The Brothers Locke, page 22
“I think we’re safe, Kale. Take it easy,” Jocelyn tried to reassure him.
“Is it … is it … is it gone?” he asked.
“We made it to the other side. It’s gone.”
“That was literally the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. What happened?”
Mouth answered him, “We got through the waterfall before that thing landed on us. I thought we were done!”
“Lucky is what we are,” Echo added. “But we should get this boat out of the water before it sinks. It’s filling up with water.”
The boat almost made it but ultimately sunk. It wasn’t a problem now, though. The water here was shallow enough for the group to get out and walk the rest of the way to solid ground.
The teens were all exhausted and took a moment to sit and relax once they made it to shore. Soaked to the bone and still shaken up from the experience with the lake monster, a few moments of rest and peace were welcomed. Sharp and Mouth immediately noticed the other boat anchored nearby and let the others know that they weren’t that far behind Dana.
“I know everyone is tired, but we have to keep going,” signed Sharp.
He didn’t get much in the way of a response.
“Just give us a minute, Sharp,” Mouth said, his breathing heavy.
“They can’t have gone far,” Echo said.
Kale was sprawled out on the ground, still trying to recover. Jocelyn started walking up the incline towards the forest. She wiped her hands on her pants, smearing them with the mud and filth that had caked her hands. Her brown hair was tangled in a mop, her pale skin dotted with bruises, and she had scratches on her arms, hands, and face. Jocelyn had not complained through this entire mission — it wasn’t in her nature — but at this point, her body was about to give out.
“What’s that?” she said to herself.
As much as her legs did not want to, Jocelyn forced her body to push towards a strange lump of mud on the path just ahead. It was writing. It was Dana’s writing.
“Come have a look at this,” she called out to the boys.
With a collective groan, the brothers and Kale pulled themselves up onto their feet and slowly walked towards Jocelyn’s position. They looked at what she was pointing to, and as they all realized what it was, each of their faces showed a different reaction. Kale sighed, his demeanor resigned to defeat. Mouth told Echo read what it said, and both grimaced at the message, but soon a confidence returned to them. They were determined to save their friend despite what she had written here.
Sharp took it the worst. He frowned so hard it hurt his face. He kneeled down in the mud, putting his finger to the words and outlining them slowly. He then balled his hand into a fist and pounded the message into a watery pool.
“She’s trying to keep us safe,” Mouth said quietly.
“We’re not giving up,” Sharp signed. “I don’t care what she wrote. We didn’t come this far to let her die.”
“We’re with you, brother,” Echo said.
“I’m with you too, Sharp,” Jocelyn added.
Everyone looked at Kale, who wasn’t as confident. He saw the hurt, determination, weariness, and most of all, passion in everyone else. They weren’t giving up. They weren’t going to abandon Dana now. As much as he thought this was folly and as much as he wanted to simply turn around and leave, he couldn’t.
“Okay, I’m still in,” he said.
With that, the teens marched on into the forest, each one realizing that the end of this journey was not far off, and more than likely, they would not survive whatever awaited them at the end of this path.
It didn’t take long for them to see their destination. Between the tall evergreens and the towering oaks that populated the forest, they could see an ever-changing sky with a silver object in the center, looming like a mountain above and beyond all. That was the Spire, and although they still had more to go before reaching their destination, seeing it hovering in the skyline reinforced the sense of dread.
“Sharp,” Jocelyn said as she tugged on his sleeve.
The teens were trudging through the forest at a brisk pace, despite their bodies complaining to them with every step.
Jocelyn walked beside Sharp, who was leading the way, but she could tell he needed someone to say something, anything to him that would calm his fears. He was brave, but he was still a young boy.
“Hi,” he signed back to her.
“I don’t know much sign language, so I guess, be patient with me. I just wanted to talk before this gets to the end,” she said.
He nodded to her, understanding that he’d have to keep his responses simple and brief.
“I just want you to know that whatever happens, I admire what you’re doing. I mean, we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. She’d have no chance to survive this if it weren’t for you. We all feel that way, even Kale despite how much he cries about things. He’s here for you and Dana, and so am I.”
Sharp started to sign back to her but quickly answered with just a smile and a hand to her shoulder. Jocelyn was having this conversation with him for her sake as well. She was terrified. Her and Kale were tech wizards, and this was far beyond anything they had signed up for working for Solas. Even though she remained calm, he knew she was trembling inside.
“You really love her, don’t you?” Jocelyn said.
Sharp didn’t answer immediately. Jocelyn could tell that he was thinking on this before he answered, perhaps out of embarrassment, but maybe he just wanted to keep it to himself.
Jocelyn turned away from him once she realized she may have overstepped her bounds. She didn’t want to put him on the spot but also couldn’t think of anything else to say. It was an awkward moment, which completely went against what she was trying to do.
With a grin, the first he had in nearly a day, Sharp turned to Jocelyn and nodded. It was true, as ridiculous as he knew it was, that he felt what could only be described to his teenage mind as love. Sure, he knew it was not reciprocated on her side. It didn’t matter. He knew what he felt for her and that it was the most real emotion he had ever felt. She made him feel raw, exposed, nervous, illogical, warm, dizzy, and protective all at the same time. If that wasn’t love, he thought, then what was? It would be easy for him to just think of it as silly and even easier for him to create a fantasy that she would love him in return. But now he realized he didn’t want that at all, and that wasn’t what was driving him. He loved her as a person, not as an object, and it went beyond a school-boy crush to something he couldn’t really describe.
Dana saw Sharp when many others would have ignored a boy who never spoke. She valued him so much that she put her life on the line for him in Black Harvester Forest. She knew he had a crush on her and never belittled him for it or talked down to him. This was no longer infatuation; it was admiration for this woman who treated him better than his parents ever had.
“Not like a girlfriend,” he signed to Jocelyn, knowing she wouldn’t understand everything he said. “Not quite like a sister or just a friend. She’s a precious person.”
Jocelyn tried to follow but missed a few of the words. She got the general idea from his hand gestures and how he looked at her. That was enough for her. It truly made Jocelyn feel better, and she couldn’t help but feel a pull in her heart for this young boy who would do so much for Dana. A piece of her wanted someone to go that far for her, to care so much that they’d literally go to the ends of the Dea for her.
This temporary moment of bonding was soon overshadowed by the sight before them. As they passed the last set of bushes and came to the end of the forest’s path, the expanse of the Spire showed before them. The teens stood at the edge of the forest and took a moment to absorb the preternatural vista.
This was indeed beyond nature.
How large the Spire was itself was impossible to calculate because its sheer size and scope eclipsed any normal person’s field of vision. With sides of white gold that appeared to be polished by a god and dimensions that were so perfect that the greatest mathematician wouldn’t be able to duplicate them, the four-sided pyramid loomed over a massive empty field of gray earth like a mythical pendulum. Near the bottom, the shape tapered inward just above the ground. There was a subtle sway to it, as if it were alive and conscious, always aware of the space between itself and the ground so the two would never touch. Some extra sense that none of the teens could identify but all felt was communicating to them. It was telling them that the Spire was, in fact, alive.
“By the Dea,” Kale muttered to himself.
The teens slowly walked from the forest and into the empty field beyond. The ground was flat, but just beneath the surface was an intricate network of geographic shapes, all connected by a web of lines, very much like veins under the skin.
Sharp’s vision was overwhelmed as he saw way more than his mind could take in, so he focused on normal vision and kept his advanced sight suppressed. He did have one look at the Spire through his enhanced vision, but that only lasted a few seconds. What he saw meshed together so many fractals of colors, light, darkness, heat, cold, and other anomalies he couldn’t even begin to comprehend. It was worse than looking directly into the sun.
“I don’t know what that sound is,” Echo said to the others. “I’m trying to force it out, but it's strong. I know you all hear it as a hum, but I hear so much more. Too much.”
“I think this place is turning your advantages into handicaps,” Jocelyn commented.
“Not me,” Mouth said. “I’m fine. It can’t do anything to my voice.”
“Let’s hope not. None of us can fight. Your voice might be the best and only weapon we have,” Echo said.
There was no hiding out here. This was as open as being on the field of a sports stadium. Dana and her captors were growing specks in the distance. The closer they got, the more detailed their enemies became with the Spire itself looming ever more oppressively overhead.
“You should have listened to her message,” Von Strauss’ voice echoed out over the field.
“We’re not good at listening,” Mouth shouted back.
“No matter. I’m not sure what it is you think you can do here, but it is of no consequence. A minor annoyance at best. You can be witnesses to a miracle before you die.”
Von Strauss reached into his pocket and revealed the Key of the Spire. It glittered in his hand like a lighthouse beacon over the ocean. Bando stood beside him with a weapon already drawn and aimed at the teens. Mongrel had a tight grip on Dana, whose face was streaming with tears. They didn’t listen. Why did they come? Why didn’t they go back?
With a certain flair for the dramatic, Von Strauss kept the Key of the Spire high in the air as he approached the very bottom of the Spire. It didn’t end at a point but instead a flat surface about the width of a house. Light poured from the bottom so much so that the ground beneath it glowed white, illuminating a swirling fog. At the center of the base was an opening inscribed around its edges with symbols that none of them could recognize. This, Von Strauss reasoned, was the lock that the Key would open.
“If he opens that lock, it’s over,” Mouth whispered to his friends.
“What are we going to do now? Just keep walking towards them until Bando shoots us?” Kale asked.
“We’ve got a trick,” Echo answered. “When we set it off, you scatter around the other side and try to get to Dana.”
“What trick?” asked Kale.
“We’ve used it before. It’s how we got away from Avidity’s security. All you need to do is get to Dana. We’ll try to distract the Bascelics and that giant thing,” Mouth instructed.
He grabbed hold of Echo’s arm so his brother could know what footsteps to follow. He’d have to use his hearing to know where to run to. Kale and Jocelyn looked confused, but if this was the plan, it was at least something that would give them a chance. Sharp reached into his pocket and pulled out a small object. He gripped it tight in his fist s they continued their approach.
“On three, brothers?” asked Mouth.
“Yes, on three,” Echo answered.
“One …” Mouth said, starting the countdown.
“Two …” Echo continued.
And now it came to Sharp. As the Bascelics and Bando began to move in their direction, Sharp spread his hands wide and then, with a swooping motion, clapped them together. A brilliant flash burst from the object he held between his hands, blinding everyone who looked his way.
“Go now!” Mouth shouted.
The teens split up in different directions, running as fast as they could towards the Spire. Kale and Jocelyn, who were the slowest of the group, tried as hard as they could to run. The brothers were about the business of distracting the Bascelics and Bando, leading them to chase at sounds while still blinded. They were also cleverly leading them away from the Spire.
“Another one of their tricks!” Von Strauss shouted as he tried to blink the white splotches from his eyes.
Even Mongrel was disoriented, which left enough time for Dana to free herself from its grip. The monster raised its misshapen mitts to its eyes, covering them as it continued to seek relief. Dana was blinded by the light as well, but she knew enough to take this chance to get away. No longer bound to or by anyone, she ran as hard as she could in the opposite direction of the power she felt surging from the Spire.
Unfortunately for Kale and Jocelyn, this threw them off from their task. She was running away from them at a speed they’d never keep up with. Jocelyn called out to her, but that drew the attention of Bando who was not more than ten yards away. He knew what the kids were up to; this wasn’t the first time in his life he had to operate with poor vision.
“You should have kept quiet,” he whispered.
Bando turned towards the voice of Jocelyn who was still calling after Dana. Not too far away, he thought. The effects of the blinding blast were starting to diminish, and now instead of a big bright blur, he could start to make out forms and outlines. Two side by side, one female and the other male, lead him directly to what he considered his first victims.
“Where is she going?” Kale asked.
“We’ve got bigger problems,” Jocelyn said as she pointed to their left.
Bando had his weapon drawn as he staggered towards the two. The blast of light had thrown off his equilibrium, but that was only going to be temporary. His sight was quickly returning, and when it did, that’d be the end for Jocelyn and Kale.
“Wait! Wait! Bando, come on! We’ve traveled half the Dea together,” Kale began to plead.
“You don’t want to do this,” Jocelyn said.
“Just hold still, I’ll make it quick,” Bando responded with a matter-of-fact tone that was more frightening than any threat he could have made.
“Think about this,” Kale continued.
He and Jocelyn kept moving around, hoping to throw off Bando’s aim, but it was only buying them a few more minutes.
“We’ve been friends for years, I know you remember that. I know you remember how Kale can’t play cards …”
“For this moment I admit, she’s right. I’m terrible,” Kale added.
“You know my mother’s name. I told you about my cat Capone who died a few years ago, and you told me how you loved animals. You know me, you know Kale. You can’t do this.”
Bando didn’t respond to her. He stopped moving forward temporarily to rub his eyes with his free hand while the other continued to point the weapon towards the teenagers. With a mild groan, he stopped rubbing and continued forward, trying his best to see them.
“Stop moving around,” he commanded.
Kale made one last plea to his friend, “Listen, we know you think you have to do this, but you don’t. It doesn’t have to be like this. We were friends, Bando. We were like brothers. You saved my life in Pharracrop, why take it now?”
“I saved your life because it was part of my role. That role is now over. I do apologize for the confusion. I do think highly of you two. But this is what must be done. It's the only way for the Dea to see clearly, and I cannot let you be in the way of that.”
He blinked one last time before fully focusing his sight on Kale and Jocelyn. His vision had cleared up, and his aim was dead on. Bando sighed as he took one last breath before firing. Perhaps there was a bit in him that regretted this, but he was a mercenary, now with a higher calling, which meant his convictions and his professionalism outweighed whatever connection he felt with any member of Solas.
Kale grabbed Jocelyn’s hand and pulled her close to him, trying his best to shield her, but he knew that was little more than a gesture. They began to panic and plead, both of their voices trying to find the words and tone to keep Bando from doing the unthinkable.
As the giant’s finger began to squeeze the trigger, a shot rang out, a bullet hitting Bando’s gun, sending it flying from his hand in a hail of sparks. The heat singed his giant fist, and he turned to see where the shot came from.
He didn’t have to look too far.
“Brother, you’ve been a real disappointment, I have to be honest,” said Bulk Brown.
No need for formalities; they were here to fight, and Bulk Brown followed through on that thought with a heavy blow to Bando’s face with the butt end of his gun. That was the last bullet he had, so he dropped the gun onto the ground. Bulk tackled Bando which started a struggle between the two mercenaries.
“How in the world?” Kale started to ask.
“Don’t ask. Just go.” Jocelyn said.
The Brothers Locke were doing their best to keep the Bascelics occupied, but at the most, they could just run around and distract them. Being of subpar intelligence, the Bascelics didn’t realize that this was a rouse. Sharp took notice that Bando had broken off from their diversion and had gone after Kale and Jocelyn.
“We can’t keep this up,” Mouth said.
“There’s so much going on here. So much I hear. Voices, hums, spirits — it’s strange,” Echo said, trying his best to keep his hearing tuned to his friends while avoiding the marauding winged monsters.
