Chapter Twenty-six

Erin slid a finger across the tablet’s screen. “He is probably well under two percent right now, lower than Mexico City’s level before he died. As you guessed, Alex, this method is far more efficient than forcing a valve leak.” She pushed the tablet into her bag. “Phoenix, you are free to detach.”

As the hum died away, I reached for the connector, my arms shaking. My fingers slipped across the wet tube, but a second try unfastened it. Breathing shallow gasps, I reinserted my cloak’s clasp. The void burned within. Spasms rocked my abdomen—pulses of pure torture. I could barely breathe.

“While we wait for Phoenix to stabilize,” Alex said, “I think it’s time to begin revealing all we recently learned about Singapore.” She grabbed Sing’s hair and jerked her head back, stretching her bruised face and forcing her eyes wide open. Blood streamed from her nose and dripped from her chin, past her dangling medallion, and down her chest. “This seductress is a pawn of the rebels, though she has no idea how they have used her.”

Sing coughed loudly and clutched her chest, tucking her medallion away with a pinky finger, a stealthy move no one else likely noticed. “That’s not true. I do know.” Her voice sounded rough, almost unrecognizable. “Tokyo and my father have been planning… planning for me to infiltrate the Gateway… ever since I was born. I am not a pawn.”

I cringed. Why was Sing giving away information? For my benefit? Revealing her importance would get her killed for sure.

“Is that so?” Alex twisted Sing’s hair. “Then tell me, why did your own father hide from you as a ghost?”

Grimacing, Sing firmed her lips and said nothing.

“You see,” Alex continued, now staring straight at me, “the little liar has no explanation. She is a pawn, and the realization has rendered her speechless.”

My heart pounded so hard it seemed ready to explode. A scream begged to escape my throat, but I swallowed it down. I had to concentrate on Alex and Sing. Of course there was an explanation for Kwame’s claim to be Sing’s father. He was trying to throw Alex off the trail, but I couldn’t blurt that out. Giving Alex more information was the last thing I wanted to do.

“Although Singapore seems to have lost her voice,” Alex continued, “we have much more to say.” She released Sing’s hair, stepped to one of the other pedestals, and scooped up the garment she had been carrying earlier. She shook it, making it unfold into the shape of a cloak. “A fine cloak Erin recovered in the shroud. One of our perimeter guards reported seeing Singapore give her cloak to a hooded woman. While Singapore stood calmly, that woman punched her in the face. We think her purpose was to fake an attack so she could explain the loss of her cloak, though we have not yet deduced the reason for the charade. We did, however, learn something important during that interchange.”

I tried to catch Sing’s gaze, but she averted her eyes. She wouldn’t have done what Alex said. She was too trustworthy, too loyal to deceive me like that.

Alex raised a finger. “Before we reveal what else we learned, let’s begin the next step in our experiment.” She extended the sonic gun. “Take my place, press the gun against Singapore’s head, and pull the trigger. I want you to kill her.”

I took a deep breath, trying to settle my runaway heart. “If you’re…” My own voice sounded worse than Sing’s. I cleared my throat and continued, though pain throttled my words. “If you’re threatening to… to shoot me if I… if I don’t kill Sing… that won’t work. I’d rather die than… than hurt her.”

Alex let out a condescending laugh. “I know that, Phoenix. I’m not stupid.” She called to the guards. “Execute one of the prisoners!”

Theresa withdrew a sonic gun, walked behind the closest kneeling man, and shot him in the back of the head. As the man toppled to the ground, a woman screamed but quickly silenced herself. Murmurs rose among the other prisoners, blending with the background cries of children. Peter wrapped his cloak around the man and began the reaping process.

I gulped. How could Theresa do that? Wasn’t she on our side?

Alex laughed again. “Surprised, Phoenix?”

I clenched my teeth. She knew the answer.

“You see,” she continued, “when the woman took the cloak, unaware that anyone was listening, she referred to Singapore as ‘the Raven’ loudly enough for Theresa to hear. Theresa used that name to get away from you so she could tell us about the drugged coffee. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get back in time to warn the tower guards, but that was a small matter.”

I seethed. Yet another guard played me for a fool. But how could I have known?

Alex called to the guards. “One of you close the front gate.”

While a male guard ran toward the tower, I rolled my aching fingers into a fist. “Cowards! You use innocent—”

“Shut up, Phoenix!” Alex extended the gun toward me again. “Put this against Sing’s head right now, or I’ll order another execution in two seconds!”

I crawled from the pedestal and allowed her to put the gun in my hand. As I curled my fingers around the handle, half my brain shouted, Shoot Alex! but the other half screamed, No! Then everyone will die!

I knelt behind Sing and pressed the barrel against the back of her head. As my heart raced, I whispered between gasps for breath. “Don’t worry… I won’t… kill you.… Just buying time… to think.”

“I’m not worried, Phoenix.” Sing coughed again. Blood dribbled from her mouth, joining the stream from her nose. “I trust you. I hope you’ll keep trusting me.”

The gate dragged across the entry road. When it clanked shut, my heart sank. Another escape option had been dashed.

Alex paced in front of Sing and me, Sing’s cloak in hand. “As I was saying, we haven’t yet deduced the reason Singapore faked the loss of her cloak. Since she is Tokyo’s daughter, we believe she is able to withdraw souls without it. She is very powerful, and the Gatekeeper thinks her power will continue to grow, which is why he ordered her execution. Yet, I decided to keep her alive for a while longer.” She stopped pacing and stared at me. “Why do you think that is, Phoenix?”

I glanced at the prisoners. Their murmurs grew louder. Something was definitely going on. Maybe they were planning an escape in spite of the closed gate. They would die either way, so why not?

When I refocused on Alex, I took a deep breath to quell the inner boil and spoke in a slow cadence. “I am not interested in answering the venom of a devilish witch.”

“Witch?” Alex crouched in front of us and lowered her voice to a hissing whisper. “Only hours ago you hesitated for five seconds, and it cost you Misty’s life. Now I will provide you with a revelation.” Her eyes glinted once again—lustrous and penetrating. “You will learn that everything you have trusted in since this ordeal began has been a lie. Then I will give you the opportunity to renounce your loyalty to this liar, the one who has put you in danger time and time again in order to pursue a mad obsession. When you kill her, all will be forgiven, and I will release the rest of the prisoners unharmed. Otherwise, they will all die. You will buy Sing’s pardon with their blood.”

My hands shook. Spears stabbed my stomach. “But why am I so important? You could kill her yourself.”

Her whisper lowered even further. “I know you have a special talent, Phoenix. The Gatekeeper knows it as well. He also ordered your execution, but I need you alive.” She coughed to cover her next words. “To conquer him.”

I felt my mouth drop open. Conquer him? What new deception was this?

Alex draped the cloak over Sing’s shoulders. “Here is your mother’s cloak, Singapore.”

Sing trembled but stayed quiet, her stare fixed on a pool—a pink-tinged slurry of blood and dirt that grew slowly in the light rainfall.

“She lied to you, Phoenix.” Alex rose and pointed at her. “That sniveling wretch is no friend of yours. The Resistance arranged to have her live next to you so she could begin a systematic seduction by romancing you while you were in a lonely, vulnerable state. She used her feminine wiles to capture your heart so you would help deliver her mother to the Gateway. But that wasn’t enough for this vamp. She enticed you to bring her here so she could enter the Gateway herself, all because of an insane conspiracy theory that denies the reality of the Gateway’s benevolence. If not for Singapore’s wild obsessions, Colm would be alive. Misty would be alive. And now two hundred men, women, and children kneel in terror, wanting to know if your selfish, spellbound loyalty to this deceiver will cost them their lives.”

I looked at the prisoners. They shivered in the drizzle, some weeping, all frightened—waiting for someone to make a courageous decision. As the void continued gnawing at my gut, my arms wilted. My trigger finger cramped. Would one little squeeze really set those suffering prisoners free?

Alex stabbed a finger at Sing. “Kill her, Phoenix! Be done with this wanton wench. My guard at the prisoners’ residence building deceived you. Theresa deceived you. You are obviously too easily led by the nose. And now letting Sing live will serve only to prove your starry-eyed naïveté once again, and your unprecedented gullibility will mean the deaths of many children who just want a chance to leave this hellhole and go home in peace!”

Sing cried out, her words punctuated by gurgling gasps. “Do what… you think is right… I asked you to… to trust me… but either way you decide… I’ll still love you.… I will always love you.”

“More lies!” Alex shouted. “She has proven you can’t believe a word she says. Kill her now and be done with it.”

My entire body quaked. “I… I can’t.”

Alex waved a hand at the prisoners. Theresa walked behind a woman and shot her with the sonic gun. The telltale pop jolted my brain. She twitched on the ground for a moment, then lay motionless. Like a vulture, Peter descended on her body and covered her with his cloak.

A little girl screamed, “Mommy!” Two men leaped to their feet, but when a guard grabbed the girl and set a gun to her head, the men dropped to their knees again.

My arm shook harder. I could barely keep the gun in place. A barrage of images blazed in my mind—Sing and Kwame and Alex and Shanghai—all spinning in a wild vortex. Finally, Mex’s image blended into the turmoil. With desperate pulls, he struggled to free himself from the life-sucking vacuum, the death penalty so callously executed by the will of one of the Council’s minions, a sentence delivered because of evidence planted on him, planted by a son and his mother who had conspired to bring about this end at this moment. If I killed Sing, they would have their victory. If I killed Sing, Alex would win. If I killed Sing, my heart would shrivel up and die.

“You’ve run out of time, Phoenix.” Alex’s tone was cold and cruel. “Kill her now, or a child is next. You know I won’t hesitate.”

Again I glanced at the prisoners. Still kneeling, still shivering, still waiting for a decision that might rise above my cowardly stalling.

A rattling engine drew near. Alex turned toward the sound while I shifted my focus to Sing. Could it be Liam? Maybe… just maybe we had a chance.

I leaned closer to Sing and whispered, “Get ready to run. We’re going to make a break for it. They can’t stop all of us.”

“In your condition?” Sing pushed something into my free hand. “I’m not running.… Search your watch.… The medallion is the key… Follow me… to the Gateway.” She reached around, grabbed my gun hand, and pulled the trigger. The gun popped. Her head jerked. Her body fell limp, and she dropped face first into the muddy grass.

I tried to shout, but the words caught in my throat. Just as I reached for Sing, a van crashed through the gate, sending it flying. A swarm of male prisoners leaped up and barreled into Peter and the guards. Men and women scooped up children and stampeded toward the exit. Water and mud splashed. Shots rang out. Prisoners shrieked and groaned.

At the shattered opening, Liam leaped out of his van and yelled, “Get the little ones in!” He threw open a side door and ran into the streaming mob, grabbing children right and left.

I flopped to my seat next to Sing. My limbs felt like jelly. I couldn’t help the prisoners even if I tried. My dear friend lay in the mud… dead. I had failed.

Alex raised a hand and shouted, “Let them go! All of them!”

The rifles silenced. Splashing footsteps continued, though they slowly eased as the prisoners realized that they had been set free. At the entrance, Liam deposited children into his van and herded others beyond the gate, a worried expression on his face as he looked at me.

The entire scene became a blur. I didn’t bother to keep watching. Liam would figure out how to get them all to safety.

I stealthily opened my hand. A photo stick lay in my palm. It had to be Sing’s. I stuffed it into my pocket and grasped her wrist. No pulse. No movement.

Erin lifted the sphere at the pedestal and pushed it into her shoulder bag. “Why did you let them go?” she asked Alex. “News will spread about this camp and your planned reaping.”

“Let them talk. They don’t know what we really planned here.” Alex picked up the silver box and handed it to Erin. “As we discussed, these souls go into the abyss.”

Erin nodded. “Have Peter put Singapore into my car. He can reap her on the way, and I’ll throw her soul into the abyss with the others.”

“Good. The worst thing that could happen would be for the daughter of Tokyo to return from the Gateway.”

“Understood.”

Alex gave Peter a shove. “Do as she says.”

Scowling, Peter scooped up Sing’s limp body, pulling her away from my weakened hand. As he carried her to the limo, I followed their progress, counting each slogging step. Although every nerve in my brain shouted for me to give chase, my muscles wouldn’t respond. Alex had obviously drained my energy for this very reason. I couldn’t grant Sing’s last request. She would go to the abyss instead of the Gateway. And where was Misty? In Peter’s cloak or in the abyss-bound sphere? It wouldn’t do any good to ask a liar like Alex.

When Erin and Peter climbed into the limo, a cloaked figure with glowing eyes sneaked around the watchtower and ran to the trunk. He raised a finger to his lips, then dove through the trunk’s lid and disappeared.

My mind shouted Cairo! but I kept silent. What could he do to help? Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.

“Well, Phoenix…” Alex reached down and grabbed my forearm. “Can you get up?”

I flexed my leg muscles. “Maybe.”

She hoisted me to my feet and wrapped my weapons belt around my waist. Now that she stood within inches, her skin looked more youthful than ever, again no sign of a wound. “I’m sure killing your friend must have stabbed your heart. Even her betrayal couldn’t soften the blow.”

I blinked at her through the rain. Her voice had taken on a tone of genuine sympathy. It sounded so strange. With the van crashing into the gate, maybe she was distracted and didn’t see that Sing had actually killed herself.

Alex fastened my belt in place. “I’m sure Shanghai will show up soon. When she does, you’re both free to go.”

“But… ” I touched my spool and a dagger. I was now fully equipped. “Why did you go to all this trouble just to get me to kill Sing?”

“Phoenix?” Liam shouted from the van. “Are you coming?”

Alex waved. “He’s staying. Take the wounded to DEO headquarters. Tell them I said to provide care for everyone.”

Liam flashed a skeptical look, but when I gave him a nod, he nodded in return. “I will.”

His van rattled to the outside street, followed by the limo and its smooth purr. Behind the two vehicles, dozens of former prisoners walked away quietly, staying close together as they faded into the shadows of the surrounding buildings.

Alex focused on me. “You ask why all the trouble? It’s quite simple, Phoenix, and since we’re alone, and since you’re under my control, I can tell you.”

“Under your control?” I brushed rainwater from my eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Remember our conversation in your apartment? I told you there was another issue or two, and now you’re learning what I meant.” She showed me her left hand. She wore Misty’s pewter band on her ring finger. “Misty controlled you, but she is dead. And now that you killed Singapore and thereby destroyed your… shall we say… principles, you are mine.”

“But how could…” Dizziness flooded my brain. I couldn’t think of another word to say.

Alex laid a hand on my shoulder, steadying me. “I will explain much more later, Phoenix. For now, I will tell you that I know all about Maxwell, your grandfather. You inherited his power… and his weakness.” She picked up the sonic gun and slid it behind her jacket. “Meet me at your apartment. While we’re there, I will tell you about your new condo and see to it that you get an energy charge. I’m looking forward to telling you how you will take over for Peter.”

I looked into her metallic eyes. The power in her vision was never stronger. “Take over for him?”

She set a fist on her hip. “Peter was supposed to do what I need you to do, but he failed. After he reaps Singapore, Erin will kill him.”

“But… but he’s your son.”

“Was my son. You’re my son now.” She reached into her jacket pocket and withdrew a thin chain and medallion. She draped the chain over my head and guided the medallion down until it rested on my chest where it glowed like a phosphorescent coin. From her jacket she withdrew a vial filled with red liquid, flipped the cap off, and poured a drop onto her fingertip. “Erin provided me with this supply of your blood.” She smeared the drop over the surface of the medallion on both sides, smothering its glimmer. “Now I can track you when I send you to do my bidding. I will explain more when you come to your apartment.”

She recapped the vial and glanced at the camp’s entrance. “I’d better go. I will see you soon.” As she walked toward the Hilton, her shoes squished in the mud. “Don’t worry about the dead bodies. I’ll send someone to pick them up.”

I scanned the jail yard. The two executed prisoners lay in the mud, two more broken shells, two more deaths, two more tragedies. Yet, a couple of hundred had escaped. The guards might have wounded a few more, but they managed to get out. At least we had succeeded in some measure. But at what cost? Misty. Sing. Colm. The losses felt like a tourniquet around my heart, squeezing my life away.

Another squishing sound approached from the direction of the gate. I looked that way. Shanghai limped toward me, grimacing with each step as she leaned on her staff. “Phoenix! What happened? I just talked to Liam. He said Sing is dead!”

“She… I… I mean, Alex tried to get me to… to shoot her, but…” My voice fractured into pieces. I couldn’t say another word.

Shanghai wrapped her arms around me and whispered, “It’s okay, Phoenix. Take your time.”

Her body was warm, though wet. I returned the embrace with weak, jittery arms and swallowed to loosen my throat. “I held… the gun. I wasn’t going to… to shoot. I saw Liam… coming, so I thought we had a… a chance, but Sing reached around… and pulled the trigger.”

“I see. Another Alex ultimatum.”

I nodded. “Alex said she’d let them go… if I killed Sing.”

“So Sing traded her life to help the prisoners escape.” Shanghai pulled back and looked me in the eye. Tears tracked down her cheeks. “She must have known you’d try to fight your way out, that you would die trying, so…” She bit her lip hard. “So she saved your life, too.”

“She did. That’s just like her. She…” My throat caught again. “I… I can’t…”

“Oh, Phoenix.” Shanghai embraced me again. As we wept together, light spasms rocked our bodies. Seconds passed—heavy, painful seconds. How many? I couldn’t tell. Grief ravaged my mind. But I couldn’t let the torture strangle my resolve. I had to move forward, figure out the puzzle, rescue Misty’s and Sing’s souls.

As Shanghai cried on, she hugged me more and more tightly. With her hand still clutching the staff, the wood pressed against my back. “So… ” I cleared my throat. “How’d you get your staff?”

She drew back and held the staff in front of me. “It was really strange.” She brushed away tears. “I found it in Liam’s van when I ran to him for help. He had no idea how it got there.”

I exhaled heavily and brushed away my own tears. “So you’re the one who brought Liam here.”

“I heard his van idling close by. He seemed like our only hope.”

I glanced at the broken gate lying on the wet driveway. “Where were you when he crashed into the camp?”

“Over there.” She gestured with her head toward the street’s parking area. “Fighting a guard who was trying to shoot the van’s tires. He was a tough customer.”

“Then you saved most of the prisoners.” I curled my aching hands into fists. “I couldn’t save Misty. Or Sing. Or Colm. Just when they needed me most, I failed. I couldn’t lift a finger to help any of them.”

Shanghai gripped my arm. “You didn’t fail, Phoenix. You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met. For three years you’ve risked your life to help the desperate people of this city, and you sacrificed everything you love to save those innocent prisoners. In my book, you’re a hero.”

Her words felt like a warm blanket, comforting in spite of new pain cramping my legs. “You are, too, Shanghai. You’re amazing.”

She smiled. “Thank you for saying so.”

My knees buckled, but Shanghai held me up and pushed the staff into my hand. “You look like you need this more than I do.”

I gripped the middle and leaned on it. The cramping eased. “That helps a lot. Thanks.”

“And let me give you something else.”

“What?”

“Everything I have to give.” She depressed her valve, making the center of the clasped hands protrude. Her smile quivering, she pushed close and connected her valve with mine. As we embraced again, now chest to chest, she hummed, “I can’t imagine how much you must be hurting, but I’ll do everything I can to ease your pain.”

Energy flowed into my valve—warm and refreshing. It seemed that Shanghai’s love flowed with it, the combination strengthening my heart along with my muscles. Every passing second brought relief, vigor, and hope. With Sing’s photo stick in my possession and Albert’s soul still available to provide me with information, maybe we could get to the Gateway and the abyss. Maybe we could stop Erin and learn the mysteries beyond the veil. “You’re already easing my pain, Shanghai. It feels wonderful.”

“I’m afraid I can’t give you much.” She detached our valves but stayed close. Her lips drew within an inch of mine, as soft and inviting as ever. “But I can give you my love.”

I slid back. “I… I can’t.”

Tears sparkled in her eyes. Her fingers ran along my hand until they found my pewter ring. “Too soon?”

“Yeah…” I nodded and looked down. “Too soon.”

“I understand.” She kept her hold on my hand. “So what’s next?”

“Back to my apartment. I’ll tell you on the way.” With help from the staff, I walked toward the broken gate while she limped at my side, an arm curled around mine. “I’m going to need all your brainpower to figure out how to rescue Sing and Misty from the abyss, but it’ll help that a spy stowed away in the limo.”

“Cairo?”

I smiled in spite of the crushing grief. “You’re as smart as they come.”

When we exited the camp, we stood side by side and gazed at the sun rising behind the Chicago skyline. Though veiled by the usual meltdown haze, it seemed brighter somehow, as if it were trying to break through the mysterious fog that cast a shroud over the entire world.

Shanghai leaned her head against my shoulder. “So how are we going to do this? Do you have any clues?”

“Just something Sing gave me.” I withdrew the photo stick and watch from my pocket and laid them in my palm. “It’s her photo stick, and she said to follow her to the Gateway, to search my watch, and the medallion is the key. I’m guessing she means the medallion she was wearing, but it went with her body.”

“I saw her medallion. Any clue what it is?”

I lifted the one Alex gave me. As my mind cleared further, a connection clicked. How could I have missed something so obvious? Images flashed—every time the medallion slipped from Sing’s tunic and into sight. She wanted me to see it, but she couldn’t tell me why. Otherwise I would have put a stop to her suicidal plans.

I whispered, “She said to follow her to the Gateway. Her medallion is a tracking device, and Alex has a way to locate it.”

“Sing’s been wearing it for a while,” Shanghai said. “She must have been planning this all along.”

I swallowed. The truth was so hard to believe, it seemed unwilling to come out. “Sing wanted to die,” I said. “It was her only ticket to the Gateway.”

“It’s all… all so surreal.” Shanghai took the watch and studied it. “Sing blazed the trail. Now we have to follow it. We’ll see what’s on the photo stick and try to find the Eagle.”

I tightened my grip on the staff. “Maybe the Eagle will find us.”

“You mean the staff? Do you think the Eagle left it for us?”

I nodded. “Maybe to let us know she’s ready to help.”

“But how could she get it? I left it with Mex’s body.”

“Who knows? I’m just guessing.” As I pushed the photo stick back into my pocket, Bartholomew’s words echoed in my mind. If one of you chooses to die, I can send your soul to the Gateway. There you will be able to transfer your friend back to this side, and he can be restored to his body.

I let out a sigh. Erin wouldn’t bother to preserve Sing’s body, so there was no hope to revive her, even if I wanted to.

“Is something else wrong?” Shanghai asked.

“Just that we need to hurry. Alex will be at my apartment with more energy for me, and she’ll show me how the tracking device works.”

“I’m all for that.” Shanghai pushed the watch into my pocket. “But you’re nearly out of gas. We’ll need transportation.”

I extended my thumb. “Let’s see if hitchhiking will work for a change.”

“Maybe someone will risk it. Your apartment’s not far.”

“After that, we’ll get to the bottom of all the Gatekeeper’s secrets.”

“As long as we’re together.” Shanghai regripped my hand. “For Sing?”

“For Sing.” I took in a deep breath. “Let’s find out what’s beyond the Gateway.”