Extracted

NINETEEN

LEX

Hobbling to the window in Claymore’s third-story office, I wipe the grime off one of the panes with my sleeve and press my nose against the glass. I can’t quite make out what’s going on—all I can see is a small fire on the right side of the courtyard.

“Fire!” I say, turning to the desk.

Claymore doesn’t move. The board doesn’t change. It’s as if he’s turned to stone.

“There,” I mutter, pointing to where Bruce and Slap Stick are ducking behind some thick shrubs. There’s movement on the outskirts of the courtyard. Someone is hiding behind the pillar.

From my vantage point I can’t see them well, but from the look of confusion passing between Bruce and Slap Stick I don’t think they can see the intruder at all. But who do I tell? Claymore hasn’t said anything since his warning and I’m beginning to wonder if something shook loose inside him during the explosion. I turn back to the windows, using my cane to shatter the glass. Maybe I can at least call to Bruce and point him in the right direction.

Watching through the broken windows, I try to decide if I will be more helpful here or if I should go help my friends. There’s only one intruder that I can see, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more lurking out there somewhere. Just as I decide to go, my leg groans and seizes up. I smack the metal straps with my palm, trying to get the gears to start turning again. Movement draws my attention back to the window. The intruder hasn’t moved, but I notice a small metal object reflecting sunlight in the middle of the courtyard, weaving through the spray of bullets that Bruce lays down.

“Gear Heads!” I yell through the broken window. I am too high up, too far away for them to hear me through the pop of gunfire. I have about a minute and a half to be grateful there is only one before it doubles back, crouches down and starts spitting little gears at Bruce from behind. Slap Stick runs to his aid but the Gear Head lunges, digs into his arm, and sprays what looks like steam in his face.

The Gear Head then generates the rusty old saw I loathe and cuts into his flesh. Slap Stick tears the little creature off his arm before it can move its way up to his face. He throws it aside, motioning for Bruce to take care of it as he advances on the person hiding on the outskirts of the courtyard.

The Gear Head doesn’t even miss a step in its pursuit. It’s so much faster than the others we’ve dealt with—it’s on Bruce in the blink of an eye. I smack my leg again, harder this time. I need to get out there. The Gear Head backs up, scurrying into a crouched position. I can see where it has taken cover behind a scraggly bush on the other side of the courtyard. It is waiting for a sneak attack. Smart, sneaky little monster.

The only thing I can think to do is to grab my cane and use the oil slick feature. I lift it up to my shoulder like a long rifle, glad I have the gear settings memorized by now so I don’t even have to look down to see which one to use.

The cane doesn’t kick when I squeeze the small, concealed trigger. Oil starts to ooze out of the end of the cane. The flow is slow and it drizzles down in spurts.

I slap the side, thinking maybe it isn’t functioning properly.

Then, without warning, the cane gushes with oil like water out of a fire hose. Surprised at how much the skinny cane holds, I rotate my body back and forth like a sprinkler so I can get a good covering of oil in front of the Gear Head. Slap Stick gives me a thumbs-up.

Soon the path between the Gear Head and its prey is covered, slicked with the shiny substance. The steady stream continues for a long moment. The Gear Head tries to get its balance. But even though it attempts to cut into the ground with its saws and pincers, it is unable to advance on my team. Slap Stick takes advantage of the oil and moves toward the floundering Gear Head. With the stride of a football kicker, he boots the Gear Head over into the far corner of the courtyard. It flails, bounces, and slides under a bush. Sparks fly and the dry tumbleweed bursts into flame. There is no explosion.

From behind the pillar, the intruder puts both hands in the air and shouts, “Will you stop shooting at me, you lunatics! I said I surrender!”

At the sound of the voice, my heartbeat quickens. “Anya!” I yell, smacking my leg once more to get the gears grinding back into motion, and I limp to the main room.

Nobel and Gloves converge on the courtyard. The other Hollows watch intently while Slap Stick grabs the intruder from her hiding spot and heads to the entrance of the Tower. Grabbing my jester’s hat, I head downstairs, desperate to confirm what I hope I heard. As soon as I clear the hallway, my heart leaps into my throat.

“It’s okay. Let her go,” I order, pushing past Nobel so hard I practically body-check him into the wall.

Slap Stick cocks his head, giving me a funny look, but he obeys.

“She’s my sister,” I say, holding my hand out to Anya. She hesitates, glancing over to where Bruce is giving her a stern glare, and holds up her hands. They are bound with thick brass cuffs. She steps forward, her heavy black boots making the old floorboards creak, but Bruce grabs her tightly by the arm, preventing her from going any farther. She twists away from him but he grabs out, catching her by the back of her leather vest and tugging her. I’m about to step in, but moving so quickly it’s hard to follow, she kicks Bruce. The kick catches him in the side of the knee, and he falls forward. Slap Stick steps between them to stop the fight, but Anya pushes him away, comes up behind Bruce, and slips her arms over his head, using her cuffs to choke him.

“Whoa, what? Really?” Slap Stick asks, surprised by the assault.

“Relax, I come in peace,” Anya says, releasing Bruce with a rough shove.

“Anya, you’re in hostile territory, about to be tortured, possibly killed, and all you can come up with is ‘I come in peace?’” I almost laugh.

“Ember,” she corrects me. “My name is Ember now.”

I bristle. It must be her nickname, but I don’t like it. It just doesn’t fit her. “So if you come in peace, why the Gear Head?”

She bites her bottom lip. It’s a gesture I remember all too well. “I used it to track you guys through the time stream. It sort of escaped. Sorry about that.”

“And the explosion?” I ask, rubbing the back of my neck.

Bruce holds up a geared hand. “That was me. The perimeter sensors went off, so I fired a warning shot. From the cannon.” He shrugs unapologetically.

“Idiot,” Anya and I mumble at the same time. Then we look at each other and smirk.

“Okay, girly, that sounds good and all, but if you aren’t here to spy on us, then why are you here?” Slap Stick asks, rubbing his neck.

Anya doesn’t even blink. “I’m here for my brother.” Her face is stern. There is something different about her. Something hard and unfriendly. For the first time I wonder if my sister is telling the truth.

For a minute, I’m torn. I want to believe my sister, but what if I’m wrong? What if, by letting her in, I put my team in danger? Maybe she’s been brainwashed. Maybe, or maybe she was sent here to spy on us—or worse.

She must be able to read the doubt on my face because she frowns. Her dark eyebrows pull together as she clamps her mouth shut so tightly the muscles in her jaw twitch.

I step forward so Anya and I are eye-to-eye. She holds my gaze, unflinching. After a moment of silence she reaches out and tugs the lapel of my vest, straightening it like she used to when I was a boy. I catch her hands in mine and she freezes. Her skin is cool and her hands are shaky.

“I would never hurt you,” she whispers in Russian.

“I know,” I respond in kind.

Bruce and Slap Stick consult Gloves in low voices, with their backs to the group. Finally, they turn around and Bruce pulls a key from his front pocket.

“Okay,” he says. Unlocking the manacles, he adds, “If Lex trusts you, well, that’s good enough for us. But no funny business.”

“No promises,” she mutters, rubbing her wrists.

I sneak a glance at Anya—no, Ember, I remind myself. Her nose is slightly wrinkled. Maybe it’s just the smell. Or maybe it’s a judgment on our surroundings. I feel a pang of anger blossom in my chest. This place isn’t much, but it is my home.

Gloves guides us to a couch in the opposite corner of the room. The velvet wall dressings are peeling away. I hit a few of the pieces while we walk, making them fall to the floor like crimson snowflakes. Everyone sits on the worn, tattered furniture and awkwardly stares at each other. I remain standing. We’re all waiting for someone else to start the conversation.

When I can’t take the staring contest anymore, I lean forward and rest my hands on the back of the sofa. My head is reeling. My sister is sitting in front of me alive and well. Flesh and blood. Safe. Away from Tesla. Relief bleeds into my system, but my questions remain. After circling the couch, I squat at her feet.

I look up, staring into her warm brown eyes, and open my mouth to say something. But the words catch in my throat as Ember lunges forward, grabbing me and giving me the hug I never thought I’d have again. We hold each other for a long time. She smells the same as I remember, like warm honey and fresh cream. Finally she pulls away and just looks at me, tracing my scar with the back of her index finger. A small tear rolls down her face, carving a clean pink line down her dirt-covered cheek. I’m sure I seem different to her. I’m not the little boy she remembers—I’ve become something more. More than the little brother who followed her around, begging to play swords. I am the leader our father groomed me to be, though not in the way he imagined. I am one of the Hollows, and proud of it.

I can almost read the disapproval in her face.

“What happened to your leg?” Ember asks softly.

I don’t answer, countering with a question of my own.

“Why did you come here, exactly?” I pull back and fold my arms across my chest. I have to maintain my credibility as a leader, though I wish I could just sit and talk to my sister all night without these strangers and their cold eyes.

“I came here to find you,” Ember says, as if the answer is obvious. “The memories of the fire are still hazy, but they are coming back to me in pieces. I remember the roof collapsing. I remember being dragged away. I think I remember seeing him there, too.” She points to Gloves, who is sitting near the couch in his locomotive chair. “Mostly, I just want us to be a family again. I would have come sooner, but something happened and I couldn’t remember anything until that day you broke into The Institute. Seeing you there, it sort of broke the dam.” She looks away.

“You could have come with us when we left the vault,” I say.

She shakes her head, strands of hair falling around her face. “I couldn’t. I needed answers.” She looks back up at me. “Why did you break into the Institute? Did you come to find me?”

I shake my head. “I didn’t remember you, either. Nothing. It was all blank. Then I saw you and it came rushing back to me.” I take her hand again. “If I’d known Tesla had you—that you even existed—nothing would have stopped me from finding you.”

“Flynn,” she cuts in. “Flynn saved me from the fire. He brought me to the Institute.”

“One of our Hollows died during a mission a few days ago. She was my friend, more than a friend. When I heard there might be a piece of tech in the Institute that would allow me to go back and save her, I had to go for it.” Ember sits back, silent, so I continue. “Her name is Stein. I know getting her back could create a huge paradox, so I need something to hold the paradox and the stream together. With the Dox, I can save her.”

“The Dox is one of the untested theories we learned about in training,” Ember says. “Tesla created it, but he never tested it. It was considered too dangerous to use. If it overloads, it could blow a hole in the universe. I mean, it could create a black hole in time itself.”

I shrug. “It’ll work,” I say with more confidence than I feel.

“Can I see it?”

“Sure, I guess.” I hesitate. Nobel shoots me a look and I can practically read his mind. Just because I trust her doesn’t mean they do. She’s a stranger at best and an enemy at worst. The look on Nobel’s face tells me he doesn’t want her anywhere near the Dox. Still, I nod to him, and he reluctantly leaves the room to retrieve it from his lab. The best way to get the others to trust her is going to be to let her earn it.

Nobel reappears a few, tense minutes later with the Dox in hand. It has a clear glass outer shell with an intricate brass machine inside that reminds me of a huge lightbulb. There are gears and spokes and coils of wire surrounding a main terminal. Small, fragile wires reach out from the center of the machine like veins, and brush the insides of the glass. When Nobel hands it to me, the coils begin to glow a subtle shade of purple.

“That’s weird,” Nobel says.

“Yeah.” I hold it away from my body. Suddenly it feels less like a lightbulb and more like a ticking bomb. Literally.

“Maybe you activated it,” Ember says, holding out her hands for it.

“Yeah, maybe,” I say, passing it to Ember. As soon as I’m no longer touching it, the light fades. Around us, everyone looks tense. Everyone, I notice, except for Gloves.

“Guess it doesn’t like me,” Ember jokes. “I didn’t even know the Institute had a working prototype.”

She hands it back to me and I pass it back to Nobel. Ember stares at me, and then glances nervously at the others, who look visibly relieved she didn’t spike it and do a touchdown dance.

“Here, why don’t I show you around?” I offer. Bruce coughs but I ignore him, helping Ember to her feet.

“I’m not a spy, you know. My friends risked everything to get me here,” she says, looking away. “I hope they are okay.” Her voice is almost too soft to hear. I grind my teeth.

Friends. With the enemy. My eye twitches at the thought but I don’t say anything. She runs her hand along the walls, flaking paint off beneath her fingers.

“Alexei—sorry, Lex—can I ask you a question?” she says.

“You just did, but sure.”

She pulls me to a stop. “Are you happy here?”

“Yes,” I answer quickly. She gives me a look. “I mean, yeah. It’s not much, but it’s home.”

“How long have you been here?” she asks as we continue walking.

I have to think about it for a second. “About five years. Why?”

She looks away again. “You’re older. The last time I saw you, you were only thirteen.”

Ah. “How old are you now?” I ask. She doesn’t look much older, physically, than when I last saw her; she sure doesn’t look twenty-two.

“I just turned seventeen. I’ve only been with Tesla for about a year.”

That pulls me up short. “How is that possible? We were taken at the same time.”

She shrugs. “We’re time travelers. Nothing happens to us in the order it should. From the moment we were taken, we were traveling different paths. Nothing is linear for us.”

“This time bubble that Stewart Stills created for Hollows to exist in probably didn’t help matters, either.”

“That’s amazing. And only he can do it?”

I shrug. “Or only he knows how to do it. So far, he’s the only one who’s been able to pull it off. Nuts, right?”

“That’s one word for it. If you’re in a time bubble, how did I get in?”

That makes me pause. It’s a good question. “It must be getting weaker. I’ll mention it to Stills and see what he thinks.”

She follows me up the stairs and onto the roof. It’s almost sunset and the sky is on fire with reds and oranges. A gust of wind blows her hair into her face. I laugh as she struggles to control it.

“That’s why Mother always put your hair in ribbons.” I smile at the memory.

“I hated those. They pulled.”

I remember. She would sit and whine and squirm, and the second we were out of Mother’s sight, she’d tug them out and hide them under the furniture. Absently my hand goes to my pocket. I clutch the bottle caps between my fingers.

“So,” she begins as I walk over to the metal tower. “Stein. She was your friend?”

I bristle and grab the first rung, pulling myself up. “Yes.”

Ember follows behind, climbing upward until we’re nearly at the top. “More than a friend?” she asks again.

“Yes.”

She puckers her mouth.

I sigh, wishing Stein was here now.

“What was she like?” Ember asks, sitting next to me, our legs dangling off the edge of the roof.

I lean back on my elbows. “She is amazing. She’s smart and strong. She never lets me get away with anything.”

Ember chuckles. “I like her already.”

“When she moves, it’s like water, you know? And sometimes, when it’s just us, she looks at me like I’m the most important thing in the world.” I pause and glance over. Ember is staring at me intently. I roll my eyes. “Whatever.”

But she isn’t about to let it drop. “You love her.”

I just nod.

As the sun dips out of sight, a slight reflection of light gleams in the distance. I point to it. “See that?”

She nods.

“That’s the bubble. Sometimes, when the light hits it just right, you can see it.”

“It’s sort of beautiful,” she offers.

I watch it until it vanishes.

We talk until the sun vanishes over the mountains, and then we have to climb back down in the dim light near the front door. She tells me about her life in Tesla, which doesn’t seem as terrible as I’d imagined, and I tell her about my more glorious missions. Then I tell her about the day Stein died.

I am just finishing my tale as we reach the door to Stein’s room. Ember can stay here for now. No one will bother her, and it will make me feel better knowing that that bed isn’t empty, even if its rightful owner is still gone.

“I’m going to get her back. I have the Dox. We can pick up the new batch of Contra tomorrow.”

She grabs me by the arm.

“Lex, if you can’t get the Dox to work, you are risking everything for this girl. You could tear time apart.”

I look at her flatly. “I know.”

She glares at me, as if to be sure I’m not going to change my mind before she answers. “Fine. Then I’m going with you.”

I pull my arm free. “No. I won’t risk you. I’ll go alone. It’s safer that way.”

She folds her arms over her chest and shoots me her unimpressed look. It’s eerily similar to the one Mother used to give me when I’d bring home boxes of frogs from the gardens.

“Safer for whom, exactly?” She was flowing, speaking in perfect Russian again. “If you’re stupid enough to risk the whole of existence in order to rescue this girl, then I’m stupid enough to go with you.”

I can’t help but chuckle. “Fine.”

But Stein’s voice echoes in my head, ripping the smile off my face as her words come back to haunt me.

It’s your funeral.