Kiri turns to me. He pats my back, reaches out a hand. 'No hard feelings, eh?'
'None,' I say, biting down a harsher response. This is not the time or the place.
Kiri grins, then bows. 'Let's get started, eh?'
He's surprisingly light-footed as he sprints towards Rillman. The knives flash out. Kiri drops beneath the first blade, swings a fist towards Rillman's face. He connects, but barely. The second knife juts from his chest, eight inches of blade. Kiri looks at me, and then at the rest of the Orcus.
'Well, c'mon!' he roars, spittles of blood trailing his exclamation.
Whatever seal of indecision there was, breaks. The rest of the Orcus run towards Rillman, Suzanne pulling back. 'You really can't stay here,' she says.
'I want to stay.'
'There's nothing you can do here. Just be ready for what comes. Promise me you will go.'
'Why do I get the feeling I'm still being played?'
Suzanne shrugs. 'Steven, I think it will always seem like that. But the truth is that you're always bigger than the game. That's one of the main reasons why we chose you.'
Rillman pulls the blade from Kiri's chest and blood fountains from the wound. Kiri stumbles back. But he doesn't fall. He swings another fist at Rillman's head, but there's a grey blade arcing, dancing in front of him. Kiri's fist goes one way, and his arm the other in a spout of blood.
Now Kiri falls.
Suzanne shoves my shoulder, pushes me back. 'Just go!'
'And what if I don't?'
'Then we've made the biggest mistake of our lives. Christ, Steven, man up. Don't fail us.'
I try to shift. Nothing. 'I can't,' I say.
'Of course, there's too much electrical disturbance, far beyond any normal storm. You're going to have to jump off the bridge.'
'Really? But that's water beneath. What if -'
'He will not interfere. We have treaties, it's not like you're snatching souls from him. Go, or I'll throw you over the fucking edge myself.'
'I could -'
Suzanne grimaces. 'Get the hell out of here.'
I run to the nearest rail, clamber to the top. Electricity races up my arms and I smell hair burning. It's a long way down. I glance back at Suzanne, but she's already striding towards the melee with a sense of purpose that I can only envy.
Right then. I take a deep breath and step off into the air.
When I hit, the water's warm and murky, the current strong. I'm down deep, and thrashing in the dark. Something brushes my arm. I kick out and up, no breath in me, my clothes heavy.
When I break the surface, coughing and spluttering, my lungs burning, snot running down my cheeks, the bridge is already forty metres away, the air still crackling. Someone's screaming, but I can't tell if it's Rillman or an RM.
There's a gentle tugging on my foot. A dim, streamlined shape beneath me.
Please, no more sharks. I've had enough of sharks.
I close my eyes. And shift.
32
My head throbs, feels like it's about to pop. What the hell have they asked me to do? What were they thinking? All Suzanne's talk of disunity, but then to be so unified in marching towards their destruction. Surely that belies their argument!
I can't do this.
But I have no choice.
They've chosen me. Does it make them brave or cowards? After all, they're leaving me with one god awful mess.
I can't do this alone. But then I realise that I'm not. That I've never truly been alone. Lissa, Tim, Alex – they've got my back. They've never failed me.
Lissa! I need to find Lissa.
Suzanne's logic seems right on this one. Rillman will hunt her down if he can't find me, and I doubt Solstice's protection will be up to the job. But they're the least of my reasons. I would die for Lissa.
I shift to a point in the centre of the city. To the immediate west, the lightning storm is a webbed incandescence. My senses have expanded, but they are still dulled by Rillman's electrical web. I search her out. There is nothing. She is not in the city. I try her hotel room. It's empty. No, not quite. I can sense something, a recent death nearby. I shift to the room next door. There's a body there. A Pomp, one of Suzanne's. The poor guy's throat is slashed. This is not good.
I grab my phone. It's dripping wet, but it seems to be working. A no-signal message flashes at me. Maybe that's from the dunking. Maybe it's Rillman's electrical attack. I shift to Number Four.
Chaos! All the Ankous are here, their heartbeats clamouring. I stand in the middle of them, saturated with river water. I can't help scowling at them all.
'How many of you knew about this?' I demand. None of them look me in the eye. They're all frightened.
'Tim?'
He shrugs. 'I didn't know anything. You think I could keep this a secret?'
'Is there anything I can do?'
'Not unless you can shift back onto that bridge,' Li An's Ankou says. I don't know her name. I'm going to have to learn all their names. No time for that now.
'No, not with the amount of electricity being generated,' I say. 'There's no way.'
'And while we quake, our masters die on that bridge,' she says.
I grimace. 'Well, if there's nothing we can do about Rillman, I need you to return to your offices. Keep everything running. We can't let the Stirrers take advantage. The Death Moot is a bust, but we have work to do. Your people need you. I need you, all of you, to keep doing what you do best. They're not dead yet.' Though I can't help thinking of Kiri, the blade jutting from his chest; the ease with which Rillman took out Travis. 'Go! See to your schedules.'
One by one the Ankous leave.
Now it's just Tim and my staff. They're all looking at me. 'And that goes for you, too. We have souls to pomp. Stirrers to hunt down.'
They scatter quickly to their workstations. I motion to Tim. 'Meeting, now.'
'I swear,' Tim says. 'I knew nothing about this. Not until they shifted us here, together.'
'That's OK,' I say. 'I've got to find Lissa. I can't feel her, she's not in the country anymore. Rillman's likely to go after her.'
'And just how are you going to find her? She's not a Pomp anymore.'
'I have my means.'
Tim raises his eyebrows. 'And I have her email password. It was an accident,' he says quickly. 'I didn't mean to uncover it, but -'
There's a commotion at the lift. Alex. He's paler than I've ever seen him. Someone tries to stop him but he just pushes past them, and stalks over to us.
'I've been trying to call,' Alex says. 'But the phones are out, all over the city. Did you have anything to do with that?'
'Rillman,' I say. 'He's killing the RMs, and I'm stuck here. Maybe Solstice -'
'That's just it. That's why I've been tyring to call. There is no Solstice,' Alex says. 'There are no Closers. It's a front. I don't know how he managed it, who he bribed, but Internal Affairs are raiding his offices now. The staff – half of them are Stirrers. We're going to need your help, or more people are going to die.'
