The Gathering

by K. E. Ganshert

  The Gathering

  By K.E. Ganshert

  Darkness is a tricky thing. Especially when it cloaks itself in light.

  Luka isn’t dead. He’s not beyond saving. Tess knows because she saw him with her own eyes. After what she saw, she’s sure of one thing: If they don’t rescue him soon, Luka won’t be Luka anymore.

  If only she could convince the other members of the hub. They’re not sure Tess saw what she claims she saw. And they’re preoccupied by the fact that their kind is being systematically eradicated. Answers lie in an ancient prophecy, one that revolves around a seventeen-year-old girl who never asked for any of this.

  K.E. Ganshert’s final installment in The Gifting Series brings readers on an action-packed journey through loss, sacrifice, betrayal, and the impossible choice between what we want most and what we know is right.

  Edited by: Lora Doncea

  Cover Design by: Okay Creations

  Interior Design and Formatting by: BB eBooks

  Copyright © 2015 K.E. Ganshert

  Kindle Edition

  This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to peoples either living or deceased is purely *crane coincidental. Names, places, and characters are figmments of the author’s imagination. The author holds all rights to this work. No part of this publlication may be reprodduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author.

  All right reserved.

  For Amy.

  Three years ago, we talked about this crazy book idea I had over chips and salsa in Colorado Springs. Wish we were having the same while celebrating the final installment! You are a genius brainstorming buddy and an amazing friend. Sinceriously.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  About the Book

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One: Nobody’s Listening

  Chapter Two: Molten Lava

  Chapter Three: Unstable

  Chapter Four: Gallons and Gallons

  Chapter Five: Ramifications

  Chapter Six: The Truth About Bait

  Chapter Seven: Death March

  Chapter Eight: An Eternity

  Chapter Nine: The Devouring

  Chapter Ten: Weapon of Choice

  Chapter Eleven: A New Home

  Chapter Twelve: A Familiar Sound

  Chapter Thirteen: Off, Off, and Away

  Chapter Fourteen: A Nasty Shock

  Chapter Fifteen: Lost

  Chapter Sixteen: Help

  Chapter Seventeen: One Final, Fading Snippet

  Chapter Eighteen: Expected

  Chapter Nineteen: Tests

  Chapter Twenty: A Tumor

  Chapter Twenty-One: The Prophecy Revealed

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Confessions

  Chapter Twenty-Three: Found

  Chapter Twenty-Four: The List

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Disparities

  Chapter Twenty-Six: The Symbol

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: Gagged and Bound

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: Aftermath

  Chapter Twenty-Nine: Burial

  Chapter Thirty: New Home, Familiar Faces

  Chapter Thirty-One: Surprise, Surprise

  Chapter Thirty-Two: Behind the Door

  Chapter Thirty-Three: A Big Difference

  Chapter Thirty-Four: Parties and Cougars and Snipers, Oh My

  Chapter Thirty-Five: Like Sheep

  Chapter Thirty-Six: House of Cards

  Chapter Thirty-Seven: Complete

  Chapter Thirty-Eight: Blind

  Chapter Thirty-Nine: Clouds and Bars

  Chapter Forty: Gesundheit

  Chapter Forty-One: Arseways

  Chapter Forty-Two: Dear Daddy

  Chapter Forty-Three: Frantic

  Chapter Forty-Four: Overcome

  Chapter Forty-Five: The Death Knell

  Chapter Forty-Six: An Unexpected Twist

  Chapter Forty-Seven: A Choice

  Chapter Forty-Eight: The Whole Thing

  Chapter Forty-Nine: He’s Not the Only One

  Chapter Fifty: We Meet Again

  Chapter Fifty-One: The Prophecy Fulfilled

  Chapter Fifty-Two: To Die is to Live

  Chapter Fifty-Three: Closure

  Chapter Fifty-Four: Beyond Explanation

  Chapter Fifty-Five: Goodbye

  Chapter Fifty-Six: Reminders

  Chapter Fifty-Seven: Birthday Wishes

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Nobody’s Listening

  I thought I knew what insanity felt like. When I saw things nobody else could see. When my nightmares started unfolding in real life. When a much-too-popular, achingly handsome boy started watching my every move. When I was locked up in a mental hospital against my will and told everything I knew to be true was a figment of my imagination.

  I thought I knew.

  But all of that was nothing compared to this.

  The hub has erupted into pandemonium. All the lights are on, and since windows do not exist down here—deep in the bowels of a ruined warehouse—it might as well be day instead of the dead of night. Everyone is awake and focused on the defector. The one who betrayed me. The one who betrayed him. Everyone is panicked over what this means—Claire out there, knowing all she knows about our location, our names, who we really are.

  How could she do it?

  That is the question of the hour. But I don’t care about her. I don’t care about why she defected or the ramifications of her decision. All I care about is him—the boy across the hall, unable to wake up. And yet very, very much alive.

  Despite what everyone thinks, Luka’s soul has not been destroyed.

  I saw him. I heard him. He’s being held hostage, tortured by the white-eyed men. His screams echo inside my head. They won’t stop. Nor will the way he arched up in agony as black mist lacerated his body. Every second that ticks past is one more second closer to losing him forever. And that is something I cannot let happen. Because if Luka dies, then so will everything else.

  I scratch the inside of my wrist and begin to rock like the patients in straitjackets at Shady Wood. Link sits beside me on the couch, mindlessly twisting his Rubik’s Cube. Nobody will listen—not Gabe, not Cap, not Sticks or Non. They think I’m in shock. They think I’m in denial. They keep talking about Clive DeVant—our new Cloak—who’s supposed to arrive with Dr. Carlyle in the afternoon, and Fray—one of our old Cloaks—who’s supposed to leave with Dr. Carlyle to a hospital in Northern Michigan, but if we stick around until tomorrow, we might all end up in jail.

  “What are we going to do?” someone asks.

  “What if Claire’s already gone to the authorities?”

  “She has all of our names. She knows all of our faces.”

  “Are we safe?”

  Something feral claws up my throat. A wild beast of a thing, but before it can escape, Cap raises his hand. It’s a simple gesture, and yet, coming from him—our leader—the hub goes quiet.

  “I’ll figure out what to do about Fray and Clive. In the meantime, everybody needs to return to their room and pack a bag.”

  The wild beast of a thing claws free. “We can’t leave!”

  “Claire has left us no choice,” Cap says.

  “We’re not leaving Luka here.” The hot words bring me to my feet. “Y-you’d be murdering him!”

  Everybody stares.

  Nothing can be heard but the steady tick-tick of a clock on the far wall of the common room.

  “If you are underage,” Cap’s silver eyes do not leave mine, “return to your room immediately and wait for my instruction.”

  Slowly, the room begins to clear. Ellen an
d Declan obey first. A tearful Rosie, then Bass, Jose, Ashley, and Danielle. Jillian lingers, shooting several glances my way, before she, too, obeys orders. Link stays.

  “It’s time to return to your room,” Cap says.

  “He’s alive. We can still save him.”

  He paws his face, the palm of his hand scratching against the stubble on his cheeks. I can tell he doesn’t know what to do with me anymore.

  “Luka is gone.” The lifeless words belong to Gabe.

  “Why?” I practically spit the question. “Because you couldn’t get your sister back?”

  “Tess.” Cap says my name like a low warning.

  I don’t care. I don’t care if I hurt Gabe. I don’t care that I’m disobeying orders once again. I don’t care about anything but the boy down the hall. Luka isn’t gone. At least he wasn’t an hour ago. I have no idea how much longer my declaration will hold true. And therein lies the crux of my insanity. I’m standing here trying to convince these people that he’s alive while every breath I take draws him closer to death.

  Link gently takes my arm. “Come on. Let me take you to your room.”

  I jerk my elbow away. “I’m not leaving him.”

  Cap pushes out a terse breath. “We have more pressing matters at hand.”

  “More pressing matters? He’s being tortured. Right now, at this very moment. And we’re standing here letting it happen.” What can be more pressing than that? Before the question can fully form, I know Cap’s answer. As captain of this ship, he has to make decisions for the collective whole. It’s what he’s always doing. He has to think strategically, and if that means sacrificing one for the sake of the rest, then that is what he will do.

  I absolutely hate him for it.

  Link pulls me away.

  “He’s going to die!” I try wrenching my arm free, but his grip is surprisingly strong. “Do you hear me? If we don’t get to him right now, he will die!”

  Link pulls me further away.

  “Gabe!” I turn wild eyes on him—my last hope. If anybody knows this kind of agony, he does. “Please. Help me. Luka is alive. I swear to you, he’s alive. We can’t leave him here!”

  Gabe does nothing but look away from my manic pleas.

  And Link drags me out of the room. He circles his arm around my waist and pulls me away while I scream and flail, not strong enough to resist, tears running like scalding heat down my cheeks. Rosie stares out from the crack in her bedroom door, her eyes big and wide in her face. Link murmurs words of comfort I do not hear. He holds me until I’ve stopped thrashing. Until the wild thing has crawled back inside and curled into a whimpering ball.

  “Listen.”

  All I can do is shake my head. I should have listened a long time ago, but not to Link. I should have listened to Luka, who never wanted to go on our mission in the first place. And yet, I insisted. I ignored his reservations. I never considered that it might be his life in danger. “It’s my fault. He’s there because of me. He knew something would go wrong, but I wouldn’t listen. I went and because I went, he had to go, too. And now he’s being tortured.” The memory of his scream grows so loud and sharp in my mind that I wince. “You have to believe me. Please believe me.”

  “Xena, look at me.” Link takes hold of my face and tips up my chin so that I have no choice. His caramel eyes are steady and familiar. “Listen to me. If Luka is still alive and the other side is holding him hostage, it’s because they want you.”

  “I know that.” And I will gladly trade places.

  “So you know what that means.”

  Another hot tear tumbles down my cheek.

  Link catches it on the pad of his thumb. “They aren’t going to kill him. If they kill him, they lose their leverage.”

  “I know that, too. But I also know what I saw. If it continues for much longer, he won’t be Luka anymore.” My chin trembles. “Please, Link. We can’t leave him.”

  Link’s steady resolve solidifies. “We won’t.”

  Those two definitive words calm me more than anything else he could have said or done.

  “I have an idea. Let me run it by Cap.”

  Chapter Two

  Molten Lava

  “Twenty minutes,” Cap says.

  I slide onto one of six chairs in the training center and fidget with the hemp bracelet around my wrist. It belonged to Luka. He insisted I wear it in case it offered even a hint of protection. “What if Claire’s not sleeping?”

  “Then we will have no choice but to leave this place and disband.” The look Cap gives me is clear. This is as far as he’s willing to take this. If Link and I cannot locate Claire, if we cannot find out whether she truly defected or simply left out of shame, then he will have to make decisions I will not like. “Do you understand?”

  I swallow and look away, my head incapable of nodding.

  If not for Fray’s fragile health, if not for Clive scheduled to arrive tomorrow, I’m positive Cap never would have agreed to Link’s plan. Thankfully, Cap doesn’t want to leave. Disbanding in the dead of night isn’t his style.

  “Twenty minutes will be enough to learn what we need to learn.” Link attaches a probe to my left temple. Usually, he attaches two. One that sends electrodes to the part of my brain that is most active during sleep. Another that brings me to the dojo—a shared dream space Link created for training purposes. But we’re not going to the dojo tonight. We’re going to find Claire and we can’t wait around for sleep to take us in our beds.

  Time is of the essence.

  I rest my head against the chair and squeeze my eyes tight, praying with every ounce of faith I have that Claire will be asleep. Finding her now, figuring out what she’s up to, is the first step to saving Luka.

  “All right, we’re both attached.” Link has taken the chair next to me. He grabs my ice-cold hand and gives it a confident squeeze. “You can push the button in ten … nine …”

  I close my eyes tight and focus on Claire, the betrayer. I imagine her the first time I saw her, when Luka and I arrived at the hub. Her white-blond hair loosely braided down her back. Her regal beauty. The way her nose turned up in the air without trying. The shock of seeing her down here, in the hub, after having studied her file for days.

  “Six … five …”

  The grating way she flirted with Luka. The victorious feeling of taking her down in the dojo. The hateful look in her eyes when Cap announced he would be training me.

  “Three … two …”

  Her foot reaching out to trip me as we battled inside the walls of Shady Wood. Her look of triumph when I fell.

  “One …”

  Wind whips hair around my face. I’m no longer laying in the training center; I’m standing beside Link outside a home I’ve been to before—with Luka, when we were searching for Claire, who at the time was nothing more than a patient file Dr. Roth left behind.

  Now she stands on the front stoop, pounding on the door, while trees bend beneath the force of the wind.

  My hands curl into tight fists. The blood in my veins turns to molten lava.

  Link sets his hand on my shoulder. “We’ll learn more if she doesn’t know you’re here.”

  He’s right, of course. As much as I want to shove my fist in her face, now’s not the time. I duck behind a row of emaciated bushes and strain to hear above the wind.

  “Please Mom! It’s me.” Claire glances up at the ominous, swirling sky and pounds harder. “Please open up.”

  Link approaches behind her. “Claire?”

  She whirls around, her icy blue eyes wide with panic, her face streaked with tears. “Link?”

  “What are you doing?” he asks.

  “I-I’m trying to get to my parents, but they won’t let me in.” She wipes at her cheeks. “How did you get here?”

  “How do you think?”

  The wind loses some of its strength.

  Claire looks up at the clouds. They no longer swirl as threateningly as they did seconds ago. She peels a st
rand of hair from her lips. “This is a dream. You’re spying on me.”

  “I’m not spying. I’m checking.” He holds up his hands, as if to show her he means no harm. “You left without telling anybody. We’re all worried.”

  I grit my teeth. Not one part of me is worried about her. She’s been bad news from the beginning. I should have realized the danger I was putting Luka in—the danger I was putting everybody in—by going on such a high-stakes mission with Claire on the team.

  Her chin trembles. “I never meant for Luka to get hurt.”

  “But Tess—you wanted her to get hurt?” Link’s question is gentle. Non-accusatory. Everything opposite from what I feel.

  “I just wanted things to go back to the way they were before she came. I-I wasn’t thinking. I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have done it. All I want is my mom and dad, but I don’t think they want to see me.”

  Liar. Lies. I don’t believe a single note of her remorse.

  “Have you told anyone about our location?” Link asks.

  “No. I would never do that. But I couldn’t stay. Nobody wanted me there. Not even you.”

  Link shifts his weight. His back is to me, so I can’t see his face. I have no idea if he’s falling for the act or not.

  “I would never put you in danger, Link, never. I just want to go home to my parents. That’s all I want.” She turns around and beats the door with her fists, begging the wood to let her inside.

  *

  “She didn’t defect.” Link peels off his probe and swings his legs around, bringing his feet to the floor. “She’s not going to give our location away. She just wants to get to her parents.”

  Cap looks from me to Link, waiting for me to verify.

  I don’t contradict him, even if I don’t believe a word of Claire’s sob story.

  Cap rubs his forehead.

  A glance at the clock tells me it’s four in the morning. Two hours have passed since I saw Luka, bound and tortured. I’m so desperate to get to him, it feels as though a hole is burning a wide path through my heart.

  Cap looks at Non and Sticks, who stand inside the small room. “What do you think?”