Star Rebellion (35 page)

I held my hands up in peace and he nodded his head, setting the knife on the counter. So he was reluctant to use it, and now that Dark and I were here, he wouldn’t. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Darkstar processing all of this information. The man held the knife as if he had killed before, but wasn’t wanting to actually use it to fight. I could see the concern behind his eyes, and I agreed. Something just wasn’t adding up here.

“Exit?” I whispered to the Russian. He nodded his head and took the lead. Darkstar and I shared a look before hesitantly following him. If anything, my guard was even higher than before and I flexed my fingers around the hilt of my gun. I unconsciously loosened the blade across my back from its sheath, ready to grab it at a moment’s notice.

Erik led us through the employee door of the kitchen and out into a back alley where the dumpsters were. I was second out and took in a quick survey, including the Russian driver’s face. For a second, he looked puzzled, as if something he had been expecting wasn’t there anymore.

Darkstar followed me out and the door slammed closed behind him. All three of us jumped in surprise from the loud noise. Damn did I want to get out of here; this was really putting me on edge. I kept thinking back to how the guns had completely decimated the restaurant building, then to the two guys who had run out. What if those guns just weren’t mobile, and needed to be fired from a car.

Our car was still in the parking lot. On the other side of the building. As Waterstar would say, fudge nuggets.

Chapter 20: Knight in Shining Ice

ICESTAR

I was patting the spikes in my hair down, a nervous tendency of mine. Between that and the humidity of China, the spikes were starting to droop. Waterstar was taking a long time, though that would be expected. By my calculation, she was perfectly on time with the estimated length of rope I could see, but there was so much that could happen between there and here. Innumerable and incalculable disasters. However, the odds of something bad happening were greater than Waterstar escaping unscathed from this. It was a wonder that I had arrived in the helicopter perfectly normal. I did not enjoy being unaware of the outcome to a problem. Machines were never this unsure.

I was about to lean over to look below the helicopter again, when I saw Huang glance over at me. He had said that it would only make me more nervous, seeing Waterstar hanging suspended in air like that, but I couldn’t help it. I used to never work with her, but ever since Firestar enlisted Forest, Sun, and me to help bring her and Darkstar back… she’d started growing on me. I wasn’t going to watch her die now. Not after what happened to Sunstar.

I ignored Huang’s look and checked over the side of the helicopter. She was getting close to the top, only a few more stories. I was starting to feel relieved, but I knew that normally when I felt that while I was trying to fix some electrical issue, things would blow up, literally.

Moments later, and I was glancing over the side again. As predicted, things started exploding. Not literally.

A semi-furred arm was reaching out of the window of one of the floors, groping for the rope. The fur was a dirty tan color and patches were missing all over the arm. A demon had finally decided to make an appearance. Oh for Calsh’s sake, why?

I flipped on the headset and started shouting at Waterstar, my head practically hanging out of the open compartment door that I had climbed through earlier. Waterstar wasn’t responding though, and I cursed that somewhere with her movements, she had messed up the very delicate tuning of the headsets. They were as fickle as old circuits, which was reasonable considering their last minute construction. I spun around to look at Huang. “Move the helicopter, now.” I kept my voice even, but it was as chilled as my name.

The Chinese man didn’t budge though. “If I do that without knowing if she is secure, I could very well dislodge her and Waterstar will fall.”

“There’s a very good chance of that happening either way,” I said coolly, but turned my attention back to the rope where Waterstar was dangling. I continued shouting, hoping that she could hear me over the helicopter, if not through the headset.

Finally, finally she turned the damn thing on and shouted back at me.

“What?!”

“Demons! THEY’RE PULLING THE GODDAMN ROPE! Huang won’t move until you give an all clear that you’re secured on the rope!” My voice was getting hoarse, but at this point, I didn’t care.

“Damn it, MOVE THEN!”

But it had been too late by that point.

I watched as Waterstar looked up at last. She saw me first, I could see it in her dark blue eyes. Then the gaze shifted to the demon that was hanging out of the window. It had already gotten a hold of the rope and was cutting it. The claws were sharp enough. Waterstar had been so close to safety for it to be severed so quickly. My calculations were coming together now.

Right then, I vowed I would kill every demon I could. I would get my vengeance. I was getting closer to Waterstar now, and no one harmed those I valued. I hadn’t been able to do anything about Sunstar, but Water wouldn’t die. She couldn’t, she was the invincible Waterstar that every fighter in the Rebellion envied. It would be like killing a folk hero.

I watched her fall. Her hair encased her head at first, a mass of swirling blue and blonde. Her body spun in the air, the rope falling slower than she was, but there was nothing for it to get caught on between the buildings, nothing to stop her fall. Waterstar’s body looked eerie; her hair whipped around her, the blond more pronounced as it reflected the little light from the setting sun.

I remembered back to when we were in the Underworld and Waterstar had flown. Why wasn’t she doing it now? Was she just forgetting that she could, or was there something about Earth that wouldn’t let her? These were questions for another time, what mattered was getting her safe.

My leg started to shake and I patted my hair again. There had to be something I could do. I knew Huang couldn’t fly down there, but what if I jumped? No, I wouldn’t reach her in time. Plus the probability of surviving that wasn't logical, even if I could get to her.

There had to be something. My powers wouldn’t help. Making anything explode wouldn’t do much, at most create a hot air current to lift her if she were flying, which she wasn’t. If I could build something out of ice, that would be the way to go about this. But what would I be able to make?

I thought back to when I had been thirteen, just learning how to control ice. The Ice Master at the time was a cheery old man, a proud grandfather who mainly used his power to make small amusement parks for his grandchildren. It had annoyed me that he was not using the power to aid the rebellion, but as I grew older, I made the calculation that keeping the younger generations happy was important too.

He had taught me to make slides out of ice to the point that it was almost a reflex.

I focused my power, watching Waterstar as she fell. I would have to time the position of the slide to how fast her body was falling for two primary reasons: one so she hit it with a stable body part, basically not her head, and secondly, so when she hit it there was a steep enough incline to gradually decrease so it wasn’t like hitting the flat ground at the speed. Also, the first part she touched would have to be thick enough for her not to shatter it.

I readied the power. The timing would be precise, as precise as my engineering mind could deduce. Three... two… one.

I let the power flow out of me, feeling the familiar chill in my bones with pleasure. I watched as the crystal like ice formed exactly as I had imagined it, right underneath Waterstar, catching her almost perfectly. If I didn’t continue building onto it, though, gravity would take possession of her once more.

I let the power continue flowing, making the block of ice longer, and then shooting straight down to the ground as a support beam. I continued the process until I thought she had enough momentum on that length of ice, and then curved it so she was rising in the air. Waterstar made it on my slide long past where I originally caught her before her speed started leveling out. It was a good idea, but it wouldn’t last me long. I could feel myself running out of power quickly. The edges of my mind were already getting fuzzy, and I couldn’t think of what we were doing on Earth.

All I could remember is that I had to keep Waterstar safe.

I made a bowl out of ice where she currently was and she slipped around the edges before settling in the center. After a second’s hesitation, I sloped the walls even more, creating a narrow gap at the top that would be difficult for anything to jump into from the apartment building.

I released my power and felt the sweat beading on my brow. I settled back against my seat and fell into the unconscious without resistance. If I was needed anytime soon, the odds of me being woken were slim.

WATERSTAR

I tried standing up and slipped once more around my little domed, ice safe hold. At first I had been dearly afraid when I felt the slick, cold surface of the ice beneath me, but after traveling a bit along the slide and watching it form, I realized what Icestar was doing. I really hoped he was okay, though. He had just gotten over the serious injuries from the demons, and now he was manipulating so much of his power. Even if the doctor had said he was okay, with Darkstar’s help, I didn’t think doing this much work was good for him. Maybe we should have made Ares help, like he did for my leg.

While sitting in the bottom of this dome, I wonder how the hell Ice had used so much power with success. I still couldn’t fly, trust me, I have been trying to get out of the dome for a while now, but he had managed to create a massive amount of ice all at once. If anything, he had been able to use more power here than on Calsh. I would have to ask either Arctic or Ares about that later.

Somewhere along the ice slide, my headset had fallen off. I still haven’t been able to talk to Huang or anyone in the helicopter. For one thing, I wanted to make sure Icestar was alright after all the power he had just used, though he was probably dreaming by now. Secondly, I needed a way to get out of here, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to be able to do it myself.

I stopped even attempting to stand and just stared up at the hole in the dome while lying on my back. All I could see was a small circle of dark blue sky. How long before sunset? Even the clouds were absent from my view. I hadn’t seen the helicopter in while, but I could still hear the whirring of its blades.

My thoughts started drifting and I wondered if this ice dome would melt, or if maybe it would exist here for all of eternity. I knew that Icestar could create un-melting ice, as crazy as that sounds, but he didn’t do it too often. He liked building things, but for some reason the idea of building something out of a substance that shouldn't be lasting bothered him. I also heard this second hand from other people, so maybe he did build stuff out of un-melting ice rather often. Plus, when you think about it, Icestar likes destroying stuff, it's one of his powers after all. Maybe he likes seeing ice destroy itself. Anyways I really hoped that it wouldn’t start melting before I got out of here; I really did not want to experience falling that far again.

After a few more minutes of staring up into the blank sky, slowly getting darker as night approached, I decided that I would make the most of my time in here. I mean, seriously, I am stuck in a domed ice bowl, and I’m not going to use that to my advantage? Please, I
am
Waterstar, after all. I’m going to have some fun. The only other thing I could do was contemplate life and our current position, which if you ask me, is too depressing.

I slowly got to my feet, carefully balancing in the center of the bowl, where the ice was the flattest. This would take skill and precision, something that I didn’t always have. I was surprised that I even managed to stand.

I stayed in a crouched position, my arms slightly lifted to my sides, as if I was about to pounce on one of my friends. Then, with as much grace as I could manage while purposely slipping, I jumped forward and fell to my belly, my momentum bringing me around the edges of the ice. I kept moving my arms as if I were swimming, building up speed so I kept going around and around instead of sliding into the center like usual.

I could feel the figurative wind in my hair and the coolness of the ice against my skin, though it still wasn’t cold enough to freeze someone. The ice probably was of the un-melting type.

I have no clue how many times I had gone around in a circle when I finally let my speed slow down. This was starting to get boring, as most fun things end up doing eventually.

“Are you done yet?” an accented voice spoke from above me.

I flipped over onto my back, which completely halted my speed and sent me into the center of the bowl once more. Directly above me was a man with the same color of skin as all of the Chinese people I have met, though he had a different accent. He was also about three feet in the air above me, suspended by a rope. Apparently my rescue squad was here.

“Are you with Huang?” I asked hesitantly, just to be sure.

“Yes. My name is Yamamodo Toshiro, a pilot from Japan.” The Japanese man lowered himself further down the rope, which I just realized was inches away from my face. I tried my best to slip away from him, but it didn’t work too well. I ended up kneeling next to him while he stayed suspended a few inches in the air.

Yamamodo Toshiro had the same type of harness on that Icestar and I had used previously, but this one seemed to be an automatic system of levies versus our manual one. I hoped it would move faster than what Ice and I had done.