Cantilever Jones Swings Low, Part 3
“I want to take off,” said Vin.
“Good. Do that.”
“Now?”
“Now!”
So he did. The rocket boosters made a huge blast and the blue cloud of wispy violence dissipated at the back of the
ship and as everyone instinctively dived to hit the dirt the heat made all of it recoil like bacilli in a dish of purging
fungus. I bought us some time.
[Hey, you only said one stupid thing.]
I didn’t need you for the second one.
[Ha, ha]
The girl is on her knees, and she is droning something I don’t fully understand. Something I don’t recognize the
cadences of, something about spirits and death and coming. It’s not real to me. The swirling blue ghosts around us
return, but this time they focus straight on her. Electricity snaps in the air. Pale-Face and Dark-Face climb to their
knees, and they chant along with her. I do not like any of this.
[It’s gonna be fine.]
How do you know?
[I just know, okay?]
Galfus is looking at me and I’m looking at him. I crawl over to the kneeling trinity and he follows me. The blue girls
get closer and closer. I wanted to flicke the fuse back on and let fly, let the burst of flame tear an even greater
course, through the whatever, melting the icy air. I don’t. That play has passed. I hear the cry again, but this time it’s
louder and it seems to come from the girl. I look at her and she is writhing, flailing. I want to help her, but Norl
says not too. I trust him.
The swirls go on, filling the wind and the air with blue like a raging fog that destroys your field of vision. I blast
with the torch but it doesn’t seem to to much good. A distant scream builds in my mind but I let it pass. It’s not my
job.
A burst knocks me over, knocks the torch clean, and knocks the wind out of me. I fight to breathe but it feels as
though there’s nothing to breathe. My head swam. I wondered if I was already dead. But I wasn’t. Eventually breath
returned to me. I staggered up and everything was quiet again.
“It is done,” said Pale-Face.
“It is done,” said Dark-Face.