Contractor (46 page)

"Saving that ass." He swatted her butt.

"Be thankful no one’s around to hear you."

"Rachel!" It was Eleanor. She was

screaming. "Rachel!! Are you out there?!"

"I have to get back."

Daniel hefted his mace. "Go. Stay out of

sight. I’ve got this."

"What?! We need to make a plan. Even

you can’t -"

She stopped. He was already gone. His

enchantment was no joke.

"Rachel!!"

"Eleanor!" Rachel focused her power

into the ground under her. A brick and

asphalt hand lifted her up onto the roof of the

building. She was a block away from the

black column.

Eleanor was there in an instant. She

engulfed Rachel in a hug. "I thought…I

thought you were…"

"…Elly…need…air…" Eleanor relaxed

her arms. Rachel heaved in oxygen. "Sorry."

Eleanor still had her by the shoulders.

"Why did you go out there by yourself?!"

"Someone had to buy time while we

regrouped," Rachel said. Even as she spoke

the words, everyone else was showing up

around them. Eleanor had already gathered

the team together.

"That was reckless. Don’t act alone.

This isn’t our dorm room."

"Yes ma’am."

"Better." Eleanor turned to them. "We’ll break into the same three squads. Mine and

Nickolas’s will distract it from two sides.

Squad three, hold until we have its attention,

then strike at its back with everything you’ve

got. Clear?"

There were firm nods. "Miss Astor!"

Nickolas shouted. He was waving from the

edge of the roof. "It’s him! The contractor

with the armor!"

They all ran over. Daniel was

nonchalantly walking up the middle of the

street, resting his mace on one shoulder. Two

extractors honed in on him, arms

outstretched. Rachel held her breath.

Daniel kept walking, but his mace

moved so fast her eyes couldn’t follow it.

Sewer-grate sized holes were punched

straight through each extractor, a one-two

strike like successive gunshots. The

machines were blown back away from him

in shockwaves of white light.

If he’d wanted the overseer’s attention,

he had it. Daniel leveled his mace at the

Vorid. Black dust from the extractors sank

into him, rustling his droopy hair. His

weapon and his boots glowed a fluorescent

white. The challenge was clear.

"What do we do?" Nickolas asked.

Green light played around the tips of his

fingers as he prepared a fire sigil.

"…let’s wait," Eleanor said. "I want to see what he’s capable of. If an opportunity

presents itself, we can move in."

They all hunkered down behind roof

vents and chimneys. Daniel stood in the

street, continuing to press his enchantment.

His power was so dense it was radiating out

from his body. Five grey orbs formed around

the overseer, and hung there, poised to

launch. They stared each other down.

The orbs fired. When they reached his

position, Daniel simply vanished. They made

a few harmless holes in the ground.

Rachel blinked. He was behind the

overseer.

He swung his mace for its head. The

overseer’s backside flared with a black

shield of pure energy, blocking the attack.

Daniel struck again and again. The shield

flickered and snapped against the blows.

Daniel was gone, then he appeared

again, rushing from another direction. The

overseer shot grey spheres, but Daniel was

so fast they might as well have been standing

still. The sigils she’d taught him repelled him

around the attacks at high speed. It was like

watching a beam of light bounce off a series

of mirrors.

Daniel dodged the last attack, then leapt

into the air. The overseer fired a half-dozen

orbs in his path, trying to lead him. Daniel

redirected off a sigil, dodging the shots and

diving down toward his opponent. He

slammed his mace into the Vorid. The

overseer’s shield wavered and sparked

under the force.

Before his feet hit the ground, Daniel

twisted off that hit, spinning faster than the

overseer could react. His mace caught it

from behind. White magic met black force,

but not without results. The overseer was

thrown down into the street, rolling along the

ground.

Daniel burst after it, but extractors

formed up around their master, and he was

bogged down in a wave of steel and lasers.

The overseer got to its feet and lifted its

arms. A veritable blizzard of grey orbs

appeared over it. They were smaller, but

there were dozens of them. The matter-

erasing hail stormed down into the

mechanical mess that had surrounded Daniel.

Extractors were sacrificed in the attack.

Heads and arms had orb-shaped holes

punched in them. The road was blasted and

torn as if pelted with a meteor shower.

Rachel couldn’t see Daniel through the

wreckage.

She barely had time to realize he was

already behind the overseer.

The Vorid magician seemed to turn in

slow motion as Daniel’s mace came up. The

weapon flared like an iron candle.

There was a tremendous boom as Daniel

made contact. The shield crackled with

power. Daniel struck again, then again. The

overseer raised its hands, but it focused its

effort into maintaining its shield. Rachel was

reminded of when he was carving through

Eleanor’s ice. He didn’t let up, not giving it

a chance to make more spheres.

The hits started coming slower. For a

moment, Rachel thought he was getting

tired—but the blasts became even stronger.

He traded speed for more power.

Every strike created a wall of sound that

roared at them like cannon fire. The shield

buckled. The overseer took a step back.

Daniel was winning.

But they were surrounded by extractors,

and a dozen black lasers were poised to fire.

With all his attention focused, Daniel as

defenseless.

"Elly!" Rachel shouted.

Eleanor pointed down without

hesitation. "Keep them off him!"

They all dived down to street level. A

spout of green fire erupted from Nickolas’s

hand, clearing a landing zone. Eleanor’s ice

formed walls around where Daniel was still

pounding the overseer, giving him some

protection.

Machines and magicians were

everywhere. Extractors sliced into the ice

with lasers, beat at it with fists. Rachel used

her golems to sweep them clear.

The other magicians hit the bulk of the

machines closer to the tower in a flurry of

fire and lightning. Funnels of wind tossed

groups of them into the air. The men and

women in front formed a shield wall,

shoving the extractors back while the others

took them down.

The booming crashes rolled over them.

1-2, 1-2, Daniel struck again and again,

driving the overseer back. The Vorid

collapsed to its knees. Its shield vanished.

Daniel’s next blow started low, then

swept up in a half-moon. The mace took the

overseer straight on the chest. The Vorid was

thrown up and into sky above the pillar.

Daniel moved faster than he’d sent it flying,

catching up, passing it in midair, then

slamming it back to the ground. The overseer

crashed into the asphalt with an ugly crunch.

Daniel pushed himself straight down

with another sigil. There was an explosion

as the end of his club made contact, crushing

the Vorid between his weapon and the street.

A gust of wind rushed over them.

The extractors stopped moving. The

inscriptions on their bodies fizzled and died.

They all collapsed to the ground. The spell

animating them had been cut off.

Black smoke shifted around Daniel’s

body as he absorbed the soul of his defeated

foe. The power flushed into him. There was

a heavy thump, and it was gone, sucked into

his chest. The body of the Vorid lay there,

bent in two, its spine broken from Daniel’s

strike.

For a moment, he glanced around. He

caught Rachel’s eyes. Then she blinked, and

he was gone, leaving only the soft orb of a

physical sigil to mark his passing. After a

moment, it faded away.

Everyone wandered back into the

intersection. Rachel was covered in dust and

scrapes. She let her golems fall back to the

earth. They all watched as the crack in the

sky hummed, then collapsed inward. The

dome-spell vanished. The color came back.

Lights turned on. The fire hydrant that

had been eaten away erupted in a spout of

water. Half a building began to slide down

where its wall had been destroyed. It

collapsed in a pile of brick and splintered

wood.

The black column was left behind, a

towering monolith stretching above the city.

Everyone would be able to see it for miles

around. The region around its base was

destroyed by battle. This would be

impossible to hide.

In moments, cars that had been driving

along began to pile up behind them. People

were getting out to inspect the intersection.

Eleanor made a gesture. Someone collected

the Vorid’s body, and the rest dispersed into

the alleys and streets. They didn’t have

anyone with the talent to hunt down a

contractor like Daniel.

Rachel traveled with Eleanor to the

subway and took that back to campus. They

stood in the common room, sitting there for a

long time. Rachel subtly scryed the dorm.

Daniel was in his room, feigning sleep.

Eleanor’s phone rang. It was Henry’s

ringtone. Eleanor took the call. "Father. Yes,

we’re ok. Did Nickolas tell you about the

contractor? …yes. We don’t know." Eleanor

listened at the phone for a long few minutes.

"I’ll tell her. Love you too. Bye." Eleanor clicked the phone off and looked up. "There

were similar major sieges in almost thirty

cities through America. More worldwide.

They’re all leaving the black pillars. It’s

impossible to explain this away."

"…then what’s going to happen?"

Rachel asked.

"He’s recalled us to New York. We’ll

be leaving tomorrow evening."

"…that soon?"

"Sorry." Eleanor stood. "Let’s go

upstairs. There’s a lot more to tell you."

Chapter Ten

Invasion

Daniel would remember that moment

forever. It wasn’t the moment his world

changed, but it was the moment
the
world

changed.

Rachel explained a few things to him,

but left most of it for him to see. She didn’t

say anything about how he’d gone out the

previous night despite promising he

wouldn’t. She just gave him a kiss and held

him.

The campus was on lockdown. They’d

woken up to martial law. The national guard

was in the streets. Everyone in the city had

been politely ordered to stay indoors.

After inspecting the massive black pillar

sitting in the middle of downtown Boston

from their windows, the entire dorm had

packed into the common room, sitting on or

standing around the couch. The TV was

showing flybys of the monoliths. One had

crashed into downtown Manhattan. From

afar, it was taller than the empire state

building, though needle-like in comparison.

The news channel brought in an engineer that

told them the structure was physically

impossible. Considering the winds at that

height and its tiny base, it should have long

tipped over.

There was one column each in 28 cities

of the United States—the top 28 in terms of

population. No one believed it was a

coincidence. No one was calling terrorism.

No one in the common room said much

of anything, but there was a knowing dread

that this was something different. Bigger.

Deadlier.

It wasn’t just America. There was one in

London, and Paris. Beijing. Shanghai. Tokyo.

Rome. Mumbai. Seoul. Moscow. Istanbul.

Mexico City. Every TV channel showed the

same thing. The skylines of mankind were

punctuated by the black pillars.

Religious groups were in upheaval.

There were riots from Rio de Janeiro to

Tehran. Boston had remained relatively

calm; there was some looting earlier in the

morning, but that had been shut down

quickly. Most governments had released

statements emphasizing calm reception to the

events, but real information was scarce.

Mark and Jensen kept exchanging looks with

Daniel, then each other.

Eventually, a reporter announced that an

emergency press conference was beginning,

and the scene of a fire in Lima cut away to a

wood podium stuffed with mics. It was

situated in front of a blue curtain with the

United States seal. The president walked on

camera. They could feel the rest of the world