by Kyra Dune
They slowed my mad dash until I finally came to a shuddering stop. I didn’t exactly collapse, but I did sit down a little faster than I normally would have. My chest constricted painfully as I gasped for breath and my stomach was all tied up in knots. I kind of felt like puking, so I was glad I hadn’t actually eaten any of the cookies Mi Mi had offered me.
I laid down with my cheek pressed against the cool earth, intending to close my eyes for a few seconds while I tried to calm my racing heart.
CHAPTER NINE
Someone was shaking my shoulder. I rolled over with a groan. “Can’t I have five more minutes?”
“Abigail, wake up.” The shaking became a little rougher.
I blinked my eyes open to see Hannah standing over me. I gasped, sitting up so fast we almost knocked heads.
“Hey,” she drew back, “watch it.”
“Sorry.” I rubbed the side of my face. “I must have fell asleep.”
“No kidding.” She squatted down beside me. “So what happened? Why are you sleeping in the middle of a cornfield? And why are there guards on the warehouse?”
“What?” I scrambled to my feet. “Guards?”
“Yeah.” Hannah stood as well. “Two of them.”
I ran both hands back through my hair. This was bad. “I got into it with Alice and said some stuff I shouldn’t have. I didn’t tell her about the plan, but I did sort of let it slip I’d seen Derek.” I sighed. “I guess I blew it big time, huh?”
“Nah, we just have to revise the plan is all. Come on.” Hannah led the way across the cornfield. Concealed by the stalks, we crouched down and peered out at the warehouse. Two men stood on either side of the door. They had no weapons, which made me feel better for the half second it took me to remember they didn’t need guns to be dangerous.
“Water dragon. Fire dragon.” Hannah pointed at first one man, then the other. “Both battle trained.”
“Great.” I muttered. “Now what do we do?”
Hannah smiled. “We rescue your brother.”
“We can’t fight two battle trained dragons,” I said.
“Who said anything about fighting?” She stood. “Wait for my cue.” Before I could stop her, she stepped out of the field.
“What are you doing?” I hissed, fear a sick taste in the back of my throat. She flashed me a grin over her shoulder, then strode purposefully toward the guards.
I watched, fascinated and a little nauseous, wondering what I would do if she got herself in trouble.
“Hey guys,” Hannah called out as she approached. “How’s it going?”
“Get lost kid,” the water dragon said. “You got no business here.”
“And you do?” Hannah took a cocky stance. “Since when do these warehouses need to be guarded?”
“He said get lost.” The fire dragon took a step forward. “Before you get yourself in more trouble than you can handle.”
“You want me to leave?” Hannah raised her arms out to the side. “Make me.”
I shook my head. Either she was the bravest person I’d ever met, or the craziest. Both men were focused on her now, which I assumed was my cue. I broke cover and raced for the side of the warehouse, resisting the urge to look and make sure I hadn’t been spotted.
I ran alongside the building, as close as I could get without touching it, and slipped around to the back. I sat on the ground and waited for Hannah, keeping my ears open for any sounds of trouble. Hopefully she would back off before getting the guards too riled.
I was a bundle of nerves, sitting there twisting my fingers together. Closing my eyes, I pictured the LeVine’s ocean side home. A big, two story affair, elegant and modern, with its own private beach. I’d gone there with Brandy’s family many times over the years and if my plan worked out tonight, I’d soon be going there again.
“You pick the weirdest places to nap.”
I opened my eyes. “I wasn’t asleep, I was trying to calm my nerves.”
“Did it work?”
“No.” I wiped my damp palms on the legs of my jeans. “Let’s get this over with. The sooner I’m gone from this place, the better I’ll feel.”
“Yeah, you and me both.”
I eyed the wall. “How do we get in?”
“You have an earth dragon at your disposal, remember?” Hannah rubbed her hands together. “One of the first things they teach us, is earth dragons have control over more than dirt. This is going to make some noise, so you better get inside and open the lock fast.”
“Okay.” I tensed, preparing myself to run.
Hannah stared at the building, the muscles in her jaw standing out as she gritted her teeth. A furrow appeared in the skin between her eyes. For several seconds nothing happened. Then the wall tore down the middle like a piece of paper. A shrill, metallic squeal ripped through the night. Hannah fell to her knees.
I raced past her, worry over her safety taking a backseat to the urge to hurry. The building was dark, but I could see the outline of the trapdoor in the scant moonlight spilling through the tear in the wall. I groped for the lock, then used my powers to trip the tumblers as I had done before.
A sharp, shooting pain flashed across my palm and up my arm. I cried out, jerking my hand back and pressing it to my lips. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth.
“What’s wrong?” Hannah asked, coming to my side.
“Nothing.” So I had cut my hand on something, no big deal. I didn’t have time to worry about it. I pulled the trap door open and hurried down the steps.
Derek lay on his coat, this time facing the steps. His eyes widened when he saw me. “What are you doing here?” His voice was so soft and hoarse I could barely hear him.
“We came to...” My voice trailed off. I had forgotten what I was going to say. I shook my head, trying to clear the fuzz from my brain. “To rescue you.” I took a step forward and the room swam before my eyes. A second step, this one far more unsteady, and I somehow misjudged the distance to the floor. I would have hit the concrete face first if Hannah hadn’t caught me from behind.
“Whoa, girl,” she said. “You okay?”
“Nokay?” I blinked rapidly. “Need to...to sit now.” So I did, right on Hannah’s foot. I leaned to the left, bracing my hand on the floor. “Feel...funny.” I giggled. “Funny. Funny.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Derek asked. It seemed to me as if his voice was coming from far, far away.
Hannah knelt beside me and placed her hands on my cheeks, forcing me to make eye contact. I barely felt her touch. “Look at me, Abigail.”
My head felt like it weighed at least twenty pounds, so I was glad she was there to help hold it up. I smiled. “Ho there.” Her face was hazy around the edges, her brown eyes filled with worry. I didn’t know what she was so worried about. I felt fine. Fantastic, even. Except for being really sleepy.
“She’s bleeding,” Derek said, struggling to prop himself up on one elbow. “Her hand.”
Hannah lifted my right hand and we both looked down at my bloody palm. The sight didn’t bother me in the least, but she cursed. “The lock was booby trapped,” she said through gritted teeth, adding a few more choice words my mother would not have approved of.
“Booby trap.” I giggled. “Booby--” Everything tilted sideways and I was falling. But it wasn’t scary really. It was kind of warm and comfortable. Someone was saying a word over and over again, but I was too far gone to care. Darkness wrapped me up in its soft embrace and everything else faded away into nothingness.
CHAPTER TEN
I opened my eyes and looked around the room. It was somehow threatening, from the sunshine pouring in through the curtains to the poster of my favorite band on the wall. Threatening because it had the familiar flavor of me, yet it wasn’t my room.
My brain was fuzzy and I found myself unable to concentrate. I didn’t know where I was or what had happened to me. I started to swing my legs over the edge of the bed so I could stand up, but was brought up short b
y something jerking on my right leg.
Heart racing, I pushed myself up onto my elbows and stared down at my feet. My right ankle was chained to the bedpost. Panic fluttered in my stomach. “Okay, Abby,” I whispered to myself. “Calm down and think.” I took several deep breaths and waited for my muggy thoughts to clear.
Slowly, memories started to filter in. I was in my birth father’s old room in my paternal grandparents' house. And last night I tried to... I sat straight up. “Oh my god, Derek.” I wasn’t exactly sure what had ruined my escape plans, but finding myself chained to a bed was proof enough of my failure.
Thoughts of what might have happened to Derek swirled through my mind. Now I knew the truth, they had no reason to keep him alive. And Hannah. Sure, she had family at the compound, but if they would kill people for nothing more than leaving their clan without permission, I had no reason to believe she might be safe simply because of her parents. After all, they’d already allowed one child to be killed for the simple crime of having been born different.
I curled my right leg up as far as it would go and ran my fingers across the cold, iron cuff. It was completely solid except a kind of bumpy line up one side. No lock for me to pop. No way for me to get myself free.
My lips trembled and my eyes filled up with tears. Crying wouldn’t help anything, but it wasn’t like I could control it. If being in a hopeless situation, knowing your actions had probably gotten two people killed, wasn’t enough to be worth a few tears then nothing was.
The bedroom door opened and Mi Mi peeked in. She smiled uncertainly when she saw me sitting up. “Oh, you’re awake. Good.” She came into the room bearing a tray with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. “Hungry?”
I almost laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation. There I sat, chained to a bed after being drugged or something, and she was acting as if I’d woken up from a nap. But laughing was the last thing I felt like doing. Looking at her smiling face as she tried to pretend everything was okay made a slow heat start to burn in my chest.
“Where’s my brother?”
Mi Mi’s smile faltered. “Let’s not talk about it right now.” She came over by the bed. “You need to eat something and get some rest.”
“What I need is to see my brother. Unless he’s...” I swallowed back a sour taste in my throat. “Is he dead?”
“Abigail, please.” She sat the tray on the night stand, refusing to look at me. “You made a mistake and now you must be punished. You must be made to see your actions have consequences. But once this is all over, everything can go back to the way it was. It will all turn out fine in the end.”
“Fine? You call this fine?” I jerked my leg, making the chain rattle. Mi Mi winced. “Nothing is fine.” I folded my arms. “I won’t do it. You hear me? I won’t fight Megara for you. So you might as well go ahead and kill me now like you would have done when I was born.”
“Please, you mustn’t talk like this.” She wrung her hands. “No one is going to... to....” Her smile took on a hint of desperation. “We may have to ground you for a week. That’s what we always did when your father misbehaved.”
“Oh yeah?” I fisted my hands into the sheets. “And did you chain him to the bed too?”
“You really should eat.” Mi Mi fussed with the cookies. “Chocolate chip was your father’s favorite.”
I couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe her. How could she go on pretending nothing was wrong? “You killed my father.” Harsh words, I know, and probably unnecessarily cruel. But I needed her to wake up to reality.
Mi Mi froze, all the color draining from her face. So I pressed, because I hoped it might guilt her into helping me. If the things she’d said to me the night before were true, if she really did love me, then surely she couldn’t let this happen.
“Alastair sent trackers after your son,” I said. “They killed him. You knew and you did nothing, which makes his death partly your fault. But you don’t have to let it happen again. You could help me. Please.”
Her hands were trembling, but her expression was carefully neutral. “This is not the time to be discussing such things. You rest and everything will be fine.”
“It will not!” The glass exploded, spraying us both with milk.
Mi Mi gasped, her fingers fluttered up to her lips. I stared in shock at the spot where the glass had been sitting. Manipulating the air in order to move objects was one thing, but I had never imagined I had the ability to blow something up. It was kind of awesome, but also really scary. And judging by the expression on Mi Mi’s face, I wasn’t the only one who thought so.
“I didn’t mean to--” Before I could finish the sentence, Mi Mi spun around and left the room. I couldn’t blame her for her reaction. What I had done was like a confirmation of the belief that hybrids were too dangerous to be allowed to live. Especially one who didn’t have control of her powers. But it wasn’t true. If they had trained me instead of trying to kill me when I was born, I would have control of my powers. So maybe if I was so dangerous it was their fault and not mine.
A tapping sound drew my attention to the window. My mouth fell open when I saw Zack peering in at me. He pressed a finger to his lips, then lifted the window and climbed inside.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered. I’m a little embarrassed to admit my heart skipped a beat seeing him there in my bedroom, even under the circumstances.
His gaze was level on mine. “Derek is going to be executed today.”
My breath caught in my throat. “Oh, god. What are we going to do?” It felt perfectly natural to me to use the plural, even though I had no real reason to believe Zack meant to help.
“Save him. If we can.” He strode to the bed and looked down at my ankle.
“But you hate him.” My brow dipped in confusion. “Why would you want to help him?”
“I’m not doing it for him.” He spoke the words softly, his gaze fixed on my ankle.
A warm feeling flowed through me. My lips lifted at the corners. I know, this was no time for these kinds of feelings. But I couldn’t help myself. Zack liked me and the knowledge made me a little light headed.
“You’re going to have to help me out here,” he said.
I leaned forward, biting back my smile and telling myself to focus on the situation at hand. “How can I help?”
“You need to create a pocket of air between your ankle and the cuff.”
I gaped at him. “I need to do what?”
He flicked an irritated glance my way. “I need to chill the steel so I can shatter it, but to get it cold enough it’ll also have to be cold enough to burn your skin. So I need to you to make a pocket of air to protect your ankle. It’s easy.”
“Easy? I can’t even concentrate long enough to float cups into a pyramid, how am I suppose to create an air pocket?” Panic built up inside of me like a sweeping wind. “Oh, god. Oh, god.” I rocked back and forth. “I can’t do this. Derek is going to die and it’s going to be all my fault because I can’t--”
“Abigail.” Zack’s sharp voice cut through my babble. “Get a grip. You can do this. Forget training, it was bogus. Don’t you remember I told you once this isn’t about concentrating? Besides, Alice was using her battle training to sabotage you anyway.”
“I knew it.” I slapped the bed and called her a dirty word which really should only be used to describe a female dog. I blushed when Zack raised a brow at my language. “Sorry.”
He shrugged. “It’s not an entirely inaccurate description.”
“But why?” I asked. “Why did she do it? Because I’m a hybrid?”
“No,” he said. “This isn’t about you, really. It’s about Alice. She wants to be the one to kill Megara.”
“Why? What did Megara ever do to her?”
“Nothing.” He ran a hand back through his hair. “Alastair has to name his replacement as head of the council next year and Alice thinks if she can kill Megara, it’ll be her. You’re the only thing she sees standing in
her way.”
“So she would let me die so she can be head of the council?” I couldn’t believe how badly I had misjudged Alice. She had seemed so nice. “How do you know all this?”
Zack stared down at my foot, his jaw tight. “I’ve been helping her.”
I drew a sharp breath in through my teeth. “Why?”
“Because you’re nothing but a hybrid,” he said. “Or at least, that’s what I thought. Alice promised to help me get revenge on Derek if I helped her get rid of you. I went along with it because I thought, who cares, you know? One less hybrid in the world could be nothing but good. Then I met you.” His eyes caught and held mine. “And I found out you’re a person. A good person who deserves to live her life. A better person than I am.”
“Zack--”
“We’re running out of time.” He focused once more on the cuff. “If you want to save your brother, then we have to hurry.”
I nodded, then I closed my eyes. Okay, so I didn’t need to concentrate. But that didn’t mean I didn’t need to focus, there is a difference. I cleared my mind of all thoughts and focused on a bubble. Not a bubble like you make out of soap and water, too flimsy. No, this was a bubble gum bubble. You know, the kind you can blow with two or three pieces of gum in your mouth so it gets kind of rubbery and if you’re really careful, you can even touch it without busting it. This was the kind of bubble I needed for my air pocket.
I could feel the air forming around my ankle. My eyes popped open and a big grin split my lips. There, between my ankle and the cuff, was a faintly pink bubble of air. “I did it.” I looked to Zack, hoping for a word of praise or at least a smile. I got neither.
He stared intently at the cuff, a line of concentration appearing between his eyes. A chill emanated from the steel, cold enough to piece right through the bubble. It felt as if someone was pressing an ice cube to my flesh. The feeling quickly became painful, but I bit my lip and said nothing, not wanting to irritate Zack again.
