Sky Ghosts: All for One (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1)

by Engellmann, Alexandra

  Several hours passed in one moment, and suddenly she was awakened by a deafening clatter. Her mind was still partly lost in a dream, and her eyes didn’t even have the time to focus on the dark room as she bolted upright and jumped off the bed. The room was intact, everyone on their bunks, so the sound must have come from the hallway. In a moment her katana was in her hand, and she herself by the door, only partly aware of Chad and Jane rising on their beds in surprise and saying something to her.

  Careful not to make a sound, she turned the doorknob, gripping the sword in her right hand. At that moment an inhuman roar broke the silence, and she recognized it as Marco’s outraged voice immediately.

  The door flew open, and she flashed her eyes to the right. He was there, standing with his back to her, a kicking and twitching figure gripped in his tattooed arms. It was a big man in black clothes, and in the next moment Marco grabbed his head and snapped it savagely, sending a terrible sound of cracking bones through the hallway. It shot a rushing wave of adrenaline through her veins, and she felt awake in a moment, her mind momentarily sharp and focused. Marco let go of the Beast with a grunt and turned to her. He looked horrifying, his bared teeth glistening in the dim light, his eyes wild, his face scowled like a bear’s muzzle. Even the fact that he wore only pajama bottoms – the color of eggshell and obviously too short for him – didn’t soften his appearance. There was a long cut across his broad chest – tattooed, of course – and blood was oozing from it, looking like a strip of black ink in the semidarkness. He didn’t have a weapon and fought with his bare hands; Ryan was nowhere to be seen, either. Something dark was spilled around – soil, she realized after a moment, from a broken flowerpot. It must have been the cause of the noise.

  “What the hell??” she enquired. Blood throbbed at her temples as she watched Marco stare at her. Behind her, Jane pushed the guys back into the room, ordering them to stay inside and pulling one of her swords out of its sheath. Then she was by her side, peering into the dim hallway with an alarmed face.

  Marco threw up his hands incredulously.

  “I don’t know! I couldn’t sleep, opened the door to get some air and found these two sneaking to your room!” he exclaimed.

  “Two??” Pain asked in bewilderment. She turned to the left, spotting another Beast there: he lay in an unnatural position on the floor with his arms obviously broken, and a sword lay several feet away from him. A door cracked open on the other end of the hallway, and a worried face of a fighter showed up from it.

  “Everything’s alright!” She waved her hand at him, and then slewed around, irritated. “Hey, Curiosity! Don’t crowd me!” she snapped, shooting Dave and Chad a glare. Dave recoiled from the doorway, and Chad simply stepped back, frowning at her. The lights were on, and both of them looked tousled and worried, still half-asleep. “Jane, check the window, okay?” she asked, and her sister nodded, stepping back.

  “What exactly happened?” She turned back to Marco, lowering her sword and coming up to him on her toes.

  “I came out. One of them was standing by your door already, his back to me, so I stunned him. And the other one turned out to be a trouble, so I had to break his arms first. I haven’t seen any more of them, but who knows?” He shrugged. “How did they get here, anyway??”

  “I’ve no idea,” she answered, shaking her head as her confusion got even stronger.

  Jane paced in the doorway nervously.

  “There’s no one outside. Why are you alone? Where’s Ryan?” she asked. She looked tired and vulnerable without her gear and makeup, with her hair lying over her shoulders in tangled locks, her bare legs and arms covered in goose bumps. It was chilly in the hallway at night.

  “I don’t know.” Marco waved his hand. “Peter had summoned him, gave him some task.”

  “Good,” she exhaled, relieved. Pain and Marco only gave her confused glances. They didn’t seem to have realized that what she meant was ‘good that he isn’t somewhere in the building fighting off the intruders right now’ rather than ‘good for Ryan to have some task from Peter.’

  “Okay,” Pain snapped, her voice getting back some of its sharpness, “Go throw something on. We should wake up Peter and check the rest of the building,” she said to her sister and followed her inside to grab a hoodie for herself. Then she realized she was barefoot and snatched a pair of sneakers from the room, too.

  She laced them on her feet, gripping the katana under her arm, while Marco went to his room to get a weapon. Just a few seconds later Jane was already by her side, wearing her gear. Dave and Chad followed her with weary faces, Dave in a T-shirt and shorts, and Chad in his pants, pulling on a sweatshirt right on his bare torso. Marco was already there. He didn’t seem to be in need of any more clothes and looked pretty content in his pajama bottoms and Jordans. There was his usual short sword in one of his hands, though Pain didn’t think he needed it, knowing his abilities in hand-to-hand combat.

  “You go first, I’ll cover,” he said, gesturing for the girls to lead them. They nodded, turning and heading for the hall.

  There wasn’t anyone around the corner, and when Marco peeked out at the staircase, it was empty, too. Already a bunch of fighters had gathered in the hallway, giving them wary glances. The men paced to the Beasts’ bodies, alarmed, as the five of them disappeared behind the elevator doors.

  They crowded inside it, looking at each other with alert eyes. The doors slid apart after a few seconds, and Pain ducked out of the elevator, peering into the shadowed hall. There didn’t seem to be any more of the intruders. She came outside together with her sister, and the guys followed them with Marco behind their backs. They reached the waiting room, and Jane threw open the double doors. It was bright inside, and Skull got up from his chair swiftly, discarding a book to the desk.

  “What happened?” he asked in the deepest voice Dave had ever heard, a voice that sounded hoarse and slightly accented. The giant looked them over, lingering on Marco in his grotesque pajama pants.

  “Wake Peter up,” Pain said sharply, “We just got attacked.”

  “Here?” he asked with distrust. Not a muscle twitched in his face as he heard the news.

  “Yes,” she answered with emphasized patience. “Right on our floor. Call Peter, so we can raise the alarm and check the floors,” she said tranquilly, and Dave was surprised to hear nothing but business, no puns, no jokes. She didn’t seem to be afraid of the giant, though. Could she actually respect someone? Dave snorted to himself, and everyone stared at him for a moment.

  Skull turned to his desk, reaching for the phone with his long arm and dialing a short internal number. He told Peter about the situation and turned to the others. His posture was tense, his black eyes alert, but his face looked as if carved out of rock, and his pale scar stood out like a crack in it.

  A minute passed – the wall clock showed two in the morning – and Peter burst into the waiting room from his office, to which his room was adjoined. He wore a long vinous robe that showed that he obviously perceived the urgency of the situation.

  “What happened?” he asked sharply before the door behind him swung shut.

  “Two Beasts just attacked Marco on our floor,” Pain began, but Marco interrupted her.

  “Technically, it was me who attacked them while they were edging to the girls’ room,” he put in.

  Pain turned to him with her hands on her hips.

  “You stunned one. Then the other attacked you. So, technically it’s correct,” she emphasized the word, arching her eyebrows as she looked him in the eyes. Peter made an impatient noise. “He came out of the room just when they were sneaking to our door. They started to wrestle and knocked over a flowerpot in the hall. That’s when we woke up and ran outside.”

  “I was just finishing the last one when Jane, Pain, and the guys came outside,” Marco interrupted again.

  “Technically, the guys didn’t come out, because it was too dangerous. They stayed inside with Jane.” She folded her arms on her chest
, giving him a superior look. Marco growled. “Peter, do you realize what could have happened if Marco was sleeping soundly tonight?”

  Suddenly, Peter’s eyes got impossibly big.

  “The posts…” he swore and darted to the phone. He dialed a number, waited for it to connect, and spoke into it, his voice urgent and low. “Wake up twenty men, check the perimeter and the whole building. Take Jerry for help. There were Beasts on the third floor.” Peter paused to gather his thoughts. “After that, wake up everybody and count them; report back when you’re finished.” He listened to a short response on the other end and put the phone down.

  “Marco, are you sure they were going to their room?” He pointed at the sisters.

  “One hundred percent sure,” Marco boomed grimly in reply, “One of them had his hand on the doorknob when I came out.”

  “Peter, where’s Ryan?” Jane put in.

  “Yeah, where is he?” Pain supported her.

  “He’s in the city, working undercover.” Peter waved his hand absently. “I’ve sent him to a meeting. He may find out about Eugene’s plans regarding Dave. He’s coming back in a few hours.”

  The sisters nodded, stepping aside to let Chad and Dave through. They came to sit in the chairs by the wall, and after a moment and a weary sigh, Pain followed them, taking a seat beside Chad. Jane stayed by the doors with Marco, who stood there like a bull ready to attack any moment, his shoulders rounded, his head bent down slightly, and his posture tense.

  Peter started to pace from wall to wall.

  “You can no longer stay here, it’s not safe,” he speculated, his eyes on the floor.

  “Are you trying to say there is some place safer than here?” Pain asked, perplexed, and his eyes stabbed into hers. He didn’t have to say anything, she understood what he meant instantly. “Oh…” Safety of the others, he was talking about the safety of the fighters, of course. Since Eugene’s moves weren’t that subtle, they just couldn’t draw his attention here anymore.

  “Turns out, the location doesn’t really matter.” Peter grimaced, stopping and looking at her. “But I can’t come up with a place for you that Eugene’s men wouldn’t track down. Your group is too conspicuous, and he already knows about some of our new tunnels’ exits. He may as well know about the others, and we can’t take such risks,” he shook his head and continued his pacing.

  Pain only sighed in response. Chad turned his look to her and saw Skull gaze at Marco’s short pajama pants. There was a spark of bemusement in his eyes for a change. Marco noticed his gaze after a minute and stared back questioningly.

  “Do you have any clothes that actually fit you?” Skull asked in a low voice, answering his stare.

  “I love these pants!” Marco waved him away.

  “No, seriously, man. You should check out that store I told you about. We’re about the same size, and I’m even taller, but I usually find there everything I need,” the giant said and nodded encouragingly.

  Marco only gave an exhausted exhalation and stared at the ceiling, leaning with his back against the door. Chad held back his smile, but his eyes gave him away, and he quickly switched his look to the floor.

  About ten minutes later the phone rang, making Dave wake up and jump in his chair, and the sisters strain with expectation. They looked at Peter as he grabbed the receiver.

  “Yes?” He listened to the report for a few seconds, growing more and more somber. “Okay. Double the guards, put only the skilled ones on the posts. The rest can go back to their rooms,” he said and put the phone down slowly, frowning at it.

  “What is it?” Pain asked in a grave voice.

  Peter turned to them, perching himself on the desk. He exhaled loudly and passed a hand over his face before answering.

  “Four guards at the posts are dead. Elizabeth was among them,” he said grimly. “The other three were Patrick’s rookies.”

  The sisters and Marco exchanged heavy glances. There were not so many girls at the New York Ghosts Headquarters; in fact, there were only a few of them. Everybody loved Elizabeth: she was funny and sweet, the kind of person who always smiled. Most of her time she spent patrolling, but her partners said she hadn’t even killed a single soul.

  After a long, silent minute Peter got off the desk and came closer to the others.

  “Here’s what we’re going to do,” he said in a low voice, “I’ll send you off to a corporate apartment downtown. There wasn’t even one encounter with Eugene’s men anywhere around, so there’s hope he doesn’t know about it. You’ll go there at night, first through the tunnels, then you’ll use a new hidden exit and make a good detour on foot so the chances you meet someone in the air are small. Marco and Ryan will back you up at the tunnels exit so we can be sure that you got outside unnoticed. When you get to the apartment, you’ll stay inside, curtains drawn, lights off, until I find out what Eugene wants. Is that clear?”

  “Yes.”

  “No,” Pain said at the same time as her sister. “Why did I never know that we had a corporate apartment?”

  Peter rolled his eyes and got up, coming to his office door.

  “That’s exactly why I’m sending you there – this place has never come up.”

  “How are we going to live there? What if we have to stay there for a long time?”

  “This morning I’ll organize the groceries delivery. We’ll stuff the cabinets and fridges. If it’s not enough, then you’ll order something. The rest you’ll have to bring with you.”

  Out of questions, Pain sighed and got up, stretching. The day was beginning to feel endless, and she knew she would have the same feeling in the morning. It made her disoriented, and she hated it. Following her sister, she turned and headed to the exit, but at the threshold she stopped and looked at Peter.

  “And what are we gonna do in that apartment all day?” she drawled in a resentful voice. “Play Scrabble and Twister?”

  For a change, his face didn’t look stressed when he answered. Only irony colored his eyes.

  “Exactly,” he said and pushed the door behind him with his back. “At this time of darkness and chaos, you could use some simple Scrabble-joy.” He thought for a moment, then added, his voice serious again. “Go to sleep. You’re leaving tomorrow at midnight.”

  The sisters nodded at that and vanished behind the doors.

  “God, I’d play Twister with her,” Dave muttered, following them outside, and Chad chuckled quietly behind his back.

  Marco fell in step after them. The building was quiet and deserted, as if nothing had happened. They walked to their rooms in silence, nobody seeming to be in the mood for talking. The bodies were already gone, and the fighters were back in their rooms, doors closed, lights low. Chad wondered if any of this actually bothered the Ghosts: they seemed to have got back to sleep too soon, too easily. Or was it just the order of things here, and behind each of those doors two worried fighters were stressing over the situation? Blaming him and Dave for the danger that was now hanging over their heads? No one at Peter’s office mentioned or even hinted on it, and he wondered if they regretted helping them in the first place. But there was something in all this that made him think the Ghosts actually put their mission first, actually believed they had to save them. And not only them; their whole life was dedicated to protecting civilians, so maybe it was just another of their rules or something?

  The door banged shut behind them, bringing him back to reality, and Pain cursed, shooting Dave a stinging look.

  “No banging doors,” she snapped, reminding him of the rule.

  He cringed.

  “Sorry,” he said, and then added, “What’s with that rule, anyway?”

  Jane decided to interfere before anyone got hurt.

  “Fighters sleep after patrols or before them, so it has to be quiet here,” she explained, and Dave gave an understanding nod before taking his shirt off and getting back to his bunk.

  When the others seemed to have drifted off, Jane couldn’t sleep. An hour
passed, and nothing changed for her. She was too alert, and thoughts were swarming in her head like restless wild bees. One thought repeated more often than the others: that Eugene was always one step ahead of them. She had long ago accepted the fact that he could easily kill them all if he decided so. And now he was the only one who knew the rules of the game once again. Peter had always been a good chief, and people loved and respected him. But he hardly took any action against Eugene, only maintained the defense. And Michael was so different during his time.

  Eventually, she got up with a grunt, looked over Pain, Chad, and Dave, peaceful in their sleep, and jumped off her bed. She came out of the room barefoot, wearing only her tank-top and shorts again, and came up to the window at the end of the hallway. It was about three in the morning, and the streets far away were dark and deserted. In the distance, she could see skyscrapers and rare city lights that seemed to wander in the moonlight. She could go for a flight right now, reach those lights in a few minutes, just slide over the city thoughtlessly and enjoy the warm weather. But she was too tired, and it was childish, and they weren’t alone out there, she knew. She would have to bring weapons and gear, and it was so not funny or relaxing. Not to mention that in the morning Pain would find out, of course, and get mad and bug her about how reckless of her it was, how she puts herself in danger and blah, blah, blah…

  “Can’t sleep?” a voice sounded from behind, and she flinched.

  She turned her head and found Ryan standing a few feet away from her. He didn’t look like he had any trouble during his mission. On the contrary, he was wearing a perfect gray suit and looked calm and confident, as always. She had never seen him like this before, without the habitual gear or his khaki pants and a T-shirt. She almost felt like it was a stranger before her, like she didn’t know him at all, like this Ryan was a Ryan from some other planet.