Chosen

by Ella James

  Nathan grabbed Meredith’s arm, and she started to sob. Cayne was getting to his feet, already looking at the sky, where several levitating Chosen seemed to hold various lookout points over the action. For a half second, Julia’s eyes swept the grounds and she was rocked by the sheer numbers: so many attacking Chosen, so many Swosen, many more human guests. She saw Adam paralyzing a pretty female Swosen in a skimpy gown, then spotted Dizzy, within scary spitting-distance, sitting astride the chest of curly-Ein. He clutched his head, and Dizzy laughed.

  What would be left of this place when it was over? Julia hoped she wasn’t around to see.

  “I’m not here to hurt them,” Nathan was insisting. He still had Meredith’s arm, and she was trying to pull out of his grasp. “Julia needs to hide! The people here are after her!”

  “Are you insane?” Meredith slapped him. She actually freakin’ slapped Nathan across the face. The best part? He went down.

  *

  Julia frantically searched Cayne’s aura for knots, finding none that should prevent him from flying. She spun to Meredith. “Where’s everyone? What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know! Drew was right beside me, and then he wasn’t. I don’t know where Carlin is!”

  “We’ve got friends,” Cayne said, and his wings were out again, and he was hugging both Meredith and Julia, hunkering low to the ground, ready to spring if he needed to. Jacquie, her ‘pencils’, and Henry were hobbling across the snowy lawn toward them.

  “Omigod.” Julia had an awful thought: Where was Blake?! What if he had died? She needed to go look for him!

  “What is it,” Mer said.

  “Blake! What if he’s dead!”

  “No, still alive. I saw him as I was running—there!” She pointed across the lawn, where the husky Chosen was limping toward them, on line to meet Jacquie’s group as they arrived.

  Julia could feel the tension in Cayne’s body, but he stayed put. Right up until the moment that Jacquie…what the hell?

  Jacquie waved her arm, and from somewhere up above, an Authority swooped down, all stark white wings and fire. His arrow struck the ground at Cayne’s feet, exploding and sending him flying through the air. Julia and Meredith flew, too, both landing like ragdolls in the snow. Meredith shrieked, and big Blake was there, grabbing Mer’s arms as that uptight ‘pencil’ lady, the one with the clipboards whose names Julia couldn’t remember, put her hand in Julia’s face, and everything went dizzy.

  *

  Julia heard only Cayne’s name. She thought only of Cayne. Her fear was tinged with fury, so when the pencil bitch finally let up, Julia came up swinging. It felt good to knock someone out. Like finally she could do something, and Julia realized she’d been stupid so far.

  Wasn’t she The One? Didn’t that make her the biggest badass here?

  She had never thrown blue fire before, but she did now. She saw the curly red-haired Authority flying low to the ground with his arms outstretched, and she had simply to think about doing it and fire was flowing from her fingers.

  The Authority went down like a duck, and Julia felt a rush of sheer relief. She spun in the direction of Meredith and Cayne and spotted Drew instead; she realized he was standing over Meredith, who wasn’t moving, and her heart stopped.

  Suddenly there was something moving over her, and as Julia raised her hands, strong arms gripped her, and she was being lifted. She might have been carried away by a brown-haired Chosen girl with a slick ponytail and a lip ring, but Henry appeared and he grabbed her foot.

  “Julia!”

  She didn’t know whether to kick at him and or jump into his arms, and as the levitating woman tugged her, she was fast losing all choice in the matter.

  “Julia, I’ll help you!”

  Julia shot the levitating Chosen woman with blue fire and fell into Henry’s arms.

  “Where is Cayne?” Henry’s face was soot-stained, and Julia realized in a swift second that the largest dome was actually burning; it wasn’t overtaken yet, but blue flames spilled out several first-floor windows.

  “I don’t know! I haven’t seen him!”

  Julia remembered Jacquie signaling the Authority, and she shoved out of Henry’s arms. She whirled around, looking for Cayne, and ran, although she hadn’t spotted him yet.

  She ran around a few ice-crusted trees, slipping in the snow as she turned, and there was Jacquie.

  “Julia,” she started.

  But Julia blasted her with a tiny bolt of blue fire; the woman screamed, clutching her shoulder, and Julia took a few steps back. “Where’s Cayne?”

  “Behind you.”

  Julia actually fell for it. The Swosen leader lunged forward and tackled her. She pressed her fingers into Julia’s shoulders, her wavy hair spilling around Julia like a curtain.

  “You don’t know anything,” she said sadly. “If The Three capture you, the Earth will go to ruin. Julia, they will use you. You’re not powerful. You’re powerless.”

  Jacquie’s hand caressed her temple, and pain exploded in her head.

  “I’m so sorry, honey. This was never in my plans.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Julia’s moan roused her. She cracked one eye open and saw Jacquie’s face, bathed in pale blue light. The woman, battered and bloody, was carrying her feet; someone else had her torso, and it felt like they were moving down a hill. Each step felt like a hammer to her head. Again.

  All around them, blue fire lit up the icy night. Screams and sirens made Julia’s head ache fiercely. Out of the corner of her bleary gaze, she saw wings flutter in the smoky sky.

  Julia lay very still, trying to keep her body limp although Jacquie had her feet up in the air and Henry’s fingers, clutching her shoulders, felt like talons. Oh, and these assholes had betrayed her. Totally. So she really kinda wanted to just blast them both into the sky.

  Why shouldn’t she? These people, Jacquie and Henry, Jacquie who had served her tea and Henry who’d just taught her how to play WoW—they were going to murder her. She sensed their intent, and she realized she really was a pawn. Just a pawn to everyone. How would she ever trust anyone again?

  She knew somewhere deep down that she wouldn’t. Because she couldn’t. Because as long as she was The One, as long as she was some hated, exalted tool, she wasn’t living her own life. She was doing something else.

  But she promised herself, as snow fell on her cheeks, that she would change that. She would not fulfill her purpose as The One. She would not bring down a barrier the Alpha had placed. She would not cooperate in any scenario where Cayne was supposed to hurt her. And if she had to die to do things her way, Julia figured that she would.

  Because she sure as hell wasn’t going to do it on anybody else’s terms.

  The crunching sound below Jacquie and Henry’s shoes gave way to a wet, whooshing sound, and Julia could tell they had reach the parking lot. She took a big, deep breath. She allowed herself a brief peek at the sky, and she hoped against hope that Cayne was up there somewhere, waiting for the right moment to swoop down and rescue her.

  Not that she needed rescuing.

  From her prone position, it was easy to fling out both her arms and shoot fireballs at Henry and Jacquie’s traitorous faces. As soon as she hit her marks, she was dropped flat on her back in the icy parking lot—which hurt like a motherlover, but not worse than The Three’s leash had.

  Julia scrambled up to find them clawing at each other, screaming and cursing and flailing as they tried to find her.

  Too bad, so sad.

  She turned and ran through the crunchy snow, following their footprints, thinking as she bolted that there was no haven. There would never be one until Methuselah was gone.

  Her head pounded as she scanned the snowy lawn, eyes darting from the sky where Authorities fought levitating Chosen to the formerly manicured lawn, where regulars were screaming and Chosen and Swosen battled using blue fire and hands whose gifts could not be seen.

  She heard a cry and Meredit
h bolted out from between two bushes. Her nose was bleeding, her hair was trailing smoke, and Thierry was trailing her. Julia saw the moment he noticed her; his eyes widened and he lunged forward, bypassing Meredith in a shortcut to reach Julia. Instead of running, she stayed put.

  She’d figured out how to shoot a fire bolt, but she needed to make sure she took Thierry out. When she’d killed Samyaza, she’d sent her energy out like tossing a metal chain; this time she imagined a fire ball…made of her energy. And when Thierry stretched out his arms, ready to poof her to The Three, Julia tossed it at his legs.

  She took no pleasure in seeing him go down, but she breathed a big sigh of relief when Meredith reached her, tossing her arms around Julia.

  “I think Adam is dead, and Dizzy got dropped on her head by one of the Authorities!”

  “Are you serious?”

  Meredith grabbed her arm, pulling Julia through snow-stacked bushes and trees. They ducked to miss a flying fireball and Julia threw one at a Swosen woman who was moving toward them with a harsh look on her face.

  “Drew got hurt and some cops came but the Authorities bewitched them and Nathan disappeared, and did they try to hurt you? Jacquie hurt you?!”

  Julia nodded.

  “Oh my God, Julia, we have to go! Get out of here! But Julia…” Mer’s lips trembled “I can’t find Carlin!”

  “I know. I haven’t seen her or Cayne! Mer, where is Cayne?”

  “Julia, the last time I saw him, an Authority was flying off with him. I’m so sorry.”

  Julia couldn’t even feel the impact of Mer’s words. She just went numb.

  “Where is Drew?”

  “He’s up here, by the gate.”

  They fell in with a line of regulars fleeing the resort via its massive gates. All Julia could think about was Cayne. His face, his hands, his eyes, his lips, his jokes. She wanted to scream, but she somehow held it in.

  “This is it,” Meredith said, as they crested the hill and came up on a brick guard post. “This is where I left Drew.”

  They rounded a small, brick building, and there was Nathan.

  *

  “Oh no, no, no. I’m not healing him.” Julia didn’t know what had come over her, and she didn’t care. She raised her hand, seriously considering blasting Nathan, who was clutching a bleeding leg and breathing hard. She came out of her stupor when Meredith stepped in front of her.

  “Honey. Honey, no.”

  “Meredith.” Nathan gritted his teeth. “You have to believe me. I really…didn’t know.”

  “Didn’t know at all or didn’t think it would happen tonight? Either way, you lied to me!”

  Nathan hung his head, and the guard post’s door opened. Drew hobbled out, pressing what looked like a woman’s sweater against his chest, and Julia immediately stepped over Nathan to heal him.

  Somewhere in her head, she heard a buzzing sound, like maybe they should be leaving, but they couldn’t leave Drew and she wouldn’t leave without Cayne anyway. It didn’t take long to fix the slash in Drew’s chest, and he was asking her questions that she couldn’t really hear, questions about Cayne, and he was rubbing her back. Meredith was talking about a van, and somehow Dizzy was there, and Nathan was stabbing her, and Julia didn’t care. She didn’t care because Cayne was flying over her. There was an Authority on his tail, and one of his wings looked half melted—but he was flying.

  She stumbled down the lawn, shooting blue fire out her fingertips and screeching Cayne’s name. It never occurred to her that she would run into anyone. It never even crossed her mind that she was putting herself in danger. She only wanted Cayne. So when Jacquie grabbed her by the arm, she felt a mighty bolt of shock.

  “Julia,” she said, and Julia saw that her face was badly burned, “we need to talk.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “No. We don’t.” Julia had the option of blue fire, but she was so pissed off, she punched Jacquie in the face—and you can bet that bitch screamed in agony. She didn’t even stick around to watch the woman hit the ground. She ran, shooting blue fire from her fingers, looking up at the sky. Cayne was still there, and the Authority was not. Cayne’s wings were flapping normally, and it looked like he’d strapped an Authority’s bow to his chest—which, to her ridiculous delight, was bare.

  Cayne swooped down and grabbed her.

  “Omigod.” She turned into his arms, clinging to his still-bloody torso. “I thought you were dead! I thought you were dead!”

  “I’m sorry. So sorry.” Despite the crazy flying he was doing, his arms around her were sheltering and gentle, and his lips were on her hair. “Are you okay? I was so worried.”

  “I’m okay, but Carlin’s gone! We can’t find her!”

  Cayne was silent for a second, and Julia opened her eyes to see they were flying over the street.

  “NO, CAYNE! Turn around!”

  “Let me guess,” he said. “We need to get the others.” But she could hear the smile in his voice.

  “Drew and Meredith were by the gate… And Nathan.”

  “I’m not helping him.”

  “Fine by me.”

  “Julia, I found our van. It’s just outside the rear gate. We’ll get it and pick up the others; I can’t fly with everyone.”

  “We don’t have a key!”

  “We’ll have to hope Edan left the keys.”

  He took an angle and dove, speeding them to the van so fast Julia thought she might freeze. It was a good spot—all of the fighting was in the front of the resort—but the van was locked.

  “Aww man!” Julia moaned.

  “Stay here,” Cayne said. “Hide, over there—” he pointed to a copse of evergreens with low-hanging branches. “I’ll get Drew and Meredith and meet you here!”

  “And Carlin!” Julia cried as he took off. “Please look for Carlin!”

  He didn’t answer her, was already gone, but Julia had to believe he’d heard her. She ran to her cover, finally feeling the cold as her adrenaline ebbed. She tried to draw herself into a ball as she listened to the sounds from the resort—explosions, screams—and prayed for Cayne to make it back.

  In what seemed like no time at all he was, carrying a crying Meredith and a wide-eyed Drew.

  When they landed, Drew staggered away, puffing. “Thanks and all, but next time I’ll walk.”

  Meredith hugged Julia and wailed, “This is all my fault.”

  Julia tried to shush her as Cayne said, “We need to move now. I think it would be better if we split up.”

  “What!” Julia cried. “No way!”

  “We could always take the van.”

  Julia whirled to find Edan walking out from the woods and smiling tentatively.

  “What are you doing here!” Cayne demanded.

  He grinned sheepishly. “When the fighting started, I get out as fast as I could. The front gate was blocked, but, same as you, I found this one.”

  “Why didn’t you leave?”

  Edan shrugged. “I was waiting for you guys.”

  Cayne held out his hand. “Give me the key.”

  Edan fished it out of his pocket. “But I get to come too, right?”

  Cayne snatched it out of the air and handed it to Julia. “Get in.”

  Julia got in the driver’s seat and cranked the van, watching through the window as Cayne and Edan talked and Drew and Meredith huddled near each other. Cayne looked once in Julia’s direction before plucking the string off the bow and tying it around Edan’s wrists. He opened the slider door for Drew and Meredith, then pushed Edan into the van and told Julia to drive.

  “He says he knows how to get us to the gate,” was the only explanation he gave.

  Drew grabbed the GPS, asking Edan for the address. But the guy was leaning into the back of the car.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Cayne snapped.

  “Trying to wake up Carlin.”

  “CARLIN’S IN HERE?!”

  “Yeah, I found her in the hall when the attack start
ed, already passed out.”

  And that was the biggest mystery of the night. Meredith hadn’t seen Carlin since she went searching for a Diet Coke during WoW. And Carlin had no memory of anything after that.

  *

  Several hours later, they stopped at a little mountainside café that served milkshakes, of all things. Edan had promised Carlin she would like them. He said he’d been to heaven’s gates one time before, many years ago, as part of his duties as an on-again, off-again ‘messenger’ to heaven, and he promised them all that they were almost to the mountain’s peak, a supernatural post where, with the right knowledge and experience, one could travel to a different celestial plane.

  “I worked for The Three, but I hate those old bastards.”

  Which was a sharp contrast to how he seemed to feel for Carlin. Since Edan had fished her out of the backseat, sleepy and totally unaware of everything that had happened, he hadn’t left her side. He then convinced Cayne to loosen his binds by selling him on the usefulness of an Authority bow and arrow; to have a working one, you needed the string.

  The guy had even apologized for not being able to heal Julia—and for disappearing. Reluctantly, he admitted that he had a history with a few of the Authorities that had been at the resort.

  “I didn’t want to get my ass kicked, so I pretended I had other things to do.”

  “So you are an angel,” Carlin said.

  Edan shook his head, but seemed so sore about the subject, so no one pressed—not even Cayne.

  Julia planned to talk to Cayne about him once she got to heaven’s gates. She liked Edan, but she’d finally gotten the point: This was a war, and if she wanted a life—a real one; her own happy, adult life with Cayne—she couldn’t afford to lose it. If Edan had a connection to The Three, even an inactive one, they needed to seriously consider whether he was worth having in their group.

  And what would happen to the group once she was free, Julia wondered as they sat inside a sunroom, sipping milk shakes and looking out over St. Moritz.