Nick James - Skyship Academy

I grit my teeth. “Why would I want to help the Unified Party?”

Her eyes slit. “Because it is the winning party. Because we alone have the capabilities to harness your power and use it where it is most needed.”

“No,” I say. “Not you. I won’t help you.”

She scoffs. “Perhaps you’re not understanding. You’re not in a position to be disagreeing with me. If you don’t turn yourself in, I will kill you. Sure, it’ll make things harder on my end, but I can’t allow you to exist if you’re not working for me. It’s a matter of survival.” She advances. “Without a Pearl you’re just a scared little boy.” She glances up at the sky. “And I don’t see any Pearls falling, do you?”

Cassius shifts beside me, clearing his throat of the smog. “You lied to me.”

Madame stops in her tracks and turns to him as if she had forgotten that he was standing there. “Excuse me?”

“You said you’d find a cure,” he mutters. “You said you didn’t know where I came from. You lied to me.”

She shakes her head. “I was looking out for you, Cassius. I was protecting you.”

“No,” he continues, “you didn’t protect me on the Chute. You didn’t protect me afterward, in the desert.”

“There are very important things that you don’t-”

“There is no cure, is there?”

She sighs, dropping her hands to her sides. “This is what you are, Cassius. The reaction. Your brother unlocks the Pearls, you channel whatever energy he’s unable to control. It manifests itself as fire, an element native to this planet. I didn’t want this for you, but there’s no going back.”

He stares at the ground, dodging her eyes. “That’s what I am to you, then. A reaction. An afterthought?”

“That’s not it, Cassius. You’re very powerful.”

His head darts up and he shoots out his hand. A fireball erupts from his palm. Madame staggers back, shielding her face. The fire dissipates almost as quickly as it had appeared. “That’s right,” Cassius says. “I’m powerful.”

Madame adjusts her jacket, then motions for another soldier to approach her. This one carries a black cube half a foot long on each side. When he’s close enough, he tosses it to Madame. Cassius watches her catch it with great interest.

“The cube I brought to you in the infirmary,” she says. “It’s not a lie. When your bracelet had finished decoding its warning it… transformed-melted and dripped from my fingers right down onto the floor.” She cradles it in her hand. “Into this. This is your bracelet, Cassius. There’s one keyhole at the top, that’s all. Nothing will open it.”

I feel the silver key press against my chest beneath my torn shirt.

“Join me, boys,” she continues, “and we’ll unlock it together. We’ll see this country flourish. We’ll take care of our people down here, every one of them, and we will be a family. You’ve always wanted a family, haven’t you Jesse?”

I watch Skandar and Eva kick at the soldiers holding them captive, then glance down at Avery, still unconscious on the ground. Some family.

I shake my head. “People in Fringe Towns, you’ve forgotten them. You’re trying to start a war with Skyshippers. That’s not family.”

Her expression hardens. “Cassius?”

He glances off to the side. “I don’t know… ”

She sighs, pivoting to face the two closest soldiers. “Very well. We’ll start with your friends, Jesse.” She nods to her men. The soldiers’ hands move to Eva and Skandars’ necks, closing in and gripping tightly. Their expressions strain as the soldiers choke them. Their arms are secured tightly behind their backs. There’s no way they can break free.

I rush forward. “No, wait!”

Madame raises a hand. The soldiers’ grip weakens. “Second thoughts, Mr. Fisher?”

“Don’t hurt them,” I say. “Please.”

She smiles. “Then you’d better do as I ask.”

“Let them go.”

“Not until you are escorted safely onto my shuttle.”

I mentally curse myself, wishing I had a Pearl in my hand. Or something… something to distract her.

I take one last look at Avery and step forward. Madame motions for the nearest soldier to grab me. I hold out my fists. The soldier removes a pair of shackles from a compartment on the side of his belt. Madame smiles.

Then a voice cuts through the silent city, calling my name in the distance. The soldier turns, distracted. A figure breaks through the line of soldiers, stumbling into the intersection.

The smog lifts from his grizzled features and I see Captain Alkine’s concerned face locked onto mine. He walks with a noticeable limp, a dark sack slung over his shoulder.

Despite my anger with him, the sound of his voice instantly raises my spirits. It’s the voice of safety. Reinforcements.

I wait to hear an agent shuttle overhead, or see a battalion of troops come bounding through the line of soldiers to help me. But with each fragile step Alkine takes, my optimism wanes. And then it hits me. This is not the rescue I was hoping for.

It’s Captain Alkine, all right, but he’s completely alone. And worse yet, unarmed.

“Jeremiah.” Madame shakes her head and chuckles like she’s staring at some pathetic little kid. “It’s been too long.”

“Not nearly long enough,” he mutters as he staggers over my way.

She watches him approach, smiling. “Got a little limp there, I see. Not as spry as you used to be. Training children for so long must have tempered your fighting spirit.”

He ignores her, his eyes latched on to mine. “Jesse, I’m sorry. I should have told you everything. I never meant to put you in danger.”

Madame rolls her eyes. “It’s too late. You may have underestimated the boy, but I haven’t. Look around you, Jeremiah-250 fully equipped Unified Party soldiers, with more on the way if necessary. I will not let this go.”

He continues to approach me, ignoring her. “You see why we were protecting you now. They want a war, Jesse, but only if you’re on their side. Only if you’ll bring them Pearls.”

“Nonsense,” Madame scoffs. “The Skyship Community is just another terrorist organization masquerading as a gang of peace-loving idealists. They’re every bit as dangerous as the invaders.”

Alkine shakes his head. “You know that’s not true, Jesse. We’re your family. Come with me.”

Madame laughs. “You’re in a funny place to be making demands, Alkine.”

He glances at her, sneering. “You kill me and it’ll be the beginning of the end.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

He limps closer, unafraid of her. “Let the kids go, Jessica. Do what you want with me, but let them go.”

Eva and Skandar squirm in their captors’ grip. Madame’s eyes slit. She raises the control pad and whispers something into a tiny speaker. Before I realize it, three soldiers creep up behind Cassius and me.

Expecting them to attack, I jump away, fists ready to fight.

But they’re not after me. One removes a rifle from his side and points it at my heart. The others lift Avery by the arms and drag her off into the rubble.

“Let her go!” I rush toward them, but the guy with the gun fires a round into the concrete inches in front of me. Another hefts Avery over his shoulder and steps farther back. “Please,” I turn to Madame. “Let her go!”

“She’ll be waiting for you at the Lodge,” Madame replies, turning to the soldiers beside her. “Kill the children.”

I watch in horror as fingers tighten around Eva and Skandar’s necks once more. Both struggle for breath, faces white and panicked.

“Wait!” Alkine shouts. “You’re forgetting something, Madame.”