The Seven (Fist of Light Series) (42 page)

“That was the best ride of my entire life!” Sandra squealed cheerfully.

“Did you see the way they blew the tires right off that cop’s car? Epic!” Henry gave props to Razor and Hailey, providing his knuckles for fist bumping.

My hand reached to my side, where I could sense an ethereal sword, its reassuring power a harmonious echo of my own. “We’re going to have to go about this more careful then we had previously thought,” I said.

I ran the team through our discoveries and extrapolations, and their faces began to display a modicum of fear. Razor’s face was a mask, but Hailey was near tears by the time the explanation was through. I wasn’t as learned in the human mind and thought process as a reputable shrink, but I would have liked to think I had a general idea of how people will act under tenuous circumstances. The problematic aspect of rioting was that civilians step out of the box of calm, rational behavior, and enter the realm which lacks all reason, empathy, compassion, and common sense.

“What’s the plan?” Henry asked, breaking the silence.

I fiddled with the black leather jacket Jas had pulled out of the car for me. “Simple. We need eyes in the sky to provide us an inkling of an idea regarding what exactly we’re up against. Once we have that, there’s not a complicated series of maneuvers that we’ll be implementing. In my experience, when you try to construct a series of convoluted scenarios, they end up backfiring explosively. In this case, I’m sure that approach will obliterate us, and I assume the idea is to avoid that at all costs. Thing is, my gut tells me what Kasper’s going to do with his army, and where he’ll be.” My face stretched into the gruesome parody of a smile. “He’ll be right amid the heart of the chaos, waiting for me to approach. He knows we’re coming, and he’ll be rooted to the spot until I’m wiped of the map.”

“That’s a thought bursting with happiness and sunshine.” Jeeves craned his neck to scan the skies, which were occupied by a boiling mass of dark clouds.

Now that I was underneath it, the malignant pulse of cloud-cover above me could be sensed, a poisonous, living thing. My first reaction was to lash out at the hulking nightmare, but it would pinpoint my position instantaneously, decking me out neon for any who deigned to look, an eventuality that needed to be avoided. The only option I had was to get as close as possible to my enemy before he could triangulate our whereabouts. The sun was dipping alarmingly beneath the horizon, and only a tiny sliver of light remained to reach the twisting streets of San Francisco. We had minutes of sunlight before the world was plunged into pervasive darkness from which it might never disentangle itself. By dawn tomorrow, it’d be too late. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have any plans to go in guns blazing, expecting to get shot down directly succeeding my untimely arrival. No, I hadn’t planned for any such eventuality. In fact, I expected to emerge relatively intact, but with merchandise slightly shaken, not stirred.

“That’s it? You want to wait for a whole bunch of your buddies to wander off in the streets, slinging elemental powers left and right, and while they’re occupied with tearing down the city, you want to fight the core team that he’s kept behind
just
to kill you three?” Henry said.

“I never said it was an overly complicated endeavor,” I said.

“It’s not a bad plan.” Monique shrugged.

“What’d you expect, something more Hollywood?” Zack snorted derisively. “With lots of clever tricks and surprises?”

“I was hoping for a plan that might keep us alive. Haven’t you guys considered what we’re up against? And the threat just increased!” Henry said

We stopped on the sidewalk, car alarms blaring incessantly around us. Vehicles were stationary, abandoned. “I didn’t ask you guys to tag along on a suicide run,” I looked them all in the eyes. “There’s still time to return. I’m not going to force you.”

A chorus of “I’m staying” met my ears.

“It’s agreed then.” Henry dipped his head in agreement.

“
Excellent
.” I returned the nod. “Simon, I need your eyes. Can you get me a visual on what we’re up against?”

“Piece of cake.” He grinned. “I’m on it.” He shifted before us, his form morphing from human to eagle before taking explosive flight.

“We’ll be out of sight, but look for us around the perimeter of the Square. We need to get into position before the diaspora begins,” I informed him.

Simon squawked affirmatively from the air above, where he had been flying around our position. He circled once before dipping his wing and traveling toward Union Square.

“All right, guys. We only have a couple of minutes before the sun dips below the horizon, and that’s when shit’s going to hit the fan. I think we best find a place to hide before all hell breaks loose.”

Jas kicked up the speed, commanding the lead, for he was the most acquainted with these warrens dubbed as streets. I admit to being lost almost immediately after leaving the comfort of my GPS, if I had to do this alone. Rubbing the coin in my pocket, I hoped some of its luck would rub off. Absentmindedly, I started humming a death hymn under my breath, and had the development been noticed, I would’ve stopped myself. Being that we were indefatigable adolescents bursting with youthful splendor, we had no problem keeping pace. No heavy breathing was evident, although Henry’s knuckledusters repeatedly hit his belt with a jarring noise. The Call had relinquished its hold somewhat, trusting that I was on my way, apparently. Jeeves flashed into sight before the group, floating midair as if gravity was a mere triviality, to be ignored nonchalantly.

“Your plan will most definitely involve gratuitous bloodshed,” Jeeves pointed out.

“I had thought that it was an inevitable outcome,” I muttered under my breath. “You can’t go to war and expect to emerge unscathed, and neither can the coming of The Seven be considered a dignified tea party,” I practically hissed.

Jeeves rolled his eyes. “You are right, of course. Ignore the millennia-old fount of knowledge.”

“I think I’ll do just that, thanks. You might have superior years under your belt, but that just demonstrates that this technology-ridden world is a novel experience for you. Even though you’ve been rifling through my memories, you don’t understand this place fully, because the culture and tradition is so widely varied from what you’re accustomed.”

“And I am eternally grateful that I have not yet acclimated to the atrocious customs currently upheld by humanity.” He grunted. “Right then, what would you have me do? You’re more likely to behead yourself with a sword than to utilize its edge for any productive effect.”

“Go with Jas,” I said. “He knows his way around the sword, even if he’s not particularly familiarized with wielding a katana. And he doesn’t have a weapon, so he’ll need one. He can watch my back.”

“They are entirely dissimilar forms—” Jeeves grumbled, but stopped himself. “Oh,
all right
.”

Jeeves disappeared from sight, but I could see that there was now a scabbard strapped across Jas’ back. Zack looked at me for a moment before deciding to keep silent. Our concerted, rhythmic running, coupled with my conversation with Jeeves, had us at our destination in the space of minutes. I was surprised we weren’t confronted, since there were looters and crazies at every turn, evident in masse. Most likely, there was a certain safety in numbers, and we had just the right amount of people to stay relatively unmolested. No doubt, there would be plenty of time for that to be made up, and my heart sped up at the thought.

Darkness had enshrouded the world, and nothing was definite regarding whether it would release its stranglehold anytime soon. We made it into the Macy’s opposite the Square without being detected, which was a miracle in itself. Hurriedly, we climbed to the top floor then used the roof access to have a gander at our opposition. By that time, most of us were breathing heavily, by virtue that all power in the area was out. That meant no elevators, and I wasn’t about to use one, anyways. Too many risk factors involved. The windows had been knocked in at the ground level. It was possible we still had company. Simon swooped down from above shortly after our arrival, looking grim.

“There are at least a hundred Chosen, and they all look like they’re ready to rampage. We’re lucky there aren’t more. All the vanilla mortals are avoiding this place like the plague. They must, on some fundamental level, sense that dark forces are at work here. That’s the good news.”

“And the bad news?” I braced myself.

“There’s a hound to every man that The Chosen brought along, and they look a whole lot nastier than before. In addition,” Simon tried to push up his glasses again, which were still AWOL. “Em’s there, and two others who seem to be twins. Plus, there’s some pasty looking guy with black eyes and hair, and he’s literally
oozing
darkness. I’m going to take a leap of faith here and say he’s our guy. Some bear of a man’s with them, and he looks right at home with all the commotion. They look like they’re preparing to storm the city.”

“What else?” I pressed.

“There’s a man and a woman chained to the monument, guarded by two scrappy looking fellows. They look like they’re in bad shape. There’re some shadowhounds lurking around in the underbrush, and they appear to be long-standing patrolling units.”

My eye’s bulged. “My parents!” I peered over the edge of the building, holding out hope for the possibility.

From this distance, nothing was certain, but I did see two figures chained against the side of the monument, as Simon had relayed to me. Raised voices were carried to me on the wind, and I saw a fluctuation down below. Figures detached, dispersing with efficiency. The time to act was most certainly
now
, before any further injury could be inflicted upon them. Already, my frailly constructed plans were eroding under this new development. If I could only get there, it might be in the cards to destroy their shackles, free them from their plight. Rational thought went through one ear and out the other. I didn’t hear anything except a reel of thought put on loop, and it had everything to do with reaching my parents. I drug power out of its glimmering spherical nexus, not caring that the action would be sensed.

“Wait a minute!” Razor cautioned, but I wasn’t listening.

I called Air to me like a drowning man in the midst of a desert wasteland, and it came. A vortex of wind twisted around me, buffeting those in the vicinity. Jas grabbed onto my arm, and I tried to dislodge his hold. Then the pressure of his grasp ceased to persist, and I lost sight of his position as I took a resolute step forward. The blood in my veins sang in harmony with that of the Air, and I exhilarated in the feeling before pushing its distraction out of my mind with Jas’ calls to return. I was a bullet trained on those who would harm my family, and had no time for anything else. The noise around me built to a climax and my feet detached from the ground. Forcing more power into my design, I formed a current of air, its delicate power caressing me.

“
If pigs could fly
,” Jeeves said, in hysterics.

Without pausing for thought, I stepped up on the railing and strode into the open air. At first I thought that I would splat on the cement below. The Air around me solidified, however, holding me steady in its midst as the windstorm pushed me onward. Glass in the building behind me shattered under the impact created by the wind tunnel, and I grinned. I sped up, despite my original scheme to try and slow my progress enough for a landing in the Square. I was new to this, so overshot my mark by a wide margin, flying higher and faster, past all the buildings and encroaching upon the clouds. Back-peddling furiously, I directed a torrent of Air before me in order to retard my forward.

While that worked, it also stopped me mid-flight, which is not a recommended form of safe air travel. Gravity had relinquished its hold on me for a short while, and now it greedily reasserted itself with vehemence. Wind, pure and unadulterated, rushed by my ears and my Dreamscape was revisited, back when I had experienced much the same encounter. This time, however, I couldn’t just imagine myself where I wanted in relation to my current location. Thinking furiously, I duplicated my actions, rallying Air frantically. My downward momentum ceased, and I shot upwards into the cloudbank. Cursing, I tried to get a feel for my movement before ending up as chunky bits on the pavement. I was quickly distracted from that by the blackness, which coalesced into arms and thick tendrils of Darkness. A dozen ravens were fashioned from the sullied vapors, a hundred,
a thousand
.

“Holy crap!” I screamed, but it was lost to the wind and cawing the birds emitted when they caught sight of their prey.

Lightning came to my aid, a reflexive action against the Darkness around me. When a clawed hand snatched at my free-falling body, the lightning surrounding me blasted it to bits. An unearthly scream buffeted me from all sides, and I covered my ears with the intensity and pain of it. Several tentacles whipped in my direction, and most all of them were dispelled, but my defensive aura took a mighty walloping. This enabled a few to breach my protections and wrap around my legs, their taint expressed in the form of the most intense cold I had ever experienced. My legs felt like they would fracture into a million pieces, and so I ran a current through my body. In retrospect, purposely allowing electricity to flow through your bones is not the best of tactics.