Daniel

10:35 AM

Daniel punched through a wall, and Paul sidled behind him to avoid the plume of dust. This leg of the journey proved no trouble for a refueled Daniel’s abilities. Walking in a straight line, they made the trip within minutes. He didn’t even resort to clawing through concrete this time.

Daniel approached the containment unit’s front door and tore it open.

Pink dominated the chamber. The bed had cartoon-character covers, a fuzzy white carpet, a stack of middle-grade books on a nightstand, and stuffed animals littering the ground. A girl sat or kneeled—he couldn’t tell—in the center. A deep grey cloak obscured her face and body below the eyes, which explained why her ears drew his attention first.

They towered huge and conical on the sides of her head, interiors ridged with long pointy tips. He saw vibrant red blood vessels beneath their skin like cracks in a windowpane. Her ears twitched and rotated independently to catch every move he made, reacting to their immediate surroundings as well as distant things he couldn’t imagine.

Large black eyes met his through a curtain of long brown hair. Then a silvery ring expanded from the center of each eye outward to the lids and beyond, rhythmically pulsing in time with her heartbeat. A little dot twinkled with an almost audible ping each time the ring passed a certain point and faded between each pulse.

Him, Daniel realized. She sensed his exact location. If he looked closer he might see more of those dots… he expected she could find everyone in the Facility.

“Don’t look at me!”

Daniel recognized Cassie’s voice, high pitched and girlish but much louder in person. Her yell hurt his ears and he ducked back around the wall. “Escaping together will be much more difficult if we can’t see you,” Daniel called.

“How am I supposed to escape when I can’t walk!”

“Cassie, you can’t walk at all?” Paul said from beside Daniel, also hiding, “Do you need to feed on one of us?”

Feed? Daniel wondered.

“No!—Paul, you’re made of wax and he doesn’t have any to spare.” Did she just call me scrawny? “You two are the worst rescuers! Why couldn’t it have been anyone else?” She calmed herself with deep breaths, then spoke in a practical but strained tone, “Well, it doesn’t matter now. I’ll have to be carried.”

“What do you mean, ‘carried?’” Daniel said. No way could he touch the girl without causing harm, let alone carry her.

“I haven’t picked up anything heavier than a candle in three years,” Paul admitted, “I can’t do it by myself.”

Perhaps they were ill-suited for the situation—which made Daniel wish he’d had more information for his decision. “We could get help and come back,” he suggested.

“NO!” Cassie’s scream made them wince. “Don’t you dare leave me by myself!” Her voice lowered to a whisper, monotone and chilling, “The soldiers are coming and they’re going to kill everyone… There will be lightning and fire and death from the sky and we’re all going to die here!”

Dwelling on the ways they could be killed hadn’t seemed prudent, but now it was in the open. Instead of reply, he asked Paul, “How can she be so loud?”

“I think it’s her magic.”

There’s that word again.

“Don’t talk about me behind my back—I can hear you!” she yelled.

“I’m guessing that’s another one,” Daniel said.

“Yes, the ears.” Paul held up his cupped hands to his head for imitation.

“Don’t talk about my ears! Paul, your head is a candle!”

Paul slumped against the wall and a few beads of wax fell on his chest. Daniel gave him a weak grin, “She has a point.”

Slowly, Paul returned the smile. “It is kind of funny, isn’t it?” The albino boy pushed himself off the wall. “I’ve never seen her in such a bad way before. It looks like we’re going to need some serious help.”

An alarm wailed.

Not the fire alarm. While the annoying alarm from before rang to grab attention, this one was a dull, foreboding siren. It drilled into his head and hung there as a storm cloud of dread.

Cassie shouted, “It’s happening! They’re on their way—Lightning in the walls! Fire from below! Screaming metal in the sky!” Her ears swiveled, frantic and cringing against the noise.

She fell on the floor, huddled into a ball, and cried, her voice more piercing and painful than the alarm, “They’re coming. They’re coming and there’s nowhere to go!”

The girl heaved as if puking but produced a radio squeal and a man’s voice instead, “Squad 4 you take the point, Squad 5 sweep the perimeter, all units proceed as Contingency C! Repeat…” the stranger’s voice faded and hers returned, “There’s nowhere to go and I can’t move. They’ll kill us!” The girl pressed her face into the ground as if trying to squeeze the thoughts out.

Paul rushed over but stopped short, unsure how to help. He put a hand on her shoulder, but she jerked away and screamed at him, “Don’t touch me!” physically blowing him back a step with her volume. After chasing him away, she crumpled and began to keen low and long, sobbing between breaths.

Daniel would’ve been at her side in an instant if he’d even a chance of success. Not knowing her at all and with his deadly touch, no luck could salvage this. Between her screaming, vague predictions, and the alarm, her panic was catching—he had no idea how to proceed, and that, with the noise, brought on a migraine.

While Daniel held his splitting headache together, Paul sent for aid, :Lea, you’ve got to help—Cassie is freaking-out and saying some really bad things are going to happen and we can’t carry her away and we have no idea what to do, please tell us you have an idea—I think I’m starting to freak-out!:

:Please remain calm, Paul.: the fourth voice, Lea, replied, :Help is on her way.:

“Dang,” Paul sighed as he plugged his ears with wax, “What are we supposed to do while we wait?” Daniel shrugged, lip-reading while he blocked his ears. Paul pointed up and asked him, “What is this? Did someone hit the self-destruct?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“No, I glued the door to the surveillance room shut and barricaded it with foam,” Rana said as she became visible, “There’s no way anyone hit the button.”

“Rana! You’re here!” Paul said with effusive relief.

Daniel’s reaction was tempered with surprise and curiosity. With the frog girl’s return came a flood of thoughts and ideas he hadn’t known he’d lost. This is Rana’s… magic? How does it work?

Enough speculation. Tuning back into the conversation, Daniel concluded, “The Director, she gave the Termination order.”

:At least the soldiers are blinded.: Lea sent to the three of them, :They will not know where we are once we escape our containment units. That gives us some margin to work.:

Approaching him, Rana’s eyes scanned Daniel from head to toe and asked, “Are you good to go?” With her serious expression and manner he couldn’t discern whether she felt actual concern.

“Yes?” Daniel didn’t think he’d have any trouble getting to the next UE. Paul’s confidence in Rana helped ease his stress migraine, and he’d topped off his stamina when they reached Cassie.

She turned to give Paul the same once-over, “Do you need anything?”

“I’m okay,” he said. Paul seemed slightly intimidated. Hesitating for a bare instant, the candle boy added, “It’s good to see you, Rana.” She paused to nod in his direction and dismissed them as if they’d ceased to exist.

Rana advanced into the chamber and knelt before the crying girl. Cassie’s explosive bouts of keening made Rana flinch but not retreat. Without touching the bat girl, Rana leaned in and said, “Cassie.” She spoke in a soft and calming voice Daniel could better understand through the open channel of telepathy than his ears.

Cassie found the other girl’s face through welling tears and a veil of hair, “Rana?” The bat girl’s expression contorted in a deep wracking sob. She threw her arms around her friend and cried into Rana’s shoulder. Rana accepted the violent embrace with a gentler one, holding and stroking her hair until the tears slowed and Cassie’s breathing became smooth and regular. Only when Cassie’s rigid grip yielded did Rana interrupt the moment with words.

“You heard some bad stuff today,” Rana said. Cassie mumbled assent. “I know it seems hopeless, but we’re making it out of here, no matter what they throw at us.” The girl whimpered but her tears stopped. “Were you afraid we’d leave without you?” Cassie hid her eyes beneath the cloak and nodded, ashamed.

As Cassie relaxed, her cloak slackened open and the two boys tiptoed closer. A scarf of fluffy, reddish-brown fur ringed the base of her neck. Her dark grey skin reminded him of fading dusk.

Rana hadn’t shed a tear with or for Cassie. Her face showed no sign of love, pity, or disgust, neutral as a mask. Yet Rana’s tender touches and voice held reassurance, “You can tell me.”

“I feel so weak. My wings are too big to fly in these halls and I can’t run with… these,” she said as she unfolded arms he’d mistaken for a cloak and extended her legs. She wore an open side sleeveless t-shirt and black shorts. Her ‘feet’ were large, flexible hands with opposable thumbs and short claws. Cassie wiped her face clean with those leg-hands, flexible enough to finger-comb her hair straight though she left several strands to conceal her face.

Her thin arms elongated into great wings and the first four fingers of each hand delicately extended to three feet in length. Nearly transparent skin stretched between each digit. Sheets of skin connected her wrists to her shoulders and her pinky fingers to her waist. Altogether, she had at least a twelve-foot wingspan and substantial width.

The wing skin stretched so far down her side he supposed it would be incredibly difficult for her to wear most clothing. The front and back of her shirt were tied snug at the hip, giving her an unhindered range of motion. When he thought about it, they were all wearing their original clothes because of the emblems… so how did their clothes fit and look brand new? The golden emblem over Cassie’s heart was a bat silhouette within concentric circles.

“Cassie, we’d never leave you behind,” Rana said, “You’re our friend, and there’s no way we can get through this without you.”

Daniel watched for duplicity and manipulation. He needed to know what kind of group he was joining or had been with. Though his inexperience didn’t help, even he knew words were meaningless without emotion. Rana had a masterful poker face, yet she spoke without guile.

“Thanks.” The bat girl, too, believed in Rana. Leaning back, she admitted, “I’m so weak; I haven’t fed properly in years.” Finally able to see her whole face, Daniel wondered why Cassie had hidden as if she were ugly.

She had angular features highlighting those fascinating pseudo-sonar eyes. When she spoke, he saw her canines were inhumanly sharp, making them fangs. What she hadn’t wanted Daniel to see was her upturned, leaf-shaped nose. Not an unusually large or unsightly nose—In fact, it’s kind of endearing—but noticeably abnormal.

Rana brought her inner arm to the bat girl’s face. As Cassie stared at the exposed vein, an edge of desperation crept into her features. She searched deep to find the willpower to meet Rana’s eyes and say, “Thank you,” first. Then she nuzzled her face into the crook of Rana’s elbow. Daniel cringed the moment he heard Cassie bite through skin and flesh to drink, but Rana did not pull away.

The frog girl didn’t even flinch. Impressive. Her expression showed no sign of pain or pleasure, but her posture radiated simple enduring goodwill. She tenderly pulled Cassie into another embrace while clutching and releasing her fist to keep the blood flowing. Rana petted the bat girl’s back with her other hand.

As Cassie drank, nothing about her outer appearance changed. Yet Daniel watched in amazement at how something abstract as ‘Vigor’ spread throughout her body. It manifested in her posture straightening, in her bearing with growing confidence, and even her breathing strengthened.

If she drank too deep, if she took too much, Rana did not say—but waited in a silence demanding their conformity until Cassie had her fill. At length, the bat girl lifted her head and wiped her mouth with calm deliberation. The puffy eyes of recent tears were smoothed away, her dark circles of insomnia vanished.

Rana retracted her arm and wiped away the smears of blood to reveal the absence of a wound. Already healed.

The frog girl rose. “Can you stand?” Cassie followed, wobbling slightly on leg-hands. She steadied herself on Rana’s shoulder for a moment before stepping free. “Daniel, Cassandra,” Rana introduced her to Daniel with a hand gesturing to one and then the other, somehow more awkward in half-telepathy to be heard over the siren.

Cassie looked in confusion from Daniel to Rana, “Yes, we’ve met.” She glanced at Paul, who shrugged, causing Cassandra to roll her eyes.

Daniel tried not to give away his amnesia with a wrong word or glance. If Rana helped him keep the secret, he didn’t think it necessary to bring up anytime soon.

“She’s twelve,” Rana continued.

The bat girl flapped her wings in objection, “I’ll be thirteen in twenty-five days! You didn’t have to bring that up because I’m the youngest!”

Paul shook his head, “It’s worth mentioning if you’re the only one who knows their birthday.” Daniel shivered at that, and he wasn’t sure why.

Stifling a rebuttal as her ears twitched, Cassie said, “We have to go.” She tipped her head to Rana, embarrassed, “Thanks again for helping me, but I can’t run on these,” she snapped with the fingers on her leg-hands, “Can I hitch a ride?”

Cassandra’s thin frame weighed even less than Daniel’s, being shorter than him. She scarcely wore the bodyfat to reach ‘very skinny’ while he broadcasted ‘starving to death.’ Her ribs showed, but her facial bones were slightly rounded instead of jutting out like daggers.

Thankfully, Rana’s svelte muscles were easily up to the task. “Come on,” she said and swung Cassie on as a backpack. Cassie locked her leg-hands around Rana’s waist and folded her wings into a cloak around Rana.

“Wait,” Cassie pleaded, “Can I say goodbye to Nyctea?” Rana picked up a plushy white owl from among the stuffed animals. The bat girl leaned forward to kiss the toy and then Rana placed the little owl on the bed.

When the girls turned away, Daniel saw Cassie’s had a little bat tail poking through a hole in her shorts. He looked up to see her glowering at him out of the corner of one eye and averted his gaze. She notices everything…

As Rana adjusted to the change in her center of gravity, otherwise untroubled by the flight-ready lightweight, Paul approached her. “I hate to ask a favor,” he began, “But, from what Cassie said, I imagine things are going to be rough from here on out. I’d be more comfortable—that is, I think I’d be of more use to the group—if you wielded me.”

The frog girl blinked. “Sure, Paul. If that’s what you want,” Rana said as she offered him her left hand.

With a breath of gratitude and relief, Paul shook her hand. The candle boy changed the instant their hands clasped. His body shifted in color and texture as he compressed himself into a denser material and a smaller form. In a second, he’d become a simple iron candlestick. The flame on the candle bore Paul’s face—him having become a being of fire, wax, and metal.

Rana’s right eye now held the same inner flickering Daniel had seen in Paul’s. Rana held the candlestick like a potent magical tool, implying she expected some use from Paul in this shape. With two friends aboard, Rana strode into the hall.

Daniel sprang to catch up with the three of them, but Rana let him pass, “Lead the way.”