Nick James - The Pearl wars

“I don’t know what we’re gonna find in Seattle,” I start, “but if you really wanna help, the best thing you guys can do is cover for me if Alkine shows up.”

Eva shakes her head. “He’s not here to stop you, Jesse. The cat’s out of the bag.”

“Has he told you anything? About a lab?”

She shrugs. “Listen, what you heard at that meeting is all I know. As far as I can tell it’s all he knows, too.”

“There’s a lab,” I mutter. “I saw it in my dream.” I wind my fingers around the chain necklace. “It’s where I was given this key. I think it happened right before Alkine found me. I remember Seattle, covered in mist.”

“The chemicals from the bombings,” Avery interjects.

I nod. “And I remember the lab. Everything in between is blank.”

“So you’re going to try to find this place?” Eva stares at the key lying on my chest. “You think it still exists?”

“It’s all I’ve got to go on,” I reply. “Maybe the key opens the door. Maybe there are answers inside. Why else would I be remembering it now, after so long?”

Skandar frowns, holding the Pearl in front of his face. “Meanwhile, there’s gonna be a whole army of Pearlhounds looking for this thing.”

“I’m not worried about them.”

Eva laughs. “ Jesse Fisher not worried about an army of government soldiers? Do I need to remind you about what happened back in Syracuse? And that was just one of them. A trainee, no less.”

“Yeah,” I start, “ that was back in Syracuse. Besides, you’ll hold them off.”

“Hold them off?” She grimaces. “What do I look like, a freaking tank?”

Avery scoots closer to me. “You owe him, Rodriguez.”

“For what? For saving his butt for nearly three years?” She crosses her arms. Apparently the generous, guilt-ridden Eva has left the trailer.

“For lying to him,” Avery responds.

She rolls her eyes. “Coming from you, that’s rich.”

Skandar darts his head around the side of the Pearl. “I never lied to you, mate.”

Eva sighs. “That’s because you’re incapable of lying, Harris. It would require a level of self-awareness that’s completely beyond you.”

He glares at her, confused.

“It doesn’t matter,” I say. “If you’re with me, be with me now. We’ll talk about everything else later.”

“If there is a later,” Eva mumbles. I pretend not to hear her.

Other than the occasional attempt to get a conversation going, we spend the next hour in silence. My mind attempts to formulate some sort of a plan, but it’s impossible. I have no idea what I’m getting myself into. If there’s a lab-if there’s anything — I don’t even know where to look.

And all the while Skandar plays with the Pearl like it’s some kind of toy. I know what’s really inside-a concussive force strong enough to flatten an army. I’ve seen it happen, triggered by my own hands. I’d never heard of a Pearl exploding before last night. These things have been poked and prodded, dropped off buildings and transferred to reactors, but never once exploded. Until I caught one.

The van comes to a sudden halt.

We freeze, careful not to make a sound. My heart thumps double-time, urging my body to get out of the tight space.

I hear the driver’s side door open and shut in one motion. We’re here. We must be.

Someone shouts, followed by a flurry of voices. George’s isn’t among them.

I press my ear against the wall. Just like back on the mountain, the individual words are too muffled to make out.

A loud blast rips through the air. The trailer wall vibrates with the echoing sound. I stumble backward, slamming my elbow on the metal.

Then it’s quiet again. I listen for George’s footsteps to come around the side. I wait.

Nothing.

Instead, the voices come back, murmuring at the front of the truck. The hairs on my neck stand on end. Avery squeezes my arm, sensing my tension.

Footsteps make their way from the van’s cabin to the side. Suddenly, I realize that we’re trapped. There’s no way to open the back door from inside the trailer. If this is who I think it is, then we’ve just cornered ourselves. Big mistake.

The footsteps tread around the van until they’ve reached the back door. I hear breathing, followed by the jangling of keys. The lock turns and clicks open.

We scoot back as the door rises, a crack at first. Even with my heart in my throat, I relish the breeze that streams in from outside. Polluted Surface air has never felt so amazing.

But as the door continues to pull open, my worst suspicions are confirmed.

This isn’t George or his son. It’s not Alkine.

It’s a mini army of soldiers wearing Unified Party combat gear.

They’ve got guns.

And they’re pointing them directly at us.

The soldiers’ faces are shielded by government gas masks, their bodies hidden behind thick, genderless uniforms. They’re completely anonymous.

The ones in front reach in to grab us but the leader motions them to stop, stepping forward and extending a gloved hand.

“The Pearl. Surrender it.” The voice sounds robotic and alien from behind the gas mask.

I glance over to Skandar, who clutches the green orb close to his chest.

“Count of three,” the soldier warns. The mass of weapons beep and whirr as they lock onto our chests. “One… ”

I turn to Skandar, motioning for him to toss the Pearl to me. He shakes his head. “I’m not letting them have it.”

“Two… ”

I dart over to him, yanking it from his arms. The soldier stops counting and watches me scoot forward.

“Place it in my hand.” The soldier takes a step forward.

I look up at the gas mask, searching for a face behind all the hardware. Eyes, a nose… something.

They don’t know who I am.

The thought strikes me out of nowhere. If they knew that Madame wanted me, they’d forget about the Pearl altogether and pull me from the trailer without hesitation. Of course, it doesn’t change the fact that as soon as they get the Pearl, they’ll drag us all off to a Security Center anyway. If they don’t shoot first.

Not gonna happen.

“Get behind me,” I motion to the others.

Avery grabs Skandar and Eva by the shoulders and pulls them to the empty boxes at the front of the trailer. Eva tries to fight her way back to me, but Avery pins her down.

As soon as they’re safe, I close my eyes and focus, hoping that Portland wasn’t a fluke.

My body’s not screaming bloody murder like it did back in the alleyway. I know this is a crap shoot, trying to control something I don’t even understand, but I continue on, feeling the Pearl’s energy meet my own.

“Weapons at the ready,” the soldier orders. I do my best to ignore the sounds of the battalion.

I hold the Pearl in front of me, feeling it grow warmer with each passing moment. I press in on it with my hands, squeezing between my fingers, and imagine a straight line from my chest down through my arms and into the Pearl.

And then it happens. I open my eyes and watch the Pearl drift away from my fingers, floating toward the open trailer door. The closest soldiers take a cautious step back.

I squint, eyes fixed on the hovering Pearl. When it reaches the back end of the van, I ball my fingers into fists.

The Pearl explodes, shooting a wave of green energy out into the city. The soldiers topple over in its wake, pushed to the ground like paper dolls. The sides of the van bubble out in an ear-piercing grind of metal. But behind me, it’s still. Like last time, my body deflects the energy.

I claw my way forward, watching as a pair of legs disappears up over the top of the trailer, soaring into the air and out of sight-just like in the Portland alley. I catch sight of the figure just in time. It curves up past the layer of chemical smog and out of sight. Definitely humanoid this time.