Chapter 11
The Ice Queen Is Heartless (Not By Her Choice)
LUNE
Niko highlights points of entry and blind spots of the loading bay.
Their hand arcs over the projection screen in the meeting room, and Kiran’s eyes follow dutifully.
‘Moonstone shipment tonight from Europe,’ they say, their mouth set in a grim line.
‘We’re almost ninety per cent sure the Foxes intend to intercept. ’
‘Singapore’s been amassing a lot of moonstones,’ I comment idly, but I don’t miss the way Niko and Kiran exchange a glance. ‘Something to share with the class?’
‘Admittedly, it’s concerning why the government wants the moonstones so badly.’ Niko sets aside the plans for tonight. ‘I know Ferrix has started developing their lunar energy plants, so it’s probably something to do with that.’
‘Right. So why do you look so nervous?’ I lean against the edge of the table and fold my arms.
‘Well, we have Foxes and Nagas in this city who’ll do anything to get their hands on them, and who currently also possess blueprints to make these into bombs.
You’ve seen how powerful the moonstones were during our lab sessions.
’ Niko shrugs, their smile rueful. ‘I’ll see you both tonight for the transfer. ’
Five hours later, I stand as Lune under a clear night sky.
Through my helmet’s intercoms, ALFRED reports sightings of Foxes creeping up to the dock, and Kiran blasts away to handle it.
Niko and I stand on either side of the loading dock, watching workers move the pallets of moonstones.
Niko’s brilliant metal wings span out, shimmering in the dim moonlight, buzzing with energy as they slowly ascend into the night sky for a better vantage point.
My intercom crackles.
It’s Niko. ‘Is it just me or is there something in the water?’ I hear them order ALFRED to scan it with infrared.
Then a head rises through the swirling froth, the moon glancing off a masked face with goggles, a black wetsuit over lean shoulders.
‘Nagas!’ I shout into the intercoms, and Niko snaps to attention immediately. They take flight towards the waterline as I shift to watch over the moonstones.
More Nagas emerge from the water, advancing across the beach with inhuman speed.
I ready my blasters, firing warning shots into the sand to stop them coming closer.
Damn it. Should have predicted that the Nagas would assist the Foxes today, given the location.
The Nagas’ magic – their ability to manipulate water, their strength and outrageous agility – increases proportionally to their proximity to water.
Just for emphasis, these Nagas are in the ocean.
A Naga surges towards me. I blast them away, but nothing leaves my blasters. What? Is something wrong with my tech?
My hesitation costs me, and a powerful wave knocks me flat. Brine burns a path up my nose and I splutter. I draw my saliva, all salt and sand, and spit it out as I straighten.
The seawater turns my visor spotty. I rip it off just in time to see a Naga throw a punch, and I dodge.
I crank the power of my blasters up, but my lunar blast sputters across the dark sand, striking a Naga in the chest with no effect.
‘ALFRED—’ I start, before remembering that my visor is off, hanging around my neck. I scramble to shove it back on my face as I hold my blasters out in warning, but the Nagas are smart enough to know it’s an empty threat.
One of them holds up a hand and the waves under me twist, turning violent around my calves and knocking me to my knees. Water crashes over me again, and I feel my visor dislodge from my neck.
‘Shit!’ I grab around for it, but it’s already gone. I push through the weight of the water and stand, shoving my hair from my vision as I evaluate my position. Three Nagas surround me, all taller, two men, one woman. All masked.
I throw a punch at a guy and the woman rushes forward to lash an arm around my neck, locking me in a headlock. Throwing myself back, I kick out at a guy and score as I topple us over.
But the last Naga conjures up a sweeping wave, and it engulfs all of us. The Nagas can breathe in water. I cannot. I squeeze my eyes shut and hold my breath under the deluge of water as I kick out to find ground, but hands encircle my wrists, keeping me still.
In the sightless, tempestuous dark, I activate all my blasters at once, but they don’t work. My lungs squeeze as I wrestle against my restraints and kick up, connecting with what feels like bone.
The Naga on my left lets go. I bring my hands together and detach the blasters round my wrists. Even if the tech is failing me, my magic can’t – I was born with it. Any magic not channelled through my blasters might be raw and unpredictable, but at least then I would be alive.
My magic fails me.
The pressure around my chest tightens. My lungs deflate.
I try to feel for my magic again, but it’s horribly wrong, off-kilter. It feels like standing under a clear night sky and finding no stars.
It’s a half moon tonight; I should have energy. This can’t be happening. When I call for the moon, why does no one answer?
Just as the world begins to float, a Naga grabs me by the hair and pulls me up from the water as I choke.
‘Magic not working?’ they say, a smirk in their voice.
‘What did you do?’ I demand. But there’s no air left in my lungs, and nothing leaves my mouth.
The Naga tilts his head and wordlessly slides a hand round my throat, squeezing tight. I thrash in his hold, but whatever weakened my magic has left me bereft of energy and powerless against the Naga’s superhuman strength.
‘Ni— A—’ The call for help lodges in my throat. ALFRED is gone in the ocean. Niko disappeared the second the fight began, lured away by the Foxes.
And then, suddenly—
‘Good job, guys.’ A familiar voice? ‘We meet again, Lune.’
Raven.
I force my eyes open. Through the blots of darkness across my vision, I watch Raven draw a blade.
‘Don’t move,’ Raven whispers. She places her hand on my collar, slides her hand down to my armour vest. Her fingers curl around its edge, teasing, testing. She turns to the Naga strangling me. ‘Ease up. She’s mine.’
He lets go, and air rushes into my lungs. My head spins as I recover, but I’m coherent enough to glare at Raven as she begins undoing my suit. ‘I’m not yours.’
Raven wrests a latch on my vest free, and it pops open. A devil grin quirks her lips.
I try to kick away as she slips my vest off my shoulder, but the Nagas hold me tight.
‘What do you want with me?’ I bite.
‘Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.’ Raven taps the tip of the blade against the vulnerable patch of skin under my vest. ‘But, assuming I’m a minute away from putting this in you, any last words?’
I spit in her face.
It lands on her cheek. She scowls, swiping it off, and repositions the knife against my chest. ‘Anything else?’
I level a glare at her. ‘Why are you doing this? We’ve always fought. You’ve never tried to kill me.’
‘Things change.’ Raven twirls the knife and presses its tip into the hollow of my chest. A sharp pain twinges my skin.
‘Don’t—’ I swallow. ‘Please. You’re not serious.’
Raven’s gaze turns hard. ‘I am.’
She pushes the knife in.
The world roars with pain. Dimly, I register the Nagas dropping me as Raven orders them to leave.
Sand and water swirl around my knees and my wrists where I fall.
The Nagas seem to say something to Raven and she’s smiling, of course she is, as they leave.
My hands in the sand, the water rushing over my wrists then my elbows as the tide rises, the hilt of the knife inches away from the floor. Seeing it makes me nauseous, and I check the placement – almost a direct hit on my heart.
I swallow. Niko’s so far. ALFRED isn’t here.
The world tilts, and my chest heaves.
Feet before my hands, two combat boots, a last witness to my undoing. I’ve spent late nights imagining my death, but I’ve never imagined it like this, a gradual but uncontrollable untethering from everything. No more pain where my palms grind against sand.
Who—?
My vision blurs. I think I see a pair of shoes, and I reach out to make sure I’m not dreaming. Someone is here. I grip wet leather, scrunch my fist in the tight, wet trousers.
‘Please,’ I whisper. The ocean seems to come up to engulf me, the world dark and cold. I hold on to whoever’s shoes these are, pray they don’t walk away from this. From me. ‘Please, it’s so cold.’
I look up, and Harper stares down at me.
RAVEN
Perhaps it was my fault. I should have made it painless.
Should have calculated it, spent my time looking up anatomy diagrams instead of shadow punching in my room.
Delivering a blow has never been difficult for me.
I’ve never cared about what happens if I walk away.
If they die, that’s just their fate. That’s bad karma.
But I’m here, a forced witness, acutely aware that I’ve taken Tia’s fate, whatever it is, and snapped it in half.
When Tia says my name, I drop to my knees. In the cruel face of my assignment, maybe it’s the only grace I can afford the girl who has treated the person behind my mask so kindly.
What I don’t expect is for Tia to grab me, her arms sliding around mine as she presses her head into the crook of my neck, sobbing.
‘I don’t want to die,’ she says, her voice hoarse and thick with tears, her body shaking. ‘Please, I don’t want to die.’
I stay stiff. If I stay still and quiet enough, maybe she’ll think I’m just a dream.
It occurs to me that the knife is still in Tia’s chest, and that she’d die quicker if I removed it.
When I raise a hand, I realize I’m also shaking. The hilt is cold and wet with ocean water, the ridges pressed into my palm.
I tug it. Tia cries out, and the sound is so broken that I can’t breathe.
‘Please,’ Tia whispers. Lips slick, crushed into the shell of my ear, her breath hot and erratic. Her arms around me tighten, the smell of the ocean mixing with the sharp tang of blood. ‘Please, please.’
My heart slams in my throat. ‘Sorry. I—’ Should remove the hilt. Should leave.