Crimson Rising (8 page)

That’s the slight wrinkle in our plan. Now we’re waiting for Skandar to come back. Who knows what kind of questions the guard could have asked him.

Eva shivers. “We could leave without him—”

“No.”

I need my friends here. If we’re really going to see Ryel and the other Drifters, I want witnesses. Otherwise, anything I say to Alkine afterward will be twisted into the ramblings of a crazy teenager.

I stare out at the stars beyond the opening of the bay. I was up there, once, shuttling between planets. It seems so impossible.

Eva squirms in her seat. “I think I see him.”

I turn to watch a thin shadow creep through the empty bay. The shuttle shudders as Skandar steps onboard and seals the entrance behind him. “Whew.” He takes a seat behind us. “I thought he’d never let me go. It’s okay, Jesse. I think we’ve bought ourselves some time.”

Instead of answering, I begin to power up the shuttle.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to do the piloting?” She grips her seatbelt.

“I’ve got to learn. Just tell me if I’m about to do anything stupid.”

Her teeth clench. “Can I preemptively tell you now?”

I flip on the radar. “Very funny.”

––––

The stark Siberian landscape rushes beneath our shuttle. Fields of endless tundra stretch miles in every direction. If I stare long enough, it’s like we’re not moving at all.

Identical, that’s it. All of this Siberia crap is mass identical.

And yet somehow I know exactly where I’m going.

Eva’s grip tightens as the cockpit bumps. “You know, chances are Captain Alkine’s going to find out we’re missing. Or that a shuttle’s missing, at the very least. Are you sure this is worth it?”

“You’re not seeing what I am,” I reply. “Trust me. It’s as strong as Seattle. And look what I found when I went there.”

“Yeah. A trap.”

I shoot her a glare, but she’s kind of right. I might know the pathway. I might even have a reasonable idea of what’s at the end. But things like this—strange, cryptic visions— rarely go off the way I expect them to.

I glance over my shoulder at Skandar. He’s slumped in the passenger seats, barely awake. A tangle of brown hair pokes over the armrest. He’s still in his pajamas.

“For god’s sake, pull up!” Eva bolts back in her seat, eyes wide.

My attention darts to the front window. Land fills nearly three quarters now. The shuttle tilts, losing altitude. I yank on the console. We whip into the air, wobbling sideways.

Eva cups her mouth, looking sick. “I’m going to die. You’re going to kill me.”

Skandar shudders awake and whoops like he’s on a rollercoaster. “Keep it up, Jesse! Gun it!” If he had his way, we’d be doing loops in the sky. Of course, with me behind the wheel, it’d be more like one shaky corkscrew right into the ground.

I fight the steering, struggling to bring the shuttle level again. We dip sideways. The seatbelt cuts into my torso. Eva’s arm weaves under my elbows and moves to a switch beside the console. We slow to a crawl. I straighten us out.

“Velocity dampener.” She recoils. “Keep you under control, Fisher.”

I lay on the accelerator. Nothing. “So we’re gonna drive like grannies now?”

Her brows raise. “Grannies come home alive.”

Skandar joins us in the cockpit, kneeling beside Eva.

I glance at him briefly until a tug forces my attention back to the windshield. “I feel it.”

Eva stares at me.

“Something’s yanking me forward,” I continue. “Can we speed back up?”

She sighs. “Flip the dampener, but be careful of rocks. You’re awfully low.”

Even with our front beams on full tilt, anything not spotlighted by our shuttle disappears into the same black hole. I ignore Eva’s warning and dip the shuttle until we’re less than a few meters from the dirt.

Skandar grabs onto my seat as we accelerate. “What exactly are we looking for?”

“Red. Water. Rocks.” I wince. If they hadn’t been with me from the start, they’d think I’m crazy, but they know I wouldn’t make this stuff up. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s right on the coast.”

Eva grips the console. “A bad dream, maybe?”

“I wish.”

We pass over a patchy area of grass before the scenery gives way to dark tundra once more. It looks different from my vision now that the sun’s down. For a moment I start to doubt myself. Then I see it, out of nowhere, like a mirage.

Snow.

It’s not a large plot—maybe football field-size at best— but it’s here. The clouds put it here, not some weather program or Bio-Net. Growing up in the Skyship Community, none of us has ever seen honest-to-goodness real snow. It’s as alien as I am.

“Wow.” Skandar stands and stares beyond the windshield. The moonlight casts a soft blue glow over the thin layer of white. “Should’a brought my sled, huh?”

I crane my neck to catch more of it. “This shouldn’t be here. I didn’t see this.”

I trace the line of our headlights until I notice water, twinkling in the distance. The coast. We’re here, but it’s all wrong. There was never snow.

The pull intensifies. This is definitely the spot.

I slow the shuttle and extend the landing gear. Eva grabs onto the armrest as the cockpit rumbles. We arch around the blanket of snow as I prepare to bring the ship down.

I point at a lever to the right of the steering console. “This one?”

She nods. “But not—”

Too late. I yank it and we sink fast and slam into ground with a reverberating thud. Skandar flies an inch in the air before landing back on his feet.

“—all at once,” Eva finishes.

“Oh.” I flip off the power. The shuttle sputters as it settles down. Skandar rubs the back of his neck, mumbling expletives under his breath. As the headlights dim, a pinprick of red light pokes through the snow beyond our windshield. It’s muted, not at all like in my vision, but it calls me forward all the same.

Eva rubs her elbow. “Well, we didn’t die. That’s a start.”

I unbuckle my seatbelt as the side door slides open.

“Yeah.” Skandar winces in pain. “Way to go, man. Best landing ever.”

“Sorry.” I step around him and jump out the door. I nearly slip on the snow as I land. It crunches beneath my sneakers.

I reach down and grab a handful of white powder, balling it in my fist until it’s hard and compact. This shouldn’t be here, not with the planet warming the way it is. The air is refreshingly crisp and cool—cooler even than the temperature-controlled stuff inside the shuttle. I’m used to stepping into triple-digit heat back in the Fringes. This has got some bite to it. It’s a freak snow globe in the middle of a wasteland.

Skandar leaps into the snow from behind me, kicking it into the air and flipping over to lay on his back. Eva lowers herself carefully until she stands beside me, shaking her head in disapproval.

My skin buzzes. The hair on my arms stands on end. My chest warms. I know this sensation.

“Jesse.” Eva grabs my tense shoulder.

I step away. “It feels like a Pearl.”

She bristles at the word. “But the Academy’s radars would’ve picked up any energy trails. We’re not that far out.” She grabs my arm again, stopping me. “When’s the last time you heard of a Pearl landing in Eastern Siberia anyway?”

I shrug. “If a tree falls and there’s nobody around to hear it...”

“That is such a load of … ” She sighs, loosening her grip. “Seriously, we’re standing in the middle of snow. This isn’t natural.”

“Neither was Seattle.” I pull my wrist up in front of her face to reveal the band of black. “Neither is this bracelet.” As if on cue, it begins to hum, vibrating wildly until it forces my arm back to my side.

Eva stares in disbelief. “This isn’t good, Jesse.” I steady my wrist with my opposite hand and trudge through the powder.

Eva freezes. “Jesse!”

I ignore her and continue on toward the water.

She turns to Skandar. “Are you gonna come with us or play around like a child?”

He pulls his snow-covered body from the ground and follows without a response.

I speed to a sprint. The arctic air pushes against my face—icy brambles rubbing my skin raw. I do my best to ignore the weather. Waves crash gently along the coastline in the distance. The sound is familiar. The smell, too.

Almost there.

My arms buzz with electricity, eager to reach the energy. My strides lengthen until it feels like I’m floating. The glow comes from inside a snow drift a few yards away, deep and red. Strong, like a traffic light, visible even under a layer of powder.

It is a Pearl. I can see it clearly now.

But Pearls are green. That’s the problem. Every one I’ve come across, all the hundreds I’ve seen since I was a kid, have been the same.

I kneel to analyze the strange object, transfixed. I could hold it in my palm, easy. But something about that color— it’s like a warning.

Eva and Skandar pull in behind me, wheezing. Skandar wipes snow from his pajama sleeve. “Whoa.”

Eva leans down next to me. “This was the red from your vision?”

“I guess.” I stretch out my arm. My hand shakes, pushed around by invisible layers of energy. I struggle through the force field and extend my fingers to touch the Pearl.

First I feel the cold numb of the snow. But when my fingers press against the red surface of the orb, I yelp in pain.

I recoil immediately, skin on fire. My hand burns like I’ve dunked it in pan of boiling water. I whip my body away and clutch my throbbing fingers in a fist of snow.

Skandar chuckles, like I’m putting on a show for his amusement. “Did it bite you?”

I shake my head, cursing under my breath. Energy waves ripple around me. I’m attracted to it, like a normal Pearl. Why would it burn me?

“It’s all covered in snow.” Eva stretches out her fingers to touch it.

I thrust my arm in front of her. “No!”

She brushes me away and proceeds to dust the rest of the powder from the beaming red surface. Then she hoists the Pearl from the ground. I wince, fully expecting her to drop it and stagger away in pain.

Instead she cradles the Pearl in her arms with ease. Red light illuminates her skeptical expression. “I don’t see what got you so riled up, Jesse.”

“It burned me.” I stand and survey the ball of red light from a safe distance. “Hurt like hell, too.”

She frowns. “Then I must have magical hands or something because it feels like a regular Pearl to me. Weird color, though.”

Skandar steps to her side. “Looks like blood.”

She shifts the Pearl to her right hand and holds it in the air. “It’s thicker, isn’t it? I mean, usually you get the sense that you’re staring into something. This is too murky to see.”

“It burned me,” I repeat, frustrated that neither of them seem to care. “Why aren’t you screaming in pain?”

Skandar cautiously lays a finger on the side of the Pearl. “It’s a little warm, but nothing weird. It didn’t even melt the snow.”

I scan my palm for marks. It’s clean and pale. Normal. I briefly consider touching the Pearl again, but decide against it. It’ll hurt me. I know it.

Skandar backs away. “Break it, Jesse.”

Eva nearly drops the Pearl. “What? That’s the worst idea—”

“I wanna see what’s inside.” He leans his hands on his knees, staring intently.

The truth is, I do too. I thought the vision was leading me to Ryel. Could this be some sort of message from the Drifters?

Ignoring Eva, I hold my hands in front of my chest and clench my fingers. “Get behind me.” I warn them. Whatever force flies out of this thing won’t hurt them if I’m in front to deflect it.

I can tell Eva wants to argue, but she’s afraid I’ll trigger something before she can get out of the way. After a moment of thought, she drops the Pearl into the snow and darts behind me. I watch it roll through the powder without melting a thing.

I raise my fingers in the air and try to pull the Pearl off the ground. It doesn’t budge.

I close my eyes and concentrate on the heat pooling in my chest. I imagine the Pearl right in front of me, floating there. I ball my hand into a fist and feel for the explosion.

Nothing. I try again.

This time, I try so hard that I fall forward onto my knees. Snow begins to creep into the lining of my pants. I open my eyes in exhaustion.

“I can’t do it.”

Skandar leans out from behind me. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t break it. I can’t even move it.”

Eva steps forward and crouches beside the orb. “Maybe it’s not a Pearl at all.”

I pant. The exertion took more out of me than I’d expected. “I’m not leaving it out here.”

Eva scoops the Pearl from the snow. “Let’s get it in the shuttle. We can worry about it on the way back.”

I nod, still staring into the red light. “I can’t break it,” I repeat to myself. “Why the hell can’t I break it?”

We race back to the Academy at double-speed. Skandar sits with the Pearl on his lap, blissfully unaware of how badly I want to be able to hold it. This means nothing to him. It’s just another Pearl. New color, yeah, but that’s a novelty.

My mind clouds with possibilities. The thing’s hot, like the fire that comes from Cassius. Maybe that means it’s related to us somehow. It won’t break. Maybe that means there’s no Drifter inside. It could be something else. Information. A map. A weapon.

I lean forward as we pull into the docking bay. “Something’s wrong.”

When we left, the lights in the bay had all been shut off. Now a row at the far end is illuminated. It’s enough to cast shadows along the wall. And there’s a big shadow there, shaped like an “x” with arms at the hips. As we pull closer, I realize who it is.

Agent Morse.

Skandar and Eva met him briefly this morning during breakfast, but they’d seen him at his best. Heck, I think I’ve only seen him at his best. By the way he’s standing now, I can tell that this is going to be anything but.

I slap Skandar on his shoulder. “Quick. Lock the Pearl in the floor panel before he sees.” There’s no way I’m getting this thing up to my room tonight, whether I can touch it or not. And the last thing I want is for Morse to tell Alkine about it. He’d want to analyze it, hold meetings about it— do anything he could to keep me from having it.