31 | Silver
Icy dread goes through me like a cold shower as Simpson’s words sink in. I flash a glance around the room, trying to work out who we’re missing.
“Is Luna next door with the twins?” I ask, already heading for the door.
No one seems to know. I guess they’ve been too busy helping me to escape from a cell. But there’s a terrible foreboding hanging over my head and making my neck prickle.
I need to gather everyone together, count all my ducklings and make sure everyone is together. Safe.
As soon as the door to the neighboring apartment opens, Hanna flings herself at me, attaching herself to my neck like a barnacle. I hug her back hard and then pull away to do the same thing to Luna and finally to Rook who almost crushes the air out of my lungs with his massive arms.
“I can’t believe you’re out. If they didn’t manage it, I was going to set the place on fire. Figured they’d have to evacuate you all then,” Hanna says.
Someone snorts behind me, but I brush it off. “They probably wouldn’t have bothered. Good job you didn’t, or I’d be crispy by now.”
“Huh, I probably should have created my fire illusion,” Ro says. “I never even thought.”
That causes me to chuckle distractedly as I head inside and spot the twins, safe and sound.
“You went straight for the jailbreak option?” I ask. Ro shrugs sheepishly, sharing a glance with Dante.
“Uh, kinda.”
I’m not complaining. It got me out of that place, and the Archarcans deserve to have a mess to clean up.
I’m less keen on there being hundreds of escaped convicts on the loose, but when the city’s elites are just as cut-throat, I guess it won’t make too much difference.
Same toxic river, just different fish swimming through it.
“Is Seb downstairs?” Fabian rasps from behind me.
Hanna glances around. “He was here not long ago. Luna plied him with her new potion and—”
“You did?”
Luna nods, smoothing down her long skirt. “I’ve been working on it for about a month now. We’ve been trialing different potions, but this one seems to work best.” Her face creases into a frown. “I thought Seb had gone next door to wait for you all, though.”
A jolt of panic hits me just as Fabian’s phone buzzes. “It’s him.” He swipes the screen and hits the speaker. “Seb?”
His voice wavers, sending a horrible cramp of fear into my gut. “Fab, is, uh, is Silver there?”
“I’m here.” I hurry closer so that I’m right beside Fabian, our arms pressed together as we hover over the phone.
“Silver, I wasn’t wearing my Pretty Princess ring,” he says.
Fuck. It wouldn’t have mattered if he was, since I hadn’t topped them up recently and they wouldn’t have worked against coercive magic, anyway.
“Where are you, bud?”
“He has me.” A breath shudders out of him. “Simpson has me. He says it’s time for all of his toys to come out of their boxes.”
“Where are you?” Fabian asks, his fingers clutching the phone hard enough to blanch his knuckles white.
“Down by the city square. Close to that massive TV screen that shows the weather.”
“We’re coming, Seb. Don’t worry, we’re coming.”
I don’t need to look at any of the others to know that they’ll all be in agreement. It might be foolhardy, stupid even. We know full well that it’s a trap, and that Simpson wants me so he can use me for his own gain.
But this time, he won’t win.
There’s a moment where Fabian stares down at me, looking conflicted. “Maybe you shouldn’t come, Silver.”
I shoot him a dead-eyed look. “Yeah, that’s not happening. Come on, we’re wasting time. Let’s go.”
Granted, it could be the alien energy still pumping through my veins after I spent all night helping ghosts from the judiciary building go... somewhere. Still not sure about exactly what happened to them, but every orb that burst led to another surge of unfamiliar energy going through me. I pat my pockets. There are still a bunch of orbs safely tucked away which I grabbed as we left and haven’t touched with my bare skin yet.
Hence the fact I’m buzzing with energy, even though I haven’t eaten in at least a day and haven’t slept in longer.
Pretty sure there’s a heavy come down scheduled in my near future. But right now, I’m going to take advantage of the way my blood feels like it’s on fire. I’m going to use that energy to fuck Simpson up.
Seb’s like family now, and no one messes with my family and gets away with it.
We find both Seb and Simpson down by the city square. Simpson is standing with his arms folded, the large scar on his neck on display along with his sharp teeth, which are gleaming in a feral smile.
He’s dressed in army fatigues and he even has a collection of dog tags around his neck, like he’s trying to give off a military vibe. I bet the closest thing he’s ever got to active combat is feeding from the leftover bodies after a village is hit.
Seb stands beside him, looking small and terrified. He’s practically doubled over, clutching his stomach in an attempt to self-soothe, and seeing him looking so vulnerable sends a wave of fury rolling through me. And that’s before I see the way Simpson is gripping his arm, hard enough to break the skin with his overly sharp nails.
“It turns out your little friend with the telepathy had some uses before we got bored of playing with him,” Simpson says. “He told me all about this one’s special powers. Imagine if that fiasco with the video footage is just... wiped out from everyone’s memories. What a grand shame that would be. In fact, I think the boy could have a lot of use for us. He can wipe the city’s memories of everything prior to today, so they don’t know the difference when I am elected the city’s leader and you are all about to bow at my feet.” He clicks his fingers like we’re all dogs. “Come with me.”
He strides along until we reach the large TV screen, which usually displays weather or commercials for stuff. Most people barely pay them any attention to it. Today, though, there’s a crowd gathered around. Their eyes are glued to the blank screen.
None of them are moving. They barely seem to even be breathing. Like something or someone has caught them up in a spell. Frozen them in place.
“What have you done with Anna?” I ask.
“Who?”
“The techno mage, the one that put all that stuff on every screen in the city.”
“Oh, you mean her.” He gestures to something on the ground at the very edge of the crowd. A pile of rags and... hair.
My stomach lurches.
Not a pile of rags at all, but clothing. It’s Anna, lying with her throat torn out.
“I told you this would go a lot more smoothly if you simply went along with how things are supposed to go, pet. And yet, you continue to nip and bite at the hand that’ll be feeding you in the short future. It’s a foolish endeavor. You’ll understand that soon enough, once all your little friends are gone, and it’s just us. Me and my toys, and a city of sycophants.”
“You have someone controlling all these people?” I ask.
It can’t be Simpson himself, or things would be even more nightmarish. He’s never shown any talent for mind control. As far as I can tell, he has his super speed and strength and for some reason, he has a bunch of people willing to go along with his terrible scheme to take over the city.
I blink, not wanting to risk a glance around at the others. We need to get Seb out of here. He’s the only one of us not wearing the Pretty Princess jewelry to protect us against whoever is mind-fucking all of these people.
Simpson barks a laugh, sending a cloud of spittle into my face. “Of course, I do. The fun’s about to kick off.”
“Dante and Z, try to track down the person with the mind control powers. They don’t know that we should be immune to its influence—” At least, I really hope we are. I really fucking hope the nulling magic I put into the jewelry is enough to withstand the coercive power.
“Got it,” Dante replies in my head.
“We’re going to need a distraction so we can get the ring to Seb, and then someone needs to get him as far from here as possible. Hanna and Rook, can you grab him?”
“Sure thing,” Hanna replies.
“Say no more, sweetheart,” Roscoe says. “Distraction’s my middle name.”
“I’ll focus on taking Simpson out,” Fabian says.
“Be careful,” I tell him. “He’s strong as hell.”
“He has my little brother. I’m going to gut him,” Fabian’s voice is a feral rasp in my head.
We burst into action all at once. Roscoe sends a blast of light into the air, causing Simpson to frown up at the sky.
“What—”
Then twenty or thirty of our doppelgangers appear, all running around, screaming at the top of their lungs. It’s a sharp contrast to the near silence of a moment before and Simpson swipes at the nearest ones. It does nothing, since they’re not real and he lurches around looking a fool.
I don’t waste the opportunity to dart forward, slipping the ring onto Seb’s finger. Immediately, he snaps out of the daze he was in. His eyes meet mine for a moment and I want nothing more than to hug him and tell him everything’s going to be all right, but there isn’t the time. Instead, I shove him in Hanna’s direction.
“Get somewhere safe, all of you. Blast anyone that comes at you with your fire.”
“Gladly.” Hanna slips her hand into Seb’s and tugs him along, and then the three of them are sprinting along the street, away from here.
I let out a long breath, hoping like hell that they get to safety.
When I spin around, Roscoe’s illusions are still doing their best to cause chaos. They’re literally bouncing off the walls, yelling and singing.
And it might be too good of a distraction.
It means I don’t notice the way the crowd is getting closer, surging as one mass of bodies until they’re surrounding us.
“Shit.”
This isn’t good.
From the corner of my eye, I spot Fabian conjuring a blood sword from out of nowhere. Although, this crowd looks just like regular people, caught up in Simpson’s plan. I doubt he’s about to start lopping off their heads with his sword.
Which sets us at a serious disadvantage.
Simpson lets out a wild laugh, and the crowd shifts closer. I try to use my mind control to get them to stop, but there are too many of them. I don’t have enough power. I send a burst of fire out, hoping it’ll knock them back, but those nearest to me don’t even seem to notice. Their eyes are glassy and they look mindless. Like they’re not the ones in control of their bodies right now.
Someone strikes out and a burst of thunder bursts from my chest, blasting them back. There’s a yell and Ro is knocked to the ground, his illusions wavering as Simpson grabs him by the neck. I stagger toward him.
Then something hits me from the side with enough force to send me flying. I feel the orbs in my pocket smash and a surge of something goes through me as I smack heavily onto the ground.