Chromed- Upgrade Read online

  “Musicians. You’re all the same…” Bernie’s voice drifted into an indeterminate mumble as he stormed off.

  Aldo pushed an arm through a black sleeve, his movements sharp and angry. “You haven’t answered.”

  Sadie gave a last flourish with the hair spray, pouting at her reflection. Maybe too much grunge, Sadie. “What? About the drummer? I don’t need a drummer.”

  “Every band needs a drummer. But no. The other thing.”

  “I played two years without a band, let alone a drummer. What makes you think I need a band? Christ. Bernie’s right, musicians are all the same.” Sadie stood, grabbing her jacket from the back of a chair where she’d tossed it earlier. The leather was real, a parting gift from her father. It and the guitar were the only things he’d ever given her.

  The guitar. Sadie looked at it, gleaming in the corner by the door. A shiver tapped its way up her spine. God, but she loved to play. Her hands itched to hold it.

  “Jesus. You’re breaking up the band?” Aldo’s mouth hung open.

  “What? No, unless you stay locked in your room tonight.” Sadie pulled on her boots, the metal clasps jingling against her hands, then moved to the guitar. She almost reached for it but turned to Aldo instead. Her lips quirked, black lipstick against the pale white of her skin. “So. You playing tonight, lover?”

  Aldo pulled the edges of his vest together, then ran a hand through his hair. Tall and lean. Dark hair. Dark eyes. You always liked the tall dark and handsome, Sadie. He dropped a lopsided grin at her, and she almost wanted to take it all back. “Yeah. I’ll play for you, Freeman. Let’s go.”

  She grinned back, then turned and picked up the guitar. “Okay. Let’s rock this house.” Sadie yanked the door open, letting her boots clank and stomp their own way to the stage. Time to play.

  Her lips brushed the old mic. The air charged with the smell of liquor and sweat. It’d only take a spark to ignite it.

  Ancient incandescent lights shone down on Sadie, bright and hot. Her fingers touched the strings, the sound almost gentle as notes leaked and flowed from the speakers. The crowd hushed, a giant’s indrawn breath.

  Like the feeling before a storm.

  She felt the band behind her. Aldo with his electronic drum kit. The sound wouldn’t be quite right, but it’s what they had. Janice stood with her guitar, the digital board doing all the hard work.

  Fakes. Impostors on her stage. That wasn’t music. Sadie played at The Hole because of the people. They were off the grid, just like her. You’d be hard pressed to find a link in the room.

  The mic in front of her smelled of excitement. It was time.

  Sadie brought a hand down against the strings, the fingers of her other skipping against fingerboard. The crowd surged against the stage as the Seattle sound mixed with air made rich with their despairs and hopes.

  The room grew heavy. People ground against each other, jerking and dancing with the music. She forgot about Aldo, about Bernie and his cut, and about how she would make rent. For a little while, the strings under her fingers were all that mattered, and she sang alongside her guitar until her voice grew hoarse.

  Sadie stopped, the guitar’s notes dying away. The crowd stumbled against the fallen beat. Sadie breathed, the microphone sharing her exertion with them. Her pulse pounded.

  “Sorry.” She smiled, lips to the microphone like a lover’s ear. The room echoed with her voice. “I’m just tired.” Sadie glanced to the side and saw Bernie in the wings, a scowl blooming on his face. Her smile turned to a grin, catching against her teeth.

  “So.” Sadie turned back to the crowd. My people. “Should I stop?”

  NO. The roar washed over her. She closed her eyes in the face of it.

  “Ah.” Sadie’s fingers touched the strings again, the sound walking around the stage. The crowd hushed for her. “I could use a drink.”

  Some hero in the crowd raised his bottle toward the stage. More followed, the press of bodies almost urgent. She held a hand up, stilling them. “Thanks. Just put it on the edge.” The muscle along the stage let the hero deliver her drink. He had eager eyes and a face that wanted to be kind. “What’s your name?”

  “Mark,” said the hero.

  “Not Jax the Destroyer? Merlin the Merciless?”

  “It’s just Mark.”

  Sadie smiled again, fingers plucking strings, the sound of the guitar thanking him. “No shit, Mark. I guess not all heroes wear capes.” She stepped forward, grabbing the bottle from the edge, the glass sweating against her hand. Sadie saluted Mark with the bottle before tipping it back. The beer was cool and clean, and she finished the bottle in a moment. She tossed the empty aside, a tinkle of glass reminding her bliss was fleeting. But you can make it last a little longer. “Thanks. Someone buy Mark a drink!”

  The crowd cheered, shifting to the bar. Sadie glanced at Bernie. His scowl struggled to hold. People buying liquor always increased profits, especially in a place like this.

  Sadie’s fingers caressed the strings. She’d lied. Sadie never felt tired when she played.

  Sadie shuffled the wad of dirty paper, counting notes. “Where’s the rest?”

  Bernie shrugged. “That’s it. That’s your cut.”

  “Bullshit.” Sadie kicked off her boots to tumble into a wall. The mirror of her dressing room shimmied in complaint. “They were on fire, Bernie. They bought beer and a cover charge.”

  He shrugged again, his belly rising and falling with it. “What can I say. Cash is a rare thing. If you had a link you could check the books yourself.” A smile crept on his face but found it foreign territory and left. “You think I’m trying to cheat you? C’mon, you’re my star!”

  Linked? Hell with that. “I think you’d cheat your mother if you thought you could get away with it. And I don’t want shit in my head. Gets in the way of the music.”

  “The band doesn’t think so.” Bernie nodded to the door. “They’re happy digital. You’re the one with an ancient guitar.”

  “Ancient? It’s a classic. It’s the sound that pulls people in. Besides, you’re confusing the issue.” Sadie waved the wad of money, fighting red rage. “I can’t even pay for parking with this.”

  “You don’t have a car.”

  “It’s because you pay shit. What if I just moved on?”

  Bernie cocked his head. “I dunno, Sadie. Where you going to find someone who lets you play without a link? It’s borderline illegal. I look the other way.” He tried the smile again. “Because you’re like a daughter to me.”

  “You make passes at all your daughters?” Her eyes drifted to his gut, then back to his face. “I think you let me play because I fill your bar every night. You bought a new car after I started here.”

  “It’s a Toyota-Mitsu.”

  “It’s a Lexus.” Sadie pushed a chair in front of the mirror, straddling it backward. “Only reason you don’t own a Mercedes is because it’d get stolen around here.”

  “Whatever.” Bernie waved a dismissive hand. Sadie’s blood got another degree closer to boiling point. “So, leave. Or stay. I don’t care, but if you stay, make sure you’re on time tomorrow.” He pulled the door open, almost colliding with Aldo. “Christ! Aldo, talk some sense into your woman.” Bernie shouldered past and out.

  “She’s not… Never mind.” Aldo looked after Bernie, then glanced at Sadie. “You okay?”

  “Just great.” Sadie held up the money. “Here, take it. For you and Janice.”

  “You got your cut?” Aldo looked at the cash, not taking it, but also not looking like he wanted to know the answer. “Hell.”

  “Yeah, I took my cut.” Sadie offered the money up again. “Go buy something nice. Like a beer.”

  “Beer’s free. About the only thing that is in this place.”

  Sadie looked him up and down. “Just take it and go.”

  Aldo reached for her, his hand almost making it to Sadie’s shoulder. It hovered beside her a moment. She wanted his hands on her like befor
e it had gone bad. It’ll be okay. Go on. Sadie held herself still, daring Aldo to touch her. To show her how he felt.

  His hand dropped to the cash. “Right. See you.” Aldo stepped out the door. Gone, like a missed taxi.

  Sadie looked after him, then kicked the door closed. She brushed the tear from her eye, a streak of black left behind from her makeup.

  That’s why I don’t love you anymore, Aldo Vast. It’s because you’re an asshole.

  Chapter Two

  Laia’s eyes snapped open. She stared unblinking at the wooden ceiling as the sun’s soft, warm fingers reached through the open window to touch her face.

  The warmth of that touch woke her.

  Laia reached, slow and lazy with sleep, cutting the sunbeam with her fingers. Ill-fitting wall planks let rain and cold in. This was the first time they’d let in sunlight.

  So that’s what it feels like.

  Laia’s hand pulled back to the collar at her neck. The hard metal left her skin chafed and raw. There might be sun, strange and wondrous, but the collar held her thoughts, a constant reminder she was a slave.

  A scream cut the air. Laia scrambled from the pallet, scrambling to the open window. It looked out over a courtyard still damp from the rain. The old stones were turning from dark to light gray as the water dried. Morning mist began its walk to the sky.

  Laia's eyes were drawn to another slave in the courtyard. The woman’s eyes searched the sky, hand held against the burnished orange of their faded sun. Tears ran down her cheeks, her face wild with fear.

  Abinal hadn't seen the sun in the fourteen years Laia had lived, the clouds and rain always constant.

  No, sister. Don’t fear the sun.

  One of the house guards strode through a doorway opposite Laia, his haughty stride taking him to the slave in the courtyard. He didn’t slow as he slammed his fist into her stomach, dropping her to the ground. “The Master has no time for your mewling. I will not warn you again.”

  The woman turned to him, hand still raised. “But … how did I get here? Who are you? Where..?”

  Her words were silenced by the house guard’s sword, the blade glinting in the light as he held it high. He brought it down, red sluicing the dawn. The woman’s head bounced against the old stones.

  The rock drank blood as the house guard walked back inside.

  Laia’s fingers touched her collar again. Her sister slave’s body lay cooling in the early morning. The collar reminded Laia she was special. Not a mindless slave like most, a Seeker, or worse.

  I am Laia.

  She looked at the terrible burning sky and felt hope.

  The Master led Laia through the city, the stones under her bare feet rough. She couldn’t remember the last time this way was dry. Rain usually pooled on the street, people’s faces down.

  Now they looked up as water evaporated under a sky turning yellow and angry.

  Her skin felt warm, kissed by a star that hadn’t the courage to show its face in forever. Laia almost smiled but caught herself in time.

  It didn’t matter. The Master turned to her, stopping so quickly Laia almost ran into him. He ran a gloved finger along her jaw. “You think there’s room for hope.” The Master’s voice was deep and rich. A voice that could have belonged to a savior or a king.

  There is no room for saviors or kings anymore. It is a world of devils. “No, Master.”

  “And you think this means you can lie to me.” The keffiyeh hid everything but the Master’s cruel eyes. He pulled his finger away. “Have you forgotten the pain so soon?”

  Laia felt him touch her mind, the sensation slick and wet. Shuddering, she swallowed, mouth dry. “No, Master. I mean … I haven’t forgotten, Master.”

  “You’re wondering why you can see the sky.” He wasn’t watching her anymore, turning to look at a Seeker pen by the road. It was a small one. Perhaps twenty or thirty men and women stood there. Laia caught sight of a small face. Children, too.

  The Seekers were trying to get out, their normally white eyes clear. Clear, but confused, because they didn’t know where they were or who they were with. But they suspected why they were there, and that gave them the strength of fear.

  They pushed against the wooden poles of the cage, trying for freedom. Laia watched them, thinking of her next words. “I do wonder, Master.”

  “Hmm?” Her Master turned away from the cage, regarding her.

  “I wonder why I can see the sky.”

  “It is because I sent the demon away,” he said. “I sent it to the desert. I sent it to find your precious angel.” The corners of the Master’s eyes crinkled with a smile. There wasn’t anything kind about it.

  Laia bit her lip. No. “The angel—”

  “The angel will be my slave, just as you are.” The Master’s eyes glinted. “You will remember your place, or—”

  Poles on the cage splintered, and the Master spun as the first men and women broke free. The once-Seekers pulled wood aside for their fellows.

  The Master glanced at Laia before striding toward the cage. He beckoned over his shoulder, and she felt the pull in her mind.

  Her collar felt so heavy. No.

  “Yes.” The Master turned to look at her again. “Did you think I couldn’t see your thoughts? Your plan to distract me so they could escape was foolish. That’s why your city fell. You don’t understand true power.”

  “Please—”

  The Master spun away as the first of the escapees ran at him, a man with desperate eyes brandishing a broken pole as a weapon. The Master held his hand up, almost caressing the air, and the man stumbled to a halt. “I will show you true power, Laia. A reminder.”

  The man with the pole turned, running to the others. He hefted his weapon, slamming it into a woman’s head. She crumpled. Another grabbed for the pole, trying to wrestle it free.

  Now, said the Master’s voice in her mind. Now, reach out with your gift.

  She couldn’t help herself. There was a channel made of pain in her mind, her thoughts guided down a single path of action, like a river to the sea. Laia tried to fight, the pain a searing heat. She fell to her knees, and—

  The bodies were warm and wet. That man was just over thirty summers old, his body thin and weak as the work of a Seeker stripped him bare. The woman at his side was younger, her body remembering the harshness of last winter even if her mind didn’t. She was tarnished, broken, and fragile. There, a child of just six, scars on his back.

  Laia reached out, the first man screaming and clawing at his clothes. Wisps of smoke curled out from under the dirty rag he wore as a shirt. The woman at his side ran, stumbling to the ground as her skin flared, fingers of red fire reaching through black smoke to the sky.

  Through it all, Laia’s gift sang as she sagged to her knees, the collar’s hold on her mind unlocked. The Seekers’ bodies burned, their bodies curling as they charred on the dry streets.

  “That, child, is power.” The Master laughed. “Do not forget it. My demon isn’t here to hold the Seekers in thrall, but you are. I have more than enough to make you do what I wish, and fear of you will hold them still as any demon.”

  Laia knelt, huddled over the old stones of the street. She’d thrown up but didn’t remember it. Laia wiped her mouth, the collar clamping down on her mind once more. If she could just get free for a tiny scrap of time…

  “No, girl. You will never be free. You are mine.” The Master curled his hand into a fist. The pain ran through Laia, and she screamed, her back arching as she clawed the ground. People watched as the Master hurt her, powerless to help.

  It went on, and on, and on…

  Later, the Master’s lesson still fresh, she sat with her brother Zacharies. He’d seen nineteen summers, unbent by the Master’s iron will. It’s why his room was little more than a closet. Tall and rangy, his hair was dirty and matted like hers. The old and dirty wood walls let the air whistle through along with a little light. There were no windows.

  Right now, it was p
erfect. No one could see her shame and guilt.

  Zacharies’ eyes were glints of glass in the gloom. “Did he—”

  “It is nothing, brother.” Laia spoke quickly but lowered her face.

  He stood as if to leave, rage hardening the line of his shoulders. “I will—”

  “No!” Laia softened her voice. “No. Not today.”

  “If not today, then when?” Zacharies scratched under his collar. He leaned close, as if whispering would hide his thoughts. “The demon is gone. It holds no one in thrall anymore. His power is—”

  “His power is stronger than ever,” she said. “He made me…” Laia’s voice wound down like an old clockwork mechanism.

  When she had the courage to look up, Laia saw the understanding in her brother’s eyes. “I’m sorry, sister.”

  “We should go.”

  “We should stay,” he argued. “The angel—”

  “The Master said the angel is dead.”

  “The demon is dead.” Zacharies crossed his arms over his chest. “The angel has killed it.”

  “I do not think so,” said Laia. “It is not what the prophecy says.”

  “To the hells with the prophecy,” said Zacharies. “The control of the Seekers is gone. The rain has lifted. There is no water to carry the message. If that’s not the work of your angel—”

  “He is not my angel!” Never say that. Angels can’t be owned. Not like us.

  “Then whose angel is he? You’re the only one who believes.”

  “No.” Laia shook her head, collar nagging at her chin. “The Master believes.”

  “The Master torments you.” Zacharies ran fingers through knotted hair. “He torments us all.”

  “Yes,” she said. “But he also believes. He believes the demon still lives.”

  “Then where is it?”