“That’s just mean,” Cole said.
The cheeseburger vanished.
“They had me picture stuff in my mind,” Dalton said. “They pushed me to see it really vividly, all the little details. Then I was supposed to picture it outside of my mind.”
“And it just worked?” Cole asked.
“Not at first,” Dalton said. “But I would get little flickers, so they knew I had potential. You have to picture it just right, and push a certain way, like flexing a muscle in your mind. It takes a lot of concentration. After you make the seeming, you have to keep concentrating, or it goes away. Unless you make it permanent, which I haven’t even begun to figure out yet.”
Cole pictured a break-dancing toddler. He imagined the little guy spinning on his back, doing the worm, whirling on his head. The toddler wore only a diaper. Cole felt like he could see him clearly. But he didn’t know where to begin to make the little guy appear on the coffee table.
“I’m trying to do it,” Cole said. “Where do you push from?”
“It’s hard to explain,” Dalton said. “Think of it like you’re trying to make yourself actually see it with your eyes. That’s how I started. Then when it works a little, you begin to learn how you really need to push. After you figure out how to push, it takes practice to build up the strength to push harder. I doubt I’ll ever be able to push like Skye.”
“You haven’t been here very long,” Cole said. “You’ll keep getting better.”
“I can’t believe how well she did Gustus,” Dalton said. “It’s hard to make a human illusion move right unless you anchor it to a person. If you tie it to a person, the seeming smiles when the person smiles, walks when the person walks. When you try to do it yourself, stuff moves, but it usually looks wrong. You forget to make them breathe. The joints don’t adjust quite right. The feet sink through the floor or float a little. You start to feel like a clumsy puppeteer. Not only was Skye doing three seemings at once, she made a fourth unanchored seeming walk through a scrubber and appear totally natural.”
“She’s good,” Cole said. “You should have seen her dazzle show.”
Dalton gave Cole a shy glance. “She’s not bad-looking, either.”
“I guess,” Cole said. “But she’s pretty old. Like an aunt or something. Don’t tell me you’re in love with her.”
Dalton looked away. “She’s just, you know, really nice and cute and talented.”
“This is like Miss Montgomery!” Cole exclaimed. Dalton had harbored a serious crush on their third-grade teacher. “Are you going to write her a poem?”
“That poem wasn’t for Miss Montgomery,” Dalton said.
“That’s right,” Cole remembered. “You used her real name. Linda.”
“I was just practicing,” Dalton professed. “The name was a coincidence.”
“Was it a coincidence how you hung around after class with lots of extra questions?”
“Those were legitimate math questions,” Dalton protested.
“Maybe you could get some shaping tutoring from Skye,” Cole suggested.
Dalton huffed and shook his head. “A lady can be pretty without me falling in love with her. You’re right, she’s like an aunt.”
“A pretty aunt,” Cole teased.
“Forget I said anything.”
Cole could tell his friend was really uncomfortable. “Okay. New subject. I guess it’s hard to do voices? You know, when you make a seeming?”
“Sounds are tricky,” Dalton said, seizing the new topic like a life preserver. “I can’t do them yet. Same with smells. They should work the same way as visuals, but most of us find them way harder.”
Refocusing, Cole tried to force his break-dancing toddler into existence. He strained to actually see him instead of just imagine him in his mind. He envisioned details—rustling diapers, wispy curls, pink skin with chubby little folds of baby fat. Nothing materialized.
“Your face is turning red,” Dalton said.
Cole laughed. “I’m not sure seemings are my thing.”
“I’d rather have a Jumping Sword,” Dalton said. “Those sound cool. I wish I could see one.”
“They’re awesome when they work,” Cole said. “Skye stashed them somewhere this morning. She didn’t want them to get confiscated at the Silver Lining, and she didn’t want to leave them at her mom’s place.”
Stretching, Dalton looked around. “If I have to be stuck in the Outskirts, I’m glad you’re with me. I mean, I’m not glad you’re stuck here, but, you know—”
“I get it,” Cole said. “I feel the same way. The thought of you and Jenna out there someplace helped keep me going. I don’t know how I would have been if I was here alone. Less brave, probably.”
Jace rolled over. “Less brave? You were already breaking records!”
“I thought you were asleep,” Cole said.
Jace groaned. “How can I sleep with you two babbling nonstop? Tell me more about the food you miss. Is it peanut butter most? Or cereal?”
“You wouldn’t mock it if you’d tried it,” Dalton said.
“Maybe,” Jace said. “What are hamburgers?”
Dalton made a perfect burger appear on the table.
Jace leaned forward. “What’s in the middle? Ground meat?”
“Yep,” Cole said. “Beef.”
“Okay,” Jace admitted. “That looks pretty good.”
Cole heard a noise downstairs. “Is that Skye?”
The burger vanished.
Jace grinned. “Might want to fix your hair a little, Dalton.”
Dalton glared.
“What?” Jace whispered innocently. “Don’t you want to be the favorite nephew?”
Cole heard soft footsteps downstairs. Dalton quickly ran his fingers through his hair.
Jace rolled off the couch, grabbed a heavy lamp, and crept over to where the ladder came up from below. Holding the lamp ready to swing, he put a finger to his lips.
“This is why it’s nice to have Jace around,” Cole whispered.
Skye’s head came up through the fake floor. She was momentarily startled when she saw Jace, then she smiled up at him. “Expecting someone?”
Jace lowered the lamp. “I’m almost disappointed. It’s not every day you get this good of a free shot.”
“I have great news,” Skye said, not coming all the way up. “I know the people who nabbed the guardsman. We get to go meet him right now. Don’t leave anything behind. We may not come back here.”
They wove through the streets of Merriston disguised as unremarkable people. From the quiet basement of a large inn, Skye led them into a maze of underground passages. After navigating a clever assortment of seemings, they reached a heavy wooden door hidden behind an illusionary brick wall.
Dropping her disguise, Skye slapped a palm against the door. “Let us in!”
A peephole slid open to reveal a pair of dark eyes. “Skye! Good to see you! What goes up, must . . .”
“Be higher,” she replied.
“A ringer saved is a ringer . . .”
“That owes you one,” Skye finished.
“Seeing is . . .”
“Deceiving.”
“Word of the day?”
“Lemon.”
The door opened. A tall man with brown skin and a wide smile pulled Skye in for a hug. “You’ve been too unseen lately,” he said. “Who are your friends?”
Skye introduced Cole, Jace, and Dalton. “This is Sultan,” she said. “One of the best.”
“Ben told me to watch for you,” Sultan said. “Come with me.”
They moved through two more doors and into a confusing warren of halls and chambers. Cole got glimpses of people in rooms they passed, men and women eating at a long table, an old guy petting a big dog, a woman with an eye patch studying a map
. Some doors were closed.
They reached a muscular man guarding a heavy door. He stepped aside, and Sultan opened it. Inside they found a young, lean man with scruffy whiskers and very short hair. He stood up as they entered. “More visitors?” he asked.
“You told us you want to get your story out,” Sultan said.
“Not one person at a time,” the man said. “This needs to go public. Nobody gets what’s coming. Cities that don’t evacuate only make her stronger. Our leaders need to face the facts.”
Cole wasn’t sure the guy was quite sane. His earnestness and intensity seemed almost fanatical.
“Her?” Skye asked. “The monster is a girl?”
“Her name is Morgassa,” the man said.
“How big?” Skye asked.
“Your size,” he said. “More or less.”
“She’s a woman?” Skye asked.
“She looks like a woman.”
“You saw her?”
“Sure did,” the man said. “And heard her. I saw her horde. They passed by all around me.” He glanced at Sultan. “What’s with the kids?”
“This is Skye,” Sultan said. “She’s one of our top operatives. The kids are in her care. She can help get your message heard.”
“I worked at the Silver Lining,” Dalton said. “There’s no better place in Elloweer to start a rumor.”
“The kids belong here,” Skye said. “I never caught your name.”
“I’m Russell,” the man said. “Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but spreading this message is up to you guys now. I’ve done my part. Sultan already knows all I’ve got to say. He can tell you as well as I can.”
“Humor us,” Sultan said. “I want Skye to hear it from your lips.”
Russell gave an exasperated sigh. “Where do I start? Nobody can stop her. She won’t be here tomorrow, or the day after, but she’s coming this way, and Merriston is a big city. If they don’t get people moving now, it’s going to be pandemonium.”
“Tell your story,” Skye said. “I swear to help share it. How did you see all this and get away? I thought nobody got away?”
Russell chuckled through his nose. “It wasn’t by any skill of mine. One of those Enforcers helped me. The guys in black. The horde was coming. My unit retreated too slowly. We were overrun while trying to help stragglers.”
“How did the Enforcer help you?” Skye asked.
“He turned me to stone,” Russell said. “I became a statue of myself. He told me to wait. Like I had a choice! I stayed conscious. I could see and hear. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Didn’t need to. They were all around me. I watched some of the guys in my unit get taken.”
“How did you see if you were a statue?” Cole asked.
“Ask the Enforcer,” Russell said. “I’m no enchanter. It was a changing, not an illusion. I couldn’t move a bit, but I could still see.”
“You saw men taken?” Skye asked.
“Morgassa isn’t alone,” Russell said. “She travels with all the people she has claimed and with her army of figments.”
“Living seemings?” Skye verified.
“More like blank seemings,” Russell said. “She controls them. They look like people, but kind of blurry, without features. You can see through them a little. They don’t seem to hurry, but they’re fast. They kind of glide. When they reach people, they merge with them, and Morgassa takes control.”
“Her figments merge with people?” Skye asked.
“You’d have to see it to fully get it,” Russell said. “The people she has taken run ahead. They fight anyone who resists. They’re stronger than they should be. They hold people down. Then the figments swoop in and take them over. The same people who were running away start helping her, like they’ve completely lost their minds. They get changed. Each person who gets taken swells her ranks.”
“How many figments?” Cole asked, unsure if he was supposed to be part of the conversation, but unable to help himself.
“A vast horde,” Russell said. “As many as she wants. You can see her making more like it’s nothing. She waves an arm, and twenty spring into being. She waves her other arm, and thirty more appear. She’s already claimed thousands of people. All of them drones. Changelings. There are always more figments. She’s going to control every corner of Elloweer. It won’t take long. She won’t even break a sweat.”
“They didn’t bother you?” Skye asked.
“Not at all,” Russell said. “Her horde flowed around me like I was a rock in a river. They never gave me a second look. They took everybody else. The town was left empty. It was like nobody had ever lived there. Nobody peeked out the windows once the trouble cleared. No one came creeping up from the cellar. The town of Pillocks was dead. A graveyard without bodies. The bodies all left with her.”
“Then what happened?” Skye asked.
“Time passed,” Russell said. “I didn’t get tired standing there. Didn’t get thirsty. I couldn’t move my head or my eyes. But I saw. I heard. I worried I would stay like that forever.”
“How’d you change back?” Cole asked.
“Another Enforcer came. Different guy. I don’t think the one who changed me to stone escaped. The new Enforcer changed me back to normal.”
“Did he tell you anything?” Skye prompted.
“He asked what I had seen. I told him. He gave me a horse. He told me Morgassa and the horde were heading toward Glinburg. He told me to ride southeast to Ambrage and warn them. I did what he said. I warned them. I told them about Morgassa and the people she controls, and the figments. They sent me on to Westridge to warn the garrison there. I talked to a champion and the alderman. That’s when everyone turned on me. They arrested me. They were scared I’d cause a panic. I told them Elloweer needed a panic. Her horde will just keep growing.”
“It sounds terrible,” Skye said.
“Sister, you have no idea. I can’t do it justice. I’ve never had any use for the resistance. Bunch of wackos still fighting a war that ended decades ago. But it was the resistance who freed me on the way to Blackmont Castle. As a prisoner, I’d repeated my story to some of the higher-ups in the legion and the city governments. How was I thanked? They sent me to Blackmont. They wanted to shut me up. I don’t care what your politics are—Elloweer needs to be warned. There’s no time to plot and scheme. There’s no time to weigh alternatives. All we can do now is try to limit the damage. The people of Elloweer need to get out of the way. If the resistance will spread that message, then they’re the real champions of Elloweer.”
“We’re setting plans in motion,” Sultan said.
“You need more than plans,” Russell stressed. “You guys are called the Unseen? It’s time to be seen. You need riders going back the way I came, telling everyone to leave everything that might slow them down and run. For so many it’s already too late.”
“We’ve already begun,” Sultan said.
“What about you?” Skye asked Russell. “What are you going to do?”
He pressed his fists against his temples. “You mean once my rescuers are satisfied that I’ve told enough people my story? Once they let me, I’m gone. I’m thankful they freed me. I’d hate to be stuck in Blackmont with Morgassa on her way. But I’ve paid them back. I told what I know. I’m handing over the problem to them. I’m now a fugitive. But I’m not alone. We’re all fugitives.”
“Welcome to the club,” Jace said.
“He means the whole kingdom,” Skye said. “Everyone is a fugitive now.”
Russell winked. “Most just don’t know it yet. I’ll be running scared, but not from the champions or the aldermen or the legion. I just want a seeming that makes me unrecognizable, and then I’m leaving Elloweer for good. Anybody with an ounce of sense will do the same. To stand against Morgassa is to join her. Avoidance is the only defense. She wants Elloweer? Let her
have it! Elloweer is over. There’s only one champion who matters now. Her followers repeat her name like a mindless prayer. Morgassa.”
CHAPTER
22
CHALLENGE
The black serpent spiraled up the table leg, its body winding and flexing precisely. The head hooked outward and curved onto the top of the table, followed by the rest of its sinuous length. With syrupy grace, the snake flowed across the table toward Cole, who watched with wide eyes as it reared up and bared a pair of slender fangs.
“That looks pretty real,” Cole said.
“Thanks,” Dalton replied.
Suddenly, the snake had the head of a chicken. The body became a slender pink balloon. The chicken head pecked the balloon body, popping it without making a noise.
“A little less real,” Cole said.
The seeming vanished.
Cole and Dalton sat on cots in a small, damp room. A flimsy table, a hammock, and some wooden crates added to the decor. At least they had a door. Some of the rooms in the Unseen hideout were only made private by shabby curtains. They had slept in the cots one night so far. Skye planned to spend one more night there before going to the Bloated Udder to find Joe and Twitch.
“Do you wonder why the Unseen aren’t already running for it?” Dalton asked.
“Maybe they will,” Cole said.
“Sounds like it’s going to get ugly here before long.”
“Things were ugly in Sambria too.”
Dalton folded his arms. “Will Skye want to go after Morgassa?”
“Maybe,” Cole said. “If Morgassa is Honor’s power, finding Honor might be the only chance to beat her.”
Dalton stared at Cole, lips compressed.
“What?” Cole asked.
“Do you ever wonder if staying with Skye might not be the best way to help Jenna? Would we find her faster if we took off and did our own thing?”
“Maybe,” Cole said. “I’ve considered it. But the Rogue Knight has Mira. I can’t just abandon her. She’s great. She’s a real friend.”