Nick James - Crimson rising

His eyes fell on Cassius. They were red.

Cassius stared at him. He waited for something to happen, some kind of reaction. “Why aren’t you-” He stopped himself. There was no use asking questions.

Theo took a step back. His eyes pulsed. “Madame said you were a pyro. She never said the fire came from your hands.”

Cassius frowned. “You should be burning. You should be-”

Theo shrugged. “Guess your flames are kind of wimpy, Great Cassius Stevenson.”

Cassius shook his head. He knew it had nothing to do with the fire. He’d seen what it could do too often. He’d watched the Lodge burn last spring. He’d felt the Chute explode. His fire hurt everyone-killed some. The only thing that it hadn’t burned was his own skin.

His mind flashed back to something Madame had said in Syracuse. You and Theo have a lot in common.

Did that mean he was immune to Cassius’s fire?

The glow in Theo’s eyes intensified. “You wanna fight? Come on.”

Cassius backed away. “You don’t know what you are.”

“This world… ” He paused and brushed dirt from his elbow. “You don’t belong in it. This is Matigo’s world, now.”

Cassius coughed. When he covered his mouth, he noticed spots of blood on his hand. “Do you understand what you’re saying? That name-”

Theo’s brows raised. He wiggled his fingers as if he was just getting used to them. “I’ve… I’ve never felt like this before. Back in the swarm. The heat-”

“Cassius!” Fisher’s voice called from the distance. Cassius turned to see his brother come stumbling down the hill, breathing hard.

Theo backed away, grabbing his midsection as if he was trying to protect something.

Fisher jogged to Cassius’s side. “What’s happening?” “My fire didn’t hurt him,” he responded.

Theo looked up at the stars, then brought his arms out to his sides, rippling his fingers over the air like he was about to conduct an orchestra. “It’s beneath me,” he said. “It’s everywhere.”

Cassius felt his bracelet begin to hum. Fisher’s, too. He took a step back, his shoulder colliding with his brother’s. “Do you know about the Authority?” Fisher asked. Theo closed his eyes, blotting the red energy. “Now I see it. It’s everywhere. I am already here. I have always been here.” Cassius gripped Fisher’s shoulder. “We should run.” “My bracelet’s going crazy.”

Before they could move, dark wraiths punctured the ground. Coils of blackness reached into the sky like hundreds of ghost hands joining together. Cassius spun in a circle to watch the darkness form. It spread in shadowy sheets, curving up over their heads and blocking every possible exit.

It had no depth. It was like he was slowly going blind. More and more of the world fell away. The horizon began to disappear around them as the Ridium climbed into the air. It looped and split, like vines of ivy spreading along a wall. Gaps were filled. Stars were swallowed.

A spherical room had been built around them.

Theo raised his fists in the air. Ridium blotted out the last of the sky. Only the maniacal red glow of his eyes gave a sense of perspective.

The oily mess seeped into the dirt and rocketed forward under their feet. Cassius lifted his boot before the stuff could ensnare him in its grip.

His mind began to play tricks on him. Directions skewed. If he were to walk forward, he wasn’t sure the darkness would support him.

Black. Everywhere.

Cassius closed his eyes, then opened them again. There were no holes or chasms for the moon to poke through. This was all encompassing. It was as if his senses had shut down.

The outside breeze was little more than a memory. Walls blended with the slick, Ridium-covered floor. The blackness had become so complete that it seemed to stretch on forever. Had Cassius not seen the chamber created right in front of him, he might believe it was endless. The hairs on his arms stood on end. His bracelet settled.

Fisher pivoted, searching for an exit. His breathing quickened. Cassius grabbed his arm to steady him. It would be too easy to have a panic attack in here.

Light spilled into the chamber as spiraled holes began to carve themselves into the walls. Cassius could see Theo’s silhouette now, cast by the meager moonlight that streamed into the room.

“What have you done?” he shouted. His voice echoed along the blackness.

Theo massaged his fists, smiling. It was that same cocky smile he’d worn back at the Lodge. “You don’t belong here.” He chuckled. “You really don’t.”

Cassius grit his teeth. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“King Matigo can’t have what he wants if the two of you are here, too.”

Fisher stepped forward. “How do you know all this?”

Theo dropped his hands to his side. “Because I’m not supposed to be here, either. I’m going to take us all away.”

The ground rumbled, throwing Cassius and Fisher to the ground. The entire chamber pushed up on them, like an elevator moving ten times too fast. Cassius glanced out the nearest spiral opening to see a patchwork of stars falling.

Only they weren’t falling. The chamber, somehow, was rising. They were moving away from Earth.

A curl of blackness danced from the floor in front of Theo like a serpent. He reached out his arm and allowed it to wind around his wrist. Cassius watched, then looked down at his own hands. The bracelet. The daggers outside the swarm. All Ridium.

The black coil shot from Theo’s arm, cast a wide arc, and landed with a ripple on the ground where it fused instantly with the rest of the darkness. “Wow.” Theo laughed. “What a ride.”

Cassius stood. He had to keep his arms spread to stay balanced. The chamber’s ascent was silent, but not without the constant rumble underfoot. “Where are we going?”

“Up.” Theo smiled. “Up and up and up. Past Skyships, past the stars. Away from it all.”

Cassius shook his head. “You don’t even know what you’re talking about.” He barreled forward, hoping to catch the boy off guard. He pounced on Theo, grabbing him by the collar and pinning him to the ground. “Stop this. Stop whatever it is you’re doing.”

Theo’s eyes pulsed. “But I can’t.” His voice came out innocent. “I don’t know how.”

Cassius punched him in the side of the face. “You can’t do anything if you’re unconscious.”

“Cassius!” Fisher’s voice came from behind him. “I just saw a Skyship. We’re moving fast.”

A drop of Ridium fell from the ceiling and spilled on Cassius’s back, extending into a claw-like shape until it pulled him up and flung him to the far side of the chamber.

Theo grinned as he sat up. “I’d lay off if I were you.”

Fisher ran to Cassius’s side, eyes wide and panicked. “He’s controlling the entire room. If we don’t stop this thing we’ll be in space.”

Cassius glared at him. “Don’t you think I know that?”

Theo jumped to his feet and strode forward. “Try and throw me out the back of a cruiser,” he chuckled. “Tie me to a chair. Shoot me.”

“You’re sick,” Cassius said. “You’re gonna kill us all!”

“No,” he replied. “Not sick. What’s sick is that I’ve been slumming it down there for so many years. I don’t belong with those people on the Surface. I’m a Shifter. Like my father.” He paused a moment to marvel at the chamber around him. “It all makes sense now. It’s coming back, like a piece of my brain’s been triggered.” He chuckles. “All those years waiting. For the two of you to find each other… for our targets to reveal themselves. He’s been hiding in the Fringes the entire time. He’s already here.”

Fisher clenched his fists. “Matigo.”