Elena pulled open her bandages on her shoulder, wincing at the pain. Having worked to put things in place once the effects of the New Gold wore off had been tough. Tough, but not impossible. Now she was dressing to meet with the Sisters, preparing to apply the final dressings to the wound that afflicted Wicker City.
She stared at the scab on her shoulder, turning to show it to Lilly, waiting.
“It’s only been two days,” the girl said. “New Gold?”
Elena nodded. “That’s my guess. Such levels left me with a nasty headache after, but apparently it sped up the healing process.”
Lilly eyed the containers concealed at Elena’s belt—where she now kept the New Gold divided and at the ready. “Healing like that could come in handy.”
“But never forget the price. I faced those things, those Diluted. And not for the first time.”
Lilly nodded, a shudder running through her. “I don’t envy you, living in the Elsewhere. But… because of your experience, you are perfect to lead us.”
“Thank you.” Elena reapplied the bandage, not entirely sure she needed it. Still, better to avoid any chances of infection. “Are they ready?”
“I’ll check. One moment.”
Lilly moved for the door, leaving Elena to finish dressing. When she was done, sporting her fancy blue outfit and black cloak, she went to the crack that allowed a view of the square. Sunset cast the haze with gold and orange. For a brief moment, Elena looked upon the clouds above and imagined one massive supply of New Gold being dropped on the world, what that would mean. Sacrificing the minds in favor of physical strength.
She wondered if she would ever know where it had come from, this strange energy supply that could also function as a sort of booster drug. Another world? Some experiment to create super soldiers? Rumors went both ways, but that’s all they were as far as she was concerned, rumors.
In those two days, she had left Rodin to do his job. He would continue with his rounds, checking in with those left standing to find out who was with whom. They were scheduled to meet today at the ruins of the coffee shop so that he could brief her, then make his switch official. He would bring over as many troops as he could, along with the intel.
She hoped he was doing well and not drawing too much attention to himself. Her finger subconsciously went to her lower lip as she remembered their kiss. Thinking of the way the New Gold had made her almost take him right there made her laugh. And, at the same time, made her hand lower to one of those canisters. Such a dangerous substance in so many ways, and yet… her key to success.
It was necessary, but she hoped she wouldn’t lose her mind along the way. Maybe that would be the sacrifice she made for a new and better Wicker City. But gods, she hoped not.
“Elena.” Lilly stood at the doorway, motioning for her to follow.
Elena closed the board she had put up to keep her place more hidden, and then followed the girl up the stairs. Emerging into the main hall, Elena was pleased to see the Sisters of the Wind all gathered. There weren’t many of them, but enough to fill the hall. She had to guess around fifty or sixty. Some were as young as six, a couple of older women who served more as mentors and guides these days, occasionally feeding intel to the Sisters.
The ceremony would be fast. They always were.
The head Sister, Mina, stood at the front of the room as she had done not long ago to bring Elena back into the fold. At her side were the top whisperers, ready and waiting.
“Elena Matheson, you have been nominated to take charge of the Sisters of the Wind,” Mina said. “Do you accept this nomination?”
“I do.”
“Before we go on,” Mina said, breaking custom, “we must know—your promises… you really think you can pull this off?”
Elena nodded. “If not, I’ll be dead and things can go back to the way they were.”
“We won’t let that happen,” Lilly spoke up from her side.
Clearly the other Sisters were uncomfortable with her speaking up like this, but times were changing. They had better get used to it. To put them all at ease and to take advantage of the fact that she had them all gathered here, Elena spoke up.
“The Sisters of the Wind were started for a reason. Not to simply stay to the shadows, not to spy, but to bring about change. The winds of change are picking up, and I believe now is the time to exert our influence on the city. It won’t be overnight—it will take time. But if we stand united, we can make this work. And it won’t be only us, either.”
“Explain,” Mina demanded.
Elena held back her grin, interested in hearing how they would take this latest news. “Perhaps some of you know the boy called Young Tom? I have spoken with him, and he has agreed to start up a Brother organization, much like our own. He will answer to me, and in doing so, we will be twice as powerful. All Sister secrets will remain ours, and theirs mostly theirs, though I will oversee both. He has intel from having worked closely with Kevin where I have not. He knows some of the inner workings of the warlords in ways none of us could, and that goes for even the greatest spies among us. And there’s more.” She waited, but all stared, clearly anxious to hear what she had to say. “Some of you know I have formed a relationship with Rodin. He will bring others over to serve as our guards, to be the troops we need when the time comes. We can’t make true change on our own, and I am pleased to tell you that we won’t have to. This is a family, now. A true family.”
She knew as well as any of them that, while blood family mattered, other factors were more important. If a father could betray his daughter, not come after her and have her mother killed, that was grounds for that man no longer being considered to have the blood bond. What Elena had with these people would always be stronger than any ties she might have with Kevin.
“We accept these terms, and appoint you head of the Sisters of the Wind,” the Mina said. All others started to lift their hands, but Lilly stepped forward, clearing her throat.
“There was a time when we had a mother, of sorts,” Lilly said. “Our founder is no longer breathing, may the heavens treat her well, but it seems to me,” Lilly turned, bowing to Elena, “that we have a new Mother.”
It took a second, but then the others bowed and repeated the word, “Mother.”
Elena beamed, taking a step and embracing the girl who she replaced. Standing there and looking out over the first group of her army, she almost felt sorry for Kevin. But no, that was a lingering thought of him as a father. She pushed it aside, and waved her hand for the feast to begin.
At that, several Sisters brought in plates of lemon chicken seasoned with basil, mashed potatoes, and sliced apples. It wasn’t much by Sabin’s old standards of a feast, but Elena had always preferred the more down-to-Earth style of her Sisters.
She couldn’t linger long, though, because she had work to do in the city. Soon she excused herself, moving on with Lilly to quickly dart across town. Wendy would be waiting, hopefully, with the answers Elena needed.
The two arrived at Pork’s to the smell of grease and it got her mouth watering. Pork eyed her warily, not exactly the warm welcome from before. Elena was about to ask why, when she saw the bowler hats out of the corner of her eyes. Two Civilized Gentlemen, sitting with Wendy. This was supposed to be the meeting where the two ladies would discuss how to deal with the situation. Having them here for said meeting threw a bit of a wrench in that, but she adapted.
Wendy saw her and approached, telling the Civilized she would be right back. Lilly, however, lingered outside of the restaurant at a hiding spot across the street.
“She still won’t speak with me?” Wendy asked as the two met in the middle, by the soda machine.
“No.”
Wendy’s eyes moved over Elena’s outfit. “You’re ready to deal with them?”
“It wasn’t the plan, but… yes.”
“I know, I do.” Wendy pulled her close, lowering her voice. “Thing is, they have something…something I think you’ll want to see. Paying the debt in this situation? It might benefit you as much as them.”
That had her attention. She was about to walk over, but Wendy put a hand out. “I know why I might want him back, but… what’s in it for you?”
“That toy of his, the blaster?” She shrugged. “I kind of broke it, but want him to make me another. And more, if he can.”
Wendy’s eyebrows shot up, but then she laughed. “That thing? Really?”
“Turns out, his little hobby might be more valuable than you realized.”
“One price I ask.”
It was Elena’s turn to raise her eyebrows. “I’d be rescuing your husband.”
“A husband I threw out but could maybe learn to love again. What I care about is my daughter.”
Elena’s gaze followed hers to the spot across the street where they could see Lilly’s shoes in a sliver of light, not much else. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“That’s all I ask.”
“And in return, you’ll join my ranks—swear allegiance, both you and Alex. He’ll do what he can to find parts, build me another blaster, but me and nobody else. You help guide me, sharing what you can from observing my father and Sabin all those years.”
Wendy nodded. “All I want is the chance to sit with her, try my best, and hope she lets me back into her life. You make that happen, you got yourself a deal.”
“Then it’s settled. Let’s discuss the payment.”
The meeting was a go. They approached, with Wendy taking the seat opposite the Civilized Gentleman she recognized, Wendy at the other.
“Leonard,” Elena said, giving him a nod, then to his partner. “I understand I’ll be helping with a bit of debt.”
He smiled, steepling his fingers. “I’m prepared to make a deal in writing.”
“What sort of deal are we discussing, exactly?”
“Neutrality, for one. As an added bonus for freeing Wendy’s husband of his debts. We don’t attack you or yours, even set up boundaries if necessary.”
“Really?” She leaned in, interest piqued. “But Kevin. I thought you were in cahoots.”
“Our deal… fell through. Due to a failure to deliver on his part. And that brings us to the topic at hand. Payment.”
She nodded. “What did you have in mind?”
His eyes creased in excitement, his buddy’s fingers moving on the table nervously. They weren’t just going to ask for a few tokens, clearly.
“We know you were there, Elena.” Leonard nodded to his buddy. “Jacob here was on the lookout, and can confirm what I thought I saw.”
“And that would be?”
He leaned in, lowering his voice, “How much of it did you manage to get away with? How much wasn’t destroyed in the explosion?”
She leaned back, struck by the fact that they knew. If they thought they could get her supply, they were dead wrong. His eyes flashed annoyance, then went stoic, more professional.
“Miss Matheson, I trust you would like to know what that, er, substance is. No?”
“I would.” She couldn’t deny that.
“In that case, I would suggest you come with us.”
She stared, blinked, managed just barely to hold back a laugh, and then said, “What?” But before they could answer, she waved off the comment with her hand. “In what world would I go anywhere with you? Do I look so gullible? For all I know you’re still in with Kevin and mean to deliver me up, or maybe you’re just annoyed at me and want to ditch my body somewhere. No, thank you.”
She moved to stand, but Wendy shook her head, then nodded at the Civilized. “You told me, so… tell her. Trust me, once she understands, she’ll be on board.”
Elena eyed her old friend, not totally sure she could trust her. That little speech, though, had her curious. “Tell me what?”
Leonard didn’t seem too happy about it, but after a few seconds of staring, and Pork coming by to see if they wanted anything but getting a rude, dismissive glare from the other Civilized, Leonard finally pulled out a folded paper.
He set it on the table, and smiled.
Elena eyed it and felt her annoyance building. “A damn NDA?”
“And at the bottom, our contract. As discussed regarding both Alex and neutrality between you and your father.” He took out a pen, signing his part of it.
“Now…” She took the pen, eyed the contract, and didn’t see anything wrong with it, so signed. “What is it?”
The Civilized grinned, then held out one more piece of paper—an old print of the same painting that Elena had seen in the base of the Sisters. An image of the strange-looking flying object with the golden light.
Before anyone else could notice, he tucked it in again and was beaming. “You see, we think we understand its use. This… product of yours.”
She held up a finger, then pointed it at the jacket pocket where the paper had vanished. “You’re telling me, you have… One of those?”
“We have remnants of one. We’re not entirely sure this will do anything, but we owe it to ourselves and humanity to try. Now… are you in?”
A real-life flying ship. Her own military’s or another’s? Maybe even something from beyond the skies? Her eyes met Wendy, who was grinning. The woman had called it. There was no way Elena could back away from this.
Turning back to Leonard, she said, “The deal is for one-quarter of a pound. Nothing more or I walk, and even then, it’s solely to get this bad boy working.”
“That should do just fine.”
Leonard gestured and they all filed out, heading for the door and ignoring the curious glances their way.
“One sec,” Elena said, and moved back to check on Pork. Glancing over her shoulder to see the others at the doorway and out of earshot, she said, “Things are going to turn around here, you’ll see.”
He nodded her way. “You going with them? Caution is the word.”
“Agreed. If you don’t hear from me by this time tomorrow… spread the word—tell them where to start the search.”
“You got it.”
With that, she turned to join Wendy and the Civilized. A quick nod to Lilly told her that she would be okay, but to try and keep a tail on them if possible. Elena was being taken to, in theory, check out some sort of craft she was going to help get airborne. The implications were numerous, not least of which meant a possibility of being able to travel even beyond the Elsewhere.
The Civilized had a car out back, a younger man serving as their driver. He opened the door and the four piled in. A bit tight, but it would do. They didn’t have far to travel, anyway.
As they went, Elena couldn’t help but cast suspicious glances at the men and even Wendy from time to time. Lilly would do a good job keeping up, she had no doubt. If she didn’t, at least someone would be able to report in on where the car had gone.
She had put her faith in the Civilized before, but this time they had a contract. Did that really mean so much to them that it would be enough to protect her?
“You have been busy,” Leonard said, the car bumping along past the Orange Square.
“I’m flattered that you cared enough to pay attention to little ol’ me.”
He smiled a half-smile. “Oh, Elena, if you only knew.”
“Excuse me?” She looked around at the others, who all seemed equally off guard by that little comment. Wicker City was a small area, only a fraction of what had once been Chicago, after all. She couldn’t begin to place him. As he turned away from the conversation, she assessed him. The guy had to have at least fifteen, maybe twenty, years on her. If he had been checking her out back when she was a young teen, that said something about him that she preferred not to know. At least for now.
The car pulled up to the strange part of town with the ties hanging and streets cleaner than most, but then only slowed slightly. At a rap on the divider from Leonard, the driver apparently remembered where he was going, and kept on. Right up close to the wall along the water.
Leonard didn’t wait for the driver to open his door, but got out first and held the door. “Elena.”
She followed, the other man moving out of her way. Once they were out in the open, she realized she recognized this place. It had been a spot of curiosity for some time when she had first arrived. Part of the city that had been under water, but the water was receding. Workers in the city had started working to expand the walls outward as the water receded, and soon were able to block it off enough that they claimed to be able to make more progress in the years to come.
Apparently, that progress had happened. Only, the cement here had a permanent black sheen to it, likely due to whatever had been in the water.
“Not so long ago, we made a discovery,” Leonard told her, leading the way through some rubble and around overturned cars. Bones of a large fish lay against a barnacle-covered speed boat. “It was then that we started looking to Kevin and his supposed stash of New Gold, having seen the clues. Clues such as that painting, and more.”
They ducked into a collapsed parking garage, where two Civilized Gentlemen stood guard, but backed off at a wave from Leonard.
“Enough talking, though, I’ll let your eyes do the talking for me.” Leonard led her through the door, and within, flipped a switch.
A floodlight lit a line across a large room in what looked like it might have once been an exterior landing pad, judging by the circle. What made it a room now were the piles of debris and broken cement that formed walls and ceiling. The item of focus though, truly made Elena stop in her tracks. There, nudged up against one wall and slightly on its side but otherwise looking in good shape, as if it had been restored, was what looked like the image from the painting. Almost like the old fighter jets from military manuals, but this one was more rounded with two sides that were round at the front and curved out to a point at the rear.
“This… is for real?” Elena stepped up to it, but turned back to make sure it was safe. After a nod of confirmation from her guide and excitement from Wendy, she continued. Up close it was even more impressive, with its sleek metal. All was stained black around it, but not the craft. The glass of the cockpit had a curve and gleam to it that made her wonder what it might be made of. “It was in the water?”
“We assume so, though as you can tell… the material doesn’t allow us to tell for sure.”
She ran a hand over it, impressed, then suddenly didn’t want to waste any more time. “Where’s the fuel tank?”
“That’s just it,” Leonard said. “There isn’t one. Not that we can see, anyway.”
“Damn,” Wendy spoke up, now nearby.
Elena circled it, eyeing the ship, and looking around the tail ends for herself. Sure enough, no signs of where fuel might go. She knelt, checking under, and then eyed the cockpit. “Have you been able to get inside?”
Leonard grinned wide and went up to the area below the door. Pressing his hand there, several objects flashed. He entered a return code. The cockpit swung open.
“We’ve had some time to study it, but that’s as far as we got.”
“It should be enough.” She nodded to Wendy, who clasped her hands to give her a leg up and in. Once inside, Elena was amazed at the simplicity of it—no controls other than a display and two sliding buttons.
And there was the area she had been looking for, right next to her right leg. Like the loading chamber of the blaster.
“Leonard, you ready to collect your payment?” She called out. “Because if so, you’re going to want to be watching this.”
He stepped up, considered her, then nodded. “One-quarter of a pound, yes?”
“Let’s start lower, see what she takes.” Elena had divided her pound of New Gold into eight, so two of them would make the payment. She took one, held it up for him to see, and then poured its contents into the loading tube that could otherwise have been misidentified as a cigarette lighter that some of the old cars had.
As with the blaster, the effects took a few seconds to kick in. But when they did, it was certainly a moment that would change Elena’s view of the world forever. The craft lit up, screen coming to life and showing coordinates, star maps, all manner of oddities. Lines of light lit up along the hull, power roaring, and when she slid her finger along one section of the controls, weapons appeared. Another, and the craft lifted into the air a few feet before she brought it slowly back down.
She stared in awe, then turned to see the others staring with open mouths and wide eyes.
“Theory confirmed,” Elena said, “and debt paid. I hope we can be more than simply neutral in the days ahead.”
“So do I, after the situation with your father comes to a close.” Leonard was there to help her down, and to her relief didn’t try to slit her throat and take the rest of the New Gold. Only the people in that room began to understand the true value of it now.
“Elena!” a voice called before they were able to further the discussion. “Elena!”
One of the guards poked his head in, staring in amazement for a moment before saying, “Sir Leonard, there is a man out here.”
“Who is it?” Leonard demanded, glaring.
“The diner guy—Pork.”
Elena frowned, not liking that he had felt the need to come here and call for her like this. “Excuse me, I’ll see what this is about.”
“We all will,” Leonard said, storming out with her. Clearly, he meant to give Pork a lashing if this wasn’t the most important matter in the history of men.
Just outside, past the two guards who had rifles aimed at him, stood Pork. Lilly and three Sisters who weren’t far behind, not bothering to stay hidden.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Kevin,” Pork replied. “He sent messengers, found out you were at my place so… told me to get a hold of you. He has someone named Rodin, said you’d know what that means?”
Elena’s heart dropped into her boots, her gut clenching and hand instinctively checking for her New Gold. She was likely going to need it.