“You mean the one she killed?” Taren said, rising to his feet. “The one she dove into, catching herself on fire in order to save humanity? Is that the example you’re using to prove some kind of weakness?” He squeezed my hand and added, “I believe in you.”
I smiled at him gratefully. My relief was short-lived, however.
“We will consider what you have said and decide an appropriate course of action,” Nicholas said.
“For now, I think it best we get back to discussing the Daemon Colony you spoke of earlier.”
I hadn’t led with the news about Cole. The more I had spoken, the more the dissimilarities between Alexander and Cole—between Cole and a demon—became apparent. Hadn’t he tried to warn me on the train, before the kidnapping? Assuming the Root now knew that Alexander had had no intention of opening the Gateway, It certainly didn’t back then, so why would It have tried to prevent him from taking me? Even if for selfish reasons, Cole had brought me back to safety, and the least I owed him was the chance to prove himself.
But of course, they were far more interested in the Colony. Why go into the demon dimension if there was a chance that the help you needed was on some magical island? Even if it meant believing the word of a man who kidnapped me and no compunction about using me as a brood mare. Why would he possibly lie?
“I told you everything he said,” I replied, my jaw tight.
Which was true. He hadn’t said anything else, but I had gotten a glimpse of something when Cole and I touched Alexander’s mind. A small island, set like a jewel in an azure sea, with buildings made of whitewashed stucco and rich blue trim. It had meant something to him—something nostalgic and deeply important. But if I had any hope of getting them to even consider helping Cole, I’d need to keep that little nugget of information to myself. Besides, who knew if it held the Daemons he promised, or if those Daemons would even help us?
32
An hour later, the meeting droned on as though I weren’t even there. Gretchen, her eyes ringed from lack of sleep, entered quietly with Richard in tow.
I hadn’t seen either of them since I’d gotten back, and it was all I could do not to jump up and greet them, but I knew what was required of me, which was to sit quietly and speak when spoken to.
She gave me a reassuring smile as they each took seats on the bench behind Taren and me.
Numb with boredom and feeling restless, I allowed my mind to wander. There weren’t many desirable places for it to go and I found myself reliving my final conversation with Alexander.
“Harvest her,” he’d said. Even then, his eyes had sparkled.
They don’t sparkle now, do they?
Taren had taken care of that. And mine was the last face he saw when then light went out of his eyes…
“Oh crap,” I said, jumping up from the bench. “Oh crap, oh crap…”
The conversation on the dais cut off abruptly and the whole of the room turned their startled gazes to me.
“What?” Taren said, gripping my shoulders to stop my frantic pacing. “What is it?”
“The light! The light in Alexander’s eyes. In the Reds’ eyes. It went out,” I babbled.
“I don’t—what does that mean?” he said.
“The Root has Its power back,” I said, then turned to the dais. “Remember when I said Alexander told me this Root was much more powerful than the one in L.A., and the only reason It hadn’t broken free was because he’d convinced it to wait and make more Reds? Well, Alexander is gone and so are his Reds... “
“There’s nothing holding It back,” Taren said, eyes showing me he understood the implication.
The dais buzzed as the Elders conferred in panicked tones. No longer caring if they wanted me to keep quiet, I sat, facing Gretchen and Richard. Before I could speak, Gretchen did.
“How do we go about killing It?” she said in hushed tones. “I assume we all agree it would be unacceptable for Ember to repeat her prior display of heroism.”
“Definitely,” Taren said, as Master Dogan said, “Agreed.”
“You’re not going to like this, but I think we’re going to need Cole’s help,” I said, softly. “I still can’t do much on my own, and unless you’ve had a major breakthrough...”
Gretchen shook her head. “I think I’d be able to move the Gateway tiles if needed, because of our connection to it, but beyond that, I’m still on feathers and cotton balls.”
“I don’t see why the two of you should be the ones responsible for fighting it,” Richard said. “We have weapons. Much more powerful than we had when the Root came through our Gateway.”
“He’s right,” Taren said. “Automatic weapons, grenades, I saw one of the tower Guards with something I swear was a rocket launcher.”
He spoke with an eagerness that made it clear he hoped to get his hands on that last one.
“Right, what if—”
“Stop,” I said as forcefully as a whisper would allow. “Don’t say another word in front of Gretchen and me.”
“You’re right,” she said, the only other one not looking confused. “Of course they shouldn’t.”
“We can’t know about your plan if you want to catch It off guard,” I said. “Don’t tell any of the Keepers, either. It’s the only way we have any hope for the element of surprise—as soon as we’re near the Gateway, our thoughts become fair game.”
“You are one smart girl,” Taren said, rising to his feet. He kissed me on the cheek and said, “Dad and I should go; we need to get with their Guardians and make a plan. Will you be OK?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Go, do your thing. Your mom and I will do ours.”
Taren rose, and I grabbed his arm. “Whatever you plan, you have to do it quickly,” I said. “We don’t have much time.”
Both he and Richard nodded, then raced from the hall, barely garnering the notice of the Elders.
“Do you have any ideas?” I said turning to Master Dogan.
Before he could answer, Nicholas spoke loudly from the dais.
“We have decided it would be in all of our best interests to remove Ember and Gretchen from the premises. Immediately.”
“What?” Gretchen said at the exact moment I said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“On what grounds?” Master Dogan demanded.
“We are the Elders of this Institute,” one of the other Elders said, looking like a puffed up rooster, “and owe you no further explanation.”
Nicholas waved his hand to silence the man. “On the grounds that they pose the greatest danger to our Gateway,” he said. “Both times your Gateway was opened, it was due to their presence. Until and unless we discern the best way to use them, we cannot risk the same thing happening here.”
“They should keep to the Sanctuary grounds, to be sure, but having them removed is beyond insulting; it’s ludicrous,” Master Dogan said. “And how will you live with yourself if harm comes to these women because you forced them to leave what small protection they have?”
However Nicholas was going to respond was silenced by a low rumble coming from beneath us.
Gretchen, Dogan and I shared a look. We’d been there when the Root broke free in Los Angeles. As if to punctuate what we already knew, an alarm ripped through the hall.
Not waiting for the Elders, the three of us bolted for the door.
33
We sprinted across the piazza as fast as the trembling cobblestones would allow in the direction of the Gateway. Seconds later, Taren and Richard caught up and flanked us on either side. The alarm continued to sound, and Keepers and Guardians alike poured from buildings carrying weapons and running in the same direction we did.
I raised my voice to be heard. “Did you even have time to—”
“Better you don’t know,” Taren said.
He was right; all I could do was hope that he and Richard had used those precious few minutes to plan…something.
That this might be just a long earthquake ceased being even the unl
ikeliest of possibilities when the first demons broke free from the building we were racing toward.
The piazza became a cauldron, bubbling with violence and death. The breach had to be large in order for there to be this many streaming through already. It became harder and harder to advance, but as we did, I began to feel the Gateway, to sense the depth of destruction it had sustained.
While the Italian Guardians seemed as well trained as their American counterparts, they were outnumbered, and though they hacked and slashed, demons began streaming down the hillside toward the towns below. I heard the staccato of automatic gunfire coming from the high towers that dotted the Institute. They wouldn’t dare fire into the melee within the Institute grounds lest they hit a Guardian, but the beasts running downhill were fair game. I watched as the demons were hit, spraying blood and guts—which is to say, black tar—across the hillside.
Unable to keep track of the other three in the crowd, Taren and I went it alone. It must have pained him to let so many demons stream past us without killing them, but there wasn’t time. If I didn’t get to the Gate and stop the Root before It came through, none of it would matter.
“Taren!” Kat yelled at us from across the lawn.
She yanked her blade from the eye socket of a Dahrak and though it snapped its double row of jagged teeth at her, she plunged the knife into its neck and sliced its jugular. The beast let out a gurgling howl and crashed to the ground.
Left too long, demon blood could disintegrate even the finest steel, and Kat wiped her blade even as she ran toward us.
“Are we going in?” She sounded almost eager.
“You’re hurt,” I said, eyeing the bleeding gash on her arm. “You should get to safety.”
“Ain’t no such thing,” she said, flashing a ferocious smile.
As if to punctuate her point, a group of Birds descended upon us. Their talons tore into our flesh, their beaks pecked viciously. Taren and Kat hacked and slashed at the flying beasts but more and more joined the flock until we could no longer even see each other.
“Cole!” I yelled. “Cole, help us!”
But no help came. I was crawling now, on hands and knees, the Birds seemingly more interested in me than the other two. Blood ran in rivulets down my arms from each tiny wound. All I could hear was the flapping of their wings, their shrieking caws. I had to get to the bound—
A bolt of energy shot through me and for a second the Birds hung, suspended in mid-air. Then they slammed into the ground with such force that for a brief moment it stilled the shaking of the earth.
“Did you do that?” Kat asked, her eyes as wide as Taren’s.
“Sort of,” I said, lurching to unsteady feet.
I inspected my arms, relieved to find only superficial wounds.
A tide of demons and Guardians pushed me back beyond the boundary and I felt Cole’s presence disappear, leaving me vulnerable and afraid. I looked around wildly but could no longer see Taren or Kat. I pushed harder and harder, willing myself to do what Cole had done so that I might clear a path, but there was nothing.
A strong hand gripped my shoulder and pushed me forward, in the direction of where I knew I would once again be joined by Cole. I turned, expecting to see Taren.
It was a Dahrak.
I opened my mouth to shriek, but even my vocal cords were paralyzed with fear. Though its double rows of teeth flexed and slimy black drool dripped from its mouth, it made no move to bite me. Instead it pushed me forward, guiding me through the throng. It seemed even other demons were afraid of a Dahrak; any we encountered skittered away rather than go up against it. My mind reeled at the insanity of it—was a Dahrak saving my life and getting me to the only place I had a hope of defeating the Root Demon?
Cole’s presence burst forth and I had but a split second to squelch his attack.
Are you crazy? Let me—
Not this one.
The Dahrak—drooling, mouth-flexing, terrifying demon that it was—looked at me for a long moment and made a sound akin to a snarl, but less threatening. Then it turned, raising its giant clawed hand to strike down an approaching fellow demon. But the Dahrak’s eyes widened in shock, giving it an almost human quality, then crashed to the ground, dead.
“Thank God,” Taren said, yanking his blade from the back of the beast. “I thought I’d never find you in this mess.”
A ripple of sorrow passed through me. Yes, it was a demon, but it had saved my life, and something in its eyes...
“What is it?” Taren asked when he saw me staring at the fallen Dahrak.
“Nothing,” I said. How could I explain? “We have to get to the Gate.”
Moving against the tide became even harder once we reached the building that housed the Gateway. The tight quarters caused the battle to become thicker, impossible to avoid. Cole worked through me, helping to clear the path, but I found myself fighting him when he wanted to do something so powerful I knew it would kill all those in front of me, not just the demons.
Let me—
No. I won’t be responsible for the deaths of Guardians. Not again.
There are casualties in war, you have to be willing—
That’s exactly what the Elders said to convince me that we shouldn’t come for you.
That shut him up for a time, and his attacks became more precise. I had a sense he was not only following my order, but trying to conserve his energy. We both knew the larger battle still lay ahead.
The shaking slowed, as did the flow of demons, until the ground became eerily still and the Guardians poured from the building in pursuit of the demons who had already escaped. I would have stopped them, told them to turn around and come with me to the Gateway, but I hoped whatever plan Richard and Taren had devised was in full effect. And truthfully, if it wasn’t, better that they be farther out of harm’s way.
At the ruined doorway to the room that housed the Gateway, we met up with Gretchen and Richard. Relief flooded Gretchen’s face upon seeing her son, but she didn’t indulge it long enough to even embrace him. She knew what would come next.
Though I couldn’t yet see the Gateway, being this close I could feel the damage it sustained. Four of the tiles remained intact, three, including the center, were in pieces and the other two had cracks running the length of them.
Richard and Taren cutting a path, Gretchen and I made our way to the opening, just as the flow of demons slowed to a trickle and the shaking ground grew still.
The calm before the storm.
I nodded, which caused the others to look at me questioningly. They weren’t privy to the conversation taking place in my head.
“It’s coming,” I said.
“Is It talking to you?” Taren asked, alarmed.
“No,” I said, and turned to Gretchen. “You?”
She shook her head. I didn’t know whether to be grateful for small favors or terrified that It was strong enough not to bother with either of us.
“Are you ready?” Gretchen said.
“Not even a little,” I said, reaching out to link with her.
A moment later with the link complete, Gretchen’s eyes widened.
“The power...” she said, on the verge of panting with the effort to hold Cole’s energy pulsing through me. “It’s like I’m trying to wield a fire hose.”
“It’s why we need him,” I said. “Him and his people.”
She nodded, though I could see the thought still troubled her. As well it might; I certainly wouldn’t want to be one of the Guardians sent to free them—wouldn’t want Taren or Kat to be one of them.
We didn’t bother trying to reform the Gateway. The bodies of the four Keepers the Root had killed in opening the Gate still lay on the floor, a reminder that this Demon would not be stopped. No, we had to make a stand and defeat It outright, not waste precious strength trying to hold It at bay.
A low rumbling drifted up from the hole in the floor.
“The Guards...?” I said. The emptiness of the room was unne
rving.
“Are doing what we told them,” Richard said. “Just as you two are going to when we give the word.”
“At your command,” I said, relieved that things were going according to plan.
Even the rumbling quieted and I made a move to step closer to the ruined Gateway, but Taren stopped me with a hand and a shake of the head.
My heartbeat pounded in my ears; fear and power pulsed through my veins. Any second and—
A hundred booted footfalls pounded on the stones outside. This couldn’t be the plan Richard and Taren had devised! They knew if they attacked It head on It would simply do what the Root in Los Angeles had done. Lines of Guardians crashing into walls crowded my mind’s eye. What were they thinking?
But Taren and Richard looked as confused as Gretchen and I, and it wasn’t Guardians who burst in with riot gear and weapons drawn. It was the Carabinieri—the Italian military police.
Richard and Taren cursed in unison and one of the officers began yelling at us in Italian. I didn’t understand a word, but the motion he was making with his arms seemed to suggest he wanted us to get down on the ground. The four of us complied, not about to go against over fifty men with guns.
Cole, we have to get them out of here or they’re all going to die.
His power might have coursed through Gretchen and me, but only he controlled where it went. If Cole was going to reply, it was cut off when the remaining tiles blew straight up from the ground and smashed into the ceiling before crashing back down to the ground. The Carabinieri spun on their heels, pointing their weapons in the direction of the hole in the floor.
Unlike the slow ascent of the previous Root, this one shot forth from the Gateway, taking half the floor with It. It was double the size of the Root I’d dealt with in L.A., and if I’d harbored any inkling that I might do the same thing I’d done to kill that one, it went out the window when I saw three hissing, snapping serpent heads joined into one giant, snake-like body. Venom dripped from Its mouth, causing the stone floor to sizzle and smoke wherever it landed.
The Gateway Trilogy: Complete Series: (Books 1-3) Page 37
