Haelo Rising, page 23
Dagger pulled the trigger.
But he was too late.
While Hector had been talking, he’d pulled a knife from where it had been tucked in his pants, and though it was still sheathed in a case, he’d prodded it directly into Dagger’s hip, right in his old gunshot wound, flaring the injury with pain. Dagger’s shot fired a millisecond later as he jerked at the attack.
The bullet meant for Hector’s skull skimmed over the top of his shaved head.
The room—the ballroom from what I could deduce in the foggy background of the memory—filled with the thick, white smoke of a smoke grenade. Coughing, Dagger got out of the room before being swarmed by mercenaries, but Hector ultimately escaped. And Massáude was nowhere to be found.
Only a few seconds had passed in reality, but I’d experienced the memory as if it had been my own.
Get out. Please, Dagger thought.
I startled, my senses pulling back. What?
You’re inside my mind.
I . . . I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—
Yes, you did. He moved into the faint shaft of green light coming in through the hovel’s entrance. I get why you did it. And I can’t stop you. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. He looked up, down, left, and right. They’re gone; we need to move. I’ll tell Zeta we’re coming. He pulled his fist forward and with a burst of fiery orange light, shot off a pola message.
You felt that? I asked. You felt me inside your head? If that were true, had Massáude?
He put his free hand against the hole’s frame and bowed his head, neck muscles flexing. Haelo, he thought. His fingers dug into the stone beneath them. I’ve felt your senses surround me every single time you’ve been in my head. Yes, I feel you. I felt you when I was in Karch and Hector’s custody on that forsaken Atlantic island. When I was at my lowest, a shadow of your aura warmed me from the inside and kept me alive. It saved me. And my soul will forever be drawn to the soul that saved it. He let go of my hand as if burned by it, but our auras stayed hidden. He’d found that connection, even through the exasperation simmering off of him. So yes, when you sense my emotions and reach into my mind and see my memories, I feel you. I will always feel you. He pushed himself upright, refusing to look at me. Please, if you care about me at all, stay out of my head.
He pulled himself through the hovel’s entry and waited on the outside.
Where were my ethics? What was I doing? I couldn’t do this. Nobody owed me their feelings. Their memories. Their thoughts! I’d been penetrating the emotions of so many, and I had no right. I’m . . . I’m so sorry.
Let’s get to Zeta and Cora.
I swallowed and joined him outside. The seafloor—more like canyons between the rising stone columns of the city—was just a handful of yards below us. About that—
What?
I told Zeta and Fia to take everyone to the power plant.
His head jerked back to look at me. Why?
Because we can’t hide everyone. It won’t work.
So you decided to gather them all together and hide out in one of the few places in this island that Massáude is guaranteed to have sent top priority security? His inner voice rose.
Not to hide. Massáude cut off all the exits out of Pankyra, but he didn’t think about the hydroelectric turbine shafts cut into the stone. I read about them in a Council agenda. There are ten at the base of this island, right in line with the western Mediterranean current. Five direct water in, five direct water out. And there’s still electric power in the upper city, so the turbines are still functional—not blocked. If we shut off the propellers, we can get hundreds of people out between the blades.
He shook his head, but it didn’t feel like a “no.” It could go wrong.
We won’t let it.
There’s no guarantee we can get everyone to the plant.
Not everyone, but some.
We’d have to deal with whatever mercenaries are guarding it.
Yes, we will.
Are you sure about this?
No.
But you’re going to try anyway.
With your help, yes.
He paused, thinking, but we didn’t have time to think. Finally, he looked to the west, toward the far end of the caved island where the Spíti Enérgeias' hydroelectric turbines spun uninhibited. And Massáude?
Today we save people. Tomorrow we can end Massáude.
His eyes flashed briefly to the east, where a mile or so away, above the water’s surface, Massáude still held the palace. After you, Your Highness, he thought. He swept his arm to the west, beckoning me ahead. Let’s go save your p—
Swiiish!
The slicing current of a crossbow arrow whipped across my face. Dagger’s arms were wrapped around me in seconds, painfully reminding me of my broken rib. I felt the incoming push of water as he summoned a current to sweep us away.
With a wham!, we tumbled and separated. My aura sparked in and out in a surreal way. Someone was holding me, and it wasn’t Dagger. I opened my eyes to find the menacing face of the man gripping me by both arms and powering me away from Dagger.
I kneed him in the gonads. Hard.
His thoughts screeched in pain as his face crumpled in an ugly display of horror.
With two legs, I kicked off the rough stone of a stalagmite back toward Dagger, who was being pulled from both sides by two Forçadores, three others coming in fast from above.
I pulled the knife from my thigh harness and blasted myself right into the body of one of Dagger’s attackers. We tumbled as well, until I elbowed him in the face so hard he blacked out. I swam back just as the other three had Dagger surrounded. One noticed me. I flashed him my knife and smirked, hoping to pull him away from Dagger.
It worked.
This fight ended much more bloody than those of the other two.
Three down, two to go.
Scratch that. None to go. Dagger—with a confiscated crossbow in one hand—reached for me. Bodies, either dead, unconscious, or curled in pain, floated around us. I weaved past one to grab Dagger’s hand, and we blasted away as our auras once again popped into oblivion, our wake tossing about the limp attackers behind us.
I didn’t feel them coming until it was too late, Dagger raged.
Neither of us did.
We blasted through the cave depths so quickly I couldn’t quite make out the silhouettes of the dark columns we flew past. Once we were far enough away, he pulled his current to a stop, our trail disappearing. We swam, auras hidden, higher toward the surface and took cover under the boardwalk of a narrow upper-city canal two miles from the palace.
How did they find us? I asked, mostly a rhetorical question. We’ve got to find Martha’s kids before we get to the power plant.
If anyone could hide from Massáude, it’s those kids, he thought back. They’ve probably already scattered. But if we’re not at the power plant when Zeta, Fia, Jake, and Wood get there, they won't be able to hold off the Forçadores and help people escape all on their own. Massáude wants Cora. We need to get there now, or we could ruin every chance for the others.
My heart clenched.
We’ll save them, Haelo. His face was close, his eyes sincere. Alcaeus said the Lóchos are stationed outside the island right now. This will end, and we will save them. But it has to wait.
I nodded, heartbroken.
He looked in both directions, then closed his eyes for a quick scan of the auras around us. Now, he thought, and once again, we took off.
We approached the Spíti Enérgeias from just below the surface. We came in slowly, assessing. Dagger. . .
I know, he thought, sharing my awe. There are at least three hundred people down there. They’re almost at the turbine shafts. Zeta must have picked up more along the way.
I could have cried. I’d been shot, beaten, broken, and chased. I’d intimately felt my grandfather’s murder. My nerves were raw, frayed by the emotions and memories I’d sensed between Massáude, Hector, Cora, Dagger, and the hostages we’d broken free from the palace. And still, deep inside, I had worried it would all be for nothing. But dozens of auras, excited and scared as they waited to leave this dark island, were gathered below me. A wave of relief and pride bolstered my soul, doing more for my battered body than almost anything could have.
Let’s get down there, I thought.
No, the turbines are still running. And the handful of guards up there are going to notice that crowd any minute now.
We shot for the shallows, skimming along the plant’s stalagmite foundation. A hundred yards below us, ribbed tubes ran from the whirling turbines up the cave walls and into the deep foundation of the Spíti Enérgeias. The tubes hummed louder than the actual turbine propellers.
Once near the surface, we slowed, careful not to disturb the water too much. We surfaced just outside the edge of the stone-and-concrete building. Above, green channels of light pulsing with biological activity reached from its stepped roof of the power plant up to the cave ceiling high above us, the stone of which sparkled with mineral deposits. Those channels of light—like clear veins filled with glowing microscopic enzymes—spread forth from where they attached to the ceiling to stretch over the entire city in a pattern straight out of the deep bioluminescence of the abyss.
My mouth gaped.
Dagger pulled himself out of the water and onto the narrow rocky ledge first. I wasn’t far behind, but caught a yelp in my throat at the pain in my ribcage with the effort. Dagger noticed and helped me stand.
We looked out on the handful of electric lights scattered across the well-used alleys and bridges in the distance. Dagger crouched at the booted footsteps echoing on a catwalk above us. I pulled the knife from my thigh harness. Dagger carefully handed me the crossbow and flexed his fist. Wait here, he mouthed.
I rolled my eyes, but obeyed.
Dagger pulled himself up on the catwalk, surprising the Forçadoro guard. I watched through the grate as he put the man in a stranglehold until his victim went unconscious. During the scuffle, my aura sparked a bit from beneath the cloak of Dagger’s magic, but he found his concentration before my aura could materialize completely.
The body in Dagger’s arms dropped to the floor.
“Come on,” Dagger said, extending a hand over the railings. He pulled me up and over, taking back the crossbow.
We sneaked along the suspended walkway incline. Another guard came around the corner. He yelled and raised his gun, but I was faster. His eyes grew wide with shock at the knife in his chest just before he fell back. His body thumped against the railing.
“You know that every time you do that, you’re giving away your weapon,” Dagger muttered.
I hadn’t thought about that before. “If I aim right, it doesn’t matter.”
He shook his head, then gestured me forward.
Dagger retrieved my knife as we rounded the corner. We dashed higher up the other side of the building until we came to a handle-less door.
“Ideas?” Dagger asked.
“Yep.” I pulled the steel dart from the crossbow slung over his shoulder and shoved the tip into the door crack. “Thank you, physics.” I levered the door open and poked my head inside. “And thank you to the idiot that left this unlocked.” No offense. I look forward to the day you find your potential.
Quick as a whip, Dagger pulled another dart tight in the crossbow and released it into the darkness behind me. I registered the Forçadoro’s aura just before the oof of the dart’s impact. But this mercenary did not go quietly. Dagger raced to him, quickly silencing the Forçadoro’s agonizing yelps.
Dagger returned and pulled open the door I’d cracked. With careful tread, we hustled inside a dark, industrial building, more damp than the whole of Pankyra, with steaming vents and red lights, like the set of an old Bond film I’d seen once. Even the sound our feet made on the grated metal scaffolding sounded just like the movies. The whole building seemed like one giant room with a maze of walkways. I looked down to the machinery far below.
Dagger cursed. “They’re coming. Twenty or more mercenaries, a mile away.”
“Any in here?”
“Not that I can sense.”
“Then screw stealth.” I took off across the scaffolding, Dagger close behind. We zipped lower and lower, circling down around the large transformer and the green veins of light that ran up the center of the room, jumping down the short flights of stairs between the levels of scaffolding. The pain in my thigh and ribs tried to stop me, but I pressed on.
Near the lowest point, now so deep inside the stalagmite we must have been halfway to the seafloor, we assessed the bottom level: its concrete floors, stations of generators and machinery with flashing buttons, and massive tanks of bioluminescent enzymes.
The tanks feeding the veins were only about half full. And I wasn’t a biologist by any means, but the enzymes themselves looked pallid, sickly.
“Where are the workers?” I asked.
“Probably ran off when Massáude came through this part of the city, or after he collapsed the Gate.”
“How do we stop the turbines?”
“Good question.”
We jumped to the frigid concrete of the bottom level and took off searching between the generators, looking for promising levers or switches.
Honestly, I didn’t know what to look for, but that didn’t stop me from searching.
“Here,” Dagger said.
I ran to him. “Which one?”
“There are ten levers here. The five turbines in”—he pointed to the Greek word for in, repeated five times, and then to the levers on their right—“and the five out.”
“And if we’re wrong?”
“Then we’re wrong.”
He flipped the last lever on the first column. I grimaced, waiting. Hot steam broke free from a large pipe above us, making me jump. Somewhere, an alarm went off. Not a We’re all gonna die! sort of alarm, but more like a robotic Oooh, that wasn’t a good idea countdown beep.
Behind us, a giant wall monitor blipped to life, the words Hydro Shaft Number Five, Override and Lock flashing in Greek over and over in digital yellow text.
We didn’t waste time. In an organized frenzy, we flipped lever after lever. At the flip of the last one, the flashing lights of the monitor behind us turned red and the alarm blared in a legit Now you’ve gone and done it wail.
Ten rows of text flashed across the screen, each indicating an overridden turbine shaft. Across the top, in all caps, the Greek words for POWER FAILING caught my attention.
Dagger looked up. “Now we run.”
We sprinted back up the scaffolding, pulling ourselves by the railings over the sets of stairs. Above, a door slammed open.
“Zeta!” I called, sensing her aura before I saw her silhouetted in the same door we’d come through one level above us. We reached her quickly.
“It’s you!” she said, exhaling with relief. “What’s the alarm for?”
I grabbed her by the hand and ran out the door into the green glow. We flung ourselves over the walkway railing and plunged into the water below, Dagger not far behind. The Forçadores are almost here, I thought as we reached for deeper water. We’ve got minutes to get everyone through the turbines.
We summoned currents to push us down, farther and farther to the depths where the crowd had gathered outside the steel safety cage that blocked off the hydroelectric turbine shafts carved through the cave’s stone walls.
Let them through! Dagger called to his kryptes below. On that order, Lieutenant Fia, Sergeant Jake, and Corporal Wood started funneling the crowd through the busted cage doors.
Once inside, Galana Cora, Cousin Isander, Princess Hyacinth, and High Court Judge Diskas each took up a position at one of the five angled turbine shafts on the western cave wall: the in turbines. The trajectory of the shafts pointed toward the five turbines on the northern wall: the out turbines. Normally, the deep Mediterranean current flowed through the in shafts and out the northern wall.
Lieutenant Fia took up the remaining post on the western wall. Jake, Wood, a Council delegate I vaguely recognized, and a woman I’d never seen before who looked to be up for the challenge led some of the crowd toward the northern turbine shafts, directing people through one at a time. Lieutenant Day hovered farther back, assigning incoming candeons to turbines. Once through the cage, I dove toward the last turbine, where a handful of people were crowding into the shaft.
Wait!, I thought. One at a time. Or you’ll never fit through the blades.
A middle-aged man in an expensively trimmed dive suit pulled a teenager from the shaft, cut him off, and then swam inside. When I finally reached the fifteen people still left outside the large, pipe-like shaft, I lined them up, pulling the youngest ones to the front. Quickly. Slip through the blades and don’t look back. The Krypteia Lóchos Homeguard is just outside the island.
They moved like mice ducking into a hole in the floorboards, aided by the flow of the now-mild current. Though the shafts must have been over fifty feet long, they slipped through quickly.
Hurry! Dagger yelled to the entire group.
I looked back to the city. The Forçadores were so close, I could see the churning swishes of their trailing currents.
A woman carrying a baby, with another toddler hovering near her head, asked in Greek, Will all three of us fit through the blades?
I leaned up to the toddler. Mommy and baby sister are going to go through that tunnel right there. I urged the mother into the tube as I pulled forward the blonde teenage girl that was in line behind the mother. This nice woman is going to help you follow right behind your mom, okay? As fast as you can.
The teenager’s eyes grew big, but she nodded at my fierce stare. Come with me, I heard her say to the small child. My name’s Mandie. I’ll keep you safe.
