Echo Into Darkness: Book 2 in The Echo Saga (Teen Paranormal Romance)

by Skye Genaro

  "If you can survive me," she said, "you can handle anything Keenan throws at you. Oh, what a great segue into your next test."

  She hopped onto a small rectangle arena a few feet above the floor and directed me to the other end.

  A hum rose around us. The little hairs on my body rose and stayed there. Static brushed against my skin, and I realized we were surrounded by an invisible electric fence.

  High-pitched whining snapped my attention to the opposite end of the arena. Luma held blue, glowing orbs the size of a tennis ball in each hand. She telekinetically lobbed one at my head.

  Something told me we weren't playing a game of catch. I dipped to the side to avoid the blue ball.

  "Wouldn't take too many steps in that direction if I were you," she warned.

  At the same time, the orb ricocheted off the barrier behind me and sunk into my lower back. A cold ache sent the muscles around my spine into spasms. I swiped the orb away. It fizzled when it hit the floor.

  "The electric walls teach you to think fast," she said. "And they keep you honest." She whipped the other orb at Keenan. It deflected with a snap and landed on the floor, where it disappeared.

  Keenan was not amused.

  I guessed this was a defensive test, and raised my hands in front of my face, boxer style. Luma closed her hands into fists and when she opened them, they held two orange orbs. They whizzed at my head. I telekinetically swatted them to the side. That was a mistake. They bounced off the wall and drilled into my legs, like balls of hot lead. My knees gave out.

  I got to my feet, fast, and knocked the next two to the floor, where they fizzled out. That was the key to passing this stage, deflecting them downward.

  "Jaxon's a piece of work, isn’t he?" She formed, and threw, two more blue orbs.

  I tilted an eyebrow. "That's an understatement."

  "I heard he attacked you at his apartment. If I'd had the opportunity, I'd have choked him all the way." Her lips twitched. "But you went easy on him. Why?"

  I didn't answer. If she thought she could shake my focus by dredging up that battle, good luck to her. I was over it. I batted a metallic orb back at her. They were coming fast, but they were easy to deflect. Too easy. I began to wonder the point of the test.

  "Me and you, we're more alike than you want to admit," Luma goaded.

  "You might get up in the morning looking for ways to mess up people's lives. I don't."

  "Wow, aren't we self-righteous. I've seen where you live." She saw my jaw tense. "Yeah, I know where you go to school, too. Rich and cushy. You don't have anything to fight for. You hide with the ungifted. What a waste."

  "That's a twisted philosophy." By that way of thinking, if my life was bad enough, I would be able to destroy without conscience. The idea sickened me.

  "At least I'm standing up and taking what's mine," she said.

  "And what's that?"

  "My place at the top of society. Where the gifted belong. The ones who earn it, anyway." She changed her tactic. Orbs shot at me with machine-gun speed. A blur of orange passed through my pelvis and exited out my back, leaving a hot trail.

  I had a fraction of a second to wonder if I'd just suffered internal damage before a metallic ball whistled past my face. I dove onto my hands and knees. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Keenan frown. I was failing.

  Luma's eyes glinted. "We've got your boyfriend locked up here, too, don't we?"

  I inhaled a tight breath and clambered to my feet.

  When I didn't respond, she said, "Connor. That's his name, right? How long have you been together?" Her arm twitched and a metallic orb missed my throat by in inch.

  My heart thudded. "We broke up," I said as calmly as possible. Instinct told me not to sound like I cared too much, to steer away from this topic quickly.

  The next orb sliced my shirtsleeve, ricocheted off the wall and lodged in my calf.

  "Ow!" Little green dots danced across my vision. I grimaced and knocked the orb out of my muscle. Blood soaked my pant leg.

  She laughed. "What did I tell you?" she said to Keenan. "Talentless. Just like her boyfriend. Of course, he can't do anything with the chip in him, but if he's as useless as Jaxon says, we should use him as a punching bag for the new recruits. Or perhaps I'll practice on him myself. He's got such pretty green eyes. I think I might like to plant these right between them." Luma made a brood motion and the air in front of her filled with orbs of every color.

  Fury gushed to the surface before I could stop it. When the orbs stormed across the arena, I flung them back at Luma with such ferocity, defending herself was out of the question. They halted, inches from her flawless face.

  "Don't you dare touch him," I said through gritted teeth. My whole body seemed to swell, a tempest of heat and power.

  She pushed against the orbs, but they held. Her disbelief at my boldness reflected in the metallic surfaces. The balls quivered and hummed. If I let them tear into her, she would get the message. Connor was off limits.

  Her mouth twisted like she was chewing something sour. "There's your answer, Keenan. Now call her off."

  Answer?

  Luma's tongue dampened the corner of her mouth. "Pretty green eyes," she whispered.

  I unleashed a pair of orange orbs into her belly. She grunted air. "Call. Her. Off."

  My forehead throbbed from the strain of maintaining control over so many objects at once. The orbs began to vibrate, and the vibration turned to a metallic hum. The pitch rose to a high, ear-splitting tone. Any moment now, I was going to lose control.

  "That's enough, Echo." On the sidelines, Keenan grinned. I realized too late that he had not been testing my ability. Not this time.

  He had wanted to know where the real source of my power resided. What it would take to make me turn. What it would take to make me one of them.

  I had just told him.

  Chapter 33

  I released my telekinetic grip. The orbs clattered to the floor and disintegrated.

  Luma hopped off the platform, rubbing her stomach. "You're going to pay for that."

  My legs went weak at the thought of what I may have done. Keenan's eyes passed over the arena, calculating.

  "Call the others," he finally said.

  "It's about time." Luma left the room with a spring in her step.

  "What happens now?" I asked.

  "On to the next test." Keenan removed my metal cuff and left me with a box of gauze and tape. I cleaned and bandaged the gash on my calf. The room was eerily silent with nobody else around, but my brain was a hurricane of frightening thoughts. I had exposed how important Connor was to me. This kind of slip-up did not go unnoticed in the Mutila.

  The soldiers came in a few at a time. Ivan and Luma got off the elevator together. Jaxon and Roth joined in from down the hall. They greeted each other with hugs, shoulder punches, and jabs to the ribs.

  They ambled to the other end of the room where a pair of couches, a side table, and a lamp clustered together in a cozy arrangement. A long black window ran the length of one wall. When I first saw it, I had assumed it was one-way glass that allowed agents or soldiers to watch us run through the tests without being seen. That theory blew to pieces when I spotted two chest-high consoles positioned in front of the mirror.

  The soldiers tumbled onto the couches like kids getting ready for movie night. Roth's arm snaked around Luma.

  "What's up?" Jaxon asked. Green marks along his windpipe reminded me of the damage I'd caused. I found no satisfaction in this.

  Luma cracked her knuckles. "It's game time, boys."

  Keenan signaled to Ivan. "Throw a light on cell B43."

  Everyone on the couch stirred. Luma took her place in front of a console. She placed her palms on the metallic surface and put her full attention on the glass. One leg bounced, conveying her eagerness.

  The lights dimmed around us and the room on the other side of the one-way glass lit up. The space was little more than a jail cell, with a sink in one corner an
d a metal-frame bed along the wall.

  Connor sat on the bed with his elbows sunk into his knees, his eyes trained on the floor. He raised his head slowly, blinking rapidly as if he'd been sitting in the dark for a long time.

  I raced to the window.

  "Connor!" I pounded on the glass. "Connor!"

  The tinted window meant he could not see us. He gave no indication that he heard me, either. His lip was swollen and dried blood clotted over the gash. Purple bruises blossomed on his cheek.

  He glared with unabated hatred at whoever watched from our side. He bounded off the bed and charged at the window. I jumped back, sure he would crash through. He rammed his body against the thick glass, but it didn't even shake.

  The back of his wrist was scabbed over. Knowing Connor, he had tried to dig the chip out. His arms were chained to a belt around his waist, probably to keep him from inflicting damage to himself and others.

  He yelled and kicked at the window. The chains prevented him from exerting any real power, but I had no doubt that the cell was meant to contain far larger threats than a pair of fists.

  I placed my hand on the glass, as close to his face as I could.

  "I'm right here, Connor," I said, willing him to feel my presence. His expression piqued slightly, as though he heard my voice echoing from a great distance. Behind me, the others snickered.

  "Can we start already?" Luma asked.

  "Your opponent is ready," Keenan replied by clipping the cuff over my wrist.

  She pressed a button on her console. A digital clock above the mirror blinked at ten seconds.

  "Mr. McCabe will make you pay for this! Let us go or you'll regret every minute you keep us here!" My rage bubbled over, and every small object that wasn't nailed down took flight. Couch pillows, vases, small barbells by the weight set all spiraled in a torrential whirlwind and sent people ducking.

  "Girl unleashed!" Roth laughed.

  "Yeah, baby, let 'er rip!" Jaxon shouted.

  "Connor's dad will get all of you!" I nailed Keenan with a death glare. "Let him out of there right now. Until you do, I'm not doing another thing for you."

  Keenan's face was steady. "That's good, Echo. Anger is your best friend right now. Let it build. Funnel it into this test. You'll need it."

  On the couch, the guys pulled wads of cash from their pockets.

  Roth threw fifty-dollar bills on the table. "Two hundred on Luma."

  Jaxon hedged.

  "Really, Jaxon? This should be a no brainer," Luma spat.

  "Three hundred on Luma." Jaxon glared at me and added his money.

  Ivan counted out a handful of bills. "The girl must be good if Keenan let her in. Two hundred on the new girl." He added to the growing pile. "What about you, Keenan?"

  Keenan watched my tele-chaosing with commanding silence. "One thousand on Echo."

  Luma curled her full lip into a sneer. "Your loss." She smacked a red button on her console and the digital clock began counting backward from ten.

  The seconds ticked away and I slipped into panic. What did they want me to do?

  The clock ticked to zero and a buzzer sounded. Luma's attention shifted to Connor's cell. My brain fired hysterically as I watched the ceiling drop.

  "Get in the game, Echo," Ivan said. Roth stabbed him with an elbow.

  "She doesn't know what to do." Ivan returned the jab.

  Luma planted her palms on the console, all her concentration on the ceiling. With the metal cuff on, I was able to read her aura and from that, her intent. Fear cut jagged against my windpipe when I understood the game.

  I slapped my palms onto the handprints on my console and sent my intention for the ceiling to stop moving. It continued to drop. What little composure I had began to fray like twine that had been rubbed the wrong way. Little threads peeled away, and with it, my strength.

  "I can't do it!" I grabbed a fistful of Luma's shirt and tried to drag her away from the console. "Leave him alone!"

  Keenan yanked me back to my side. "Put your hands on the pads and control it with your mind."

  "But I—"

  "Channel your rage. Let it consume you and drive it into the console. Push the ceiling back to its rightful place at the top and you will win. If the cell goes dark, Luma wins."

  "I told you, she's too soft," my opponent said. "She's got nothing to work with."

  They had given me plenty: Mr. Crane's death, Luma's threats, and now Connor's captivity. The events fanned an angry flame, but it was no match for my terror.

  Connor paced his cell, unaware of our battle until the swaying fluorescent light narrowly missed him. He dropped to the floor. His face blanched.

  "Omigodomigodomigod," I wailed. Sweat drenched the back of my blouse.

  "It's good he's down, Echo. That gives you more time," Ivan coached.

  "Traitor," Luma hissed at Ivan. The ceiling inched lower.

  "You losers want to pay up now?" Roth taunted.

  "He was cute, too. What a waste," Luma replied.

  "No." I put everything I had into that console and yet the course of the ceiling did not change. "Please, somebody make it stop."

  The room was dead quiet.

  Now so close to death that he could probably taste it, Connor looked into the one-way mirror and set his gaze on his hidden audience. His blue-flecked eyes were fierce and unyielding. At a moment when most prisoners would lash out in panic, he stared down his tormentors. His jaw held the strength of conviction, the courage of a fighter.

  Behind that stormy, warring face, was tenderness that only I knew. A devotion that ran so deep, he had risked everything to search for me beyond the barriers of time.

  My terror melted away and love flared, a roaring heat that rose high in my chest. It tore like a feverish passion down my arms, through my hands and into the console. The ceiling's downward progression stopped.

  My audience erupted.

  "What the—?" Luma snarled.

  "No way!"

  "Aw, crap."

  "Yes!"

  "I love you, I love you, I love you," I whispered, pouring every ounce of my heart through my hands. I imagined him stroking my hair, cupping my chin. Lowering his mouth over mine. The ceiling inched away from Connor. A chill of victory prickled down my back.

  "She's got it!" Ivan shouted.

  "Oh, hell no," Luma said, and she drove the ceiling down again.

  For the first time, I noticed the grisly pattern spread unevenly across the white tile floor. Dark red spread in pools, streaks and splatters, not far from where Connor lay right now. The last person in this chamber hadn't made it out alive.

  The fluorescent light crashed onto the floor and shattered. Connor shielded his face from flying glass.

  I pulled up the memory of our dance at The Great Hall. Stars flashed across my vision, and new life force surged through my hands. The ceiling reversed its course.

  "You got it, Echo," Ivan shouted.

  "Come on, Luma," Jaxon whined.

  She cocked an eyebrow. "You think you're pretty tough?" She hit another button on her console.

  Four-inch long metal barbs emerged from the ceiling.

  "And down we go," Luma said.

  "No!" I shrieked.

  The guys cheered and shouted obscenities. My ability abandoned me, leaving a hollowness that quickly filled with despair.

  "Shut up! I can't concentrate!" I yelled.

  Connor pressed himself against the tile, watching the barbs close in. He closed his eyes. Another foot and it would be over.

  I bombarded my mind with memories of us—the first time we touched, the first time we kissed, the way he held me in the horse carriage. It wasn't enough.

  So I dug deeper, to a place inside where I'd kept the truth of my gifts dormant, a place so dark, so swelling with power that I'd been afraid to tread there. There was no anger in that place, no room for hate or violence. Love stood guard, a divine protector. I reached down and opened the floodgates.

  The room sh
ook and furniture tumbled across the floor.

  My body jerked in a spasm. Black spots marred my vision. Pain shot between my temples.

  For a split second, the ceiling hung motionless. Then, Connor's room went black.

  I was too late.

  Chapter 34

  I lay crumpled in the corner of my room, unable to stop crying since they had dragged me away from the testing center.

  After Connor's cell went dark, Luma had cheered victoriously and high-fived the others. I'd flung myself at her and punched her over and over. The sound of her skin splitting beneath my fist was the most sickening sound I'd ever heard, but I couldn't get enough. I hit her until Keenan wrenched me off.

  Luma's triumphant sneer—now crooked and bloodied—confirmed that I'd lost the most important battle of my life.

  I had screamed all the way back to my room.

  Time passed in an endless haze of heartache. Every few hours, someone dropped off a food tray. Based on the number of untouched meals sitting on the table, I estimated I'd been in the room for more than a day.

  A wall of grey clouds sat outside my window, shrouding my view of the river. It didn't matter. My world had ended in the testing center. The moment that cell went dark, I could no longer allow myself to care about anyone or anything that existed beyond the walls of Feller Tower. Keenan had demonstrated his power, and the message was clear. He would take away whomever I loved if I didn't comply with him. To make matters worse, I'd revealed strength that I hadn't known lived inside me.

  Someone knocked on the door and it opened a crack. "Keenan is requesting your presence," Ivan said.

  "You can tell him to f—"

  "Don't force him to come get you," Ivan said before I could finish. "You'll regret it if he does." When I refused to budge, the edge left his voice. "Please. You won't be sorry."

  I followed him down the corridor, past the photographs of the celebrity Mutila, to a dining room. A table was set for three people. A lone figure sat with his back to me, his head curled forward in defeat. I gushed a sob.

  "Connor!"

  Connor lifted his head. His face was crusted with blood where the barbs had grazed him. Fluid from puncture wounds on his forearms and shoulders seeped onto his shirt. He didn't register me at first. When he did, his expression fell.