Nick James - Crimson rising

Eva shakes her head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Skandar’s eyes meet hers, then quickly move away. “It showed these two lines… one pointing up to the right, one to the left. The one on the right had you as some kind of savior. But the one on the left… ”

Morse’s brows furrow. “Intelligence has led us in two directions, Fisher. Direction One: You use your Pearl powers and save the world from whatever invasion is supposedly at our doorstep. Direction Two: You’re the reason for the invasion. You get out-run around here like some kind of fugitive-and something happens. Something triggers. Half of the Drifters we’ve spoken to warned us to keep you close… said that there are people-things-out here that’ll find you. It all keeps coming back to one word. Ridium. Whatever the hell that is.” He pauses. “I knew you wouldn’t hear it from me. That’s why I had to bring Harris.”

I shake my head. “Ridium.” I rub the bracelet against my thigh, then consider the pendant around the red Drifter’s neck. That makes me think about the warning scrawled on my chest. I can’t feel it anymore in this heat, but I know it’s there.

I am already here.

I close my eyes for a second and I can see the symbols-burned flesh.

Morse sighs. “Alkine wanted you safe, yeah, but he also wanted you close until he knew what we were up against. Our intelligence doesn’t jibe. It contradicts itself and trails off on tangents. Maybe it’s a problem with the translation. But the fork… we’ve got two overriding roads here, and we can’t ignore either one of them.”

My grip tightens on the handle of the pistol. “He should’ve told me. Why didn’t he tell me?”

“How are you supposed to explain something like that?” Morse takes a step forward. “How are you supposed to tell a kid that he might be responsible for the invasion of an entire planet?”

Avery moves to my side. “You don’t know anything for sure.”

“That’s right,” Morse continues. “And the worst thing you can do is lash out when you don’t know the facts. We don’t know, Jesse. And until we do, you’ve gotta stay with us. You might call it a prison, but that’s not what it is. The Academy is our base of operations. Gallivanting around in the Fringes? It’s getting you nowhere.”

“So he lied to me,” I say. “Again.”

“If Alkine would have told you the truth, you’d have gone running off like you always do.”

“Yeah?” I glare at him. “Well, I ran off anyway, didn’t I?”

Cassius brings down his fist, but keeps the pistol aimed on Morse. “I don’t like this. These guys will say anything to get you back.”

I meet Skandar’s eyes, analyze his expression. It’s not the Skandar I’m used to. He doesn’t give me any secret wink or smile to show that he’s lying. He barely looks at me at all. He wouldn’t play along with this if he didn’t believe it was true. Whatever Alkine showed him, it convinced him somehow.

Morse clears his throat. The dryness of the air is getting to him. “Come back with us, Jesse. We’re family. We’re doing what we can.”

I swallow a mouthful of thick atmosphere. “I… ”

A voice comes from behind me, breaking my concentration. I glance over my shoulder to see Theo limping toward us, head low and arms at his sides. “What the hell is this?” he coughs. It nearly sends him tripping into the dirt, but he catches himself, keeping a slow pace toward the center of our standstill. Sweat drips from his hair. His shirt is torn in at least three places. Even more than normal, he looks like an animal.

I hear the cock of weapons behind me as every Academy pistol locks onto the boy.

Theo continues to approach. His right foot drags along the dirt. He coughs into his arm again, then pulls the sticky hair from his face. “Leave me in there like you thought I was dead,” he continues. “Like you wanted me to die.” He stares at the ground as he mumbles. I can barely see his face.

Avery moves to let him pass. He stops several feet behind me.

Morse motions for the other agents to hold their fire. “It’s just a kid.”

Theo cackles under his breath, which only elicits more coughing. I picture his body laying against the wall, still.

Morse frowns. “This a Fringer you picked up, Fisher?”

I shake my head.

Theo takes a deep breath. “You’re freaking useless. All of you.” He coughs again. “Jeez, I feel like I’m about to puke.”

He raises his head and stares at us all for the first time. Avery gasps. I take a step back from the shock of it.

Theo’s eyes glow a bright red-a glow that matches the energy from the red Drifter. Gone are the pupils and whites. It’s pure light, like someone carved out his eyes and replaced them with tiny generators.

Sweat pools on his face. His legs shake beneath him.

The agents raise their weapons again. Morse shouts. “What’s wrong with him?”

Cassius puts more distance between himself and the boy. “I don’t know.”

Theo smiles. “Did you morons do something to me when I wasn’t looking?”

Bergmann nudges Morse’s shoulder. “Shoot and ask questions later. That’s what I say.”

Theo stretches his right hand into the air, waving it in slow ripples like he can barely keep it up. “I feel like I swallowed a Pearl.”

Morse tightens his finger against the trigger. “You gonna tell me who this kid is, Fisher, or am I gonna have to shoot?”

I grit my teeth.

Theo’s lips curl into a wide smile and his hand drops to his side. Despite my better judgment, I lean in closer to get a look at him.

Then come the sounds, like enormous daggers slicing through the air.

Choking. Sick, wet gurgles.

I spin around and lose my footing as I watch the ground rise up to attack the agents.

Sharp knives of black metal slash up from the dirt, protruding with such force and speed that they’d be impossible to dodge. There’s one for each agent, the tip of which slams into their bodies and doesn’t stop until it juts back out the tops of their heads. Armor doesn’t stop it. Nothing does.

Ridium. Buried underground. No longer.

There isn’t blood at first. It’s too quick for that. The noises alone are enough to send me into a dizzying shock. The agents freeze in horrific, unnatural positions before the blades retract into the dirt, leaving massive incisions.

Then comes the crimson. Blood spilling onto the dirt, quickly darkening the brown.

I watch in horror as all seven agents topple to the ground in lifeless heaps. Skandar stands in the middle, looking like he’s about to faint.

I can’t quite process it. My mind’s still stuck several seconds in the past. Seven agents, dead. Morse. Bergmann. Gone.

Skandar stumbles over to meet us, face drained of color.

Theo closes his fist. He wavers in place before letting out one last chuckle. I turn to see the red fade from his eyes. Before anyone can say a word, he sinks to his knees. His face plants into the dirt. I watch his shoulders rise and fall. He’s unconscious, but alive.

Everything’s quiet. Nothing but the swarm on the horizon.

We bunch together instinctively, staring at the bodies of the fallen Academy Agents, trying to understand it. Their eyes stretch open, staring at the sun. Soon they’ll be barbequed in this heat, cooked meat for whatever predator wants to swoop down and get them. I never liked Bergmann, and what little I knew of Morse I liked him even less, but they didn’t deserve to die. Not like this.

My bracelet buzzes. So does Cassius’s. They tremble like they’re applauding the scene around them, like they have minds of their own. Cassius and I look at each other.

Black. The daggers from the ground, the seamless bands wrapped around our wrists. I know he’s thinking it, too. It’s more than just the visual. It’s instinctive. It all fits together.