Awakening - The Last Science #1

Transitions - III

  Cinza took charge of the mission. Rachel surrendered command voluntarily—almost eagerly. She worried about Rachel's sudden lack of motivation and willingness to lead. Still, in this case it made tactical sense. Cinza's magic was most important part of their excursion.

  They waited while the Laushires and Natalie got out of the cruiser, bleary-eyed in the early morning hours, and swiftly took their places. Cinza and Ruby joined Hailey, piling in uncomfortably in the back seat of the squad car. Jackie started up the engine again, and they set off while the remaining Ghosts of Rallsburg (as Ruby now insisted they be called) stayed with the convoy to await their return.

  It took them a while to reach their destination, since it lay on the opposite side of the city from where they'd arrived. Jackie drove precisely the speed limit, avoiding drawing any unwanted attention to them. Cinza would have preferred speed, but she supposed that a police officer from the city would know best how to avoid getting pulled over. The worst thing for them would be to get their names and vehicle on record now, when they were supposed to be dead back in Rallsburg.

  Still, this excursion wasn't something they could delay a single moment. As they crossed the heart of Olympia and reached the other half, the signposts leading to their target increased in frequency. Cinza felt more reassured with each one, knowing that they'd soon be done with this and back home where they belonged. She may have grown up entrenched in a city far larger and harsher than this one, but she'd sworn them off entirely ever since. Every minute spent in the oppressive lights and sounds irritated her. At least her beloved seemed not to be bothered.

  Ruby was intensely focused on the road ahead. She had been practicing the invisibility wall as Cinza had taught, but she'd never quite managed to keep it as stable as they'd need for it to be totally impenetrable even to the sharpest eyes—human or artificial. Cinza could keep it steady, but she could only last so long. Even with Ruby supplying all the energy, Cinza wasn't sure if she could cover a large enough area for the time Hailey needed.

  Her own magic was so far away and difficult to reach, ever since the ritual. Her limbs felt like they were twigs, bending at the slightest pressure and threatening to snap. Ruby was all the power, and Cinza merely the guidance. They'd only managed the vehicles from above, in case of a flyover, and using the smallest possible area of cover. Even that, when coupled with the additional complications of a moving target, had left her gasping.

  They made their final turn, pulling into a parking lot that bordered St. Peter Hospital. Jackie turned the car off, and they got out into the cool night air. Rachel bumped her head on the roof of the car getting out. She shivered, as the only clothes she had left were the light dress and thin jacket she'd been wearing all day. Her apartment had burned down at some point during the night. Compared to the practical clothes Cinza and Ruby wore or Jackie's uniform, Rachel was quite underdressed for three in the morning in the springtime. Standing next to Hailey in her full flight outfit, she looked particularly out of place—but none of them would ever think to ridicule her.

  Rachel was a step beyond that now. Cinza no longer felt affection toward her as a leader akin to herself. Rachel was something above her. Cinza felt reverence. She didn't think of Rachel as holy in any sense, and certainly not as something to worship, but there was a remove that simply hadn't been there before. The old library had become their church, and Rachel their savior. She'd sacrificed so much for them and saved their lives at great risk to her own.

  Cinza would follow her without hesitation and do everything in her power to help her.

  With that newfound devotion in mind, she'd spearheaded this particular excursion after Rachel had expressed only a vague hope of a chance. Cinza couldn't allow that wish to be cast in vain. She'd see it through, damn any potential consequences. Luckily, her more foolhardy plans were made astonishingly simple by the addition of one final piece to their rescue party.

  Hailey Winscombe stepped forward as Cinza and Ruby joined hands, seated on the ground. Ruby began releasing as much energy as she could spare into Cinza's waiting grasp. They pulled together, as though their embrace could somehow amplify the effect, and a vague shimmer sped through the air up to the window they'd selected. A few moments and it stabilized, looking for all the world as though nothing was out of the ordinary.

  Cinza held the tunnel steady as Hailey took off, bounding up step-by-step through the air. She wasn't flying, exactly, but it was like she were taking four-foot leaps up an invisible staircase. It only took her a few seconds to reach the window. She rapped her knuckles on it, a bit harder than intended as the knock echoed through the empty grounds.

  A face appeared at the window on cue. Nicole Parsons, ever willing and loyal, propped the window open to let Hailey inside. As the window snapped shut again, Cinza gratefully released the corridor of invisibility, and Ruby gasped aloud as the energy flow between them was cut short.

  They waited. The clock continued to tick incessantly in Cinza's mind as they stared up at the faint yellow pane set against the dark hospital wall. They'd all agreed, without mentioning it to Rachel, who the first one back out of the building must be.

  Hailey appeared at the window. Cinza established the corridor once more, then flashed a signal light. Hailey propped the window open and leapt out. She had a much larger outline as she bounded back down to them. As she landed gently, Jackie hurried forward to help her let him down easily. He was still battered and beaten, and he looked like he couldn't move on his own, but he was alive.

  Rachel tried to choke out a few words, but it just came out as a garbled mess. It didn't matter. They all understood the sentiment. She hugged Will as tightly as she dared, given his injuries, then helped him back into the squad car while Hailey went back for the others.

  Cinza's reunion with Brittany and Matthew was no less emotional, if a bit more coherent. Brittany was doing much better, it seemed, though she had to be supported everywhere she walked. Hailey had volunteered to fly her back to their home, while Cinza and the rest of her people went back on foot. They'd considered driving a fourth vehicle, but hadn't managed to find an intact one left in Rallsburg and didn't want to steal one. None of them felt like criminals, even if they were now in hiding from every government in the world.

  Nicole was the last one down, and she dealt one final blow to the group, though she tried to soften it as much as she could. Morton Pollock had died in the helicopter, bleeding out before they could get him any real help. Cinza hugged Nicole as she cried, but there was nothing more they could do. She offered again to let Nicole leave, if she so desired, but the farmer's daughter—who'd once confessed to joining them solely to spite her mother—vehemently refused.

  They were family, Nicole said, and Cinza, having spent her whole life abandoned by one family after another searching for the one to call her own, couldn't agree more.

  As they set out to depart and Hailey took off with Brittany in her arms, Cinza turned to Rachel.

  "Rachel," she started, removing the spell from her voice, and her leader—her savior—looked up from where she had been making Will comfortable in the front seat of the patrol car.

  "Thank you," Rachel said, and the words were like pure honey to Cinza.

  "You have my number," she said. Hers, unlike the rest of them, would not change—she'd set it up discreetly following guidance from Tezofarl, and it could not be traced back to her in any way. Rachel, of course, would never forget it. "I will always be there, the moment you need me."

  Rachel nodded, though she was still overcome with emotion from her reunion with Will.

  Following her sudden instinct, Cinza took a leaf from Ruby's book and bowed. The gesture startled them both. It felt right, though. Cinza should show deference to her, as she had just sworn to follow her into Hell and back whatever may come.

  Rachel gave her a silent nod of acknowledgement, and that was all Cinza needed. The girl in the silver cloak turned and vanished into the night on Ruby's shoulder—following her family home.