Calamity (Reckoners, #3)(80)

Still, at least this plan had been something to try—something to do other than accepting the world as it was. For that I respected Regalia, though I had been the one to kill her in the end.

Once done with Regalia’s notes, I opened a set of photos. Past the maps of Ildithia, I found several shots of Calamity. The first three were pictures through a telescope. These were indistinct; I’d seen shots like them before. They made Calamity look like some kind of star.

The final image was different. I’d worried about what Knighthawk had said, that not all the images had made the transfer. I’d worried there wouldn’t be any real pictures of Calamity.

But here one was, staring at me from the glowing screen in my hand. It wasn’t a terribly good shot—I got the distinct impression of a covert photo snapped with a mobile—but it was obviously the Epic. A figure made of red light, though I couldn’t tell if it was male or female. It seemed to be standing in a room, and all around it light reflected off odd angles and surfaces.

I searched through the files for anything similar, to no avail. Other shots of Calamity, if there had been any, were lost. Curiously, however, it appeared that Knighthawk had copied the entire memory of Tia’s mobile, not just the new files from Regalia. Indeed, a folder simply labeled Jonathan glowed on my screen. I knew that I should probably leave it alone, that it was private, but I couldn’t help myself. I thumbed into it and tapped on the first media file.

It was a video of Prof in a classroom.

I kept the sound low, but could still hear the enthusiasm in his voice as he took a lighter and moved down a line of eggs with holes in the top, setting them on fire. Students laughed and jumped as each egg popped in turn, exploding from the hydrogen Prof explained he’d filled them with.

Balloons went next, each flashing and popping in a different way as he went down the line. I didn’t care much about the science involved; I was too focused on Prof. A younger Prof, with jet-black hair, only a few strands of grey. An enthusiastic Prof, who seemed to be enjoying every moment of this demonstration, despite the fact that he’d likely done it a hundred times.

He seemed like an entirely different person. I realized that in all our time together, I couldn’t remember seeing Prof happy. Satisfied, yes. Eager. But truly happy? Not before this moment, watching him interact with students.

This was what we’d lost. I struggled to hold back my emotions as the video ended. The coming of Calamity had broken this world in more ways than one. Prof should have still been there, teaching those children.

Footsteps outside caused me to quickly wipe my eyes. Mizzy peeked in a moment later, then held up something the size of a basketball, with rotor blades on top. One of Knighthawk’s drones.

“The guy works fast,” she said, setting it down. Abraham and Cody stirred; they’d likely asked to be woken up when the thing arrived. Megan turned over, and for a moment I thought she was going to wake too. But she fell back asleep, snoring softly.

As Mizzy set down the drone, Cody and Abraham turned on their mobiles, lighting the room further. I watched as Mizzy twisted the top half of the device off, revealing a compartment, and pulled out a box that looked a lot like the harmsway we’d used in Newcago. Prof had apparently developed his fake to look like the real thing.

“Nice,” Abraham said, rubbing his eyes.

“I’m surprised you convinced him to send it, David,” Mizzy said as she set it aside.

Cody yawned. “Either way, let’s get that puppy hooked up and running. The sooner David’s legs are working, the sooner we can be out of this city.”

“Out of this city?” I said.

The other three looked at me.

“You…intend to stay, then?” Abraham said, careful. “David, Tia is dead, and your theory—smart though it was—proved false. Confronting Prof with his weakness did not turn him away from his current course.”

“Yeah, lad,” Cody said. “It was a good run, but we know what he’s trying to accomplish here, and we do have a way to stop it. We slip away with Larcener, and his plot can never work.”

“That’s assuming we want it not to work,” Mizzy added.

“Mizzy,” I said, surprised. “He’s trying to become the ultimate Epic!”

“So?” she said. “I mean, how does our life change if he takes Calamity’s place? There’s no doomsday coming—no ‘Imma destroy the world, kids’ or anything like that. So far as I can see, all he wants to do is kill a couple of Epics. Sounds toasty to me.”

“I suggest,” Abraham said softly, “that you do not say such things where we might be overheard.”

Mizzy winced and checked over her shoulder. “All I’m saying is that there isn’t a reason for us to be here, now that we know what Prof’s up to.”

“And where do we go, Mizzy?” I asked.

“I don’t know. How about we start with a place other than the city inhabited by a guy determined to kill us?”

I could see that the other two agreed, at least in part.

“Guys, the reason we came here in the first place hasn’t changed,” I said. “Prof still needs us. The world still needs us. Have you forgotten the point of our mission? We need to find a way to convert Epics, not just kill them. Otherwise we might as well give up now.”

“But, lad,” Cody said, “Abraham is right. Your plan to turn Prof didn’t work.”