Reckoning (32 page)

He sighed. “We’ll talk later. Your work here isn’t finished.”

He dropped down to the writhing Fallen Ones scattering the floor at such a relaxed speed I was about to ask whether these were the last of our attackers.

Then I realized I already knew the answer. My radar was subsiding, almost entirely at this point because the only Fallen Ones remaining alive in our general area were here, a few feet away, and they were debilitated.

I went about sending them to their eternal death, mindful of my task but remaining intrigued at this new found realization. Eran watched over me, angry with me but diligent in his responsibilities.

When the last Fallen One was gone, an Alterum who was still the age of a teenager strode from the room with the confidence of an adult. And then something entirely unexpected took place.

From outside the assembly room, a rhythmic pounding began slowly at first and then it beat louder and stronger and faster. The walls began to shake and the floor started to vibrate, even the air pulsed with the intensity of it.

Only a handful of us were left in the assembly room but we collected at the door’s opening, filling it entirely. Outside, lining the walls, stood the Alterums. Again they were bloodied from battle, their faces darkened from sweat and dirt. They had congregated like this once before – after the first attack – and had stood quietly in respectful tribute to us.

This time…they let their emotions free, banging hard against the walls, stomping their feet, and shouting when the thrill of it became too much to contain.

As we left the assembly room and walked through the line, Rufus clapped the hands of those we passed while Felix pumped his hand in the air. The rest of us walked on in quiet amazement.

Their reaction to overcoming the Fallen Ones had changed, metamorphosed from subdued respect to a vibrant, provocative display of glory.

Eran and I met eyes just once and I knew we were both thinking the very same thought…the Alterums had become warriors.

The emotion raged until we reached Ms. Barrett’s office, where Eran had led us. They then dispersed with hollers to continue their celebration in the dining hall.

Inside the office, as the shouts died down outside, we took a position either seated or standing off to the side. Campion stayed at Eran’s side as he moved towards the desk. Ezra sat in the sofa chair by the window with Rufus on one side and Felix tilted against the arm rest on the other. Evelyn stood at the door, stepping aside as Ms. Beedinwigg, Mr. Hamilton, and Alfred entered the room in a rush.

When they found us casually recovering, Ms. Beedinwigg looked directly at me. “I gather everyone here is fine.”

I nodded confirmation and she took a seat beside Evelyn at the table in the middle of the room, only then allowing herself to breathe a sigh of relief.

As I stood beside the window, surveying the courtyard, one thing stood out to me. There were no dead bodies. I was shocked to find it empty.

“
Where did the bodies go?” I mused under my breath, knowing well they couldn’t have been cleaned up that quickly.

Eran was busy searching a row of maps folded over wooden bars next to Ms. Barrett’s desk.

“
Here,” said Ms. Barrett. She crossed the room and pulled up a map to lay it on the table.

Eran surveyed it briefly. “How did you know this was what I was looking for?” he asked, both puzzled and impressed.

“
It’s what I’d be seeking,” she answered plainly with a shrug before retreating back to the corner of her office.

I watched her only then realizing that she had completely given up her position of power, all in an effort to help save her fellow Alterums. It was a stunning demonstration of affection.

“
What are you looking at?” asked Felix, elongating his neck towards the map so he didn’t need to move any closer.

The oversized piece of paper that had yellowed slightly around the edges was now laid flat across the table. It was otherwise in near perfect condition.

Eran reviewed it quietly, his face tight in concentration.

I moved to stand over it, to see what Eran was assessing, and then Campion said the thing that I knew was on everyone’s minds.

“
They came from the air…across the ground…in varying numbers of groups…” muttered Campion.

“
And they did it soundlessly,” Ezra added.

“
What was their strategy?” asked Ms. Beedinwigg, perplexed.

“
Quiet infiltration,” Felix offered.

“
Rogue attackers?” suggested Evelyn.

Rufus shrugged. “Ehh, the blokes were just unprepared fer our might.”

“
They were looking for flaws.” Eran surmised without bothering to look up.

“
Yes.” I sucked in a breath. “Abaddon sent groups of them with different instructions to breach our perimeter and of those who didn’t return would tell him which ones were unsuccessful.”

“
But…I think we got them all,” said Ms. Barrett almost inaudibly.

“
We did,” Eran stated with absolute certainty. “And that will answer his other question.”

“
How secure we really are,” Ezra deduced.

“
Exactly,” said Eran. “And now that they know this about us, they’ll formulate their final plan of attack.”

Instantly, my muscles tightened in response to that assessment. “Then we need to strike first.”

Eran sighed, his eyes still searching the map. “But where?”

I sought answers from the same piece of paper he was standing over. It was a map of the world, without detail to tell us of possible hideouts. Still, it clarified one thing: we knew too little about their hideout to deduce where to find it.

“
Then we pick them apart, one by one,” I stated, angry motivation surging through me. “We hunt them before they attack us.”

Eran finally lifted his head to silently consider my implication. Finally, after considerable thought, he nodded in agreement.

“
And we start tonight,” I said, already heading for the dining hall.

There, I would find the Alterums who, without having to use words, had conveyed their willingness to battle Fallen Ones.

I only hoped their adrenaline still raged through them…and that they were ready for a few more fights.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: PUZZLE

The nights that followed the Fallen One’s latest invasion were demanding.

Waiting until nightfall, when we could be assured our flight out of the fortress and across the country would go unseen, was the greatest challenge to my patience. Although I understood it was necessary. One or two in daylight may escape notice but twenty of us in a cluster flying through the sky would be visible and precarious.

When the sun had sunk low enough to darken the horizon, we gathered in the courtyard, collectively discussed the night’s raids and any known dangers associated with it – besides of course the inevitable encounter and slaughter of a Fallen One.

We eliminated three, sometimes four, a night, gradually becoming a stronger, more cohesive unit.

The Alterums, who had come so far in such a short period of time, stood more confident with each passing night, growing convinced that they were capable of defending themselves against their enemies, even within their enemy’s domain. Gradually, they became comfortable enough in their own skin that banter became an inevitable part of the nightly routine.

Our team included Alterums from both Rufus and Felix’s pasts, giving us a colorful spectrum of personalities. It wasn’t rare to find one of them rousting another with a typical night starting with something similar to:

“
You sure you can handle that bow and arrow?”

“
I don’t know. Why don’t you run out a few yards and we’ll test it out.”

These were often followed by loud whoops and hollers until another series of playful insults were tossed around.

Eran would then collect their attention to leave, wings would snap out in unison and we’d take to the air, a layer of restlessness settling over us then. We would fly low over the channel towards Europe until we came across land, rising high then so that we were obscured from sight by clouds or distance. Then, either Gershom would locate a Fallen One or, if we were close enough to one, I would feel it. The raid would then begin, pausing intermittently until we found the next one, and ending just before the horizon began to brighten with the morning sun. We would then return and recover for the next night’s raid.

It was Gershom who controlled the direction we took on these hunts, having the supernormal ability to track others better than anyone I’d ever known. In honesty, it was a source of frustration for me at times as I did my best to direct us. An ulterior motive drove me, one that I kept to myself until one night when we came across the residence of one particular Fallen One.

Then everything changed.

It was the last raid of the night with five enemies annihilated in just a few hours. Conversation was sparse as we flew over Austria, nursing the few wounds we’d suffered from the night’s brawls.

Something odd stood out to me, weighing heavily on my subconscious, but I couldn’t put it in to words. In fact, it was Eran who acknowledged it.

“
Do you notice that we’re encountering fewer Fallen Ones,” he asked above the wind. “Every night we’re finding one or two less than the night before.”

I nodded vehemently then, asserting I’d recognized it too.

“
Possibly we’ve executed the rest of those in this area,” Campion suggested.

“
No…” Eran shook his head. “We’ve continually pushed the boundary south each night.”

“
Maybe we’ve found a natural gap…where none of ‘em live,” Christianson called out from the far end of the flank.

“
Could be,” Eran said, speculative, but I knew from his expression that he didn’t believe it.

Something was wrong. Fallen Ones typically scattered the earth, living in all geographies, every country, nearly every city. It was virtually unheard of to find a large area of few Fallen Ones, especially one with diminishing numbers.

As I watched Eran scan the cities far below, with a look of concerned concentration, I knew he was thinking the very same thing.

“
How about we cross over Salzburg on our way back?” I proposed. “We haven’t covered that ground yet.”

“
It’s a little out of the way,” noted Gershom.

“
Not too far,” I countered.

Eran peered at me suspicious as to why I was so insistent but he nonetheless agreed. “We’re here. We might as well check it out.”

As we redirected our line, I mentally plotted the position. Since we’d consistently started hunting, I wasn’t simply following Gershom’s lead or my radar. I was strategically singling out specific locations, marking them in my memory. I was in search of not just any site but one in particular.

If Eran ever figured out which site it was, he’d wholly disagree with me. In fact, he’d likely be infuriated.

Just as we came across the border of Salzburg my thoughts were disrupted.

The hair pricked along my neck, sending a spark through me.

“
We have another one,” I called out.

Gershom, who’d already picked up on it, nodded and pointed to a section of Salzburg where the lights of the city wound steeply around the Salzach River.

We slowed to a hover, each pondering our next move.

“
We can’t fly in,” Gershom stated.

“
Too risky,” agreed Eran. “Looks like we’re walking…”

He tipped towards the earth then and flew to the side of a hill, densely covered with trees. The rest of us followed, turning up our wings as he did once we met the treetops to course over them, just inches from their peaks. There were no lights below or around us, signaling that the area was void of homes and safe for us to land.

Eran chose a spot just on the edge of the forest, dipping down so that he dropped to the ground, turning up at the last second so his feet landed first. It was a powerful maneuver executed with grace that impressed on me once again how magnificent he moved.

Soon we were all beside him, although, unlike Eran, we landed with a simple drop to our feet.

The group strolled down the slight embankment and entered the street through a narrow alleyway, going unnoticed by the tenants of nearby apartment buildings.

Only a dog noticed, rushing around the corner of the building closest to us. Christianson leveled his arm at it, palm up, as if motioning for it to stop. It slowed to a sprint and finally a full halt before sitting back on its hind legs and watching us pass like a children’s street crossing guard.

Openly admiring his ability, he took note of it and shrugged.

“
One of the gifts I’ve retained,” he replied flatly.

As we walked through the city my attention was equally split between the beauty of its scenery and the sensation of my radar.

The city, tucked alongside the Alps, seemed to intertwine with the rocks of nearby mountains. Roads wound up to grandiose castles while stone walls wove through the rock faces and disappeared around the mountainsides.