Fracture (The Machinists) (29 page)

The first officer passed Allyn off to another officer, Grimes, who led him outside. With his thinning blond hair parted down the middle and kept long enough to cover his ears, Officer Grimes looked like the kind of man who refused to admit he wasn’t as young as he used to be. He didn’t wear a coat, and his sleeves were rolled up, exposing arms that could have been carved from stone. Officer Grimes gently led him down the stairs.

The manor grounds were a flurry of activity. There were close to twenty squad cars outside, and more officers poured into the manor while others searched the grounds with flashlights and spotlights, looking for anyone who might have slipped out the back.
They’re not going to make it
. Too many magi were trying to hide, and too many officers were looking for them. They would be found, hauled back, and thrown into squad cars.

Grimes opened the back door of his car and guided Allyn inside. “Watch your head.” He closed the door, spoke into the walkie-talkie on his shoulder, and joined a nearby circle of officers.

Allyn shifted, trying to find a spot that would allow him to watch without having the cuffs dig into his lower back. He caught a glimpse of Graeme being shoved into another squad car on the other side of the driveway. Kendyl was led out sometime later. They’d thrown a blanket around her shoulders, and a woman dressed in a gray pantsuit, probably a trauma specialist or psychologist of some kind, was saying something to her. Kendyl didn’t appear to be listening. She scanned the grounds, looking for something.

Me
, Allyn realized.
She’s wondering if I’m okay.

He tried to think of some way to get her attention. But the door was locked and could only be opened from the outside, and its glass was thick enough to muffle anything he shouted.
We’ll see each other soon enough
, he thought, resigned.

As the minutes wore on and nobody else was escorted to a squad car, Allyn began to feel a little better about his plan. The magi, it seemed, were better at hiding than he’d given them credit for. He shouldn’t have been surprised. They’d been hiding for centuries. He imagined them hidden deep in the forest, cold and wet, not knowing how long they would have to hide. All because he had been too stupid to march straight into the police station with his sister and clear things up. He’d tried, of course, as soon as Kendyl was healthy enough to walk, but she’d insisted on staying for the funeral, after which they had been caught up in the magi conflict.

The car rocked to the side as Officer Grimes climbed behind the wheel. The car was already running, so he gave the siren a quick chirp and made a U-turn through the grass and back onto the driveway. An officer at the end of the driveway waved them past the mangled remains of the gate.

The winding, two-lane country road was cut directly into the hillside. Overgrown branches stretched over the road like long, weathered fingers, and fallen limbs littered the edges of the road. A small ditch cut between the road and the hillside, and the road fell away into a deep ravine on the other side. Because the country lane had no streetlamps, Officer Grimes turned on his brights and drove slower than the posted forty-five-mph speed limit, carefully avoiding the potholes that plagued the neglected road.

They rounded a bend and—

“Shit!” Grimes bellowed.

Allyn jerked forward. The seatbelt caught and ripped into his chest as the brakes locked. The car slid forward with a screech. A black sedan was parked in front of them, blocking an entire lane. A fireball appeared out of the darkness, streaking toward the car. Grimes swerved, but the fireball hit the underside of the car, flipping it onto its side. The world turned upside down as the car rolled onto its top, coming to a stop in the ditch.

Fighting with his seatbelt, Grimes kicked open his door.

“Don’t!” Allyn yelled. “Run!”

Grimes didn’t respond. He crawled out of the car, pulling his gun out of its holster.

“He’s not who you think!”

Grimes shouted something inaudible as he raised his gun. A dark figure stepped forward. Allyn didn’t need to see his face. He knew that confident walk.
Lukas.
Allyn thrashed in the back of the squad car. He had to get free. But his hands were still cuffed, and the seatbelt held him upside down. Pressure built in his eyes and nose as blood rushed to his head. He had trouble seeing.

Pop! Pop! Pop!
Grimes shot at Lukas.

A concussion of air blew Grimes against the squad car. He looked down in shock where a twisted piece of metal stuck through his abdomen. He didn’t suffer long. He didn’t even have time to look up again before Lukas hit him with a fireball.

Lukas walked over to the car and knelt, peering inside with an amused look. “That worked out rather well, wouldn’t you say? Come on, let’s get you out of there.” He reached for Allyn’s buckle, drawing closer to Allyn.

Allyn drove his forehead into Lukas’s nose. Lukas fell back with a curse. Blood poured from his nose, dripping off his chin. Allyn thought about wielding, but his poor training sessions with Mason gave him pause.

“You piece of shit!” Lukas screamed, flashing white teeth that were stained red. He kicked Allyn, aiming for his head, but the angle was awkward, and his legs were too short to land anything but a glancing blow. “Get out here!”

Again, Lukas reached in, this time projecting fire into the belt. The belt gave way, and Allyn crashed onto the roof of the car, landing on his head and rolling onto his side. Lukas grabbed his foot and yanked him through the shattered window, dragging Allyn over glass that sliced into his arms and back. Lukas drove his foot into Allyn’s chest again and again.

Allyn groaned and tried to roll away, but Lukas continued. “Okay!” Allyn screamed between kicks. “Please!”

Lukas growled and stood over Allyn with his hands on his hips, breathing heavily, but he stopped.

Headlights rounded the bend, coming directly at them. Allyn was filled with hope, followed by dread as he remembered the fallen officer. Allyn tried to yell for the car to stop, turn around, go back the way they came, and save themselves. But he struggled to make his voice any louder than a whisper.

The car came closer. The orange headlights were blinding. Lukas cursed, diving to the side.
No. Not headlights—

A pair of fireballs soared over Allyn’s head and crashed into Lukas’s car, bathing the lonely road in an orange light. Two figures raced toward him. He squinted, trying to make them out. Another fireball shot forward, quickly followed by a blast of ice.

Someone grabbed him by his armpits and dragged him away. “It’s okay. I’ve got you,” Leira said.

That meant the other person was Jaxon. Relief flooded through Allyn. They hadn’t left. They’d kept their promise. Allyn could see him, a shadow in the night, stalking Lukas with fists wrapped in air. Leira dragged Allyn behind the overturned squad car and probed him, her hand glowing softly on his chest.

“Nothing serious,” she said, relaxing.

“Get the cuffs off me.”

Hidden behind the squad car, Allyn could no longer see the battle. If Jaxon could divert Lukas’s attention long enough, Allyn might be able to hit him with an electric charge.

Leira found the officer and reached inside his pockets.

“On his belt,” Allyn shouted. “Beside his radio.”

Leira found the keys, unhooked them from his belt, and ran back to unlock Allyn’s cuffs.

“Thank you,” Allyn said, gently massaging his wrists where the cuffs had rubbed him raw.

“We need to take care of that before it gets infected,” Leira said.

“In a—”

An explosion rocked the night, shattering the remaining windows of the squad car.

Jaxon was on the ground, blood pouring from his forehead. Lukas was several feet away, rolling to his feet. His car was on its side. One of his fireballs must have struck the gas tank. Stumbling toward Jaxon’s motionless body, Lukas, with a wild look in his eye, formed something in his hands.

“No!” Leira shouted, bolting toward him. She would make it to Jaxon before Lukas did, but what did she hope to do? Die with him? She couldn’t fight Lukas. Twenty feet before she reached Jaxon, she skidded to a stop, grabbing Grimes’s gun from the pavement. It surprised Lukas as much as it did Allyn.

A shot rang out in the night. Lukas dove behind the smoldering car. Leira continued to shoot, striding forward as bullets clanged against the scorched metal.

Allyn made a wide arc to flank Lukas from the side. He calmed his breathing, trying to steady his nerves, and dug inside. He found the void easily, but without anger, he didn’t have anything to fill it.

Leira shot two more rounds, keeping Lukas at bay behind the overturned car.

Allyn struggled to wield.
I should be the one with the gun.

Pop! Pop! Pop!
Leira shot. Then
click, click, click
. She looked at the gun, confused, seemingly unaware she was out of ammo.

Lukas rose from behind the car, his face a mix of relief and amusement. “Technology always pales in comparison to what we can do.”

Leira hurled the gun at him.

Allyn reached out with a yell, wishing he could stop her. The officer would have more magazines on his belt. The gun flew harmlessly over Lukas’s shoulder, skidding to a halt on the blacktop.

Allyn fished inside for something—anything. Frustration began to build. He tried to quell it before the anger took him.

“How many people have already died because of you, Allyn?” Lukas asked. “Your selfishness has cost others everything.”

Anger rippled through him like a shiver in the night, its heat suddenly surrounding the void.

“Fuck it.” Allyn succumbed to the anger, drawing from its power like a turbine sucking water from a river. Red coils of electricity wrapped around his arms, alive, ready to be unleashed.

Lukas took a step backward.

Allyn hurled electric bolts at Lukas.
Those are new
. Before, the electricity had come out as a long connected charge like a lightning whip, but these were separate charges, like electric bullets. Lukas met them in the air with ice, creating a sparking miniature blast when they hit. Allyn cursed. Jaxon had said his charges wouldn’t have an elemental counter, but ice could apparently be used to slow his attacks, and because he was unable to attack with anything but electricity, Lukas quickly quelled his advance.

“Good!” Lukas shouted. He looked proud. “You have the ability to become a powerful magi. Let me show you how.”

Allyn growled and continued to throw charges in Lukas’s direction, but nothing came close to landing.

“You hate me, but you shouldn’t,” Lukas said.

“You’ve taken everything from me!” Allyn said.

“I’ve
given
you everything. Without me, you wouldn’t know what you were capable of. Without me, you wouldn’t be able to wield. You’re
special
because of me. You should
appreciate
it.”

“Why me? Why my sister? What is so special about us?”

“You’re twins,” Lukas said.

Allyn shook his head. “There has to be more.”

Lukas smiled like a cornered child. “Okay, Allyn. I’ll tell you as a gesture of good faith. I want to heal the Fractured Families, end this life of hiding, live as we were meant to.”

“Then end the war.”

“It’s not so simple. If it weren’t me, it would be someone else. Mine is a noble cause, and for that, I’m justified. With you, I can prove that there are more magi in the world. That their abilities are only dormant. That we are not as weak as we appear to be.”

“That won’t heal the splinter you’ve created. It won’t heal the splinters developing in other Families or bring back the magi you’ve killed.”

“What is a magi Family, Allyn?” Lukas asked. “It’s a group of people that are only distantly related, if related at all. We’re held together by a common purpose and similar goals. What better way to unify the Fractured Families than a new common purpose? Don’t you understand? You and your sister are
proof
. Symbols.”

“You believe the Families will unite around you to search for more like us.”

“Is it really so hard to believe? Magi went into hiding after the Fracture, but their abilities didn’t die. They just went into hiding, too. As generations went by, the ability lay dormant until it was forgotten entirely. But there are still echoes of it—a connection between siblings, a parent doing the impossible to save a child, someone surviving an impossible fall. You call them miracles but ignore what they really are. I sought you out because you were the perfect combination: a set of twins from a broken family. After a terribly emotional childhood full of heartache and loss, you’re more in tune with your bodies and your feelings than most. If anyone were capable of finding their dormant ability, it would be you.”

“It was a guess,” Allyn said almost to himself, not believing his ears. “You didn’t know I could wield. You only
hoped
I could.”

“And I was right.”

Allyn didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
A guess
. Lukas would never understand what he’d cost Allyn, because he’d never cared about anything more than himself and his own ambitions. He didn’t do it for a greater good. He did it for
his
greater good.

“We weren’t the first twins you tortured, were we?” Allyn asked.

Lukas smiled. “Why does it matter, Allyn? We found you. Our line will continue. The magi race won’t die out. It’ll thrive!”

“It matters because you destroyed lives and families. Your Family didn’t splinter because of what you believed. It splintered because of how you proved it. You abducted and tortured innocent people under the false pretense of the
greater good
.” He almost spat those last words.

The smile melted off Lukas’s face. “Don’t think yourself too important to kill, Allyn. There are thousands more like you. You are not the last, only the first.”

“I’ll never join you.” Allyn watched as understanding grew on Lukas’s face. Allyn would always be the enemy. Lukas had created a monster who wouldn’t be satisfied until his creator was dead.

Fire burned in Lukas’s hands. Allyn had no counter to it. If it struck him, he was gone. He steadied himself, ready to attack, and surveyed his surroundings, searching for cover. The car was a good fifteen paces behind him, and the road fell away to his right, but he had no idea how far down it went. The hillside was to his left, but it was steep, and he could never scale it in time.

Lukas blasted fire at him. It burned brightly, radiating heat like a bonfire. A killing blow. Allyn dove, narrowly avoiding the blast, then rolled to his feet, but Lukas was already wielding a wall of fire ten feet wide and almost as tall. Heaving it forward as if he were shoving a boulder, the wall of fire slid toward Allyn faster than he could run.

Allyn threw his hand forward as if reaching for Lukas. A red rope of electricity shot out, arcing through the air and lassoing Lukas. Flames continued to race toward him, reaching for Allyn to pull him into their glowing abyss. Even ten paces away, the heat stung his face. Allyn yanked on the electric lasso. Arms pinned at his sides, Lukas flew toward him, slamming against the ground, unable to soften the impact. The wall of fire began to dissipate, but it wouldn’t do so in time. Allyn crouched, throwing his arms over his head to protect himself from the incoming fire.

Something wet and cool covered him.

The fire, scalding hot, passed over him, hissing upon contact. Once the fire was beyond him, Allyn stood, his clothing steaming.

Jaxon was on his feet, too, barely. Leira was at his shoulder, helping him walk. Their faces were an identical mess of torn flesh.
She healed him, and he saved me
. He didn’t know who to thank. There would be time to figure that out later.