As if a rope had been cut, they fell back to the earth. Only Natalie had been unaffected, though Alden wasn't sure if that was because she'd held onto Gwen—who hadn't so much as twitched during the event—or because of her status as naturally awakened. Either way, the rest of them weren't so lucky. Ryan in particular ended up crumpling to the ground and knocking his head against a tree branch as he went, cursing all the while.
"Chikushō, chikushō, chikushō," whispered Rika.
Ryan clambered to his feet, though he looked very unsteady. "That was the ritual, right? They killed him, and I'm about to go drink all the fucking beer in the K n' B?"
"In your fucking dreams," Rika whispered. "He got to them."
"I wanted one last happy thought before we all get ass-fucked, bitch," he snapped.
"Shut up!" shouted Jerry—and to Alden's surprise, it worked. But then again, it usually worked when Rachel interjected as well, so maybe they were just easy to calm down. Jerry continued in a surprisingly calm voice. "We have to regroup, right? Find Rachel and figure out what to do next."
As he spoke, a deafening crash echoed across the landscape. A fireball erupted into the sky, in the direction of Hector's store. A split-second later, the shockwave pounded through the underbrush, making them all flinch.
"Fuck that, I'm out," said Ryan. He meant it too, turning and sprinting away into the woods at a random direction. Jerry hesitated, reconsidering his idea to rejoin the fight. After a few moments, he ran in a different direction, though still far away from the scraping and burning sounds and occasional screams now issuing from Rallsburg.
Natalie said something to her new hawk, and it took off into the sky. She rode off hard in the direction Rachel had last been seen, leaving only Rika and Alden alone in the forest.
"What do we do now?" Alden whispered. He'd only planned out up to the fight with Omega. He had no idea what he was supposed to do if they failed. It hadn't even popped into his mind. That was the final battle, wasn't it? The big finish with the risky gambit and the life-or-death stakes?
What did he do after they'd lost?
Rika shook her head. "We're fucked. Rachel's plan failed." She sounded just as shaken as Alden felt. "I don't know, Alden."
"Do you think any of them are alive?" he asked, while Hailey and Jessica's faces flashed through his mind.
"Could be. Ritual backfiring might not have killed them. Omega would though." Rika grimaced. "Fuck me, I have to go after her."
Alden nodded. "I'm coming too."
"Okay then." Rika started down the path Natalie had just taken. Alden followed as fast as he could. Thankfully it was still mid-day, or the forest would be much more difficult for them. Instead, it was the things in the forest that caused them the most trouble.
A snap of a branch had them both twisting around in an instant. Alden summoned up a ball of flame in one hand, larger than he'd ever managed. He assumed the adrenaline currently flooding his veins was helping him out with magic somehow. Rika had one hand full of gemstones and her other fist up and ready to strike, sparks dancing between her knuckles.
Viper was behind them, his hand in the air. "White flag," he called out.
"Rika, shoot him," Alden snapped.
"What?"
"He tried to kidnap me."
"He what now?"
"You shoot me, Rook shoots you," Viper said quickly. "And she won't miss. Now what the hell just happened?"
"We tried to kill Omega," said Rika, not lowering her hand.
"Did you?"
"What the fuck do you think?" Rika snapped, lifting her hand an inch. Viper took a step back, his hand still raised. "You know that gesture means fuck-all when you have magic, right?"
He shrugged, and put his hand in his pocket instead. "It's traditional. Calm down."
"We're a really long way from calm." Rika's eyes narrowed. "How did you find us?"
"We saw pink fire coming out of the trees and figured that was worth investigatin'."
"So you could take them instead," Alden added. "Rika. They tried to fly me out in a helicopter. He just wants someone for his boss to cut open."
"Fucking hell," she muttered.
Viper shrugged. "Look, there's some bad blood here, so let's just clear it up. Won't touch either of you again, you got my word. We just want to know what's going on."
"New plan," said Rika. "You work for Malton directly right? Cornelius Malton?"
He nodded slowly. "So what?"
"So my father's the founder of NishiSoft and has access to every single goddamn Laushire database—and so do I. I have all the encryption keys they've ever used and root logins on their network." Rika lowered her hand a few inches. "You've got a helicopter, and I need a ride. Get me the fuck out of town and your boss gets the whole Laushire backend."
Viper frowned. "There's no way I'm getting out of here without someone who can use magic."
"Holy shit, bakayarō, are you not seeing this?" She gestured over her shoulder. As if on cue, another, smaller explosion rippled into the sky with a low roll of thunder. "If you don't leave now, you're not getting out of here alive period. Do you see what's happening back there?" Rika shook her head. "I want safe passage to somewhere in the United States or Canada of my choosing. Malton never learns my name or who gave him the info. And you get to deliver your boss a massive prize on a platter. Everyone's happy, none of us die. Magic can wait."
"Rika..." Alden started. Rika ignored him.
"Omega can't keep winning. Magic's already gotten out of Rallsburg. Sooner or later he'll bite it, but magic won't, 'cause he can't beat Grey-eyes. So you'll have another chance—but only if we get out of here. Right now." Rika flipped her hand over, offering it to Viper to shake. "Deal?"
Viper took a minute to consider it. Alden stepped closer to Rika and dropped to a whisper. "What about Rachel?"
"She'll make it," Rika said, though he could hear the unease in her voice. "She always does in the end."
"Even up against a god?"
"They aren't gods, Alden. They're just more stupid college kids in over their heads."
Alden frowned. "If you leave, we can't hold him down anymore."
Rika hesitated. "I can't stay here. I can't die here."
"Tell me how to do it," Alden said, though he could feel intense anxiety weighing on him as he realized what that would mean. "I'll hold him."
"There's no way I could explain it in time," Rika said. "And it's still too dangerous."
"More dangerous than letting something like him stay alive?" Alden pointed out.
Rika looked at him with surprise. "Way more murderous than I expected, Alden," she murmured.
Alden was still running on thick adrenaline. His entire body felt energized and ready for a fight. "I've watched him kill people now. He tried to kill you too, and me. If you aren't going to try again, then at least give us the chance to. Please, Rika."
"You've got a deal," Viper called. "Wherever you want to go, no questions asked and no records."
She nodded. "Give me a minute."
"One minute."
The gruff man turned and started speaking into his radio earpiece again. Rika turned away to block his line of sight, edging up close to Alden. Her skin touched his briefly, sending another electric shock dancing through him. She pulled her bag around front and dug through it quickly. She picked out a small watertight lockbox and unlocked it.
"Read this quickly," she muttered.
Alden picked up the crumpled scrap of paper reverently. He looked down at the first few words, and suddenly felt his eyes being drawn across it like they weren't under his control anymore. The writing—which he couldn't describe but somehow perfectly comprehended—flowed much more strangely than he remembered.
It was very different from the page he'd read in Rika's apartment, or the one Hailey had shown him at Boris' shop. The sentences seemed to flow faster, but at the same time it was like he were wading through thick sludge to get through to the end. He saw lines of pure energy rolling away from him, and as he followed them the world seemed to suddenly turn into a flickering old movie. With every step the entire world flashed, like someone were turning the lights on and off. He rubbed at his eyes, trying to clear the effect away.
Alden looked around and realized why. It wasn't that the lights were blinking—there were no lights around to flash anyway, just the sunlight streaming through the trees. He was perceiving it more quickly, and acting upon it at that same speed. In that vein, he was also perceiving the infinitesimally small gaps between photons arriving from the sun and bouncing around to eventually reach his eyes, as his speed of perception increased further and further. Alden was moving faster than the universe.
It released. The lines of energy faded and the world snapped back to normal. He hadn't moved at all. Alden let out a huge breath and doubled over, feeling as though he was about to be sick. Rika grabbed him and helped him stay upright.
"Easy," she muttered. "Don't look too suspicious."
Alden forced himself to stay calm. It took him a few moments, but he managed to stay upright and hold it in. "That flickering was really annoying," he finally choked out.
Rika grinned. "I forgot about that," she whispered. "Don't worry. You'll learn to fix it so that doesn't happen." She glanced over at Viper, who was watching the sky impatiently. They still had time. "Now that you know what it is, you should be able to interfere with him. Just lay it down in his vicinity and it screws everything up. This magic really doesn't mix well. You barely even have to force it to fuck him up. It'll be painful as shit to keep going for more than a few seconds but that's enough if you time it right. Get some topaz from Jessica's hoard to lighten the load a bit."
"You're still not going to stay?" Alden asked.
"...I told you, I don't believe in coincidence. I needed a way out and then we run right into this motherfucker. I gotta take it." She sighed. "Don't worry. You got this, Alzack." She clapped him on the back.
"What about you, though? Can't they just come after you the moment you give them what they want?"
Rika shook her head. "It's not a one-time thing. They'll drop me off somewhere in Olympia and only once I'm in the clear do they get what they want. They get access, but only through me. I've still got backdoors all through the system, and they need me to mask their tunnel. If I disappear or they try anything, they lose access. Or I just shoot them with lightning. I'm pretty good at that." She raised her voice. "We leaving or what?"
At her question, they all heard the distinctive sound of the helicopter approaching. Viper pointed up at the sky. The sound of the blades pounding the air was growing rapidly, until it swung overhead in a dramatic stall and came to a halt not far from their position. Alden had a brief, terrifying flashback of leaping from the chopper and took a few steps away instinctively.
"You're gonna be fine," said Rika, just barely audible over the helicopter. She gave Alden a brief hug, and the electricity danced through him one last time as she did. "Stay alive out there."
"You too," Alden replied. "I hope you find him." Rika smiled, then ran to the ropes the helicopter had dropped. She took hold opposite Viper and Rook and handled the sudden pull with ease. The helicopter lifted just enough to clear the treeline, then took off at low altitude, fast away from Rallsburg.