Convergence - The Last Science #2.2 - Heroes and Villains

Interlude VII - Call of Destiny - IV

  She held out her hand from the steep climb, and Lani grabbed it with his good arm.

  "There you go," she said, and with a grunt and sharp heave, she helped him up the next ridge. "Hoo, you're lighter than I expected."

  "Thanks?"

  She laughed. "Sorry, that came out weird, didn't it?"

  "I think you're just really strong."

  "Thanks," she smiled. "Come on, let's keep moving. I want to see this ridge you kept talking about."

  It was only a few more minutes hike, after the couple hours they'd passed since leaving the jeep. She had a set of GPS tags she used to keep track of it, and a heavy-duty device that would lead her right back to their base camp if they got lost. They emerged through a thick wall of trees and suddenly, the whole town was laid out in front of them.

  They were still miles and miles out, on one of the staggered hills north of the town. In front of them, they could see the twisted wreckage of the cell phone tower, completely lifted out of its foundation and curled in on itself. Past it, the main streets of Rallsburg formed a small grid twisting through the trees. Collapsed buildings lined the roads. They could already see nature beginning to encroach upon the outskirts, as grass and weeds sprouted up wherever they could push through the old pavement.

  Only the huge library still stood, with its half-destroyed turrets and imposing stone walls—a gravestone for the town proper.

  "I wonder why no one's cleaned it up yet," she wondered aloud, as she started taking pictures again. "It just looks so abandoned."

  "Nobody can agree on who's supposed to, or even if they're allowed to," Lani answered, taking a seat on a nearby log while she kept shooting. He took a long drink from the water bottle she'd lent him before continuing. "Plus they aren't sure if it's still a crime scene, especially with new evidence showing up every couple weeks now. There were a few construction companies bidding on the land, but then they had to figure out if there were any Price family relatives that might inherit it, and then the Governor decided to reclaim it for the state, and so on."

  "So it's bureaucracy as usual," she sighed. "And after what actually happened out here... I mean, it's magic, right? Real magic?"

  "Real magic," Lani agreed. "And apparently anyone can use it. Somehow."

  She shivered, and it wasn't from the cold. Setting her camera down, she took a seat next to Lani on the log and leaned forward, elbows on her knees. "All those people..."

  "Yeah..." Lani's heart sped up slightly. He adjusted his seat slightly, very conscious of how close she was sitting.

  "Why do you think they did it? You know..." She trailed off, not willing to say it.

  "No idea," he murmured. Jeremy hadn't explained everything on the phone, just the basics about magic and how it was tied to Rallsburg. Lani could make some educated guesses, but it was drilled into him not to ever jump to conclusions aloud. Too many investigations got screwed over by loose-lipped agents without all the details.

  "Well, if we run into some golems or whatever out here," she went on, "just so you know, I don't think my rifle's gonna help much."

  "I don't think we will," Lani reassured her. "We went all over this place for a month, never saw a thing."

  She turned to look at him with a funny expression. "What if magic did it to them, though? Like, all these people who supposedly have it. What if it makes them crazy?"

  Lani shook his head. "No way. It's magic. It's gotta be better than that."

  "You really think so?"

  He nodded, smiling. "They gave it to us."

  "Who's they?"

  "The... well, the ghosts, I guess. The spirits of this place."

  She nudged him. "Careful, you'll end up following in your family's footsteps."

  "I think they were right," he went on, gazing over the town, a familiar eerie feeling creeping back into his skull. "I think that's probably what magic actually is. The spirits of every tree and every rock, every atom and particle in the world. People with magic just learned to talk to them directly, ask them to do things..."

  "...That sounds really nice, actually," she murmured. Lani felt a weight on his good shoulder, as she leaned against him. Her eyes drooped slightly. "Better than people forcing the world to change because they made a deal with the devil or something."

  "Yeah."

  Lani kept watching the town in silence while she fell asleep, listening to the faint chirping of birds. The trees were green even deep into November. The only real difference in the landscape from when they'd first trekked out in May was how far down snow covered the slopes of the mountain ridges.

  For a brief moment, Lani felt connected to everything. Like he was just a tiny part of the massive forest, no different from any other tree sprouting out of the ground. He felt content and calm for the first time in ages. No more rushing around trying to solve cases, or getting shot at in the wilderness in Canada. Just a peaceful outcropping on a hill overlooking a sea of green, alone but for the brave, adventurous, exciting woman resting on his shoulder.

  Which meant, of course, that about half an hour later, Lani had a desperate need to pee.

  He resisted it as long as he could, but after another half-hour, he couldn't wait any longer. As loathe as he was to break the quiet, comfortable moment, he had to get up.

  "Hey," he murmured.

  She snapped awake instantly. "What?" she spluttered.

  "Whoah. Nothing, I just—"

  "Oh god, I'm sorry," she apologized, sitting up straight and looking embarrassed. "I didn't mean to—"

  "It's okay," he said. "It was really nice."

  "Really?" She looked confused. "I'm not used to this, I..."

  Lani smiled. "Honestly, if I didn't have to pee, I'd have been fine staying there another couple hours."

  She laughed. "Got it." She looked around. "Oh man, I almost missed sunset. Go do your thing, I got more shots to take." Sure enough, as Lani walked back into the woods, the clicks of the camera were in full rapid return.

  He walked a fair distance away, feeling self-conscious, and found a good spot with a fair amount of privacy. He relieved himself, cleaned up—and then he saw it.

  A ancient-looking piece of parchment paper, caught on a branch high in the tree above him.