by Jaymin Eve
With a cough, I tried to sit up. Daniel slid one of his hands down, so it was under my back, gently drawing me up and into his body. The liquid clung to me for as long as it could, before finally releasing me from its deadly embrace. Bits of goo were still attached, but Daniel didn’t seem to care as he pulled me to his chest.
“What happened?” I coughed, looking around.
If I could have screamed at that point, I would have. The room – which was filled with tanks like the one I’d just been pulled from – had a creepy alien-abduction-probing setup going on. “What in the actual hell is this place?”
Daniel, still holding me, started walking, moving with ease through the small spaces between the tanks. “This is an old underground facility in Overworld,” he said, and I realized in that moment how flat his voice was. “It was used for mass experimentation when our four houses warred with each other. This is Imperial territory, right on the edge of our land.”
Emma’s worried face popped into view. She reached out and took my hand, and my heart ached at the sight of tears tracking down her cheeks. “It strips you of everything,” she said, sounding like she was repeating what she had been told. “Takes away who you are and leaves a blank canvas. The boys explained it all while we tried to wake you up. They told me to expect you might be gone by the time they freed you.”
I didn’t understand what they were saying. “You all need to go back and explain from the start,” I got out somewhat coherently.
Lexen answered: “The liquid you were floating in is called concrestia … also known as the Soulstealer, a weapon developed by a House of Imperial overlord, the one before Daniel’s father. He wanted to go to war when no one else would. He was going to try and create an army of Daelighters to fight for him. Basically, when you go into the water, your mind becomes open to suggestion. You can be brainwashed, and if you’re left submerged in it for long enough, eventually your mind will be wiped clean, to be manipulated as needed.”
That’s why, when I had been running in the darkness, my mind had been slipping away from me. “It almost got me,” I told them, swallowing the rough lump in my throat, glad at least that my voice had returned. “For days I have been running through the darkness, and I kept forgetting everything. It was only when I used … a fire power … that some clarity returned.”
I tilted my head back to gauge Daniel’s reaction; he was looking straight at me, his expression unreadable.
“I’d never been so lost and alone,” I confessed to him. “My mind would drift away. I thought I was going to disappear forever.” My voice broke and I choked on the words, small sobs escaping in between each one. “It works, whatever this soul stealer stuff is. It does what it was supposed to.”
“How are you still here with us?” Emma sobbed with me, our hands still clinging together.
“Daniel,” I breathed, still looking at him.
His steps didn’t falter, but there was a twitching on the corner of his jaw, like he was fighting against saying something.
“When I started to use the fire power, I felt him again. I remembered him. The only thing in the darkness was him, and the energy we shared.”
He pulled me closer, jolting my hand out of Emma’s.
“That’s when I felt your consciousness,” he growled. “When I knew we were finally getting through to you.”
Since we were nearing the end of this massive, freaky capsule room, I tapped him on the arm. “Put me down, please.”
He just growled again.
“Daniel…” I made my voice as stern as I could. “Put me down. I can walk.”
Probably a lie, but I needed to stand on my own two feet. I didn’t like this distance he was keeping between us. Not physically – he hadn’t let me go, not for a second – but he was holding back emotionally. And that both confused and upset me. I was new to this emotions thing, and no doubt missed a lot of things that others would recognize.
And right now, I just wanted to know what to do to fix us.
I thought he was going to ignore my request, but with a huff he finally slowed, and then my shoes hit the ground. My knees faltered for a second, but before I could be swept up again, I managed to gain my footing.
“I should have gotten to you sooner.” The self-loathing in his voice made my heart feel like it was being crushed. “You trusted me to keep you safe, to follow you, and I almost lost you to the darkness.”
Needing to touch him, I slowly placed my palms flat against the hard planes of his chest muscles. They lifted as he roughly sucked in air.
“This is not your fault,” I told him firmly. “You didn’t want me to leave. I knew the risks when I did, and you saved me in the end.” Popping up on my tiptoes, I went to press a kiss to his cheek. He let out a low rumble and turned his head so hot lips crashed into mine.
A low moan slipped out as our mouths moved together, his tongue caressing mine. My body went weak again, and it was only Daniel’s strength that kept me standing. “You’re never leaving my side,” he said, pulling back briefly, before pressing his lips to mine again.
Lexen cleared his throat, and I blinked a few times before I remembered that we weren’t alone here. Daniel and his best friend exchanged a look, and I recognized the urgency in Lexen’s eyes.
When Daniel turned back to me, panic immediately took hold. I held my breath as he said, “I’m going to make a liar of myself, because I actually have to leave you alone for a short time. The council has a lead on Laous. They had certain locations tipped to track him, should he go there, and the land of clouds was one of those. We have no idea why he went there, but he’s now on our radar. A small party has been assembled to go after him.”
No wonder he was so angry at Rao. This was exactly what Laous had been dreading.
“Where will Emma and I be while you’re gone?” I asked. “Laous wants us alive. He told me he was going to keep us prisoner, just in case he needed more blood. These tanks…” I waved my arm across the room, “are kind of the perfect solution. Alive, but completely compliant.” Ready to obey his every command. Misogynistic asshole.
Daniel’s strong arms wrapped around me, and I sank into him. The relief I felt at being back with him was almost impossible to describe. If I had to try, though, I’d guess it was how it felt to come home after being gone for a long time. For those people who had real homes.
He spoke against my hair. “Laous is not going to touch either of you again. I know I promised once, and my word might not mean as much as it should, but I’ll do everything in my power to ensure you’re safe.”
“Your word means everything,” I assured him. “Everything in your power is more than enough.”
“Hopefully we take him out today,” Lexen added. “The council seems pretty confident.” He turned to Emma. “You and Callie will be staying with Chase.”
Lifting my head from Daniel’s chest, I looked up to meet his eyes. He nodded. “Chase is the only overlord not to be in the search party, and that is solely so he can stay and protect you. Laous is afraid of House of Leights. He will never step foot in the trees. He has hurt too many of them over the years to face their wrath.”
A tree’s wrath? That sounded pretty cool, and scary.
Part of me wanted to argue. I didn’t like us separating. This team thing was really growing on me, along with the concept that we were stronger together, especially when it came to dealing with Laous’ psycho ass, but I knew he needed to be there. To protect his friends. To protect the secret keepers. Emma didn’t argue either, but it was clear she was no happier than me.
We moved toward the door again. My heart fluttered as Daniel made a point to stay by my side. We walked like a couple, like Lexen and Emma, so close that our arms brushed against each other, which sent shivers down my spine and through my stomach. The distance that had been there when I first awoke in the gel was gone, disappearing with his confession of guilt. He had been beating himself up for letting me leave the school, and for not finding me right a
way. I could already tell he was the sort of guy who took his responsibilities seriously.
We stepped outside – it was nightfall wherever we were. The dark made me shiver, but it wasn’t all-encompassing like the world in my head, so I pushed through it without too much distress. I was not alone. That made all the difference.
“How did you find me? How long was I missing?” I asked. It felt like days when I was in the dark, but maybe it hadn’t been that long at all.
“Laous thought he was safe, bringing you down here,” Daniel replied. “This entire bunker, plus the land around it, is off the grid, so to speak. The network is weaker here. He made a mistake, though, by not bringing you directly here.”
“The cloud land,” I breathed. “The place he picked up the tracker.”
“Why did he take you there?” Emma asked. “That land has nothing in it to help him contain or hide you. It’s just a place the council uses for the bigger meetings.”
I shook my head. “It wasn’t Laous that took me there … it was Rao. He—”
“What did you just say?” Daniel interrupted, sounding like I’d completely taken him by surprise.
“Uh…” I faltered for a second. “When Laous first tried to take me, I fought him off. Knocked him out, too. I should have run, but I decided to try and find Emma’s necklace first. Which would stop Laous from finding any more of the secret keepers.” I winced thinking about what had happened next. “I missed Rao stepping out of a transporter. He hit me hard enough to disorient me, and then took Laous and me to the cloud land.”
Daniel’s voice was glacial. “He hit you?”
I nodded, not going to lie to him. His body started to shake, shoulders lifting as he heaved in breaths. I turned panicked eyes on Lexen, who had already stepped in front of Emma and me.
“Daniel does not take kindly to men hitting women. Especially not his woman,” he explained, and I tried not to act stupid about being called “Daniel’s.” “And Rao is the name of Daniel and Fraizer’s older brother – the one that’s missing, presumed dead. The story was that he fell into the justices and no one knew. Trapped in the Flames of Ether, where the fire can even burn an Imperial.”
Everything stilled in me, the badly scarred and disfigured guy was … Daniel’s brother. He must have fallen into the flames, as they’d thought, but he didn’t die. Laous saved him, but also kept him hidden away. But why?
The heat around Daniel increased; he was not dealing well. My insides and instincts were screaming at me to get my ass over there and comfort him, but Lexen kept pushing me back, sidling left and right as I tried to step around him.
“I need to go to him,” I finally demanded, having enough of this game we were playing.
Lexen just shook his head, crossing huge arms over his chest. He was doing a very good impression of a warrior statue. “Nope. Not happening. Dan is not in control of himself right now, and he would kill me if I let you get hurt. Or attempt to kill me anyway. I’m pretty much unkillable.”
On anyone else that would have sounded like the worst kind of arrogance, but for Lexen it seemed to be fact. Still, he was underestimating me and my need to get to Daniel, whom I didn’t believe for one second would hurt me. I trusted him.
Hoping to throw Lexen off, I relaxed my stance, taking a casual step closer to Emma. She caught my eye and I saw her grin. She already knew what I was planning. In an unexpected show of solidarity, she reached forward and wrapped her arm across Lexen’s bicep, distracting him. Before he realized what was happening, I dive-rolled right by the side of his leg, popping up behind him. I pushed off toward Daniel, determined to reach his side.
Before I could get close though, Lexen zipped forward and scooped me up, holding my struggling body against his.
“Stop it,” he demanded. “I’m trying to save your life.”
Flames burst to life across from us; the night air lit up, showcasing the rocky, cave-like structures around us.
Emma sounded a little nervous now. “Lex … babe, I think you should let her go now. Remember how you reacted when someone was holding me back from you.”
Daniel’s face was completely covered in flames, eyes glowing as they locked ominously on Lexen. I had stopped fighting, because I really didn’t want to get anyone burned, but it didn’t seem to matter to the Imperial overlord. With almost comical slowness, Lexen lowered me back to the ground and stepped away. He never took his eyes off Daniel, and I swore I saw something bubble under Lexen’s skin, but then it was gone. I didn’t even want to know what Lexen and the Draygo people did, because that bubble had not been human. Or Daelighter. It had been very animal-like.
No time to focus on that. I had a soulmate, or whatever the hell label we were putting on it, to talk off a proverbial ledge. “Dan, look at me.” I kept my voice low. “You need to calm down and talk to me, because I can’t stand not being able to touch you.” I was going to risk the fire in about five seconds. “I need you.”
I took another step closer, and as his intense heat washed over me I almost closed my eyes at the comforting sensation. It reminded me of the burning I had done in the dark lands. As I reached for him, Daniel sucked his power back in, the fire disappearing before I could make contact. But it didn’t matter. My fire was burning now too, whooshing up from my center, filling the world with warmth, life, and death. I lifted my arms, letting the red lick down my skin and light up the world, just as Daniel had done.
“Callie, are you okay?” His concern broke through my euphoria, and I couldn’t stop the brilliant grin.
“Better than okay, I’m a goddamn weapon.”
He had no qualms about touching me like this, and as soon as I was in his arms his body responded to my fire with some of its own.
“Well, I thought I’d seen everything, but this is new.” Emma’s drawled statement would have been hilarious if I wasn’t totally distracted by Daniel.
As our eyes locked, I was astonished to see that his were now a rich, molten red. Swirling. Mesmerizing. “What is happening to me?” I asked him, my voice a deeper resonance than I had ever heard before. “The fire … it fills me with life.”
Daniel shifted one hand underneath me, using his strength to hold me up against him. “You’re tied to the land of Imperial now. Fire is our specialty. We burn the dead and renew the souls.” As his voice vibrated with power, it sent my flames even higher. Along with the emotions in my heart.
I love him.
I might be a clueless, sheltered, naïve human, but there was no way I could deny the truth any longer. Daniel and me, we were a team. We had a bond that could not be broken. And I truly believed this had been decided on the day I was born in House of Imperial and assigned to be a secret keeper. I didn’t say those three words out loud, because it was too fast. We hadn’t known each other long, and I seriously didn’t want to freak him out.
But I could admit it to myself. Finally.
“We really have to go. Do you think you two could maybe quench that fire and pick this up later?” Lexen’s question sounded slightly amused and slightly intrigued. But it was enough to snap us out of our fire bubble.
The moment we separated, I managed to contain the energy back to my center, where it simmered away happily. What a relief to know I could access the fire outside of the dark world in my head. To test myself, I brought it forth again, directing it to burn in my right hand. Five flames sprung up on the end of my fingertips, nothing else on my body alight.
My wide eyes lifted to Daniel’s and a grin quirked up one corner of his mouth. “You learn quickly,” he said, dropping a kiss onto my forehead.
A breathy sigh escaped me, and I knew I was turning into one of those girls. But seriously … love was the best feeling in the world. And also the scariest.
My feelings gave him so much power over me and it was kind of terrifying.
Before I could dwell on it too much and freak myself out even more, we were moving again, this time with urgency.
Chapter 13
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The trip out of the secret brainwashing facility took a few hours. I asked them lots of questions, learning about how they’d tracked me down. Laous had been easy to follow, apparently, until they reached the part of Imperial where the network cut off. After this, they’d searched the old-fashioned way.
By the time they found me I had been in that tank for three days, the liquid keeping me alive, which was why I didn’t thirst or hunger. I was extremely lucky they got to me when they did; my mind had been so fragile. Even now I still felt a little strung out, thoughts wispier than usual.
When we finally reached the spot Daniel could call a transporter down to, I asked, “This tracker on Laous … is it a permanent thing?”
Lexen shook his head. “No, it was designed similarly to those computer viruses you get on Earth. It lay in wait, and when triggered silently, attached itself to Laous’ energy, leaving behind a trail. We’ll only get one shot. The moment he knows someone is tracking him, he’ll be able to find and destroy the trace.”
I didn’t pretend to understand how their network worked, but I liked that it was making it hard for Laous to stay under the radar.
To call the transporter, Daniel planted his boots into the ground and I felt the buzz of fire power start to spread under his skin. There was a tingling in my feet, even through the soles of my shoes. Lights slowly appeared, one by one, intertwining with each other to form the familiar ball of a transporter. Daniel took my hand, Lexen took Emma’s, and then we stepped through, reappearing on the metal platform between the three lands.
A group was already waiting there for us, gathered near the section with all the trees. I recognized a few of the Daelighters: Chase and Xander, along with Star, who was with two tall, dark-haired men who looked a lot like Lexen. Those five broke away from the main group and hurried toward us.
