Broken Pixels (Broken Realms, #4)

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 17As far as Mara could tell, the old woman was either dead, deactivated or in some kind of fugue state. She just lay there on the floor with her mouth hanging open, looking like a tortured soul in the glare of Sam’s flashlight—a soul possessed by a spirit speaking with the voice of Mara’s friend Abby, who had possession problems of her own. Suspecting a trick or a distraction of some kind, Mara grabbed the light from her brother and scanned the interior of the church. As the beam swept across the open room, glimpses of the c*****e cast haunting shadows of disembodied heads and hands stretched from the floors to distant walls. While the scene was macabre, she found no sign of the Aphotis, at least not physically. The thing that had taken Abby’s body was not here.

“I expected my unconventional mode of communication might catch you off guard, but I didn’t really think you’d give me the silent treatment,” the Aphotis said.

Mara snapped out of her reverie and asked, “What have you done to this poor woman?”

“Oh, she’ll be fine in a few minutes. I’m just using her to talk to you. Think of her as a sort of human telephone for now. I’m talking into the ear of one of my companions here, and my voice is coming out there. I thought you would appreciate the technical mojo it would take to make that happen, since you’re such a gearhead yourself. These robots are quite handy little appliances, if you know how to use them.”

“These are human beings you slaughtered here!” screamed Cam, his head still in Ping’s hands.

“Ah! I see you got your buddy talking again. Sounds kind of shrill. I would have worked on him myself, but I wasn’t sure if my explorations would negate his usefulness as a trip wire. Lucky boy, I guess.” Abby chuckled from the open mouth of the old woman.

“You mean, you wanted to lure us here,” Mara said.

“Nothing so nefarious, Mara. I wasn’t sure if or when you would show up in this realm. After all, your friend is from here, and you easily could have decided you could do nothing more for him. I wasn’t sure if you would come. Now I know.”

“And what does knowing get you?”

“The question is, what does it get you?” Abby asked.

“Okay, I’ll bite. What does it get me?”

“An offer—I’ve got a deal for you.”

“A deal? What sort of deal?”

“Leave this realm immediately and don’t return. If you do, I promise never to enter your realm again. You’ll never see or hear from me again.”

Mara glanced over to Ping, who had a doubtful expression on his face. She panned the flashlight around, looking at the tables and body parts that filled the church. After a moment she asked, “Why did you murder these people? What was the point of tearing them apart like this?”

“Murder? These mechanisms may have fooled themselves into thinking they are actually human, but I assure you they are much less. Oh, they’re a decent facsimile—they can walk and talk and even feel emotions well enough—but, deep down where it matters, they lack true passion. They know everything but believe nothing. Don’t get all weepy over that tangle of gizmos and fiber here in the church. You’re standing in the middle of a junkyard not a graveyard.”

Cam made a sputtering sound and was about to say something when Mara raised a hand and shook her head at him in the ambient glow of the flashlight.

“These are people who did what they needed to do to survive a deadly disease,” Mara said. “How can you justify committing such an atrocity?”

“It’s no more of an atrocity than you commit every day at that pathetic little gadget shop where you work. Is it an atrocity to take apart a computer and to see why it won’t boot up?”

“So you punched holes in the heads of these people and dismembered them so that you could figure out why they weren’t working in the way you wanted?”

“Let’s just say it became obvious that they were not meeting their full potential, and I was committed to helping them achieve that,” Abby said. “Of course it took some hands-on exploration to figure out exactly where the barriers were placed, but I’m confident we have overcome them.”

“To what end?” Ping interjected.

“Ah, you’ve brought with you the baker who moonlights as a dragon. I assume the little brother I nearly took from you is there as well?”

“You didn’t answer the question,” Mara said.

“That is not your concern. However, if it will make you feel better about leaving, I can assure you that I have completed my research, and I no longer need to conduct further explorations on the people in this realm,” the Aphotis said. After a pause it added, “It would be prudent for you to go home now. I won’t be making this offer again.”

“Somehow I’m having trouble believing you. One minute you’re talking about having a battle with me to determine the nature of existence, and the next you want us to go to our separate realms so everything will be just hunky dory. I’m not buying it.”

“You may need more persuasion.”

Mara’s eyes narrowed, as she stared at the open-mouthed woman on the floor. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

The old woman’s cheeks sunk in as she gasped for breath and awoke with a start. Her features twisted into a snarl as she squinted into the flashlight beam and hissed. Lunging from the light, Mara tried to track her but took a minute to locate the woman, as she scampered under the tables, kicking away body parts. Once she cleared the tables, she stood and looked at Mara while continuing to run backward toward the front of the church, presumably to the door. Her heel caught on a loose plank in the floor, and she tumbled to the floor, where she writhed and screamed, “They stole my light! They stole my light! Get them!”

Out of range of the flashlight, Cam said, “Mara, I’m picking up signals. People are approaching outside, a lot of them.”

“What does that mean? Are they carrying pitchforks and flaming torches to burn down the church?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but their signals are erratic, similar to those I’m getting from the old woman. We might want to look for an exit other than the front door,” he said.

A loud crash sent the front doors off their hinges and crashing to the floor just a few feet from the head of the old woman. Skittering onto one of the fallen doors, she made her way to the open frame—quickly filling with silhouettes of people pushing their way into the church.

Mara felt the book bag smack her in the shoulder as Sam turned and said, “Okay, time to find the back door. Shine the light this way, and let’s get out of here.”

Mara pointed the light past the tables to the front of the church where a low mound of rubble most likely indicated where the altar had once been. From behind her she heard Cam’s voice but couldn’t make out what he was saying.

“What’s that?” she asked over her shoulder to Ping.

Ping answered, “He says the old plans for this building indicate there might be an exit in the left front corner of the building.”

“Got it. I don’t care what Abby says, the way these people can access information through the Sig-net is totally cool,” Mara said, swinging the light to the front of the church. She could barely make out what she thought was a door frame.

“I thought you didn’t want us to call the Aphotis Abby,” Sam said.

“Yeah, it’s hard to hear her voice and not think of her though,” Mara said.

“I’m sure she would understand,” Ping added.

Mara stumbled and paused for a moment. Looking down, she said, “Some studs or something are sticking up from the floor here, so watch your step.” She rounded the pile of rubble and headed to the corner of the building. When she glanced over her shoulder to confirm Sam and Ping were following, she caught sight of the crowd shuffling into the church through the front door. More than two dozen figures stood just inside the entryway, each of them holding up a tiny purple light.

“Uh-oh, we must leave now!” she said.

Sam stopped and looked behind them. The crowd spread out in front of the tables, making loud scraping sounds as they kicked debris and body parts from their paths. The tiny lights they held up twinkled and bobbed in the darkness. Mara grabbed Sam’s shoulder, handed him the flashlight and pushed him forward. To his back she said, “Go see if that doorway leads out of here. I don’t want us to get cornered.”

He jogged ahead.

She turned to Ping and said, “Try to shield Cam from that light. I don’t want those little crystals of theirs to cause him to zone out again.”

“I really don’t think the light is dangerous,” Cam said.

“Whatever. We’re not letting those crystals near you, until we know what they are doing to these people,” Mara said.

Ping made a point of rotating Cam’s head to face Ping’s torso. He hitched his own head toward the crowd and said, “They don’t appear interested in pursuing us.”

A high-pitched wail came from the crowd. “They stole my light! They stole my light!”

Mara whispered, “That crazy old woman seems bent on changing their minds.”

A quiet murmur came from the dark. Mara c****d her head, listened more intently.

“See the light! Shine the light! Be the light!” they chanted repeatedly. The lights bobbed with the rhythm of the chant, which grew louder each time it was repeated. “See the light! Shine the light! Be the light!”

Ping looked down to Cam’s face in his hands and asked, “Do you understand the significance of that phrase?”

“Not in the least,” he said.

“We can figure it out later,” Mara said, turning to the corner where Sam had gone. She hissed into the darkness, “Sam? Hurry up!”

The flashlight beam came through the door frame, and Sam called to them. “Come on. There’s a way out. Just be careful and don’t fall down the staircase leading to the basement.”

A loud crash at the front of the church made Mara jump. She glanced at the sound and saw the tiny lights bob closer. A couple tables flew to the sides of the room. The crowd, continuing to chant, pushed forward, clearing the way to where they stood.

“Go!” Mara pushed Ping toward the doorway.

Sam met them and shone the flashlight over their shoulders at the crowd of light-bearing chanters. His eyes widened in surprise. “They’re coming!” Turning around, he pointed into the remains of a hallway and said, “Go straight for about thirty feet. There’s no back wall and then a stone staircase leading to the ground. Stay along the left wall, or you’ll fall into the basement.”

He turned and pointed the light ahead into the hallway, which was actually just a wall with a section of ceiling still hanging above. Maybe the remains of an addition built on to the church. Mara peered into the darkness on the open right-hand side of the hall as she and Ping made their way forward. She sensed the drop-off into the basement but couldn’t quite see it. From ahead, she felt a cool breeze blow across her face and saw ambient light pour in from nearby city streets. Stepping over a ragged edge in what remained of the back wall, Mara found herself at the top of a stone staircase outside. She grabbed Ping’s elbow and helped him out, and then Sam pushed both of them forward.

“No time to take a breath. They are right behind us!” he yelled.

Mara stepped aside and motioned for him to follow Ping down the stairs.

“You go. I’ll see if I can slow them down,” she said.

She leaned into the hall, and saw shadows and tiny purple lights making their way toward her. The chanting continued, “See the light ...”

Mara grimaced and said, “Sorry.”

She stared down at the row of wood planks that comprised the floor in the hall. Squinting with concentration, she waved a hand over them. The floor blurred, and, though she could not see it in the limited light, she knew it had pixilated. It disintegrated, sending the chanters staggering to the right side of the hall and plunging into the darkness above the open basement.

Screams and the clatter of falling bodies replaced the chants, but—blended into the mayhem—Mara thought she heard a familiar chuckle and a hollow distant whisper, “Cool move, dude.”