Niche?”
My ears perked up. It was the first I’d heard anyone mention that word.
“We are close,” said White Buffalo. “It could be a few minutes from now…or many.”
“But you can feel it nearby?” asked Ebon.
“I feel it…somewhere up ahead.” White Buffalo took a deep breath, let it out slowly. Her hands tightened on the wheel. “The Niche is always in flux. That is how it escapes detection.” She sounded strained. “But it also makes it difficult for me to locate with precision.”
Ebon fell silent, gazing into the darkness. Georgia and I stood beside him and followed his gaze. There was no visible sign of the speedboat, but the sound of it continued to grow closer.
“How long until the boat reaches us, Mid?” he asked over his shoulder.
“Not long,” she told him. “Minutes. Maybe ten, maybe five.”
“All right then.” He turned to Georgia. “This is why we brought you along.”
“Well, I’m up for anything,” she said, “but you should know, I don’t pack the same punch I did back in the actual strait. The waters out here seem to be compliant, but keep in mind, they’re primarily controlled by other entities.”
“You can negotiate with them, though,” said Ebon.
“What do you think I’ve been doing on the ride out?” Georgia tapped the side of her head with a fingertip. “Sweet-talking all the way, baby—but Waterkind can be pretty unpredictable. We flow where we wanna flow, know what I mean?” She rolled her hands through the air like rippling water.
“Just do your best. That’s all we can ask.” Ebon nodded. “Hopefully, if that’s the war-self, she’ll be limited, too. We’re in deep waters out here. The nearest dirt and rock are a long way down.”
“Dredging anything up will take a lot of effort.” I spoke from experience, with authority. Nobody knew her powers and limitations better. “Then she has to propel it in our direction. She’ll be struggling.”
“You should worry more about Mother Earth herself,” said White Buffalo. “She could open a maw in the sea floor with a thought and swallow us up like that.” She snapped her fingers.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Ebon rushed over to her side at the wheel. “Steady as she goes.”
The sound of the speedboat was swiftly becoming a roar. The Sea Lyin’ kept plowing ahead, but it was obvious our pursuer was closing the gap.
No one asked White Buffalo how far we were from the Niche. We’d know when we got there, if we got there.
“I see it.” Georgia pointed into the distance astern, which still looked pitch black to me. “It’s right—”
Suddenly, something flew past my head at a high rate of speed, and Ebon cried out behind me. I turned to see him double over with a grimace, clutching his gut.
Blood seeped out between his fingers as he sucked in air between clenched teeth.
“What the hell?” I ran over and caught him as he slumped to the deck. “What was that?”
“Maybe our girl decided to try some good, old-fashioned firearms instead of struggling to dredge up the ocean bottom,” said Georgia.
Just then, another projectile whizzed past and punched a hole in the cowling around the steering column. White Buffalo whipped around, hands glowing, and caught the next one in midair before it could puncture anyone or anything else.
“Not a gun.” I looked up at the polished little object as it bobbed between her hands, afloat in a field of golden energy. “A stone. She doesn’t need to dredge up ammo…she brought her own.”
Another pebble shot into the boat and through the floor, followed by a glancing shot off the port metal railing. Even as the fusillade continued, Georgia stood fearlessly in the rear of the boat, head down and arms outstretched with palms facing the enemy. Glittering swirls of energy danced around her hands, threading back and forth in a kind of glowing cat’s cradle. The number of threads built and the light they shed increased, giving off a throbbing hum…
Then, Georgia flung the gathered cradle into the water and tossed her head back with a loud howl. The water where she’d thrown the cradle sparked and bubbled—and then a wave surged up, higher than her head, racing away from the Sea Lyin’.
“Take that!” she shouted. “Good luck not getting swamped when that hits ya’!”
But Georgia’s wave didn’t deter our pursuer. The roar of the engine continued to climb as the speedboat raced nearer.
Then, Mid cried out with sudden alarm. “The boat is a decoy! She’s on top of us!”
I looked up in time to see a cloud of dark soot part overhead, revealing my twin gliding above the boat. As the soot parted, she dropped down at us, grinning wickedly.
Georgia gave up on her wave, letting it slump back into the sea, and swung around to lash out with a jet of seawater that slammed into Gaia 2’s chest. The impact threw my twin into the ocean with a splash, some distance from the boat.
“White…Buffalo!” Ebon gasped out the words. “Did we…miss it…somehow?”
“No!” she shouted. “We’re close. I can feel it!”
Something collided with the underside of our boat, then, and it rocked violently to port. There was another strike from below within seconds, and the Sea Lyin’ bounced heavily to starboard.
As this was happening, I finally glimpsed the speedboat approaching through the darkness. The craft rocketed toward us, its pilot visible in the glow of the controls in the cockpit.
It only took a moment for me to recognize Beatrice Brown, the old woman I’d rescued from the cinder block pile in the basement of murder victim Imogene Parker. She was easily in her 80s and not in any better shape than Mid, but she was driving that speedboat like a maniac with mad skills.
As I tried to adjust to the thought of her presence so far from Confluence, the Sea Lyin’ rocked again from another underwater strike. The jarring movement made Ebon shout in agony, unable to stop himself from reacting.
Arms swung out, Georgia made the water leap away on either side of our boat, opening up deep trenches that flanked the single narrow path we skimmed down the middle. But it took only a moment for the impacts to continue as strong as ever.
Then, a single hand sprang up from the water and latched onto the side of the boat like a grappling hook. Gaia 2 was coming aboard.
Chapter 21
No one else saw Gaia 2’s hand on the edge of the boat. Powerless as I was, dealing with her was up to me.
Leaving Ebon on the deck, I jumped up and darted over to the starboard side of the boat. As I did, a second hand joined the first.
By the time I got there, the top of her head was rising between those hands. Her eyes met mine, brimming with evil intent.
At which point, I hauled up a foot to kick her loose and brought it down hard on the fingers of her right hand. She yowled in pain, and I prepared to kick the left hand, too.
That was when the Sea Lyin’ started spinning, inexplicably.<
br />
The air filled with whirling, flashing streamers, and the water around us fell skyward as upside-down rain showers. A continuous roar of thunder blasted from all directions, nearly deafening.
Then, even as the rain fell up from the ocean’s surface, thousands of stars fell down from the sky, which was blazing with fire.
Distracted by the show, I missed my twin as she swung herself, using the boat’s spin for momentum, and flung a leg up high enough to hook over the railing. I looked back just as she was hauling herself the rest of the way over and into the boat.
Heart pounding, I grabbed hold of her arm and prepared to toss her back overboard. She fought me, oblivious to the insanity that was going on around us.
Multicolored fireworks exploded in the sky, showering the seascape with sparks that didn’t go dark when they hit the water. Weird creatures with spiny black wings and mangled, glistening faces flapped around us, shrieking over the thunder.
Gathering my strength for one last effort, I let up just enough that my surge, when it came, would surprise her. The two of us grappled in the flashing, seething light, fighting the spin of the boat as well as each other.
Just as I was ready to make my big push, everything came to a crashing halt. The Sea Lyin’ stopped spinning and dropped down hard, sending my twin and me tumbling among the rest of my group.
The fireworks, thunder, upside-down rain, and spiny black creatures disappeared all at once. For that matter, so did the ocean depths.
Shaking off the shock and sitting up, I saw that we were somewhere unknown—a black sand beach rimmed with huts built of clay, with ragged-looking thatched roofs. The clay was as gray as the mid-day sky overhead, which was blanketed with low, dark clouds.
Somehow, we had gone instantly from pitch darkness in the middle of the night to a cloudy afternoon with ample daylight.
Gaia 2 and I took in the scene with everyone else, but her reaction was much different from mine. Even as I puzzled over the nature of our whereabouts, she flung her arms wide, trying to put the local materials to use—no doubt to kill the rest of us.
But nothing happened. The black sand didn’t stir. No chunks of clay burst free of the huts and shot over to pound us. The ground didn’t rumble or split open to swallow us up.
Her face flushed with rage, she continued to pose and reach, refusing to give up. Unlike the middle of the ocean, this new place had plenty of the materials she needed to make the most of her powers.
Still, the ground resisted her. Not so much as a grain of black sand danced at her command.
“Give it up!” I told her. “Obviously, you have as much power as I do around here.”
Hateful eyes locked on me, she continued to strain, to no avail.
I, on the other hand, had other fish to fry. Turning, I headed back to Ebon’s side, flipping her the bird along the way.
Chapter 22
All our crew were injured or in shock, but Ebon was in the worst shape by far. Sprawled in the wreckage of the Sea Lyin’, he sweated and shivered and groaned. His hands and torso were soaked with red, and his skin was ashen pale from blood loss.
I dropped to my knees beside him and tore open his shirt, exposing the wound. Otherwise, I was completely at a loss as to what to do. My expertise had always tended toward geology; performing first aid on someone was not remotely in my wheelhouse.
As a supernatural being, he should have been able to heal himself, I thought—but that wasn’t happening. Maybe the same effect that robbed Gaia 2 of her powers in this place was tamping down his own extraordinary abilities.
Whatever the reason, it looked to me like the extinctionist was about to become extinct.
Looking around, I saw Georgia stirring on the black sand near the boat, looking reasonably undamaged. I hardly knew her, but I knew I needed help.
“Georgia!” I gestured hurriedly. “Ebon’s in bad shape!”
She sat up, rubbing her head, and looked my way—then out to sea. I guessed she was testing her powers, the same as Gaia 2…and as the moment ticked away, she looked deeply annoyed.
“I’m no good to him, Gaia,” she said. “I’ve got no control over the waters here.”
“Come here, anyway!” I told her. “He needs first aid!”
Georgia scrambled over to join me. “He needs more than that,” she said darkly. “A lot more.”
“Damnit.” I knew she was right. “Shit!”
There was one more hope, I thought, one among us who might not have lost her powers. “White Buffalo?” I looked around and spotted her leaning against the splintered hull of the boat. She had cuts and bruises on her face and arms but luckily was in one piece and alert. “Ebon’s hurt! Can you do anything?”
Just as she shook her head, I heard Mid cry out nearby…then Gaia 2 shouting for attention.
“Imposter! Surrender now!”
Turning, I saw that Gaia 2 had her arm wrapped tightly around Mid’s throat—and a rock in her free hand, clutched above Mid’s forehead. Even without her powers, the first thing the war witch had grabbed as a weapon was a piece of the Earth’s substance she was so used to manipulating.
“Surrender or I’ll kill the old woman!” Gaia 2 shook the rock for emphasis. Mid’s terrified eyes were fixed on it as it came closer to her head. “Don’t make her pay the price that you owe, traitor!”
“Let her go.” I got to my feet and started toward them. “Don’t hurt her.”
“She deserves it, actually,” snapped Gaia 2. “You’d be rotting in prison right now if not for her! And this little band of yours wouldn’t be opposing Mother Earth’s survival protocol!”
“None of us opposes her survival,” I said. “We love this world with all our hearts. But we also believe there’s a better way for her to survive than exterminating billions of human beings.”
“I don’t care what you believe! Neither does she! If she did, I wouldn’t be standing here. I wouldn’t be needed to replace my replacement.”
“Wow.” I stopped halfway toward them. “That’s the second time you’ve called me your replacement. What the hell are you smoking, anyway?”
Gaia 2 laughed. “You mean nobody told you?”
I spread my arms. “Told me what?”
“That I was the original war-self,” said Gaia 2. “Mother Earth brought me to life all the way back in 1947.”
My arms fell to my sides. I remembered seeing a photo that looked just like me in one of Ellie Grenoble’s scrapbooks. Gaia Charmer Grenoble, 23, of Confluence, the caption had read…and something else besides, which I recited aloud. “‘Reported missing on Friday, June 6, 1947.’”
“Give the girl a kewpie doll!” Again, she laughed. “That’s when I went missing, all right. I was carrying out my mission just fine, working to wipe out humanity and save the planet from their precious atom bombs—but certain bitches didn’t appreciate my work! They got the jump on me and put me away where even Big Mama Earth couldn’t find me!”
I frowned, trying to wrap my head around what she’d said. “And you’re saying I replaced you? But I wasn’t created for decades.”
“Exactly!” said Gaia 2. “Nuclear weapons didn’t lead to planetary destruction after all. Then climate change became enough of a threat to convince Big Mama she needed a new war bitch for a new age.” She sneered, baring her teeth over Mid’s shoulder. “Too bad you came out watered down this time.”
Just then, Georgia spoke up. “Ebon is dying! The bleeding won’t stop!”
I’d been fixated on the answers Gaia 2 was doling out, but I shot my focus back to Ebon. “White Buffalo!” I shouted. “What can we do to save his life?”
I looked back and saw her standing over him, jaws clenched as she gazed down at his wound. Of all of us, she seemed to know this place best, whatever it was; I thought she stood the best chance of coming up with a solution.
She said nothing for a moment…then gathered herself up and marched away from us. I called her name, but she ignored me, just kept he
ading for the thatched huts along the treeline.
“Hey!” hollered Gaia 2. “Doesn’t anyone care that I’m about to kill your friend here?”
I watched as White Buffalo stooped to enter one of the huts, disappearing inside. Then, I turned back to Ebon and Georgia, then finally back to my twin.
“Can’t this whole hostage situation wait till things settle down some?” I asked. “Can we just pick it up later? I’ve got a dying man over here, and I can’t deal with two life-or-death scenarios at the same time.”
Gaia 2 unleashed a howl of unfettered rage that made Mid wince. “No, this hostage situation can’t wait! In fact, I’m going to snap this bitch’s neck right now.”
Before she could carry out her threat, though, another voice called out from the water. “Help me! Somebody help me!”
Looking toward the voice, I saw Beatrice Brown trapped under the upended speedboat she’d been driving during the battle. The waterlogged old woman clawed at the black sand as the surf continued to rise around her.
Without a word, Gaia 2 released Mid and ran to help her partner. Torn, I hesitated to follow. Why should I help her when she’d been threatening to kill my friend Mid just a moment ago?
But then I ran after her anyway.
Gaia 2 glared as I helped her lift the boat off Beatrice, but she didn’t turn away my offer of help. As soon as Beatrice was clear, she bent down and scooped her up, then marched out of the surf with her in her arms.
It was then that I saw White Buffalo emerge from the hut. “Everyone!” she shouted through cupped hands. “The Ancestrum has awakened!”
As she said it, a tall, slender woman with long chestnut hair stepped out of the hut behind her. She wore an ankle-length white shift, and her feet were bare.
White Buffalo pointed, and the woman hurried over to Ebon’s side. Pushing her hair behind her ears, she crouched and held her flattened hand over his wound. Ebon groaned and writhed but didn’t open his eyes.
When the woman spoke, her voice was raspy, as if she hadn’t used it in a long time. “He will fail soon,” she said.
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