Was he kidding?
But I had no choice; it was for Taren.
“Fine,” I said. “Show me.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. I felt him reach out to me, but it was as if the sending folded in on itself and disappeared.
Then he opened his eyes and looked at me expectantly.
“That was it?” I said.
“It’s not easy,” Cole said, “but it’s very simple. Do you want to try it on me?”
But I was already closing my eyes, reaching out for Taren. A minute later, I was seeing life through his eyes.
He was on patrol, and definitely afraid. I saw the observatory perched on a hill and knew that he was in Griffith Park. There had been killings there—ones we knew were at the hands, and teeth, of Dahraks.
No wonder he was afraid—he was hunting Dahraks alone.
34
Taren
These solo patrols were ridiculous. My men could get hurt. Yes, the demon population was multiplying—we knew that from the number of deaths. And the scat. But we were spread too thin and trying to do too much. It was going to get somebody killed.
I pursed my lips and made the call that meant “all clear,” and a moment later I got the same in return. But it wasn’t all clear. They were just getting better at hiding. And it wasn’t just Dahraks—Monkeys had been spotted, as well.
Griffith Park was over four thousand acres, and the perfect hiding spot for demons. Plenty of space to hide, and plenty of people to eat. Thankfully, one of the victims had looked enough like a puma attack that many were avoiding the park, but not enough.
Out of habit, I spun the dagger in my hand as I walked, and my thoughts went to Ember. I’d felt it when she’d crossed back into this world. In an instant, my connection with her had gone from analog to digital. I couldn’t see what was happening to her but I could sense it, and even though I wanted to talk to her, I could tell she had her hands full. I let her do what she needed to do, which mostly involved resting. Even while she slept, we remained connected, her presence a warm ball of…Ember. There had been one lapse that lasted several hours, where she’d felt so far away and her despair stabbed at my heart. I’d been helpless to do anything—our connection had been cut the second I was in the air—but by the time I’d landed, I could tell she was feeling better. She’d reached out to apologize, but there was nothing to apologize for. If I’d felt the way she had, I’d have ignored everything too.
I’d immediately called her mother. Master Dogan had tried to tell her that Ember was in a remote corner of the world and couldn’t be reached, and that he knew she was safe, but Rachel had seen right through the lie. I still wasn’t entirely comfortable around her—even on medication her moods weren’t always stable—but we’d definitely made a bond, formed by our mutual love of her daughter.
The relief in Rachel’s voice had matched my own, and to her credit, when I told her that Ember was safe but that she didn’t have access to a phone, she believed me. I promised to keep her updated, and for now that seemed to satisfy her.
A whooshing sound made me look up just in time to see a Monkey, fangs bared, swinging straight for me. Instinct took over and I slashed with my blade, pulling a second one from my waistband. The Monkey shrieked and fell, but a second later it was on me again. And not just that one, but a few of its friends, as well.
I hacked and slashed, but jagged teeth sank into the flesh of my left shoulder, causing me to fall backward. My head hit the ground hard. I tried to make the call that indicated an attack, but I couldn’t make my lips work right. Blood poured from my wound and my head throbbed; I was going into shock. I lifted my hand, but it shook so much I dropped my blade. It clattered to the ground, making the sound of defeat.
I looked up at the sun, not caring if it burned my eyes. If the last thing I saw couldn’t be Ember, it would be the sun.
A dark shadow passed above me, and when I squinted I knew for sure that I was done. Above me loomed a Dahrak.
35
Ember
Get up, Taren! Fight! I shouted, but our connection had snapped the second I’d seen the Dahrak above him. My attempts to reestablish it were useless. It was as though he didn’t exist anymore.
No, shut up. He isn’t dead. By now he’s killed that Dahrak and is wiping his blade. Dammit, Taren, do not be dead!
I opened my eyes, disoriented at first to see that I was in Cole’s tent. His face was concerned, but a second later I remembered why I was there and my eyes narrowed.
I didn’t have time to be angry though. Instead, I sprinted to Michele’s tent and burst in. The sound roused her and I told her what I’d just seen.
“I need a phone,” I said, knowing they had no such thing on the island. “You have to get me to a phone. I need to tell the Guards where he is—that he needs them. He couldn’t cry out—”
“There might be a faster way,” she said, stopping my frantic babbling. “His mother, Gretchen. Have you tried reaching her?”
I hadn’t. Taren had said she spent most of her time in the Sanctuary but it was worth trying.
Gretchen!
No answer.
Gretchen, it’s Ember. Please listen, Taren needs you!
“It’s not working,” I said. “I have to leave. I need to go home.”
36
Michele agreed to take me by boat to a nearby island where I’d be able to call Gretchen and then catch a ferry to Athens. From there I’d fly home.
We raced to the dock to find Cole waiting, looking pale and gaunt, a knapsack at his feet.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I said.
“With you,” he said, as if he hadn’t just admitted to completely betraying me possibly costing me my life.
“The hell you are,” I said.
“Try and stop me,” he said, stepping into the boat.
I could have. I could have capsized the boat, or flung him from it and into the sea. But only by using the Chasm.
“You’re a bastard,” I said.
“I’m a bastard who owes you his life,” he said. “You can hate me—I deserve it. But there is no telling what you might encounter on your way home. What about the Reds you’ve told me about? I may be a poor excuse for a fighter right now, but I can still use my powers, and doing so won’t have the same consequences as it would for you.”
I hated him, but I couldn’t argue his logic, and I didn’t have time to argue.
“Fine,” I said, stepping into the boat. “Just don’t talk to me.”
Michele got in, and a moment later we shoved off from the dock and were gliding smoothly across the water, though none of us worked an oar.
Twenty minutes later when we reached our destination, I got another surprise.
“I’m also coming with you,” Michele said.
“What about the whole ‘meeting your fate’ thing?” I said.
“I don’t know about fate, but sometimes we choose our destiny,” she said, her face set with determination. “And I choose to help you.”
I didn’t quite know what to say, so I settled on, “Thank you,” and gave her a hug.
I found a working pay phone and called Gretchen collect.
She picked up on the second ring.
“Gretchen, it’s Ember. Taren’s been hurt—”
“We know,” she said, her voice near panic. “He’s here, he… They brought him back to the Institute. He’s unconscious and he’s lost a lot of blood, but he’s alive.”
Thank you, thank you, thank you…
“I’m on my way home,” I said. “I’ll be on the next plane. When he wakes up tell him I’m on my way.”
She promised that she would, and I raced to catch the ferry to Athens.
37
The second we arrived at the airport in Athens, I sent Cole and Michele to stand in line at the ticket counter while I went to call Gretchen again. This time the news wasn’t nearly as good.
“He’s had blood transfusions and antibiot
ics,” Gretchen said, her voice raw. “But they say there’s swelling in his brain, and… Ember, he’s in a coma. ”
The word landed like a brick in my stomach. Time stopped and I just stood there while the rest of the airport bustled around me.
“What did the doctors say?” I asked when I could finally speak.
“They’re optimistic,” she said. “Whatever that means.”
“It means he’s going to be fine,” I said, as much to convince myself as her.
We talked for a few more minutes, but when I saw that Cole and Michele were near the front of the line, Gretchen and I said our goodbyes.
At the ticket counter, Michele pulled out a wad of Euros that made the ticket agent’s eyes bulge. It seemed the Institute wasn’t completely cut off from the outside world.
None of us had passports—mine was probably still stuffed somewhere in my bags back at the Italian Institute. It turned out not to be a problem, though. Michele pulled a “These are not the droids you’re looking for” bit on the TSA agent, and we went right through.
In the restroom at the airport I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and did a double take. I was lean bordering on gaunt, my eyes sunken and my cheeks more hollowed than when I’d left. And there was something in the way I carried myself—it reminded me of Kat, and the confident way she had about her.
I leaned close to the mirror and opened my mouth. No new row of teeth coming in. I almost broke down then, thinking of what was to come. Was it a forgone conclusion? If so, how much time did I have? Was there a way to stop it? I had to know, and there was only one person who could tell me.
Cole was seated next to Michele at the boarding gate, both looking very out of their element. I sat next to Cole and asked him the question I couldn’t bear to say out loud.
Am I turning into a Dahrak?
No, he said, the thought emphatic. You would have to use far more power than you have.
The tight knot that had been living in my belly since I’d learned the truth unwound a fraction.
You still should have told me.
I know, he said. But still he didn’t apologize, which in a weird way, I respected. I hated it when people did whatever they wanted and then apologized for it afterward. Especially when they knew they were just going to do the same thing again. People like my mother, for instance. She’d rarely been sorry enough to start taking her meds again.
Is that why your people don’t use the Chasm? I asked.
No, he said. Before you, there’s been no one who could access that power in…a while. I told you the truth about that.
Her name was Zoe, right?
He stiffened, my words clearly catching him off guard. How do you know about Zoe?
I heard her name when we were at the Oasis. Who is she?
Zoe was…maybe still is…the love of my life.
Tell me about her, I said. How could I have known him this long and not known about her?
She was the fiercest fighter. My hellcat, I called her. I once saw her take down three Dahraks with nothing but her bare hands, he said, the thought filled with pride. But his face was anguished. And yes, she was the last of our people to be able to use the Chasm.
What happened?
She…she became a Dahrak.
My veins turned to ice. It was one thing to learn the truth, but quite another to know it had happened so recently.
How quickly did it happen? Couldn’t you stop it? I said.
She wouldn’t. She was sure she could handle it. She hid it from me until it was too late. She had too many sores, and her hands had begun to change. By then, there was nothing I could do.
Did you…? I couldn’t say the words, but Cole knew what I was asking.
I couldn’t kill her. I was supposed to. She knew where the Oasis was. She could have led the others right to us, but…I couldn’t do it. The others think I did. Even Sadah. I told them I made her drink a sleeping draught, then plunged a knife into her heart.
That’s what Sadah had meant back when Aryn was in trouble, about doing whatever was necessary. She thought Cole had killed Zoe to protect the Oasis.
It wasn’t a total lie; I did give her the sleeping potion. And then I wiped her mind clean of all but one thing: a single barb, set only to open if she saw me again. So that if she did, she’d remember she loved me, and know not to kill me. So that I would never have to kill her. Since then, I’ve looked every Dahrak in the eyes before I’ve killed it.
I exhaled deeply. He’d been wrong not to tell me. He’d been wrong and I had every right to hate him. But I didn’t. How could I hate a man who’d been through so much?
“I’m still angry,” I said aloud, “but I’ll get over it.”
“You remind me of her a little,” Cole said with a sad smile. “Something about your spirit. Your will to survive. I think you would have liked her.”
“I’m sure I would have,” I said, and squeezed his hand.
The plane ride itself—with one person who’d never been on one, and another who had never seen one—was interesting, to say the least. They held up well, though, both spending most of the flight in meditation, while I prayed—to whom I wasn’t sure—that Taren would be all right.
It didn't help that I checked the computerized flight status every ten minutes, watching as we inched toward L.A.
Taren was in a coma, and not the kind I could Retrieve him from. The thought made my head hurt to match my heart.
When we landed I was sore and tired, but with a manic kind of energy. Not the kind that needed medication, the kind that resulted from knowing I was so close to seeing Taren but still had to fight my way past the crowds at LAX and make the long drive back to the Institute.
I was surprised when it wasn't Kat that met us at the airport, but Crystle’s boyfriend, Michael. When I mentioned it, he told me that Kat, Gretchen, and Richard were sleeping in shifts, making sure Taren was never left alone.
“That's good,” I said, remembering when the same had been done for me. I rubbed my hand along my arm, across a faint line of scars that proved it hadn't all been a dream.
I glanced back at Michele and Cole, both of who were silent and looking queasy.
“How are you doing?” Michael asked as we merged onto the freeway. “You've been through a lot.”
His sidelong glance held a little too long, and I had the feeling he was asking less out of concern for me and more out of concern for how my mental health would impact the Institute and the world in general.
“I’ve been better,” I said, and felt him tense. “But I'm hanging in there. I'll feel a lot better when I see Taren.”
He accelerated, clearly eager to give me whatever I needed to stay sane, and I closed my eyes to avoid further conversation.
38
I tapped my foot impatiently as we wound our way up the hill that housed the Institute.
“Still doing OK?” Michael asked for the second time since we’d hit Laurel Canyon.
Michael’s hands gripped the steering wheel a little too tightly and I wondered why he was so worried that I was close to the edge.
“I’m fine," I said. “I’ll let you know if I’m not.”
“It doesn’t really work that way,” he muttered under his breath.
“What are you talking about?” I said, exasperated. “I don’t know what you’ve heard about me—”
“You?” he said, taken aback. “I’ve hardly heard anything about you since you left.”
“Oh," I said. “Then why are you so worried about me?”
“You don’t hear them?” he said. “I’m just a Guardian, and being out here makes my skin itch. The Keepers are...not doing well.”
I’d been caught up in my own thoughts, safe behind a mental boundary. A boundary that the other Keepers didn’t have. I lowered my shield the tiniest fraction—
Kill them all, crack their bones, suck the marrow...
“Holy crap,” I said, my shield snapping back into place.
&n
bsp; “You hear them?” he said, his body tensing. From the look on his face, you’d have thought I could open a Gateway beneath us and drag him into Hell.
It was completely incongruous to see such a big man, one I knew to be a fearless warrior, be so obviously frightened.
“Michael,” I said, resting a hand on his arm. He flinched, but I was already influencing him. “The voices don’t control me anymore,” I said. “I only heard them just now because I let myself, which I won’t be doing again. Everything is OK.”
I removed my hand and noticed the effects of my work. It was my first time even trying the technique, but it seemed to work. His breathing slowed, his death grip on the wheel relaxed. It wasn’t a skill I relished in using—people had a right to feel what they felt—but it seemed like the right thing.
“You can block them out?” he said.
“Yes—completely.”
“Can you teach the other Keepers or is it a Daemon thing?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” I said, which set an unclaimed thought skittering around the back of my brain. I’d been having the strangest feeling. I was missing something—something important. If I could just catch the thought.
“Here we are,” Michael said, pulling me back. “Home sweet Institute.”
It was completely rude, but I didn’t wait around to introduce Cole and Michele to Annys and the other Elders. Michael promised to take care of it, and after giving strict instructions that Cole be kept away from the Sanctuary, I bolted to Taren’s bedside.
Once I got past the machines and the tubes and the beeps, the first thing I noticed was how vulnerable he looked.
“Ember.” Gretchen sounded both weary and relieved as she rose from Taren’s side. Even as she wrapped her arms around me, I barely spared her notice.
I pulled myself from her embrace and went to Taren.
Please was all I sent, but Gretchen understood. She gathered her coat and left us alone.
The Gateway Trilogy: Complete Series: (Books 1-3) Page 50
