Fall of Sky City (A Steampunk Fantasy Sci-Fi Adventure Novel) (Devices of War) (30 page)

Keeley nodded and took a step back.

He turned to Joshua, confusion marring his forehead. “Why did you need bolstering?”

Joshua rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Yotaka-
san
, there is a reason I spend most of m’ time with my inventions. In a battle, my Mark is practically useless. Vines and other greenery? Really? As a weapon? No. As a protection? Maybe. Maybe if we’re trying to hide, but in real life? Probably not so much.” He shook his head and shrugged. “I have nothin’ to bring to the table. At least Yvie has water.”

“This was good only because Synn was able to
bring
water.” He turned to Yvette. “You were confident.”

“I’m water. You’re fire. I cancel you out.”

“Yet you had no water to bring to the table.”

She narrowed her violet eyes and put her weight on one hip. “That leads me to a question, Yotaka-
san
. How is it that you and Synn are able to create fire out of nothing?”

He held up a long finger. “That is a most excellent question and one I am glad you asked.” He walked to the one and only table in the room and picked up a rather small book. “Chemistry.”

Joshua frowned as he walked closer to Yotaka. “But that doesn’t help much when we’re doin’ magick.”

Yotaka smiled and opened the book. “I want you to learn these elements and to be a bit more mindful of your environment. Next time, there will be others here to assist in assaulting you.”

Oh goody.

“And there will be a lot less time to prepare,” he continued, handing the book to Keeley on his way out. “So I would strategize now.”

We all watched him leave and then turned back to one another and shared a sigh. Fabulous.

CHAPTER 26

DON’T BE STUPID

We spent
the rest of the afternoon studying the chemistry charts, taking notes, and working with our Marks. We experimented with several different things we could do.

I figured out how to create colorless fire. It melted the tile floor. I had no idea how upset Mother would be when she found out I’d melted the floor, but I decided it would be a good idea to keep it away from the
lethara
walls. We tried a couple of other things that we all thought were relatively non-meltable. Yes. I melted them all.

But that wasn’t the only thing.

Yvette figured out how to pull water out of thin air using some of the notes throughout the book dealing with protons and atoms. There were other things she saw that I wasn’t quite grasping. I knew with enough time, I probably could. But she understood how to blend different elements together to create water out of air and how to take air out of the air. Yeah, I had no idea what that even meant.

We also discovered how to draw water out of the body, using heat and her call for water.

Haji practiced his spirit Mark on us. That was rather unpleasant having someone inside of us tweaking with emotions that we didn’t want tweaked.

He and I faced off. I had other “targets” I was supposed to be facing off with, and he was trying to distract me enough to lose it. It was amazing how little control I had. He made me feel so depressed, I literally wanted to just stop then and there. I had no defense against that.

But then I recalled the times I’d spent with Nix and all the things she’d put me through. She’d tried to get me to bend, to relent, to submit, and I’d pulled on something deep inside that kept me going. So I tapped into that and kept going.

He discovered something. I saw it in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything. We finished and then it was Yvette’s turn.

Yvette was doing much better now that her mother had returned and stayed. She discovered that her mother hadn’t actually known they could change into fish people. It wasn’t until they were drowning that the thought passed through her mind. Then the transformation happened and she was able to do the same for the rest of the Family.

But they were unable to save the children.

That explanation seemed to help, and Yvette gained her light back a bit.

Keeley didn’t have the chance to spend time with the healers. At least not yet. We were set to spar off with whomever it was that Yotaka could drag together, and we needed that time to plan and figure out what we could do.

Surprisingly, there was a great deal we could do.

Haji and Keeley sat down together, staring at the chemistry tables and notes, and strategized a way to create a shield that would protect against something other than fire. Who knew what Yotaka would throw at us. We knew there were people with water Marks, Yvette’s Family. We had no idea who was joining us in the city. Maybe they’d use guns. Out in the real world, we were fairly certain there would be guns. So the two of them came up with a shield that we would all invest a little in, using one of Joshua’s “toys.”

Additionally, there were contingencies in place if one of us were wounded. This was actually the fun part – or the not so fun part – because we had to volunteer to
be
hurt so that Keeley could practice healing us. She’d actually had quite a bit of practice manipulating particles for the
lethara,
so stitching us up was relatively simple.

Haji turned out to be our best weapon. He was able to manipulate more than one person at a time and could even do so with an entire group. However, we needed to figure out a way to shield ourselves from that kind of invasion. I did not appreciate having him inside my head.

Joshua was our weakest link, though he was trying. Chemistry did not work with his Mark, at least not that we’d found. He needed dirt to be prepared. The only thing that he could bring was the vines. As he said, “If there were an enemy out there afraid of the green stuff, I could break his soul.” But for anything else, he was basically the distraction guy.

So we set up the room with a few elements already in place. We had sand and a little water, though if we really needed it, I could bring water in from just about anywhere.

We were ready.

As we headed out after practice one evening, Haji pulled me aside. We waited for everyone to clear out before he spoke. “I found something.”

I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms over my chest. “When you were poking around inside my head?”

He nodded. “Are you interested in what I found?”

A part of me was afraid to find out. I shrugged. “You’re going to tell me anyway. What is it?”

He narrowed his eyes. The black circles had almost receded completely. “I found a bond.”

I pushed off the wall. “You can see it? What?”

He nodded. “Is this Nix?”

“I think so.” This could be very helpful even though I really didn’t understand it. “What can you tell me about it? What does it look like? Can you cut it? Can we remove it?”

He held up his hands and took a step back. “I do not know. This is new to me. I’ve seen this only once before.”

“When?”

He looked down at the floor and leaned up against the wall. “My mother and father. They were bonded like this.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “Nix and I can’t be bonded like that. I don’t like her.”

He shrugged. “It looks the same. It does feel different, mind you, but it looks the same.”

I tipped my head and shook it, falling back against the wall. “What do I do? Your mother and father were mated.”

Haji nodded, staring out into the room. “They were.” His mouth opened and closed.

I had nothing I could really add.

“You don’t think that you and her are—” He didn’t finish that sentence.

I shook my head violently. “No. There is no way in the seven pits of dirt that I’m mated to that woman. No.”

“But do you feel that way about anyone else?”

“The loathing? The hate? The complete sense of—” I didn’t even have a word for it. “No, Haj, I despise that woman unlike any other.”

He clucked his tongue. “Then I do not know. Do you want to try to do something with it?”

With my luck, we’d try to do something with it and make it worse. “I don’t know. Yes. I want to get rid of it, but I’m afraid of what might happen if we do. She’s like a blood tick. I just can’t get rid of her.”

“I wish there were someone we could ask.”

I ran my tongue along the split in my lip. “We could ask Ino Kilak.”

“The witch?”

I gave him a very open expression of distrust. “Yeah. She’s…an interesting person that I don’t particularly like.”

“You don’t like her because she’s a bad person,” Haji asked, “or because she says things that make you uncomfortable?”

I gave him a shove and pushed off the wall. “Sometimes, Haj, you know me too well.”

“And sometimes,” he said, following me, “I do not know you at all.”

I nodded. Well, if we were going to talk about it, now would be the time. I guess. “About that, Haj.”

“Yeah.” He gained some ground as we headed toward the stair. Ino Kilak’s quarters were one floor above us and the platform seemed to be regularly in use lately.

“You needed a friend, your old friend that you could rely on, and instead you got me and I’m not the same person anymore.”

“Well, you got yourself bond mated to a psychopath for one thing.”

“We’re not mated.”

“As you say.” He held up his hands, walking backwards. “As you say, but you’re the man who was sharing the woman’s bed.”

“Technically, I believe she was trying to take over mine.”

“And there was no mating?”

I rolled my eyes as we entered the staircase. “If you only knew what a disgusting thought that would be.”

“I hear she is a raving beauty.”

I huffed. “Oh, she’s pretty all right, but not in a good way. Haj, about your Family—”

He cut me off. “It’s all right, Synn. I know now that I did a bad thing by going directly to you. I should not have endangered the Ino Family or yours. I should have known better.”

“But you’re not used to commanding an airship.”

He shook his head, one hand on the rail. “There is a time for excuses and a time to move on, and now is the time to move on.”

“Can you do that?” I asked.

He didn’t immediately answer. “I think I can,” he said simply. “I think I can.” We made it to the next floor and stepped into the dark hallway. “You have good friends, Synn.”

I elbowed him playfully. “I always did.”

He grinned and ducked his head. “What do you think about Yvette?”

Oh-ho-ho. “I didn’t like her at first, but she’s starting to wear on me a bit. You? Are you sweet on her?”

He shrugged. “You are not interested?”

I stopped outside Ino Kilak’s room. “Haj, it’s going to be a long time before I’m interested in any woman.”

“Because you’re mated to Nix.”

I decided to be honest with him. “No. Because of what she did.” I didn’t need to get all emotional, so I just opened the door. “Ino Kilak?”

She was sitting at one of the small tables beside the large open window. “Synn, come, come. And you brought your friend, Haji. It’s good to meet you. Come. Come.”

We walked through the maze of tables and chairs and other junk. The birdcage was still in pieces on the floor where I’d left it. The glass jar had been swept up.

“I thought after the last time you were here that I wouldn’t see you again unless I sent an armed guard for you.”

I shrugged. “You might be right, but Haji and I were working together with Yotaka-
san
, and he noticed something that we’d like your opinion on.”

She stopped what she was doing and looked up. “What?”

“I noticed a bond, Kilak-
san
,” Haji said. “Similar to a mating bond that my parents had. It does feel marginally different, though.”

“Hmm.” She rose to her feet. “It is different. It’s a different type of bond altogether. Did you try touching it?”

He shook his head.

She rubbed her nose and ambled to another table in the middle of the room. “Mark of the spirit. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of you around.” She picked up a looking glass and stared at Haji with her clouded gaze. “Touch it.”

Haji blinked. “Really. You want me to?”

She nodded, her thin white hair falling around her shoulders. “It’s safe. She can do no harm here.”

Haji nodded, closed his eyes and—

Pain lanced through my head.

Haji stumbled back, knocking into a chair, spilling candles and bowls and other things all over the floor. “What was that?”

I blinked past the pain, holding my head. “What did you do?”

“I just touched it.” He stared at me in disbelief. “I didn’t believe you. I thought you were just putting up a front, not wanting to enter into conversation about your queen or being in bed with her. I did not realize the level of truth to your words. I am sorry. I did not know.”

I didn’t know exactly what he’d seen, and I didn’t want any details. I turned to Kilak. “What can we do about it?”

“Well, now that you have someone that actually sees it, he should be able to figure out what to do with it.”

Haji stared at her in disbelief. “But what would I know about getting rid of a life bond?”

“I doubt it is a life bond, young Umira.” She puttered around the room, moving this to that table and that to another. “It is the bond between the victim and his tormentor. It happens, especially when the victim is not easily broken.”