“Danger from what?” J. prepared himself for anything.
Harrington looked hunted. “He is coming for you.”
“Who is?”
A door slammed loudly behind them, but President Harrington didn’t react, keeping his eyes on Conrad.
“He planned all this to trap you. Listen to me, you are the only one…”
Conrad heard footsteps.
“He gave me power so he could use me. He’ll try to use you, too.”
“Who?” Conrad demanded.
“He is…” Harrington struggled for words to remember. “He is—the Dark One. He is—”
Bang!
Conrad saw J. react, falling down, clutching his chest. By the time he turned from him, there was a dark figure emerging from the shadows holding a smoking gun and it was now pointed squarely at his chest.
“NO!” screamed Harrington.
Bang!
Harrington dove in front of Conrad, crumpling as the bullet pierced his heart. Something bit Conrad’s shoulder and he was thrown to the ground. He was surprised when he heard Piper scream. His arm dangled limply.
“You’ve been shot. Oh, Conrad!” Piper’s wild face was in front of him.
It was all so strange.
“I was flying back when I heard the first gunshot. We have to get you out of here!”
Piper hoisted Conrad up, and in that position it was possible for him to see that the dark figure had grabbed hold of Harrington and thrown him over his shoulder and was fleeing the scene.
“Dad!” Conrad called. “Dad!”
J. tore away his Kevlar vest, which now had a bullet hole in it. He jumped to his feet and chased after the dark figure, who jumped off the roof using a hidden zip line, still carrying Harrington with him.
Piper shot through the air, quickly closing the gap as she joined J. at the edge of the roof.
“I’ll follow them from the ground,” J. told her. “You track them from the air.” J. grabbed hold of the zip line and was gone.
Instead of following Piper turned around and went back for Conrad.
“Go!” Conrad panted. “They’ll get away.”
“I’m not leaving you behind.” Piper was resolute. She threw her arms around his torso and picked him up.
“Aww,” Conrad groaned. “I’ll slow you down.”
“I’m not leaving without you.”
Piper flew off the side of the White House. She kept her eyes firmly fixed on her target as she disappeared into the night.
CHAPTER
24
The waves off the Atlantic coast were rolling mountains of water that crashed against the shore with blasting sprays. A punishing rain shot from the sky, got caught in the wind, and pelted the ground in slanting whips. J. waited by a large group of gray rocks crusted with barnacles and seaweed, his back to the ocean and his eyes scanning the shoreline. It had been a long night and a hard chase. Piper had tried valiantly to keep up, but the weight of Conrad held her back and she fell behind. J. would have stayed with her, but she insisted that he go on ahead and he had.
Then the news had broken throughout the nation announcing the death of President Harrington. Conrad and Piper had been identified as the culprits with pictures taken from a White House security camera; the images were splashed across every news channel. A manhunt was under way to apprehend them and the entire resources of a nation were dedicated to their capture. If they were still alive and on the run, they’d endured a hard night and J. knew that their odds of survival were slim.
Meanwhile, J. had kept himself invisible and doggedly chased the mysterious stranger, who led him to remote cliffs by the ocean. Lugging Harrington’s body, the stranger escaped into a hidden cliff, going deeper and deeper into its passageways. Invisible and silent, J. followed with his heart beating so loudly he thought it might give him away. When they reached an underground river the stranger loaded Harrington into a waiting boat and got in after him. With a willpower J. hardly knew he possessed, he’d halted his pursuit and returned to the beach in the hopes that Conrad and Piper would join him. And so, as the morning dawned, J. continued to watch and wait and hope.
Most of the morning had passed before J.’s patience was finally rewarded with the sound of a scream blowing to him on the wind.
“Ahhhhhh!”
J.’s head twitched and he bent his ear, listening carefully to a sound higher than the roar of the ocean and with a different beat than the rain.
“Ahhhhhh!”
J. immediately turned himself invisible, jumped to his feet, and ran to the center of the beach, where he craned his neck, listening. He saw it before he heard it. Falling from the sky came Piper with Conrad in her arms, her face contorted from the weight of her cargo.
The thump of a helicopter was close, and despite the danger, J. became visible and threw open his arms and screamed.
“Here! Here!”
Piper was beyond seeing or steering. With the last of her energy she managed to drop onto the beach. Sand exploded upward from where the two bodies landed and tumbled into a giant heap.
J. ran to the mess of them and began to untangle limbs away from heads and torsos. Piper was at the bottom and when J. got to her she blinked at him curiously, finally realizing exactly who it was hovering anxiously over her.
“J.” Her eyes traced the lines of his face and then down to his chest. “You’re all wet.”
J. smiled at the absurdity of such an everyday remark in such extraordinary circumstances. “You are too,” he pointed out.
Piper considered this and looked down at herself. “Yes,” she agreed sadly. “I’m wet.”
Then she remembered. “Where is Harrington? Did you follow him?”
“Yes, I was waiting for you,” J. assured her. “I’ll show you the way.”
Piper sighed with relief but the effort of this exchange wholly consumed the last of her energy, and her head fell back on the sand.
Hearing a low groan coming from Conrad, J. darted to him next to find that his shirt was drenched with blood and he had lost consciousness. J. felt for his pulse and listened to his breathing. The boy was weak and his shoulder had a bullet wound. J. surmised that the bullet that hit Harrington had passed through his body and lodged itself in Conrad’s shoulder.
The beating of helicopter blades grew ever closer, and when J. looked up he caught sight of a Black Hawk dropping out of a large cloud toward their position on the beach. A moment later that Black Hawk was joined by another, which was followed by a third. J. didn’t wait to count the final number; he grabbed Conrad and threw him over his shoulder, then pulled Piper up into his other arm.
Leaning into the wind and rain, J. ran at full tilt toward the wall of rock that surrounded the beach.
Helicopters touched down on the sand, creating a triangulation pattern to cut them off and keep them contained. As marines started to pour onto the beach, J. ran into the mouth of the cave. He needed a distance of thirty yards from the opening to make it safe and he counted those yards off under his breath.
At the thirty-yard mark he brought his load down as gently as he could and swung his backpack off his shoulder. It took him two quick movements to pull an explosive out of its seemingly bottomless depths. Without hesitation he pressed the button on its side.
“One, two—” Before he said “three,” J. tossed the explosive back at the mouth of the cave and used his body to shield the children.
BOOM!
The entire rock structure groaned and threw off debris. Large boulders fell and the mouth of the cave pulled itself closed with a resolute thud. It was impassable but not for long. The marines would have their own explosives and they would act quickly.
Before the dust settled J. pulled a flashlight from his backpack. It had an attachment that secured around his head and he lashed it on quickly. He pulled light sticks from his pack and threw them into the cave.
J. hoisted Conrad and Piper back into his arms. From that point on it was a matter o
f retracing the path he’d followed; farther and farther into the darkness of the cliff, down one cave, up another, and through unmarked passages with hairpin turns. After a solid hour of walking, the sound of water dripping led J. to the underground stream. This was as far as he’d watched the stranger go last time, and now it was up to him to figure out the rest of the way.
Laying Piper and Conrad at the side of the stream, J. shone his flashlight to the right and then the left until he caught sight of a little piece of reflective tape. He grabbed it and discovered it was attached to an inflated raft.
He tested the raft for safety before he lifted Piper and Conrad aboard. He sat at the back and used a plastic paddle to push off. The current of the stream and J.’s paddling soon had them traveling at a fast clip. Piper stirred and sat up weakly. J. threw her a flask of water and an energy bar, after which she was much revived. Conrad showed no signs of consciousness and Piper hovered over him, worried.
“He’s lost a lot of blood,” she whispered to J.
“I can see a light ahead. We’ll be out of here soon.” J. nodded to the growing light at the end of the tunnel. When they emerged Piper and J. shielded their eyes against brilliant sunshine.
They were on a cliff about halfway down a mountain. J. pushed the boat to the side and jumped out, securing it to a waiting post where another boat, a twin to theirs, was tethered. J. helped Piper and Conrad to a safe perch on the side of the mountain, laying Conrad on a soft bed of leaves.
When Conrad was comfortable, Piper and J. had a moment to look at their new surroundings. What they saw startled and amazed them.
“Holy moly, would you look at this!” Piper said.
The word “paradise” seemed inappropriate. It was more beautiful than anything Piper could ever have imagined or J. had ever seen. Bright sunlight showered over a valley populated by brilliant plants and trees and strange creatures. Surrounding the valley on all sides were towering mountains that reached into the clouds.
Piper pointed to large pink flowers the size of trucks growing out of the mountain off to her right. They swayed gently in the breeze and filled the air with perfume.
“Look,” she said in amazement, inhaling deeply. No sooner had she pointed than her eyes were drawn to a fantastic rainbow made up of diamond-like stones floating across the valley. Reflecting light of colors that Piper had never seen before, it began to vibrate, creating a harmonic hum. Not only was there a hyper-brilliance to this strange place, a clarity of color and light that placed everything into a sharper focus, but there was a distinct feeling to it as well. A relaxing calm washed over Piper’s entire body, making her feel weightless, as though the breeze was rejuvenating her being. At the same time, her mind snapped awake, her thoughts sharp and succinct. Everything suddenly made sense, while all that had come before in her life felt like it had been a silly dream mired in confusion and darkness.
“Where are we?”
“I knew it. I knew it existed.” J. spoke quietly. “It’s exactly the way my sister described it.”
Piper’s face was flushed and glowing. “And this is where Harrington was taken?”
“Yes.”
Abruptly J. stopped talking and shielded his eyes from the sun, watching some point in the distance. Piper followed his gaze, squinting to see something coming toward them across the valley. It appeared to be a boat floating in the air. But not really a boat—more like a canoe composed of some sort of shimmering energy. As it came closer they could see that a girl about Piper’s age was standing in it. She was using a long stick to paddle through the air, which propelled it forward. Clad in robes made of a material that floated more than hung, her hair was woven with beads and flowers and she held herself with a simple, innocent grace.
In awed silence J. and Piper stepped back to allow the floating canoe enough space to dock on the mountain. When it came to a stop the girl stepped out of the canoe and stood before them. Piper noticed that her cheeks were flushed and her hands shook, as though she was collecting herself for the task before her. After a painful silence in which J. and Piper had no idea what they should do, the girl finally thrust her hand forward awkwardly.
“Hello,” she said, “my name is AnnA. Welcome.”
Piper realized that the girl meant for her to shake hands, and she did so. Then J. did the same.
“We have been expecting you,” AnnA said, looking at Piper.
“You have?” Piper shared a startled look with J.
“Yes. At the beginning of the growing season the Guardian told us to prepare for newcomers.”
Piper thought about this. No doubt AnnA was referring to the late spring or early summer when she said “the beginning of the growing season.” It was currently late in the fall, so how could this Guardian have known that they would be coming when they didn’t know themselves?
“I am to be your guide,” AnnA said, interrupting Piper’s thoughts.
“What is this place called?” J. asked eagerly.
“This is Xanthia, home to the Chosen Ones.” AnnA glanced at Conrad and her face visibly paled. “Your friend is hurt.”
“He was shot.”
“Shot?” Confusion rippled across AnnA’s brow.
“Do you have medicine?” J. cut to the point. “A healer?”
“Yes. Come.” She pointed to her boat and looked like she wanted to go to Conrad, but then wasn’t able to actually make herself do so. Instead J. and Piper lifted Conrad up gently and laid him in the place where she pointed.
When the task was complete AnnA took a flower out of her hair and handed it to J. “This is for you.”
J. received the flower graciously. “Thank you.” It was unlike any flower he had ever seen, with a purple center and green and red petals. Lifting it to his nose, he inhaled its scent and no sooner had his breath hit his lungs than his face turned white and still—deathly still.
“J.?” Piper watched him closely. “J., are you okay?”
J.’s face looked to Xanthia in the distance, his eyes open and fixed. With mounting concern, Piper approached him. “J.?” When he didn’t respond she reached for his hand. It was as cold and heavy as stone.
“Oh no!” Piper gasped. “J.? J.! Can you hear me?” Piper shook him frantically to no avail.
“What happened to him?”
AnnA seemed neither surprised nor moved by his plight. “Do not be … sad. He is still. I gave him a Sooon flower.”
Piper kicked the flower away angrily. “Why would you do that?”
“He was not chosen,” AnnA said. “Only you two were chosen, and so only you two may stay.”
“But why us and not him?”
AnnA appeared not to know how to answer this question, and after many shadows of half-formed thoughts passed over her face she gave up and looked at Piper.
Anger rose in Piper with a big hot blast, and she jumped to her feet and rushed at AnnA, who threw up her hands as though to shield herself.
“That’s not fair!” Piper yelled. “J. deserves to be here just as much as we do. You can’t turn him away after he got this far. If it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have made it. He wanted to be here so, so bad. It was all he ever talked about.”
AnnA whimpered, and the fear in her voice took the edge off Piper’s fury.
“I cannot bring him. I am not allowed,” AnnA replied.
“Then forget it, I’m not going either.”
AnnA had not expected Piper to say this, and she looked around as though she might find a solution to the predicament in the mountains surrounding them. Conrad moaned in pain, distracting Piper and providing AnnA with the answer she was looking for.
“If you do not come, your friend will not receive healing. He will die.”
“But…” Piper looked from Conrad, who was bloody and curled in pain, to J., whose eyes were frozen on the promised land he longed for. “Couldn’t you please bring J.? Please! It’s not right to leave him behind.”
AnnA sighed. “I cannot. He has not bee
n chosen.”
Conrad moaned again and the remaining fight in Piper melted into fear. Tears prickled her eyes. “You promise J. won’t be hurt?”
“They will return him to the Outsiders. We have no need of him.” AnnA spoke in a simple and straightforward tone, as though the answers should have been obvious.
Going to J. one last time, Piper settled his backpack by his feet and placed her hand on his cold cheek, whispering, “Thank you.” Then quickly, before she changed her mind, she got into the canoe next to Conrad and didn’t look back.
Stepping in carefully and positioning herself as far as possible away from Piper and Conrad within the confines of the raft, AnnA grasped the oar and paddled through the air. Soon they were soaring over the valley, charting a course to a distant mountain. If Piper hadn’t been so worried about Conrad, the journey would have taken her breath away.
“Don’t worry,” she whispered to Conrad. “Everything’s going to be okay. Nothing will hurt us now.”
CHAPTER
25
They were always one step behind.
As they arrived at the White House, the news of Harrington’s death broke and the capital was locked down. Fortunately, Piper had activated a beacon, which was another one of Conrad’s useful inventions, and placed it in the Lincoln Memorial. Myrtle ran to the beacon and found Aletha safely stashed away there. With the help of Violet, who shrank down to Aletha’s size and whose gentle nature made her feel most comfortable, they coaxed the terrified child out.
After that the chase was on.
Jasper did his best, but Piper and Conrad were moving fast in a pattern that was unpredictable and appeared random. To make matters worse, the kids had to keep their distance from the military, as well as help Ahmed and Nalen, who were not in the best shape. On top of which, they now had a young child to take care of. Aletha was still very small and didn’t have their training or strength, which meant they each had to take turns keeping an eye on her. Smitty had suggested that they send Aletha back to the farm for Betty and Joe to take care of, but as the appointed leader, Jasper felt personally responsible for her safety—and to him, that meant keeping her close.
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