One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three.
With a deep inhale, Emery hoped that she could somehow overcome the feeling of dread that had followed her for weeks. All she wanted was to go home. To see her mom and her sister again. To know that they were safe.
She clasped her right hand over her chest, eyes closing as her heart calmed, the thud low and deep.
That was the thing about shattered hearts. Even in the midst of tragedy, they begin to heal.
13
Mason stirred as a faint vibration sounded throughout the hotel room. With a groan, he sat up and rubbed his eyes, the numbers 5:30 glowing from the holographic clock on the wall in front of him. Emery was fast asleep on the bed, her chest rising and falling with each breath. He groggily stood up, then tiptoed over to the source of the noise and grabbed the buzzing phone from the nightstand.
He wasn’t one to snoop, but the name on the screen caught him by surprise. Why is Naia messaging Emery? The buzzing stopped as Mason unlocked her phone, then clicked on the message. It read: You should have mentioned that the portal was closed. I’ve reopened it—please call me when you can.
He reread the message, feeling dumbfounded. Naia doesn’t know that the Alpha Drive initiative went down in shambles? Does that mean she thinks Theo is still alive? He briefly considered sending Naia a message to fill her in on everything that had happened, but then Emery would know he’d invaded her privacy. They’d made so much progress the night before. I can’t risk that.
Without a second thought, Mason deleted the message and threw a pair of jeans on over his boxer shorts. His eyes searched the room until he spotted the crystal dials gleaming in the dim morning light. He swiped them from the table, dropped them into his pockets, and slipped quietly out of the hotel room.
There was only one person who could help him hack into the Dormance mainframe. Torin. Mason shuddered at the thought. Did he really have to befriend the guy that had made his life a living hell the past month?
He shook his head. That’s Warren talking. Get out of my head.
Still, it was the truth, and there was no denying that the truth stung. Even though he’d been somewhat disoriented when he’d been brought back to Torin’s apartment after the lethargum attack, he knew that Torin’s apartment was right around the corner from headquarters.
Mason stood outside the hotel under the awning, tilting his head from side to side as he contemplated his choices. Was there any possible way he could do this without Torin? A number of options swirled through his head, but they all ended in failure. Rejection. Humiliation.
He threw his head back as he realized what he had to do. Let’s just hope Torin’s awake at this ungodly hour.
With the crystal dials still in hand, Mason marched past the Chicago Bean and turned down Main Street, eyeing the building numbers that lined the brick walls. Shadows danced to and fro, and there were a few times he wasn’t so sure his eyes were playing tricks on him.
In the distance, a rustling sound caught his attention, followed by the soft padding of footsteps. Even though he wasn’t doing anything wrong, Mason felt his chest tighten. He briefly considered turning around and running back to the hotel, but what good would that do?
His throat thickened with fear as the footsteps drew nearer. He surveyed the area until his eyes landed on a fire escape, and he quickly recalled how Emery had used it the day she and Torin had left together.
The thought alone was enough to make him cringe.
In his best effort to shove his jealousy aside, he jumped up and grabbed hold of the metal railing, then pulled himself upward until more than half of his body was on the landing. He climbed the rungs one by one until he reached a window that had been slightly cracked, the curtains billowing in the cool morning breeze. He peered inside to make sure he was at the right place.
“Torin?” he called out as he poked his head further into the open window. It was dangerous and downright stupid to intrude and startle someone as tech-savvy as Torin this early in the morning. If he wanted robots and other gadgets attacking him, yelling “Intruder, intruder!” then sure. Obviously, that was the exact opposite of what Mason wanted.
A dark figure emerged from one of the rooms. Something glinted in the figure’s hand, and Mason immediately recognized that it was a pistol.
Great.
The figure raised the weapon directly at him, to which Mason quickly reacted by ducking behind the windowsill. “Whoa, man! It’s me, Mason.” He raised his hands in the air, open-palmed in surrender. “Don’t shoot.”
“Mason?” Torin whispered. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Mason lifted his head just high enough so that his eyes were the only part of his body visible above the windowsill. “I’ll explain in a minute, once you lower your gun.” He peered over his shoulder, his forehead taut with tension. “I think someone was following me.”
“I highly doubt that. Don’t be paranoid,” Torin grunted as he placed the weapon onto the chair next to him. He walked over to where Mason was crouching and helped pull him through the window. “Just checking, but you do realize that it’s almost six o’clock in the morning, right?”
“I know. I’m sorry,” Mason said as he stood up, “but I need your help.” He could sense the hesitation just by the way Torin adjusted his stance.
“I’m listening.”
Mason gritted his teeth, then forced a half smile. “Emery filled me in on everything and how she thinks she left something valuable behind in Dormance.”
Torin eyed him warily. “Like what?”
“The alpha ring.”
“Right, the one her mom gave her,” Torin confirmed.
Mason’s fists clenched at his sides. This was the second thing tonight to catch him off-guard. He hadn’t expected Emery to spill everything to a complete stranger, which, in his eyes, Torin was, but then again, she’d done a lot of things lately that he never would have expected. He was starting to feel like he didn’t know her at all. “That’s the one,” he stated, trying to hide the contempt in his voice. “Anyway, I think the portal has been reopened somehow. I need you to send me back there so I can find that ring.”
Torin narrowed his eyes. “What makes you think the portal’s been reopened?”
Mason shrugged. “Just a hunch.”
Torin rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m not really into following hunches, especially when there’s no basis for said hunch. Not to mention, Emery would probably rather go back and look for it on her own. Have you told her about this?”
Mason pointed to his wrist. “Like you said, it’s six o’clock in the morning. This idea came to me just twenty minutes ago.”
“Well, maybe we should call her—”
“No,” Mason said forcefully. He shook his head. “Please. Let me do this for her. She’s already done so much and last night was the first time she’s opened up to me in ages.” He sighed, his eyes growing heavy. “I just want to show her that I can help—that she can count on me.”
Torin stared at him, his harsh gaze fading. “Alright. Let me see what I can do.” He pulled out his phone, his fingers flying on the holokeys, as if he hadn’t just woken up and rolled out of bed.
Mason waited patiently as a couple of minutes passed. Then five. Then ten. “Any luck?”
Silence filled the space between them as Torin eyed his phone like a madman. A green light shone from the screen, illuminating the crazy, wide-eyed grin spreading across his face. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I’m in.”
“Really?”
Torin shot him a stern look. “Do you want to do this or not?”
Mason nodded as he rushed to activate the crystal dials, watching as they became one with his skin. Torin handed him an earpiece and instructed him to wear it. Before Mason could ask what it was for, Torin said, “I’m guessing you’ll want your hands free while searching for the ring.”
Mason hesitated for a moment, and t
hen obliged. He was probably right. Torin typed a few more things into the system, then gave him a thumbs-up. The last words he heard were “Good luck” before a crisp gust of air whisked him away.
Mason landed with a thud in the common room, his knees buckling beneath him. Try as he might to stay upright, gravity worked against him. He collapsed face first onto the ground, his head almost colliding with the edge of a table. “Ow,” he groaned as he rolled himself onto his back.
“Graceful,” Torin said with a small laugh. “Are you okay?”
Mason’s stomach turned as he pulled himself upward. “I hate teleportation,” he grumbled as he dusted himself off, then slowly walked over toward the main door.
“Wait,” Torin whispered. “See that holographic device on the coffee table? Grab it, otherwise, the minute you step out of the common room, we’ll lose connection.”
Mason rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. Torin bossing him around wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind when he’d invited him on this rendezvous.
Deep breaths. Don’t let him get to you.
Mason made his way down the hallway to the elevator shaft and stepped inside. As the elevator began its ascent to the ground level of Rosemary Hall, Mason could feel his heart pounding in his chest.
“Did you make it okay?” Torin’s voice buzzed through the earpiece.
“Yeah. I’m walking through the lobby of Rosemary Hall right now.” He paused as a thought occurred to him. “Shouldn’t you be able to see me?”
“The connection is less than ideal. I’m sure I’ll be able to in a few minutes.”
Mason continued to walk through the dilapidated dorm, taking notice of the lobby’s complete stillness. The air felt stale, like there hadn’t been movement in weeks. There wasn’t a soul in sight. It honestly wouldn’t have been surprising to see a tumbleweed drift across the ground, save for the fact that he was indoors. Must be because it’s summer, he thought as he pushed his feelings of unease aside.
Much to his surprise, the door that led to the stairwell was unlocked. He climbed the three flights of stairs, then trudged down the hallway until he reached Emery’s old room, number 319. Mason pressed down on the door handle, but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s locked,” he said as he jiggled the handle.
“I got you,” Torin’s voice assured.
At least he’s good for something. Mason waited for his cue, then pressed down on the door handle again, smiling as it opened with ease. “You’re like the master hacker of all time,” he whispered as he entered the room.
“They don’t call me MacPorter for nothing.”
“MacPorter? What does that even mean?”
Torin laughed. “You know, like MacGyver, that illustrious computer hacker who was wanted by the FBI five years ago? He basically hacked his identity out of existence. He’s like a ghost.”
Mason couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess I need to update my subscription to Cyberthief Weekly.”
Torin snorted. “We’re not all bad, you know.”
Mason tried to hide his smile. It was in that moment he realized that maybe he’d been wrong about Torin. Maybe Warren had pushed too far into his head. There was no way Torin could be the bad guy. The bad guy wouldn’t help Mason do something like this.
Torin interrupted his thoughts. “So, what do you see? Any sign of the alpha ring?”
Mason knew that cleanliness was a huge deal to Emery, and with just one look at the room, he could tell that something wasn’t quite right. A picture of her and her sister lay facedown on her desk and random articles of clothing—socks, t-shirts, and undergarments—were strewn about near the closet door. It almost looked like the place had been raided. “I wish you could see this.”
“See what?”
“The place looks like it’s been ransacked. I think someone was definitely here.”
Torin sighed. “Great. Not the news I wanted to hear. You should look anyway though.”
“Already one step ahead of you,” Mason said as he opened one of Emery’s desk drawers. Nothing. He moved onto the next drawer and the next, rifling through the contents with increasing frustration. Still nothing.
His eye caught a jewelry box sitting atop the bathroom sink, but all it contained were earrings and necklaces. No rings. More specifically, no alpha ring.
He tried the closet next, immediately regretting his decision as he dug through countless bins, pulling out shoes, purses, hats, and the like, until he noticed a small silk pouch in the back of one of the drawers. It felt light, but he opened the drawstrings just to be sure.
Crap. It was empty.
“I’m not having much luck over here,” he said into the earpiece as he left the closet and walked over to the bed. He slid his hand under the thin, flimsy mattress, hoping that maybe the ring was tucked under it somewhere. “I checked the desk and bathroom drawers and every inch of her closet. I did find this silk pouch, but—”
“That’s it,” Torin interrupted. “She said she kept it in a silk drawstring pouch. Is it pink?”
Mason’s eyes lit up as he examined the pouch again. “Yeah, but it’s empty.”
Torin let out a long sigh. “I think this is exactly what Emery was afraid of, that someone would take it, and that they’d beat her, and us, to it.”
“But who would take it?” Mason asked as he scratched his head. “What is so damn special about this ring?”
“I don’t know,” Torin contemplated, “but I have a feeling we’re about to find out.”
14
Later that morning, Torin sat alone in his living room, replaying the conversation with Mason over and over again in his head. They’d both been disappointed when they’d discovered nothing in the silk pouch Mason had found in Emery’s room.
His fingers grazed his phone. A hologram of the time appeared, glowing angrily at him. Eight thirty in the morning. I should call her.
Mason’s plea echoed in his head: I just want to show her that I can help—that she can count on me. Torin rolled his eyes at the thought. Although Mason had never given him a reason to dislike him, there seemed to be an unspoken hatred between them. Perhaps it was because of Emery.
Or . . .
Who was he kidding, of course it was because of Emery. She’d invited Torin to go with her back to Arizona on her grand adventure and, in turn, had left Mason behind. Of course he was bitter. Why wouldn’t he be?
If he were in Mason’s shoes, he’d feel the same way. But Mason had been nicer to him this time around. Perhaps it was just because he’d needed help, but deep down, Torin hoped that it was because Mason might be coming around.
Regardless, Emery needs to know what happened. But what would he say? And how could he tell her without getting Mason involved?
Mason wanted to do all of this on his own, sans any help, yet he’d dragged Torin into his mess without even a second thought. He hated keeping things from Emery, especially when it involved something that could potentially change everything.
And this was definitely one of those things.
It was right then and there that he made his decision. He pulled up Emery’s contact information and waited for the lines to connect, but she didn’t pick up.
Okay, let’s try Plan B.
Finding her location was almost easier than making a phone call itself: Hotel Bradbury. Torin glanced over at the T-Port on the other side of the room. He could teleport and get there in a flash. Or he could walk a couple of blocks, get some fresh air, and give Emery more time to wake up. Decisions, decisions. He looked back and forth between the T-Port and the door one last time.
Walking it is.
+ +
The streets were awfully silent for a weekday in downtown Chicago. Torin pulled his hood over his head, his shaggy chestnut hair flaring out at the sides. A crisp breeze swept through the city as the sun began its ascent on the horizon. He made a swift right turn on Main Street, nodding his head at the Chicago Bean as he
walked past it. He ran through a couple different variations of what he could say to Emery.
Approach #1: Tell her that he’d been the one (liar!) to discover that the portal was now open.
Approach #2: Tell her that someone in 7S had discovered the portal was now open. (Liar! Again.)
Approach #3: Tell her the truth about Mason’s hunch and plea for help (in which he’d assisted somewhat against his will) in helping him get back to Dormance to search for the alpha ring.
And then he’d press her to reach out to Naia so they could finally get this show on the road. What could possibly go wrong?
The third option was looking to be the most promising. And if she said no? Or that she wasn’t ready to reach out to Naia just yet? Maybe then he’d go with option one or two. And when she saw right through those lies, the truth would finally come out, which left him with approach numero très. Stop overthinking it.
As Torin approached Hotel Bradbury, yet another thought occurred to him, this one more unsettling. Why is Emery staying at a hotel?
Knots twisted and churned throughout his stomach. He pulled out his phone and scrolled until he landed on the one person he hoped would be far away from the hotel: Mason.
Torin stared at the screen as he waited for Mason’s coordinates to appear. He took a deep breath as the dots made their way onto his screen. A blue dot hovered right over his own red one. Torin bowed his head and let out a long exhale. He’s here.
There was no question about it. Emery and Mason had reconciled their differences and were most likely staying together at Hotel Bradbury. A wave of jealousy washed over him, followed by a surprising sliver of hope. Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions.
Torin pulled up Emery’s coordinates one last time, just to be sure. Her purple dot hovered over Mason’s blue one and his red one. Torin stared at the screen a moment longer, willing the dot to move, to disappear, to be anywhere but here. But it remained.
She was here. With Mason.
With his heart in his throat, Torin turned away from
The Order of Omega (The Alpha Drive Book 2) Page 8
