Everything I had learned at the LDA. The grid. The Prophecy. Our sacred duty to safeguard our perfect planet. It had all turned out to be true. There was some force willing and able to bring our entire planet down after all. This was the first strike.
A Munis vehicle had double-parked outside the club and its driver was rushing to attend the victims. I climbed up the side of the truck to get a better view of the city.
It was as I’d feared.
Everywhere I looked on the horizon I could make out the sight of yet another destroyed landmark. The North Arena. My former school. They were all burning.
I turned around. There was no smoke, but the Spires of Elkin, the largest structures on Lorien and home to almost a third of the city’s population, were gone too, leaving a soul-shattering void in the skyline. With no obstruction, I stared up at the column of violet light pulsing malevolently on the horizon.
That was no “Herald.”
In a burst of understanding, I saw it all clearly. If only I hadn’t been so convinced that everyone at the LDA was a self-important fool, I would’ve seen it so much sooner. It was obvious now: the column of light was responsible for the grid’s burnout. Whoever had just attacked us must have known about the weaknesses in the grid, and sent that light down to screw with our only mechanical form of defense. It had been draining our defenses this whole time.
I clutched my head, my heart thumping in my chest. The attackers had sent missiles through the holes in the grid, targeting high-density structures like the Chimæra and the spires. I had just replaced the wiring in this sector days ago, but the security patches were interdependent and I knew there were outages all over the city. We’d been unprotected.
It was as clear a night as I’d seen in a while. There were no clouds at all. Just smoke, flame, and the brilliant blue light of the Quartermoon.
I couldn’t take any more. I jumped down from the Munis vehicle and raced to the Egg, which I found still parked exactly where I’d left it. Amazingly, it was all in one piece.
I had to get back to the academy—or whatever was left of it. I had to explain my theory to whoever would listen. Surely the council and the academy faculty had been apprised of the attacks on the city, and Daxin would be awake, wondering where his ID Band was.
As I opened the door to the Egg, I heard a voice.
“Sandor.”
I turned around. Devektra and Mirkl stood in the shadows. I had never seen Devektra look so lost before, not even during her little panic attack before the show. All the anger and betrayal I’d felt toward her just minutes ago disappeared as soon as we collapsed into each other’s arms.
After just a moment she pushed me away and shook her head sadly.
“I just came to say good-bye. I know we won’t see each other again. Whatever this thing is, Sandor, it’s bad. It’s the thing they warned us about. I’m going to find some of my Garde friends and we’re going to do whatever we can to stop it.”
Mirkl had been standing there the whole time but he was staring straight ahead with a dead look in his eyes. Whatever fight he’d had in him looked like it was long gone now.
“Let me come with you,” I said. “I can help.”
Devektra shook her head. “No. We have to do it on our own.” She looked at the band on my wrist. “There are people who need you more than I do right now.”
She was right, but I wasn’t ready. Not yet. Tears were streaming down my face. I tried to fight them back. There was no time for crying.
“Why did you leave me in there?” I knew the answer. It didn’t matter. I had to ask anyway.
Devektra put a finger to my lips, as if to say listen carefully.
“I left because I was scared, Sandor,” she said. At least, I think she said it. “We were never perfect. There’s no such thing as perfect. But it’s not too late for us. We can still be good.”
CHAPTER 11
I programmed the Egg to return me to the LDA on autopilot. In the driver’s seat, I folded my arms across my chest and stared straight ahead. I didn’t want to see the devastation as I passed my charred school, or any of the other now ruined landmarks of my home city.
But even with this cultivated tunnel vision, I couldn’t help noticing the smoke coming from the Elder Gardens.
Hundreds must be dead, I thought.
I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to think about it. I just wanted to get back to the LDA, to do something.
I opened my eyes as the Egg passed through Alwon. Chimæra still frolicked by the light of the campfire, and the Kabarakians clustered together in merriment. They were unaware of the destruction to their west. It wouldn’t be long before they found out.
The first thing I had to do was make sure academy officials and councilmembers were even aware of the attack on the city. I was pretty sure they were, but even so, it was still possible I had firsthand information that would be important somehow. I would confess to having snuck out and brief them on my experience of the attack. I’d share my theory that the column was some kind of attack intended to disarm the grid in advance of the wave of missile attacks that had decimated our city.
Once that was accomplished, I would locate Daxin, apologize for taking his ID band, and return it to him.
Then there was Rapp. I had to make sure he was okay.
I smelled it before I saw it. A coppery, dusty tang in the air, somehow strong enough to reach me even through the Egg’s high-grade air filters.
The first thing I actually saw was an absence: the LDA building, the hangar, and the council chamber behind it were all usually bathed in security lights. But as the Egg approached the academy’s coordinates, I saw nothing but blackness.
The academy had been hit.