Chapter 96: Wave

For several seconds, nobody beneath the Beacon reacted.

The Reapers surrounding the square had heard Vanessa clearly. Those stationed farther away had not, but they saw the change spread through the officers nearest her. Weapons lowered. Faces turned upward. A murmur passed from the square into the surrounding streets, carrying the same unfinished question from one defensive position to the next.

An Abomination wave was crossing the Hollow Road.

Vanessa remained supported against Frederick, her injured hand dripping onto the stone. Her breathing had not settled, and each attempt to focus caused her eyes to lose their color again.

Rook crouched in front of her. "How many?"

"I don’t know."

"You sensed them. Give me something."

Vanessa closed her eyes. The muscles along her neck tightened as she reached for the impressions still travelling through the cavern.

"Hundreds," she said. "Maybe more. They overlap whenever they move close together. The weaker ones disappear beneath the larger presences, and the entire road is shaking."

The Manager stepped through the officers gathered around her. "How far?"

"They’re already above us."

Every gaze in the square lifted toward the cavern ceiling.

Nothing could be heard through the stone. The Hollow Road crossed somewhere far above the Seventy-Second, separated from the cavern by layers of rock and twisting tunnels. Yet once Vanessa named what was moving there, Mara imagined she could feel a faint vibration beneath her boots.

Rook’s attention remained upon Vanessa. "Which entrance are they approaching?"

She opened her eyes. "None."

"What?"

"They aren’t approaching an entrance."

Vanessa pulled away from Frederick and placed two fingers against the blood she had left upon the ground. Her head tilted slightly, following the movement beyond the ceiling. The reaction was gentler than before, but each adjustment brought another line of strain across her face.

"They’re still moving," she said. "They’re passing over us."

The Manager stared at her. "Then where are they going?"

Vanessa turned toward the tunnel through which the expedition had entered. It eventually climbed back toward the Hollow Road and the route leading west.

Toward the Forty-Second.

The Manager understood before Vanessa answered.

"No."

She pushed through the people surrounding her and headed toward the western street. Several officers followed automatically, while others remained beneath the Beacon, uncertain whether they had been given an order.

Rook rose and stepped into her path.

"Move," the Manager said.

"The tunnel is sealed."

"I can open it."

"And the Seventh Rank is waiting beyond it."

"I passed it once."

"It allowed you to pass."

The Manager attempted to move around him. Rook shifted with her, the coffin upon his back filling most of the space between two barricades.

"Get out of my way."

"No."

Her hand struck the wall beside them.

Stone rolled beneath Rook’s boots. The ground rose sharply, intending to throw him aside, but he dropped his weight and drove the bottom of the coffin against the street. Cracks spread around it as the structure held him in place.

Several nearby Reapers reached for their weapons. Frederick stepped between them and raised one hand before panic could become something worse.

The Manager stared at Rook. "The Forty-Second has no idea what’s coming."

"Neither do you."

"I know enough. An Abomination wave of that size will tear through the outer district before the alarms finish sounding."

"And you plan to stop it alone?"

"I can warn them."

"You won’t reach them."

The stone beneath Rook continued shifting, but he refused to move. Mara had seen the Manager pass through solid rock and close a tunnel with one strike. She could probably bury him where he stood if she committed herself to it. The fact that she had not tried revealed how much fear was controlling her decisions.

She looked toward Frederick. "Order the western route opened."

Frederick hesitated.

"Captain."

"The Seventh Rank is still controlling the passage," he said.

"I am aware of that."

"We barely escaped it with a complete unit. If we enter the tunnel while the wave is above us..."

"My Bastion is about to be attacked."

Her voice carried farther than she intended.

The Reapers in the square fell quiet. Many belonged to the Forty-Second. Some had been trapped alongside her for weeks, and the terror on their faces had nothing to do with the creature waiting outside the cavern.

Their homes were above them.

Their contractees, officers and fellow Reapers remained inside the Forty-Second without any warning of what was coming.

The Manager lowered her voice. "I cannot leave them alone."

Rook’s expression did not soften. "You left a Vice Manager in command."

"She cannot hold against a wave this large."

"You gave her the position because you believed she could protect the Bastion."

"I gave her the position because someone needed to manage it whenever I left."

"Then trust your own decision."

The Manager stepped close enough that only the coffin prevented her from reaching him. "You have no authority to tell me what risks I can take for my people."

"No. I have enough experience to recognize suicide when it starts giving orders."

Anger crossed her face, followed quickly by the fear beneath it.

Rook continued before she could answer. "Escaping the Seventh Rank was already close to impossible. Now there are hundreds of Abominations travelling along the same road. The moment we open that passage and begin climbing, everything above us may notice."

"They should have noticed us already," one of the officers said. "Vanessa used her Death Imprint. If the wave is that close, they must have heard it."

Rook turned back toward her.

Vanessa still knelt beside the bloodied stone. "What are they doing?"

"I told you. They’re moving west."

"Are any separating from the group?"

She closed her eyes again. "No."

"Are they entering the tunnels?"

"No."

"Did they react when you screamed?"

Vanessa remained silent long enough for the people around her to become uneasy.

"I don’t think so."

Rook’s brow tightened. "That isn’t how your Imprint works."

"I know."

"You detect them, they detect you."

"I know."

"Then they should be coming down."

Vanessa pressed her fingers harder against the ground. Fresh blood opened around the wound in her palm and spread into the cracks beneath it.

"They aren’t. The entire wave is ignoring me."

Mara looked toward the ceiling. "Could the stone be blocking your presence?"

"If it blocked me, I wouldn’t be able to sense them."

"Then maybe the Beacon is hiding you."

Vanessa shook her head. "Beacon light doesn’t interfere with my ability. I’ve used it inside the Forty-Second."

Rook walked several paces from the Manager, his eyes moving between the three known tunnel entrances. The Seventh Rank had followed their expedition through the caves without making a sound. It had driven them toward the Seventy-Second, blocked every usable path leading away and repeatedly allowed other Reapers to reach the hidden Bastion alive.

Now a wave travelled directly above its territory without descending.

"They aren’t ignoring you," he said. "Something is preventing them from coming here."