The sun had gone down and the city was as quiet as it was ever going to be. Samantha was walking down the street keeping her eyes peeled. Empty cars lined the street beside her and most of the buildings to her side were closed. The night was being pretty uneventful for the time being and she hoped it stayed that way.
Her phone was in her hand and vibrated from GL Corp the chatroom. It was from Lily.
Lily: Have you heard from Dick?
Samantha: No.
Samantha: Why?
Lily: He skipped school today.
Lily: He said he’d tell me what happened but I haven’t heard from him
since.
Samantha paused in midstep and looked up. She remembered the conversation that she and Dick had the previous night. How hurt he had been. She left him on a good note but something had nagged at her even still. And this just made it worse. She kept going until she got toward the corner.
Samantha: That’s not like him.
Lily: Considering what today is maybe it is
Samantha: What’s today?
Lily: The anniversary of the fire.
Samantha: Shit.
Samantha: Has anyone else talked to him?
Lily: I talked to Gav and Lisa and they said he went home early.
Lily: I’m worried.
Samantha stopped and stared ahead. She didn’t know if Dick was actually in trouble or if he just needed space from everyone else. Last night had been rough and maybe he needed the time. Especially on tonight of all days. But Lily was his best friend and he didn’t even tell her he was going off the grid.
Crossing the street once the light permitted she noticed that there was construction going on. Some barely constructed building that was going to be high above them. A few abandoned construction vehicles. As she passed the thin sheet metal fence she saw that there was some sort of hole being drilled into the ground. A few lights from dividers and leftover machines flashed at her as she looked as if telling her to look elsewhere. Finally, she glanced back at her phone.
Samantha: Me too.
Samantha: I’m on patrol out by the construction on Jefferson.
Samantha: How far away are you?
Lily: I’m on the train now.
Lily: I think I’m a few stops away.
Samantha: Meet me at the site.
Samantha: We’ll figure something out.
Lily: Okay
Sliding the phone into her pocket she left the street and walked onto the uneven gravel ground of the. There was an idea of a path paving the way with some wooden boards to separate where to drive the machines. She followed the wooden path until she came to the hole in the ground.
The hole that they’d been drilling wasn’t terribly wide but it was deep. There was a crane nearby but no sign of a drill anymore. Maybe it had gone as deep as it was going to go. As she looked into the hole she could see some lights strung along on wires. They weren’t on now but she could just barely make out how the hole down curved forward.
Taking a few steps away she walked towards a large pile of dirt, scooped out by another machine at some point. Breathing on her hands she quickly rubbed them together and dug them into the pockets of her jacket. “You’d think with an ice geist I wouldn’t still be cold,” she mumbled.
This place was just barely outside the city but almost no one was around. She could barely hear too many people shouting or cars. It was peaceful and on any other day she’d soak it in. But her thoughts strayed to her friend too hard. She needed to make sure he was actually okay.
After a few minutes she was starting to notice the sound. It was a hard ding ding noise. Like metal slamming into metal. Turning and frowning she listened for the sound and walked toward it. It wasn’t coming from the foundation of the building.
If she was guessing correctly it was from the hole. But she had just come from there and hadn’t seen anyone. Blowing on her hands again she crept toward it and the noise was far clearer than before. Was someone working down there this late at night? She never imagined anyone to be that dedicated a worker.
She got close to it when suddenly the noise stopped and she froze in place. Holding her breath, she waited in the sudden silence like a mouse caught in a light. Blinking slowly, she heard a man grunt and a few words being grumbled.
Running away quickly she moved to hide behind one of the machines. Pressing her hands flat against it she climbed onto the treads of it and looked through the window of the driver’s seat.
She watched the man climb his way out of the hole and he was huge. At least six, if not seven feet tall. He was wearing a knit cap and leather overalls. His arms were muscular and hands gloved. In his hands was a long double headed sledgehammer. His skin was pale in places, like a strange grey but it was smudged with dust and dirt from the hole. His eyes were dark and his blocky features were frustrated.
“Digging this freaking hole,” he said letting the hammer hit the ground. “Working all night. Need a break. No thanks from these freaking wraiths. Don’t even know what they need this hole for.”
He stomped down the path slowly and she ducked down processing what he said. Wraiths were making him dig a hole. That pretty much guaranteed that he was one of the rogue warriors. Counting the one that attacked Dick there were at least two rogue warriors. She’d never known wraiths to actually work with Geist warriors, rogue or not. Was that why they’d been attacking other warriors?
She heard him stomp past her and when her phone began to ring. Her heard skipped several beats at the simple beeping ring tone. Grabbing for her phone she looked at the caller ID and it was Dick.
Scrabbling with it for a moment she silenced the call and declined it but there was silence hanging over them now. He wasn’t walking anymore and she wasn’t breathing. Holding her breath, she waited and heard one of the wooden planks crack suddenly. “Who’s there?” he said clearly.
The voice carried across the entire site and she bit her lip waiting. “I know I heard something. And no one else is here. So, show yourself. Promise I won’t hurt you.”
Fat chance of that. She took a slow breath and tried to steady how she would maneuver. She’d have to try and sneak away while he searched for her. And then she’d get away and hopefully regroup with Lily. This was big news. She stopped her thoughts as she heard sudden footsteps.
The air whistled sharply and on instinct she dove forward. There was an explosion behind her and the machine flipped. She hit the ground and rolled forward her geist manifesting around her body. The machine crashed into the ground in a broken heap but she whirled around to face him.
He was holding the hammer and tapped it across his palm. “There you are. Little rat. You’re a geist warrior. Just my luck.”
Standing Samantha glared. “You’re one of the rogue warriors who’ve been attacking us.”
“Oh? Yeah, I guess we have been. That’s mostly Hunter. Kids and their axes to grind right? Then again I think you’re not much older than him.” Shaking his head he grasped the hammer. “Oh well. The boss says we gotta take care of you guys. As many as possible.”
“What boss? What are you doing here in this city?”
“You think I’d tell you if I knew?” he laughed and started walking over to her. “Not worth the time. Easier to just take you out now and get back to digging. Need a drink.”
He started running at her and she took a step back clenching her first. He swung the hammer and she rolled to the side. The hammer slammed into the ground cracking it. The ground iced over and she slid backwards putting some space between them. She wanted this guy nowhere near her.
Picking up the hammer he pointed it at her. The tip glowed and she could hear a soft buzz in her ears. And suddenly she sliding forward. Trying to force a step back she struggled and couldn’t move away. His face was grim as she rushed toward him against her will. Forcing herself down she hit the ground roughly sliding forward.
The suction stopped as quickly as it started and she watched as he began to raise the hammer. Slapping the ground with her hand she rolled leaving a clone of herself in its place. Free of the pull she darted away as the ice shattered on impact with the hammer.
“You’re smart,” he said slowly. “This won’t be so straight forward.”
She grunted getting to her knees. Clasping her hands together she created a thin spear. Spinning the weapon at her aggressor she threw it. The man jerked to the side as the spear sailed past. She slid forward and jumped forward her knee slamming into his jaw. She flipped over him and threw an orb of ice.
It collided with his back and exploded in a sheet of snow. Landing she closed her hands together and the snow turned to ice covering him in a thick layer. “Now that I’ve got you you’re going to talk.”
He grunted struggling against the ice and Samantha approached him. He struggled and she heard the ice crack but the ice held. She created another spear of ice holding it at the ready. When he didn’t suddenly break free she took a breath and kept going until she stood in front of him.
“Your bosses. The wraiths. Why are you working with them?”
He looked at her and snorted. She couldn’t hit him, he’d just shrug it off and ignore her. And she wasn’t the torture type. So maybe she could try something a little unorthodox.
“If you work for the wraiths then they have no reason to keep you alive,” she said strafing around him. “Once they get what they want, they’ll devour you. Tell us what’s happening and we can fight them off.”
“And you’ll what? Imprison someone like me right?” he asked finally and chuckled darkly. “I think I’ll take my chances with the wraiths.”
She couldn’t argue with that. For what they’d done they would be imprisoned at the very least. But she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of that. “Being able to work your way through society and finding a life is better than being devoured by one of the wraiths.”
At that he laughed staring at her. Bound she could tell he was definitely seven feet tall. She took a step forward and held the spear at his neck. “You really have no idea what they’re capable of. Your Legion is so ignorant it hurts.”
His faced dropped into concentration and she felt the beginnings of the pull around her. She immediately took a step back. He struggled and she heard the ice crack again. Her eyes caught the movement of his wrist and jumped back as the hammer flipped backwards smashing into the ice,
It shattered and he was gripping the weapon with both hands as he stomped forward. She swung the spear at him and he blocked it with the back of the hammer. Grabbing it with both hands he turned and smashed the end into her weapon shattering it. Feeling it break in her hands she jumped backwards quickly and held her hands up.
He glanced at the hammer and shook his head rushing at her. She slid backwards against the ice but he stomped the hammer against the ground and she started sliding toward him. The pull of the hammer brought her in like metal to a magnet and her eyes widened.
Clapping her hands together she started to make another spear but he stepped forward and slammed the hammer into the ground. Her concentration broke as she stumbled sinking to her knees. Swearing under her breath she looked up and the hammer was coming at her. With wide eyes she crossed her arms in front of her face.
The hammer slammed into her gauntlets and she was lifted off the ground and sent flying. She was barely able to track where she was when she finally crashed into an iron beam. Wind knocked out of her she slid to hard concrete ground. She was lucky she didn’t clear the whole building in progress and land in the streets. She realized she was in the construction building itself, high off the ground.
Clutching her hand to her chest she sucked in her breath trying to fight through the pain. When she looked at her hand she saw that her geist was cracked, almost shattered. Her arm felt numb and flexing her fingers caused her immense pain. With a slow breath she let her geist fade away on that hand and then gripped it tightly. Squeezing it tightly she ignored the pain as the ice flowed over it.
Sighing she pushed herself to her feet when the ground shook again. Jerking her head up she watched as the rogue warrior landed near her. She could hear his footfalls but couldn’t place how far away he was. “Where did you fall warrior! Come out so I can finish you off!”
She stayed quiet holding onto her hand. Glancing over her shoulder and past the iron bar she scowled. He was closer than she hoped. With her hand this way there was no way that she was going to be able to keep fighting him. “Come on Lily. Where the hell are you?” she whispered getting to her feet.
Darting across the ground she hid and tried to stay out of site. Keeping the pressure on her arm she crouched down again and felt her phone vibrate. Her heart skipped a beat as her ring tone went off again and she swore trying to mute it. She felt the air shift and suddenly the metal began to groan as she felt some pull on her back.
Grunting and leaning against the support Samantha raised her good hand and manifested her geist entirely. Crouching she hit it and created a pillar launching herself high into the air. She landed on the roof of the building but from what she saw it was going to be taller.
Wobbling on her landing slightly she started sprinting forward pointing her hand at the ground. Ice circles formed at her discretion and flattened like graffiti on the rooftop. She pointed and affixed at least a dozen when she got to the edge. Ignoring the pain in her other hand she grabbed her phone and called Lily back. Thankfully she picked up the second ring.
“Hey Samantha. I’m here, where are-“
“I’m on the construction building fighting one of the rogues. My hand is shot. Get up here. Now!”
She didn’t hear the response when she heard the ground explode. She was blown backwards and rolled away to avoid all of the shards of concrete and rebarb. He climbed through the hole he’d just made cracking his neck and spun the hammer in his hand slowly. “Nowhere left for you to run.”
“Not running anymore,” she held up both hands. “Bring it.”
He stared for a long moment before laughing and grabbed he hammer with both hands now. “There it is. I like seeing that kind of spirit. You’re being wasted fighting with the Legion.” He charged forward and she could feel the pull from the hammer aimed square at her. But she was ready to this time.
Squaring her feet against the ground, ice wrapped around her boots keeping her in place despite the pull. Eyes darting to several of the circles she’d created she snapped her fingers. They began to glow and one lance of ice shot forward. It stabbed into the mans shoulder shoving him backwards.
The rest of the traps began to activate sending lances of ice at him. He started running, ducking and moving around them best he could, lighter on his feet than she gave credit for. Some of the lances were hitting him but shattered on hit with his chest and shoulders. He wasn’t slowing down either and she clapped her hands together.
Spreading her hands she created her own hammer. Melting the ice around her feet she spun quickly on her heel and swung the hammer down on the ground. A wave of crystals erupted from the ground racing at him. They slammed into him and he stopped for a second almost falling over.
Grasping his hammer he brought it down shattering the ice with a force of energy. It almost knocked Samantha off the roof. The ground shook as he started running again. Letting the hammer fade she took a step back and felt her foot almost go off the edge.
He was almost on top of her, wounded and bruised from her efforts but the hammer came forward and the pull was upon her dragging her forward quickly. Working to keep her footing the ice couldn’t move fast enough to lock her in place. Her hand ached and she was more than certain neither of her hands could take another hit from that thing.
Looking past him she took a steady breath. She had one shot left to get out of this. Leaning forward she sprinted at him, arms pumping. He stopped for a second and brought the hammer back for the swing. Samantha kept an eye on it and then dropped tapping the ground. A pillar launched her forward and this time clean over him.
With her momentum she knew that she was going to go over the side of the building and if she landed she’d break a leg at best. But before she even started to descend a pair of arms grabbed her by the shoulder. A mask came down over her head and she felt the cloak against her back.
“About time Lily,” she said under her breath as she was flown to the field across from the construction site. Stumbling upon hitting the ground she turned with the cloak billowing along with her. Gasping she finally sank down to her knees and let her shoulders sag.
Lily ran over to her and came to a stop, crouching in front of Samantha and wrapped an arm around her. “Sorry I took so long. The train was having delays.”
Samantha waved her good hand at her. “You’re here. Let’s get out of here now before he follows us.”
Lily glanced over her shoulder and nodded quickly. The geist moved back to it’s owner and Lily shrugged her shoulders as the arms floated at her back before she dissolved it away. She moved and helped Samantha to her feet and then squeezed her hand. Samantha stood letting her geist fade except on her arm and gave a nod toward her.
The pair walked for a least an hour and hadn’t run into any trouble from other rogue warriors or wraiths. Samantha had kept her hand iced over and through her geist healing her the pain had started going away. Lily kept her eyes open, looking around for any danger.
“I got a call from Dick,” Samantha said as they walked and Lily glanced back at her.
“What did he say?”
“I don’t know,” she frowned hard. “When he called my ringtone went off and that alerted the warrior. Same thing when you called me.”
Lily frowned looking away, “Sorry about that.”
“You didn’t know,” Samantha shook her head and pointed to a bench. “I’m going to try and call him back. Hopefully he picks up.”
Getting to the bench, she sat and redialed his number. Lily stood in front of her, her face somewhat worried as the phone rang. It rang for a long time and Samantha’s frown deepened the longer it went before finally something clicked.
“Hello?” Dicks groggy voice came through.
Samantha jolted to her feet quickly, “Dick! Thank God. Are you okay? Where are you?”
“I’m at home. As for okay. Not really.”
“Are you going to be home for long?”
He paused before asking. “Isn’t patrol you and Lily tonight?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’m not going anywhere tonight.”
Samantha frowned at his voice. “We’re going to come see you. We can talk.”
“I’ll be here.”
Samantha hung up and looked at Lily. “Something felt wrong about him.” She said finally. “I’m more worried than before.”
“Is he at home?” Lily asked and she nodded. “Then let’s go see him.”
Dick stared at the two girls in his living room and tried to smile but he couldn’t. His chest was tight and his eyes felt puffy. He felt beaten despite not having gotten into a fight. Lily was watching him a deep frown on her face while Samantha had her arms folded and he knew she wanted to say something but was struggling to figure it out. She had been rubbing her hand a lot. Was she hurt?
“What happened to you?” he asked frowning, his eyes homing in on Samantha.
Samantha shook her head, “I stumbled into one of the rogue warriors and got into a fight. He had a hammer geist with weird gravity or magnetic powers. I fought him and had to run. Lily was there to bail me out.”
Lily nodded, “It was closer than I would have liked.”
“But you got there,” she said. “He was digging some hole at the construction site. I overheard him saying that he was working for the wraiths. As for what he was doing I don’t know but we can figure that out.”
“Wait? They’re working for the wraiths?” Dick asked sitting forward. “Wraiths don’t like people. Let alone us.”
“Well these guys seem to be different,” Samantha frowned harder. “That’s why I missed your first call. Sorry about that.”
Dick glanced away and shook his head. “You were preoccupied. I even got you hurt.”
“It’s fine. I’m healing,” Samantha frowned reaching toward him but let her hand drop. “What did you want to talk about when you called?” Samantha finally asked looking at him.
“What happened to your pendent?” Lily asked softly and Samantha glanced at her and then at Dick’s neck and sure enough it was missing.
He made a face and rubbed his jaw slowly. How did he even explain this? The fact that it happened didn’t even register with himself. “I broke,” he said still trying to word it. But he was never good at words so he just came out and said it, “Earlier today when I met mi hermano.”
Both girls blinked quickly trying to process his words and Dick smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. He looked away his face turning into a scowl. “I met him. I saw him. I spoke to him. He’s alive somehow. Wanted to meet me one more time and then poof. Gone. And now I’m left trying to figure out what I do next.”
He leaned forward and shook his head again. Lily was walking over to him and rested her hand onto his back but he stiffened slightly. She took her hand back and he frowned harder. “I’m sorry.”
“No. You’re fine,” he stood up slowly. “Estoy bien.”
“It’s not fine,” Samantha said softly as she approached and he held his hand up. “Dick it’s okay to not be fine.”
“Not right now. You guys just got into gran pelea. And we’re being attacked and somehow there’s a plan to do Dios sabe to our city. Bigger fish to fry.” He stood up and started to walk toward his room but Lily grabbed his hand. He didn’t take his hand back but he didn’t look back at her.
“Dick. Stop,” she said sternly and he still had stiff shoulders. “You’re my best friend and I can feel you hurting right now. How many times have we been here before? How many times did you try to box it up and deal with it alone?”
He didn’t respond so she took his shoulder and slowly turned him to face her. His jaw was set and eyes aimed at the ground. He was doing his best to keep it together and she shook her head slowly. Raising his head, she pressed her forehead against his own.
“Count,” she said looking into his eyes. “One.” He didn’t respond for a long time and Lily frowned but continued. “Two. Three.”
Dick took a shuddering breath his arms shaking. “Cuatro.”
Lily nodded and kept going. “Five.”
“Seis.”
“Seven.”
“Ocho.”
“Nine.”
“Ten.”
Dick took a step back, slowly wiping his face. He looked at Lily and then at Samantha and he frowned. He still felt hollow but at the very least he didn’t feel as alone with it. “Gracias. Both of you. Ahora que? What now?”
Samantha shook her head, “Wait for the morning and talk to Betty. After that we should investigate that hole. See if there’s anything down there we can immediately stop or at the very least slow down what they’re trying to do. From there we have to react to whatever the wraiths are planning.”
Lily nodded rubbing her chin, “There’s only four of us. Working as a team sounds like the best plan.”
“Something like that. I doubt tio wants to wake up and find out I had dos ninas spend the night.”
“That might be funny to watch happen,” Lily giggled and Dick made a face. “We’ll leave so you don’t get in trouble. And if you need something, anything. Please call one of us.”
He made a face but gave a slow nod. “Si. I’ll try.”
Lily reached out and gave his hand a squeeze. Squeezing back she walked past and Samantha looked at him with a deeper frown unsure of what to say or how to help. He tried to give them a smile and took a step back. “Don’t stay too long. It’s late. Hate for more stuff to happen.”
“Yeah,” Samantha sighed softly and nodded. “Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow Dick.”
When they had both gone Dick took a slow breath and finally sank into a chair. Leaning backwards he felt like his body weighed a ton. His heart felt a little lighter, after talking to them but it didn’t make the reality easier to face. Touching his throat, the absence of his pendent itched. Frowning he shook his head before going back to his room.
The Harlequin Library 