Calamity (Reckoners, #3)(94)

A three-foot-by-three-foot section of ground vaporized, maybe ten feet deep. That was very impressive on the old scale of the tensors, but nowhere near what we needed to reach those caverns.

“Jonathan’s moving!” Knighthawk said over the lines. “Sparks. You people are in trouble. He does not look happy!”

Cody swore under his breath, regarding the patch of floor that had been reduced to fine grains of sand. Wind from the open door of the loft curled some of the powder up in the draft.

I grabbed Cody’s arm. “Try again.”

“David, that’s as big as I can make it!” he said.

“Cody,” I said. “Concentrate. Soul of a warrior!”

“If I keep screwing this up, lad, we’re dead. Trapped in here. Gunned down. Hell of a lot of pressure to work under.”

“Sure,” I said, frantic. “But…um…no more pressure than when you stopped those terrorists from launching the nukes at Scotland that one time, right?”

He glanced at me, brow beading with sweat. Then he grinned. “How’d y’all know about that?”

“Lucky guess. Cody, you can do this.”

He focused again on the floor in front of him. His suit started glowing once more, ribbons of emerald coursing along his arms, pulsing like a heartbeat. Being so near made me feel something familiar, like hearing the voice of an old friend. It reminded me of days in the caverns of Newcago, of innocence and conviction.

Cody raised his hands over his head, and the thrumming grew louder. “Like caressing a woman,” he whispered. “A very, very large woman.” He released the power with a defiant shout, and it blasted into the floor with such force that it sent me to my knees.

Inches before me, the ground disintegrated into a large hole filled with grains of salt. I watched as the grains siphoned away to reveal a hole a good five feet across. It curved downward, with smooth, glassy sides, traveling through saltstone and then actual rock. The vanishing salt indicated that it opened into something much larger below.

“Remind me,” I said to Cody, “never to let you caress me.”

He grinned, holding up hands that glowed bright green.

“He’ll be there any second, you slontzes,” Knighthawk said over the line. “He’s taking it more slowly than I’d have expected; he’s a careful one, to be sure, but he’s still almost upon you. I’d vacate if I were you.”

“Down,” I said, catching my Gottschalk as Abraham tossed it to me. “Remember starting positions!”

Mizzy skidded to the side of the hole and, using a large, tubelike gun, planted a series of spikes into the floor there. She hooked her rappelling cord to one, then jumped in. Megan hooked on to another spike, then followed, sliding down the hole like it was a ride in an old amusement park.

I glanced at Larcener, gesturing for him to go.

“I’ll remain,” he said.

“He wants to kill you!” I said.

“And he’ll be drawn to you people,” Larcener said, folding his arms. “I’ll be safer hiding in my room up here.”

“Not with the explosives Mizzy left behind. Look, we could use your help. Join us. Change the world.”

He sniffed and turned away.

I felt it like a punch to the gut.

“David,” Cody said, watching the ceiling. “Let’s move, lad!”

Teeth clenched, I pulled the end of the rappelling cord from the box at my belt and hooked it on to an empty spike, then threw myself into the hole. I slid down smooth stone in the darkness, trying to contain my frustration. My expectations were foolish, but part of me had still assumed that Larcener would join us for this battle.

I’d always intended to speak with him further, but we’d constantly been frantic with some other preparation. Should I have done anything else? Could I have done anything else? If I’d been cleverer, or more persuasive, could I have found a way to bring him to our side?

My mobile automatically engaged the box at the correct depth, putting resistance on my cord until I slowed, then popped out into a larger chamber, lurching to a stop a mere two or three feet above the ground. I cut and dropped into an enormous pile of salt and rock dust. I pushed through, getting out of the way of the opening.

Mizzy and Megan shined their mobiles about, lighting a series of natural caverns covered with an impressive amount of graffiti. The caverns tended to be low-ceilinged—about ten feet high, though this wasn’t uniform—and connected by tunnels with lots of nooks. It didn’t look quite natural, but it was far more organic than the tunnels beneath Newcago. Had Digzone been as mad as the Diggers he gifted his powers to? Judging by the crazy number of caverns down here, that seemed likely.

Abraham came down into the pile of salt next, the rtich coating one arm. Finally Cody entered, and he hadn’t bothered with a cord—he dropped out of the hole onto a forcefield that sprang into existence under his feet.

“Cody, disengage the powers,” I said, and pointed down a turn in the cavern. “Find a spot in that direction and be ready. We won’t be able to surprise him with your abilities, but I still want you to be hidden at first. Mizzy, be ready to blow your present up above on my mark.”

“Larcener?” she asked.

“He knows about the blast,” I said. “He’ll get out of the way.” And if he didn’t, well, that was purely on his head.