The Carnelian Fox Read online

  Finn gave a muffled yap at my side, I looked down to see he had a capsule in his mouth. I flickered a glance at the blood-stained rock to confirm my suspicion. The Gem the group had attacked had dropped to capsule form. I took it from his teeth and put it in my pocket, then recalled everyone. If one of these other freaks got trigger happy, I wasn’t letting my team get hurt. I’d rather they shoot me.

  I led a trembling Eli from the clearing, the shaking intensified with each step we took. His pace petered out as he eased in a few deep breaths and looked back.

  “No way,” I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him on. “They aren’t worth losing your licence over.”

  “Hmm.” He followed my lead dreamily, not fighting the guidance of our entwined fingers anymore. He didn’t talk either.

  We were a minute out from the bench where Lucy was when he stopped again. He rubbed his face with both hands and slowed his breathing. Then checked his eBand, tapping at the screen.

  “She’ll be fine. Her vitals look good. I… I almost used Veil. I was going to spray them with water until they left. He doesn’t have armoured skin.”

  I wrapped my arms around his scrawny body and hugged him until the tremors subsided, on the verge of hyperventilation myself.

  “You didn’t though,” I said, trying to inject a tiny amount of positivity. “You didn’t and they’re all fine. We’re fine. Everybody got through, we did a good thing.”

  “Yeah…” He clung onto me with his face buried in my shoulder, tilted away to hide his tears. “Oh damn. I couldn’t have lost him, Sam. Any of them. I don’t know how I’d… I couldn’t deal with that.”

  “It’s okay, I know,” I said. And I did. Because losing Callum had been the worst thing that had ever happened, and he wasn’t even my responsibility. Nearly getting myself killed by the gargantuan wasn’t as bad as seeing someone I cared about ripped out of my life. I hadn’t had my Gems for very long and it would ruin me if I never got to see one of them ever again. “Honest, I know.”

  “We need to move.” Eli stepped back and composed himself, taking control again. Good, I wasn’t made for being sensible or in charge. “That vine won’t hold them, we don’t want to be nearby when they get free.”

  “For their sakes,” I said with a mischievous grin.

  “What on earth...?” Lucy began. Yeah, I looked like crap. Dirt smeared all the way up my back, crusty blood peeling from my knuckles from that glorious right hook. My hair was all tangled up and full of leaf litter. Eli was pristine but well and truly pissed off.

  “Take Kira,” he said, waving me over while hitting her capsule and releasing the bat. “That Gem you rescued looked on its last legs, you should get it to a Praetor machine right away.”

  “Why were they doing that? They just smashed that poor thing up… What’s wrong with them?” Sickness clawed at my throat as I remembered the look of detachment that woman had as she put her weight into hurting another living creature. It was the most disgusting thing I’d ever witnessed.

  “Alfie’s Saviours. Some of them had the patch,” Eli muttered.

  “They attack Gems? I heard they did those stupid protests and generally moaned about stuff?” I’d never given the anti-Gem group much thought.

  “They think all Gems are evil. Loads of them are just on board to seem like they care about a cause or whatever. The extremists kill Gems whenever they find them, usually wild ones because Primes have something to say about that, and by law theirs are ‘property’ so have more rights. They kill the wild ones by weakening them and destroying their capsule when they drop into recovery. That or they slice an artery or shoot them to finish them before then. The grossest, most messed up people you’ll ever meet.” Eli inclined his head towards Kira’s crouching form. “Now go save that victim.”

  “Shouldn’t you take it? She’s your ride.”

  “You saved that thing, Sam. Plus if you don’t register it, you can’t use the Praetor. I don’t have the space and you’re still building a team, hope it’s something good for you.” Eli summoned Veil and stroked the stag’s neck, closing his eyes for a second. “Come on, Lucy, we need to get out of here. We’ll meet you at the lodge tonight, okay?”

  “Okay, what should I do with Kira?”

  “Nothing, she knows what to do. Are you leaving?”

  I sighed and climbed onto the silvery, downy fur, giving Kira a pat. “You and me, girl, thanks for the lift.”

  She jumped and caught the wind, clawing her bulk into the air. I laid against her to minimise my drag and let her do her thing. She seemed to sense I was a better passenger than Lucy, or she was more daring when she didn’t have another extra body weighing her down. She blasted through the sky, the stretched leather of her wings pumping with an up-tempo rhythm. I whooped as my hair skittered in the tearing draught, ruffling into a trillion more tangles. It was worth it for that freedom, that view of distant cities and patches of forest. I could reach anywhere in the world within minutes, sneak off to the beach for the day or visit one of the six statues of Maiya Millard’s original Gems. Well, we could if Kira was my Gem. One day this would be me and Charlotte, she would fly me everywhere and we’d go on so many adventures. Maybe ones that were safer than the adventures I was having now though…

  The glow from the town of Illusis came into view. It was where showing had originated. Sure, some bigger cities held much larger and more prestigious contests nowadays, but this was the home of glitz and sparkles. Kira circled, looking for the lodge, I can’t imagine this was a place that someone like Eli frequented. She soon had it, even the outsides were always the same, and dropped me off at the door.

  “Thanks for the ride,” I said, giving her a last pat to experience that gorgeous sleekness again. She bobbed her head and dived back into the air, returning to her Prime.

  Okay, so I had to register this Gem to link it into the Praetor machine inside. I grabbed the capsule from my pocket, a wave of guilt passed over me as I hoped it was something strong. To be fair, if it wasn’t something workable to use on my team, I could just put it up on the boards for sale. All that mattered now was that the poor thing got healed.

  I pressed the scanner on my eBand and hit the register button. Then stepped inside to get over to the machine right away. I hadn’t taken in the dual yellow and purple on the capsule that made it look like a little pill. I first saw the electric and psychic typing on the screen, it was an adolescent. A box popped up with the message accept psychic link option? You may change this option at any time Y/N

  Oh. This could get interesting. I hit the Y. Not that anything would happen until I summoned the Gem. I went to the nearest Praetor in the lobby, scanned my eBand, and laid the capsule inside. Why was five minutes so long?

  I checked out the rest of the stats while I waited. Super slow but with high intelligence. Decent elemental power but not much in the way of physical strength or defence. This would be a tricky Gem to run, more beneficial to someone with better strategies than me. But I’d give her a go, yeah her. A female red panda, cute. I hoped her experience with those Alfie’s idiots hadn’t ruined her trust for good.

  It had been a crazy day. Emotional and tiring. But getting that girl was worth it. She taught me so much and genuinely became one of my best friends. I just wish that was the last I heard of Alfie’s Saviours.

  Chapter Fifteen

  ‘You accepted.’

  Oh damn! Bloody amazing! My Gem was talking. Actual words in my head. This was the single coolest thing that could ever happen.

  ‘Thank you.’

  The red panda was adorable, and small for an adolescent, I could have carried her on my hip like a clingy almost too big toddler if I tried. A static yellow based her fur, banded with violet on her back, limbs, and head. Her bright eyes were inquisitive and roved the room. She could score higher on the college exams than I did, not that it would be difficult.

  “How are you?” I asked. Weird because I’d handled my other Gems like tabby cats as soon
as I had them, but I felt like this one had boundaries. I didn’t want to overwhelm her after the horrendous ordeal she’d been through.

  ‘I’m healed. No more pain.’

  “Good.” I kept my voice low, movement to a minimum. “Are you… all right with me taking you? Not being out in the forest anymore, I mean. Because I’m a battle Prime so if you want to stay with me, we’ll be doing challenges and competitions and stuff.”

  ‘It’s what they designed us for, isn’t it?’

  “Huh, weird because I don’t see a ‘sassy’ trait next to your name on here.” I grinned, wondering if Gems could have a sense of humour.

  ‘Yes, often ones better than yours.’

  “Whoa, so you can hear my thoughts back?”

  ‘If you want me to? You can remove that option if you choose.’ The panda’s mental voice was an airy and comfortable brain hug.

  “No, I like it. Might make for some good strategies out on the field. Hey, what’s your name? I keep getting a prompt to enter it.”

  ‘You’re my Prime, you get to decide that.’ She blinked up at me from the bed of the room I’d claimed for the night, a twin so Lucy could join me later.

  “Yeah, but I feel weird making one up when you can tell me. You must have a name you call yourself, right?”

  ‘Rica, but you may change it. I promise I won’t ignore you if you do.’

  After typing in ‘Rica’ I hit the confirmation. I wasn’t great at coming up with names, anyway.

  “What happened back there was horrendous, not all humans are like that. And I’m sorry we didn’t get there sooner.”

  ‘You saved my life. You came as soon as I found Finn and called to him. It was a courageous thing to do, from both of you. I wouldn’t have been able to send another call.’

  I summoned Finn, and he looked to Rica with huge eyes, then dived onto the bed and rubbed her behind the ear with his nose.

  “You did a great job, buddy. I shouldn’t have panicked when you didn’t come back after I shouted you. Next time I’ll trust you know what you’re doing. I guess I was just worried about you.” I ran my fingers through his ruff, his natural heat soothing my palm. “This is Rica, she’s part of the family now, okay?”

  Finn nodded his approval and curled up between us, nose to tail. It didn’t take him long to adjust to anything.

  “She’s beautiful,” Lucy said as soon as she laid eyes on my new Gem. “Well done, Sam.”

  ‘I like her.’ It would take some time to get used to having a voice in my head.

  “Rica likes you too,” I said. “So, can’t you tell her yourself?”

  “Are you talking to her?” Lucy set down her backpack and put her clothes into the inadequate drawers next to her bed. I never bothered - we’d be moving on soon, anyway.

  “Yeah, she’s psychic, how cool is that?”

  “She can only communicate with you though; they aren’t allowed into other people’s heads. Something about that intellectual property law.” Lucy waved it off as if it was okay to spread out the contents of everyone’s mind for all to see.

  “She can talk to other Gems if they let her, like my guys. Or do an infiltration in battle to throw opponents off,” I corrected.

  “Superb, I’m pleased for you. I’m more focussed on what I should add to my own team though. I still only have four Gems, but Dancer is coming along with her training. At least some good came out of that awful trip to the forest.” Lucy sighed and sat on the corner of the bed, gripping her necklace. “I need a win here, that will bring my credits up enough to buy another Gem. Not a thoroughbred one, but there are so many things I can’t even enter until I put together a full team.”

  “You’ll get there,” I said, joining her on her side of the room. “It’s a long path for both of us but every step is a step closer, right?”

  “I suppose so.” I’d never seen Lucy this down. You had to be in a sucky place to be jealous of my progress. I felt bad for the girl, I really did. But her funk was getting me down, and I was already screwed up enough after the whole scrap with the delusional mob earlier.

  “It’s late, I’m going down to get some dinner. Are you coming?”

  “No, I’ll stay and do a few drills with them. Make sure they’re ready for tomorrow.”

  I admired the will on her, the way she kept at her training even when she was low. Not enough to skip a meal for it though.

  I got halfway down the hall and bumped into Eli locking up a room.

  “You hungry?” I asked.

  “I don’t need to ask if you are,” he replied, pocketing the key card. Why did they use such old-fashioned tech when in most places you could swipe your eBand?

  “Aww, you know me so well already.” I wasn’t even miffed. “I have a healthy appetite because I run around the countryside fighting giant monsters and angry mobs all the time.”

  “Let’s get something better than vendor crap on a plastic plate, huh?” He leant against the wall and fiddled with a hoodie string, wrapping it round his finger.

  “If you mean pizza, then yes. Yes please.”

  A smile flickered on his lips and he pushed off from the wall. “Okay, you’re going to love it. Slices as big as your head.”

  I managed not to make a ‘size isn’t everything’ joke, so proud of myself, and followed. I was glad I’d got changed and brushed most of the foliage out of my hair, I wasn’t expecting to go out in public tonight. Other Primes were the only people that didn’t look at you weird when you were spattered in blood or had ripped trousers. They totally got it.

  The pizza place was a couple of streets over. It wasn’t the plastic red, white, and blue diner I imagined. In this fancy-ass town, even the pizzerias were classy. A greeter escorted us to a semi-private booth with soft, lace covered seating and a little candle in a flowery holder. Gilded plaques and photos of immaculate candy Gems decorated the soft pink walls. I winced as I put my grubby boots onto the glitter-inlaid tile flooring.

  “I don’t fit in here,” I whispered to Eli from behind a broadsheet sized menu.

  “You like pizza, it’s a pizza place. Plus, we’re paying them, so they have to be nice to us.”

  “What kind of tip does a place like this expect?” I had a few credits on my account now from my meagre pay, and a good little chunk from winning the contest, but a lifetime of penny-pinching is a damn hard habit to break.

  “I’m buying,” Eli said, “And before you start protesting and complaining I’m trying to carry you or whatever, I’m doing it to say thank you. For stopping me from doing something stupid earlier that would have screwed me up for the rest of my life. I was being an idiot and I’m sorry.”

  “Oh. Okay… Thanks.” He’d cut me off and been nice about it, this boy was swiftly learning how to irritate me. I wanted to argue against him paying for a while, at least. “But I don’t expect it, you know. I’m not one of those ‘all boys should pay for my food’ kind of girls.”

  “I get it. And I’m not one of those guys that expects anything in return for buying a girl food. Even one that eats as much as you.” He was smirking behind his menu, cheeky git. That comment warranted ordering an extra slice.

  We ordered and settled back with tall glasses of frosty lemonade; the waiter brought over a jug for refills with proper lemons bobbing around in it.

  “You saw what those people earlier were up to straight away, didn’t you?” I asked, stirring the ice cubes in my drink with a pink and white striped straw.

  “You come across their types more often than you’d like to. There’s a lot of bad in the world, you see way more of it than a normal person when you’re in our line of work. Most want to ignore it and get on with their lives, not believing any of this stuff really happens. Part of me almost wishes you weren’t getting caught up in it.”

  “It’s not like I’m a little kid. I’m tougher than I look, always have been.”

  “Yeah, I know. Also, high five.” He held up a hand for me to slap. “You sure can t
hrow a punch.”

  “I hate bullies. So much.” I complied, then hunched over my glass and sucked up a mouthful of bubbly bliss.

  “That’s the thing, you just go charging in and don’t consider the consequences. I’m going tonight, Sam, and I don’t want the next I hear of you to be that you tried to headlock a gang boss and got yourself shot. Think you can keep your head down for a little while?”

  He wouldn’t look at me as he talked, he must realise I wouldn’t appreciate being patronised.

  “You know you aren’t my mum, right?” I muttered. Why had I even come to this stupid, frilly place? To get lectured and babysat? “I don’t need you to do everything for me. If anything, you’re holding me back while I’m relying on you being around. Don’t have to get stronger or figure anything out myself because you’ll swoop in and save the day. There’s nothing wrong with me screwing up, okay. It’s how I learn. It’s how I’ve always learned because it’s the only opportunity I get.”

  Eli stayed quiet and small in his seat. Why didn’t he snap back at me? The awkward minutes stretched out until the server brought out our food and laid the gourmet feast in front of us. I grabbed a slice topped with pepperoni and took a bite. Best gooey cheese I’d ever had.

  Opposite me, Eli scooped a piece up with the proper implement provided onto his plate and sliced off the tip with his knife and fork. As if that is how you eat pizza.

  “I don’t want you to do anything any other Prime wouldn’t,” he finally said. “I’m just worried about you.”

  My mouth stayed open with a wedge of pizza halfway there. Real attractive, Sam.

  “Don’t be. Lucy will obsess over this place for months, anyway. I’ll be like, forty before we leave. By then I’ll be mature enough to know that punching strangers isn’t the way to solve all my problems.”

  “I’m having a hard time believing that you’ll ever mature,” he said, stretching his arms above his head with the knife still in hand.