Forging Day (Crucible of Change Book 1) (12 page)

He was pale and dripping with sweat by the time he finished with John’s broken wrist, but his face was calm and smiling and an aura of goodness surrounded him. Berto paused as he came to Lilith. “I’m afraid to heal you with the bullet still in your leg.”

Too bad I didn’t have mutant powers over metal. I watched Berto gather some tools, and an odd tingling in my fingertips made me wonder. Hand held over Lilith’s leg, I willed the metal to come to me.

Lilith screamed as the bits of metal tore their way back out through the flesh of her leg. Tears streamed down her face as she resolutely turned away from the mangled skin I’d left behind. Berto stared at me. “How did you do that?” He quickly turned back to Lilith. “Never mind. Tell me later.” His last prayer was for Lilith, the golden light healing her damage and pain.

When he’d finished with the others, I hugged him tight. “Thank you, Berto. You saved my life.”

“God saved your life. I was the conduit.” He still gave me a big hug in return.

Of all the reactions, Aspen probably surprised me the most. She almost acted like she was afraid of Berto. He noticed. We all did. It would have been hard to miss.

“Aspen, what’s wrong?”

“Your God is real. I saw it. But the Bible says you’re supposed to burn witches.”

“I’m not burning anyone, Aspen. God granted me healing. He didn’t tell me to go out and kill people that follow another faith. God is love, not hate. Men have done horrible things in God’s name. That’s not me.” He reached out to hug her, and finally she hugged him back.

Mikah cleared his throat, and it was obvious he’d been crying too. “Sorry to break the moment, everyone, but we need to pack up and get out of here before we draw any more attention.” He pointed toward the ER doors, where a crowd of people were gathered, staring in our direction. I don’t know how they saw anything from clear over there, especially with the screens up, but they obviously saw something—or they’d heard Lilith scream.

We got the cars packed up in record time. It was much faster when you weren’t doing it with the walking wounded.

“Can I ride with you guys?” Tessa quietly asked me and Kat.

“Of course,” Kat told her.

“Your turn to ride shotgun,” she told me, and got in the back seat.

Korembi had to talk to Stella a bit, but she finally hopped back into the van, along with the remaining compys. I think she wanted to ride with him. I could just picture her going down the highway with her head out the window like a giant dog, except scaly and deadly and scary beyond all reason. We were back on the road before any of the hospital staff got more than halfway across the parking lot.

Making the Push for Home

After seeing that Humans Only sign at the hospital, I’d worried about getting out of town without any trouble, but it turned out my anxiety was over nothing. Even though traffic was a bit heavy, we made it through Longmont without running into any more hostiles. There was a visible police presence, and they clearly noted our passing, but whatever their individual feelings about the newly non-Human, they stayed professional. I still breathed a sigh of relief when we got back on the highway.

I’d thought we’d speed up once we got on the highway. I was wrong. There were a fair number of accidents dotting the shoulders. No doubt getting hit with a purple cloud that turned you into something other than Human could be somewhat distracting to a driver.

As we passed Hunting World, I was really glad we hadn’t needed to meet up there after all. I saw broken windows and chaos in the parking lot. A grizzly bear was peeling the roof off a car like a pop can, and a moose was charging anything that moved. I idly wondered how Animal Control was going to deal with that one.

“Olivia, see if we can get any news on the radio.”

“Sure, Kat.”

I unplugged my MP3 player and surfed the stations to see if there were any official statements on whatever happened. First, I needed to find an actual live DJ. They were a rare breed these days. Music. Music. Commercial. Pre-recorded DJ doing a stale Saturday routine. Commercial. Commercial.

“I know you hate them,” Kat offered, “but you might check out the talk-show channels. It’s possible they might have information. At least you know they’ll be live.”

I sighed. “I was trying to avoid that.”

Of course, she was right. The talk-radio channels were all active today. I stopped on one that generally had the least objectionable content.

“…LSD in the water, man.”

“Thank you, George from Erie,” said the bemused host. “I’m pretty sure someone didn’t drug the water on the entire planet, but it’s an interesting theory.

“This is Phil Gunderson and we’re talking about our strange new world. Call, tweet, or visit our web page with your thoughts on the Event of the day, use hashtag event. Next caller, Doug from Lakewood.”

“I’m Doug. Reverend Allucius was right. I think God is punishing people for their sins. They are abominations and must be des—”

“Thanks, Doug. Folks, again, I urge you to remain calm. Whatever this is, we are a society of laws. Mindless violence is not the answer. Next up, we have Nora from Denver.”

“If people Changed like this, it must be God’s will. God tells us to love one another. I think He’s testing us to show that we follow His word.”

“Thank you, Nora. Words to live by. Next up, Mister Smith from Greeley.”

“This is all a big lie made up by the liberal media. You sheeple will believe anything. This is some plot, and then next week you’ll hear about some new movie all about this so called Event.”

Phil cut him off. “Sorry to say, but this is not a hoax. My producer, Bob, seems to be an Elf, for lack of a better description. We’re taking a quick break, and then I believe we have Victor from Thornton.”

I looked at Kat and Tessa. “Who knew? We’re just a figment of the liberal media’s imagination.” I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or cry, but I’m pretty sure I wanted to drink heavily when we got home.

“...and we’re back. Victor, you’re up.”

There was a loud squeal of feedback. “Victor. You have to turn off your radio.”

“I’m going to turn off my radio.”

What a yutz.

“Um, hi, this is Victor. I know what happened.”

“Really? What is your theory, Victor?”

“It was aliens. You know they’re been studying us for centuries. We’re all rats in their giant space lab. They’re always taking people to probe. Well, what if they added some mutant alien…”

“Remember folks, language. Victor. That’s an interesting theory. I hope our new alien overlords are kind.”

No answers really, but now we knew it wasn’t just us. Happily, we didn’t hear any calls from Lyons about a missing militia group.

“Time for a public service announcement. The authorities are recommending you stay home. If you do go out, we are on state-wide accident alert. If no one is hurt, just exchange insurance info and call the police later on the non-emergency number to report the accident. Folks, this is not a hoax. There’s no official statement of what happened yet, but we have sightings from all over the world of strange-colored clouds in the last twenty-four hours, and then some people experiencing unprecedented physical Changes. I can vouch for that part myself. I’m looking at Bob right now. The governor has scheduled a press conference for later today, and we’ve heard rumors that the president will be holding a press conference from Air Force One this evening. When we know exact times, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, everybody stay cool. Remember, your neighbor is still your neighbor, even if he’s now covered with fur and howls at the moon. We don’t normally have musical interludes, but I think the occasion calls for it.” With that, the car filled with the iconic howling of British werewolves.

Our little caravan was gathering quite a few double-takes, especially with the Trolls on motorcycles with the distinctive red and black banners of the forces of Chaos. I’m kind of glad no one knew Stella was in the back of the van. I’m guessing a pet license wouldn’t cover raptors, but she and the compys weren’t exactly farm animals, either.

Kat was a good driver, which really helped in this nerve-racking stop-and-go traffic. Just to give myself something to do, I called Ted.

His voice sounded a little different, but it was still him. The most alarming thing was how subdued he sounded. “Ted here.”

“Ted, it’s Olivia. How are things going at the homestead?”

“Olivia, it’s good to hear from you.” He paused. “That’s kind of a tricky one. So far the walls have deterred any casual looters. When you get close to the neighborhood, make sure you have your IDs ready. The neighborhood watch group got militant, and they’ve blocked off access to non-residents. It’s probably a good idea until things settle down.”

He was quiet for a minute. “You know, I’ve always tried to pretend that Mikah’s Grammy wasn’t really haunting the place. She wins. I got here after Mikah called last night, and I heard a noise from Grammy’s old room. I figured the cats had gotten in there. Her old rocking chair was going, without anyone in it. I still would have blamed one of the cats, except that the door was closed. That wasn’t the strangest part, though.”

“What was?”

“She was knitting. There was knitting happening in thin air, but with real knitting needles and yarn. I stared for a minute, and then the needles stopped clicking together and writing appeared on the mirror over her dresser.”

“What did it say?”

“
Stop staring. You made me drop a stitch
. I said, ‘Sorry for staring, ma’am,’ and got the hell out of there as fast as I could. I slept downstairs on one of the couches. I’m not going back up there again until Mikah gets back.”

“Grammy won’t hurt you. She likes you, but I’ll let Mikah know. We’re getting closer. We’ve just about reached the turnoff to I-270. It’s slow going, but so far so good.” We could always tell him about the crazy militia unpleasantness later. It wasn’t really something I wanted to discuss over a cell phone. “We’re bringing houseguests, by the way.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, about thirteen if I counted right. Good thing Grammy had a lot of guest rooms, but there are some couples so I know some people will be doubling up. Um, one of the guests has kind of a large—actually, very large—pet with him, as well as about six smaller pets. If you could raid the deep freeze in the basement and start thawing ten of the biggest roasts you can find, I think that would be a huge help.”

“Sounds like you guys have quite a story when you get home.”

“You could say that. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to scout any hot elves for you. Things came up.”

He was quiet. “I understand. Things came up here, too. Drive safe.”

“Thanks, Ted. You stay safe too.”

I rang Berto next since Mikah was driving. “Berto, I gave Ted a head’s-up that we’re on our way with guests and pets. He said something interesting. It sounds like Grammy is getting more active. She was knitting in her room and wrote a message to him on her mirror. He’s freaked out. I guess it’s hard to pretend a ghost doesn’t exist when she writes personal messages to you.”

“Interesting. Poor Ted. I’ll let Mikah know.”

“We’ll be there soon enough. I guess if Grammy is knitting something, at least she’s a reasonably friendly ghost.”

“Yeah, until you make her drop a stitch…”

Our route on I-270 took us through the industrial area of Commerce City. There was normally a funk in the air, but it was truly ferocious this afternoon. I rolled up my window and tried not to breathe. Kat couldn’t stop sneezing.

Tessa wrinkled her nose. “Whatever it is, it’s not brimstone.”

There was normally a steady expulsion of white steam from the stacks all around, but not today. It seemed more greenish than anything. I was glad for my rolled-up window, and noticed Kat and Tessa did the same with theirs. I felt bad for the Trolls out on their motorcycles.

We exited onto Colorado Boulevard heading south, more than glad to see Commerce City in the rearview mirror. The green haze finally receded in the distance, making Denver’s normal brown cloud of regular pollution seem positively benign by comparison.

The closer we got to home, the more impatient I got. I just wanted to be there already. Colorado Boulevard rose, going over I-70. Mikah stopped short in front of us again, and again Kat slammed on the brakes. “If he keeps doing that, I swear I’m going to kill him,” she said through gritted teeth.

I craned my neck to try and see what the holdup was this time. There were trees—
giant
trees—where the zoo and city park should have been. “That’s not right. We don’t have redwoods in the middle of Denver.”

Mikah gestured and we got going again, but only long enough to pull off into the nearest open parking lot. I was glad for a chance to stretch my legs, and I wanted to find out why we’d stopped here. Mostly though, I really wanted a bathroom.

Oaken said, “This is where we’re going to part ways. The Lord and Lady said we were to serve at the Redwoods, and that we’d know it when we saw it. We thank you for getting us here safely. We will be taking the body of our fallen one with us, to do proper burial honors. We offer you the same, Korembi, for your fallen.”

Korembi looked a little misty-eyed. He turned to Frank, who gave a small nod. I knew Sonya had been his girlfriend. I’d barely known her, but I still had tears in my eyes. “We be honored for you to tend her remains. Someday, when all this be settled, I be hoping we can find her family, and let them know.”

He and Oaken clasped hands. “Cliff, you take care.”

“And you, old friend. The God and Goddess watch over you.”

We transferred the bodies, including the two compys, as discreetly as possible. We were getting stares from passing cars, but I think they were too busy gawking at the Trolls, cat-person, demon, and Dark Elf to notice the body-shaped bundles.

We got back on the road, this time with Oaken and Lilith taking the lead in their little cars. The trees towered over us, impossibly big. The closer we got to what used to be the zoo, the darker it got. The trees were so close together, the foliage blocked out the sun. Where there used to be a parking lot entrance was a thorny hedge. Oaken slowed, and the hedge opened itself long enough for their two cars to enter. I caught a glimpse of lush vegetation and grazing animals before the hedge closed, impenetrable once again.