Yeah, it as horrifying.
Well, it’s going to happen again. But this time I’ll be in control.
Bullsh—
We don’t have the time for me to teach you everything you need to know in order to get past Alexander and his Reds. Do you want my help or don’t you?
I do, but—
Good, then there’s something I want from you. My people and I are imprisoned too, just like you are. You must promise you will get us out once you’re free.
You’re here? At the mansion?
No, we’re being held somewhere else, by Daemons stronger than Alexander. That’s the price of your freedom. You have to help me and my people gain ours.
But who are you?
Prisoners, just like you. Do you agree?
My mind raced. All I knew for sure was that I had to get out of here. If Cole turned out to be evil I’d have bigger issues than breaking a promise.
Yes, I agree.
And you consent to the transfer of power? I won’t take it against your will.
I swallowed hard and braced myself.
I agree.
The takeover was different than when Alexander had done it. He hadn’t been working under these same constraints. This one took time to reach critical mass. What began as a trickle flowing through the crack in the Reds’ link pooled inside my mind.
It’s done.
As if I couldn’t tell. The feeling was no less a violation this time, for all I’d consented.
I cannot control your physical body, only your thoughts. When I say run, you run, when I say duck—
I duck, I get it.
I ground my teeth against the overwhelming desire to force him from my mind. To think, there had been a time when I’d thought the Voice of the Root Demon was an intrusion. This was akin to being stripped naked in front of a roomful of strangers. Worse, because in that scenario the humiliation would end. This person, this Cole, would forever know my most intimate thoughts—
Relax—I’m not scavenging for a peek at your naughtiest thoughts about Captain America. I’m trying to get you out of here.
My back stiffened. Captain America?
Yeah, Mr. Dimples. I’m not concerned with your little romance. Focus.
Before I could respond, Cole continued.
On the count of three, all hell is going to break loose. One, two...
If Cole said three, I didn’t hear it. I was too busy cleaning up my cerebral cortex. My brain flexed, and the netting around it exploded. Before I could cry out, a laser shot from my mind and into the mind of another. The images were chaotic, and tinged with red. Seeing the world through red eyes would do that, I guessed. Cole was leading this expedition into the mind of the Red, trying to find a way for me to escape.
As quickly as we’d entered, Cole pulled us from the Red’s thoughts. It was then that I noticed the alarm that sounded on the property.
Two guards burst into my room, guns drawn. Before I knew what was happening, they were thrown to either side, each hitting a wall and dropping to the floor, unconscious.
Get his gun.
What?
I didn’t want any part of guns.
Do you want to get out of there or not?
It was all the motivation I needed. I scrambled toward one of the Red and pried the pistol from his hand. I handled it awkwardly—I’d never held a gun before. It was heavier than I expected.
It’s a gun, not a bomb, Ember. Relax.
I tried to calm my shaking hands.
Now run.
I ran.
Go left.
I did as Cole instructed, and raced in whatever direction he called out. As I did, he alternated between the minds of different Reds. He was finding out where they were so that I could evade them. It was as though I were a character in a video game, with Cole on the controller.
“Got her,” a male voice said, “lower level.”
I spun, gun raised, and fired a second too late to realize who I was shooting.
“Emb—”
Taren dove, trying to avoid the bullet.
It might not have been a bomb, but it did a fair impression of one. The recoil threw me backward into a wall.
I scrambled to my feet and rushed to Taren’s side.
“Oh my God, Oh my God. Are you OK?” I was crying, tears pouring from my eyes as I searched him for a wound.
He grabbed me by the shoulders. “I’m fine; you missed. We have to go. Now.”
He pulled me to my feet and I followed until Cole broke in.
Not that way.
“No, Taren, this way,” I said, and pulled him in the opposite direction.
“But—”
“Trust me, please.”
That I was now trusting anyone, let alone a voice in my head more than Taren in that moment was a shock, but so far Cole hadn’t steered me wrong.
Taren followed and we raced through the villa, all the while Cole calling the shots, until I heard...
Dammit!
Taren and I rounded a corner and skidded to a halt in front of a handful of Reds. We spun around, only to be confronted by another group of Reds. Alexander emerged from the throng and stepped to the front.
Had this been Cole’s plan all along? Did Cole even exist? Maybe it had always been Alexander.
The net hovered and began to descend. I braced for it, but before it touched me, a light flashed in my mind and the net fell like ashes. A look of shock painted Alexander’s face.
“Seize them. Kill the boy if she resists,” he said.
The touch of the Reds made my flesh crawl as they held my arms behind me.
Alexander bore into me, searching for something.
“I tried to be nice about this,” he said, coming toward me, “but it seems you force my hand. I can see that you will never submit to me.”
I didn’t bother trying to lie.
“Alright,” he said, turning away, “harvest her.”
Harvest. Such an innocent word. Usually. A vision cut through my thoughts. It came from Cole, but I knew he was right and my blood ran cold. A vision of how Alexander planned to repopulate the world with Daemons. And why he had wanted me to kiss him.
Now!
Cole was strong, far stronger than I, but even he couldn’t defeat a Daemon hybrid and a hallway full of Reds. But together...
The bolt passed through me, and this time I was able to join my power with his. They mingled and merged, forming a geyser of strength. I let Cole guide—I had no idea what I was doing, just knew I had to do something, anything, to get out of there.
In unison the Reds were slammed into walls and crumpled to the floor, dead. Alexander spun, but he’d been caught off guard, having already dismissed me as a threat. As Cole and I threw a net around his mind, stopping him from attacking via telekinesis, Taren flung his cuffed hands around Alexander’s neck. His eyes bulged and his tongue lolled to one side of his mouth as Taren crushed his wind pipe.
A perverse part of me took pleasure in Taren dropping his lifeless body to the floor. Alexander’s blue eyes stared up at me, the sparkle gone.
“Let’s go,” Taren said, pulling me along.
We broke free of the house, and tore across the lawn. Taren had been yelling into his comm and now I saw why. A helicopter came into view and hovered over us, its ladder swinging wildly.
“I’m right behind you,” Taren yelled over the deafening whir of the blades.
The ladder twisted and jerked as I made my way up with Taren, true to his word, only two rungs behind.
Remember your promise.
Shock caused my foot to slip, and I dangled wildly over the city below. I tried desperately to get my foot back on the rung, but vertigo washed over me, making it impossible. The weight of my body pulled me toward the earth. My hands began slipping…
Strong hands from above gripped my shoulders, while Taren’s hand from below shoved me up, into the helicopter.
My surroundings still spinning, I scrambled across t
he floor, away from the huge opening and the long drop below.
It wasn’t until Taren and I were both were safe, me still panting with fear, that Cole spoke again.
Remember your promise.
26
Once strapped into our seats, Taren held my face in his hands, carefully avoiding my bruised cheek.
“Are you OK? How badly did he hurt you?”
“I’m OK,” I said, choking back tears.
Taren looked on the verge of tears himself. For a moment it was enough to push even the worrisome promise I’d made into the recesses of my mind.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he said, his voice raw with emotion. He buried his face in my hair. “I thought I’d never get to tell you...”
That I’d placed so much importance on the three words that I knew were coming next felt so ridiculous and childish to me. This man, this man that I knew I loved, had risked his life countless times to save me, had shown me in every way possible that he loved me, and I’d been obsessing over the words. Alexander had proved words meant nothing.
“Taren,” I said, looking into his eyes, “I love you.”
He smiled, that slightly crooked, built-just-for-me smile and said, “I love you, too. I’m sorry I didn’t say it before.”
“I’m not,” I said, grateful for the lesson it had taught me.
It wasn’t about what people said, it was about what they did. And what Taren did next was completely uncharacteristic given that we had an audience. He pressed his lips to mine and kissed me so deeply I felt it in my bones. Who needed Alexander’s ecstasy when you could have real love?
It was a testament to how close we’d been to losing each other, that heedless of the two other Guardians in the helicopter, Taren kept kissing me. And it was a testament to how troubling was the thought I had, that it interrupted such a kiss.
If Cole is a powerful Daemon, why does he need me to free him?
Taren didn’t seem upset when, jarred by the thought, I pulled away from our kiss. Instead he finally seemed to realize we weren’t alone and blushed.
Both he and Cole must have realized I’d reached the limit of what I could absorb, because they remained silent the rest of the way to the Italian Institute.
We began our descent, flying low over what looked like a small medieval village. This was an Institute? I supposed it made sense. So many other structures remained of ancient Rome, why not the original Italian Institute? I’d learned in class that the original structures in Los Angeles had been made of adobe and replaced later on. The California builders hadn’t had durable tufa rock to work with, nor the foresight to lay the stones diagonally to absorb the many shocks of earthquakes.
We swept past one of the tall stone towers and when I caught a glimpse of those standing sentry on the top, my breath caught.
“Upgrades,” Taren said. “The other Institutes won’t be caught off guard the way we were.”
Three men and one woman stood guard, each holding an automatic weapon.
“Don’t worry,” he said, squeezing my shoulder when I shivered. “They know not to fire at anything inside the walls. They are there strictly to avoid any demons from making it over the wall.”
As we touched down on a hill overlooking the Institute, I wondered if the Elders had similar plans for the Gateway in Los Angeles.
The blades hadn’t stopped spinning before Master Dogan burst from the small stone tower near our landing site, his long robes billowing out behind him.
“Ember!” he shouted above the whir, “I am so glad the gods have once again seen you safely back to us.”
He pulled me into a close embrace and I hated myself for ever having doubted his motives.
“Me, too,” I said. When he released me I looked around. “Where’s Kat?”
Until now I hadn’t allowed myself to consider that her condition had been more serious than Alexander led me to believe. Now, with her absence…
“She’s fine,” Taren said. “She was part of the mission to extract you. Once they’ve swept the house for anything useful, she’ll be back.”
He took my hand and led me to a steep set of stone stairs that led down to the Institute.
“What about my mom?” I asked.
“She’s fine,” he said. “She doesn’t know anything happened. Kat called her to explain why she hadn’t heard from you, but your mom told her she had. You can’t imagine how relieved I was.” He gave my hand a firm squeeze.
We reached the bottom of the steps and as we did, the familiar peace belonging only to a Sanctuary settled around me, and, as if by magic, my breath slowed, as did my racing thoughts. I was safe. For now, at least.
We were greeted by a host of Guardians and five others I took for Elders due to the authoritative bordering on superior air with which they held themselves.
One of them, a balding man with the jowls of a mastiff, spoke in a thick Italian accent. “We are pleased to see you safe and welcome you to our Institute. I am Nicholas.”
“Thank you,” I said, shaking his outstretched hand. “I am so very happy to finally be here. And thank you for the rescue. Your timing was impeccable. How did you know where I was?”
Nicholas cleared his throat and said, “Well, ah...we can’t take responsibility for that, exactly...”
Taren smiled then, and tugged lightly on the rune around my neck. For a moment I was confused, but then realization dawned and my jaw dropped.
“My birthday present was a tracking device?”
I inspected the charm but found nothing out of the ordinary.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, and Taren at least had the manners to look sheepish. A little.
“Because, you would have told me it made you feel like a dog with a microchip and might not have worn it,” he said, proving he knew me all too well. “And more importantly, any information you don’t know, is information that can’t be used against you.”
His expression had changed from sheepish to a bit self-satisfied, but he did have a point.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t come sooner,” he continued. “There were so many guards—we couldn’t risk going in until we knew we would succeed. We were still formulating a plan when the alarm sounded. We decided to seize the opportunity.”
He was not privy to the knowledge that Cole and I were the ones who had caused that disturbance. Speaking of which, I was grateful for Cole’s silence. I needed time to figure out how to admit the promise I’d made him to Taren and Master Dogan, and to figure out how to keep it. Or if I should.
“While I’m sure you are weary,” Nicholas said, “it is necessary for us to debrief you while everything is still fresh in your mind.”
“I understand,” I said. I wasn’t eager to admit my stupidity at being sucked in by Alexander, but better to get it over with.
Nicholas introduced the four other Elders, then led us through the heart of the small village that made up their Institute. Though its appearance was vastly different, with ancient buildings and cobblestone walkways, a certain familiarity existed between this Institute and mine: the eager looks in the eyes of Guard trainees practicing swordplay, the determined brow of student Keepers, no doubt practicing linking. However deep in concentration, when I passed, each paused long enough to stare. It’s possible they weren’t aware why my arrival had been delayed, but they certainly knew who—and what—I was.
Once we’d passed through the main piazza—complete with working fountain—Nicholas led us into a small hall, the high ceilings and stone walls giving it a cavernous feel. Though clearly ancient, the space had been modernized so that light bulbs burned in the wall sconces.
The Elders sat at a long wooden table set upon a dais, leaving Taren, Master Dogan, and myself to sit on benches placed two feet below. Forced to look up at them, the arrangement was clearly meant to show us who was boss.
Taren and Master Dogan took seats on either side of me, while four Guardians fanned out and blocked the doors against intrusion. It came
as no surprise that this Institute was no less careful about what it revealed to its populace than mine was.
“Guardians Taren and Katrina have informed us of how you were captured,” Nicholas said, “so you may begin from when you landed in the back of the truck.”
Beginning was easy, telling them about the ride to meet Monica and the subsequent ride to the villa rolled neatly off my tongue. But as expected, the more I revealed, the closer I came to having to admit my collusion with Alexander, the more I felt ashamed. How had I ever trusted him? And so easily?
Isn’t that what I’m doing with Cole, I wondered. But no, Cole had proven himself to be an ally—I was alive because of him. Neither Taren nor I would have made it without his help. How was I ever going to tell these people what I’d agreed to?
“Ember?”
I looked up to see Nicholas gazing at me expectantly. “If you would continue.”
“Right,” I said, trying to remember where I’d left off. “Alexander claimed that he was using the power of the Root Demon at your Gateway against It; siphoning off Its power and using it to make Reds.”
“So that’s why he had so many...” Taren said.
“I don’t understand,” a man said from the dais. “If Alexander wasn’t working with the Root Demon, why did he kidnap you?”
For a moment all I could do was stare at my feet. Having to admit this, in front of strangers, in front of Taren...
“He, um... The mind control, it wasn’t just about making me not want to escape. It was about making me fall for him so that… “ I took a deep breath. “So that I would want to…give him children. Very powerful, Daemon children. And when he realized I would never agree to that, he was going to take the…means by which that could happen.”
I was shaking. Taren sat rigid as stone next to me and said quietly, dangerously, “That’s what he meant by harvest?”
I gave the smallest of nods and his face darkened with rage. “I should have killed him twice.”
He balled his hands into fists, as though reliving how he’d put the light out of those dangerous eyes. Taren put his arm around me, but there was something...the light. The light in his eyes...
Master Dogan broke my train of thought by speaking.
The Gateway Trilogy: Complete Series: (Books 1-3) Page 35
