Nick James - The Pearl wars

The girl’s eyes bore into mine.

“I… I was never anything special,” I continue to back away. “You’ve gotta believe me. I was just an ordinary guy until-until I met Cassius.”

Her eyes widen with a sickening realization. Her fingers fall limp at her side. “Trigger. Trigger never happened.”

Cassius steps closer, careful to keep his distance. “What trigger?”

Her path wobbles and she lunges at him, grabbing his hand and running her fingers along his palm in circles. He struggles, but her grip is too strong.

I watch sparks shoot from his hand as she continues to touch his skin. They pop into the air like mini fireworks. Then, after circling his palm half a dozen times, she conjures a tiny flame. It flickers half an inch above his skin. He doesn’t cry out in pain, doesn’t even wince. Instead, his brows furrow and he pushes her away with his free hand. “No, no! You don’t know what you’re doing-”

She stumbles back but quickly regains her balance. “Only several days old. Power should be strong.” She shakes her head. “Not right.”

He closes his fist. The flame extinguishes. “You know something about the fire?”

“Displacement of energy,” she mumbles. “Conduits. Reaction. Not right.”

“Slow down.” I move to her side. “You’re not making any sense.”

“Separated,” she continues, paying little attention to me, “separated immediately. No trigger. Everything ruined.”

“ What’s separated?” Cassius moves in.

“Thousands of us,” she crumbles to her knees. “Gone. So many. Separated.”

I grab her arm to prevent her from crashing to the ground. The right side of my body hums with energy. “I think she’s going into shock.”

She shakes her head, tears streaming down her face. “Failed us. They failed us.”

Cassius crouches down beside her, swearing. “ Who failed you?”

Before she can answer, her eyelids flutter and she loses consciousness. I set her on the ground.

Cassius sighs. “Well, that’s just great, isn’t it? Babbling like a crazy person… ”

I glance over at him. “I don’t think she’s crazy. She knew about your power.”

He clenches his fist. “It’s impossible. She drew it out of me without an explosion. She controlled it.”

I pause, hearing footsteps behind us. Cassius notices it too. He darts up from the ground.

I stand, just in time for Avery to bound at me, nearly knocking me off my feet. “Oh Jesse, thank god you’re alive!”

“How’d you get down here?” I struggle for breath through her monster hug.

Instead of responding, she releases me, and stares into my eyes. Then she kisses me.

It takes a moment for my mind to register what’s happening. After so much stress, so many missed opportunities, I can’t bring myself to believe that this is how it’s happening. Now.

Still, I don’t pull back. Her lips tug mine. She draws me forward and it’s like breaking the Pearls all over again. Mass powerful. Buzzing.

I hug her shoulder, wishing that I’d never have to let go. Wishing we weren’t in the middle of a war zone.

In that moment, any remaining doubts about Avery shatter inside me. Then she pulls away, eyes wide. “They’re coming. Unified Party ships pulled into the city just as I started running down.”

Before I can respond, the sky rumbles. The outline of a cruiser cuts through the mist overhead, bathing us in shadow. Then another, from the opposite direction. We’re surrounded.

“How charming,” a woman’s voice echoes from the alleyway behind Avery. “It’s comforting to see that teenage hormones are alive and well in these trying times.”

Avery spins around to watch the woman enter the intersection. Her tailored jacket is spotless, like she’s managed to dodge all the dust in the air that’s clogged up the rest of us. Her hair blows softly in the breeze, framing an intense expression of down-turned lips and narrow, mesmerizing eyes. She wears long gloves over porcelain skin and an expensive suit beneath the jacket-completely at odds with her surroundings. I recognize her immediately from pictures at the Academy.

It’s Madame.

Madame marches through the intersection, kicking a scrap of metal out of her way as she approaches us. Shadows of cruisers dot the vacant street, growing larger as they find breaks in the rubble to settle down.

She glares at Avery, hand at her side. “What a terrible disappointment you’ve turned out to be.”

Avery grips my shoulder. I grab onto her arm, never wanting to let go.

Madame stops and smiles. She grips a small rectangular control pad. A tiny red dot flashes below a thin antennae. I watch her finger caress the buttons on the front end, then flip a switch at the bottom.

Suddenly Avery jerks away, cradling her forehead. Her eyes close in pain as she crouches to the ground and bottles up a scream.

I drop to her side, keeping my eyes on Madame. “What are you doing to her?!?”

Madame holds up the control pad, smiling. The flashing dot is now a constant light. “Correcting behavior.”

“You’re killing her!”

“Again with the adolescent dramatics.” She outstretches her hand and cradles the controller in front of her. “Here. Come and take it from me if you’re so concerned. Be the hero.”

“No, Jesse.” Avery grips onto my wrist. “It’s a trap.”

“Preposterous.” Madame moves her thumb along the side of the pad and presses a silver button. Avery’s body falls limp. “Too late. Better be on the ball next time, young man.”

“No!” I crouch by her side, running my fingers over her cheek. Her eyes are shut-arms lifeless at her side.

“Relax,” Madame says, “she’s not dead. Yet.”

I gently set Avery down on the ground, take one last look at her unconscious face, and stand to confront Madame. “If you hurt her… ”

She laughs. “You’ll do what? Tackle me? Mr. Fisher, I’ve been tracking you since the minute you left the Academy. I could have had you dead a thousand times over by now. There’s a chip in her head capable of disrupting brain patterns. With the press of a button I could reduce her to a vegetable. You will do nothing unless I tell you to.” Her eyes shift to Cassius. He stands behind me, fingers drumming nervously on his thighs. Her voice softens. “Cassius. What a job you’ve done. A test, and you passed it brilliantly.”

“Why did you send me on this mission?” His voice comes out quiet and meek. “If you knew where Fisher was-”

“Ah.” She raises a hand to silence him. “Your brother survived the fall from the building in Syracuse because the two of you triggered your abilities. He was bathed in Pearl energy. It protected him. But it’s a process, Cassius. Your bodies needed to adjust in order to accommodate your new abilities. You were both dangerous, but not to each other. Not directly, at least. You were the perfect person for the job.”

“Wait,” I start, “did you say brother?”

Her eyebrows raise. “Didn’t you know? Two children without family, drawn together by Pearl energy. Etcetera, etcetera. I thought it was becoming quite obvious.”

Cassius glances at me, then frowns at the realization. “You… you sent me to kill my own brother?”

“Not kill,” Madame replies. “ Recruit. I sent you to find your brother and bring him back where he belongs. I couldn’t have done it without you, Cassius.”

“She’s lying,” I say. “You’re expendable. Just like Avery.”

She chuckles, voice calm and steady. “Now what would give you that idea? On the contrary, you’re very valuable to me. One half of a very exclusive set.”

I glance at Cassius. He doesn’t smile, but he doesn’t try to stop her either.