A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (53 page)

“Wait for it,” the Vigil said.

Seconds later, the hologram buzzed and
twitched, building in intensity until the entire image burst into
bright light. And just as quickly as it had appeared, it died away,
leaving the hologram city once again in peace.

“What the hell was that?” Anton said, his
voice just above a whisper. His heart beat hard and quick in his
chest. He’d read and remembered Shirai’s initial report, but until
this very moment he hadn’t realized just how right she’d been. What
the hell was going on in his city…?

“That is an energy dump,” the Vigil answered
with an added level of fascination. “A ritual takes up all the
excess energy in the Rain of Light you’re seeing out there, and
grounding it. If I’m not mistaken, that’s a Benjamin’s Key they’re
using. Quite impressive. I didn’t know they were still around.”

Anton exhaled, dreading his next question.
He had to know. “And if things don’t go according to plan?”

“Well…” he paused, frowning deeply.

“What?”

He nodded, tapped again at the unseen
keyboard, and looked at him. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He
capped his words with the loud solitary
clack
of a
keystroke.

There were no two points of light this time.
The clouds remained. Golden arrows, denoting his own forces, moved
towards the various parts of the city where action had been
reported over the last hour, as well as towards the warehouse.
Arrows turned to dots as each point became secure and closed down.
Everything seemed to go smoothly through the haze of the
clouds.

“So my teams take over,” Anton said. “I
don’t see anything happening.”

“That was the first two hours, sir,” he
said. “This is what happens ten hours later, when the Rain keeps
charging itself up with energy.” The cloud-matrix grew thicker,
heavier, until the entirety of the city had become obliterated by
an inky darkness. It became a storm cloud of immense size and
power, eventually growing higher and higher until even the tip of
the Mirades Tower had been swallowed up. He could see the arcs of
light again, and other makings of a tremendously violent hurricane.
“Ten hours later, Governor. Winds have reached catastrophic speeds
just within the area covered by the Rain. Most of the city is now
under the throes of the worst natural and supernatural disaster it
has ever faced. Buildings are demolished...millions of people
die...spirits consume themselves, fueling the Rain more and
more...but it gets worse.”

Anton shivered. “Worse?”

“Much worse, sir,” he said. “The energy just
keeps building, literally siphoning the life force out of those
who’ve survived thus far. Eventually the Tower itself is destroyed.
Until…”

Another white flash of light appeared within
the darkness and just as quickly, expanded. And, just as quickly,
faded into nothingness. This time leaving the entirety of
Bridgetown a barren, cratered wasteland.

Anton felt bile rising in his throat.

“That is what happens if you let your teams
take over, Governor.” He smiled apologetically. “Believe me when I
tell you, sir. I don’t normally agree with everything you say or
do, but on this one thing I am on the same side as you. I only wish
to serve and protect the citizens of Bridgetown. Let whoever is
using the Benjamin’s Key do what they have to do.”

Anton sat silently, staring at the hologram
of a decimated city. No one had ever seen such devastation since
the nuclear uprisings over three hundred years ago. He had seen
data on it himself, and this low-res holo was a far cry from those
disquieting files…yet this was his city. He could not let that
happen. As much as he hated to admit it, he could not ignore the
warnings of Vigil in this instance, jacker punks or not. It had
been his plan all along not to move in…but now he had reason to
doubt these team leaders.

“So what do I do now?” Anton said, fatigue
creeping into his voice.

“Now…” the Vigil said, and paused to think.
“Now, we wait.”

Anton groaned. “Wait? We don’t have the damn
time to —”

“Yes, Governor,” he growled at him. “We do
have time. Have patience.”

He opened his mouth to say something else,
thought better of it, and let out a breath of resignation. He
glanced at Nandahya but she did not respond, only catching his gaze
for a moment, before distractedly looking back down at the screen
in front of her.

“Fine,” he said, closing his eyes.

*

Caren stood on McCleever Street four long
blocks away from her sister, and despite her conviction she could
not help thinking she would never see her again. She’d fought with
that inner demon constantly, but never was it as strong as it was
now. As she stood under the archway of the apartment building,
waiting for Poe to contact her again, she arched her neck and
looked up towards the warehouse. Streetlights illuminated its
concrete and corrugated metal a warm pale yellow-green, making its
appearance somewhat forgettable, were it not for the fact that the
darkest of clouds hovered less than a few thousand feet above it. A
dark, painful loneliness hung over her own head, as if in her heart
and in her mind she had already accepted Denni’s departure.

Denni hadn’t died or been harmed, she was
quite certain of that. She could still feel her presence among the
chaos that swelled within those four walls. Or rather, she had
sensed her physically returning to the warehouse ten minutes ago,
where she previously had only felt a lingering thread, a hint of
consciousness tethered to a distance much farther away. Had she
stepped into Light? Where had she gone for that last half hour? She
could feel a lingering chaos within the warehouse as well…what had
happened? Caren growled in frustration as once again she became all
too aware that she had not yet come to terms with her sister being
a goddess…every disappearance, however temporary, still hit her
squarely in the gut. It was the reason she’d decided to split from
her partner and make her way back to the warehouse.

Poe knew more about the One of All Sacred
than anyone else on her ARU team. She’d often wondered what powers
the One may have…and how he or she would use them. The Awakened had
been under the rule of eight previous Dearest. They all followed
the One of All Sacred to varying degrees, some with devout
conviction while others regarded her as little more than a
spiritual presence taken for granted.

Would Denni be any different?

Caren’s commlink, clipped to the epaulet of
her overcoat, crackled with static. “Poe to CJ, you read?”

She tensed up instinctively, and forced
herself to shake it off. “CJ here, go ahead,” she responded.

More static filtered through, this time
followed by the
bzzzzzt
of a stray lightning charge
disrupting the bandwidth; she saw the white flash of light
somewhere to her left. Three seconds later she heard the
thunderclap rumbling down the street towards her. Less than a mile
away.

Poe held for a few seconds before responding
again, but his voice cut out under another bolt of lightning,
followed by the thunder four seconds later. Farther away, but still
dangerously close.

“Unheard, Poe,” she responded. “Repeat.”

He started again, his voice clearer this
time. “Are you still on McCleever?”

“Yes I am,” she answered, and stepped out
onto the sidewalk, the chilling wind pushing at her face. “Just
getting out of harm’s way at the moment. I don’t trust that
lightning.”

“Get as close to the warehouse as possible,”
he said. “Inside if you can, that’s the safest place for you. I’m
almost at Christine’s place…if we’re going to pull this off, we’re
going to need a Benjamin’s Key.”

Caren blinked. “You have got to be kidding
me,” she said, more to herself than to Poe. “I thought those were
outlawed after the Seventh Embodiment.”

“Unsanctioned use, yes,” he said. “She’s got
a license for it.”

“Are you sure it’ll work?” she asked,
laughing despite her misgivings. “That’s a pretty small grounding
wire for a damn huge storm.”

“Well…we’ll find out,” he said.

“Here’s to faith,” she said. “Good luck,
Alec. Hope to see you soon.”

c
rrrrrrraaaaakkkk--

Caren cursed and jumped back into the
archway as a lightning bolt came searing down into the middle of
the street. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw it hit not a
hundred feet away. For a brief moment she felt the tingling of
electric energy shooting through her nervous system and fell
backwards, slamming up against the heavy wooden front door. She
blindly grabbed at the concrete railing and slid down onto it,
gasping for air.

With a sudden rumbling
whoosh
a wall
of heavy rain and wind pushed its way down the street towards her,
turning everything a dark gray. Within seconds the downpour was on
top of her, drenching everything and everyone in sight. Caren
cursed again, hiked up the collar of her uniform, and despite her
still spinning head, began to run towards the warehouse. She only
had a few more blocks to go. She was instantly waterlogged, cold
and miserable as soon as she’d stepped out from the stoop, and the
fright of the close lightning strike had made her temporarily
forget where exactly she needed to be. Once at the end of the block
she darted across the street and continued up McCleever, towards
the warehouse.

“You okay, Caren?” she heard from her
commlink. “Thought that one hit you.”

“I’m fine,” she said as she ran. “I’m
getting drenched here, Poe, but otherwise all is well. Thanks for
the concern.” She hadn’t meant that to sound so sarcastic, but it
seemed to amuse him. “Coming up on Holgate, about two blocks
ahead.” She slowed to a jog, then to a brisk walk until she came to
a long row of restaurant awnings. Crowds packed themselves in below
them, and it wasn’t until she hit the third one that she managed to
find a spot to catch her breath.

“Damn, Poe,” she huffed. “Had I known, I
would have worked out before doing this marathon.”

Poe’s laugh came over the static. “Where are
you now?”

“DiTaranto’s Ristorante,” she said, craning
her neck to read the sign in the window. “You know, I’ve always
wanted to go here. I hear they make great calzones.”

Poe waited a few seconds before responding.
“Hey,” he said.

Exasperated, she huffed quietly. “Yes, Alec,
what is it?”

“Last chance, kid. You sure this is what you
want?”

She smirked despite her annoyance. “Forget
it. Give me five minutes to get my bearings and I’m off. There’s no
talking me out of this. Denni’s in there, Poe. I can’t leave her
alone. If I’m walking into my own death sentence, so be it. As long
as I did it trying to protect her.”

“I see your point, Caren, but…” he trailed
off.

“But what?”

He stuttered, started to say something, and
released the comm.

“Yeah, I know,” she smiled. Goddess, she was
one damn lucky girl to have him as a partner. “Don’t worry, Alec.
Drinks on me tomorrow at Yoshi’s, okay?”

“I’m there,” he said. “Good luck, Caren.
Tell Den I said hi.”

“Heh. Sure thing.”

Caren let go of the commlink, looked up the
street at the warehouse, and contemplated her next move.

*

Sculler’s Crossing had always been a
marketplace bustling with shoppers and tourists and vendors, but
now it had become a cold and desolate crime scene. Kai and Ashan
walked briskly past the southern entrance, a tall and elaborately
carved marble archway beckoning locals and tourists alike onto its
brightly set walkways. The attack had occurred three blocks in,
close to the southern food courts and well out of view of the main
street, but the resulting violence had deeply affected the
marketplace. Kai sent out a thin sliver of energy down the deserted
alleyway. She felt the lingering terror and pain, too close and
sharp, and quickly retracted her Mendaihu senses. Ashan met her
eyes but said nothing. He didn’t have to, his scowl said it all.
He’d felt it just as deeply as she had.

Much like the attack at St. Patrick’s, it
had been a cold, calculated move against the Mendaihu in the area
by a violent nuhm’ndah mob. They had also been indiscriminate in
choosing their targets here, killing twenty-three civilians in the
process before Sentinels had arrived. This had been a smaller
attack aimed at no certain person in particular, and smaller than
at the church, yet it had claimed the most lives. It was
heartbreaking…Kai could only hope the healing would come soon.

Ashan had turned away and was looking
further up the street. The normally congested intersection of
McCleever and Northern Avenue was eerily empty. “We can go anywhere
past here,” he said, pointing at the six-lane cross street. “Then
we’ll be out of the hrrah-sehdhyn. The coast is five blocks
on.”

Kai checked her watch. They certainly had
enough time to get on the other side of the avenue, but any farther
than that would be pushing the timeframe they had set up. She
motioned ahead and continued walking. She didn’t say anything to
her brother, but she still felt that swell of fear she’d sensed
moments ago, a fear that would stay there for some time despite the
healing. She felt the pain of the loss, and the anger of the
survivors and loved ones.

“We have twenty minutes,” she said. “One
street past Northern is fine. We need a perch, though.” That had
been in the back of her mind, ever since Alec had suggested it. In
order to channel whatever excess energy and Light that might spill
out of the Warehouse once they harnessed the Rain of Light, there
was a chance they’d have to deflect it elsewhere, anywhere, in case
the Benjamin Key would not be able to ground it. This would require
at least a few minutes for them to access the tallest building they
could find in the vicinity so they could direct it out into the
ocean. Most of the offices and apartments past Northern Avenue were
evenly built and no taller than six stories, and she hoped that
would not present a problem. They would then need another few
minutes to prepare themselves as Soulhealers. They would have a
window of, at most, five minutes in which to contact Caren and Alec
before anything else.