Copper Girl (19 page)

“Max, we rescued you,” I soothed. “You’re safe here. They won’t hurt you anymore.”

“I went there on purpose!” Max, far past exhaustion, leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees, resting the weight of his head in his hands. “I was distracting them,” he muttered.

“What the hell from?” I demanded.

He blew out a deep breath. “All magic is governed by one of the elements. You know how we’re metal?” I nodded. “Every generation, there’s one really powerful member of each element born. An Inheritor of Power, they’re called. The Peacekeepers thought it was me.”

“It
is
you,” I said. “Isn’t it?”

“No.” He raised his head, eyes wide and jaw trembling. I’d never seen Max scared before. “It’s Sadie.”

“Well, this has gone from bad to worse,” I grumbled. Shortly after Max’s revelation that Sadie was the true metal Inheritor, and that he’d gone willingly to the Peacekeepers in order to keep her (and me) safe, he had succumbed to his mingled fatigue and anxiety. He’d only managed a few spoonfuls of broth before leaning back and closing his eyes; ironically, just before he fell asleep, Max had been ranting away about the regimens of drugs that had been pumped directly into his bloodstream. Some had kept him in an REM state for extended lengths of time, for days or even weeks, while others had held him on the edge of deep sleep so he was unconscious for hours, but never actually rested—then, they had added stimulants to his pharmaceutical cocktail, and kept him awake until his eyes were like sandpaper. All of this had been done to study the effect of dreamwalking on various areas of the brain. Yeah, it would probably be some time before those poisons worked their way out of his system.

Micah draped an arm across my shoulders and kissed my temple. “You did not know,” he murmured against my skin. “Would you describe wanting your brother returned to you, whole and safe, as a fault?”

My ignorance of the facts didn’t make the present situation one bit more appealing. I glanced over at the bed where Max slept fitfully; after the unsuccessful feeding, the silverkin had moved him to a bedroom close to the kitchen, apparently so they could rectify his lack of a proper meal as soon as he woke. As I watched Max’s eyes move to and fro behind his lids, the small, jerky movements of his arms and chin, I wondered if my brother would ever again sleep peacefully.

Probably not, not after what I’ve done
. After Max’s initial freak-out, we’d calmed him down and convinced him to eat something. While he’d spooned the thin broth past his cracked lips, he had enlightened me as to my stupidity.

“They always knew it was one of us,” he’d mumbled.

“Who’re they?” I asked. He shot me a knowing glance, and my curiosity deflated like a balloon. Yeah. The Peacekeepers.

“The Inheritor of Metal hadn’t been located in any of the other families,” said Max. I must have looked utterly befuddled, because he explained, “You can track where the heir is likely to appear, based on the strongest bloodlines. There are charts.”

Of course. Charts. “What makes you think it’s Sadie?”

“I don’t
think
. I
know
.” Cocky, cocky Max. He slurped some more of the broth before he continued. “I never thought my first meal when I got out would be chicken soup.”

“Really?” Max had never been picky about food, but then, his diet at home hadn’t been nutrients pushed through a tube. “Want a steak or something?”

He grinned. “Only if it’s rare and bloody.”

I wrinkled my nose; he’d always eaten his meat extra rare to gross me out. I explained what steak was to the silverkin, and asked for a side of mashed potatoes and asparagus for good measure. As they scurried off, Max resumed his tale.

“They’d gotten to the rest of the families before us,” Max continued. “Then Dad told me—”

“
Wait
.” Max dropped his spoon, and Micah, who’d been lurking about the doorway while I spent time with my brother, rushed to my side. I think my commanding tone might have sounded a bit like Mom. “Dad?”

Max didn’t pretend to misunderstand me. “Yeah. Dad and I stayed in contact for a few years after the wars.”

Ever take an elevator up to the top level of a skyscraper only to let it plummet back to the ground floor?
“What about Mom?”

“I don’t know. I never asked.” Great. I gestured for him to continue; clearly, this bit of family drama wasn’t getting sorted out today, and possibly not within my lifetime.

“He said that when Sadie was born he’d felt it, the huge swell of her power. He was able to mask it while he was home, but then he got called up by the war mages. She remained hidden for a while, but then the old Inheritor died.”

“Olquin,” Micah said. “A good man, he was.”

Max glared at Micah but kept his tone civil. Barely. “Once Olquin was gone, the Peacekeepers started turning things upside down looking for the new Inheritor. Dad had told me it was Sadie, but she was just a kid!” He shook his head, raking a hand through his shaggy hair. “How’s she doing?”

“Good. She’s in school, going for a master’s degree. She wants to be a research librarian.”

Max laughed soundlessly. “Sounds like Sadie. Always with her books and stories.” He fell silent for a time, fingering the ornate handle of the spoon. I wondered if Micah had made it. “I couldn’t let them take Sadie. They would have broken her.”

“A noble sacrifice, but foolish,” Micah stated. Max’s head snapped up, but Micah continued, “No matter what you had done, eventually it would have become apparent that you are not the Inheritor. In fact, if one sensitive to magic is in close proximity to either of your sisters, they would be able to feel her powers.”

“Sadie doesn’t even know how to use her power!” Max defended. “She was never trained!”

“Neither was I, but Micah found me,” I said quietly. “He knew that I’m an Elemental and a Dreamwalker.”

“Sara’s power is quite remarkable. It washes off her in waves, no less strong than the sea,” Micah said, a gleam in his eye not unlike pride. “Her strength went so far as to make the Iron Queen uneasy.”

“Ferra?” Max asked. My recently captive brother was on a first-name basis with the Iron Queen? “Sara, you’ve got to stay clear of her! She hates our family!”

“Really? Why?” I remembered Micah telling me that Ferra was Dad’s enemy, but I’d never asked why. Ferra seemed like the kind of woman who cultivated enemies the way others tended roses. “Is that why those iron warriors were following us after the first time we escaped the Institute?”

Micah and Max shouted in unison, both demanding why this particular bit of information was late to the party. “I was distracted,” I mumbled, remembering rainy escapes and accommodating oak trees. “So, what’s her deal?”

“I don’t know,” Max replied. “What I do know is that, after the war ended, Ferra acted like she was an ally to the remaining Elementals. Then she got pissed, and then Dad was gone…”

His voice trailed off, so I finished for him. “Then, you took matters into your own hands.” Max only nodded, looking so despondent I couldn’t stay mad at him. Shortly thereafter, the Peacekeeper drugs knocking around his system had sent him back to sleep, a luxury I didn’t think I’d have for some time yet. It was all right; Max had done the best he could. He’d been a fifteen-year-old kid desperate to protect what was left of his family. It was time for me to handle things.

Now, as Micah and I watched Max sleep, his steak gone cold and his potatoes a congealed lump of glue on the bedside table, we planned our next move.

“Should we get Sadie from college?’ I asked.

“Yes,” Micah murmured. “She and Maeve should be brought here to safety.”

Micah didn’t mention Dad. Max had claimed to have lost touch with Dad a few years after the wars had ended, but a girl could hope. “Then what will we do?”

“Then, we wait. We will let our enemies move first, and we will watch. We will learn. When we know all that they can teach us, we will strike.” That speech was similar to the one he’d given me while we had been hidden in the oak after I’d dreamwalked my way to Max. I wondered if Micah was some sort of elfin warlord, experienced in rallying spirits. I hoped so, since I felt like we were in need of someone who’d seen more than a few battles.

I rested my head against Micah’s shoulder. “Have I told you that I love you, Lord Silverstrand?”

“You haven’t.”

I reached across his body and laced my fingers with his, the words he’d spoken in the Clear Pool echoing in my mind:
we are much stronger together than apart
. “Consider it done.”

By the time Max woke, as cranky as a wet cat, Micah and I had prioritized our next tasks:

1.   Get Sadie

2.   Get Mom

3.   Determine what the Peacekeepers are doing with Dreamwalkers (and all Elementals)

4.   Try not to get killed

Numbers One and Two would be relatively easy, and we already knew part of the answer to Number Three. The trick would be adhering to Number Four. Of course, both Micah and I wanted to leave Max in the Otherworld while we completed Numbers One and Two. My darling brother, true to form, wasn’t having any of it. I was remembering that he was definitely the stubborn one.

“Max, you can
not
go,” I said. Again. “You’re too weak from being cooped up in that plastic box for so long!”

“Am I?” he demanded. To prove his point he glared at a metal bowl, and we watched it crumple like so much paper.

“Your body is what’s weak,” I bit off. “Small wonder, after ten years as a lab rat.”

“I wasn’t always in the tube,” he pointed out. “In the beginning, they were good to me.”

“Were they?” I sneered.

“Yeah, they were. Besides, unlike
you
, I know how to use my power!”

“Then why didn’t you escape?” I demanded. “Why weren’t you ruling the Otherworld, O Great and Powerful Max?”

“There wasn’t enough metal,” Micah said quietly. Our sibling rivalry was getting on his delicate elfin nerves. “They hobbled him. Or perhaps it was a punishment.” Micah turned to Max and fixed him with his silver gaze. “What had you done to displease them?”

Max’s eyes narrowed, but he answered, “You’re right; they kept only the bare minimum of metal in the Institute. I couldn’t have broken out if my life depended on it.” He was quiet for a moment, fingering the edge of his sleeve. “One day, a few years into it, I found a piece of metal in the exercise yard. It was

nothing really, just a scrap. So I took it, and made a little sculpture for one of the techs. It was a lily; she liked the lilies that grew near the fence.” He was silent for a moment, staring at his hands. “I thought she liked me.”

“Perhaps she did,” Micah murmured. He regarded Max for another moment, then turned back to me. “We should bring your brother.”

“What?” I demanded, while Max snapped, “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here!”

“Maeve is unlikely to accompany us without good reason,” Micah explained. “What better reason than her long-lost son, returned? Also, once Max’s disappearance is discovered, your government will likely begin monitoring the known portals, as well as your family. Therefore, it would be foolish to retrieve your sister and bring her here only to make a second journey between worlds in order to bring your brother to the Raven Compound.”

I chewed the inside of my mouth; between the two of them, I was mad enough to spit. Micah’s logic was sound, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. “Fine,” I grumbled, glaring while Max smirked. “But if you die, don’t bitch to me!”

With that I stalked out of the room, not slowing until I reached the knot garden behind Micah’s palace. Exhausted, exasperated, and all other sorts of ‘ex’- emotions, I sat heavily on one of the stone benches near the bathing pool. I heard Micah and Max follow, then stop while they argued in hushed tones. A few moments later, only one set of footsteps approached me. Surprisingly, it was Max.

“Hey,” Max murmured. I ignored his voice, so he stood in front of me.
Jerk
. “You know we’re right.”

“Max, you can barely stand. You can’t even eat anything!” After he had woken, he’d made a valiant effort to consume his steak dinner, but that had ended… badly. He’d joked about just how spectacularly he had vomited, downplaying our concerns, and asked for more broth. “I didn’t get you out of there just to let the Peacekeepers kill you in some other way.” My voice caught on the last word, and I covered my face with my hands.