The Magic Wakes (19 page)

He sat calmly, but Talia wanted to claw her eyes out and make him disappear. She sat stiff and silent, her heart racing. With her fate upon her she couldn’t help but wonder if she still dreamed. Something deep inside flared to life and just like in the dream, the desire to live fought its way through the fear. Surrender was not an option.

“Mr. Geofrey, we have to get out of the city.” She struggled to keep her voice level.

“I can’t take you anywhere. I’m under orders to stay put if I found you. Some Major is looking for you and I can’t afford to serve time for impeding his investigation.”

“Last name Sutton?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Landry!
“Call him.” Talia gripped the seat. A flicker of hope sparked with the knowledge that Landry searched for her.

The cabbie punched a code into the com and they waited.

Landry hurried into the sixth library on his list. He headed to the front desk and showed his ID to the staff member on duty.

“Sir, we need to evacuate this facility immediately,” Landry said. This was the fastest way to find Talia.

“What? We can’t just call an evac unless . . . oh, has there been a threat?”

The man gathered his belongings from under the desk and headed toward the door. Halfway there he looked over his shoulder and called back to Landry, “Feel free to use the PA to announce the evac.” Then he disappeared through the door.

“Coward,” Landry muttered, then quickly went behind the desk and found the PA.

“Attention all patrons, we have been requested to evacuate this building, effective immediately. Please proceed to the front entrance in a calm and orderly manner. There is no immediate threat, but we ask you to return to your homes and await further instructions. If there is a Talia Zaryn present, please go to the nearest com and contact the front desk. Thank you.”

People trickled past the desk as they left the building. Many looked puzzled, but most appeared annoyed, and some tried to check out books. Landry calmly showed his ID to those who did not wish to leave without their books and suggested they might want to gather their family together and leave the city as quickly as possible.

He kept his eyes on the doors and made sure Talia didn’t slip by. She never called in, just as she had not in the other five libraries. After fifteen minutes of watching people stream out, Landry pulled up the library security cams to be sure the place was empty. Once again, no Talia. Only two libraries to go.

“He’s not answering. We’ll wait a few minutes and try again.” Lynel opened a file on his computer and started to read.

“Mr. Geofrey, we can’t wait here. We must get out of the city. It’s an invasion and we’ll die if we stay.” Talia tried to speak calmly, but her voice trembled. She took a deep breath and tried to think of how to convince him of the danger.

“An invasion huh? Who’s going to invade Joharadin? We’re too powerful. We’ll wait here.” He didn’t even look at her as he spoke.

“You aren’t listening to me. I know there’s an invasion coming. There will be no mercy, and we’ll die here.” Talia pushed down the urge to run. It helped that she hovered several feet above the ground.

“You can’t know that. I think you’re just trying to escape the Royalist. What did you do?” Lynel leaned away from Talia.

“Nothing.” Talia thought quickly. There was no way he’d believe the truth. “Look I work for the SEF and have been working with the Royalist on a special project. Trust me, if things are going wrong, we don’t want to be in the city.”

His brow furrowed and he cleared his throat.

Talia tried a different approach. “Just try the Major one more time.”

Mr. Geoffrey called again, but there was still no answer. He fiddled with the controls and lowered them to the ground.

Talia looked out the windows, searching the sky and the ground. “Why are we landing? We need to fly out of the city.”

“I tell you what, I can’t do much else for you, but I’ll let the Major know where you are when he contacts me.”

The door swished open, but Talia just stared at it. “No. I’m leaving the city.”

She lunged forward, scrambling over the front seat, but Lynel deflected her grasp and fired his low-grade stun device. It robbed Talia of muscle control, but her mind still functioned. She watched as the cabbie opened the door and pushed her out of the transport. Pain shot through her shoulder when she hit the pavement. Lynel closed the door and joined the throng of traffic in the skylanes.

That never happened in my dreams.
Talia’s eyes teared up with the need to blink, but all she could do was stare at the underbellies of the aeroflyers.

Landry checked messages. The cabbie, Lynel, called twice but didn’t leave a message. Landry’s heart raced as he called him back.

“Major Sutton?” Lynel sounded relieved. “Hey, that woman you said would find me—did. She attacked me when I wouldn’t fly her out, so I left her at the following coordinates.” He gave the location to Landry before signing off.

Landry barely contained his anxiety as he raced to reach Talia and get out of the city before time was up. Three minutes from her location, Landry noticed a strange star in the sky. It grew larger with each second, and then shattered into a hundred lights descending to the city below.

The invasion had begun.

“I’m not leaving.” He leaned against the call box to make his point.

What would it take to send him running?

The answer came from the sky. Talia and the man both jumped as a loud boom reverberated from high above. The sound pressed into Talia, pushing her toward the ground. She watched the pinpricks of light wander from their fixed places and fall toward the far side of the city.

When the first pinpoint of light fired a plasma beam, Talia sobbed.

They were here.

She grabbed hold of a light pole and clung there.

The man looked shaken. “My wife died on the tram. I have no one else.” He shrugged his shoulders and half raised his hands, palms up in surrender.

The mention of the tram kicked all the air out of Talia. She watched the man sit down on the ground to wait. All hope gone. No fight or desire to live left in him.

The explosions continued and sirens sounded in the distance.

A light flickered into existence directly above her. Was this the end? Talia wondered which of her dream scenes would play out. She watched the light draw closer, every muscle tightening.

“I’m not going to wait for them.” She spat the words out and bolted.

She hit the zipway heading toward the edge of town at a full sprint. It was twenty miles to the forests, and she doubted she could make it even with the help of the moving sidewalk, but she had to try. She gritted her teeth against the pain in her shoulder and refused to look back.

The whir of engines filled the air and a spotlight illuminated her. Talia stumbled and fell when she tried to get a good look at the ship. The zipway kept her in motion but she knew she had to hide somewhere. One roll and she was off the sidewalk and struggling to her feet, her shoulder hanging limply by her side. Talia ran into an alley as the ship landed in the street.

There was nothing in the alley to hide her. No doors. No windows. Not even a trash receptacle to crouch behind.

Talia ran to the dead end and sank to her knees sobbing. She ached for someone to hold her together for the last moments of her life.

“Talia!” Landry’s voice called into the alley.

“Landry?” Talia turned to see him running toward her. She only had time to stand before he had her in his arms. She clung to him.

“Talia, we have to get you out of here.” Landry pulled her toward the street.

“They’re here, aren’t they?”

“Yes, but not close. They started the invasion on the west side. We’ll head for the forests to the east. I’ll get you to the first town we pass before I join my men.”

“Do you have to come back?” Talia’s chest tightened. Landry had found her, but he already planned to leave. If he left, she knew it would be forever. There was no way to fight the Dragumon.

“Landry . . . you can’t win—their weapons . . .” It was more than she could take.

The fleeting moment of safety fled and she broke down completely. Landry scooped her up and carried her to the scytheglider. He pushed her across the seat and then climbed in. Once the door closed, he cloaked the ship and lifted off.

Nysyk’s team flew high above the city, closing in on the coordinates of their prey. They were still out of weapons range when a ship lifted off the street. The mage’s electrical signature moved with the ship, but before they could lock onto the target it disappeared.

Nysyk calmly gave the orders. “The mage is on that aircraft. Follow their last trajectory and fire a disruptor charge. We need to get the cloak down to be sure we have them.”