Chapter Eight

 

The steel mesh elevator rumbled upward through the empty cavern, eventually slipping into a hole that had been drilled through the earth. Pandora knew about a lot of the entrances to the Undercity, but not this one.

"I didn't realize this was Drops territory."

"It's not," said Duro. "Call it neutral ground. The person that owns it owes me a few favors and lets me use his elevator in return. We're coming this way so no one knows we've left the Undercity. The other entrances are all guarded and watched."

When the elevator reached the top, they were in a simple room with an electric winch on the ceiling for lifting and lowering. Duro led them out of the cage and into a hallway. He paused briefly, pulling up his hood. She followed his example, enjoying the feel of her old clothes on her skin.

To her surprise, they exited into a store of some kind filled with teenagers playing games at tables and making entirely too much noise. The sights and colors were overwhelming and confusing. They passed a front counter filled with small shaped stones and other figurines. The pimple-faced worker behind it averted his eyes.

Relieved when they hit the outside, Pandora asked, "What kind of place was that?"

"You don't know?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"No. I spent my time as a kid stealing from cars and running from the cops."

"Gaming store."

He headed the opposite direction. She glanced to the colorful mural on the brick wall, which included the name Freeport Games.

"Weird place for an entrance to the Undercity."

"If you met the owner, you'd understand. Assuming he let you live."

Pandora knew the city was the home of many strange and powerful beings, but she never imagined one might own a kids' store.

Duro bought tickets for the train at a nearby station. She'd figured their location as the ninth ward by their relation to the Spire at the center of the city. The top third of the massive tower was hidden by a flat, gray cloud layer. As she moved through the buildings, she was struck by how little she could feel with her sapphire. Unlike the Undercity, the aboveground portion wasn't awash in faez.

"October?" she asked as they rumbled along the tracks, sitting across from a family of four that were clearly tourists by their Hall branded shirts. The youngest boy, no older than seven, was playing with a plastic dragon that made roaring noises when he pressed a button on the back.

Duro screwed up his face before it smoothed to laughter. "November."

The parents across the aisle appeared incredulous that she hadn't known the month, but she'd been in the Undercity so long and without a calendar, she hadn't known.

They left the train in the seventh ward near the Canal District. As they headed towards the southern part of the ward, she worried where Duro might be taking her until he veered towards the west and into an apartment building that overlooked the ring road that separated the inner wards from the outer ones.

He banged on a third-floor door near the back of the building. A muffled question reverberated through the wood.

"I got everything but the eggs," said Duro.

The door opened a moment later, revealing two members of Drops that she only vaguely recognized. Neither had the face tattoos that many of the waku preferred. On a table in the back, automatic weapons, explosives, and other weapons were piled together.

Duro pushed past and said over his shoulder, "Phillip and Dane. This is Pandora."

"Is she gonna be the key?"

"I hope so, or this is gonna be a big waste of time," said Duro, heading into the kitchen and rummaging around the refrigerator until he had a beer bottle in hand. "You want one?"

"Don't we have a job to do?"

He smiled over his shoulder. "Not until after dark. Time enough for a drink. Only one if you're worried," he said with a wink.

Duro tossed the bottle to her then threw himself onto the big leather couch. He cracked his beer and chugged half of it before letting loose a gut-rumbling belch.

"How are sales?"

The two Drops members, soldados she assumed, made gestures that equated to a lack of enthusiasm.

"Too many people want them, not enough have the money to pay. We had some wayhos try to snatch Dane's bag last week. It didn’t end well for him. Then there's the PD. They seem to show up whenever we try to get settled. Trying to clean up this fucked-up town. Good luck," said Phillip, chuckling.

A short time later, Dane and Phillip left the apartment on errands. Pandora didn't bother asking. It didn't matter. She had a job to do and that was the only thing.

Duro finished his beer and grabbed another. "You got a family?"

The question caught her off guard. She leaned forward, dangling the beer from her fingertips. "Old man took about fifty bullets in a shootout with a rival gang. They rolled up on him when he was picking me up from school."

Duro nodded knowingly. "Sorry."

"He was a good dad. Planned on taking us somewhere else once he had enough money, but you know how it is. Never seems enough when there's more to be had."

"Mine died in a scrap with the Vipers," said Duro, lifting his beer bottle in respect. "What about your mom?"

The mention had her squeezing her bottle hard enough it would have broken had she been a topaz. The sound of the clicker echoed in her mind.

"She showed up after he died. Been gone pretty much since I'd been born. Took me away from Chicago for a while but we came back later."

"You don't like her."

"Like isn't the right word. Mothers are mothers. You have to have one." Pandora took a drink. "She has her own demons to fight. One that makes my problems seem simple."

"Where'd she take you?"

"Back home. Spent time with my grandfather and the rest of the extended family. It was a much different life. Even harder than Chicago, or the Undercity." She tapped her fingernails on the bottle. The urge to count was strong, but Duro was staring right at her. Right through her as if he could read her soul. Pandora swallowed.

"Must have been tough. You fight like you have something to prove."

Pandora set the empty bottle on the table. "What about you?"

"Mama lives in the Pajot. Knits clothes for the youngins," said Duro with a wistful smile. "She lived a hard life. Founded the Drops back when it was just a bunch of holes in the ground, little food, danger at every turn. But she carved out a home for us. We owe her generation to keep things going, whatever it takes. I will kill whoever to keep her safe."

Pandora was no stranger to the hardness in his gaze. She lifted her bottle towards him.

"To mothers."

"To mothers."

She watched the sun set from the window. The cloud cover had broken up, splashing pinks and oranges across the horizon. As the light faded, the city came alive with neon signs, car headlights, and the illusionary battles near the second ward. The rebuilt Glitterdome sparkled with fireworks announcing the start of a big show.

"Were you here for it?"

"Of course."

"Doesn't look any different from before," she said.

"The scars run deep. The Halls aren't the same place as they were before. They can't use magic like they used to because of whatever it was that fixed it. Still dangerous, but you know, not the same." He checked his watch. "Time to go."

Duro led them on foot into the second ward through the pedestrian tunnels that went under the ring road. Gang tags littered the concrete walls. Pandora spotted a graffiti crow with crimson eyes permanently displayed at the center of the wall. He acknowledged the tag with the gesture for "Warning, stay alert."

They entered a basement through a back door. Dane and Phillip were waiting with big, bulky bags. The concrete wall had been broken out, leaving an entrance to the sewer tunnels. The smell wasn't heavy, but still made her nose wrinkle. She took their nonverbal gestures of communication as a warning to be silent. The four of them trudged through the tunnels until they reached another broken-out wall. Whatever they were here to do, it was long in the making. Stepping through the hole put them in a small room with a heavy steel door on the opposite side. The two soldados placed little black boxes at two corners of the room before motioning to Duro.

"Good, we can talk now."

"What is this place?"

"One of the main warehouses for the Black Crows. They keep a lot of important things here, some of which we wish to acquire for ourselves," said Duro.

"You said I'm the key?"

"Reach out with your sapphire."

She did as he asked, finding the door awash with faez. It was covered in enchantments. She also felt a faint vibration.

"Do you feel that?"

Duro nodded. "Whatever it is, it doesn't matter for what we're doing."

"And the door? Is it safe?" she asked.

"Nothing on that door is reactive as long as we don't touch it. It's meant to hold it closed, keep people from getting in this way, and the enchantments are only sensitive to physical contact. The door was put in years ago when they smuggled their equipment into the building, and then they boarded it back up and forgot about it."

"Can't blow through it?"

"It'll set off the enchantments," he said.

She nodded. "But those same enchantments make it vulnerable to my sapphire."

"Exactly. If we're going to get in there, you're gonna have to pull it off the wall."

"Won't that make noise?"

"You saw the fireworks over the Glitterdome? There's a big concert there, lots of heavy metal bands, some who specialize in flashy and loud illusionary shows. It'll be banging over there all night. If they detect anything, they'll think it's the concert."

"And you think I can just yank this door off its hinges?"

"That's the idea. I've seen you use your sapphire. You're stronger than any of the others we have in the Drops."

Pandora faced her challenge. She wasn't so sure, but then again, she'd never tried to tear a door off its hinges. She reached out with her sapphire, feeling the contours of the magic. There was a marked difference between the steel barrier and the frame around it. Pandora pushed and tugged, trying to get a better idea of what she needed to do. She appreciated the compliment from Duro, but didn't think she had the strength to rip it out without preparation.

Once she'd examined her task, she Pulled with the sapphire. It felt like yanking on the faez-imbued ground. She tried two more times before turning to Duro.

"Are you sure about this? It feels like I'm trying to throw the earth."

Duro said nothing and gestured towards the door. Pandora tried again. She put her entire being into the Pull, but found herself sliding towards the door rather than yanking it away. As she was looking around for something to grab ahold of, Duro approached from behind.

"May I?"

"Thank you. Just try not to squeeze my guts out."

With Duro's strong arms around her waist, she Pulled again. The door rattled in its frame.

"Keep going," he said.

She kept up the Pull. The harder she yanked, the more Duro had to dig his hands into her hips to keep her from sliding. If it weren't for his topaz, they both would have been shifting forward. At the point she thought her efforts were going nowhere, the frame connections started to crack. Encouraged by the change, she dug deeper. The welds snapped, and Duro yanked her backwards as the doors fell over, slamming onto the concrete and sending up a dust plume.

A massive headache piled into her mind the moment she released, leaving her bent over. Duro let her recover, handing her water as the other two started putting on their gear and checking their automatic weapons. They gave her a formfitting mask, which slipped over her face comfortably. She retrieved the curved blades from her bag while Duro pulled out a pair of batons.

"The target is on the far side of the lower level. There might be guards, or not. We'll have to find out as we go. If we have to fight, end it quickly and quietly. We don't want to get into a prolonged fight. There are probably twenty or thirty gang members in the building at any one time, though they rarely come into the basement."

Duro slipped on his mask and they entered the building by stepping over the fallen door. A low level of faez allowed her to see with her sapphire, while the two soldados used military-grade night vision goggles. She hadn't expected to be able to use her sapphire, but maybe faez had bubbled up from below, infusing the area.

The interior of the lower level had surprisingly high ceilings. They crept forward towards heavy equipment. Duro paused briefly at the mining gear. There were huge drill bits that looked both new and worn, lying on wooden pallets. On the far side of the basement a huge set of double doors blocked their view. She could feel the vibration coming from that direction. Duro looked like he wanted to investigate, but he went past the equipment towards a door on the far wall.

The door was locked, but Duro grabbed the handle, braced himself, and yanked, snapping the bolt. He gave them the "Hold" gesture and went into the room. Pandora investigated a set of wide steps that went up to the ground floor. Faint conversation reached her ears. It sounded like someone might be heading down. She motioned to Dane, but he spread his hands. Duro was still inside the room.

She saw boots appear around the corner. A group was headed into the basement. She checked the open door to find Duro nowhere to be found. He'd gone into one of the many rooms in the hallway. She motioned for the two soldados, and they slipped past the door, holding it closed because the bolt had been snapped off. Her heart thundered in her ears as she heard many voices headed down the stairs, including one she hadn't expected. Dane and Phillip cocked their weapons, preparing for a fight that would leave them massively outnumbered.