When Copper Suns Fall (7 page)

“Don’t move another gorgeous finger, unless
you’re trying to make sure your friend’s mind gets fried.”

Faris held her gaze. “Go ahead. Do what you
need to do.”

She scoffed, narrowed her eyes, made a
whispery laugh. “Don’t play bluff games with me.”

“I wouldn’t dare do that to you,” he
said.

The battle between “should I stay” and
“should I go” waged on in my mind. Something brushed across my
foot. I hope it wasn’t a spider. I made a little yelp and clamped
my hand over my mouth. Did I see Faris’s head turn the tiniest bit
toward me?

“You knew how to find me, didn’t you? But I
also knew your not-too-smart friend here was on the way,” the girl
said. Faris crossed his arms, stared her down. “Don’t try to hide
your surprise. Stupidity looks awful on you. We set you up, waited
for your friend here. I’d love to know how he freed himself from
those train tracks, though.” She shook the rusted bells and closed
her eyes. They chimed in tune with the muffled music coming from in
the main area outside the room.

Smoke from the boilers had drifted through
the hallway and into the kissing arena, giving the people in the
room an unearthly veil of cloudiness under the dim lights.

A collective, but muted shout came from the
crowd in the main room. A new song began just before Tobie’s eyes
rolled upward. She moved her lips back to his ear, and said, “Give
your mistress the message you brought for your partner here. Be
quick about it, too.”

Tobie refocused, making his face appear
normal again. He glanced deep into her eyes and parted his lips.
She moved closer to his mouth, while the SOCS stared at Faris from
behind black shades. If he were worried about his friend, he didn’t
show it.

“I can offer you something better,” Faris
said.

Her expression darkened. She flicked her head
toward the SOCS without moving her eyes away from Tobie’s face.
They stepped closer to Faris. A deep throb of coldness surged
through my chest. I considered texting Jalen, asking him to call
the bouncers who’d break up this party. Instead, I kept my eyes
focused on Faris.

“Then speak fast. What gives?” she said.

Two lights reflected on the SOCS’s faces.

“Hey, uglies in black, take a look at this.”
The girl I’d lost in the crowd had stepped into the room. She
appeared from inside the smoke with the stealth of a Tracker. The
whole group was amazing and scary, together. They must be
angel-bloods. But what kind? Light or Dark? She aimed two mirrors
attached to her wrists at the SOCS. Somehow they pulled electricity
from lights in the ceiling that reflected off the glass.

She moved closer to the SOCS—who I’d always
believed were supposed to protect Castle Hayne’s citizens versus
terrifying us—and held the mirrors right in front of their faces.
If I tried to leave now, I’d get caught. No, it was too late to
run, or even to breathe. Steam rose from their skin in exposed
places where lights from the mirrors hit them. The SOCS cowered and
hissed, as if the beams burned them.

People outside the room continued to dance
and shout, unfazed and carefree. I vowed to beat on Jalen and Lexa
for exposing me to the Falling Lights scene. Hoodie Girl spun all
the way around, baring her teeth at the Amazon. I pushed myself
back further into my corner. Last thing I wanted was to get caught
by any of this colorful group.

“Could’ve said you’d need extra primping
time, Desi,” Faris said. “I can’t decide whether to kick or kiss
you.”

“How about neither of those; but payment will
be discussed later,” Desi said, and turned to the girl. “That’s my
brother you’re using your witch bells on.”

“She looks ticked, doesn’t she?” Faris said
to Hoodie Girl. The SOCS’s skin sizzled in the lights reflecting
from Desi’s mirrors. I’d never seen them cower to anyone. Watching
them cover their heads like the people they terrorized amused me.
The girl raised her hands to shake the bells. Faris pointed toward
Desi’s left-arm, the one with the mirror aimed at her face, now.
“You know what those can do. It might be a good idea to put your
weapon away.”

She narrowed her eyes, and smiled in a way so
perfectly beautiful, so completely calm, it almost hurt to watch
her do it. “Keep fantasizing about all the things you’d like to do
to me. But tonight, isn’t the one for us.”

Lifting her hands, she slammed her palms
together over her head. A clang sounded into the air and carried
over the room like a gong increased by several thousand decibels.
Ceiling lights spat bolts out. The music faded. Gasps and cries
sounded from out in the Shack’s dance space. A horrible odor of
mildew and decay filled the kissing arena. Trailed by the two
copycat soldiers who steamed as they ran, the girl managed to slip
past Faris and crew hunched over shielding their ears.

Tobie dropped to his knees and looked
straight at me standing in the shadows. The Desi girl jumped to his
side. Afraid to leave, I stayed plastered against the wall as if an
imaginary force held me in place.

Desi had used what appeared to be electricity
to steam up the SOCS. Translation: something illegal in every
imaginable rulebook. If word of rebel activity got back to the
Tribunal, our cellereaders will be deactivated.

Tobie pointed in my direction and slumped
over in her arms. A mini chat rushed through my mind. Do I stay?
Run? Pull out the mace? No. Yes. Good idea.

My breath quickened. Pressure eased into my
temples. A blackout was coming, the kind that brought the black
blobs, and the hissing voices.

While cradling the boy’s head, the Desi girl
glanced around. Then her penetrating gaze rested on me. She glared
at me and said, “She saw us, Faris. Do something.”

And the boy named Faris, the same one I’d
trailed like a cat in heat, did what she said. He locked his gaze
on me, and unlike the first time we spotted each other, chills shot
across my skin.

I removed myself from the wall and forced my
feet to run out to the main room. The crowd was in full panic.
Lights along the edges of the ceiling shot out bolts of
electricity. More cries and gasps filled the emptying room. The
lights falling from the sky only made the scene more disturbing.
Smoke continued to shoot out of the steamers, but in no particular
rhythm. Fumes trickled into my throat, my nostrils, my eyes. The
scene before me blurred. Where was Jalen? He should be trying to
get me.

I glanced back; wanting to be sure I’d lost
the alchemical trio. Turning around, I almost collided with Faris
blocking my way to the exit. I had a sizable head start.

So how did he manage to get in front of
me?

Now I stared into those silvery-gray eyes,
narrowed and deadly up close. Penetrating eyes that made you feel
exposed and helpless. I swallowed, but couldn’t look away, tried to
think of something witty, but no luck. My mind drew a blank.
Pressure increased in my temples.

Not here, not now, please.

Closing my eyes, I tried to ground the
spinning feeling and clear the blackness easing in from all
sides.

“Hold on to me,” he said in a calm voice.

“What? I—I don’t know you.” More pressure. I
shook it off.

“You’ve been following me around all night.
I’m thinking, you should know something by now.”

“Um, ever heard of the enlarged ego
syndrome?” I said. His lips twitched. My cheeks burned—partly
because everything happened with lightning speed—but mostly because
I’d been caught stalking someone. Now I was about to fall flat on
my face in front of said person.

“Anyway, I wasn’t following you. Father—my
father taught me not to follow strange, dangerous boys.” I spoke
with a slurred voice, and my tongue had gone numb.

“Name is Faris, which means I’m no longer a
stranger. Again, I think you should take my hand.”

“I don’t care about your name. I just watched
your friend hurt two SOCS of all idiot things to do.” I stepped
back. He moved forward. The room spun. I staggered on my feet.
Stupid blackouts picked the worst night ever to reappear.

“You don’t have a clue about what you saw.”
He reached for me. I shook my head, but the blobs didn’t go away. I
placed a hand on the wall beside me. Metal mache crunched under it
and scratched my palm. Faris moved closer, invading my space.

“Touch me and—and I’ll scream.”

“No, you won’t. You might fall over and knock
your noodle first, though.” He crossed his arms over his chest and
gave me a blank look. Correction, he studied me with worried eyes.
But why? I pushed myself off the wall, stumbled. He eased to my
side and glanced up at the ceiling as he tried to steady me.

“I said stay—stay away dammit.” I used a
forbidden word. Something I’d never done before. I wanted to say it
again.

“Stop acting like a Tribunal runt,” he
said.

“Ooh, now you’re going to insult me? Good way
to make sure I turn your name in on Monday. Guess I’ll have company
in the Barrows.” I turned around too fast, barely hearing the
panicked cries around me, and didn’t get a second chance to say
much else. A sound like crumbling rock thundered around me; but my
eyelids were too heavy to lift and see what was happening. Faris’s
arm circled my waist. The room blurred. Chill bit into my skin.
Somewhere in the distance, glass shattered before the room went all
the way black.

* * *

Forcing my eyes to open, I found myself
outside the Shack. I was standing in Faris’s arms, my head against
his chest, my fingers entwined in his black vest. It was a shiny,
smooth fabric that felt like silk. Something nobody had worn
outside of ceremonies since before the Tidal Years. This boy was no
common citizen.

His earthy-sweet smell was different,
intoxicating. He had saved me from whatever just happened back in
the Shack. I didn’t expect to be rescued. I expected to be
slaughtered or tortured, or something. So what brought on the
change? We stood among the crowd fleeing down the hillside. He
lifted my chin, stared in my eyes. But this wasn’t some dumb
player’s move. No, a mysterious thing stirred behind his
silvery-gray eyes.

“Feel better, now?” he asked. I nodded.

“Thanks for helping me,” I said, still
fighting a light head. Still afraid the dreaded black blobs
lingered somewhere around us. Somewhat ashamed I’d spoken so
horribly to him moments ago.

“You probably shouldn’t do that,” he
said.

“Do what?”

“Thank me.”

“Why? Because I caught you using alchemy?
That’s what your kind does. Make magic in the shadows, right?” I
said.

His left eye ticked. The girl in the hoodie
had called him a shadow walker, a Caducean. Could it be possible?
Father told me Caduceans were mythical creatures—demon slayers from
a time long gone. Yet, here I stood with a boy who didn’t deny my
claim.

Around us, fewer people were leaving the
Shack. They paid no attention to the two idiots standing and
staring at each other. Had Jalen and Lexa gotten out? They were
taking forever to reach me.

Did I really want them to find me?

“They’ll call me now. Make me a witness
against you. I’m sorry, but I already have too many problems. So
I—I have to tell the truth,” I said.

“That won’t be a problem.” Faris smiled, a
catchy one that lit his face up. I couldn’t decide whether it was
angelic or downright wicked. “You won’t remember me, or any of this
in a minute.”

“Really? How do you figure that?” I asked,
heart racing.

“Because my gift to you…” He moved his face
closer to mine, pulling me into whatever was happening in his head.
“My gift is to remove memories that cause you pain.”

“Okay, um, right.” Had I lost my mind? It
probably wouldn’t have hurt to scream.

He held my gaze, locking me into something I
couldn’t explain. Soon, a tear puckered up in his left eye, and
slid down his cheek where it stopped on his top lip. Then he
blinked, snapping us out of whatever place he’d taken us to, and
glanced behind my head. “Here comes your dark knight,” he said,
easing his arms away from me.

He strolled off into the last group of
stragglers hanging around the Shack. How did he know my nickname
for Jalen?

I wiped away a tear rolling down my right
cheek.

“Chela, there you are. You had me scared,
girl.” Jalen’s voice cut into the moment. He spun me around to face
him. I blinked, clearing my eyes. “What’s wrong? Did you get
hurt?”

I glanced around us. The boy was gone. A dull
headache replaced the fuzziness in my head. Lost inside a clouded
mind, I forgot what I wanted to say. The entire night’s events were
hazy. I fumbled with my thoughts.

What happened to me in there?

“All right, I got Lex losing her lunch in my
back seat. That would be Bill’s brand new unicar. Remember him,
right?”

“Yeah, he’s the coolest stepfather ever.” Was
that my voice? It sounded thin and raspy, total opposites of my
usual strong tone.

“Don’t tell me. I’ve got to clean up your
spatter, too?” He palmed my forehead.

“I don’t have a fever.”

“Uh, yeah you do. You’re hot and pale.”

“Just—just take me home. I’ve truly had
enough for one night,” I said. He laid an arm across my shoulders.
I glanced back at the empty area to the right of the Shack, a
service path leading down to the contaminated beach.

On the way home, I fought sleep stealing a
memory I didn’t want to give away.

Chapter Seven – A KoBold DarKly

Scattered across the floor like crystal
teeth, glass fragments shimmered in the afternoon haze. Bess had
found the broken window in my room. Now I was officially carded,
illegal, and a home breaker with a stomach full of nausea and
anxiety. A blurry, brown body hopped up on my chest, wetting my
eyes, nose, and lips with a slobbery, warm tongue. I focused on it.
Peanut.