Well, if being pissed at me was helping keep her conscious, I was more than willing to play along. I wasn’t too pleased with her either, frankly.
“Just trying to find out why you betrayed me, Casey. Seems to be a lot of that going around.” I glanced at Joaquim, who frown
ed.
“I’m sorry.” Joaquim said, then turned as Acacia began to struggle and spew curses. “Please be quiet,” he said politely, though it was followed by a pulse of energy from the wires. She did, though not until after giving a strangled, pained noise that made my stomach constrict in sympathy. It was about right then that I started wishing I’d stopped to get a weapon.
Hue was no longer wrapped around me; I was vaguely aware of his presence, though I couldn’t see him anywhere. All I had on me was the shield disk—fully charged still, since I hadn’t used it for anything save my attempted escape from TimeWatch, and we remember how well that went—and the flag I’d intended to give as tribute to Jerzy’s Wall. Joaquim, however, was armed with a blaster and that weird miasma thing surrounding him. It looked a little like a nebula—like he was standing in the middle of a star field, but there was something too sinister about it to be beautiful. It was familiar but subtly terrifying—like a nightmare you’ve had ever since you were a kid, the one you can’t quite remember until you’re almost asleep. I wasn’t sure what it could do other than make my skin crawl, but I wasn’t looking forward to finding out.
“I’m really glad you’re not actually one of us,” I told him, trying to ignore the way Acacia was struggling to raise her head again. “I didn’t like you from the beginning.”
“Basic Training section three oh one: Improvisational Tactics for Hostage Situations, chapter two, Emotional Warfare—try to get a rise out of your opponent.” He smiled, looking both apologetic and horribly, infuriatingly smug. I hoped I never looked like that when I felt smug. “I am one of you, Joey.”
“You can’t be. I’d never betray us!” There was more I’d been intending to say, but he laughed, cutting me off.
“Yes, you would. If you had reason enough, if you knew it was the only way—you would, in a second.”
“Never,” I said passionately, though the tiniest bit of doubt made itself known in my mind. I would never hurt any of my para-incarnations or InterWorld—but would I betray them to save them, if I had to? I honestly didn’t know—but I argued anyway, anger burning white-hot in my stomach. All his kind words about believing me, about wanting to hurry up and work with the team…“You can’t be one of us. One of us could never betray us. We’d know. We’d feel it. We’re not just cousins or siblings, we’re…” I struggled to find something poetic to say, something that would drive the point home, but he was laughing. He was laughing, and it was hard to hold on to that belief when all the evidence to the contrary was right there in front of me.
“Are you trying to convince me? Sense it, Joey. I am one of you—you can feel it.” He smiled again, spreading his arms and taking a step toward me—and this is where the scene started, with Acacia shouting for me to go. I mentioned I had a wooden chair, right? That’s because they were next to the window, and so was Joaquim, and the window was still shattered from our daring “rescue.”
I activated my shield disk, sprinting toward him. He half turned, stretching out a hand, and Acacia shouted again. I’d assumed he’d go for his blaster, but all he did was smirk at me, the star field coalescing around his fingers, sparking in the palm of his hand. I felt hot all over, but whatever he’d done didn’t stop me. I grabbed up a chair and swung it full force as I ran. It hit him square on, knocking him clear off his feet and out the window behind him. I was just sorry the glass had already been shattered. That would have been more satisfying, though it did give me something I could use to free Acacia.
I ran over to her, slicing at the wires with a long shard of glass. Some of them were thick cables, others were just telephone wire; those cut easily and she was able to wriggle free.
I somehow expected a thank-you or at least a nod, maybe, before she started telling me what to do.
I didn’t expect a slap in the face.
“What was that for?”
“Calling me Casey,” she snapped, but then she hugged me. I didn’t really have time to enjoy it, since I was still reeling from the slap and she only had her arms around me for a second before she pulled back, looking like she might slap me again. “You weren’t supposed to be here, I told you to—”
“You didn’t tell me anything, Acacia. You stabbed me in the back and kidnapped me, not to mention stranding me—”
“I didn’t stab you,” she protested.
“Semantics! You still—”
“It doesn’t matter, will you just shut up for a—”
“Aren’t you two adorable?” Joaquim’s voice rang out, louder and somehow…fuller than it had been before. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as the room filled with power, a wind picking up from seemingly nowhere. I automatically got in front of Acacia—she elbowed me in the ribs, which were still bruised and aching, thank you very much—and shifted around to stand next to me. We both looked to the window.
Joaquim was just outside it, and he was sort of…flying. Well, hovering. He was suspended in midair just outside the window, hundreds of little blue sparks flying around him so quickly it looked like he had a force field of some kind. They reflected in the shattered glass still clinging to the window frame and on the floor, creating a dizzying whirlwind of light, like he was the center of a solar system.
“Poor Captain Harker,” Joaquim said, still just…hanging out there, in the air. “He misses you terribly sometimes,” he told Acacia, his expression turning, for a moment, genuinely sympathetic. “I don’t blame him, knowing what will happen.”
I glanced at Acacia, looking for some sort of recognition or understanding. She just looked uncertain.
“What are you talking about?” she said. “You can’t possibly know the future—you’re just a Walker.”
Affronted as I was by the just a Walker comment, I was equally affronted that she’d make that statement about Joaquim. “He’s not a Walker.”
“Wrong,” Joaquim said. “Both of you. You’re both wrong. I have the energy of Captain Joseph Harker flowing through me, and that includes some of his memories. You were very dear to him, you know.”
Acacia remained silent, stunned and uncertain, but I wasn’t paying attention to her. I wasn’t paying attention to Joaquim anymore, either. I was looking at the little blue lights, the whirlwind of static and emotion surrounding him. I was feeling the way the wind was warm and sparking with purpose. I was remembering the last time I’d seen little blue lights like that, and I was suddenly sick with knowing.
I was looking at the souls of dead Walkers.