Secret Keepers: The Complete Series

by Jaymin Eve

  I slumped against him, desperately wishing I could stand on my own, but knowing there was no chance. “Don’t let him touch me,” I murmured.

  I felt Laous’ presence as he stalked toward us, that malice he carried drifting just ahead of his angry stomps. “You’re lucky I need you alive, grubber!” He was a few decibels short of shouting. “But you will be punished. Plenty I can do to keep you alive and unhappy.”

  I’ll bet. From the corner of my eyes I could see him looking around, seeming to notice where we were. “Why have you brought us here, Rao? Was this the only transporter you could get? How long have we been here? The council could be on their way right now!”

  I remained slumped against the big guy’s chest, and when Laous went to roughly haul me off, his son moved me just out of reach. “No,” he said firmly. “You hurt her.”

  Laous snarled then, very animalistic. “I didn’t give her that black eye. So maybe you should be more worried about your temper.”

  I patted his chest. Gentle taps was all I could manage, but he felt it. “You didn’t … hurt.”

  Yeah, I was done with the forming and speaking of the words. How annoying. I could handle a lot of things, but not being able to talk was not one of them. Angry glaring did not sufficiently portray my true annoyance. I needed witty one liners.

  “Give her to me, or you will find yourself in the cell next to hers.”

  I wanted to punch him in the head again. So badly. Rao just moved me even further away. “No.”

  I was cheering him loudly in my head, as another wave of darkness pushed in on me. “She needs to get out of here,” Laous told him. “I will use one of my pre-arranged transporters to the edge of Imperial. I planned it that way, because I know she needs the energy. So hand her over right now. Otherwise she will die and end up in the justices. Her soul … it’s fading away.”

  At least the council was doing something right. Laous was struggling to get around without being able to use this network freely. Still, he’d obviously figured out some way to get to House of Imperial undetected if he needed it.

  When Laous’ cold, hard grip wrapped around my forearms, I shuddered. His touch was probably the worst thing I had ever felt, but my fight was gone for the day. If I had been more in my right mind, I might have freaked out by how close I was to death. I felt it rattling around inside of me, the slow wheezing of my breath the only sound I had left to focus on. But I sort of just accepted that if it was my time to go, it was my time to go.

  Would Daniel die too?

  Something I really should have asked him before now. Our souls were bonded, his keeping mine alive. But did it go back the other way as well? I seriously hoped it wouldn’t. The thought of Daniel dying was like being stabbed with a rusty blade, right in the chest.

  What felt like hours later, I was roughly hauled to the ground, feeling like I’d passed through a sauna on my way down. Warm and damp air surrounded me, dampening my skin. As I landed, my already sore head slammed into a hard object, and everything went really fuzzy and dark around the edges.

  I must have lay there for some time, until eventually cold seeped into my skin, which had my body violently shaking. With this came a sliver of clarity. My eyes flicked open, and my sight adjusted faster than I expected. I was in a gray room; it looked like a cross between a jail cell and a room in a mental hospital, minus the padded walls. Rolling over, I got to my feet, surprised by how steady I was. My energy felt like it was kicking back in as well. I was somewhere in Imperial.

  That had been way too close. I would take Daniel’s warnings a lot more seriously from now on. A soul-bond was not something to mess around with.

  Moving freely took me a few moments, but once my body was functioning again, I examined the full scope of my surroundings: four gray walls, a hard, dirt-like floor, and a small square glass window on the wall in front of me. No door.

  I dragged myself across the room to stare out of the square, but there was nothing except darkness outside. Either it was night or I was in a place devoid of all light. My cell was lit, though, the brightness at the point of hurting my eyes.

  The room held no bed. Or toilet. Nothing which would improve my situation. I didn’t need to pee right this second, but eventually I would. Slumping against the wall, I tried not to think about Daniel. My yearning for him did not need to gather any speed. We were a team, that was true, but I was also going to hold on to as much of my independence as I could. No waiting for my knight in shining armor to arrive. I had to save myself.

  Lifting myself off the floor, I did another sweep around the room, eyeing off each corner and seam of the walls, looking for a weakness, trying to figure out an escape route. When I reached the glass partition, I tapped it a few times, hoping for a flimsy sort of material. The sound had a high pitch … maybe there was a chance I could break it. Pulling off my sweater, I wrapped my hand and gave the panel a gentle smack. A low thud, followed by a slight reverberation, but no sign of cracking.

  Cocking my arm even further back, I sucked in deeply and slammed my hand into the glass. Pain spiked across my hand and down my forearm and I bit back a cry. I rubbed my free hand across the glass … not a single blemish on it. It was definitely too thick for me to punch out; I’d only hurt myself if I continued.

  But … maybe I could kick hard enough.

  I still wore my school uniform, with the stupid dress shoes, but it was better than bare feet. Taking a step back, I yanked my skirt up and tucked it into the band at my waist. If anyone had been in here, I would have been flashing them a perfect view of the school-issued tights.

  Falling into a balanced stance, I started to breathe as I was taught in all of my fight classes. Deep breaths, centering my body and focusing my mind. A fight is won or lost, most of the time, before the first punch is thrown. Lose your cool, lose the fight. Never let emotions control you. You always control them.

  The mantras ran round and round my head as I took the time to calm down. There had been a lot going on in my life recently, and through it all, I had been running on autopilot. Now, it was time to take back my control.

  Standing there, contemplating the right angle to slam my heel into the glass, my mind was finally quiet for the first time in days. I released another deep breath and swung my leg into a high kick. I channeled every ounce of power I had into the connection, satisfied with the solid thud. I could always tell if I’d landed a good shot by the sound of my hit.

  The panel shuddered strongly; there was a creak as I connected, but no cracks yet. I tried again. And again. Not ready to give up. With each unsuccessful hit, my thoughts got darker. I blamed the moroseness on many things. The fact I was being held prisoner in a doorless room, that my mom was dead, that Daniel had made me reliant on him and now he wasn’t here. Which was completely unfair.

  Slam. Slam. Slam.

  I kicked that panel until my legs felt like they were about to collapse under me, but giving up was not in my vocabulary.

  Slam. Slam. Slam.

  My muscles burned, my eyes burned, my soul burned as screams racked me internally, begging to be let free. Finally, when I couldn’t contain my fury any longer, I dropped my leg, and reaching forward slammed both fists into the glass and screamed. The agonized sound came from my gut, deep and rasping.

  My face and body were on fire, tears running down my cheeks as I screamed. The salty tears started to sizzle off my face, turning into streams of steam.

  What in the…?

  The glass under my hands caught my attention then, because it was now a dark red. I raised my palms up and a long strand of sticky material lifted with them.

  What was happening?

  The red of the glass started to fade as soon as I wasn’t touching it, so I dropped my hands back down, releasing more of my anger as I did. It burned red again, and as I asserted more pressure, my hands moved through the thick material. Almost like they were … melting it away.

  How was this possible? My hands should be charred bo
nes at this point – I was melting glass, which if I remembered correctly had to be done at some stupidly high temperature.

  Logically, I wanted to stop, to wrench myself back, but since it didn’t seem to be hurting me, I continued channeling my fury, pushing through. It was soon obvious why my kicking had done nothing. This window had to be ten inches thick. No human could kick through that. Not even my idol, Bruce Lee.

  And I was pretty sure he could do almost everything.

  I was elbow deep when I finally busted out the other side, the resistance giving out, almost causing me to faceplant into the wall. The sparks of heat in my body started to fade away, so I quickly pulled my hands back through. Glass remained attached to me, but it still wasn’t hurting, and by the time I was free and my skin was cool, the long strings of glass had dropped off.

  There wasn’t a big enough hole in the panel for me to crawl through; I’d only gotten two hands in, but hopefully it would be more brittle now. My kick might actually work. As my anger vanished, so did the last of the heat in my body. My brain was already trying to work out how I’d done that, and the only logical explanation I had was Daniel. He could turn into a flaming fireball. I was sharing some of his abilities.

  Whatever it was, I’d just be grateful I at least had a chance to escape now.

  As soon as the red faded from the partially-destroyed panel, I kicked it with all of my strength. This time it shattered, glass tinkling out into the dark world beyond my prison. The hole, which I was pretty sure I could squeeze through, was now completely clear. Well, there were a couple of little ragged edges, but I didn’t care. I was getting out of here.

  It was not easy to leverage myself up and through the window. The only reason I somewhat managed was from years of being forced to climb that damn rope in the gym. Ignoring the cuts in my palms, I wiggled my top half through the opening. The fit was tight, and I didn’t like the sensation of being wedged in, especially with so much darkness on the other side. I couldn’t see a thing out there, no noises…

  But the dark had to be better than waiting to starve in this prison. Twisting and squirming through as far as I could, eventually I let gravity do its job. My arms went out to prevent my head from smashing into the ground, and I managed to half roll, so landing wasn’t quite as painful as I’d anticipated. When I was standing in the darkness, my heart pounding rapidly, I waited for my eyes to adjust. Because despite my words about taking my chances, randomly walking in this level of darkness seemed kind of stupid.

  I waited and waited, but that unnatural blanket of black remained. Dropping down, I ran my hands across the ground. It felt slightly textured, like a compacted dirt. Probably the same as my jail. I couldn’t see my hands to know if there was any sort of residue on them, but my fingers felt dusty as I rubbed them together.

  My fear was getting harder to control. I’d never hated the dark, but I also wasn’t overly fond of it. And this was no ordinary night, this was magical in nature, and that was messing with my nerves. With no other choice, I started to walk away from the box with its small window of light, my movements slow, cautious, both hands out in front of me as my only option of stopping an obstacle from smashing me in the face. The entire time I walked my eyes strained to see anything. This darkness … I’d never experienced anything like it before.

  This world was making me really nervous.

  After walking for what felt like a few hours, I decided to sit for a moment. I hadn’t run into one thing, hadn’t seen another speck of light or felt any energy from a living creature. Where the hell had Laous dumped me? Would I ever find my way out of here?

  Sitting got me nowhere, so I started to walk again. After some time, all I had as company was the stomping of my feet and the harsh intake of breath. Two things reminding me that I was alive.

  I walked until I collapsed. Closing my eyes, my mind filled with as much darkness as the outside. After seeing nothing for so long, it appeared that’s all I would see ever again. I either slept or drifted in a daze, and when clarity returned some time later, it was to an aching neck and a dead left side of my body. I waited for hunger and thirst to kick in. I had to be needing sustenance soon. But … neither did. My mouth wasn’t even dry.

  As I started to move again, I tried not to think. Protecting the fragile nature of my mind seemed to be the most important thing. So … denial it was. Denial wasn’t keeping my anger at bay though; it returned with a vengeance as I walked in darkness. My life had not been much to talk about for the first eighteen years, and Laous just had to go and one-up that by doing … whatever this was …to me.

  Fucker.

  I felt the burn inside of me again and I welcomed it, hoping like hell that my hands would light up and show me whatever was out there. I just couldn’t do this darkness for one more moment. “Come on!” I screamed, holding my hands out. “Burn, baby, burn.”

  Nothing.

  I thought I heard my name then, like a whisper on the nonexistent breeze of this place, but even when I stilled and held my breath, I didn’t hear it again. With no other choice, I walked until I fell again, and then I slept.

  This routine continued on for countless days … nights … whatever time existed here. My mind was frazzled, my thoughts confused. I still did not hunger or have any thirst. I had no need for a bathroom. It was almost as if time stood still, and all I could do was run.

  Chapter 12

  The longer I was trapped in the darkness, the more confused my thoughts got. I kept forgetting who I was and why I was here. I couldn’t remember my mom’s face, the color of her hair. Even the color of my own hair.

  I became nothing more than a mindless machine, walking, resting, walking and resting. When I stumbled for the millionth time, falling to my hands and knees, a spark of red lit up my hands for a split-second. Just a single beat, but with that came a single image. Daniel’s face. His beautiful perfect face, bright and strong. I almost sobbed as I realized I had forgotten him until that moment. How could I forget Daniel? We were a team.

  Fiery streams of power churned in my center. I was starting to recognize the build of energy, the pulling of power. When Daniel bonded us, he must have shared more than just his life force. He had shared his Imperial powers.

  When my hands lit up, burning a bright red, I remembered everything. I am Callie. With the whisper of my name, more of my self came back to me; memories returned. Laous must have put me here as a way to break me. He was a clever torturer. I would have preferred he broke every one of my fingers than leave me here in this darkness. Bones could heal. Minds were much harder.

  Holding my red hands up, I willed more fire into them, the glow immediately spreading to my wrists and then forearms. Despite the intensity of the heat, my clothes didn’t burn. Somehow the magic knew what to burn and what was off limits. I began to walk again, using the light to finally see my surroundings. I really couldn’t make out much outside of the grayish ground. I appeared to be moving through a land without a single rock or tree or landmark. Which explained why I hadn’t crashed into anything in the dark yet.

  I started to run, sobs still racking me, tears dripping along my cheeks, only to sizzle off as the heat dissipated them. I couldn’t deny this any longer, I was trapped here, in this eternal darkness.

  “Callie!”

  This time the call was distinct enough that my feet faltered and I tripped … again. Fifty million times was the charm, right?

  “Keep using the power,” the familiar voice said again.

  Rolling onto my back, I pushed all of the burning energy out into the world. My fingertips started to tingle, then there was a pop as a small flame shot up into the air. With a low shriek, I rolled to the side, unsure if it was going to fall back down and land on my face. What if I was only safe from the burn when it was attached to me?

  “Daniel,” I shouted, desperate to see him.

  Daniel had owned my freaking soul long before he bound us together. There was no one else in any world who could compare. I
had fallen for that huge alien asshole in five damned minutes and there was no taking it back. My brain could deny it all it wanted, but my heart knew the truth.

  It had chosen.

  My fire was running out, and as the energy died away so did my specks of hope. “Daniel,” I cried, frustration and pain my only companion. “Dan … please.”

  “Callie! Open your damn eyes.”

  What was he talking about … my eyes were open.

  “We’re losing her,” a female cried. “What did Laous do?”

  I tried to tell them, explain where I had been, but there was no way to open my mouth. I was just too tired.

  “Fight, sweetheart. Please, fight for me. Don’t let that bastard take one more person I care about.”

  There was true agony in Daniel’s voice and it strummed within my chest. I wanted to comfort him, wanted that so badly, and as I stood in the darkness, I held on to that dying ember of his voice.

  Then I threw myself toward it. And…

  Brightness burned into me. I cried out and tried to lift my hands, but I couldn’t move them. Someone placed a soft cloth over my face, and I had immediate relief. It took me a few minutes to adjust to the light. When I could finally see, I gaped at the three people who stood around me. Daniel, Emma, and Lexen.

  My mouth opened and closed, and turning my head, I saw that I was not on the ground in a land of darkness, but instead floating in a tank of thick liquid.

  “Wha...?” I tried to talk, but my voice rasped out like it hadn’t been used in days.

  Daniel reached in and cradled my head in his hands, holding me slightly out of the goo. “Callie? Do you remember me?”

  I nodded, tears burning my throat. “I would never forget you, Daniel.”

  I almost had, but Laous was not strong enough.

  He closed his eyes briefly, and I immediately wished he would open them. I didn’t like being cut off from him this way. When he did meet my gaze again, gold blazed at me. “We’ve been trying to get through to you for hours. Laous has your energy tied to the legreto in this rebirth tank. You had to break free on your own. We couldn’t do anything, or it might have destroyed your mind completely.”