Court of Nightfall (7 page)

An Inquisitor dressed in robes of red and gold and wearing the customary hat of his Order as a Knight climbed to the stage and stood beside her. He carried a giant hammer in one hand. A hammer no mortal could have lifted. He turned to address the crowd, his face appearing on all the e-Boards, and I recognized him. Ragathon. The Council member who didn't believe me.

"Citizens," he said, his voice amplified by unseen speakers, "this is the Zenith responsible for the deaths of your friends, your families. You may have heard her called many names. But I assure you, there is only one that matters. Criminal. Criminal!"

The crowd took up the cheer. "Criminal!" "Zenith scum!" "Half-breed!"

Even children were encouraged in their blood lust. It disgusted me, and I turned away from the stage and studied these people who could so easily stand and watch someone die.

I noticed, however, that not everyone in the crowd had raised their voices. A few people stood quiet, still. Waiting.

Behind us, a white truck moved through the crowd on a street otherwise blocked. Jax turned, worry lines marring his face. "I don't want to watch this," he said.

"Then you can go."

He growled at me, but stayed by my side. He knew me well enough to know I wouldn't budge once I set my mind to this.

Something hummed in the air. Not an audible noise, but an energy shifting. I had to stay. I knew that much.

As Ragathon finished the speech, the crowd erupted in cheers once again. I waited to see what the Council member would do. I expected a needle, not electrocution considering the setting.

Instead, Ragathon raised his hammer.

I gasped. He was going to…

No!

He slammed the hammer into the rebel's chest. In high-definition duplicate, on every e-Board around us, she cried out. Over and over, she screamed as he hit her again and again.

She spit out blood, the red viscous fluid dribbling down her chin, marring her pretty face.

"How can he do this?"

"She killed an Inquisitor," said Jax. "She must be made an example of."

"You have to stop this," I told him.

Jax bowed his head without saying a word, and I understood. Of course he couldn't stop this. The Inquisitor was one of the Councilors. No one could stop him now.

Unless…

If I could get close enough to him… if I could take control, just for a moment, maybe…

I pushed further into the crowd, positioning myself closer and closer to the stage as Ragathon took evident joy in hurling his hammer at the young woman.

A ringing buzzed in my ear, power pulling in me. Jax called my name but his voice sounded distant, as if he spoke through water.

I hesitated as several Inquisition Officers walked toward me.

Wha—

But they walked past me, waving their hands, shouting. "No vehicles here." "This road is closed off."

I turned to look back. The white truck I'd seen earlier had made it closer to the platform, and it continued on, driving slowly, not stopping.

Something was going on.

I looked around and noticed one of the guys I'd seen before, someone who hadn't been cheering along with everyone else.

He wore a heavy cloak though it wasn't cold.

He kept a hood over his head, but a ray of sun caught the copper highlights in his hair, the green specks in his eyes. He turned around and looked straight at me.

And smiled.

Something flew above me and smoke filled the air, obscuring my vision of the smiling man. Someone had fired smoke guns. The man ran into the smoke and I followed, covering my nose and mouth with my shirt to avoid choking.

People ran in all directions, screaming, crying, gagging as they inhaled the smoke-filled air around them. Jax tried to follow me, calling my name as I dodged through the crowd, but too many people got between us and the smoke obstructed his view of me. I didn't know why I chased the mystery man, didn't know why it was important that Jax not follow me, but I'd long believed in trusting my instincts and I did so now.
Trust what's in your heart, little Star. No one else knows the right path for you but you.

My dad's words rattled in my mind as gunfire broke out around me. Real guns, with bullets instead of smoke.

Near me, a woman fell to the ground, a red pool of blood spreading over her chest as her husband and child tried to drag her out of harm's way.

I swallowed bile that rose in my throat and dropped to my knees, staring in horror as people died around me or were wounded by indiscriminate firing from those commissioned to protect the innocent. The Inquisition.

I knew then what I had to do.

If I could get to the Head Inquisitor, Ragathon, if I could find him, I could use whatever power was growing in me to stop him.

I crawled through the smoke, trying to orient myself, and knocked against two dead bodies lying side by side. A man in black—a rebel—and an Inquisition Officer. They must have killed each other.

I grabbed the e-Glass from the rebel and slipped it on to my own ear, crouching low to avoid getting shot as I listened.

The e-Glass came to life. "The Inquisitor is down," a male voice said. Was that true? Could it be that easy?

I could hear more gunshots, more screams. "Wait," the voice said, in my ear. "Oh God, he's alive. Pull back. Get the Shadow to the truck."

So they planned to use the white truck to rescue The Shadow of Rome.

I searched the dead Officer, removed his helmet, took his e-Glass and put it on my other ear. The commanding voice I heard belonged to Ragathon. Who was definitely not dead.

"Exit stage one. Block off the designated roads," he said.

Stage one? Designated roads? This had all been a trap. The Inquisitors expected this rescue and had planned for it. All the rebels would be captured or killed.

I knew I couldn't let that happen. I didn't know if the rebels were the bad guys or not, but I knew the Inquisitors weren't good guys. At least Ragathon wasn't, and his minions didn't seem any better. Looking at the carnage around me, knowing the Inquisitors planned this, allowed for this, didn't care that so many innocents would get caught up in their trap… no, they weren't good guys.

I needed to get to a computer.

With both the rebels and Inquisitors chattering in my ears, I scanned the area, walking low through dead bodies and destroyed property around the buildings. Nothing. Everyone was evacuating.

But wait… through the crowd, parked by the central e-Board, a giant white tank-like van with a stylized all-seeing eye painted in black. An Inquisition vehicle. A Bruiser.  They'd have a computer in there.

I scrambled across Times Square just as an Inquisition Officer approached the van. He was about to get in. If I wanted to help save the Shadow of Rome, I had to act now.

I launched myself at the officer, knocking him into the van.

"What the—?" He flipped around, his gun drawn and ready to shoot.

I grabbed his arms and pushed my mind into his. I expected it to feel like before, like it had with the officer at my house where I became him and me at the same time.

But this was different. Softer. More subtle. His consciousness tickling the edges of my mind, pliable and open.

"Sleep!" I told him, my mind pushing out the command as much as my voice.

He collapsed against me, and I grabbed his e-Glass and replaced the one I got from the other Officer. I let the man fall to the ground, then used his e-Glass synch to unlock the Bruiser.

Inside, the vehicle was high-tech with controls and buttons I didn't understand yet. But there was also a computer built into the dash, with multiple screens.

I knew if I could hack into the city's surveillance system I could access all the cameras and see what was going on anywhere in New York.

But that was easier said than done. The U.F.I. had the strongest firewalls in the world, designed specifically to keep out people like me.

Well, maybe not people
exactly
like me
, I thought with a grin.

It took longer than I would have liked, but I got in. I pumped my fist in the air and then furiously typed as I zoomed in on the cameras I needed.

I could see the rebels helping the Shadow into their white van. They drove off, and with a click I accessed their street. Which was already blocked off.

I clicked the e-Glass I got from the dead rebel. "They were ready for you," I told whoever was listening.

"Who is this?" A guy asked.

"Someone trying to help. The road ahead is blocked off. You have to take a right."

He swore under his breath. "Right into the Inquisition's hands, no doubt. I'm not falling for your lies."

"If you don't listen to me, then you're all dead." I checked the cameras. "A squad of Officers is about to cut you off from the left. They're using thrusters."

"How on earth do you know—" His voice cut off and on the camera I could see the squad position itself in front of the van. Black clad rebels stuck their heads out of the windows, guns first, and shot down the Officers before they ever had a chance to counter maneuver.

My e-Glass came to life. "Crap. She was right," said the guy.

A new voice, female, spoke. "Listen, whoever this is. Where's the next squad coming from?"

"Left again," I told her, checking the cameras.

I could hear gunfire through the e-Glass and see it on the screen as the rebels shot down the squad as soon as it came out of the alley.

"Thanks," the woman said.

"Why are you helping us?" asked the first guy.

Why? Was it because I was now Zenith, with some unnamed power that made me different? Or because my parents disagreed with the Inquisition? Or was it because of that woman, that wife and mother, gunned down in front of her husband and child as they pulled her lifeless body away from the carnage? Or maybe it was the voice of my father in my head telling me to trust what was in my heart.

"She can tell us later," the woman said, and a light bulb went off in my head.

"You're the Shadow of Rome," I said.

"Call me Trix… the grump you've been talking to is T.R. What should I call you?"

I couldn't give my real name. And I didn't want to use my dad's nickname for me. So I used the first thing that came to mind. "N."

"N. Alright. What's next, N?"

I checked my monitors. "You have to go right. It's the only path open."

"How could they have mobilized so quickly?" asked T.R.

"They're doing the same thing they did in Boston when they captured me," said Trix. "They knew you'd show up. They're trying to end us once and for all."

T.R. swore under his breath again.

Trix spoke through the e-Glass. "Alright. N, I trust you. More like, I have to trust you." She paused, and I heard movement in the background. "We're going right."

On my screens the van turned the corner. I switched cameras to view the other streets around them and saw a Bruiser headed their way. Crap.

I set my Bruiser's GPS to that intersection and pressed the button to activate the e-Driver. "Preparing to travel to East 48
th
street and Second Avenue," the GPS said. "Assessing traffic and road blocks. Estimated time of arrival, two minutes."

The Bruiser began to move, and I spoke into the e-Glass. "Keep turning right," I told them as my fingers flew over the keyboard.

"That'll take us in a circle," said T.R.

"They're tracking your movements the same way I am," I told him. "The best you can do is confuse them."

"Let's do it," said Trix.

They turned, then turned again… making a loop around the block. The Bruiser on their heels adjusted for their change in routes and was about to come out in front of them. Before it could, I overrode the e-Driver, took control of the wheel, and crashed into the other Bruiser from the side, sending it slamming into a nearby building, and sending my head slamming against the seat, knocking me a bit senseless. I took a deep breath, a wave of intense… hunger? Or thirst? I couldn't be sure, a gnawing ache in my gut overcame me. But I had to ignore it and focus. The Bruiser's GPS blinked at me, the voice now scratchy, likely rattled from the crash. "We have sustained damage. Please pull over to the nearest—"

I turned off the GPS and its annoying voice. I had enough voices in my head right now.

The rebel van drove by.

"I'm assuming that was you," said Trix over the e-Glass.

"Yes. Now, head for the outskirts."

"They keep cutting us off," said T. R. "Time for plan B."

"I agree," said Trix.

"What's plan B?" I asked, massaging a flare of pain in my upper jaw.

"Wait and see," said T.R.

Smoke surrounded their van until they were obscured entirely by white. As it cleared, the van drove forward, and a new truck, a black and red Bruiser, turned right.

So they had one of their own and they were using it to get Trix away. The van was a decoy.

But…

It was too obvious.

"Your plan's not going to work…" I said into my e-Glass.

"What on earth you know?" argued T.R.

"The Bruiser is just a distraction. Trix is still in the truck."

"That…" T.R. didn't finish his sentence, because he knew I'd guessed their plan. A double decoy.

"The Inquisition is closing down all roads off Manhattan… they were ready for you." My voice rose with urgency. "Your plan failed before you even started. But… there's one way. Listen to me, and I'll get you out alive."

"You'll just lead us into a trap," T.R. said, and I wanted to smack him through the e-Glass.

Before I could respond, Inquisition vehicles surrounded the black and red decoy Bruiser. It crashed and was instantly swarmed with Officers checking to see if anyone was inside.

"Bruiser down," said one of the rebels through the e-Glass.

"Damn it," said T.R.

"You're already trapped," I told him.

"We'll do it your way," said Trix.

"But—"

She cut T.R. off. "But nothing. She's been right about everything, and we need to get out of here." Trix sounded tired, in pain and when she coughed I remembered the beating she had recently taken. She needed a doctor. "What's the plan, N?" she asked, after a coughing spasm left her breathless.

And so I filled them in on my idea, my brain spinning fast as it weaved through the ins and outs of what I wanted them to do. I tried not to think about the lives on the line, about how this was treason and I could be executed if I was caught. Instead, I pretended this was another game from my parents to test my skills. I could do this. I had trained for this my whole life.

"We'll never have enough time," T.R. said when I finished.

"I'll give you time," I said.

"Fine, let's do it," said Trix. They turned the truck around and headed toward the center of the city instead of out.

I drove my damaged Bruiser back to the sleeping Officer and then pulled him into the back of the truck. I expected it to be harder to lift him, between the bulk of his body and the weight of his gear, but he turned out to be surprisingly light and it only took a few moments, hidden within the truck, to pull off his uniform and slip it on over my own borrowed clothes. I put his helmet on and could see a display of the action through the e-Video all the Officers were looped into. The Inquisition had the rebel van surrounded. They had no way out.

Disguised in the Officer's uniform, I ran toward the portable command center the Inquisition had set up. A giant Bruiser, big enough for more than a dozen people, with a cannon on top. My body ached and the blood around me, pooling under dead bodies and leaking through fabric, should have made me sick. All those lifeless victims. Instead, I felt a deep hunger despite my anger and outrage, and I felt physically weak, shaky, and so tired, but I kept pushing myself toward the command center.

I climbed into the back, faking a calm authority I did not feel in that moment.
Remember, little Star, if you look like you know what you're doing, people will assume you do.

My dad's voice in my head gave me the confidence I needed to pull this off. There were half a dozen other Officers in the command center, each actively engaged in surveillance. None of them stopped me.