Nick James - Crimson rising

My hands shake. I stare down at them.

Weapons, that’s what they are. Weapons that can kill.

I want to head over and check if the three Skyshippers are alive, but I’m scared of what I might find. So instead, I take a shallow breath and try to put them out of my mind.

What have I done? What am I doing?

No, I tell myself. Be like Cassius. Do what Alkine always told you. Don’t let emotion get in the way of it.

I’m bad, but maybe it’s for a good reason.

I focus on a point on the wall and forget them. The Pearls are calling. I have work to do.

The ground transformed beneath Cassius. It opened and spread under his back, propping him into an awkward vertical position-half standing, half hanging. It reminded him of being chained up inside the Lodge. Theo paced before him, his expression more rattled by the moment. He turned and waved his hand in front of his chest. Cassius felt his bracelet melt to liquid around his wrist and jump from his skin, right into Theo’s hand. Theo manipulated the Ridium into a ball and lobbed it across the room, where it stuck to the far wall and flattened. “It’s done,” he said. “Melded with the rest of it, free from its programming. Once I get Fisher’s, my father’s Pearls will blanket the planet.” He flashed a wide smile. “And you without an army. Things didn’t really go the way your parents planned, did they?”

Cassius swallowed. Ridium crept over his ankles. Theo approached. “Matigo wants you dead, but I haven’t decided how I’m going to do it yet.” He dislodged a chunk of Ridium from the ceiling. Cassius watched it land in the boy’s hands and transform into the shape of a knife, just like the one Theo held on the Surface. “There’d be a certain symbolism in a blade through your heart. After all, you and your friends took my favorite knife from me.” The black point dissolved. Theo shrugged. “I’ll think about it some more. Fisher’s nearby. We’re on a course for Skyship Altair now.”

“What?”

“Ridium seeks Ridium,” Theo said. “Remember? It’s giving me signals. I feel Fisher, running like a rat through the bowels of the ship. We’re nearly there.”

Cassius squirmed. “You’re just a kid.”

A strand of Ridium crawled behind him and yanked his hair back, forcing him to meet Theo’s eyes.

“I’m royal blood,” he responded. “I’m not just anything.”

“Yeah?” Cassius replied. “Well, without my father, there’d have never been Pearls in the first place. Green. Red. It doesn’t matter.”

Theo smiled. “But it does. Red Pearls are self-extracting. They don’t need a Breaker. And once we kill Fisher, the Resistance has nothing. You should have started earlier.” He laughed. “How many do you have? Ten? Twenty? Of all the thousands of Pearls that have fallen since the Scarlet Bombings, you don’t-”

“Shut up.”

“Hit a nerve? I’m sorry.” He turned and walked away. Cassius watched him extend his hands and spread them apart through the air like he was opening a set of invisible curtains. The entire front side of the vessel blossomed open to reveal an enormous hole through which Cassius could see Skyship Altair. The ship looked like a toy in the distance, hovering unprotected in the open sky.

“See that?” Theo stared out the opening. “The entire ship’s coming down, I’ll guarantee it. We don’t care about Skylines and Surface law. We see what we want and we take it. I’m going to send a message. An opening salvo. If Madame taught me anything, it was to have a sense of drama.”

Cassius took a deep breath. He pictured Fisher down there, unaware of what was approaching. He hoped that his brother had managed to do something-anything-that would help defend against Theo. If not, this would be an extermination.

He stared at Theo from behind, marveling at his slight frame, his lopsided shoulders, and stringy hair.

Skyship Altair pulled closer until the gray of the top level filled the entire opening. Buildings. Transport. People. Shippers, yes, but people nonetheless. The line between Surface and Skyship had utterly broken. They had no idea what they were up against.

Altair’s control deck was no doubt trying to radio the strange black vessel by now, but they’d have no luck. There’d be no precedent for this, and nothing to do but attack.

It came surprisingly fast.

A barrage of missiles fired from the ship’s defense cannons. Cassius watched as they approached with blistering speed, spiraling up toward the hole.

Theo wiped his hands in front of him, closing the window as Cassius flinched from the oncoming fire. Explosions sounded outside, muffled by the wall of Ridium. The vessel stayed remarkably stable. After three more volleys, the ground shuddered beneath Cassius. The entire room began to melt.

He watched the walls drip around him. The ceiling caved in, raining down on both boys. The wet floor climbed up Theo’s body, looping around his legs up to his hips. It covered his lower half in seconds, forming what looked like a shiny metallic bodysuit. It rose to his chest, then spread down his arms and covered his hair until he all but disappeared against a backdrop of Ridium.

He turned to look at Cassius. A round hole revealed his face, but everything else was covered in black. Hair, ears, shoulders. Theo laughed, brows raised. “Cool, huh?”

The restraints melted around Cassius. His wrist felt cold and naked without his bracelet.

The vessel continued to collapse. Soon, the city of Altair revealed itself around them. They’d broken through the dome overhead, triggering a deep, constant siren. They’d landed.

Ridium poured through the streets of the Skyship like floodwater, decimating everything in its path until the ground was covered with a thin layer of black. Buildings shuddered as the substance pounded into walls. Benches and tables were pushed along the stream-trees uprooted. Anyone unlucky enough to be walking on the top level found their feet stuck in the blackness. Some fell. Some were covered.

Cassius collapsed to his hands and knees. The hole in the overhead dome continued to widen. By the time the security mechanisms rattled into place to repair it, it could be too late.

Theo moved forward, hands at his side, in his suit of Ridium. There was no sign of Fisher, Drifters, Pearls, or anything that could put up a fight. Cassius knew that he had to find a way to stop him, but the boy was protected head to toe. Fire hadn’t hurt him back on the Surface. He was the Authority’s champion for a reason. He was indestructible.

Then, an explosion.

The ground rumbled. The blast had come from somewhere on the lower levels. Cassius didn’t know what had caused it, but its effects made themselves known immediately.

The ground lurched under his feet. The ship sunk. No emergency thrusters. Something had happened.

The Ridium fused into the ground around him, soaking into the bowels of the Skyship like water into soil. The blackness on the streets faded as it spread through the inner workings of the ship. Cassius cursed. This kid was apocalyptic.

He was doing it, just like he said he would. Theo was bringing down the entire Skyship.

The corridor rocks violently around me. Alarms blare, so loud that I have to cup my hands over my ears. It threatens to kill my concentration, but I fight past it and recover my balance.

The ship lurches under my feet, then back up again. I take a deep breath, soaking in what’s left of the energy from the freed Drifters. I let it refresh my body, boost my energy. Then I close my eyes and focus.

I reach into the air and pull down, feeling for Pearl energy. They’re close. My fists bunch at my side. My eyes flip open as several Pearls come at me, ripped from separate rooms. Wood smashes in the distance. Metal dents. They’re like wild spirits escaping. A stampede.