The Pact

I saw my first dragon when I was fifteen.

Thomas stopped at the memory and allowed himself a second of joy. The great serpent perched on the Sears Tower like some wayward parade float. He laughed at the recollection before shaking it away and turning back to the page before him, his fingers gripping the pen tighter.

We had no context for the creature, no idea of what it was or where it came from.

The Dragon was just the first, soon it was every creepy crawly a Grimm Fairytale ever dreamed up.

The sound of knuckles on the door brought him up again from the white sheet in front of him.

Tom moved to the door and slid the deadbolt open. He pulled the door back and grinned.

The girl in his doorway was the very image of her mother - strength burned in her blue eyes, her smile bright enough to light any darkness. Thomas had to blink the image of the little girl from his eyes, to see clearly the fierce woman she had become.

“Hi, Dad” , her voice was soft but suspicious.

She ran a hand through her close-cut blonde hair, the short strands touselling for a moment before falling back into her typical side part.

Tom ushered her inside and stuck his head out into the hall, making sure that there was nothing there but the stained carpet and shattered glass.. Nodding in satisfaction he retreated to the interior of the apartment and shut the door, the click of the deadbolt a welcome sound.

She hugged him, delicate in his embrace. He cherished the moment, pulling her to him and squeezing her the way he had when she was younger. The grin didn’t leave his lips until she had left his arms.

He had missed her.

“Alright, Dad. What is this all about?”

Her voice was insistent.

“What, I can’t just be glad to see you?”

Her face could’ve melted an Artificial.

“Dad.”

He winced at the tone.

“Come on, sit down and I’ll explain. Drink?”

She shook her head and moved to the ‘kitchen’ area of the one bedroom hovel the landlord laughingly referred to as an apartment. She found a chair with most of the stuffing still in it. She sat gingerly, as though she feared it would collapse under her, and then cast her expectant eyes to him through the ribbons of hair long enough to fall in her vision.

He sat opposite her in thought for a moment, deciding how best to lay it out.

“So, “ he tried to keep the waver out of his tone, “When the Schism - “

She rolled her eyes.

“Dad!”

The frustration bled into the very air around her and Tom knew he had laid it out wrong. He waited for her to calm again, her hand going to the small heart shaped locket on it’s silver chain around her throat.

“Dad, “ her tone was calmer, “ Dad. The Schism was thirty years ago. It happened. I get that it changed things for you but this is the world. Ether is here now. It’s real. The Pact - “

He scoffed.

She silenced him with another of those Artificial-melting glares.

“The Pact,” she started again, “keeps us all safe. The Pact ensures that Ether doesn’t go out of control again. “ They’d gone around and around about this so many damn times. Split them up for three years and their first meeting still devolved into an argument over The Pact. His turn to rake fingers through thinning salt and dirt colored hair.

A settling breath.

“The Pact divided our society. The Fae live in their towers with the kids they stole and the rest of humankind lives here. “ He waved his hand at the apartment around him and - by extension - to the rest of the Outskirts.

The nerve he’d hit shot her out of the chair like a lightning bolt in reverse. She seethed at him for a moment in silence and he could read the anger on her face as easily as he could see her mother’s chin and his own ears. Her cobalt eyes narrowed and she bit back a comment he was sure would’ve hurt more than a vampire’s fist.

“They aren’t stealing children, Dad! The Touched have Ether in their blood. Magic. They have to learn how to handle it. They are trained. Taught how to use the gift.”

She moved to one of the cracked windows and Thomas could just imagine what she saw beyond it: The city sprawling out into seeming infinity, the Fae towers rising up like teeth threatening to tear the sky.

Of course, she wouldn’t see it quite that way.

“I hate how you revere them, Jess “ he didn’t mean to sound so hurt by the statement but he couldn’t help it. It did hurt. It hurt that she didn’t see the abuse. It hurt that she didn’t think of the Fae as what they were - Evil. The Fae had used the Pact to split the human race into two camps: Touched and Untouched. The Touched got lessons in how to control their powers and high profile positions within the Courts while the Untouched got safety monitors and twice as many Artificials to ‘keep the peace’.

She looked as hurt as he felt. Her feet led her back to his side and she set a hand on his shoulder.

“Dad, “ she said in that calming tone she always used during these fights, “I don’t ‘revere’ them. They’re different, and yeah the system doesn’t always work perfectly but it’s better than the War right?” Jessica’s free hand moved again, almost unconsciously, to the pendant around her neck. She touched the silver metal with her thumb for a moment and then let her hand fall.

“Too many people died in the War for this not to be better, Dad.”

His hand found hers and he gave her a gentle pat before turning old gray eyes up to look at her.

“It’s time for it to be better though, “ his voice was soft, almost a whisper in the sudden quietness of the apartment. He rose slowly like dawn, feeling the scar on his left leg tighten at the movement. Hissing some at the pain, he moved toward the living room, his voice drifting behind him.

“You deserve to thrive in the world, Jess. Not just survive it. You all do.”

The place was small enough that Tom didn’t bother to grab the cane from where it leaned against the wall and instead just limped over to the couch. He frowned at the image of his limp in the full length mirror in the corner and went to the small black box that sat inconspicuously on the coffee table.

Thomas sat quietly before the box and let one hand settle on the lid.

“I found a way to fix it, Jessica.” He laughed at the audacity, “Well, the beginning of one anyway.”

He watched her watching him. No doubt she thought her old man had finally gone around the bend. He motioned for her to sit across from him on the couch.

“So,” He started again, he’d have room to speak now that they’d had the fight. “After the Schizm brought all the Paras, “A look from her and he mouthed an apology “ - brought the Fae to the world, and the subsequent war brought about the Pact, studies began on the nature of Ether. “

“Yeah Dad, I know. I was a MetaNatural Sciences Major, remember?”

He waved off her words and gestured again to the box before slowly opening the lid.

The hinges creaked and the top of the box yawned open, revealing a small crystal no larger than a marble, shimmering green.

Thomas found his voice becoming even quieter in the sight of the jewel, as though it were some ancient religious artifact.

“We found a way to condense Ether, to make it tangible.”

Jessica’s eyes widened at words.

Ether was the energy that powered magic, that made the monsters real and gave the Fae their powers. Ether as a tangible thing could, theoretically, could give anyone magic.

Or make anyone a monster.

The shock morphed almost instantly to fear as the sound of metal hit the door, shaking free loose dust from the jam.

“I don’t exactly have a permit for this, “ Thomas smiled wryly and looked at her. “You probably want to hide.”

Tom pushed himself off the couch and winced at the sharp reminder from his scar to move more slowly. He rubbed at the old wound and limped his way toward the door, the modulated voice of an Artificial coming through the wood.

“Citizen, you have been found guilty of ...theft.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at the little pause as the system made the link between his address, his name, and the crime he’d been accused of. The Sentry was still just a machine, incapable of instant response to a complex set of programmed instructions. There was still a delay as it adjusted to whatever new information it had received.

Blessed Imperfection.

The metal fist came again to the door, more dust settling to the ground in gray speckles.

“Untouched. You have...One Minute...to acknowledge or we shall be forced to enter the premises under Pact Regulation 417.9.745. Comply.”

There was the hesitation again. The brief moment as it calculated how long it should theoretically take him to obey. He thought about the box on the table and stopped in the middle of his living room. He raised his chin, squared his shoulders, and levelled his eyes on the door.

“I give you permission to enter, Sentry. My name is Thomas Elias Reyes. I am unarmed and alone.”

He spoke calmly.

Three Sentries entered in a triangular formation, a black and red bot at the point. The humanoid design had been a choice intended to make them more ‘welcoming’ to the humans they would be monitoring.

Thomas found it in poor taste.

The Sentry moved across the apartment in four strides, powerful legs making short work of the small expanse of the space. The thing had green lights where the eyes should have been and a grate to give the illusion of a mouth. Only a Fae could have come up with such a disconcerting facsimile of a face.

“Citizen, you have stolen Mana Crystal 7. You will return the Crystal and submit to punishment immediately.”

No hesitation.

No pre-programmed recording.

The voice that came through the Sentry’s speaker was modulated but more alive, the tone almost brusque.

“Who is possessing this Sentry? The Pact gives me the right to know my accuser’s na - “

The Sentry’s eye lights turned red as one powerful four fingered hand shot out and gripped at Thomas’s throat, squeezing just enough to make it a threat.

“Tom, I’m only going to ask once. Give me the rock. I don’t want to kill an Untouched.”

The smile that twitched at Tom’s lips would’ve bubbled into laughter if he wasn’t being choked.

“Who...Who said I was Untouched?”

Thomas’s eyes slid to the mirror in the corner and he saw himself up on tiptoes, a once strong hand gripping the black steel of a Sentry arm as his face was washed in the red glow of the Artificial’s eyes.

“I love you.”

The mirror rippled like a pond catching a leaf, the solid surface changing into a puddle. She fell like a tree during a storm, crashing into the room. Rolling up onto her side, she coughed and spat liquid glass from her lungs , retching for a moment until the air filled her again. Ready for a fight she moved quickly to brace one foot on the ground, a hand raised in defense. The room really was empty.

Jessica Reyes looked down to the small green jewel in her palm and sighed. What the hell had she gotten herself into?

She whispered into the darkness, “I love you too, Dad.”

End.