My lungs were clear and my breathing easy. In the midst of my panic, it took me too long to figure out why.
The gas mask Yutika had made and I had completely forgotten about was still over my face. She’d said something about it blocking out toxins and pumping in fresh oxygen.
Using one arm to hold myself over Diego so the rubble accumulating on top of us didn’t push me down and crush him, I tore off the mask. I fumbled with it until it was tight over Diego’s nose and mouth.
He coughed and writhed for another few seconds before his breathing evened out. I felt his body relax, just as mine seized up.
It felt like there was sand in my chest, swirling around and rubbing against my insides with every breath. Now, I was the one coughing.
Diego took another breath and then passed the mask back to me.
We went back and forth like that for several minutes. Our gazes stayed locked the whole time, even though we didn’t say a word. All of our efforts were focused on staying alive.
The explosions had stopped. Dust was still swirling around us, but everything else was darkness and quiet. My arms trembled as I fought against the weight of the entire mine. My body was all that kept it from crushing Diego.
I couldn’t last like this much longer. Titanium tears dropped out of my eyes and pattered onto Diego’s torn shirt. He reached between us, passing back the gas mask and cupping my cheek.
His hand shook, but the expression in his dark eyes was serene.
I didn’t know how he was so calm. My mind was in turmoil. I wanted to scream at him for coming back. I wanted to kiss him. Instead, I gave him a feeble nod, letting him know it was his turn to take back the gas mask.
Diego took the mask off me, but instead of putting it on himself, he leaned up to touch his lips to mine.
I choked back a sob. My whole body shuddered under the weight I was holding up. My body and magic were exhausted. My arms were failing me, and as soon as they did, we’d be flattened under the weight of the entire mine.
Dark spots flitted across my vision. I could no longer see the reflection of silver in Diego’s irises.
I knew I had reached the end when the weight pressing down on my back lessened and light began to crowd out the dark. People always talked about going into the light, right?
It wasn’t what I would have pictured if I’d ever given my own death serious thought, but I recognized it for what it was. There was no other reason why sunlight would be filtering in through the dust and debris when we were miles underground.
I looked down at Diego, expecting to see him fracturing into shards of light as my life drained away. Instead, I saw confusion and amazement in his eyes.
A deafening sound filled the silent tomb. A beam of light pierced the darkness. I felt Diego’s arms come around me. And then, we were flying.
CHAPTER 51
The next time I had any awareness, everything was dark. I couldn’t open my eyes, but it didn’t bother me. I felt comfortable. Safe.
A woman was crying. Someone was trying to comfort her. Their voices, which had started out hushed, got louder.
“My patients, my rules,” a gruff voice said. “Get out if you can’t handle it.”
“She’s our daughter, and that boy—”
“Has thirteen broken bones and has been unconscious for hours. He’s not moving an inch until I say so.”
“Move him to a different bed or I will,” a familiar male voice ordered. “That’s my baby.”
“Mom, Dad, be reasonable,” another voice said.
Brent? What was he doing here?
Come to think of it…where was here?
“Bri’s friends said he’s the only reason Lilly and Bri are alive,” Brent continued. “If Bri didn’t want him in her bed, she’d find a way to beat him up even in her sleep.”
I shifted a little, holding back a moan as pain shot through every inch of me. I instinctively moved closer to the smell of cinnamon and magical heat.
Diego.
I snuggled closer and let myself drift off again.
✽✽✽
“Bri. Pumpkin face. Can you open your eyes for us?”
“Dad?” I croaked.
Muffled sobs filled my ears. Then, there was intense pressure against me. At first, I thought it was the mine collapsing on me and that the voices had just been a hallucination, but then my eyes cracked open.
My mom was draped over me, sobbing as she petted my hair. My dad was holding one of my limp hands and saying “Thank God,” over and over again.
I blinked, bringing the room into focus. I was in my room at the mansion. My gaze fixed on a family photo taped to my wall.
“Lilly,” I said, as my memory started coming back. “Where’s Lilly?”
“Right here.”
I twisted my head, trying to get free of my mom’s mass of blonde curls.
“Mom, you’re crushing her,” Brent’s voice said.
“Oh.” My mom let out a muffled sob. “Of course.”
She moved enough for me to get a view of the part of my room her body had been blocking.
Brent was leaning against my desk, his eyes crinkled in the first true smile I’d seen on him in as long as I could remember. Sarah was sitting on my rolling chair. She held a beautiful little girl on her lap.
“Lilly,” I whispered.
I barely recognized her. She was still too thin, but there was a brightness in her hazel eyes that reminded me so much of Brent’s and my own. The similarity took my breath away. Lilly’s hair, which had been dirty and matted down in the mine, was a shiny brown. Soft curls framed her tiny face. Instead of the awful sack-like uniform she’d had in the mine, she now wore a pretty red dress and sparkly shoes.
“Aunt Bri,” my niece said tentatively, looking to her mother to see if she’d said it right.
Sarah buried her face into Lilly’s back, her shoulders shaking as she cried silently. Brent put an arm around Sarah’s shoulder and leaned down to kiss the top of Lilly’s head. He looked at the two of them with so much tenderness it made my heart swell like a balloon. Then, he turned to me.
“Thank you,” he rasped, coming to perch on the edge of my bed. He wiped his sleeve across his eyes. “Bri, how can I ever thank you for this?”
“You don’t need to,” I replied. My voice sounded strange, like my vocal cords were grating against sandpaper. But I barely noticed. I was still trying to figure out how I was here at all.
Before I could form my mind around the question, Lilly slid off Sarah’s lap and shyly deposited a mangled daisy on top of my blanket.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” I told her, feeling my own eyes begin to sting.
I took the flower and tucked it behind my ear. My niece’s face lit up with the most gorgeous smile I’d ever seen.
Sarah came over and knelt beside my bed.
“Bri,” she whispered.
“You don’t even need to say it,” I told her. I didn’t want gratitude for this. Lilly was my niece, and I’d do anything for her.
Sarah nodded. She leaned over and gave me the gentlest of hugs, like I might shatter.
“Oh, Bri.” My mom burst into tears again.
Sarah had to scoot out of the way as my mom threw herself across me again.
While I patted my mom’s back and reassured her that I was okay, I looked around the room. I remembered Diego being here, but there was no sign of him now. Had I imagined his presence?
“Where’s Diego?” I asked.
My mom sat up, her chin wobbling. “That boy with the awful tattoos?”
I bristled.
“Mom,” Brent said, rolling his eyes at her back for my benefit. To me, he said, “He left with your friends when you started waking up. I think they wanted to give you some time alone with us.”
“Pumpkin face, are you in a relationship with him?” my dad asked. “Because I’m not sure—”
“Alright everyone,” Brent said, scooping Lilly into his arms. “Bri’s friends are go
ing to want to see her now. Let’s give them some privacy.”
Thank you, I mouthed to my brother. Brent winked at me as he ushered our parents out.
They were barely out the door before A.J. and Yutika poked their heads in. They let out simultaneous squeals and charged me.
The two of them jumped on my bed. Kaira and Sir Zachary quickly followed. Charlotte and Kaira’s two cousins squeezed on, too.
Graysen, Smith, and Michael stood, since they weren’t really the bouncing-on-the-bed types. Not that there was room for anyone else, anyway.
“Bri!” A.J. wrapped his arms around my neck and tried to squeeze the life out of me. I almost had to turn into titanium to avoid being strangled, before Kaira pointed this fact out to him and he released me.
Sir Zachary was trying to drown me in slobbery dog kisses, and Yutika was shrieking so loudly my ears were throbbing.
Oliver poked his head into my open door and shouted, “Have you idiots lost your collective minds?!”
“Oops,” Yutika whispered, scrambling off the bed along with everyone else.
“You almost died,” Smith’s dad said, pointing an accusing finger at me. “I know for a fact there’s a brain inside your head. Use it.”
With that, he spun on his heel and stalked down the hall.
“That’s his way of saying he’s happy to see you awake,” Smith said, nonplussed.
“Aren’t we all.” A.J. swatted me with his polka-dotted handkerchief. “If you ever do something like that again, I’ll kill you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said, searching the sea of faces in the room.
My friends looked back with expressions ranging from relieved to ecstatic. As happy as I was to see all of them, I didn’t see the one face I was looking for.
“Diego,” I said, interrupting more threats from Kaira about what would happen if I ever scared them like that again.
Had I imagined him being here this whole time?
“He left, love bug,” A.J. said gently. “About fifteen minutes ago.”
“He didn’t leave your side the whole time you were out, though,” Yutika said. “Even Ma couldn’t lure him out with food.”
So, I hadn’t imagined his presence. But, why did he stay all that time just to leave?
“He was saying the mushiest stuff to you in Spanish,” Desiree said, rolling her eyes and clicking her long nails on my bedframe in irritation. “I got this app that translated everything.”
“Ma told you not to do that,” Cora said to Desiree, aghast.
“I thought he was cool before,” Desire continued, ignoring her sister. “But he’s actually as bad as Graysen.”
“Why, thank you, cuz,” Graysen told Desiree, giving her a bright smile.
“How long have I been out?” I asked, because I didn’t want Desiree to start going into details in front of a room full of people.
“Two days,” everyone replied at once.
“Two days?” I managed.
“You were buried alive,” Smith mumbled. “You should be dead.”
At that, there were a lot of hard swallows, sniffles, and more suffocating hugs.
“What happened?” I asked.
I remembered everything up to the part where light was coming into the mine and I thought I was dying. What happened after was a blurry haze.
“Finally,” A.J. sighed. “We get to the good part of the story.” He stole my pillow and tucked it under his own head. “I was obviously the hero.”
He made an affronted sound when Yutika lightly smacked his arm. “You were only a partial hero,” she said.
“Why don’t we actually tell her what happened,” Graysen suggested. “We can do a dramatic retelling later.”
“Party pooper,” A.J. muttered.
“We were trying to get to you,” Kaira began, “but the explosions had already started, and the whole mine was coming down.”
“We barely made it out,” Yutika said. “The tunnel back to Boston started to collapse, too. We would have been crushed, except Smith detected the air shaft that was used to blast the Agent S gas through the mine.
“A.J. used his magic to pull the train car through the rubble and right into the air shaft so we could climb out without being crushed.”
“You’re kidding.” I stared at A.J. in utter amazement.
Even with as strong as A.J.’s magic was, I couldn’t imagine how much that had taken out of him.
Looking more carefully at his face, I saw that he had burst blood vessels in both eyes. I leaned my head on his shoulder and gave him a squeeze.
“I pulled a few hustle muscles, but we weren’t going back to Boston without you,” A.J. replied with a little shrug.
“We got to the surface at the same time Diego came out with Lilly,” Michael said, taking up the story. “Diego brought us to the entrance of the supply shaft you were in, but it was already collapsing.”
“I’m sorry, Bri,” Smith said, looking anywhere except at me.
“Don’t,” I told him firmly. “It was my call to blow it up. You warned me exactly what would happen. You did everything perfectly.”
Smith gave me a jerky nod.
“Diego went back in after you, even though it was suicide,” Yutika said, her lip trembling.
My stomach did something between a somersault and freefall.
“It was the worst ten minutes of our lives,” Kaira said.
Everyone was quiet for a few seconds until Michael spoke.
“Yutika made a giant dirt digger machine,” he said.
The two of them exchanged a complicated look and hesitant smiles.
“And Smith and A.J. made it pull rubble out of the supply shaft at record speed,” Graysen said. “You should’ve seen the thing.”
I shook my head in amazement. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to my friends’ general awesomeness.
“The two of you were down there for almost twenty minutes,” A.J. said in a hushed voice.
As I looked around at the group, I saw the toll those twenty minutes must have taken on them. I was about to start apologizing, when A.J. said, “You were holding up the literal weight of the entire mine on your shoulders, Girlfriend.”
“And then Diego flew you out as soon as we had a path clear,” Kaira said. Her tone was full of respect, which I took to mean that she didn’t hate him anymore. “You were unconscious, and he was in seriously bad shape. Yutika made another plane, and Michael held off the Californians long enough for us to get out of there. We brought you back to Oliver as fast as we could.”
“Wow,” I whispered, trying to make sense of it all.
“But we did it, right?” I asked. “All the slaves are safe, and the Synthetics are dead?”
“Yay to the first,” A.J. said. “Nay to the second.”
At the questioning look I gave them, Graysen said, “One of those Synthetics was a Teleporter. Someone in California reported seeing five of them with a white-haired man wearing a black suit.
I jerked upright. “Seriously?!” I demanded.
“Small potatoes,” A.J. assured me. “Believe me when I tell you they were the least of our concerns.” He cuddled a squirming Sir Zachary for comfort.
The rest of my friends nodded in agreement.
I rubbed my eyes, trying to digest everything my friends had just told me. I dropped my hand and looked up as a new realization struck me.
“Diego saved Lilly instead of getting the Agent S.”
“He’s got it for you bad, honey girl,” A.J. said, making my face turn uncomfortably hot.
“We misjudged him,” Graysen said solemnly, saving me from having to respond to A.J. “I’m sorry about that.”
Kaira nodded. “After what he did for you, Ma practically tried to adopt him.”
“Why did he leave?” I asked, my other emotions being eclipsed by frustration.
I looked around the room, as though he might appear.
“We tried to stop him,” Yutika said. “He said he
didn’t know if you’d want to see him.”
“What a dumbass,” I muttered.
I swung my feet over the side of the bed and stood up. My friends erupted as I swayed on my feet.
“Are you out of your ever-loving mind?” A.J. shrieked.
“I have to go talk to him,” I said, catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror and wincing.
Maybe I’d shower first and then go chase down my man.
“He said he was leaving Boston,” Kaira said apologetically.
“What?!”
“When we talked to him,” Michael said, “I got the sense that he feels lost. Everything he’s been working toward is gone.”
Because he chose to save my niece instead of going after what he’d wanted more than anything.
“I have to stop him,” I said, raking my fingers through my hair and pulling a sweater over my tank top.
The boys in the room graciously averted their gazes while I tugged on a pair of jeans. Kaira and Yutika held my arms while I got dressed to keep me from keeling over.
“He only left a little while ago,” Yutika said. “I’m sure he hasn’t gotten too far.”
I didn’t wait to hear any more. I ran out of my room, only pausing once at the top of the stairs to catch my breath before racing down to the first floor.
“Bri!” Yutika shouted.
I looked up in time to see something shiny fall out of the air. I caught the object and felt a smile break out over my face.
It was the key to Diego’s motorcycle.
“Bri, wait up,” A.J. called as he came bounding down the stairs behind me. Kaira and Graysen were on his heels.
The three of them had to jog to keep up with me. The cold air that greeted me when I opened the door recharged me faster than a whole night’s worth of sleep.
“Gray and I have an idea,” Kaira said, a little out of breath.
“And you’re going to have wait a hot second,” A.J. told me, using his magic to pluck the key out of my hand and dangle it out of my reach. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
Mags & Nats 3-Book Box Set Page 104
