Fates Divided

by Jules Barnard

  “Well, whatever. I don’t care how we get there.” She paced a few steps. “Believe me, I don’t want to leave—that bomb scared the hell out of me—but I can’t stay back while Reese is in danger.”

  Keen’s gaze fixed on her. For a moment, she thought he’d refuse her again. “Grab what you need. I will give you one hour, beginning now, to find your friend. Not one minute longer.”

  Holy shit. He’d do it?

  Elena didn’t waste time overanalyzing Keen’s motives. He left the room and she stripped out of the Fae top she’d changed into for the lab this morning. She slipped on the blue tank top she’d worn beneath her pullover when she entered Emain, so she wouldn’t stand out, but her black Fae pants and boots would have to do for the rest of her outfit. She didn’t have time to change them.

  Elena emerged from her room seconds later, and Keen ushered her down the hall.

  “You had better hope we find the girl over the next hour. This is the only chance I will give you, and somehow I think I will regret it.”

  They turned into a corridor she’d never been to before, and then Keen pushed her through a door that looked like every other door inside Emain, only it wasn’t.

  It’s a rainbow. Lights flashed before her eyes.

  A second later, she landed on her shoulder and the side of her face with a thud. A building she recognized from the north end of campus—half a mile from the Physics Hall where Emain was situated—stood in front of her.

  Portals weren’t a bad way to travel, if not for the sense of tumbling through a washing machine and being expelled like refuse from a garbage chute.

  Keen landed smoothly on his feet beside her. He pulled out a key fob and aimed it at a nearby parking lot. Car lights flickered a row over.

  Elena rubbed her shoulder and scurried toward the car.

  Keen slowed his sedan as they neared the massive Alpha Chi fraternity house, which looked more like a 1970s medical building.

  Dawson didn’t boast palatial antebellum Greek houses. That would be too classy. Dated fraternity houses went with the town’s primarily seventies façade and the manure-scented air that swept through campus from nearby agricultural fields on hot or windy days.

  Elena hadn’t chosen Dawson for its architecture, but for the small-town feel, the proximity to her family, and because it boasted a top pre-med program. The dated seventies buildings were a tacky bonus.

  She stepped out of the car, the evening dark and shadowed by a new moon. Most of the party was off to the side behind a fence, but a few stragglers trolled the lawn in front of the fraternity house. In a darkened corner, one group stood out because they were huddled with their heads bent together.

  One of the guys glanced up directly at Elena before dipping his head back to the group, and a chill zipped down her spine. She couldn’t make out the guy’s features from this distance, but it didn’t matter. She needed to grab Reese and get the heck out.

  Elena and Keen headed across the lawn to the entrance. While they walked, Elena caught sight of a girl peeling off from the group huddled in the corner, her pale ponytail swinging behind her.

  Elena stopped and stared. For a moment she thought it was Beatrice. The clothes were all wrong, but the set of the girl’s shoulders, her height and hair, seemed uncanny.

  Keen pushed her toward the gate. “Be quick.”

  Right, Reese. Elena had less than an hour now to find her roommate. As long as she stuck close to Keen she’d be safe.

  She inched closer to her Fae bodyguard as they made their way past the gate and through the crowd, hip-hop music blaring in her ears. She would have felt better if Derek were here, but at the same time, she was glad at least one of them was safe. Worrying about Reese was enough. She didn’t want to have to worry about Derek too.

  Bales of hay were pushed up along the sides of the Alpha Chi backyard, evidence of some kind of western-themed party. They saw no sign of Reese on the patio, and her long golden hair tended to stand out.

  Elena peered at a set of stairs to the fraternity house, covered with students holding plastic red cups. “She must be inside,” she told Keen loudly so he could hear.

  He nodded and led her up the steps, the stench of beer, sweat, and urine assaulting her senses as they entered the house. Despite the volume inside, which was marginally quieter than outside, her normally super-silent boots made tearing sounds on the sticky hardwood floor as they crossed into the main room.

  How do guys live like this?

  Elena edged toward the back wall to avoid the stickiest parts of the floor in the center of the room, and looked from one face to the next, while Keen peered over heads. He was so tall he could take everyone in at a glance, and she wasn’t the only person who noticed. Keen received several appreciative gazes from the girls in the room, but he didn’t seem to care. He appeared wholly focused on finding Reese.

  Elena had turned her attention to a room off to the side, when an elbow nailed her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. The stocky guy she’d collided with appeared to have dodged a playful punch from his friend.

  Keen darted over and grabbed the guy’s shoulder, shoving him back.

  “Sorry,” the guy mumbled, holding up his hands. He disappeared into the crowd.

  Her heart sprinting, Elena took a deep breath and tried to clear her head. The guy was just drunk, not a threat, but she couldn’t shake the edgy feeling she’d had since Reese’s text. “Let’s keep searching,” she said.

  Keen stayed with her near the wall, his hand on her shoulder, but they didn’t see Reese anywhere.

  “What about the bathrooms?” she suggested. “It’s the only place we haven’t looked.”

  They walked to the hallway where two doors were labeled in black Sharpie, The Little Girls’ Room and The Men’s Room, set a ways apart.

  Elena didn’t think Reese would be in the guys’ bathroom, but you never knew at these things. Girls got desperate when they had to pee and there was a line.

  A girl with brown hair walked out of the women’s bathroom, her head bent down. Elena gestured to the other door. “You check the men’s, I’ll check the women’s.”

  Keen nodded and paced down the hallway.

  Elena entered the room the girl had exited. Filthy urinals stood on one side, a few stalls with crooked doors on the other.

  She peered under the stalls and walked to the back of the bathroom where two sinks hung beside a window, but no one was there. Where could Reese be?

  Glancing in the mirror, she caught the image of herself, paler than normal, her hair tangled at the ends, but otherwise unharmed from the laboratory explosion, just as Keen had said. She turned on the faucet and splashed water over her face.

  When she straightened, a scream caught in her throat. A man stood behind her, his angry face reflected in the mirror.

  She parted her lips to call for help, but the man’s large hand was already clamping down over her mouth, cutting off her air supply.

  Elena yanked at his fingers to clear her nose, but his grip tightened and he wrapped his other arm firmly around her waist. He lifted her from behind and carried her kicking toward the window.

  The window where another man was waiting—reaching for her.

  25

  Derek’s eyes opened with a start, his heart racing. Dammit, he must have fallen asleep.

  He sat up quickly and rubbed his face, his head woozy from moving too quickly.

  When Keen had taken him to his room after dropping Elena off at the lab, Derek had lain down for only a second, but it was one second too long. He felt like he’d slept for hours.

  He’d been dreaming of Elena, and not one of the good dreams that left him wanting. Elena was lost, calling for help, and he couldn’t get to her. The harder he searched, the farther away her voice grew.

  He turned to the clock on the side table. “Son of a bitch.” Hours had passed since he’d left her.

  Over the last few days, Derek had grown sleep-deprived too, but it
was no excuse. As soon as Keen had left with Elena, Derek had meant to Blend and keep an eye on her.

  He shook the sleep from his head and stood, searching for his phone. He hadn’t been away from her for long, but the idea of losing her, like in his dream, made his mind want to curl in on itself in the fetal position.

  He had agreed to separate rooms because Leo was being an ass and because he figured he’d Blend and follow Elena anyway. The dream brought back doubts.

  He shouldn’t have left her. Not even for a second.

  Derek spotted his phone on the side of the bed and grabbed it. His ability to Blend might not help Elena find a cure for the Fae virus, but it enabled him to maneuver around Emain undetected. The Fae could see him if they were paying attention, which was a bitch, but he’d use caution.

  He transformed quickly and stepped carefully out of his room, watchful of anyone passing the hallway.

  He’d half expected Leo to post a guard outside, but there was no one there. Either Leo wasn’t concerned about Derek leaving his room, or the Fae had bigger issues to worry about. It was the bigger issues that had Derek worried as well, because they involved Elena.

  He jogged down the hall, making several twists and turns inside the complicated Fae building on his way to the lab Elena used in Emain. He stopped a couple of times to dodge Fae guards, but otherwise, the hallways were empty.

  And so was the lab.

  Derek raced back to her room, his heart pounding. Where the hell was she?

  “Traitorous bitch,” the guy holding Elena growled. “You’re working for the wrong side.”

  A loud bang sounded against the bathroom door.

  The man holding her slammed her shoulder against the metal frame of the window as he raced to hoist her through. She wasn’t making it easy. She braced her foot against the wall, fighting him and the other man leaning through the window from the outside who was pulling her up at the same time.

  The bathroom door burst open on a loud splinter. The man behind her let go, and the other man jerked her toward the wall, nearly dislodging her arm from its socket.

  Scuffling and smacking sounds, like fists hitting a dummy bag, or in this case, flesh and bone, sounded from behind. Elena had only one person to contend with now, but he was making decent progress in pulling her through the window.

  She did the only thing she could. She bit his arm.

  He yelped and boxed her ear, loosening his hold enough that she fell back.

  Her vision blanked as she landed on the floor. Then Keen was suddenly in front of her, pushing her against the opposite wall. “Stay here.”

  The man outside was no longer at the window, and the one who’d grabbed her from behind was limping for the door.

  Keen crossed in two long strides and yanked him by his preppy pink polo shirt, dragging him to the ground. Keen twisted the man’s hands behind his back and pinned him to the floor with one knee. “Who sent you?”

  “No one. Can’t a guy have a little fun?”

  “How many of you work for St. Just?”

  “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Keen nodded and released him, allowing the guy to half crawl, half run out the door.

  Elena’s head cleared, the pain from the blow ebbing. “Why did you let him go?”

  “He doesn’t know the answer to my questions, but he could lead us to St. Just.”

  Keen lifted her under her arms and helped her to the door. “We suspected a group of Halven were behind the virus, but it seems St. Just has built an army. Your attacker is more use if he leads us to the others.”

  Elena was dazed, but not entirely out of it. He wasn’t making sense. “Then why aren’t you following him?”

  He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Did you never wonder about my ability?”

  Keen had an ability? Other than being a giant, ruthless bodyguard? “Leo said the Fae have mental or elemental powers. I figured yours was weak and that’s why they put you on guard duty. I assumed brute force was your main talent.”

  He smiled arrogantly. “That too, but like all Fae, I possess a power. Put in the hands of a bodyguard, it becomes extremely useful.”

  “Don’t leave me hanging.” She glanced down at his arm holding her up. “Okay, bad pun. Just tell me what it is. Otherwise, I really think we should go after this guy. We haven’t found Reese and they might have her.”

  “There is no need to go after him,” he said as they made their way out of the fraternity house. No one seemed to pay them a second glance as Keen held her up. Probably because she looked like any other drunk girl getting help from a guy. “Now that I’ve touched Marlon’s thrall, I can listen in on his thoughts.”

  Elena leaned back to stare at his face. “Hold up. You’re following him… in your head. Have you always been able to read minds? Is that how you knew I was in danger?”

  “Yes.”

  She glanced around, trying to make sense of it all. “If you can read minds, then where the hell is Reese? You must know what she’s thinking.”

  Keen urged her on. “I do not believe your friend is here. We must leave and return to Emain.”

  “What do you mean, you don’t believe she’s here? Don’t you know? Why did we come all this way if you can read her mind?”

  Keen went silent.

  “You can hear her, can’t you?”

  Keen’s gaze flicked to her, then peered straight ahead as they crossed the backyard toward the exit. “No. Your roommate’s mind is a blank to me.”

  26

  Derek rounded the corner, heading for the room they’d given Elena. And staggered to a stop. Something wasn’t right. Keen wasn’t guarding the door.

  Had that bastard screwed up again?

  The sinking feeling in the pit of Derek’s stomach spread to his chest. His heart raced as he leapt through the wall.

  The room was empty.

  Several hours had passed since he’d last seen her. Between his sleep of the dead and the time it had taken him to go to the lab and now back to her room, she could be anywhere. And he had no idea how to reach her.

  Just like in his dream.

  Where had they taken her? If they hurt her, he’d… What would he do? Let them rot and die from the disease Elena risked her life to cure? The thought was tempting.

  Derek had nothing riding on finding the antidote, except exposure of who he really was. And that had become minor in the scheme of things. Right now, the only thing he cared about was finding Elena and keeping her safe.

  He stepped back into the hallway, and started searching each door he passed, sticking his head through the wooden surface. He’d search the whole damn place if that was what it took to find her.

  All the rooms in this corridor were empty, though. He turned and searched down another passageway, and another. Finally, he spied a hallway of occupied beds. All the people sleeping inside were men. Fae, from the size of them. Most hadn’t bothered to remove their clothes. They had simply fallen face-first onto their mattresses, booted feet and arms dangling off the sides.

  Half the rooms in the hall were empty and half were occupied. Were they working on a cure for the virus in shifts?

  Derek left the men’s section and a few minutes later encountered two Fae women approaching him down a different hallway, a tall Fae girl—about his height—and Beatrice.

  The tall girl yawned. “Where were you this evening? I thought we were on the same schedule?”

  “I had to take care of something,” Beatrice said. “I’m going to the lab now. Go to bed.” Beatrice opened a door for her. “You look like you’re about to fall over.”

  The tall girl nodded. “I feel like it. You shouldn’t work through your rest periods, though. Without sleep, you’ll be no help. Talk to Leo. Someone should take your place in the lab when you’re on official business.”

  “I’ll be fine.” Beatrice urged the girl through the door. “Good night.”

  The girl walked inside in a daze
and Beatrice closed the door behind her. Beatrice stared at the surface for a long moment, then she spun and turned in the direction the two women had come from, disappearing around a corner.

  Derek checked each of the rooms in the hallway, finding a similar scenario to the men’s quarters. Half the rooms were empty, the other half housed sleeping women.

  Unlike the men, the women took the time to cover their clothed bodies with a blanket before passing out. And none of their limbs dangled off the sides of the beds.

  That was one good thing about the Fae dorms: extra-long beds. He was short compared to most Fae men. He actually fit on his bed with room to spare, which was probably why he’d slept so long, dammit.

  At the rate his body grew, there was no telling how tall he’d end up. Already, the baggy clothes he’d purchased a few weeks ago fit him better. He’d have to ask Keen about the growth spurt—just as soon as he got his hands on the bastard.

  Where had he taken Elena?

  Derek decided to skip the rest of this corridor. It appeared to be only Fae women catching a couple hours of sleep. He needed more active areas—the labs the tall girl had spoken of. If they had taken Elena anywhere inside Emain, it would be the labs.

  Derek jogged around the corner Beatrice had turned down—and nearly ran into her.

  “Derek,” she said as he skidded to a stop inches away. She stood with her shoulder against the wall, as if waiting for him. “Show yourself, so we can—talk.” She gave him a small smile.

  The way she’d snuck up on him was disturbing. He needed to be more careful. Humans couldn’t see him, but the Fae were getting surprisingly good at it.

  Derek solidified and glared at Beatrice. “Where’s Elena?”

  Her eyebrows shot up. “Don’t you know?”

  His hands clenched at his sides. “If I knew, would I ask?”

  “I’m happy to tell you where your little friend is”—she glanced conspiratorially from one side to the other—“but not here. Let’s talk in your room.”