I had to get back to Ten-two as quick as possible. I ground my teeth in frustration as the taxi moved like molasses through the rush-hour traffic.
Chapter 22
Wednesday 18:10
I shoved open the front door to Ten-two and charged into the hallway. Hearing voices, I entered the living room. Pete and Tyler were watching another Harry Potter movie.
“Did anyone pass?” I shouted.
“Pass?” Pete asked.
“Go past the hallway and up to the rooms upstairs? Any strangers?”
Tyler shrugged. “How would we know?”
It had probably been stupid to even ask. I sprinted up the two flights of stairs. I slowed at the door to the attic room, pausing to imagine Jo looking up and smiling at me as I walked in. Positive thoughts.
I turned the handle and pushed it open. Jo’s bed was empty, and her blanket lay on the ground.
The nugget of hope that I had nourished all the way over disappeared in a rush. I walked further inside, looking around, and the door swung shut behind me. Other than the blanket, nothing else was out of place. No sign of a struggle. That was good, at least.
Yarley had sent someone for her, I knew. He had told Duffy to take me in the opposite direction so I couldn’t interfere. The faces on the posters above her bed glared down at me. Steve Jobs, Mahatma Gandhi, Teddy Roosevelt all blamed me, and they were right to do so. I sat down on Jo’s bed, lifted her blanket, and buried my face into it.
A few moments later, the door opened. I released the blanket, looking up to see Alex standing in the doorway.
He saw the expression on my face first, then the empty bed. He rushed over. “Jo?”
“She’s been taken.”
“What do you mean taken? By the thing that is inside her?”
“No. By actual people. She’s been kidnapped.”
“Is this your doing?”
“No. I mean...” I had told Yarley about the elemental inside Jo. I couldn’t have known though. “No.”
Alex shoved me in the chest.
I stood. “Hey!”
He shoved me again.
“Where were you?” I demanded. “I asked you to stay and take care of her.” That was unfair. What could he have done against creatures like Jace and Heff?
“What are you?”
“What do you mean?”
He shoved me again. This time I stumbled back. When I regained my balance, I grabbed him around the collar and drove him back against the wall. One of my motherboards fell and smashed against the floor, components scattering.
“What are you going to do?” Alex jutted his chin out. “Are you going to burn me to a cinder?”
I gave him a shake. “Of course not.”
“How can I believe you? You are one of them, aren’t you? A shade?”
“Don’t push me. I’m hurting as much as you.”
“No, you aren’t.” Tears wet his cheeks and he rubbed them away fiercely. “You’ve known Jo less than a year. She’s my sister.”
“Of course she is, I’m sorry.” I released him. “I’m going to get her back, I promise.”
“No. You are going to tell me who has her, and I’m going to get her back.”
“Alex, I know how much you love her, but it has to be me.” Because I had brought it on. “Sometimes love isn’t enough. I have... powers.” That I didn’t dare use.
“I know you came from Brimstone. That an elemental took over you when you were younger and that you are now a fire sorcerer.”
“Where did you learn all this?” I didn't know whether to say I was actually a sentinel, not a shade. Especially since I wasn’t certain. Plus, the more Alex found out, the more involved he became. I had to do a better job protecting him than I did his sister.
“Who took Jo?”
I had to tell him something though. “The same people who attacked the two of you on the top of Jeffries Parking Lot. The Reds.”
“Okay. I’ll deal with this.” He walked away.
“Wait,” I said. “Where are you going? What are you going to do?”
He pulled the door open.
“I know you stopped going to school.”
He turned back. “Of course I go to school.”
“I saw your workbook was empty. In the closet downstairs.”
“Which one?”
It had been math. “English.”
“We changed the syllabus in English. New workbooks.”
“You’re lying.”
Alex’s mouth twisted. “You? Accusing people of lying? Are you sure you want to go down that route?”
I opened my mouth to reply, then snapped it shut. He had me there.
“I didn’t think so.” He left.
The door swung shut behind him, and the stairs rattled as he descended at a run. I started after him, then stopped.
I wasn’t able to rein Alex in. I’d just have to free Jo before Alex had a chance to cause more trouble.
I was pretty sure I knew where to find Jo. If only she wasn’t surrounded by shades.
Chapter 23
Wednesday 20:25
The neon sign for Burgundy was in cursive script with the tail of the y pulled all the way across the bottom. It was tilted slightly to the side and lit up in red, more of a scarlet color than a burgundy. It would have fit nicely on Alex’s wall, though even he wasn’t stupid enough to steal it.
Jace stood outside the bar, smoking a cigarette. I sat on the Vespa, fifty paces away, hidden in the shadows.
Coward, came Jerome’s thought.
What do you know about courage?
More than you. I came into existence fighting. I’m a survivor. Like every shade, I am a veteran of the eternal war that rages in Brimstone.
Rather uppity talk for a twist of barbed wire.
Jerome was right though. I had been sitting there for over half an hour, and despite telling myself that I was staking out the place with the intention of gaining more information, it was cowardice that kept my butt glued to the seat of the scooter.
I knew Jo was in there, but I didn’t see any way I was going to be allowed to just take her out. And with the number of shades in that bar, fighting was a suicide mission.
The weak of heart never achieve anything, Jerome told me.
Shut up.
Do you even care about Jo?
Shut it. I got off the Vespa and walked across the road.
Jace saw me, gave a tight smile, then dropped her cigarette to the ground. “So you’re back already.”
“Miss me?”
“Something like that.” I moved straight for the door, and Jace put out a hand to block me. “Just wanted to go in for a drink.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I’m barred?”
“What day is it today? Wednesday, right? You’ll be welcome again on Friday.”
“Why Friday?”
“The magic that has the elemental trapped will last another day. After the girl is reborn, you can return and we’ll discuss a new future.”
Jo only had a single day. “I can’t allow the transformation. You have to let me see Yarley.”
“Yarley has already made his decision.”
“I’m not leaving until I see him.”
She considered me for a moment, then shrugged. “You won’t change his mind. But I don’t want to stand here arguing all night with you.” She moved away from the front of the bar, stopping a few paces away. She took a key from her pocket, unlocked a small green door, then gestured me inside. “After you.”
I walked a few paces into the room, then paused. The place was pitch dark. Jace switched on the light, and several bulbs winked into life above our heads. We were in a storeroom. Various crates and kegs were stacked at the back.
“What’s going on? Where’s Yarley?”
Jace closed the door behind her. “He’s not here.”
I backed away. “We already had our fun on the top of the parking lot. No need to repeat the dose.”
“But you regret what you did that day, don’t you?” Jace smiled. “Are you going to use your fire magic like that again?”
“If I have to.”
“I don’t think so. Not only do you have to worry about the consequences, such as more unexpected elements, the other sentinels will have you put to death if they find out what you did.”
“They will?” Weren’t the sentinels the good guys?
“You really are a child and know nothing,” Jace said. “The girl is one of us now. It is better this way. She’ll be glad after.”
I shook my head. “It won’t be her then.”
“It’s not like that. The elemental doesn’t just take over, it’s more of a merging. I still have the memories and some aspects of the personality of the woman who possessed this body.”
“But you are not her.”
“There’s no turning back. I can’t go back to being the person I was before the elemental entered me and neither can your friend. You both have to accept the new reality. It’ll go easier for her if she doesn’t fight too hard. And the same for you.”
I shook my head.
“Well, I’ve given you the chance to take the easy way.” Jace reached behind her and picked up a large crowbar from where it had leaned against the wall in the shadows. “All that’s left is the hard way and the really hard way.”
I backed away. “I don’t want to ask.”
“The hard way is that I beat you over the head with this iron bar until you see sense. The really hard way is if you force me to transform. I let you away last time, but trust me, you don’t want to face the eagle again.”
“If I can just talk to Yarley—”
Jace took a fast step forward and struck out. I jerked back, but the crowbar caught me on the cheek. My head snapped to the side and pain exploded across my face.
I stumbled backward. “There was no call for that. We are still talking.” My fingers touched my cheek and came away bloody.
“That you are still talking means I didn’t hit you hard enough.” Jace swung again.
I jumped back and avoided the swipe this time. My back touched wooden crates. I could feel the heat of magic inside me, but I didn’t draw on it. Magic always made things worse. “I have an idea,” I said. “Hear me out.”
Jace swung for my head again. I ducked and dodged to the side. The crowbar smashed through the crates behind me. Glass shattered, and the smell of whiskey filled the storeroom.
Jace wrenched the crowbar free of the crate and thrust it forward like a sword. I retreated but it still caught me under the ribs. I gripped my side and looked for a way out, but Jace had me cornered.
“I want to offer myself as a vessel for the elemental inside Jo, inside the girl.”
Jace didn’t answer, simply swung again, catching me in the chest.
I gasped with pain. “Please, listen. Isn’t it better to have a powerful sentinel as a shade rather than a girl?” I had caused the elemental to possess her, so giving up myself to save her was the least I could do.
Jace didn’t care about my self-sacrifice. She swung her crowbar with grim efficiency, hitting me hard across the knee, then aiming a downward blow toward my head. I twisted my head out of the way, and the bar hit me in the shoulder.
I screamed, falling to the floor. “Please,” I sobbed.
She swung downward again and I curled myself into a ball on the floor, protecting my head with my arms. Agony roared through me as she continued to rain blows down, striking my forearms and back. I couldn’t take the pain anymore.
A gray mist descended.
Chapter 24
Wednesday 22:30
I swirled in the nothingness, lost. Was I dead? It seemed I might be, but I felt a familiar sense of movement. Was I falling through purgatory? I smelt fumes though, and had the sense of vehicles moving around me. Was hell being forever stuck in rush hour?
Just thinking was tiring, and I let myself fall back into the grayness. The mists of nothingness went on forever, and I gently fell deeper and deeper into it, relaxing into a cool embrace. After enduring so much pain, it felt good to let myself be carried. I could forget my worries.
My worries. Jo. I had to save her.
I focused hard and realized I was riding a scooter. With that awareness came pain. Agony spiked through me and I retreated back into the comforting grayness.
Falling. Forever falling.
Something was terribly wrong.
If I was riding a scooter, then I wasn’t dead. I was alive, but I wasn’t in control of myself. I forced myself to focus again, seeking out my senses and concentrating until I could see and smell and feel.
Pain roared through me once more. Bubbling Beelzebub, I didn’t want to feel. The grayness was near, and it called me back, promising an end to the pain. It would have been easy to fall back into the comforting mists but I didn’t allow myself. I embraced the pain, made it part of me and saw through it.
A truck blasted past me, and the Vespa wobbled. I gripped the handlebars tighter.
No, it wasn’t me. My hands gripped the handlebars, but I wasn’t in control of them.
What in the seven hells was going on? How did I not have control of my own hands?
It’s okay, don’t worry, I’m taking care of you.
The thought came from inside me, but it wasn’t mine.
Who are you? I thought back.
It’s Jerome. Jace was going to kill you so I’m bringing you to safety.
You can do that?
It’s why Flavini gave you the necklace. So I could protect you in a time of need. Release the pain and relax.
That made sense. Flavini had a reason to give me the necklace after all. Relieved, I drifted back into the grayness. I caught a last glimpse of six lanes of busy traffic, then, I saw nothing more. The pain faded and disappeared.
I drifted, floating in a sea of nothingness, letting my worries fall away. Letting everything fall away. I could do that because Jerome was taking care of me.
No. Some small part of me burned hot and rebellious. Something wasn’t right. I concentrated on my last memory. Six lanes of the traffic. And across the way a sign that said... Lusteer, twenty miles.
We were on the interstate, leaving Lusteer. Getting away from Jace.
Jo. The thought flared strongly. She only had one day left before the elemental took full control. I couldn’t leave. I had to save her.
I swam out of the nothingness and back to the pain, back to consciousness.
I’m taking back control.
You aren’t ready. Let me take care of you for a while.
I’m taking back control. The thought was firmer. My awareness of my surroundings increased. The landscape brightened, and the colors became more vivid as I left the grayness behind.
No you don’t. This is my body now. I’ve waited long enough to have one.
My lethargy disappeared, and I finally realized what was happening. Jerome had possessed me. He wanted my body.
I wasn’t going to let that happen. I concentrated on my hands and made them move. The Vespa swerved and almost crashed against a truck in the lane to the right.
Jerome regained control and straightened the scooter. Stop. You are going to get us both killed.
I’m going to get me killed, I told Jerome, not you. That wasn’t exactly what I meant. It’s my body. If it gets shredded up underneath a ten wheeler, then I die, not you.
No, that wasn’t what I was trying to express, unless I was aiming for the worst trash talk ever.
I summoned the full force of my will and imagined myself having full control of my arms, my legs, my eyes, everything. It was actually difficult. Having control of oneself happened naturally. How does one relearn that?
Gradually, I felt more sensations until I could feel the handlebar grips under my fingers, the seat under my backside, the floorboard under my feet. The wind whipped through my hair and traffic thundered past me on the left. A turn-off was coming up and I directed
the Vespa to the right.
A horn blared and I swiftly directed the scooter back into my lane as a car roared past on the inside. Beelzebub. I needed to concentrate more on my driving and less on my trash talking.
I checked my mirror, indicated, then pulled back to the right. Time to cross the overpass and return to Lusteer. Don’t you dare try to wrest back control, I told Jerome. You failed.
I just helped, Jerome grumbled. Would you rather be on the floor under Jace’s crowbar again?
Yes. I mean no. I mean there aren’t only two choices here.
You just about failed to get yourself killed. And since you’re not a quitter, you’re going to do it right next time, right?
Exactly. I mean... shut up.
A car beeped and I dragged the scooter back into the center of the lane. I shut Jerome’s voice out of my head and concentrated on driving. Spikes of pain greeted every new movement, and I knew simply getting back to Lusteer was going to be a mission in itself.
Chapter 25
Thursday 00:15
My arms shivered with exhaustion. I held the handlebars too tightly, but I didn’t dare relax. Even with only a few streets left before I reached Ten-two, I wasn’t sure I would make it. Every new turn seemed an impossible effort.
This late, Fenster Street and its surrounds were empty of traffic. That was the only reason I hadn’t crashed. The Vespa swayed back and forth across the full width of the street.
I swerved around the final corner and onto Fenster Street. When the silhouette of Ten-two rose up before me, I wasn’t sure I had ever been so happy to see anything in my life. Outside it, though, was parked a motorcycle, and sitting astride it was a woman. What was Florence doing there?
I drifted slowly past her; I no longer knew how to stop. Too tired to do anything else, I simply turned the handlebars toward the sidewalk, and I crashed straight into a parked car.
The Vespa fell to the side, and I landed on my shoulder. I screamed in agony. The fall hadn’t been that hard, but it was the same shoulder Jace had hit with the crowbar. My collarbone was possibly broken.
Indicator lights flashed and the electronic beeping of a car alarm broke the night’s calm.
Fire Sorcerer (The Sentinels Book 1) Page 9
