WnW 7.22

The high-rise that Seth Grance was trying to evacuate from had already been hit by another cloud of black smoke. This one covered the top of the building, shrouding the helipad. The boat we were in shook as it hit waves, spraying us with fine droplets that caught in Nell’s hair. We had to remember that these waters were an extension of the sea and while the buildings acted as a breakwater, the boats had to be careful not to be swept up and battered against any of the traffic lights or streetlights that poked above the waves.

“Why is this Seth guy still in the city?” I shouted over the noise of the motor. “It’s weird that a billionaire would stick around in a natural disaster.”

“I don’t know,” Mac said curtly, pointedly avoiding eye contact with me. “He’s been praised for his humanitarian efforts in the past. Perhaps he was just being a good samaritan?”

I tried not to let myself dwell on our falling out. Sorry that it hurts. But you weren’t going to change otherwise.

“Chase was at the Nentech headquarters,” Nell said. “The spots hit by the black fog match up. Chase must be hunting Seth. What are the other locations that the black fog appeared at?”

“The condo building we’re heading towards, the small cloud that appeared over the stadium, and a mid-sized one at an archival building. We’ve already looked into it. While Seth owns a condo here, he doesn’t seem to have any connection to the other places.”

The boat grew close to the building and we anchored as close as we could. Mac cut the engine and spoke into his radio, “The strategy is the same as before. We sweep the building from bottom to top. Keep an eye out for Chase and other hostile Shapers. Nick and Daria will scout ahead. Go.”

If we do find Seth, I’m not giving him any special treatment just because he’s wealthy and famous.

A few well-placed bullets broke the window pane we were moored closest to and I followed Daria into the building. She dragged her fingers along the wall and across the elevator call button when we passed it by, lighting it up.

“I appreciate the thought, but I will not be going near any more elevator shafts,” I told her.

She flashed me a toothy grin.

We quickly ascended up the stairs until we reached a ceiling of black fog. Entering it kind of felt like diving headfirst into water. Neve enhanced our senses once again, making it possible to actually navigate by sight. My vision focused and I immediately spotted a fish floating past. Daria was quicker and grabbed it. She squeezed down and the fish slowly melted into her hand over the span of about a minute.

“It’s a lot slower than yours,” she said. “I don’t know how you finish so quickly.”

“Is it just me or do they seem less aggressive?” I asked as another fish made a lazy pass at me. Swatting it away was enough of a deterrent.

“Satiated,” Daria said grimly. “They’ve had more food sources.”

We entered the first hallway of condos. Daria tried a door and found it locked. Her muscles flexed as she twisted the handle, snapping it off before reaching into the guts of the lock. The door clicked and swung open.

Our enhanced hearing picked up on someone breathing heavily within the apartment. It didn’t take long to find the source, a small closet. Daria opened it and was met by a shriek from the person inside. It was a woman curled up in a fetal position, with bite wounds on her arms and legs.

She stared at us fearfully. “Don’t move,” she muttered to herself. “Don’t move and it won’t see you.”

“It’s okay,” Daria told her, bending down. “We’ll get you out of here safely.” She reached out and the woman shrank back.

“Don’t let it hug you!” she whispered fiercely.

Daria and I exchanged a look. Then Daria scooped the woman up and stood. The woman didn’t resist. 

“I’ll take her down. Don’t go having too much fun without me,” Daria said.

I waited as Daria left, listening for anything strange. Occasionally I did hear something moving on one of the floors above. I could tell the sounds were coming from multiple different locations. Survivors or threats? My heart beat sped up as I heard something on the same floor as me. A scraping sound, followed by the gentle click of a door latch closing. 

I stepped slowly back into the hallway and tried another door. Locked again.

“You’re going to be at this all day if you move that slow. Let’s skip ahead to the good part.”

My head snapped in the direction of Chase’s mocking voice.

I tapped my headset. “Nell,” I said quietly.

“Yeah,” she replied.

Chase’s voice sounded out again, echoing down the hallway, “So Nick, I would love to catch up. You’ve become a Wolf. That’s cool. I guess that farmer treated you better than he treated me, huh? No worries though, I got a Witch friend of mine to patch me up. But I gotta say, the government lackey position doesn’t suit you. You’re so much better than that. At least you were, when you were working with me.”

I ignored his taunting. “Why are you after Seth Grance?”

“It’s not the man but rather what he’s got. It honestly surprised me when I figured out that he hadn’t hid it at his company. Which means he must be carrying it. Strange in its own way, I wouldn’t have thought it would be small enough to carry.”

I slowly crept towards the source of his voice. “You aren’t the first person to call me the key.”

Chase made an amused sound. ‘Perhaps we’ve been speaking to the same person? On different phones perhaps?”

“I’m looking for him,” Nell said into my ear. “But it’s difficult with the fish and… something else.”

“We’ve already found civilians. There could be more your sensing,” I told her.

“Ah and would that be the lock you are speaking to?” Chase asked. “I would love to speak to her personally, but now I have a nasty reminder that you don’t want to be civil. It was impressive, really, to have that much propensity to kill without having any emotion behind it. You tried to squash me like an insect. Old habits, perhaps?”

Nell was silent.

“How I envy them. Witches. Ortum, as they are sometimes called. They hold so much power. The ability to reshape the world and make it anew. To wipe the slate clean of all these boring people who sit and wait until the day they die. If they were going to do that anyway, why don’t we hasten things along so we can see what comes next?”

I don’t like what he’s implying. We better find Seth before he does.

“Making a new world… That doesn’t sound so bad,” Nell said quietly.

I stopped in front of the room Chase was speaking from inside and tried the handle. It was unlocked.

“But why would everyone need to die for that to happen? I don’t get it.”

I burst into the room just in time to see a silhouette exit through the window. I followed it, vaulting out onto the fire escape. He was scaling up the stairs but I was a Wolf, I could catch him-

Out of the corner of my eye, something swooped towards me. It slammed into me, driving me off my feet and over the railing. In a panic, I projected antlers out, catching the metal mesh of the fire escape landing. This halted my fall and I hung there, not wanting to move for fear of breaking my tenuous connection. Chase’s footsteps on the fire escape were getting further away.

The flying shadow came at me again, targeting the antlers. I lanced out bone with my other hand and the entity quickly changed course, avoiding my attack.

I got a glimpse of a human with bat-like membranes stretching between their limbs, like a wing suit. Their body was full of holes just like the fish.

I altered the bones, weaving together a sturdy hook which I swung up to the railing. It caught and I hauled myself up, keeping an eye on the Shaper who was flitting around in the shadowy mist.

Without any time to lose, I renewed my pursuit of Chase. He was a few stories above me, but I could still hear his footsteps. 

The fish dispersed as I threw myself up the fire escape. At the next landing, my attacker made another pass. I was ready this time, and managed to land a kick. It didn’t feel that solid, but they dropped down and disappeared into the mists. I didn’t wait to see if they would re-emerge. 

The balance of power had changed since Chase had left me in that ditch. I was stronger than most non-Shapers now and Chase was not even particularly athletic. I felt the vengeful satisfaction of closing the distance he’d made in the span of seconds. As I reached his landing, I glimpsed him ducking into a room in the condo. 

I entered through the window and made it to the room in a flash. There he stood as a shadow in the dark. His arms outstretched, welcoming.

Things aren’t going to go the same as last time.

I wouldn’t give him time to use his Shape. I lunged, ready to seize him.

Hands like iron vices clamped down on me instead, drawing me close. The strength alarmed me. It was much too powerful to be Chase.

A head leered closer, malformed to the point that the eyes were swollen shut as the tissues crowded out the usual features of a human face. Its mouth dripped with saliva as I was pulled closer to it in lurches. I threw out my hands in front of myself to stop the crushing hug. My hands sank into the bed of spikes that grew from the Aberrant’s chest.