by Salem Cross
I can feel your pain, I heard the ache in Rylan’s voice. Where are you hurt? Are you bleeding?
I looked down at my shoulder where Nikolas’s dagger had lodged itself in my shoulder to find that it was still bleeding profusely. If I didn’t get help soon, I would be in a lot of trouble.
I’m hurt everywhere. Nikolas can pack a mean punch. One of his daggers got me in the shoulder. It’s bleeding pretty bad. Don’t let me die down here, Rylan, I pleaded as I placed my hand over the wound. I sucked in a deep breath.
I will not let you die.
Rylan’s confidence rang through his voice and our bond. I looked towards the blue light and forced my feet to head in that direction. Obviously, there was something down here. If someone still used this tunnel, then maybe there was an exit nearby. I just prayed it wasn’t on the other side of the debris that had closed up the rest of the tunnel.
The closer I got to the light, the brighter it became. I could hear a faint humming and then there were random clicking noises that stopped and started back up again. I rounded the corner and stopped mid-stride. My jaw dropped open.
Mae? What is it? Rylan’s voice drifted through my head.
Somehow, I had fallen right into a science laboratory. The tunnel had widened to the size of a warehouse. Along the wall were high tech machines that lit up and made the clicking noises. Hanging along the far wall were monitors displaying different sections of the park. In the middle of the room was a massive glass tube filled with a blue gas swirling and sparkling within. A group of ten people holding hands wouldn’t be able to wrap around this ginormous glass cylinder. The sheer size of it made me wonder how in the world someone had managed to get it down here. Attached to this glass tube, which lit up the entire room on its own, was a thick clear tube that fed out from the top and split into hundreds of smaller tubes.
Those small tubes ran along the top of the ceiling all around the room before descending on to a capsule. The capsules were what took up most of the space in the lab. There had to be well over fifty of them. To me, they looked like something you would see in a science fiction movie where someone wanted to preserve their body. I could almost picture someone climbing in, closing the glass door, falling asleep, and then waking up a hundred years later looking exactly as they had when they had climbed in. These capsules were tilted upwards instead of laying flat and what was in them was the most shocking, and horrifying, thing in the room.
There was a single person inside each one. But they didn’t look like people anymore. Their skin looked mummified, stretched over their bones so tightly that if they moved, if they could move, I was sure it would rip right off. There were IVs attached all over their bodies. Blue gas was being siphoned out from their bodies and being pulled to the large glass tube in the middle of the room. As I approached a capsule and peered in, I noted black feathers laying by the person’s feet.
Rylan… My shock was beginning to fade as horror took over.
Talk to me, Mae! Rylan demanded.
There are other Guardians down here. They're trapped and sickly… I answered as I stepped further into the room. Something really bad is happening to them, I wish you could see this…
Go back to where we can find you. Get out of there, now! Rylan’s panic had finally settled in his tone. He had forgone trying to pretend to be calm for me.
Instead of listening to him, I limped further into the room. Whatever was happening here, it couldn’t be good. How did these Guardians get down here? What was happening to them? My stomach rolled as my internal warning system went off. This was wrong, I had to get them out of here. I came and stood in front of another capsule and began to examine ways to open it.
When I found a latch, I tried tugging it open. Nothing happened. Upon further examination, I realized it was magnetized to stay shut. There had to be a button to release the latch somewhere in the room. I glanced around at the machines that lined the wall and growled with frustration. Where was I supposed to start? There were buttons everywhere! Frustrated, I grabbed the edge of the glass and tried to yank it open. Nothing happened.
I was about to start cussing out loud when a slight movement caught my attention. I spun around to find Nikolas standing at the mouth of the tunnel, staring around the room with his white brows pulled together. I took a moment to look him over while he was distracted. His pants were ripped and stained, there was dried blood covering his arm, and his white hair was in disarray. But there was no sign he was in any pain. Shit, he could still kill me if he wanted to. My mouth dried as fear trickled down my spine. I called up my power immediately and braced myself for a fight. Nikolas’s gaze swept over me. He was probably assessing how easy it would be to kill me now in my condition.
To my surprise, Nikolas raised his hands in a sign of surrender. I didn’t trust him. Instead of standing down, I tensed further, bringing my hands up ready to fight him if needed. It didn’t matter that every inch of my body ached in some way. I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
Mae? Rylan’s voice was a plea. He was dying knowing he could not reach me. What is going on?
Nikolas, I told him.
I will kill him! I swear to god I will kill him! he yelled in my head.
His fury and fear were just an echo of his emotions, but they felt as strong as my own. I pushed Rylan’s bellowing to the side to focus on the danger at hand.
“There is a more pressing issue than trying to kill you,” he said flatly. He walked further into the room, and the tension in my body heightened. His gaze traveled over the capsules, and I could see his jaw clench and unclench. “Many of these warriors were thought to be dead. We thought it was suicide, but it appears that is what their kidnapper wanted us to believe.”
We are breaking through the debris. I will be with you shortly, Rylan vowed. I could almost hear him breaking through rock via our connection.
I stepped to the side as he approached. He glanced at me and frowned.
“You were trying to open one of these up,” he mused.
“I was trying to get her out,” I growled. The aches and pains in my body were amplified as the tension rose in my body. “They are magnetized shut. There has to be a button or something to open them, but I’ll never find it in time. I’m sure whoever is overseeing this will be around sooner rather than later.”
“Use your power,” Nikolas told me. I wasn’t sure if my eyes were bulging out of my head or not, but I stared at Nikolas.
“My power? My godly power? You want me to use it?” I asked incredulously. “Did you not just try to condemn me to death because of it?”
Nikolas’s cold stare was more intimidating now that he had tried to kill me. It wasn’t just an unspoken threat anymore. I refused to cower under it though. He could kiss my ass if he thought I was going to belly up so he could gut me like a fish.
After a long pause, he said, “Yes, I am suggesting you use it. It will cause the machines to malfunction and release everyone. The others will be here shortly, and we will be able to get them out.”
I moved further away from him so there was a good distance between us. Without turning my head too far in one direction, I looked around the room again at the trapped Guardians. How long had they been down here? What was getting sucked out of them? Just as the question presented itself, I answered it: magic. This was the magic our enemy was gathering to open the gates. He had been using the power of the Guardians to gain enough energy.
The ground beneath my feet shook hard, and a light dusting of dirt fell from the ceiling. I looked at Nikolas again who had his head tilted upwards as if he was listening for something. The ground shook with a deliberate pattern. Something was going on above us.
Rylan, what’s going on? I reached out.
More Petra thērion have arrived. There are five of them, and they are trying to draw us away from where you are. Whoever is behind this knows his lair has been compromised, I could almost hear his teeth grinding in frustration. What is happening down there?
“I’ll do it,” I snapped at him. “But because I planned to free them to begin with, not because I’m taking orders from my would-be murderer.”
He said nothing, but his face hardened.
I took a deep breath and centered myself. I needed utter control, or I could make this whole place collapse on us. I called upon my lightning bolt, and it answered right away. I placed my hand on the nearest capsule, and the glass broke as the electrical charge left my hands. The entire machine sparked and sputtered before turning off. The ripple effect was immediate. All the other capsules in the room shut down.
But my power didn’t stop at the capsules. I watched as the violet energy coursed through all the machines along the wall, causing small fires and explosions. It reached the massive glass cylinder full of Guardian power, and the case shattered violently. Massive pieces of glass flew in every direction. I threw myself to the ground as Nikolas jumped behind a capsule.
The explosion rocked the entire laboratory. The ceiling cracked. Several large slabs of concrete fell, narrowly missing the Guardians stuck in their prisons. The large industrial lights that had been wired lazily to the ceiling flickered out. A small emergency light popped on giving the room an eerie green hue. In the corner of the room where a large boulder had crashed down, a hole about half the size of a manhole cover allowed light from above to filter down into the lab.
“Nikolas look!” I pointed.
I leapt out of the way as a small chunk of the ceiling came crashing down in front of me.
Nikolas turned to where I had pointed. His wings grew from his back. As he lifted into the air, I noted the way one wing seemed slightly bent, as if parts of it were broken and had yet to heal. He flew to the small spot and hovered there for a moment. Then, he began punching the opening, widening it. I wasn’t sure how far down into the tunnels we were or how long it would take Nikolas to break through enough of the rock to get us out of here, but I didn’t wait to see.
When I was sure most of the danger from the explosion was over, I rose to my feet. I got up delicately, cringing and flinching as I moved. My body was shaking from fatigue and pain. The blood on my shirt was dripping onto the ground as I moved, leaving a trail. I grabbed the nearest latch and yanked it open. Nikolas’s plan had worked. My relief was short-lived as I began removing the IV’s from the body in the capsule. The Guardian didn’t budge as I worked to remove him. It was only when I went to grab him under the arms that a small, almost inaudible groan escaped his lips.
“Hey, you’re going to be okay,” I whispered. “We’re here to help you.”
He didn’t open his eyes, nor did he make another sound as I haphazardly attempted to pull him out of the capsule. Despite his fragile state, this was still a grown man twice my size and trying to move around dead weight was not easy, especially in my condition. I laid him down on the ground and moved immediately to the next person. Behind me, Nikolas continued to punch through the rock to break through to the surface. I had gotten about twenty Guardians out when more light flooded into the warehouse.
I turned to find Nikolas landing next to the first Guardian I had freed. He scooped the man up, and I watched as he flew towards the larger opening. I was sure Nikolas wouldn’t be able to fit through the hole but to my surprise, he brought his wings in as close to his body as possible and shot through the small alcove to the surface. It was tight, and I noticed debris fall back into the lab as he and the person he held skimmed the tight space to get out.
The ground still shook overhead. Dirt and small rocks continued to fall. Rylan had said they were going to try to lead the monsters away, but they weren’t far enough. The ceiling was going to collapse if we didn’t hurry. My heart thumped painfully in my chest as I thought about dying from a cave in. That was not how I thought I would go out.
I continued pulling the Guardians from their cases and placed them on the ground. A few groaned as the first one had. Most of them remained silent. I checked for a pulse and to my surprise, each Guardian still had one. How they had survived whatever torture they had endured was beyond me. I whispered words of encouragement and assured them their freedom was near.
I continued to do this until it became too difficult. My breath came in shallow gasps, and the room wouldn’t stop spinning. Around me, Nikolas made slow progress of taking each Guardian from this horrible place and out into the fresh air. His wing still looked wrong; how long did it take for a Guardian to heal bones? I’d ask Rylan once I got out of here. I pulled out the last Guardian from his capsule and heaved a great sigh. The last five Guardians laid on the ground, unmoving. The moment I removed the last one, my legs gave out from underneath me. I braced my hands against the ground, and I stayed like that for a minute while I tried to gather enough strength to finish the job.
A loud crack warned me of the danger above me. I looked up to see a large frisson in the ceiling moving at an alarming pace. When it got to the other side of the room, the entire lab shook so hard that I was thrown face-first into the floor. I scrambled up to my feet and watched as the ceiling began to fall towards me. I screamed in terror and threw up my hands protectively.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Mae
My power surged forward. As the rock and dirt fell, it slammed into a barrier only several feet above my head. The impact against my power was enough to break me. My body shook violently, and tears streamed down my face as I gritted my teeth so hard I thought they were going to crack. I held my hands up and forced myself to focus. Around me, the empty capsules were destroyed as the lab caved in. The thundering noise was deafening. Dust and dirt were thrown into the air, making it hard to breathe. All around me, massive pieces of the tunnel slammed into the ground, surrounding me and darkening the space.
Mae!
“Mae!”
Rylan’s voice in my head echoed Nikolas’s shout coming from somewhere nearby. Shit, was Nikolas stuck somewhere else in here? If he was, I couldn’t save him. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold the multiple tons of rock and dirt above me for very long. Already, I could see it inching closer as my strength waned.
I have five Guardians still trapped down here, I told Rylan. I am holding up the roof the best I can but I can’t hold it for long.
I’m heading back to you now, Rylan assured me. I could feel his panic and terror. It mirrored my own.
“Nikolas!” I shouted through gritted teeth. “Where are you?”
“I am near.”
It was true. His voice was coming from just beyond a rock close to me.
“Are you trapped?” I asked him.
“I still have access to the exit I created,” he assured me. It was odd how calm his voice was. “Can you lift the rocks you are holding? I can slip in and grab you.”
I cursed as I pushed my power to its limits. I could feel the odd thumping in my heart and drawing in breath felt harder than holding up the entire weight of this tunnel. Ever so slowly the debris began to rise. It didn’t get too far but it was enough for Nikolas to be able to slip through from wherever he was. He came and landed beside me and stared up at the ceiling that was floating above us.
“Hurry,” I snapped through gritted teeth. “Get the others… Can’t. Hold. On. Much. Longer.”
Nikolas glanced at me with a look I did not have time or patience to interpret before he moved. He grabbed a Guardian and was gone without a word. My arms trembled, and the ache in my shoulder blended with all the other aches and pains in my body. Part of me acknowledged that Rylan had been right. I was glad we had stopped training earlier this morning. I hadn’t recovered from the night before. I was certainly feeling it now. Nikolas returned and carried out another body.
“Well, well, well,”
a mysterious voice drifted through the darkness. Bumps raised along my arms, and the hairs on my neck that weren’t plastered in dirt and sweat rose. “What do we have here?”
On my right, the debris suddenly began rolling to one side. Pieces of rock continued to move until a man stood only twenty feet from me. I could only make out his silhouette, but the movement behind him alerted me to wings. Another Guardian? Nikolas suddenly reappeared but froze as he realized we were not alone.
“Ah, Nikolas, it has been quite a while…” the man drawled.
I could almost hear the newcomer smiling.
“Cain?” Nikolas whispered, aghast at the other Guardian. “You are behind all of this?”
Apparently, Guardians could see well in the dark. Also… Cain? As in the missing Guardian whose territory we were in?
“I would like to say yes and take all the credit, but alas I cannot,” the man replied with a sigh. “This was all Ekon’s idea. He brought me into his plan many years ago, and only now has it come to fruition.”
“Th-this is madness! You are kidnapping and using our own people to bring back those who enslaved us. For what purpose?” Nikolas demanded and took a step towards the man in the darkness.
“Oh, do not fret Nikolas. We are not so foolish as to single out just the Guardians to siphon power from. At first it was fairies and shifters, then witches and wizards. We pretty much wiped out the entire elven species. When we ran out of options, we turned to our own brethren to supply the power we needed,” Cain boasted. “It was a waste of time to continue to try to gather magic from any other species when Guardians not only last much longer due to our immortality but also are much more powerful than the rest of the species that walk this planet.”
