I slipped around the street corner between the face of the building and the temple float next to it. On my left, people were hanging out of the windows hooting and hollering, while on the right a row of skull-masked dancers at window level were writhing, shaking tasseled bronze pasties at guys who leered and whistled across from the building next to them.
The bike’s main emitter sputtered out with a series of loud, electric snaps. Dropping down past two more rows of dancers, I leaned on the horn as the crowd tried to make a hole below.
When the last guy was clear, I killed the engine. The bike dropped the last six feet and crashed down onto the sidewalk.
Chapter Twenty-Four
03:46:11 BC
A packet of dye struck my chest and exploded in a cloud of red powder. Another came right behind it as the crowd surged back in around the crashed bike.
I tried to see through the sea of flailing bodies, but between the costume streamers and the shower of plastic bits, it was hard to see much of anything. I stood up on the airbike’s seat and squinted into the bright parade lights that shone down from the massive balloons above, cocking my head to bring up the 3i display.
Vamp, where are you?
Here.
The underbelly of another bike veered out over the street above while people cursed at it from the windows. It banked back around to the corner about thirty meters away, and I caught a glimpse of Vamp riding on top, Nix tucked in behind him, as he signaled down at me. He brought the bike down, buzzing the crowd in a tight, descending circle to try and clear them out of the way so he could land. As he dropped down toward the street, he pointed back behind us.
Behind you.
I turned and looked up in time to see a security vehicle coming in fast from above. Its lights were going full tilt, and in seconds the siren wail rose over the cacophony of music, fireworks, and screaming. The car dove down at a sharp angle, and the crowd around us back-pedaled into one another, trying to scatter as the aircar closed in.
When I turned back, Vamp had the bike down. I could make out the headlamp shining through the crowd across the street. He and Nix were struggling to reach me while a second security vehicle zipped out from over a side street and disappeared behind the giant parade balloon that filled the sky above us. Its enormous, leering face gazed down over the procession of floats below it, light paint flashing in brilliant patterns down the sides of its serpentine body. Long feathery fins trailed from both sides, rippling in the wind as it swam through the air.
People scrambled as the sirens grew louder, shoving each other to try and get out of the way. The ship’s floodlight snapped on and a cone of bright white light shone down over the parade-goers. Bits of paper and other assorted road trash were caught in the gravity field and formed a cresting wave in the air before sprinkling back down over the crowd below.
“Coming through!” I yelled, pushing my way through the crowd toward Vamp. All I could see was a wall of sweaty chests and armpits. “Move!”
This is a madhouse. We’ll never even make it to the gate.
I chanced a look back and was able to spot the vehicle’s flashing lights through the crowd. A uniformed man stood up on the side of my abandoned airbike, pointing in our direction.
Pushing on, I managed to reach Vamp and Nix and signaled toward the opposite side of the street. Vamp signaled back to me as he tapped the side of his head.
Check eyebot.
I brought up the 3i map and saw that the security team that had just landed back behind me was now visible as a cluster of red markers on the map, and there were two more growing at each of the block’s street corners.
A path between them was clear, at least for now. I pointed again, then squeezed through the crowd and ducked under the street barrier as a group of stilt-walking ghouls approached through the falling plastic flakes. Firecrackers popped overhead as I dashed out across the street, Nix and Vamp hot on my heels. A forest of rhythmically swaying stilts began to close in, towering in front of a pair of giant, glowing, googly eyes that stared out of a monster face behind them. I darted between the moving stick legs and made for the sidewalk as one of them lurched to try and avoid me. The crowd oohed as the guy perched up on top almost lost his balance.
“Halt!” an amplified voice boomed from back behind us.
A shot boomed over the racket, and the crowd around us cringed, ducking their heads as one. A big shirtless guy clipped me and I pitched forward and went down into a forest of legs and stomping feet.
“Vamp!” I screamed. “Nix!”
I tried to get up and got knocked down again. I couldn’t see anything, and as I turned, a knee thudded into my forehead.
“Vamp!”
I was woozy but forced myself to stand, grabbing the belt of the guy next to me and hauling myself up. I spun around but didn’t see Vamp or Nix anywhere. I’d lost them.
Another shot banged through the air, and a man standing next to me stumbled back. A plastic bag slipped from his hand and hit the ground with a glass pop as blood began to bloom through his T-shirt along his left side. He stared, confused, as the blood began to burble down his side to stain the hip of his shorts red. His eyelids fluttered and he fell back onto his butt.
Through the crowd, I spotted Ligong aiming down the sights of a pistol while people scrambled to get out of the line of fire. I tried to push through, but the crowd had squished together to form a tight knot.
Vamp, where are you?
Sam, look out.
Red laser light flashed in the corner of my eye. I had turned to look for the source when I saw a glowing dot drift down to my chest.
Someone grabbed my wrist. I turned and caught a flash of pink and the ruffle of a suit jacket as Nix scooped me up in one arm just as the shot went off.
I heard the bullet slam into him as his arm tightened around me, and one hand slipped down to cup me under the butt.
Hold on.
The next thing I knew, we were in the air. His leap took us up over the heads of the people piled up around us, and through the snapping tails of his jacket I saw some of them follow our arc, pointing and staring. Festival-goers on the other side of the mob scattered, one pitching off the curb and down between two parked cars, as Nix landed nimbly on his feet and skidded forward, grinding across a patch of street sand to where Vamp was waiting. He held me to his chest and I looked back through the crowd to see Ligong appear through a break in the crowd, her gun aimed in front of her.
The crowd panicked. All of them tried to run at once, spilling into the streets in a hail of honking car horns. I heard the shriek of tires followed by the crunch of plastic and fiberglass as the towering float next to us stopped too quickly and was struck from behind. The tiers of the float teetered, and something snapped inside its frame. A platform above gave way and several dancers fell, gold tassels trailing as they went down into the rows of costumed marchers below. Ahead, people dove to get out of the way of the renegade haan who was barreling toward them with a human girl in his arms.
Up ahead, Vamp waved us forward. Nix dropped me onto my feet as Vamp whipped his arm around and threw something back behind me that caused a thump and a collective groan from the people there. When I turned I saw people spattered with bright red festival dye, some wiping at their faces. Ligong was there, her face looking like it had been covered in a mask of red war paint as she blinked, trying to clear her eyes. She forced one eyelid open and stared right at me as she took aim with the pistol.