A door lay flat in the courtyard, torn off its hinges. From my vantage point through the hole on the second floor, I couldn’t see anything through the open doorway but blackness. Alek had entered the first floor.
A sickening feeling grew in my stomach with every second that I wasted here. This was taking too long.
Sighing, I turned to my trio of friends. “Alright, if you truly want to help, I can’t stop you. But you cannot go near that man, Alek. Don’t even cross his sightline. If you see him, you run. No questions asked. Not even if he’s hurting someone else, even me. You have to think of him as an elephant. Nothing you do will hurt him or even make him pause for a second.”
“Of course,” Tom agreed. “I saw what he did to those guards.”
I looked at Kay. “Promise me you’ll run.”
Kay didn’t meet my eyes. “So that really was Alek. I wasn’t sure until you said so. What happened to him?”
“I can explain, but please don’t dodge the question.”
Kay gave me a piercing look. “You aren’t scared.”
“I am.”
“Not like we are.” She raised a hand, showing me her trembling fingers. “How long have you been doing things like this?”
It wasn’t an accusation. She wasn’t hurt that I’d kept this from her. It came from a place of empathy.
My stomach roiled. “A while now. I’ve been lying to you all.”
“Not really. I knew bits and pieces. But everyone deserves privacy so I didn’t pry. I just never imagined it would be this bad. It kinda feels like I hardly know you.”
“Bailey-”
“Bailey sucks as lying,” Kay cut me off, shooting Bailey a look. “I knew they were doing some shady shit for money. But they’re smart enough to maintain their distance.” Kay examined me closely. “But you’ve fallen right in, haven’t you?”
My throat tightened. “Promise me you’ll run.”
“Fine.”
My tongue probed a cut inside my mouth as I gathered my thoughts. “I got involved with the Rings. It was unwilling at first, we needed protection, Nell was being hunted by the people who had forced her into their experiments for years. Not that it did us any good. There were times when I wasn’t sure if I would make it and in those times it was always Nell who had my back. Now Alek’s partner has kidnapped Nell. Alek is like me and Nell. Part of a shapeshifting duo. Alek isn’t exactly squeaky clean, I think his connection to that person is driving him insane. Now they’re ripping the veil off of this whole Shaping thing. I can’t say exactly why, I just know that a lot of people are going to die.”
“Shit. Shit!” Bailey shouted and kicked a piece of drywall. “The whole world is going to find out about Shaping in the worst way possible.”
“We can’t worry about that right now. Tom,” I said, turning to him. “What was your plan?”
Tom blinked. “Oh. Right! So there’s this huge robotic arm in room 113. It’s industrial grade and I’ve seen it lift machine parts that weigh tons. We lure Alek in there and grab him. Then you can do your vampire thing, right?”
Bailey shook their head. “You need special permissions to access the computer that controls it. And even if we did, the arm moves too slowly. Alek isn’t going to wait for us to slowly lower it onto him and if Nick is keeping him still then he could get crushed too.”
Tom pressed the tips of his fingers together and grinned. “The permissions won’t be a problem. I’ve had backdoor access since my second semester. There’s a preset factory override they never removed.”
I looked at him curiously.
“What? Sometimes I wanna pretend I’m being lifted into the cockpit of a mech. That’s normal.”
“I didn’t know you were tech savvy like Bailey.”
He patted my shoulder. “I appreciate you for thinking that I got into university on a sports scholarship but Sillwood U doesn’t have any. My major is robotics.”
Bailey frowned and crossed their arms. “That still doesn’t fix the second problem. The arm is too slow.”
“One of you can open the maintenance panel on the arm and cut the hydraulics,” Tom explained. “That should send the arm crashing down.”
I nodded. “That could work. So then the only problem is finding Alek.”
Bailey’s eyes lit up. “The I.T. office is close to here. Follow me.”
We followed Bailey down the dim hallway. I kept my eyes strained for any movement. Another wave hit us and the powerful anger felt like Nell’s disapproval of my decision. What do you want me to do? I need to get to you quickly and Alek is impossible to stop on my own.
Bailey approached the I.T. office door and knocked on it. “Jeff. Open up, it’s Bailey.”
We waited, but no one opened the door.
Bailey knocked louder. “Jeff, if you don’t open this door right now, I’m going to show the coding professor that eldritch abomination of code you used to fix the university website. And if he’s dead then I’m going to show it to your parents.”
The door opened immediately and a nervous, sweaty man peered through the crack. “Are you really doing this to me, Bailey? I’d sooner die to that psychopath than have to try to explain to anyone how that code works.”
Bailey pushed past him. “Do you still have cctv access in here?”
Jeff followed them inside a cluttered room full of monitors and stacks of modems. He gestured to the screens, where several camera feeds were showing. “See for yourself. I’ve been watching everything unfold. It’s horrible.”
Bailey touched a couple keys, swapping camera feeds. “Perfect. I’ll use this to find Alek. Tom and Kay, get to 113. I’ll warn you if Alek is in between you and the room.”
Tom scratched his chin. “But our phones aren’t working.”
Bailey nodded to the mic that sat on the desk. “Intercom. Then I’ll direct Nick to where Alek is and he can lead him to the trap.”
Kay nodded and left the room without a word.
Tom looked at me. “This is crazy. But you know the worst part? I have test answers I was memorizing for tomorrow still bouncing around in my head.” His expression grew sober. “We aren’t going to finish this semester are we?”
“I don’t think so, Tom,” I responded gently.
“If I don’t make it, tell my parents that a manometer measures the pressure of a closed system. Well then, be careful.”
“You too.”
Tom left the room and I stepped out after him. I watched him and Kay vanish together into the darkness. Then I retraced our steps to the hole in the wall. I lowered myself down and stepped over the broken door. Another pulse from the Tree shook me. I managed to hold my Shape still as I stared down the dark hallway.
If only Nell had taught me more Shapes. I feel like I could have used some more tools in this moment. But this was what it was always like, running from one dangerous situation to the next. A part of me knew that the moment I held still, I would have uncomfortable questions pressing against my skull once again.
So I plunged into the dark. The intercom speakers crackled to life and I heard Bailey’s distorted voice. “Nick, keep going. Then right at the intersection.”
Obeying, I pivoted right when I was met with a wall.
“Two doors down, the one on the left. Yeah, Alek, I can see you. To everyone still in the building, stay clear of the main hall.” Bailey’s voice echoed through the empty halls, like the school itself was speaking. “Go to hell, Alek.”
I found the door ajar. Inside was a lab with dozens of computers sitting atop desks lined up in rows. Alek stood in front of the only lit screen, the white glow washing over his slack-jawed expression. He held an old phone connected to the computer by a cord. The phone’s screen was cracked and there was blood on Alek’s fingers. A student lay unmoving at his feet. At the far corner of the room I spotted four other terrified people huddled underneath desks.
“You heard them, Alek.”
He snorted, not looking away from the screen. His chest still rippled to an uneasy rhythm I couldn’t hear. “Of course that’s where I’m going. Do you think heaven is going to be full of Aleks? But what does it matter when I’m already in hell, standing here?”
“You’re the one who put yourself here. You can walk away anytime.”
Alek unplugged the phone from the computer. Then he let another cord dangle from his hand. The two ends clacked together, a pair of earphones. A distant memory popped back into my head as I watched Alek stick an earphone in each ear.
He spoke, “Regardless of lyrics or message, music is truth. Art is like that, it’s a mirror that reflects a piece of the soul.” He touched a hand to his beating chest. “And you’re asking me to stop playing? How could I do that? You need to just sit and listen, even if it hurts.”
Alek tapped the phone and began nodding his head to the music. His skin rippled to a different beat now, syncing with the song. He tilted his head back to the ceiling and opened his mouth. A silvery two-pronged rod rose wetly out of his throat. He seized it and pulled it out.
I raised up armour to protect myself, remembering how he had shattered windows with that tuning fork. He held it loosely, gazing at me with hatred behind half-closed eyes. “I’m going to hurt you, Nick. Until you tell me where Helen is.”
A powerful wave washed over me and I saw red. “Here is my truth, Alek. You will never see Helen again.”
Alek’s face contorted beyond human measures. An unconscious Shaping to fit the measure of his rage.
Then he brought the rod down like a hammer, smashing it across the edge of the table. Sound tore the air open and the world seemed to shake and flicker. It grew louder with every second, thundering in my ears. It was the loudest sound I’d ever heard. A wrenching cry rang out from where the students cowered. Two of the students collapsed and writhed on the ground, clutching their heads.
The apex reached, the tone slowly faded out into nothingness. The shaking settled. But the two students continued to shout and scream in pain with haggard voices. A clear fluid seeped out from their ears. The other students pulled them in and tried to quiet them, glancing fearfully up at Alek.
He ignored them in favor of studying me closely. After a moment, he shrugged and placed the fork down on the desk.
“Wrong one,” he said. “Don’t worry though. I’ll find it eventually. One of these will do the trick, it’s just a matter of time. The ear is a sensitive instrument. Hit it with just the right resonant frequency and it just might pop.” He made a wet popping noise with his lips. “Of course it wouldn’t work if your Witch was around to meddle with things.”
He tilted his head. “Where is your Witch, Nick?”
“Not here.” My head was ringing and my voice sounded far away.
“So are you looking for your Witch as well? Have they left you by yourself, all alone?”
I didn’t answer.
“Do you feel even an ounce of the same emptiness that I feel? Being so close, yet impossible to reach?”
“I’m starting to get it,” I said quietly.
He took a step towards me. “Then give me what I want.”
I backed up. He grinned and waggled the phone before sticking out his tongue. Another silver fork slid into view. I turned and ran. The dark hall echoed with my footsteps. The Tree’s waves seemed to come faster now and each one made faces appear in the darkness. Aaron. Beth. Chase. Why couldn’t I just win against them? Why did things have to be so messy?
I kept trying the same thing and thinking that if I just tried harder, if I wanted it bad enough, I’d get the result that I wanted. But it never happened. My opponent was always stronger and so I had to scramble around in the dark, searching for a way out.
A sickening tone rang out from behind me. Like a deathly bell tolling, counting the dead. The walls and floor shivered and I stumbled. Glancing back, I saw Alek gaining ground, a grim smile painted on his face.
“Make up your mind, Nick!” Alek called out, anger steeped in every word. “Do you want to fight me or do you want to run, you little bitch!”
My eyes picked out the number 113 emblazoned on a door. I hit it with my shoulder, smacking the door wide open. The room was large and the ceiling was tall, meaning the emergency lighting was as effective as a sliver of moonlight. This was a practical learning room for robotics, with various machines each having their own section of the room.
At an elevated kiosk to my left, I saw Tom’s face lit by a glowing monitor. He saw me and gestured silently towards the far end of the room. In the shadows, a hulking shape towered high, then curved downwards, like a tree bending beneath a heavy weight. I couldn’t see Kay in the darkness.
I began to Shape as I backed up towards the arm, keeping my eyes on the door. Did I have enough time? Alek’s silhouette appeared at the doorway as if on cue. He was muttering to himself. In his hand was another tuning fork. He saw me and immediately slammed the rod against the doorframe. Another toll of the bell, in time with a wave of anger.
I tripped as the floor seemed to ripple in waves.
Alek approached slowly, swaying side to side. A shadow hung over our heads like the grim reaper was waiting to step in.
Alek’s hand filled my vision, reaching. I weakly held up my bone-covered arm in resistance. His fingers wrapped around the bone, crunching down with a vice grip. Until the whole arm crumbled into bits. Confusion crossed his face as he stared at the pieces in his palm.
“Now!” I yelled and jerked away from Alek. I had Shaped a fake arm entirely out of antlers, extending it from my shoulder. In the dark, Alek had mistaken it for my real arm.
A hissing sound exploded from the machine that hung above us and it plunged down as I dove away. Metal screeched horrendously. Alek was slammed to the ground in an instant, buried by the immense weight.
Tom whooped and I waited tensely for the machine to settle. The pincers of the arm were splayed open, pinning Alek to the ground like the talons of a hawk. He struggled to move his arms, but they were pressed to his sides and he couldn’t get any leverage. I moved in to lay my hands on him.
Something silver glistened at his lips and my skin went cold. He coughed and muttered with his teeth clamped around the tuning fork, “Fourth times the charm.”
He whipped his neck to the side and the rod struck the robotic arm.
My head snapped backwards as a kaleidoscope of colours exploded in my vision. It felt as though long pointed fingernails were digging into my ears, wriggling deeper and deeper until they touched in the middle of my brain. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. The sound was like some underwater leviathan. I felt it move, felt its destruction, yet I could hear nothing.
The Tree’s fury pulled me back from the brink like a shock to the heart. When the flashes of colour started to clear, I realized I was lying on the ground, staring at the ceiling. I had collapsed. The ringing in my head had found a home at the epicenter of that pain. I brought a hand to my ear and it came away wet with blood and inner ear fluid.
A wave of anger washed over me and I remembered where I was.
I sat up and immediately the pain doubled. It took everything I had not to throw up. With blurry eyes I witnessed Alek. He was yelling, veins popping out on his forehead, muscles bulging against his restraints. I need to stop him. Yet I couldn’t muster the strength to move. It felt like my heart was pumping the last of my blood out of my ruptured eardrums.
The robot arm moved ever so slightly. Alek’s face embodied a raging, lashing pain as he lifted the arm bit by bit.
Tom’s face appeared in my vision. He was shouting something, fear in his eyes. I couldn’t understand him.
When I looked back it was already too late. Alek had managed to slip out from underneath the machine. Sweat dripped off his trembling arms. His eyes glinted with madness.
He took a step towards me.
Tom leapt at him.
He seized Tom in midair and swung him away. Tom spun away into the darkness before crumpling against the far wall.
He took another step.
And then another.
Arms wrapped around his chest from behind. Alek noticed this and stopped. He gripped the arm and pulled them off. Kay dangled from his grip, kicking out at him. He gazed at her, some strange hope glancing across his slack expression. I saw him speak, saying a single word. A question. Helen?
Kay responded and the hope vanished from his face. He lowered her before rearing back an arm and punching her in the stomach. Kay kneeled softly, blood dripping from her mouth as she curled up on the floor.
And I had done nothing. The Tree washed over me, dragging its clawing roots through my heart and everything went black.