“What you said… about your army,” I took a deep, calming breath. “West is planning to take you with us. But,” I let the tears flow freely from my eyes. “I lost my daughter, and I just… don’t want to lose again… I want Laurel to have her daughter back. I want everyone that I love to be safe.” My words turned into a sobbing jumble, and I wiped my eyes, hiccupping.
“If you cooperate, and take us through safely… you can have me… for Laurel. I’ll go without a fight, as long as they are all safe,” I dropped to my knees, looking nervously at the stairway. How much time has passed? “Please… once you have me, you can kill me… Just make it fast, please,” I buried my face in my hands, unable to look at him any longer.
I heard the doorknob from up the stairs, opening my eyes. Troy stared at me carefully, trying to determine if I was acting.
You’re a terrible actress.
“Cooperate, take you through the doors, give you Laurel, let them all leave… and I keep you? The prophecy is over when I kill you.”
“Unless you choose to… keep me,” I lifted my eyes to his. “Alive. There is that option,” I said defensively. “I will do… anything… that you ask of me.”
His revolting sneer made the skin beneath my ears tighten, and nausea pooled in my stomach.
“How can I be sure you won’t cross me?”
“West knows I’m down here.” I gave the stairs a nervous, sideways glance. “He plans to save me. He thinks that he can. But I know he can’t. Not with your whole army against him.”
“He would die trying.”
“My sister has to live,” I broke with the betrayal in my words, holding my head to keep from falling apart. “Logan… has to live.”
“After all of this… you love my brother.” He shook his head, and at that moment, I knew he believed me. “My orders will keep my army at bay when we pass through. If they see me harmed in any way, they will attack.”
“You won’t be harmed. You’ll be tied up until we get to the… plane. And I’ll walk right to you.”
“The inclined plane. You figured it out.”
“West did.”
At that moment, the basement door burst open, and West thundered down the stairs. He saw me, on the floor, in tears, and reached for me. “Roam?”
“I agree,” Troy interrupted, his eyes unwavering as he stared into mine.
“Go to hell,” West slid his arms under my shoulders and legs, lifting me against him.
“And… fuck my world. I choose the second option.”
West slammed the basement door to answer him. Logan was at my side in seconds. “Did he hurt you?”
“He’s just scary,” I turned against West, and his grip tightened.
“Let’s go.”
West packed the Pilot with the duffel bags of ammunition and weapons, loading them into a military grade, padlocked trunk. Logan would drive Violet, Morgan, and Jason in his car.
Troy walked to the Pilot with three guns pointed at him, allowing West and Logan to cuff both his hands and feet to steel-enforced cargo hooks that West had installed. The route that we planned avoided tolls, and would take almost four hours.
Once on the road, I turned around to look at Troy so often that I began to get motion sickness. Finally, West jerked his rearview mirror down to face the backseat so that I could see. “I know he’s unsettling. Just watch him like this.”
West had a loaded pistol near the stick shift, within either of our grasps. Troy was gagged, but hadn’t attempted to make a sound.
His piercing eyes followed me constantly.
Before we reached the border, West turned off at a gas station, Logan pulling up next to him in the Camry and rolling his window down. “Break?”
“Let Jason drive. The numbers,” he gestured to his arm. Logan looked unclear for a passing second, and then reached for the door handle.
“What about you?”
“I can drive through it.”
Lowering my eyes to my arm, I pushed my sleeve up to look at the coordinates for Madison, Ohio. They were about the change for Pennsylvania.
As we pulled back on the road, I waited, watching West’s knuckles go completely white on the steering wheel as his change began. I brushed my fingers over his back, comforting. Troy gave a guttural snarl from the backseat, and I turned, taking silent pleasure in the beads of sweat that erupted as the numbers changed for him.
Mine began last. I wanted to accept them silently, showing Troy what I was capable of handling, but as the blaze of stabbing pain began, I cried out, trying to focus on my breathing as West firmly held my palm in his.
After they changed, I lifted my eyes to the rearview mirror.
He was smiling through the gag.
We stopped at a Sheetz to use the restroom once we were in Pennsylvania. Nerves were getting the best of Morgan; I could tell she was shaking as she reached for the handle on the single-stall restroom door. My heart pounded in my ears when I waited in the corridor for my turn, thinking about what we were about to do. The panic set in before I had time to trade places with Morgan.
“Roam, you’re as white as a ghost. Look at me. Breathe. Breathe.”
“Morgan,” I looked down, concentrating on the multicolored tiles on the floor. “I can’t let anything happen to you… because of me, because of what I am.”
“I chose to come here. Roam, things don’t happen. They just are. You made all the choices up until this moment. You’re in control.”
Listening to her, I nodded, still focused the tips of my boots. I’m in control.
My choices.
The Johnstown Inclined Plane opened at ten o’clock. As we pulled into the small parking lot, I focused on the identical set of rails running parallel along the mountainside. An enclosed boxcar, a red one on each track, ran simultaneously up and down overlooking the Conemaugh River.
Logan pulled into the parking spot next to ours. I watched him get out and walk to the ticket booth, and then climb onto the car.
“What is he doing?”
“He’s checking to see if we really need him.” West tipped his head to the backseat.
Less than ten minutes later, West’s phone rang. I shoved the sleeve of my coat up, looking for the numbers.
They remained.
“He has to come,” West confirmed, closing the phone and ending Logan’s call with a soft snap.
This is it.
I held the handle on the Pilot, searching for courage.
Closing my eyes, I followed a single, red ringlet on Eva’s newborn head in my mind, remembering the silken threads between my fingertips.
“I’m going to take the gag off. “
Before I could turn in my seat, West blocked me.
“I’ll do it-…,”
“I will do it.” The same coldness from the night in the basement resurfaced at just the right moment, giving me the strength that I needed. He pulled away, recognizing the borderline-madness in my eyes.
Turning around in the seat, I reached for Troy. “When I take this off, I want you to remember everything that I said in the basement.”
He blinked once.
My fingers slipped twice as I pulled at his gag, finally yanking the ball of wet tee-shirt material from his mouth. He cleared his throat, moving his face muscles.
“Do they have automatic weapons? Guns?” I asked sharply.
West looked at me, obviously surprised by my question.
Troy nodded once. “Yes. I’ve given them the same resources and knowledge that exists here. In preparation for this day.”
“Fuck,” West growled, slamming his palms on the steering wheel. I knew then he’d wondered the same, and had already tried to get that information from Troy. “I should have let you ask him the questions.”
“He wouldn’t have answered me then. We have an understanding now.” I zipped my heavy coat. “West will have a gun pointed at you. You will have your arm around me the entire time once we’re through. If we are attacked, he will s
hoot you. And you will die, because you will be mortal. Clear?”
“Can’t wait.”
In broad daylight, in the middle of Johnstown, weapons of various sizes with assorted holders and harnesses were strapped to each of us from inside the Pilot. I looked around nervously, unable to fathom that no one paid any attention to what we were doing. West saw my disbelief, shaking his head.
“No one is looking.”
West removed Troy’s handcuffs, and held the gun pointed at him from inside his coat sleeve. Logan returned and bought out the ride, paying almost three hundred dollars for the round-trip fare. Troy cleared his throat, walking in front of West slowly. “We get on, we hit the halfway point, and we go. You return in the other boxcar.”
I focused on the word you, tucking my coat around me.
Troy stopped midway into the car, turning around. “I’m not going in without holding her.”
Oh my God. I blinked rapidly, my fingers disjointing beneath my torturous pull. Breathing normally had been a problem for me my entire life, but now, I swayed, over-compensating and beginning to hyperventilate. West caught me, running his hands over and over my face. “Roam, I’m right here. I will not let anything happen to you. I will protect you. I love you.” I could see his enormous restraint, and I turned frantically to Logan, watching him quietly shove his gun into Troy’s side.
“You’re strong, Cam,” he looked at me evenly. “You can do this.”
Edging into the car, I brushed at a single, petrified tear as it slid down my cheek. Troy held his arms open, and I turned and backed against him.
“You smell like your sister,” he murmured in my ear, and Jason caught Morgan’s clenched fists before she could swing at Troy.
“Morgan, don’t,” I pleaded, cringing as his hands slid around my waist, tucking me tightly against him.
“Let’s go,” Logan snapped, standing as close to me as possible.
Jason, Morgan, Logan, Violet and West surrounded Troy and I, weapons aimed from beneath coats. As we ascended the mountain and the half-way point approached, I began to sense the same weightless feeling that existed in the snowy fountain.
The moment we crossed the halfway point, the world around us slowly evaporated, my frantic breath escaping in visible wisps from my open mouth.
Troy’s grip on my waist tightened and left me gasping for air.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“I am your king; hold your fire!”
We came out on an icy platform along an arctic mountainside. Chaos erupted from every point; even above us, from decks protruding from the rocks, soldiers aimed machine guns, bows and arrows, and swords. I scraped at Troy’s hand, gasping. “I can’t breathe!”
He loosened his grip, slightly.
“Your majesty,” one guard assessed the group of us, aiming a heavy machine gun at West’s face. West lifted his own AK47 to Troy’s head.
“No,” I cried, shaking my head against Troy’s chest. “Tell them not to hurt him!”
“Be quiet,” he hissed in my ear, tightening his brutal grip once more. “My soldiers; behold, your queen has returned.” He gripped my shoulders, shoving me forward.
The roar began with a soldier spitting in my direction. I trembled, my ears throbbing at their collective bellows and ugly chants.
“Whore! Treasonous slut!”
“That’s not nice,” Logan slid the charging handle back on his AK, aiming it at the soldier who spit at me. “Say sorry.”
“Logan, don’t,” I cringed as the soldier approached me, his face marred with deep, scarred ravines. His long sword pointed at me, his eyes intimidating.
“End this, your majesty?”
Logan aimed.
“No,” Troy tugged me back against him. “Change of plans. Take them all to the castle; no one is harmed. Leave them their weapons.”
Relief, like rain, drenched me in a sudden sweat. I moved ahead of Troy, careful not to look any of the soldiers in the eye. I am hated. They would kill me without question.
We walked in silence along a snowy, curving path that wound its way around the mountain. I kept stealing sideways glances at West, and he kept his eyes on me at all times, reassuring. I lost my footing as we approached an ominous drawbridge, and Troy caught me before I slipped.
“Walk- or I’ll drag you.”
I glowered at him, shivering as the frozen air took over my muscles. As we passed giant, steel gates, my toes began to grow numb.
The inside of the castle mirrored my dream; icicles that didn’t melt, diamond-like lighting, and elaborate costumes on the members of the court that rushed to welcome Troy and gape at the prisoners.
I observed the people around us, noting the strange differences between the medieval atmosphere and the inhabitants of the castle. They wear make-up, have hair products, and modern foot-wear… did Troy do this?
“Take them to the throne room.” Troy’s orders sent people scrambling, but West stopped.
“Before we go further, I want to see that Laurel is alive.”
“And if you don’t?”
“Well, then,” West raised his machine gun, and every weapon pointed in his direction. “It’s over for both of us.”
Troy laughed, the sound rumbling in a bizarre trail throughout the icy corridors of the castle. “Very well. Bring Laurel to join us.”
Ushered into the throne room from my dancing dream with West, I took inventory of the guards that assembled around us. Troy shoved me onto the throne, and I struggled for breath as weapons were aimed at West. “You will drop your weapons,” Troy shouted, taking the seat next to me. My jacket bunched under my neck, and I remembered the automatic pistol inside my thick coat.
I tensed as members of Troy’s army unarmed West and Logan by force, while Jason, Morgan, and Violet handed over their guns.
“My kingdom,” Troy gestured to cold, gray room around us. “Ravaged by a never-ending winter, cursed by dark magic. The curse will be broken with your queen’s death.”
I tried to scramble from the cold, oversized stone chair, but he grabbed my upper arm, squeezing.
“Your queen, however, has struck up a bargain. Her life, in exchange for our prisoner’s life.” He smiled cruelly as his army began to cheer. “We shall send the rest of them back to where they came from. Their world will exist… for a little longer…,” he turned to me, his eyes darkening with lust, “While I reacquaint myself with my wife.”
I shuddered, shivering convulsively. “I agreed,” I called, my voice breaking and childlike. “I agreed, so please don’t hurt them.”
“Your majesty, with all due respect, we wish our sun back. End this curse,” a knight approached, bowing before the throne.
Troy pulled me to stand beside him. I trembled as he turned me to him and tugged the zipper down on my coat, shoving his hand inside. West growled and started toward us, but guards held him back.
His ice blue eyes locked with mine, and I felt his fingers on the Glock strapped to my side.
In one movement, he pulled the gun from the holster, aimed it at his guard, and pulled the trigger.
Morgan began screaming. Jason grabbed her, covering her mouth with his hand and turning her into his chest. Small clumps of bloodied matter littered the stone floor around the guard’s head.
“Clean it up, and keep your opinions to yourselves,” Troy shouted, ejecting the magazine and letting it smack the floor. He dropped the pistol to his side as several guards rushed forward to drag the dead man away.
“Well, I guess if you just keep killing your own guys, we’re fine with that,” Logan shouted, and I watched Violet’s eyes as they followed the man being dragged from the room.
“Ah, my young brother,” Troy drew his lips into a grin. “You’re on the wrong side of the room. Care to join us?”
Logan’s eyes met mine. I stared at him, watching his mind work as it used to when we’d get into his mother’s cookie jar without her permission. “That depends. I’ll only settle for your seat.
”
Troy roared with laughter, tucking me against him. “Some things never change,” he called, sounding genuinely amused.
And that was when I heard her.
The crying, the pitiful wailing that tightened my throat and caught my breath, echoed from the outer chamber. I tried to run toward it, but Troy caught my arm.
At that moment, the doors opened, and two guards ushered a woman into the room.
Laurel’s white-blonde curls hung well below her waist, spiraling and disappearing into the folds of her pale, silver gown. Her light eyes were frightened as she looked around the room, gripping the wriggling bundle in her arms securely against her chest.
In a fraction of a second, I saw the blankets fall away, revealing the red hair of the infant in her arms.
I knew it was Eva.
“Oh my God,” I yanked my arm with all of my strength, Troy’s brutal grip digging bruises into my skin. “Eva! She’s here! West-…,”
“Roam, stay still,” he shouted, but the moisture in his eyes caught the light from the crystal chandelier. He knows that it’s her.
The distress in his face was evident; any hope for retaliation, for defending me with arms or violence, was lost.
He would not risk her life.
“Ah, yes. The child that will save the world, end the prophecy… bringer of the sun.” He took a step toward her, my upper arm crushed in his grasp.
Deep within, the fiery madness that stoked my soul exploded into something that I had no time to comprehend. The very thought of Troy’s hands on my child sent flames to my core, and I turned to face him, clenching my fists and blocking his path.
“You will not touch her.”
He raised his eyes, smiling in surprise. “I won’t?”
“Give me a sword. Make this even.” I repeated the words from my nightmare.
He laughed from his throat, scoffing. “Are you sure you don’t want a screwdriver?”
“A sword.”
Chuckling, he shook his head. “Little Roam. Have you ever held a sword in your hands? It weighs more than you do.”
“Medieval swords were said to weigh more than forty pounds. That has since been disproven. Give me a sword. I will defend my daughter’s life.”
Fall (Roam Series, Book Two) Page 20
