The Rise of Onyx Read online

  “You didn’t, don’t worry. I just want to think about it first.”

  “Of course.”

  I remember to grab my head covering and apron from the grassy forest floor where we dropped them, carefully brushing them off the best I can. And then I hear some rustling in the nearby trees. “Finn, did you hear that? Is someone there?”

  He looks up from straightening up his own clothes, and alarm registers on his face. “You don’t think it’s -”

  “No! I mean, I’m not sure. I hope not… let’s go!”

  Finn grabs my hand to help me up, and then we both take off at a feverish gallop back toward the main path and the town. If Silas catches us in the throes of passion, I have no idea what would become of me, and I certainly do not want to find out.

  CHAPTER 6

  “Did he find her okay?” Evander approaches Onyx’s throne, and he nods slightly. He’s become very weak at this point, and so he’s been conserving his energy to be able to survive as long as he can.

  “Yes, I believe he did. Based on the live footage we have of Griffin, I think he just got a bit too close to where she was, and they heard him coming. But overall, I think things are going as planned, aside from a few close calls.”

  Evander sighs, and shifts his weight to lean against a nearby marble column that reaches from the impeccably clean tiles to the cavernous ceiling of the Grand Hall.

  “Where’s Luna? Could you… check on her for me?”

  Evander shrugs. “I could, but I doubt she’s very happy with me at the moment. Perhaps Brielle would be a better choice? I think I should give her some space right now.”

  Onyx nods, and then signals for him to ask Brielle to check on her. As Evander leaves the Grand Hall to get Brielle for that very purpose, Onyx’s flaming hair dims the darkest it’s ever been, and he lays back limply in his seat. They are rapidly running out of time - and no one knows how long it will be before Onyx succumbs to the current, just the way Zephyr did.

  ✷✷✷

  In response to Evander’s suggestion that someone check on Luna, Brielle knocks on the door to her pod. “Luna, how are you doing? Evander suggested that I check on you.” Brielle waits there for her momentarily, expecting the door to open revealing a tear-stained and very upset Luna. But what she sees when the door unlocks surprises her.

  “Oh, hello Brielle! Come on in. What can I do for you?”

  “For me? But I came to check on you.”

  “Check on me about what exactly?”

  Brielle’s eyes nearly pop out of her head in bewilderment. “Onyx? Don’t you miss him?”

  Luna inhales deeply before any tears can fall, steadying herself against potentially debilitating emotions. “Yes, of course. But I’m trying not to.”

  “Why? It’s understandable, if you do. I mean, I don’t understand, since I don’t have the ability to experience emotions, but for you, in your case, it’s logical, I suppose. And now I’m babbling, because I always babble when I’m nervous and I never know how to calm down until someone tells me to calm down and-”

  “Brielle! Calm. Down.”

  “Oh. Right.” She nods erratically and then sits on the nearest chair next to the front door of Luna’s pod.

  “I have come to the conclusion that there is a very slim chance that Onyx will both survive this and be able to be with me the way he used to, so I’m letting him go.”

  “What do you mean? Onyx still needs you. If you give up, then he’ll have no reason to stay alive.”

  Luna shakes her head slowly, and tosses her long, dark hair over her shoulder. “I’m not the only reason - he also has to stay alive for the sake of the Upperworld. That’s a good enough reason to press on, that’s for sure. Besides, we’re all doomed anyway when he eventually passes, so there’s really no reason to fight it anymore. I’m choosing to go down as calmly as possible.”

  Brielle’s jaw drops open, and she stands up slowly. “Luna, were you medicated somehow to feel like this? Please tell me they didn’t do this to you…”

  “No, I don’t think so. I’m fairly certain, anyway. Just believe me when I say, he’s not worth worrying about anymore. He is as good as gone. In fact, I feel nothing at all.”

  Brielle takes a closer step to Luna, and looks directly into her eyes. They’re glazed over, but still very purple. “I don’t know, Luna. You don’t look so good.”

  Luna places a hand on her hip. “What? I feel better than ever. What do you think is wrong? I can assure you, I’m totally fine.”

  Brielle catches the wrist that Luna waved in front of her, and takes a good look at her implanted device. “Luna, does your device usually glow orange like this?” She drops Luna’s wrist so that Luna herself can take a good look at it.

  “I’m not sure, but I did have a new one implanted, as my original one was expelled on Earth.”

  Brielle’s eyes widen as she puts the pieces together. “Luna, they are drugging you, remotely, through your device!”

  “What? That’s impossible! I didn’t request any kind of medication. Why would they do that?”

  Brielle grabs her hand. “I truly have no idea, but I have a feeling we’re about to find out. Come on!”

  “Where are we going?”

  “The medical offices, they’ll know what’s going on.”

  Luna nods. “You seem pretty concerned, is this a bad thing?”

  “Of course! If you didn’t ask for it, they are changing your personality and natural predispositions against your will. We need to fix this immediately.”

  “Oh, I didn’t even think of that!” Luna starts to panic, subconsciously scratching at her wrist to make the unwanted effects go away.

  “You can’t fix it yourself, you know. We have to get you looked at. I’m so glad I questioned it, Evander was concerned about you too.”

  “Did he know about this?”

  “No, none of us did. I just found out, remember?”

  Luna nods. “Oh, right. Why did I forget that?”

  Brielle’s face goes pale. “Oh my pod, it’s affecting your short-term memory too. This is bad, Luna. I don’t think this is just any kind of “feel good” cocktail they put in your system - I think they’re trying to control you.”

  “What? Who again?”

  Brielle sighs. “Just come with me, I’m going to get this sorted out right away.”

  CHAPTER 7

  “I saw both targets in the grass all alone, and I was so sure it was going to happen, but it didn’t. I have a feeling it will be soon though. How is Onyx doing?”

  Evander sighs on the other end of the receiver. “Well, not well, but that’s not exactly news, I suppose. Just keep on doing what you’re doing, Griffin. All your efforts are greatly appreciated.”

  “And Luna?”

  “What about her?”

  “How is she holding up?”

  “Well, she’s been acting a bit odd, actually. I sent Brielle to check on her. Everything is coming relatively unglued up here, we’re looking forward to getting you back soon.”

  “Me too, this Earth stuff is pretty bizarre. I think I’m much better suited for the Upperworld.”

  “Well, I’m not so sure that’s a good thing. The way things are going, you may want to get comfortable there.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Well, we’re not sure how long Onyx will hold up, and if we can’t figure out some kind of a solution, then we may have to relocate everyone down to Earth.”

  “Really?”

  “This is very confidential, but there has been talk of the kill switch.”

  “The kill switch? The one that the Titans installed as a last-ditch effort to save the human race if the Upperworld malfunctions beyond repair?”

  “That’s the one. But I don’t want you to worry too much. In the event of that occurring, we would make appropriate arrangements to get everyone assimilated in no time. The Undercover Earth Guides will all be notified to help with that.”

  Griffin looks up at t
he blue Earth sky, trying to process everything that Evander is telling him. “So, how likely is that going to happen?”

  “I’d say it’s more than likely - in fact, that’s probably going to be the default unless we can figure something else out. Onyx wants that to happen - even he seems to believe that our work here is inconsequential.”

  “What? But that can’t be! The Titans wouldn’t have appointed us for the work otherwise, right?”

  “It’s hard to say. Just keep eyes on her at all times - you don’t want to miss it.”

  “Will do, over and out.” He ends the call on the receiver and then continues following the couple back onto the main street.

  ✷✷✷

  “Well, uh, thanks for taking a walk with me. I guess I’ll see you around.” Finn smiles at me, and I feel my whole body heat up. Or perhaps that was a lingering sensation from our time in the field, in addition to the rapid escape from whoever or whatever was watching us.

  “Thanks for asking me to go for a walk. I’ll be around as well. God be with ye.”

  Finn nods at me, and then starts back toward his own house next door. I watch him as he leaves, and I notice the calm, relaxed way he walks and not-so-subtly enjoy the way the late afternoon breeze ruffles his hair. That boy might just be the death of me, and suddenly, I think I’d be okay with that.

  “Constance, where were you? I needed help with my mathematics homework, but I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

  My blushing must have given away my answer faster than I could open my mouth, because Fae’s eyes widen and she lowers her voice before dragging me into our shared bedroom. She takes a quick glance around our small house before closing the door and sitting down on her bed. Patting the space directly next to her, she motions for me to sit down and talk.

  “There’s not much to say - Finn invited me to go for a walk, that’s it. I just got back.”

  Fae purses her lips. “I would believe you… if your apron wasn’t on backwards.”

  I immediately look down and realize that I may have just given myself away.

  “And your head covering is a lot more wrinkled than Ma would like, I’m sure. What exactly were you up to?”

  I sigh. “Nothing really.”

  “Really?”

  “Well, okay, I suppose I’ve been caught. It was… leaning in that direction, but I stopped it.”

  “You stopped it?”

  I nod slowly, trying to find the appropriate words to explain this to my twelve-year-old sister. I knew that she had been made privy to the ins-and-outs of what I was toying with recently, and she had yet to become comfortable with the idea as a whole. “But next time, I might not.”

  “Well of course not, you’d be married, you’d have to-”

  “Oh, not with Silas, goodness no. I meant… with Finn.” I lower my voice to barely above a whisper, as I am terrified of the possibility that Ma or Pa might hear what I’ve been thinking about.

  “Oh.”

  “Indeed.”

  “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

  I shrug. “Well, I don’t think that being forced to marry someone I absolutely despise is a good idea, so why does this have to be? I’ve decided that I am taking back my life, at least for the next week and a half, or so. And I don’t want my first time to be awful.”

  “It might not be.”

  Her voice shrinks in stature considerably, as I can see that the morals that she had been taught by our ever-so-mighty parents has left her feeling very conflicted, and rightfully so - I was breaking all the rules they had tried to instill in us since we could walk. Infidelity was one of the worst things we had been warned against, and I know that being betrothed to someone was as good as being married in some compounds. It varies quite a bit by family, and ours is undoubtedly on the more stringent end of that spectrum, but I’m not about to back down on what I know I needed to do. I only have one beautiful, wild life, after all. And I refuse to spend the rest of it pleasuring that miserable slug. At least for now, I might be able to go down into that awful existence with a good memory or two to get me through.

  “Silas doesn’t care about me at all, Fae. So of course it would be awful. I need something good for myself, surely you see that?”

  Fae looks down at her lap, and very subtly, shakes her head. “I don’t know, Constance. I don’t think I can completely understand you. This just seems wrong to me. But I promise not to tell Ma or Pa - I wouldn’t do that to you.”

  I frown, but exhale with relief. “Thank you, Fae. I appreciate that. And I don’t expect you to understand, but I really do wish you would.”

  I get up to leave our room, and close the door behind me. I don’t know exactly when it’s going to happen, but I’m so glad that I have someone special like Finn who loves me to share it with.

  CHAPTER 8

  Arriving at the infirmary, Brielle and Luna ask the receptionist at the front desk to be seen immediately by the doctor who replaced Luna’s implant.

  “Well, I can see what his availability is. I think he might be booked solid for the next few shifts…”

  Brielle speaks into her own implanted device. “Evander, I need you to send a required examination notice to the infirmary right away, with Onyx’s authority signifying it. Thank you.” She remains staring stoically at the receptionist, who receives a notification only mere moments later.

  “Ah, it seems something’s opened up. Have a seat, I’ll let you know when the doctor is ready.”

  Brielle makes a face at the receptionist and then proudly leads Luna to one of the seats in the waiting room. “Just gotta learn how to leverage your resources - and lucky for you, we’re tightly knit with the head of all things in the Upperworld.”

  “Evander?”

  “No, Onyx, silly.”

  “Who?”

  Brielle’s eyes widen, and her blood runs cold. “What do you mean, ‘who’?”

  “I mean, I’m not sure who that is.”

  “Luna, I swear, this is not the time to be joking…”

  “I’m not joking, Brielle, I honestly have no idea-”

  “Hello! I’m Doctor Amaranthus. Oh, Luna, is everything all right? What can I do for you today?”

  Brielle glares at him with the energy of a thousand lasers. “No Doctor, everything is absolutely not all right. She can’t remember who Onyx is.”

  “Onyx? The stand-in for Zephyr, right?”

  Brielle nods. “They were sort of destined to be together, you see. And then with the whole altercation about him taking the throne, things have been difficult and he wasn’t doing well. Luna has been having some trouble processing it, and then just as soon as she started to absolutely break down, she just… became really numb, and then forgot. Granted, I can’t relate because I’m not half-humanoid, so I can’t feel emotions, but typically she can and I find it concerning that she suddenly can’t feel anything and forgot who her destiny was.”

  The doctor nods, completely devoid of any kind of reaction.

  “Why are you not reacting to this? Can you fix it?”

  “Well, I only fix problems. This isn’t an issue. Her embedded device is doing exactly what it needs to do - isn’t that nifty? One of the new upgraded features includes a self-dispensing calming medication, specially medicated for half-humanoids like Luna, actually. Unfortunately, a small side-effect of it includes some loss of short and long term memories, but it’s worth it to be spared of those pesky emotions, don’t you think?”

  Brielle’s jaw drops, and Luna just remains sitting next to her, lacking any visible reaction.

  “No, I do not think that is good at all! Please disable that feature, please.”

  “Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about it once the panic has triggered the release. But this really is for the best - now she can focus on sorting, which is very important work.”

  “But she won’t even need to sort pretty soon! The entire Upperworld is going to be obsolete, don’t you understand? None of th
is matters anymore! But what does matter…” Brielle grabs a nearby decoration off the wall, and takes the sharp end of the metallic, abstract art and presses it to the doctor’s jugular. “…is that my friend here can go back to being exactly who she is without you randomly changing her personality with medication she never asked for! Do you understand me?”

  The doctor doesn’t even flinch, but instead raises his wrist to his lips and calls for backup. “Security, please.” The words croak out of his throat with a significant amount of labor, and he has to struggle to breath, as his back has been quite literally pressed up against a wall with Brielle holding the sharp end of some abstract wall art to his throat.

  “Just disable the device, and I can let you go away unscathed. Because if you don’t, I am fully prepared to jab this through your neck, and never look back.”

  “Step away from the doctor!”

  The security agents aim a stun gun at Brielle, who begrudgingly agrees to back away.

  “Now leave him alone, and take the patient with you. You are both no longer welcome here.”

  “What? But she needs medical assistance!”

  “You should have thought of that before assaulting a medical professional. Now leave before I decide to use this on you for real this time.”

  Brielle grabs Luna’s hand and pulls her out of the infirmary. “This is for the best, Luna. They’re useless, anyway. I’m sure Evander will be able to help you.”

  “Help me what?”

  “Oh boy. I better get you some help quick! You don’t sound so good.”

  “What?”

  “Oh Luna, this is so upsetting! Who told you to get that implant? Did you even really need it?”

  Luna’s eyes clear for a moment, and she comes back to the surface. “Uhmmm I think it was Vidia? She thought I should have a new one installed.”

  “Well, she thought wrong. I’m about to exchange some words with her, actually.”

  “What?”

  “I’m going to take you back to your pod to rest, and then we’ll figure out a solution. Try not to worry.”

  “Oh, I’m not really worried at all. I feel… just fine, actually.”