Nick James - Crimson rising

A flash of red.

“What was that?” He pivoted to get a better look. Madame’s face bristled. She moved her attention back to the skies in time to see a second orb of red energy shoot past them like a comet plunging to Earth.

She laid off the accelerator, visibly shaken. The red energy came and went in less than a second and the air was clear again. Her mouth opened.

“I’ve never seen-”

“A red Pearl.” Cassius leaned forward.

She turned to him. “What?”

He felt the emptiness on his wrist. Theo may have perished, but Matigo’s son had accomplished his goal. The bracelets were gone, and with them the scrambling power of the Ridium. “You don’t know as much as you think you do. You don’t know anything.”

She swallowed. “None of the scanners detected-” A second Pearl interrupted her, carving a turbulent path about a hundred yards to her left. She gawked out the window and watched it fall before turning back to the controls.

“History,” Cassius said. “You wanna forget the history between us? We’re gonna be lucky if we have any history left.”

They start falling soon after the wreckage of Skyship Altair disappears from our view. Eva’s the first to see one, but soon all five of us are plastered against the windows, staring out at the Surface below.

They drop like regular Pearls, but far more frequently. It’s like Cassius said. Without the opposing force of our bracelets, the floodgates have opened. There are dozens of them at any given moment. Even without seeing it directly, I know they’re everywhere.

Some might be striking Skyships or Chosen Cities. Many will hit the Fringes. There will be Pearls in Siberia, dangerously close to the Academy. They’ll land in Africa. The Commonwealth. The ocean, maybe. They’re blanketing the Earth. And here we are-six of us in a tiny cruiser. Insignificant.

Avery’s shoulder touches mine. I can feel her trembling. “They’re not stopping,” she whispers. “They just keep falling, like a hailstorm.”

I shake my head. “They’re coming too soon. There are too many.”

We did everything we could, I tell myself. We followed the breadcrumbs. We were careful. Would things have been any different if I’d listened to Alkine and stayed at the Academy, confined?

I’m a disaster. One after another, my allies have been ripped away. Killed.

Mr. Wilson. Ryel. Morse. Bergmann. I didn’t listen, and now they’re dead. And I’m sure it won’t be long before the rest of us follow suit.

I turn around and lean my back against the window. I can’t look outside anymore. I can’t watch them land.

I can almost hear Theo’s laugh echoing in the sky. He’d love this. He’d consider it the greatest honor-the son paving the way for his father.

I kick at the floor and let out a deep sigh before burying my head in my hands. Then, allowing tears to spill over my fingers, I wipe my face and stand. “I should go see Cassius.”

But before I can take a single step, the door to the cockpit opens and Cassius walks out. He takes a breath as he scans the cabin. Then, voice trembling, he speaks. “We’re going underground.”

We turn to look at him. Eva crosses her arms. “Where?”

“There are Unified Party bunkers spread all around the Fringes. The closest is in Nevada. Madame has access. We’ll be safe until we can figure out what to do.” His eyes meet mine, pleading not to argue. I sense that he’s already had a difficult enough time talking with Madame up front.

“We can’t stay on the Surface,” he continues. “And we’re not in a position to… ” He stops himself. “We’re going underground. That’s all.”

I expect someone to challenge him, but nobody responds-not even Eva. There’s little choice, really. We don’t have the energy to fight. We wouldn’t know where to start if we did.

All of a sudden, green light filters through the windows, bathing the inside of the cabin in a soft, calming glow. I turn back to the window and see them instantly.

The Drifters fly on either side of our cruiser, encircling us in a protective formation. I can see their faces from this distance, and make out their plain white clothing. They’re here, Sem and Talan and every one I freed on Altair.

I spin around. My heart beats faster, or maybe it’s the energy outside. “Look,” I point. “In the sky. It wasn’t all for nothing. They’re here. They’re following us.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Cassius says. “We’re going underground either way. We can’t do anything like this. We’ll die, and then we won’t be of use to anyone.”

I nod, even though I hate the thought of it.

I am already here.

Now Matigo has his army.

The cruiser lurches beneath us. Skandar rushes to the window. “We’re heading down.”

Avery crosses her arms. “That was quick.”

“The ground’s opening,” Skandar continues. “I see it.”

Cassius sighs. “Say goodbye to all of this, at least for a little while.”

I take a last glance into the sky and watch the storm of red Pearls. Is it defeat? Are we running away? What would my parents want us to do?

I shut off the questions. They’ll drive me crazy if I let them control me. Cassius is right. We can’t do anything in this condition. The world will have to defend itself for now.

The windows darken.

The ground swallows us whole and everything’s silent.

Thirty-eight hours later:

The silence is what kills me.

I don’t know what’s happening above us, on the Surface. Every minute that passes could mean another life extinguished, another city decimated. On the other hand, maybe none of the Authority’s Pearls have broken yet. The Unified Party communication feed cut out shortly after we landed. Last we heard, the Chosen Cities considered the red Pearls an attack by the Skyship Community. A new form of technology. Then they started to hatch. That’s when the feed broke. We’re cut off.

We’re clueless. Clueless and isolated.

But we’re not going to get anywhere on guesswork. This is a war, and you don’t enter a war blindly. It took some convincing, but everyone understands now. We’re safe, and safety is a luxury we need to harness while it lasts.

Our bunker lies in the middle of a Fringe desert, far from the nearest Chosen and invisible to the unknowing eye. It will be our home for as long as necessary. Without the bracelet, Matigo has no way of tracking us. He wants to kill me, I know that. After all, I’m the Pearlbreaker. That’s never been as important as it is now.

But I don’t know where he is. Or who he is. If he’s been here for awhile, he could have blended in years ago. He could be anyone. A Fringe leader, a government official. Maybe even a member of the Academy.

Sem and Talan took care of triggering the remaining Drifters’ language processors. Twelve out of nineteen are now speaking fractured English. They seem to become more fluent with every hour that goes by. We’ll be ready soon. They can give us information.

I spent the first ten hours sleeping. I didn’t want to. The thought of what might be happening over my head made me feel too guilty to sleep. I couldn’t abandon the fight just as it was starting. It was a coward’s move.

But it’s the right one. Confinement. Not the way Alkine was keeping me a prisoner back home, but a different type.

Cassius and I are the Resistance’s champions, and champions don’t go and get themselves killed at the first sign of danger. They learn and they discuss, and when they have a plan, they execute it to the best of their ability. I guess in a way, Alkine was right.

This war was always coming. One way or another, Matigo would have found a means to invade. In the long run, there was nothing either Cassius or I could do to stop it. At least that’s what I repeat in my head to make myself feel better.