The City Unseen, page 19
part #2 of The Unseen Series
Eden nudged me and pointed to a rental bike rack that held ten bright yellow bicycles, lined up and ready to be borrowed.
“Awesome,” I smiled, and ran to the bike rack that sat outside a closed fish-and-chip shop. “These’ll do.”
The bikes were locked by a security mechanism, and I didn’t have money or a credit card to pay and unlock it.
“Can you face away for a moment?” I asked Eden. “I need to melt the lock.”
Eden turned away, standing to block the crowd’s interference. I switched off the damper for a moment, and the Pulse made me dizzy. Nevertheless, I tuned to the metal lock and raised its resonance. The lock melted, running down the side of the bike and onto the grey sidewalk. I melted a second one, and the locking bar fell clanging to the ground. We now had two bright yellow bikes ready to go.
“Not really camouflaged, are they,” said Eden with a wry smile.
“No helmet?” I said, switching my damper back on.
“I’ll be fine,” Eden replied. “We’ve survived worse so far today.”
“You’re not wrong,” I said grimly. “Let’s go, before this crowd gets any wilder.”
To punctuate my words, a window smashed behind me, followed by a cheer.
“Hey,” said a low voice behind me. “Hey, you.”
I turned to see a man a few years older than me. He had a dark smile on his face.
“Nice hat,” he said gesturing to the damper. “You look like you know how to have fun. Want to join us?”
Guiding Eden behind me, I frowned and tried to look tough. “No, thanks.”
“Come on, babe. We’re all having such a great day. Don’t spoil it for us by being a killjoy.” He was tall, and strong, with black hair and dark brown eyes that scanned me up and down. The business suit somehow made him scarier.
“Not being a killjoy, I just have somewhere to be.” I stepped slowly backwards, towards the bikes. “You go party, though. Seriously, it’s fine.”
“I don’t want to go somewhere else. I want to be here. With you. I deserve that.”
Two of his friends walked up behind him. This whole moment felt familiar, like the guys in the car the other night. Except these guys were under Wheeler’s influence, instead of acting purely on their own. Maybe Wheeler was right about the dark parts of ourselves. These guys were just as bad as the ones who’d tried to approach me the other night. They were just as rotten inside. They were just better at hiding it during everyday life. They probably weren’t cruising the street at night looking for girls to harass, but deep down they wanted to.
The three of them advanced slowly, smiling, without any fear of being seen by the crowd. With all three of them there, I couldn’t use my abilities. I backed away and bumped into the bike rack, sending several clattering to the ground. The men looked at it for a moment, and I tried desperately to tune. I wasn’t fast enough though, and my mind went to static as soon as they looked back. I glanced behind me. Where was Eden?
There was a crack, and the man at the back left fell to the concrete, legs crumpling like a ragdoll. The men turned, but too slow. A second crack and a third, and they both hit the pavement. All three of them, knocked unconscious by Eden, who was standing over them, grinning, holding the metal locking bar from the bike rack.
I surveyed the unconscious crew on the ground. “Wow. Well done.”
“It was nothing,” Eden said. “Actually, no. It was awesome. And really fun. Anyone else you want knocked out?”
Despite my heart still racing, I laughed. “Not right now. But it’s good to know you’re available.”
I stopped for a moment, watching this short, scrawny girl in a hoodie wielding a three-foot metal bar with blood on the end. She looked seriously tough. “Maybe you don’t need my protection after all,” I said, smirking.
“I can handle myself. But I’m glad you’ve got my back.”
“Seems you’ve got mine, too.”
One of the men on the ground stirred. Eden readied the bar, but I held my hand out to stop her. “One more could kill him.”
“So?”
“Let’s avoid unnecessary civilian deaths for now. Even if they are creeps. Besides, we should get moving. This place is getting busier, and we’ve got to make it to my family as soon as possible.”
We jumped on the bikes. My seat was a little too short for me, but Eden’s bike fit her perfectly. I had to stand to pedal properly, but it would have to do.
Eden and I wove our way through parked cars and people, who were still mostly in the happy phase. Occasional cheers and shouts of joy echoed through the streets, and a few blocks away, smoke billowed out of an apartment building. The sirens were so omnipresent now, I barely noticed them.
A new sound ripped through the atmosphere, though. A harsh, blaring signal that wailed up and down.
“What’s that?” Eden shouted over the din, pedalling beside me as we turned into an empty alleyway.
“I think it’s the emergency warning system. They did a test a few months ago, and it sounded like this. It’s meant to be for terrorists and tsunamis and stuff. Guess someone still has the presence of mind to realise something’s wrong here.”
A police car turned into the alley, lights and siren blaring.
Eden swore. “Are they after us?”
“Don’t know. Let’s pretend they’re not.”
We pumped our legs and jumped up onto the sidewalk, letting the cop car pass. They caught up to us, and the siren was deafening. There was a yell from an open window, and a policeman smiled at us, waving and laughing hysterically. The engine revved, and the tires screeched as the car skidded around the corner. The cop let out a final yell as the vehicle disappeared from view.
“Even the cops are whacked,” said Eden. “Awesome.”
Pretty soon there’d be no sane person left in the whole of Coleton. No-one except the Kindred, Wheeler, and us.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Dad’s building was half an hour by bike, but a cycleway ran pretty much straight there, allowing us to duck off the main roads and out of immediate danger. The cycleway ran through a nature corridor, and it was weirdly quiet considering the chaos we’d just woven through. The emergency signal still wailed through the streets, but it wasn’t nearly so loud, muffled by the trees, and the wind that had begun to pick up across the city. The clouds overhead had lost their red morning blush, and had instead grown dark green and billowing, preparing for a possible downpour, or maybe even a hail storm.
The wind made it hard to push the pedals, especially as the cycleway curved gently uphill. I didn’t mind, though. Anything to be off the streets.
Paperbark trees lined the corridor on each side, losing strips of themselves from countless kids pulling off the thin bark over the years. They looked straggly and sad, but a few rows deeper the trees were thick and beautiful, forming a mottled layer of sandy brown that blurred as we sped past.
Eden’s energy showed no signs of waning, and she easily kept pace with me.
“So, your dad, what’s he like?” she asked.
“He’s okay, I guess. Him and Mum used to fight a lot when I was little. It’s one of the reasons they split up. He doesn’t scream at us, though. I think he’s trying to make up for everything that happened. Maybe Mum’s death made him realise what he was missing. I dunno. It’s all really awkward between us.”
My mind went back to Dad’s uncomfortable conversation with Josh and I on the lounge, and I swallowed and shook my head to clear it. Not now, Ari. Keep your mind on the mission.
“And your sister?”
“She’s sweet, and wise beyond her age. I think she’s had to grow up fast considering everything that happened. She’s the reason I’m fighting, really. Keeping her safe is the most important thing in the world to me.”
“That’s nice,” said Eden, “she must like having you as a big sister. I never had that. I guess I don’t have anyone, now.”
I turned to look at her pedalling furiously to keep up with me. “You’ve got us, Eden. You’re not alone in this, and you never will be. Got it?”
She smiled back and said nothing.
The turnoff to Dad’s place came up on the left, and we veered off the cycleway, through the exit, and into an empty side street to approach the back of Dad’s apartment building.
The clouds overhead were moving fast, tossed by the wind which cut through my jacket. I’d find something warmer when we got inside, and maybe something for Eden too. Her teeth were chattering, despite the exercise.
I had no keys; they’d disappeared somewhere under the city. The intercom was up a short flight of stairs, and I buzzed Dad’s number. The intercom rang once, twice, three times but no answer. I frowned and looked at Eden.
“Try it again?” she said. I dialled the number and pressed call once more. This time, Skye answered. She sounded weird.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Skye, it’s me. Can you buzz me in?”
“Ari! You’re back!”
The door beeped and the electric lock clicked. I pushed the door open and Eden followed me inside.
I pressed the elevator button, and waited, tapping my foot impatiently. A moment later, the doors opened, and I punched in the access code for floor ten. The doors closed, and the elevator thunked as it began its climb. As each floor number clicked over, I started to feel tense. The higher we went, the surer I was that I was heading into something awful.
Floor five… six…
Maybe Dad was dead. Maybe the Kindred had gotten to them. Skye had sounded weird over the intercom. Maybe it was a trap, and they were forcing her to lure us here.
Floor seven…eight…
I grabbed Eden’s hand, palm sweating. We had to be ready to run or even fight if necessary.
Nine…
Ten.
The lift opened into the empty hallway. There were five doors in the corridor, two on each side with Dad’s door at the end. From the first door on the left came muffled laughter. It was hysterical, almost insane. Something bad was happening in there. I took a step out of the elevator, walking slowly, trying not to draw the attention of anyone inside.
While the apartments were newly renovated, the building itself was old, made of timber and brick, and the floors in the hallway were creaky. The hall was lit only by wall lamps that radiated beams from the sconces, up the grey mottled walls and onto the ceiling. I passed the laughing apartment, and the noise stopped. A voice came from just behind the door.
“I can see you out there.”
I knew the voice behind that door. I’d run into her a few times in the corridor and downstairs. Mrs Parker, an elderly lady who lived with her infirm husband. She had rounded glasses and swept back hair, and she always smiled at me and Skye when she saw us.
“Hello, Ari,” she called again. There was a darkness in her voice. “Would you come inside? We’re having tea. Well, I am. Max is dead, of course.”
Her husband.
My shoe stuck to the carpet and I looked down. A red puddle pooled from under the door, seeping slowly out into the hallway.
No. No way.
It had started. The dark stage. The one where people’s deepest impulses broke free. Mrs Parker had murdered her husband. If I didn’t move, she might try to kill us too. A shadow shifted behind the peep-hole. She was watching us. I put my hand over the peep-hole, shoes still sticking in the puddle, and Eden looked away. I switched the damper off, ignoring the floating feeling, and melted Mrs Parker’s door lock shut. Hopefully now she couldn’t get to us.
If we didn’t stop the Pulse soon, stuff like this would be happening all over the city. Wheeler had said the city would burn. He wasn’t kidding.
Mrs Parker called from behind the door, and the doorknob rattled. “Ari? Where have you gone? I’d love for you to join us. Your friend, too. Max isn’t much company, not now he’s scattered all over the apartment.” She chuckled. “He’s waving at you right now… At least, his arm is.” She laughed hysterically, and the doorknob rattled again.
I turned to Eden. “Let’s go. Now.”
“Ari?” Mrs Parker called again. “Ari?”
Hopefully the door would hold. Skye and Dad had to get out of here before they lost it too. I didn’t want to know what Dad’s darkest impulses were. Judging by the times he and Mum had fought, they were nothing good.
I wiped my shoes on the carpet to get the blood off, feeling sickened at the smell coming under Mrs Parker’s door, and we hurried towards Dad’s apartment at the end of the building. The door was unlocked.
Expecting a Kindred ambush, I pushed the door open slowly and stepped back. Red was splattered across the walls, the carpet, the furniture.
Blood.
THIRTY-EIGHT
“Ari?” said Skye from the kitchen. She was covered head to toe in red that had soaked her nightie and drenched her hair.
“Skye!” I ran to her, leaving Eden standing at the door taking in the scene.
“How cool is this!” Skye said, twirling in a puddle of blood in the middle of the kitchen.
I took her hand to stop her. “Skye, what happened? Are you hurt?”
“No,” she grinned. “Do you like it?”
Her eyes were big, gleaming white beneath the red crust on her skin.
“I found this big tin of paint, and Dad opened it, and we painted the whole room!”
I spotted the empty tin of red paint on the bench. The stuff that soaked the room wasn’t blood.
I let out a sigh, feeling the adrenaline drain from my system. Despite the situation, I started to laugh. Eden joined from the doorway, stepping inside and closing it behind her. Stewie barked from inside the bathroom. He was locked in there, which was a relief.
Skye stared at me with a huge grin. She was definitely in the happy stage. She put her hands in the air and twirled again, sending paint splattering off her dress and onto the kitchen cupboards.
“Skye, where’s Dad?”
“In his bedroom. He’s cranky, so he went to lie down.”
Dad’s bedroom door was shut. I walked to it, leaving Eden to supervise Skye. The doorknob refused to budge, so I knocked. “Dad? Hey Dad?”
“Go away!” came his voice from inside. “Don’t open the door!”
“Dad,” I called, “are you okay in there?”
“Ari, don’t you dare open that door. It’s for your own good. Take Skye and go!”
I looked at Eden, who shrugged.
Skye smiled and kept twirling.
Tuning to the doorknob, I lowered the resonance until ice condensed on the outside. I kept going, as far as I could, and the brass doorknob became brittle in the frame. Stepping back, I kicked the door as hard as I could, and the lock shattered, letting the door swing back to slam against the wall.
My mouth dropped open. Dad’s grey bedspread was covered in red, but it wasn’t just from the paint. Both his wrists were cable-tied to the bedframe, and they were bleeding where the plastic had cut into the skin.
“Ari!” he said. “Get away!”
I walked towards him, ready to free him from the restraints.
“Stay back!”
Stopping in place, scanned the room. I should have scanned for a Kindred ambush before I walked in. Fortunately, there was no-one else here. “Dad, who did this to you?”
His eyes dropped, and his voice got quiet. “I did.”
“You cable-tied yourself to the bed?”
Dad nodded, refusing to make eye contact. “It was the only way.”
“The only way to what?”
He sighed, finally looking at me. “After me and your mum, you know…we were having problems. I used to get so angry. I used to lose control. When I moved to the city, I got counselling to deal with my anger. They taught me how to know when it was coming, how to manage it, to let it wash past me, strategies to stay calm, that sort of thing.”
I stepped towards him again. He looked so broken, so ashamed. Telling his daughter about his failings couldn’t have been easy, despite the fact that I was well aware of them already.
“I’d been going so well, but this morning after we painted the house, I started to get angry. Really angry. I started to lose control, and I couldn’t stop it.” His brow was furrowed, and his shoulders moved up and down in shallow movements as breath rasped heavy from his mouth. “There’s something wrong with me, Ari. Something really, really wrong. I tied myself up here, so I wouldn’t hurt Skye or you or anyone else.”
“Oh, Dad.”
He looked down again. “I’m sorry, little one.”
“It’s okay, the whole city’s losing it. The only reason I’m alright is ‘cause I’m wearing this thing on my head.” I pointed to the damper.
“I’m not just sorry for this,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry for everything. For what happened with you and your mum. For what happened after. For not being there the last few years. It was me. That’s all on me.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. We’d never talked about this. Not really. It was always the giant elephant in the room, lurking in the corner. I’d never been game to bring it up, and he hadn’t either. Looking at him now, he was a broken man. I wasn’t ready to even consider forgiving him, but I still felt sorry for him, in a way. Leaving a family doesn’t just hurt the ones you leave, it does something to your soul, tears out a piece of it that never quite comes back whether you realise it or not.
“If I’d been there,” he sighed, “maybe your mum wouldn’t have died.”
I had to tell him. Tell him what was going on with him and why he felt so weird and angry. I should probably also tell him about my abilities and the war and Josh and what had really happened to us at Ettney, plus where I’d been for the last twelve hours. He hadn’t even asked about that, but it was probably because of what was happening to his brain. If only we’d grabbed more dampers before we’d escaped, I could give them to Dad and Skye and stop the Pulse changing them. I would have given them mine, if I wasn’t currently the city’s last line of defence against the Kindred.
Dad sat on the bed, slumped, wrists tied to the middle of the metal bedhead, staring at the red that stained the blankets around him.
