Cassius felt his bracelet begin to hum. Fisher’s, too. He took a step back, his shoulder colliding with his brother’s. “Do you know about the Authority?” Fisher asked. Theo closed his eyes, blotting the red energy. “Now I see it. It’s everywhere. I am already here. I have always been here.” Cassius gripped Fisher’s shoulder. “We should run.” “My bracelet’s going crazy.”
Before they could move, dark wraiths punctured the ground. Coils of blackness reached into the sky like hundreds of ghost hands joining together. Cassius spun in a circle to watch the darkness form. It spread in shadowy sheets, curving up over their heads and blocking every possible exit.
It had no depth. It was like he was slowly going blind. More and more of the world fell away. The horizon began to disappear around them as the Ridium climbed into the air. It looped and split, like vines of ivy spreading along a wall. Gaps were filled. Stars were swallowed.
A spherical room had been built around them.
Theo raised his fists in the air. Ridium blotted out the last of the sky. Only the maniacal red glow of his eyes gave a sense of perspective.
The oily mess seeped into the dirt and rocketed forward under their feet. Cassius lifted his boot before the stuff could ensnare him in its grip.
His mind began to play tricks on him. Directions skewed. If he were to walk forward, he wasn’t sure the darkness would support him.
Black. Everywhere.
Cassius closed his eyes, then opened them again. There were no holes or chasms for the moon to poke through. This was all encompassing. It was as if his senses had shut down.
The outside breeze was little more than a memory. Walls blended with the slick, Ridium-covered floor. The blackness had become so complete that it seemed to stretch on forever. Had Cassius not seen the chamber created right in front of him, he might believe it was endless. The hairs on his arms stood on end. His bracelet settled.
Fisher pivoted, searching for an exit. His breathing quickened. Cassius grabbed his arm to steady him. It would be too easy to have a panic attack in here.
Light spilled into the chamber as spiraled holes began to carve themselves into the walls. Cassius could see Theo’s silhouette now, cast by the meager moonlight that streamed into the room.
“What have you done?” he shouted. His voice echoed along the blackness.
Theo massaged his fists, smiling. It was that same cocky smile he’d worn back at the Lodge. “You don’t belong here.” He chuckled. “You really don’t.”
Cassius grit his teeth. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“King Matigo can’t have what he wants if the two of you are here, too.”
Fisher stepped forward. “How do you know all this?”
Theo dropped his hands to his side. “Because I’m not supposed to be here, either. I’m going to take us all away.”
The ground rumbled, throwing Cassius and Fisher to the ground. The entire chamber pushed up on them, like an elevator moving ten times too fast. Cassius glanced out the nearest spiral opening to see a patchwork of stars falling.
Only they weren’t falling. The chamber, somehow, was rising. They were moving away from Earth.
A curl of blackness danced from the floor in front of Theo like a serpent. He reached out his arm and allowed it to wind around his wrist. Cassius watched, then looked down at his own hands. The bracelet. The daggers outside the swarm. All Ridium.
The black coil shot from Theo’s arm, cast a wide arc, and landed with a ripple on the ground where it fused instantly with the rest of the darkness. “Wow.” Theo laughed. “What a ride.”
Cassius stood. He had to keep his arms spread to stay balanced. The chamber’s ascent was silent, but not without the constant rumble underfoot. “Where are we going?”
“Up.” Theo smiled. “Up and up and up. Past Skyships, past the stars. Away from it all.”
Cassius shook his head. “You don’t even know what you’re talking about.” He barreled forward, hoping to catch the boy off guard. He pounced on Theo, grabbing him by the collar and pinning him to the ground. “Stop this. Stop whatever it is you’re doing.”
Theo’s eyes pulsed. “But I can’t.” His voice came out innocent. “I don’t know how.”
Cassius punched him in the side of the face. “You can’t do anything if you’re unconscious.”
“Cassius!” Fisher’s voice came from behind him. “I just saw a Skyship. We’re moving fast.”
A drop of Ridium fell from the ceiling and spilled on Cassius’s back, extending into a claw-like shape until it pulled him up and flung him to the far side of the chamber.
Theo grinned as he sat up. “I’d lay off if I were you.”
Fisher ran to Cassius’s side, eyes wide and panicked. “He’s controlling the entire room. If we don’t stop this thing we’ll be in space.”
Cassius glared at him. “Don’t you think I know that?”
Theo jumped to his feet and strode forward. “Try and throw me out the back of a cruiser,” he chuckled. “Tie me to a chair. Shoot me.”
“You’re sick,” Cassius said. “You’re gonna kill us all!”
“No,” he replied. “Not sick. What’s sick is that I’ve been slumming it down there for so many years. I don’t belong with those people on the Surface. I’m a Shifter. Like my father.” He paused a moment to marvel at the chamber around him. “It all makes sense now. It’s coming back, like a piece of my brain’s been triggered.” He chuckles. “All those years waiting. For the two of you to find each other… for our targets to reveal themselves. He’s been hiding in the Fringes the entire time. He’s already here.”
Fisher clenched his fists. “Matigo.”
Theo sighed. “He’d like nothing better than for me to do it… get rid of you right now.” He continued to approach. “Ridium. That’s the key to this invasion. Not Pearls. Pearls are for foot soldiers, for the common Drifter. Ridium is for kings.”
With a flip of Theo’s hand, Cassius’s bracelet lurched to the ground, dragging the rest of his body with it. Fisher’s too. He watched, helpless, as the floor devoured his fingers. It pulled them in like quicksand. There was nothing to hold onto.
The Ridium transformed into a chute of darkness. Everything went cold as the surface sucked him in. He took a deep breath just before the Ridium covered his face. His arms flailed, legs kicking at the blotchy mess, but it was pointless.
Seconds later the Ridium parted with his body, oozing upward in a stringy mess. The blackness settled back into a ceiling above his head, but there was no ground left underneath. Only sky, and hundreds of miles to the Surface.
34
I scream. Or at least I make the motion. Whatever sound comes out doesn’t reach my ears before the wind pulls it away. Gusts of air tear me in every direction as I tumble in messy circles. It’s all a blur, an endless abyss of navy blue.
Second freefall in as many days. Only there’s no Drifter to save me this time.
Cassius plummets behind me, a dark lump against the stars. I can’t tell where his face is. I can’t see anything. Every passing second the atmosphere pulls me in a different direction until I’m not even sure I’m falling anymore.
I’m flipped over and the world is upside down-long stretches of gray, an endless wasteland. My ears pop. It feels like they’ll burst and bleed all over the place. I tuck in my arms, but nothing stops the pain. The sky does its best to rip me apart. It doesn’t matter if I’m the Pearlbreaker, not if there aren’t any Pearls to break.
The wind twirls me back around so that I’m staring at the vessel of Ridium. It looks like a black bubble from here-a perfect oval of darkness. Theo’s up there, or whoever he is now.
I feel a weight dislodge at my hip and watch as Ryel’s cube of metal shoots into the sky above me. I reach out and try to grab it before it’s snatched away.