Morning Rising (10 page)

The shower felt amazing once Kara got it
going. She could have stood under the warm water all night if there
hadn’t been more important things to do. When she stepped out of
the bathroom wrapped in a towel, she was surprised to find a clean
pair of jeans and another shirt set out for her. They fit as well
as the first, and she wondered where Baron kept getting them.

A pasta and vegetable dish sat steaming on
the counter for Kara. While Baron showered, Kara ate. As she ate,
she felt herself growing nervous as she thought about what was
coming. She pushed away her plate, leaving it half eaten. Sparring
with Baron was one thing, but taking those skills and using them
against someone who meant her harm was a whole different story. By
the time Baron returned and Alster came down to see them off,
Kara’s stomach was in knots. She wished she hadn’t eaten at all.
The pasta felt like stone in her stomach.

“Ivy will meet you at the entrance,” Alster
told Baron, handing him a pile of coins. “Pay her for her efforts.
She won’t want to take them, but I expect you to make her. She has
no reason to help us, this isn’t her battle.”

“Ivy might see it differently I think,” Baron
said. “But I will make sure she takes these.” He slipped the coins
into a cloth bag before putting it in his pocket.

“She’ll fight by your side if need be,”
Alster continued. “Fay and Lockler will be there as well. They will
assist you when the time comes.”

“That’s a comfort.” Baron managed a small
grin. An army of five against a whole club of people trying to keep
control of Dylan didn’t seem like much to Kara. She kept the
negative thought to herself.

*

The dimly lit streets of Inbetween were
crowded with people. Kara kept her head down, trusting Baron to
lead her. Baron hurried her through the city streets, one hand on
her arm leading her along as if she were a prisoner. Kara doubted
anyone would think anything of it. He nudged her toward a set of
stairs leading beneath the city.

With a herd of other travelers, they hurried
down the stairs to a wide platform. Kara kept glancing around,
surprised to find herself in a subway station. Baron paid for two
passes and took Kara through an ancient, brass turnstile. It
creaked as it turned, but let them both through.

On the other side, people milled about
aimlessly waiting for their trains. Baron took Kara’s arm again,
tugging her to the left to stand in a large waiting group. Kara
coughed. The air was dusty and smelled of mildew.

“You okay?” Baron asked softly in her
ear.

“I’m good,” Kara said. “It smells down
here.”

“A lot of the city smells,” Baron whispered
back with a smile. “Wait until the train pulls up. It should be any
minute if it’s on schedule.”

Seconds later, Kara saw the light from the
train gleaming far down the tunnel. She couldn’t help but stare
when it pulled into the station. It was nothing like the subway
trains she had taken in the human world. They had all been slick,
aerodynamic, silver things. This was a train, complete with
billowing smoke, and chugging wheels. It looked like a toy train
with its round nose beneath the smokestack. The cylindrical body
led to a square cabin where Kara assumed the driver was.

“No pollution laws here, are there?” Kara
asked, waving a hand in front of her face as dark smoke pooled at
the ceiling, slipping toward the staircase to the surface. Baron
shook his head, looking grim.

“What harm has a little smoke ever done?” he
asked, wincing. His expression made it clear he didn’t really feel
that way.

The rest of the train was made up of square
passenger cars. The train pulled to a stop. With a groan the doors
opened and people began climbing on and off board. Kara and Baron
let the crowd pull them on. The train was already crowded so they
had to stand in the aisle clinging to leather handles that dangled
from the ceiling. Kara tugged her hood up over her head, hoping to
shield herself from curious looks.

No one gave them any trouble. It was like any
subway Kara ever rode. Young people chatted loudly together while
men and women in suits clutched briefcases. Still, Kara felt
exposed and trapped in the cramped car as it hurtled through the
dark tunnel. When they were off, she was glad to be back on the
open street, crowded as it was. They walked only a block before
taking a spiral staircase that led down into the darkness under the
city.

The metal stairway wound dizzily around and
around into the earth. If the staircase hadn’t been so wide, Kara
would have begun to feel claustrophobic. They hadn’t gone far
before the noise of the street faded to nothing. Cold drafts of air
tickled Kara’s skin in the dim light. She missed the half light of
the city as they moved deeper into the earth. Flickering lanterns
hung on the walls, their flames licking eagerly at the air, but
they didn’t provide much light.

“Fairy fire,” Baron explained when he noticed
Kara looking at them. “They’ll burn for a hundred years before
going out.”

The trip down seemed to go on for hours. By
the time they reached the bottom, Kara’s legs felt weak. Her mouth
was dry and begged for a drink. The tunnel they stood in was carved
from the earth itself and dripping wet in places. Kara wondered why
anyone would want anything to do with a place buried this far
beneath the earth. It couldn’t be the nicest part of the city.

Ahead, a small girl stepped away from the
wall, her tan skin almost invisible against the dark walls. Kara
took a step back toward Baron, but he put a reassuring hand on her
shoulder before striding toward the girl.

“Ivy,” Baron said with a grin. “Good to see
you.” He pulled Ivy into a quick hug. She looked frail in his arms.
Kara wondered what help the tiny girl would be in a fight.

“And you.” Ivy’s smile was dazzling. She wore
a thin, olive green dress which was perfect against her tan skin
and dark hair, but didn’t look near warm enough in the dank tunnel.
She seemed more solid when she smiled, more full of life.

Ivy didn’t look to be more than twelve years
old until Kara saw her eyes. There, Kara could see a pain and
understanding that would have been unnerving in anyone’s eyes, let
alone the eyes of someone who looked so young. When Ivy turned,
Kara could see thin, iridescent wings lay against her back. The
wings reached from Ivy’s shoulders to her waist. They were a
translucent pale green, glowing when the light caught them right.
Even though the girl was small, the frail wings didn’t look strong
enough to support her.

“Alster wanted you to have this,” Baron said.
He held out the bag of coins and jingled it. “He said I was
supposed to force them on you.”

“Not necessary today,” Ivy said, shaking her
head. “I’ve been too long without a job that pays. Hard finding
work that doesn’t involve activities I would rather not be a part
of.” She poured the coins into her hand and slipped them into a
small purse tied at her waist. “Is this the Guardian?” Her eyes
shone with excitement as she looked at Kara.

“My name’s Kara,” Kara said.

“But I thought-” Ivy frowned and looked at
Baron for explanation.

“It’s her human name,” Baron said. “She is
more comfortable with it than her own.”

“Ah.” Ivy nodded. She looked like she
understood. Kara felt a surge of gratitude toward the small girl.
“We should move along, no telling when someone else will decide to
descend. The Mission is more crowded than usual tonight. I believe
word of our friend has gotten out.”

Baron and Kara let Ivy lead the way through
the underground tunnels. Opening branched at odd intervals from the
passage they had arrived in. Ivy led them through the maze of
tunnels, deeper into the earth. If Baron didn’t know the way out,
Kara was sure they would be trapped. There was no way she was going
to remember how they found the Mission.

It was strange thinking of a whole little
world below the city. Kara could only imagine that the tunnels they
passed each led to another part of the buried city. Finally, the
tunnel opened up into a cavern. Kara hadn’t known just how far
underground they were until she saw it.

The top of the cavern was a hundred feet
above their heads, lit by a giant fire pit in the center of the
cavern. Other smaller fire pits were placed around the cavern,
illuminating the dozen or so houses which still stood in good
shape. Kara wondered if people actually lived in them. The air was
sweltering with humidity and tinged with smoke. The Mission stood
near the main fire pit.

It looked like any church from the human
world. It was built from stone and mortar and meant to last until
the end of time. A bell tower rose from the low building at the
front, the remains of stained glass still evident in the windows.
Only one window remained whole, a picture of an angel with wide
feathered wings. The rest had all been busted out at least
partially. Music and lights escaped through the bare openings to
fill the cavern.

The man at the door looked to be near three
hundred pounds of solid muscle and was built like a gorilla. He
even hunched forward a bit as he nodded to Ivy, allowing her to
breeze past him into the club.

“They’re with me, Skull,” Ivy said as she
flitted inside. The man nodded dumbly. Kara gave him a wide
berth.

The Mission was one wide open room with all
but a few of the pews removed to create a dance floor. The
remaining pews were shoved against walls and fully occupied. Kara
recognized the crucifix behind the bar. Jesus stared down around
himself with sorrow. Kara didn’t blame him as she looked around the
room. The underground part of the city was obviously where some of
the less average citizens of Inbetween hung out. There were few
humans in the crowd. The crowd was mostly a mix of obvious fairies
like Ivy and people who seemed mixed with animals or monsters that
Kara didn’t recognize.

Kara and the others wound through the crowd
unnoticed. A group of women, who looked remarkably like crows with
their pointed noses and feathered heads and arms, were feasting on
a bowl of what looked like fried worms and talking loudly. Beside
them, a pale man with pointed ears and no hair lapped blood from
the neck of a fairy the size of Ivy. The girl’s head was tipped to
the side, and she smiled peacefully with her eyes closed. Kara gave
Baron a concerned look. He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder
and shook his head.

“They know what they are doing,” he
whispered, leaning close so only she would hear. “He is like the
vampires of the world you know. He gains nourishment from her, and
she gains intense pleasure during the experience.” Kara wasn’t sure
how that could be possible; it looked painful.

A few of the customers cast glances at them
as they passed. Some looked only vaguely curious about the new
blood entering the club, others suspicious. When Ivy cast her
dazzling smile at those suspicious faces, they turned away. Kara
stayed close to Baron’s side.

“Won’t they recognize us?” Kara asked,
tilting her head up to him in order to be heard over the music.

“Ivy can be distracting when she tries,”
Baron said. He smiled down at Kara. He leaned closer before
continuing. “Most fairies can cause those around them to be less
visible. Ivy has spent months gaining acceptance into Kade’s inner
circle. Demitar himself would think nothing of her being here. If
they didn’t trust her so much, she wouldn’t be able to shield our
presence. We are lucky, she is one of only a few faries on our
side.”

Ivy pulled aside a thin curtain and slid into
the booth behind it. Kara and Baron followed. The thin white
curtain fell back into place. It was easier to see the club through
the curtain than it had been to see into the booth. A bald, black
man nodded to them. He wore a black t-shirt and a gray blazer.
Intricate, white tattoos swirled up his neck and onto his skull and
even through his clothes it was clear to see he was built like a
strongman from an old time circus. Beside him, red-haired woman in
a flowing blue gown smiled at Kara. Her skin was the color of cream
and her eyes were greener than any Kara had ever seen. She should
have looked small beside the man, but she sat regally straight and
had an air of power about her that said more than her size.

“Fay, Lockler,” Baron greeted them each in
turn. “This is her.”

“Exquisite.” Fay ran a hand down Kara’s
cheek. Kara warmed at the woman’s touch, feeling her nerves settle
some. “You are a beauty,” Fay said. Kara blushed.

“And so much power,” Lockler said from across
the table. His voice was deep and seemed to resonate inside Kara’s
head.

Lockler laughed deep in his throat. “She is
observant, isn’t she?” Fay nodded.

“Fay has that effect,” Baron explained. “If
she touches you, she can shift your emotions.”

“I’m sorry,” Fay said. “I could tell you were
nervous.”

“Can you make people feel bad too?” Kara
asked curiously.

Fay didn’t answer. Instead she reached
forward and placed her hand over Kara’s. In a breath, emotion
flashed through Kara. She was elated, happier than ever. Then
sadness slipped through her, so deep Kara thought she would never
be happy again. Slowly, Kara felt her emotions level out to normal,
though she still felt less nervous.

“Whoa,” Kara said. She took a deep breath.
“That was intense.”

“It’s a dangerous power,” Baron said. “It can
be used to drive people insane.”

“Glad you’re on our side,” Kara muttered. Fay
beamed. “What about you?” Kara asked Lockler. “What do you do?”

“I fight,” Lockler said with a smile. “I
fight very, very well.” Kara shivered at the threat his words
hinted at.