Range (13 page)

The afternoon is late by the time we walk down the mall leading to the place HOUSE referred to as the Circus and the air is finally cool now that we're directly in the shadow of the mountains.

We walk all the way to the edge of the concrete platform and peer down. The red rock monoliths have been here for millions of years. A nuke was not enough to bring them down, nor did it deter the powers that be from replacing the outdoor amphitheater that has hosted famous musicians for almost two hundred years.

I watch the hologram show on a megalith-sized screen that has been somehow attached to the mountainside. A few thousand families are sitting down below in the actual amphitheatre. The music is nothing I recognize, but HOUSE does a quick search of the sphere and pulls up a name of some children's performer. The giant red sandstone rocks are each more than three hundred feet tall and together create the only naturally-occurring, acoustically perfect amphitheatre in the entire world.

"They are streaming a Cora concert here in a few hours," HOUSE says.

"Wonderful." I sigh. "Well, what do you want to do, HOUSE? We gotta leave here soon and we might never be back, so this is your one and only chance to take in the city."

I can barely make out her pouty lips over the brim of that ridiculous straw hat, but then she turns her face up to me. "This isn't the same, you know. It's not really Peak City."

My smile comes out automatically. She missed it and this poor substitute will not make up for what it once was. I can relate. "I know, but it's all that's left."

"Your father is bad, Junco."

I drop her hand and turn away, my face getting hot with anger. "I know that, HOUSE. I have no excuse for him." It makes me angry, that I'm compelled to defend him, but can't. What do you say? Yup, my father killed six million people, but he's not all that bad?

It's absurd.

"Sorry," she says.

I let out a sigh. "Forget about it. You wanna go play in that fountain over there?" I point my finger and her gaze tracks it, then she turns to beam up at me when she realizes the kids are squealing with excitement. She's not an AI anymore. She's a child.

My arm is suddenly being tugged and I let her pull me over there, then stand on the sidelines like a parent and watch her giggle and splash.

The fountain is massive, easily a hundred feet in diameter. Room for a whole city of kids to splash on a hot summer day. I study it for a moment and then realize it's a miniature version of the red rocks amphitheatre. A woman vacates a small-scale red rock replica and I swoop in and claim the good seat. HOUSE drifts away from me and starts playing with a small girl, no more than four or five years old, and I watch the kids in the water and let myself relax a little.

Cheers erupt from the real amphitheatre and then I hear that bitch's voice.

Cora. The liar.

The crowd starts to migrate over to the wall that allows a view of the amphitheatre down below and that's when I see him. Just a flash through the crowd. A face, then he's gone. I get up off the rock and cross the fountain, my green bag slapping against my hip as I pick up speed, and the bottom of my sun dress getting wet as it drags through the water.

I push through the thick crowd of people, not even caring that I'm moving against the tide of bodies or that I'm in a sea of strangers. When I get to the spot where I saw him I stop and turn in a slow circle.

He's gone.

HOUSE comes up to me and tugs on my dress. "What are you doing, Junco?"

I look down at her and let out a deep breath. "I thought I saw someone, that's all. It was a mistake, it wasn't him." I grab her hand. "Come on, we gotta get outta here." We begin to walk briskly away from the annoying voice of Cora, who is even louder and more obnoxious than I ever thought possible, when HOUSE blips out of existence and pops back up on my vision screen.

They are looking for you, Junco. They know you're here.

A wave of nausea almost make me double over, but I keep it together. To not keep it together means detection. Detection means death. For someone who was recently accused of having a death wish I have an extraordinarily well-developed sense of self-preservation.

Texas Rangers ahead, Junco. There's been a general alert in the city about you.

A video feed blinks into existence on my vision screen and it's an officer giving a press conference saying they know where I am and they are closing in now.

"Junco Coot. You will not get away this time, honey."

I stop dead and turn to look back towards the jumbo screen. Cora has stopped singing and is addressing the crowds, both the live one in the venue she's currently playing in across the Atlantic Ocean, and this one.

"Your heinous crimes against humanity will be stopped, no matter what the cost. We will not let you murder billions of people just to satisfy your sick scheme of revenge."

My holographic image from the flight over to Dallas, in every three-dimensional detail, is spinning on every outdoor screen in The Circus.

"She's in Peak City at this very moment. Look around, find her. Find the girl who will betray the entire planet and I will personally reward you."

HOUSE appears next to me and hands me her straw hat. I plop it on my head and pretend to search for that traitorous bitch, Junco Coot.

A hand grabs my shoulder and I spin, ready to fight.

But the eyes that look back at me are familiar.

"Rikan? Where're your wings?"

He puts his arm around me, pulling me close like a lover. "Just act natural, Snowbird. I've got a flier waiting."

We walk up the mall and with every step my heart thumps in my chest as Cora continues her tirade of hate against me. It is the longest fifteen minutes of my life and I am eternally grateful that HOUSE picked this stupid frilly dress and lime-green purse that allow me to blend in. To hide in plain sight. Because I look like every other Peak City woman celebrating one final flirt with summer.

I can see the flier waiting at the valet parking for the hotel HOUSE walked out of just an hour or so ago, only now it's overrun with Rangers.

The driver opens the door as we approach and I have just enough time to catch Cora's final threat as I slip inside and take a seat in the bucket on the far end.

"We will find you. And we will kill you."

Chapter Fifteen

The flier pulls away in a smooth upward lift and I relax into my seat a little. Rikan is sitting diagonal from me, his feet stretched out on the bucket across from him. It's pretty small in here and his long legs must feel cramped.

I wait for him to meet my gaze and start explaining but he doesn't. He props his head in his hand and leans on the window, eyes turned away so he can't inadvertently catch my stare.

The screen positioned in between Rikan and the empty bucket across from me blips to life and I see Sera in her floor-length red gown.

Stay quiet, Junco. This message is not for Rikan, only you.

I search for HOUSE to see if she's paying attention to this, but I can't even feel her presence.

I have her, Junco. She's with me.

What the hell, Sera? Let her go!

The Sera on the screen, obviously not visible to Rikan because he's got his eyes closed now, shakes her head.
She took control of New Peak City without my permission and is refusing to give it back. I'm not holding her, she's holding a city I was counting on controlling myself. I've left it alone for that reason, your HOUSE is running amok!

Hmmm.
What do you want, Sera?

I want your attention, Junco. We have work to do now and not much time to complete it.

My debt to you has been fulfilled, so don't act like I owe you.

This isn't about me. Or you, for that matter. This is about survival and you're not the only one with a choice to make. I have one too, and it's a choice that will influence whether or not you'll be successful.

I cannot, repeat,
cannot
take this shit right now. No more cryptic messages, please. Just explain what the fuck you're talking about. Successful in what?

You're interested in the total annihilation of humans or avians? Or you're interested in saving them both? Maybe you're caught up in your own power. You're excited about your role, I might have misjudged you. Maybe you're not interested in my help? I thought you were looking for a way to win.

I stew in that for a few seconds and feel the hopelessness and desperation slowly fill me up again. I just walked away from two years of physical torture, betraying my true love, blowing up a valley of people in the MR, and losing my twine, Mish and Braun. Peak City from my memory is gone, my father is a mass murderer, I killed a good friend, myself, and a little boy.

And now this bitch shows back up and tells me that if I don't cooperate, an entire race will be destroyed. But if I go along with her plans, I can save everyone.

Why, God? That's all I ask. Just tell me why. Why do you make me do these things? Why do I have to be the harbinger of evil and destruction? Why do you rip my world apart and then force me to go on?

Just.

Why?

If all this has a purpose, then fine. I'm not really interested in living anymore, so I'm good with giving up my life. I'm OK with justifying the means to get to your end.

But I think I deserve an answer to all my what-the-fuck questions.

It's probably not the best prayer He's ever heard, but it's all I got.

You will keep my secrets, do you understand? No matter what anyone tells you, no matter what, you will not divulge these secrets.

What. The fuck. Are you talking about?

Tier must not know.

"Tier?"

I look over to her, but the screen is blank.

"What about him?" Rikan says, half asleep.

Oops. I say nothing.

He straightens up and rouses himself from his drowsiness. "What about Tier, I said."

I let out a deep sigh. "Sera told me he's around." A little stab of pain erupts in my head.
Relax, Sera. I got this.

Rikan's feet come off the bucket and he leans over to me, his face more serious than I've ever seen him before. "Don't trust that bitch, Junco. She's not cooperating. She's totally fucking up all Lucan's plans, has been for years."

"Of course she is! How fucking stupid of me. I mean, shit. It would just be too fucking easy to have us all on the same side, right?"

"Junco?" He leans forward and gets into my personal space. "I get it, OK? I get it. A few weeks isn't even close to enough time to get over what happened to us back there in Runout. Mish and I were just as close as you and Isten and if you think I'm over that, you're wrong. I'm not. That was not in the plan."

I hide my face at the mention of his name, swallow down the lump and bite back the tears. "It's way too soon, Rikan." My eyes fill up and when my searching eyes find nothing to count to calm me down, I resort to counting breaths. Both mine and Rikan's at the same time.

He stays silent as I pull myself together and for a moment he reminds me of Gideon—waiting on me to hold it all in, push it all down. He's big and muscular like Gid now. Not that skinny half-man, half-boy he was two years ago when I saw him last. His golden wings are gone and that almost makes me sad. He was such a beautiful avian. I look at him and his blue eyes stare down at me, into my soul.

"I know what it feels like, Junco. Mish and I were twined too."

I turn away and allow the tears to run down my cheeks at this revelation. When I look back the tears are ready to flow down his face too.

"I'm sorry, Rikan. I never knew."

He shakes his head. "No one did, Junco. No one but Lucan. It was a secret. Mish and I were clutch-brothers. Like Ashur and Tier. And fuck it, it doesn't matter anymore so I might as well tell you the whole truth. We weren't even pure Aves."

My brow furrows as I let this sink in and then he takes my hand and squeezes.

"We were both born Politicals, but had a genetic mix of every cluster. Hidden away so that no one knew the truth."

I sniffle at this revelation. "What truth?"

He sighs. "I'm Lucan's heir, Junco. Not Tier. He's the—" He stops and thinks for a moment. "The decoy."

"Decoy? Oh fuck. Lucan's using him too? Jasus fuck. What the hell is the truth, Rikan? What?" I'm angry now, I can't help it. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, is what it seems.

"Just listen, OK? Tier knows. He knows and accepted this position back when he was a kid."

"You can't let a kid make that kind of decision! That is so fucked up." I turn away from him and rest my temple on the cool window, wishing for this nightmare to stop.

"But he did accept it, Junco."

"He made a deal with the Devil."

Rikan grabs my wrist and yanks me back towards him. "That's enough. Lucan is not the Devil, goddammit. He's not the fucking Devil."

I pull my wrist away and rub it to stave off the burning sensation from his squeeze. "He said he was, Rikan.
You can call me whatever you want, demon, Lucan, archer, angel, devil, whatever. It's all the same.
Those words came out of his mouth."