Issue #66 – City by the Lake
Part 2
It was a quarter past one when Laurel, Cyn and Juniper stepped through the north entrance of the Field Museum. They were met by Sue.
Sue was the name of the Field Museum’s venerable pride and joy, a fourteen-foot tall, forty-three foot long skeleton of a tyrannosaurus rex who had stood guard over the entrance for more than seventy years.
Cyn tipped her head back to take in the full size of what may have been the greatest predator to have ever walked the earth. “Whoa. How many hams would I have to eat to turn into that?”
“Well,” said Juniper, who had downloaded the augmented reality tour from the museum’s website and was wearing glasses with screens on the inside of the lenses to follow along with it, “In life, she weighted more than seven tons—and did you know that’s not her actual head?”
“No that’s… ew.” said Cyn. “Okay so how about if I just turn into the badass skeleton and rampage after Dr. Perilous?”
***
Elsewhere, on the same floor, others were taking in the famous exhibits as well.
In fact, they themselves were being taken in by other patrons as if they were exhibits in the process. After all, no matter how engaging and interesting the museum’s many exhibits were, they lacked the certain side-show quality of a blue giant in a comically small muscle shirt (because such attire was a requirement in the museum) and a four armed woman with patches of scales growing here and there, and a serpent’s tail instead of legs (the rules about shoes had been generously waived for her, but she brought some in a bag just in case), wearing the special glasses and discussing the Tsavo Man-eaters.
“They don’t look like they could have killed all those guys.” the scaled woman, who was known to her friends as Mariposa or just Mari, but insisted on being called ‘Kali’, was saying.
The giant, whose codename, Kronos, fit him well, nodded patiently. After all, Kali was, and would always be like a younger sister to him. “The movie exaggerated how many they actually killed.”
“And gave them hair. Aren’t male lions supposed to have big, mullet-y manes?”
“Not Tsavo lions. As it turns out, they’re an evolutionary offshoot adapted for living in a region famous for its thorny vegetation.
Not far away from them, another pair were drawing their own fair share of gawkers. One was a man with black chitinous plates in place of skin, and sharp protrusions of the same sprouting from his back. He’d taken care to mostly over up with a trench coat and hat, but the growths on his back had torn their way through, and in any event, his companions drew so much attention to the whole group that he may was well have no bothered.
As he sat on a bench, pouring over his palmtop, a blond woman crouched next to him. Aside from a pronounced under bite, she looked normal from the waist up, but her thighs were both more powerful and longer than normal, to the point that her knees jutted up as high as her chin just from dropping into a shallow crouch. She was also wearing chunky shoes with flat heels to hide wide, flat feet.
“I think those two have forgotten what we’re here for.” the man, whose name was Geiger, said.
“If they ever knew in the first place.” Agreed the woman, Anura. “Lee just heard’ Field Museum’ and he was already booking his ticket before he knew why. And you know Mari; She’d got to hell just because it’s somewhere she’s never been before.”
She rocked back and rested against the wall behind her. “So any news yet? Are they here?”
“Not yet, but they aren’t supposed to be here until two. In the meantime, I’m patched into the security feeds on all the entrances; we’ll know when they get here.”
Anura nodded absently and looked lazily around. “I’m not sure about this.” She said off hand.
“About what?”
“Coming here and signing up as bounty hunters. It makes it look like we’re supporting that stupid law.”
Geiger drew a deep breath. “I know. But this way, we’ve got city resources backing us and hopefully some cop support. It’s better us catching up with them than any of those real maniacs, right?”
“Right.” Said Anura after some thought. “And hey, it’s not trick this time; we did all the research ourselves and we really do know what’s going on this time.”
A notification came up on Geiger’s screen and he opened it. His features sank. “Maybe we don’t know as much as we think…” He showed her what was on the screen.
She blanched. “We need to find them as soon as possible.”
***
“So, how are we supposed to find them in a huge place like this?” Cyn asked, admiring the crushing beak of a reconstructed Gastornis skeleton from a special exhibition called After Dinosaurs: the Emergent World.
“We’re depending on the idea that they still want to contact us.” said Laurel. “I told Tillie to meet me in the Hall of Gems at two-thirty is she wants to talk.”
Juniper looked over at her with s small frown. “But… they’ve been talking to Codex, right? What are they going to think when they come to meet you and Laurel Brant is there and not Codex. You have been on TV a few times thanks to DRW.”
“Not to worry.” Said Laurel, holding up her arm. She had on a fashionable watch with a chocolate colored band and a gold face. “I had Lisa put this together for me: It makes my appearance instantly forgettable to anyone who doesn’t have one of those artifacts she made for us.”
Cyn took her wrist and examined the watch more closely. “Sleek, attractive, amazingly deceptive, and the perfect thing to get away with all sorts of fraud. It’s the Cyn of the fifteenth century.”
Laurel laughed and took her arm back. “Let’s keep the fraud to a minimum, shall we? Now, I think it’s best if they meet me alone at first. If I need some help, or just someone their age to relate to them, I’ll motion you over. Otherwise, just stay within sight, okay?”
***
“We should be looking for Noah.”
Tillie Reynolds stopped short on the stairs out front of the museum to look back at the girl who had stopped stubbornly on the bottom step, a sour look on her face.
They called the girl ‘Rain’, because tat had been the codename listed on the stasis cell she’d been in, but the truth was, they didn’t know what her name was. Something had gone wrong; whether something mechanical in the stasis, or the trauma she’d undergone when waking up in a strange place with strange people preparing her for unnecessary and possibly fatal surgery; and she’d been left with no memory of who she’d been before.
Looking at her now, Tillie was shocked that this was the same amiable and precocious little girl she’d met two years ago.
Now fifteen, Rain was becoming a young woman, but fighting it every step of the way. She was a dedicated tomboy, dressing herself in whatever baggy jeans and shapeless, oversized shirts she found cheap, and only passing a brush over her hair when forced to. Not a speck of make-up had ever gone on her face, and she often complained that Tillie’s own hair, make-up and clothes were a waste of the group’s money. They were always on the move, she often reasoned, so what did appearances matter?
Rain the Pragmatic. She insisted on doing most of their food shopping, and learned sewing and basic repair for a whole range of items to extend the useful life of pretty much everything they owned. It was hard to tell if life in the run from the Academy was the primary culprit, or if d her ironclad bullheadedness were the result of just how much concentration it took for her to keep her powers properly ‘off’.
One too many times she’d felt that her power; the unconscious generation of a massive low pressure front centered on herself, had left her feeling like she was ruining the others’ chances of fun, sunny days, and had taught herself to suppress it.
Tillie sighed. She wished she could have made it so Rain could have actually been a kid before she had to become a teenager in a broken little family. “Kevin’s looking for him. I thought you wanted to see the Tales of the Iroquois Confederacy exhibit?”
“But Noah is out there alone.” said Rain, shaking her head. “We shouldn’t be here, we should be out there looking for him. If it was one of us, that’s what he would be doing.”
Taking a deep breath, Tillie nodded slightly, then gestured for the girl to move over to the side, out of peoples’ way and out of earshot of anyone who might be nosy. Once there, she sat down on the bottom step, not caring if she was mussing her smart work skirt.
“I know, Rain, but that’s the real reason we’re here.” Rain gave her an incredulous look, but she cut her off before she could ask questions. “Look: we don’t know where he went, but… Okay, you’re going to be mad, but here’s the thing: last week, we were talking to Codex, and…”
Another false start. Tillie closed her eyes to compose herself. “Rain, we know how much you hate being on the run like we are. You’ve got no friends your age, no hobbies that doesn’t have something to do with keeping us alive and comfortable—we have to force you to go to movies, and that is not how things are supposed to go with teenaged girls.”
Rain took a tentative step back, preemptive hurt in her narrowing eyes. “What are you saying? Are you—“
“No.” Tillie said quickly. “Codex says she can get you and Kevin into the school in Mayfield and find me and Noah jobs. Nothing will change except we would stay in one place.”
The full impact of that was lost on Rain because she was focused on other things. “What does that have to do with finding Noah? None of it matters if something happens to him.”
On that, Tillie was in agreement more vehemently than the younger girl could know. “Because I’m supposed to meet her here today and talk about what she’s offering. If anyone can find him, she can; it’s like she can do anything, considering how many times she’s come through for us before.” She offered Rain a smile and was relieved when it was returned. “Understand now?”
Rain nodded. “Yeah. Let’s hurry up and find here then!” They made haste up the stairs an in through the south entrance.
The museum was doing good business for a weekday, but it was hardly crowded in the expansive main hall. One thing Rain hadn’t lost was her childhood curiosity, and for a brief moment, seeing the signs posted around to direct visitors to the many exhibits on offer almost broke her resolve.
She took a moment to center herself closing her eyes and taking a deep breath just like Tillie did. “When and where are we meeting Codex?”
“The Hall of Gems at two.” said Tillie looking around herself.
Rain checked her phone. The others had tried insisting that she at least get a cheap palmtop, but she’s rightly pointed out that her burner phone, paid for with cash, was impossible to track, unlike their palmtops, which stored location information as a matter of course. “We’ve got ten minutes then. We’ve better head up.”
But even as she said it, she became aware of a change in the crowd.
Two years on the run gave them a feel for crowds. Like schools of fish that changed direction in unison at the slightest stimulus, crowds reacted to different situations differently, as if they were themselves one, vast animal. They became slightly better behaved when there were little children around, they became hyper-alert and conscious everything that were doing when there were police or other authority figures.
Now, they tensed and suddenly relaxed in a ‘I’m staring out of the corner of my eye’ way that crowds are prone to do when there was something or someone to gawk at that they were either too afraid or too ashamed to gawk at.
Both looked over their shoulders in time to see a blue giant come through the glass doors, clearly out of breath. He wore a black muscle shirt that was seconds from bursting into shreds, and his skin was marked all over with what looked like Celtic symbols.
Still huffing and puffing, he rested one broad hand on a knee while he showed the woman at the door his stamped card, proving that he’d already paid his admission. And as soon as he was done with her, his gaze fixed on them.
He rose to his full height, easily double Rain’s and then held up a hand in greeting as he approached. “Miss Reynolds and Rain, I presume.”
Both shared a glance. They knew all the Descendants, including the newest girl that joined over the summer, and none of them looked like that. The only other descendants they’d ever come into contact with had been the Academy’s and Tome’s Enforcers.
“Get ready to run.” Tillie hissed under her breath, then louder said. “I’m… sorry? Do I know you?”
He shook his head. “No, I can’t say we have. But please believe me when I say we have a common interest. My name…” He coughed politely and looked around at all the people studiously pretending they weren’t looking right back at him, “In the public eye, at least, is Kronos. And that,”
Just as he said it, the dry sound of scaled on tile brought the girls’ attention to a woman with four arms and a long, muscular serpents’ tail who seemed to have been under the impression that she was sneaking up behind them.
“…is Kali. My other friends, Geiger and Anura are also here, and—“
“Oh, crap! Where did those posers come from?” A loud voice came from up above. More than just the four involved looked up to find a dark skinned girl none of them recognized looking down on them from the gallery above.
“Time to go.” Tillie said, and grabbed Rain’s arm. The hall was an obstacle course of kiosks, benches, installations and people; there wasn’t enough room for her to get up enough speed to unlock any of her more unique powers, but she was still faster than any of her pursuers would be. With Rain in tow, she ran for all she was worth for the north entrance.
“Hey!” Kali said, noticing their escape. “Get back here!” She hurled herself forward, snake tail lashing back and forth to plow her forward past stunned onlookers.
Kronos held up a hand, already seeing the worse case scenario that Kali always invited dancing before his eyes. “Kali, wait!” Chasing them would do nothing but hurt their chances of making everything go peacefully.
The girl whose voice had provided the distraction back away from the overlooking rail, and before everyone’s eyes, took a running start and hurtled it, leaping out into open air. Free-falling, she transformed; clothes and skin becoming smooth, seamless gold and glimmering feathers.
Facsimile spread her wings and pulled out of her free-fall and into a flying tackle that sent Kali sprawling to the ground. She rolled with her momentum to come up on one knee over the snake-girl. “Okay, I thought after last time, we had an understanding that you and your friends would stop making terrible snap decisions, and in return, you didn’t have to go to jail.”
The only answer she got was Kali slapping her with her tail and sending her flying into the help desk. Kali righted herself and balled up her fists. “And you never give us a chance to explain!”
“Explain after you leave them alone.” Facsimile said, getting to her feet.
“You don’t understand!” Kali’s voice developed a certain whine to it. “We have to talk to them; it’s really important!” Instead of standing her ground with the golden heroine, she instead started after the two girls again.
“No.” a voice thrummed out of the air and directly into Facsimile and Kali’s ears. It didn’t sound human or like it originated in a throat. Instead, it sounded as if it had been pieced together from down notes and the tolling of large bells.
The light in the hall dimmed and it confused Facsimile to see that the patrons there didn’t react to it, only their game of super powered tag. The voice continued. “You will leave them alone. Or pay the price.”
It seemed as if shadows were swarming in the room, accompanied by the trilling of a flute. Those shadows gathered at the far end off the hall and scuttled up what they found there. Steel cables strained, stone and plastic and calcium rubbed together.
Wreathed in a new skin made of shadows, Sue broke free of her moorings and turned hollow eyes on the feuding pair. The ancient monster’s jaw worked in time with the next words.
“So says Umbrage, or as you may know me: The Shade.”
About Vaal
Landon Porter is the author of
The Descendants and
Rune Breaker. Follow him on Twitter
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