Oblivion

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  in an attempt to be able to walk through the doors had been a theory—a theory held together with duct tape and a Hail Mary.

  I glanced over at Kat. The necklace was under her shirt, the opal against her skin.

  My brother keyed in the word “labyrinth.”

  The door slid open with an airlock sound, and I stepped forward, being the first one through. Air puffed, and I felt it. Instead of it dropping me to the ground, it was like standing too close to an open flame. I forced one leg in front of the other and then I was on the other side, standing in the wide hallway highlighted in orange. Looking over my shoulder, I smiled.

  Matthew exhaled roughly. It had worked.

  Dawson and Blake followed Matthew and Kat through the onyx-protected doors. She stuck close to me as Blake, who’d been here before, moved out in front of the pack. He led the way. The hall was shadowed, lit every twenty feet or so by small wall lamps. I kept an eye out for the emergency doors he’d mentioned before, the ones that could supposedly cut us into bite-size pieces.

  “Onyx,” Blake whispered, catching Kat staring at the shiny ceiling. “The whole place is covered in onyx.”

  God, what a lovely addition.

  The tunnel split into a crossroads with elevators in the middle. Matthew inched toward the opening, checking out the space first. “Clear,” he said.

  Silent, we filed into the elevator. I checked on Dawson. Razor-edge determination was set in his jaw. Kat was looking at the ceiling again, and I noticed it was also outfitted with onyx.

  Reaching between us, I found her hand and squeezed. I could feel her heart racing. She looked up at me, and I winked. She shook her head. We were almost there. The elevator came to a smooth stop and the doors opened, revealing a waiting room—a white waiting room. Everything was white—walls, ceiling, floors.

  “Lovely decorative colors,” Matthew muttered.

  I smirked, but it quickly faded as Dawson moved ahead of us, approaching the third and final door. “Careful, brother. We take this slow.”

  Dawson nodded. “I’ve never been here. Blake?”

  Blake moved to his side. “Should be another tunnel, shorter and wider, and there’ll be doors on the right side. Cells—really, outfitted with a bed, a TV, and a bathroom. There’ll be about twenty rooms. I don’t know if the others are occupied or not.”

  Others?

  Kat looked at me sharply. “We can’t just leave them.”

  Before I could answer, Blake intervened. “We don’t have time, Katy. Taking too many will slow us down, and we don’t know what kind of condition they are in.”

  “But—”

  “For once, I agree with Blake.” I met her shocked stare, and I hated myself for this. “We can’t, Kitten. Not now.”

  Kat pressed her lips together, and I knew she wasn’t okay with this, but we didn’t have the time, and we hadn’t planned for rescuing more than Chris and Beth.

  Blake keyed in the last code: Daedalus.

  The sound of several locks sucking back into place broke the silence, and a light at the top of the door, on the right, flashed green. I moved in front of Kat as Blake inched the door open, and Matthew had done as I’d asked, blocked her from behind.

  “We’re clear,” Blake said, sounding relieved.

  We went through the door, discovering another onyx shield. Now we had two to get the others through. This wasn’t going to be easy. The tunnel was like the one above, but it was all white and much shorter, wider.

  We were here.

  My gaze tracked my brother as Blake called out before rushing down the hall, toward the last of the cells. “The third cell is hers.”

  Dawson spun around as Kat and I moved close to him. He reached for the onyx-coated door handle. There was a flicker of pain across his stoic face, but the door opened, and my brother… My brother started trembling. His entire body shook as he croaked out one word, “Beth?”

  I saw her then, a slender girl sitting on a narrow bed, and she looked like I had remembered—brown hair tucked back in a smooth ponytail and her elfin face pale. The moment recognition flared in her eyes, the second her gaze locked with my brother’s, I wanted to whoop with relief.

  Dawson staggered forward, hands opening and closing at his sides, and all he could say was her name over and over.

  She scrambled forward, her gaze darting all around, but then hitting him and staying.

  “Dawson? Is that… I don’t understand.”

  They moved at the same time, coming together in a rush. Their arms went around each other. Dawson lifted her up as he buried his face in her neck. When he kissed her, I shifted my gaze, wanting to give them the privacy we really couldn’t afford, but seeing them together, clinging to each other, got me right in the gut.

  Dawson and Beth loved each other, and I had been an asshole to not support them since the beginning.

  But we needed to get out of here.

  “Dawson,” I said quietly.

  My brother pulled away from Beth as he grabbed her arms, and the moment her mouth wasn’t occupied with Dawson’s, she started asking questions. “What are you guys doing? How did you all get in here? Do they know?”

  Dawson was grinning like his face was going to split into two. “Later,” he said. “But we have to go through two doors and it’s going to hurt—”

  “Onyx shields, I know,” Beth said.

  Whelp. Douche Bag had been correct. Speaking of him, I frowned as I saw him coming up the hall, carrying the prone body of a dark-haired Luxen boy. “Is he okay?”

  Blake nodded, but he was pale and tense. “I…he didn’t recognize me. I had to keep him quiet.”

  Kat hastily looked away, and I knew despite all the crap Blake had done, she felt bad for him in this instance. Hell, who wouldn’t?

  Beth turned toward Blake. “You can’t—”

  “We need to go.” Blake cut her off and prowled past us. “We’re almost out of time.”

  Beth was shaking her head vigorously. “But—”

  “We need to go, Beth. We know.” Dawson kissed her quickly, and she nodded, but the panic was building in the wide hall, threatening to infect us all.

  Urgency kicked adrenaline into high gear, and without any more delay, the five of us took off down the hall. Skidding to a stop, I punched the code into panel on the wall, and the door opened.

  I jerked.

  Simon Cutters was standing in the waiting room, so obviously not dead. Everyone stumbled to a halt behind me.

  “Oh shit,” I said.

  Simon smiled. “Missed me? I missed you guys.”

  Then he raised an arm. Light reflected off a metal cuff he wore, with, of course, a piece of opal embedded into it. He opened his hand and let loose a damn hurricane of wind. All of us were lifted up off our feet. Kat was thrown back, smacking into the nearest door. Dawson whirled, forcing Beth against the wall, taking the brunt of the gale-force winds. Matthew hit the wall, and my legs were knocked right out from under me. I skidded several feet down the hall.

  Damn.

  Someone was now a souped-up hybrid, and I had no idea how that happened, but there wasn’t any time to play ask and answer.

  I picked myself up, quickly looking for Kat. She was standing with Blake’s help, favoring one leg over the other. I didn’t see what Blake had done with the passed-out Chris.

  Anger turned my blood to lava. “Oh, you are so dead.”

  “Ah, I think that’s my line,” Simon responded, letting out a burst of energy.

  “Daemon!” Kat shouted.

  Spinning out to the side, I avoided a direct hit. Immediately, I summoned the Source and reared back. Energy arced across the room, a whitish-red light.

  “You’re going to wear yourself out, Luxen,” Simon sneered, dodging my hit.

  I smirked. “Then so will you.”

  Simon winked and then spun toward Kat, throwing his hand out again. She and Blake skidded back. I shot around Simon as Blake caught Kat with arm around her chest
. Appearing in front of them, I shoved Kat behind me.

  “This is so not good,” Blake said, edging closer to Simon. “We’re running out of time.”

  “No shit,” I spat.

  Dawson shot toward Simon, but he threw him back, laughing. Another blast of energy flew at Blake and then toward Matthew. Both of them dive-bombed the floor to avoid taking a hit, and Simon kept advancing, smiling like a psycho.

  Simon darted to one side, focusing on Kat. “Want to play, Kitty Kat?”

  Aaand I was so done with this.

  “Oh, screw this,” I growled.

  Striking like a cobra, I shot past Blake and Matthew and within a second I was directly in front of Simon. The hybrid lifted his arms. I could feel the Source roaring through him as I placed my hands on either side of his head and twisted.

  A crack echoed through the room, and Simon hit the floor.

  Stepping back, I exhaled roughly as I closed my hands. “I never liked that punk in the first place.”

  Kat stumbled to the side as I turned around. “He’s…he was…”

  “We don’t have time.” Dawson pulled Beth toward the elevators. “They have to know we’re here.”

  Blake scooped Chris up, casting a look at Simon as he passed the prone body. He said nothing as I threaded my fingers through Kat’s. “Are you okay? You took a nasty hit.”

  “I’m okay. You?”

  I nodded, not letting myself think about the fact that I’d just broken Simon’s neck. Granted, he was trying to kill us, and he hadn’t understood the concept of no, but still, it was another life that was on my hands.

  “Come on.” Matthew slipped into the elevator, his face pale. “We need to prepare for anything once these doors are open.”

  I nodded. “How is everyone?”

  “Not feeling very good,” Dawson answered, his free hand open and closing. “It’s the damn onyx. I don’t know how much is left in me.”

  “What the hell was up with Simon?” I turned on Blake as the elevator pitched into motion. “He barely seemed affected by the onyx.”

  Blake shook his head. “I don’t know, man. I don’t know.”

  What in the hell was up with that? Was it because of the opal? Had to be. There was really no time to think about that. I could feel the dread pouring off Kat, and that was my number one concern. I needed her to keep it together.

  “It’s going to be okay. We’re almost out of here. We got this.” I smiled, and that damn organ in my chest actually squeezed when I saw her lips curve in response. “I promise, Kitten.”

  It was a promise I’d go down to keep.

  “Time?” Blake asked.

  Matthew glanced at his wrist. “Two minutes.”

  Aw, man, this shit was making me anxious. Two minutes. The doors slid open with a pop, and thank God, the hallway was empty.

  Blake was out first, carrying Chris. Then Matthew, quickly followed by Dawson and Beth. As planned, Kat and I were the last to leave. “Stay behind me,” I told her, keeping my hand wrapped firmly around hers.

  She nodded as we raced forward, slowing only when Blake shifted the unconscious Luxen to his shoulder and banged in the code. The door opened, and the darkness from the night beyond seeped in.

  Blake stepped out and then paused. He looked over his shoulder. Not at me. At Kat. My free hand formed a fist as I saw Kat reach with her other hand toward her neck. Awareness pricked at my skin, crawling up the back of my neck like an army of a thousand fire ants.

  Then Blake smiled.

  Shit.

  He raised a hand, and a white rope dangled from his fingers. At the end was the piece of opal I’d given to Kat. “Sorry. It had to be this way.”

  Rage exploded inside me like a bottle rocket.

  “Son of a bitch!” I shouted as I dropped Kat’s hand and shot forward. That was it. I was going to kill him dead.

  I’d made it halfway when I felt the shiver of coldness skating over my skin. I skidded to a halt, snapping in fury.

  Arum.

  The shadows around that asshole deepened and spread out, slipping into the entrance and stretching over the walls and ceiling like a damn fungus straight from hell. The shadows dropped as lights exploded in a shower of sparks.

  Seven of the bastards formed and then stepped right past Blake and the Luxen he carried, walked right past him.

  And then Blake was gone.

  Fury burned inside me like a volcano erupting. This was not happening. This was not fucking happening.

  I met the first Arum that charged forward. Shoving my hand into the Arum’s chest, I slammed it back into the wall just as Dawson pushed Bethany to the side and took down the other Arum.

  Fights broke out all around. Matthew shanked an Arum with a piece of obsidian, and it went bye-bye in an explosion somewhere along the ceiling. Kat had tapped into the Source, laying out another Arum. The asshole didn’t stay down long, and there was no way she could keep tapping into the source.

  Turning back to the Arum I was facing, I simply ended it—quickly. Brutally. I wheeled around, just in time to see the Arum touch her. If I thought I was pissed before, I’d been wrong, because I could taste it on my tongue.

  “Daemon!” she shouted.

  I spun around, catching an Arum creeping right up on me and got out of its way. I didn’t have time for this shit. I heard the shout of the Arum Kat had faced off with, and then it was up on the ceiling, doing its imploding thing. I grabbed the Arum in front of me, tossing it to the side.

  We need to get out of here. Dawson sent the message to me, and I tossed a no shit look back in his direction.

  I spun toward Matthew, who was picking himself up. Our gazes collided. Unease built in his eyes, and that bad taste spread in my mouth. Remember the plan. Get Kat out of here.

  That message was sent directly at Matthew. He pushed forward, lips pressing into a firm, thin line as he nodded.

  “Go! We need to go!” Dawson had a hold of Bethany and was practically carrying her out of here.

  I turned, starting back to Kat, and I saw my mistake in painful detail. I’d told her to stay behind me like I was some kind of alien Hercules. She’d listened; for once in her life, she’d listened to me, and now there were too many feet between us. She was limping forward, her gaze on mine. Then she was down, catching herself with her hands as she hit the cement floor. Panic punched into my gut as she twisted onto her side.

  Picking up speed, I was a body length from her when I heard it, when the hairs all over my body rose and the panic spread in me like a damn virus.

  Light drenched the tunnel. Locks slammed into place in an endless stream of we-are-so-screwed.

  “No,” Matthew cried, turning to where we’d come from. “No.”

  Those words were on an endless replay as I saw the movement behind Kat. Blue light flashed from the ceiling to the floor, every ten feet, over and over. One of the shields cut an Arum, slicing right into it, and then it was gone in a poof of dirty dust.

  Holy shit.

  My heart leaped into my throat right along with my stomach as I lurched, reaching for Kat as she scrambled forward. The tips of my fingers were inches—fucking inches—from her, and then a blue stream of light smacked down right in front of my face.

  Right in front of Kat.

  “Shit,” I gasped out as she jerked back, her hair blowing off her face from the impact of the lasers.

  No. No. No.

  I shook my head as I stared at her form through blue light. No. Hell no. Absolutely no.

  Our eyes locked and horror poured into me, invading every cell,