“So we turn Illyana and her girls loose. Let them do more than scare. Thom and Brigid can take care of themselves, if they’ve got a heads up.”
“What about you and Kendry?” Axel asks.
You better not be thinking of leaving us behind. The thought already has me bristling. But then Shelly speaks up. “I can shoot. I’m pretty sure Kendry can, too.” She looks at me, and I nod. I was hunting with my dad as soon as I could hold a bb gun. I’m a West Virginia girl, through and through. “Get us guns, and we can help.”
Axel doesn’t look thrilled by the idea. At least, not judging by the hard-eyed look he’s giving me. I don’t care. He’s overruled. “Fine. But you stay at the back, and out of trouble as much as you can.”
“What about the other humans?” asks Shelly.
Axel looks past us to the bedraggled group we freed. He shrugs. “Ask for volunteers. They’re on their own from here, but if any want to come and try to free the others, I won’t turn them away.”
*
Turns out more of them want to come than any of us expect. We end up with thirty people out of about eighty, all eager to help. There were enough from Greenbriar who recognized us, and they’d already spread the word about who we were. So with about three, maybe four hours until dawn, we hike back the way we came. The rain is getting heavier, but at least it will keep it dark longer. Axel flies ahead to warn our ghost girls, and have them warn Thom and Brigid.
I hope it all works.
As the edge of the trees comes in sight, Axel reappears, moving so fast and so silent, even in this rain and the trees and the night. One minute I’m walking along, and the next he swoops up beside me. And then everybody stops, because he’s got his wings out, blocking the way.
He motions to us. “They found the tracks.”
Shit.
“How many?” whispers Shelly.
“Only a few.”
Axel looks at us and nods. “Stay here. Stay quiet.”
It’s hard not to feel useless at times like these.
He disappears once again. Already, I can hear the sound of gunfire. Shelly’s hand finds mine, squeezes it tight. I give her an understanding look, because I know she feels the same way I do. Both worried and annoyed. Maybe more worry on her part, and annoyance on mine. But still.
The silence returns in no time, and so does Axel, come to wave us on. He stands there waiting in the rain, dark and wet, and holding a gun. I take it when he holds it out, do a quick check. It’s an M-16A, the clip’s about two-thirds full. Axel’s eyebrows shoot up as he watches me. “Dad had one,” is all I say.
The remaining weapons and ammo are parceled out. I see Shelly grab another M-16A, and then we’re back on the move. The bodies we leave where they are. Time is pressing.
“I don’t doubt you can use that thing, but you’re not shooting at deer now.”
Like I don’t know that. I shrug, not wanting to let him hear the nervousness I’m sure will be in my voice. I can feel his eyes on me, measuring, waiting, but I don’t want to look back. Too worried about what he’ll see if I do.
And then we’re there.
“Now, Illyana. Tell them now.”
Illyana’s laugh echoes through the night at Axel’s words. Lightning strikes, blinding everyone. All hell breaks loose, and all we can do is stare.
I’ve never seen a ghost go all poltergeist before. I never want to again. It’s truly the stuff of which nightmares are made. It’s terrifying to be attacked by something that can hurt you, and you can’t even touch it, because it doesn’t have substance. Illyana’s ghosts light the plant’s grounds up like a nuclear reactor. It’s like they’re everywhere, shrieking, knocking soldiers down, ghosting through them. They knock around heavy equipment and vehicles like toys, and lift soldiers up into the night, only to drop them.
All I know is I’m glad they’re on our side.
“Come on.”
Axel’s gravelly voice breaks our collective gaze. I can feel the people behind me shaking off their stupor, recalling why we’re here. Axel takes a last look at me, and throws himself into the air. We follow, moving towards the chaos the ghosts cause. Soldiers run, screaming, shooting. They’re everywhere. A few shoot at us. We shoot. Axel drops and climbs, impossibly fast. The rain becomes a downpour, and what little I could see before becomes even less. My hand keeps swiping at my face in a hopeless attempt to brush the water away, to see better. I know it’s futile, but I can’t help it.
“This way,” whispers Illyana’s voice in my ear. I follow, doing my best to ignore the fact that I’m sopping wet, and I can’t see five feet in front of me.
When the doors of the plant loom up in front of me, it’s a shock. The soldiers on guard shout something, but I can’t make it out over the screams, the rain, the shooting, and everything else. Their guns come up. So does mine.
Dad’s voice echoes in my head.
Breathe slow. Finger light on the trigger. Wait for that moment between inhaling and exhaling. Don’t pull the trigger, just squeeze it lightly. That’s it.
The man to the right drops. The voice in my head becomes mine again.
Don’t think about how that was a person. Don’t.
The one next to him falls a second later, before I can even shift targets.
Shelly stands next to me, her own gun up. I nod, and we move forward.
If the door makes a sound, I can’t hear it over the surrounding noise. We don’t look at the soldiers we’ve killed. I can’t deal with that right now. Right now, all that matters is finding Mom. Getting out. Staying safe. Nothing else.
It repeats in my mind like a recording, keeping me going.
Inside, there are a handful of safety lights on, which makes a nice change from pitch dark and wet. But it cuts both ways.
“What do you think—”
The guard’s words are cut off in a scream by the familiar bellow of a bull.
“Hey Buc.” The minotaur they pulled out of Greenbriar is actually one I know. I didn’t notice at the time, but I’m glad to see him. He towers over me, all dark red fur and muscle. The foot-long horns that top his head don’t hurt either.
“Kendry. That’s an awful big gun, you know.”
I shrug. “Not really. It gets the job done.”
He snorts. “That it does. Where’s that gargoyle of yours?”
I think I blush, but I’m too cold and wet to be sure. “He’s not mine. And he’s out clearing our way. I guess the others found you, then?”
He smiles, which on him is a little disconcerting. “Yeah, Thom broke us out. Glad he found us, there are limits to what even I can break,” he adds with a wink.
I laugh. “Where’re he and Brigid?”
He snorts again. “Thom’s back getting everyone together. Brigid’ll be along. Has a surprise for these boys.” He shakes his head. “There’s a reason the Celts thought the Children of Danu were gods.”
I raise my eyebrow, but he doesn’t seem to want to share more, so I let it go. “Okay then. Have you seen Mom?”
This stops him. “Thom told me you guys were liberating the barracks. She wasn’t with that crew?”
Oh God. I manage to shake my head, even as the world threatens to crash down on me.
“Well shit. Whoa, easy girl,” he adds, catching me as I reel. “We’ll find her. Come on.”
I follow, not really seeing where we’re going. I know Shelly’s behind me, and Buc’s in front, and there are others, but Mom is the only thing I can think about.
Oh God.
She’s not here.
God oh God oh God.
I already lost Dad. I can’t lose Mom.
Shelly’s hand guides me from behind. I’m grateful for it. Some part of my brain notices that it’s quiet in here, where it should be noisy. They must have stopped the machines when the fighting started. The shooting and screaming continue outside.
“Shelly!”
I turn at the voice, even though it’s not my name being called
. I hadn’t realized we’d stopped, or that there were people in front of us. Or that it was lighter, now that we were on the factory’s main floor. But the tall werewolf that barrels past me is hard to miss. Caleb’s dark, lanky form grabs Shelly up in the tightest bear hug I’ve ever seen.
“God, what are you doing here? You could’ve been killed!” His eyes search her face as he sets her down, his thumbs stroking the tears that stream down her cheeks.
“I couldn’t leave you! And you know I can take care of myself.”
Shelly’s crying so hard, and smiling through the tears. I want to cry with her. For a moment, I’m caught up in their happiness. But I have to look away as Caleb pulls her into a crushing kiss.
“Kendry!”
Thom’s voice catches me, and I spin, grateful for the distraction. “Thom! Please tell me you’ve seen Mom.”
He shakes his head. “No luck. Caleb said they took a handful of people, only about four or five. Your mom was one of them. But I don’t know where that cigar-smoking son-of-a-bitch took them yet.”
Shitshitshitshitshit. Dammit! The wave of happiness I felt watching Shelly and Caleb is erased by my worry.
“Easy, Kendry. We’ll find her. I promise.”
I nod, chewing on my bottom lip because I don’t dare say anything. I’m too nervous, too angry. He gives me a grin and a fist bump on the shoulder. “Nice gun, by the way.”
That earns him a little grin. “Thanks. Where’d Brigid go?”
Thom grins. “She said something about a surprise she had prepared.”
Buc grunts. “Time we were going, folks.”
“I’m not leaving without Mom.”
“Don’t plan to, Kendry. But we won’t find her in this factory, so let’s be about it. Besides, I’ve been itchin’ to set off these lovely bombs I planted. We ready?” he asks someone behind me.
They must nod, because Buc does too, and says, “Good. Let’s go.”
He leads us a different route from the way we came in, and before I know it, we’re outside in the pouring rain again. Running. And then the early morning darkness lights up, because Buc’s bombs blow the plant behind us to pieces, and the force of it throws us all in the mud. I roll over to look at the fire, but my attention is caught instead by the giant figure it illuminates.
Brigid, in all her ancient glory. The Celtic Goddess come to life, sword in hand, sweeping her foes before her. It’s an amazing sight, and Buc’s comment makes perfect sense now. No surprise at all she was thought to be a god. Towering as high as the buildings, dressed in ancient armor, she glows with the light of brilliant white fire. Long black hair in multiple braids, her face is painted with white markings. A sleeveless tunic reveals silver armbands winding around her biceps. She looks unstoppable, next to the dwarfed soldiers she’s fighting.
Axel drops out of the sky next to me. “Are you alright?” I nod. “Everyone get out?”
“They did,” answers Buc. “Except there’re still a few missing. Including Sandra.”
“Then why did you blow the plant?”
Buc snorts. “Our missing few weren’t in there. And what they were making, it wasn’t good.”
“Where are they, then?”
His shrug looks crazy in the dark, early morning downpour, illuminated by the fire of the burning munitions plant. “Haven’t figured that out.”
Axel takes a deep breath, looking like he wants to punch something. I can’t blame him. Nothing has gone right since the soldiers showed up. He glances at me, and then looks back to Buc. “Get them out of here. Kendry can show you where to go.”
“Dammit, Axel, no! You’re not sending me away!”
“Kendry, please—”
“I’m not leaving without Mom. Period.” His dark eyes do their best to bore a hole in me, but I’m not budging. “You can glare at me all you like. I’m sleep deprived, soaking wet, cold, and cranky. And I’m damn well coming with you.”
He keeps glaring anyway. Finally, he looks away. “Shelly…”
“I’ll show him.” I don’t ask where she appeared from, just give her a silent thank you.
Axel nods, and turns back to me. “Let’s move. Dawn isn’t far away.”
I don’t think I will ever get used to flying with Axel. Even with the rain pelting me so hard it stings, it’s exhilarating. My borrowed M-16A is slung across my back, while both arms hold tight to his shoulders and chest. He wanted his hands free. How could I object to wrapping my wet body around his, or burying my face in his neck? In any other circumstances, this would be sexy as hell. It’s still sexy as hell, even with the fighting around us and the rain, and my fear for Mom. And then I feel guilty, thinking about all that, so I try to stop focusing on the warm, wet skin beneath his trench coat, and the pumping muscles of his wings against my abdomen.
Yeah right.
He pulls us up higher and higher, above the fighting, to where I can see the burning factory and the billowing smoke. Higher even than Brigid, who towers over everyone, a fearsome image glowing bluish-white and raining destruction. When I see paras like this, so powerful and awesome, I seriously can’t imagine why they ever bothered hiding.
But maybe they didn’t hide. Maybe humankind moved on, away from our gods, and we… I don’t know. Forgot how to see them.
There is a building to my right. Brigid’s voice is suddenly in my head, echoing with her power. It makes me flinch.
“I see it,” Axel answers. I can feel his voice reverberate against me.
Illyana says they are there. But hurry, dawn is coming, and I cannot maintain this form.
“We will,” he answers, and his wings beat harder, taking us there.
The building, like so many of them, is tall and metal, with row on row of windows. He dives towards them, as if ready to crash through, and it’s all I can do to hold on tighter.
“Kendry!”
I flinch, holding him tighter. “What?”
“Any way you can stop strangling me for a minute, and shoot through those windows?”
Of course he’s not going to crash through them. Not while he’s flesh, not stone, and not with me on his back. While I’m busy berating myself, I work the gun around and into position. He dives past the windows, and I let off a few rounds.
“Perfect!” he shouts, as the glass shatters, and then we’re barreling through. The only light comes from a single office on the upper floor. Soldiers guard the door, but their surprise makes them slow. I hold on tight as Axel swings around, knocking two off the catwalk. My gun takes out the third.
I slide to the floor as Axel lands. The door holds little resistance against his booted foot, but inside, everything changes.
“Mom!”
“Kendry, no!”
Cigar-face is there, of course. Bastard. He cocks his gun, pressing the muzzle to Mom’s temple. Oh God.
“‘Mom,’ is it? Tell me, Sandra, is she his?” Silence from her, but even from this distance I can see her eyes begging. “Is she his?”
“Axel, you have to get her out—”
Cigar-face slaps her, and I almost don’t stay where I am. But my gun hangs useless at my side. There’s no way I could get it up fast enough to help, not with the several that are already trained on Axel and me.
So much for a rescue.
Cigar-face turns back to us. “Lieutenant, give the gargoyle a taste of what’s coming. Shoot him. And bring me the girl, unharmed.”
“No!”
Too much happens at once.
The soldiers take aim.
I jump in front of Axel.
He tries to push me behind him.
Cigar-face shouts, Mom shouts, everyone shouts.
The first shot goes wide. Several of them do. They’re trying to shoot around me and hit Axel, but they’re no sharp-shooters. Axel’s backing up, pulling me out the door behind us, trying to keep moving.
Mom’s panicked voice cuts through the noise. “Axel, get her out!”
“Shut up, woman!” Cigar-face
turns, but she surprises him. He may have known Mom’s name, but he sure doesn’t know her. Her low tackle brings him crashing into his own men. I scream as a shot cuts into my left arm, but not as loud as Axel roars when it hits him. It burns.
“Kendry!” Mom screams, even as Cigar-face throws her off him. “Axel, go!”
“Mom!” Axel’s arms are still pulling me away, through the door and onto the catwalk. Everyone is screaming again, including me. I’m crying from the burn of the bullet that’s torn through my arm, and I’m crying from the sight of Cigar-face yanking Mom around by her hair. And then I’m not crying but gasping, because I’m falling, in Axel’s arms, because we’ve gone over the edge.
We’re falling, not flying.
The soldiers run to the catwalk, firing after us. Axel’s wings catch wind, jerking us upwards. The bullets that were fired at us strike something below, and even as Axel struggles to lift us higher, that something explodes. The force of it launches us up and out, blasting us through the windows—unfortunately, not the window’s I’d shot out before. There’s glass and fire and metal and everything everywhere, and we’re falling again.
But Axel never lets go. Even though I can feel his blood, running warm against the cold rain, mingling with mine, and I can hear him hurting, feel him struggling. He never gives up. He gets us airborne again. Below us, more gunfire and explosions. Brigid is gone. Illyana’s ghosts are fading out. The rain still falls, soaking us again in seconds.
“Kendry—” His voice is strained. “Help me.”
“How?”
“I can’t hold... My arm.” He’s gasping now, and I’m worried. “Turn. Turn around, hold on to me.”
It takes some work, but we manage it. I can’t hold on with more than one arm, and neither can he. And somehow, sometime, the sun must have come back up. Because he’s stone again, and not bleeding like I thought. The bullet that caught us both is like molten lava inside his shoulder, and what I thought was blood is burning, melting stone.
“Oh my God, Axel!”
“It’s fine, Kendry. I’ll be fine.”
His voice is weaker, and even in the rain, he’s not fine, and I’m more and more aware of it. His flight path is erratic. He’s flying low, barely above the trees. And his wings aren’t beating quite in sync.
ParaWars Uprising Page 6
