Daemon reached over the center console and squeezed my fidgeting hand.
Thinking these things right then wasn’t the best route to travel. I was getting myself all worked up and spazzy.
I smiled at Daemon and decided to focus on our afternoon. We didn’t really do anything. Just cuddled together, both of us wide awake, and somehow that was more intimate than anything else. Last night or early this morning had been a different story.
Daemon was a creative fellow.
My cheeks were stained red the rest of the trip.
The two SUVs arrived at the little farm at the bottom of the pitch-black access road with five minutes to spare. As we climbed out, Blake got his confirmation text from Luc.
Things were a go.
Instead of limbering up, we all stayed still, conserving our energy. Ash, Andrew, and Dee remained in their SUV. The rest of us moved to the edge of the overgrown field.
I hoped I didn’t get infested with ticks.
With one last look at the Luxen in the vehicle, it was time to go. Letting the Source flow through my blood and bones and ripple over my skin, we took off into the darkness, without the light of the moon on the cloudy night. Like last time, Daemon stayed beside me. The last thing anyone needed was my tripping over something and rolling back down the hill.
Things were quiet and tense when we reached the edge of the woods, waited to see that only one guard manned the fence.
It was Daemon who took him out this time. Then we were at the fence, keying in the first code.
Icarus.
Taking off across the stretch of field, the five of us moved like ghosts. Visible in one’s peripheral vision, but gone when looked at head-on.
At the set of three doors, Dawson entered in the second password.
Labyrinth.
And now it was do or die time. All these months had led up to this. Did our onyx training mean a damn thing? Daemon glanced at me.
I slipped my hand into my pocket, wrapping my fingers around the opal.
Going through the onyx spray would still hurt like the fiery bowels of hell for the others, but it should be manageable if Blake had been right.
The door slid open with an airlock sound and Daemon was the first through.
Air puffed and he flinched, but one leg moved in front of the other and then he was through, on the other side. He stopped, glancing over his shoulder, and smiled that half smile.
All of us let out a collective breath.
We filed through the onyx-shielded door. Each of the guys took the spray with a wince and grimace of pain. I barely felt a thing.
Inside Mount Weather for the first time, we fell behind Blake, who knew most of the way. The tunnel was shadowed, with small lamps placed every twenty feet or so on the orange walls. I searched for those murderous emergency doors but it was too dark to see them.
Tipping my head up, I noticed something terrifying about the ceiling. It was shiny—like it was wet or something, but it wasn’t liquid.
“Onyx,” Blake whispered. “The whole place is covered in onyx.”
Unless they did a massive remodel recently, that couldn’t be something new to Blake. Feeling the opal against my skin, I pulled on the Source and waited for the extreme rush of energy as we flew down the tunnel.
There was a tiny spark of extra energy, but nothing like it had been when Daemon and I had tested it out. My heart sunk as we neared the end of the long tunnel. It had to be all the onyx, somehow weakening the opal.
At the end of the tunnel, it split into a crossroad. Elevators were in the middle. Matthew edged toward the opening, checking the space first.
“Clear,” he said, then faded out, moving so fast that when he hit the elevator button, my eyes couldn’t track him until he was beside us again.
When the doors slid open, we moved at once, filling the steel elevator. Apparently the stairwells were under password and I wondered what the heck people did to get out in case of emergency.
I looked around the elevator, noting a few blackish-red shiny parts in the flickering overhead light. I half expected to be doused with onyx while we waited, but it didn’t happen.
Daemon’s hand brushed mine, and I looked up.
He winked.
Shaking my head, I shifted my weight restlessly. This seemed like the slowest-moving elevator in the world. I could figure out a trig formula faster.
Daemon squeezed my hand, as if he could sense my nervousness.
I stretched up on the tips of my toes and cupped Daemon’s cheek, guiding his head down to mine. I kissed him deeply and without reservation.
“For good luck,” I said after I pulled back, a bit breathless.
His emerald eyes glinted with a wealth of promises that sent a very different kind of chills over me. When we got home, we were so getting some one-on-one time.
Because we would get home, all of us. There could be no other outcome
Finally, the elevator doors popped open, revealing a small waiting room. White walls. White ceilings. White floors.
We’d stepped into an insane asylum.
“Lovely decorative colors,” Matthew said.
Daemon smirked.
His brother moved ahead, stopping at the door. There was no way, no idea of seeing what waited for us on the other side. With this code, we were going in blind.
But we’d come this far. Excitement hummed through me.
“Careful, brother,” Daemon said. “We take this slow.”
He nodded. “I’ve never been here. Blake?”
Blake moved to his side. “Should be another tunnel, shorter and wider, and there’ll be doors on the right side. Cells, really, outfitted with a bed, a TV, and a bathroom. There’ll be about twenty rooms. I don’t know if the others are occupied or not.”
Others? I hadn’t thought about others. I looked at Daemon. “We can’t just leave them.”
Before he could answer, Blake intervened. “We don’t have time, Katy. Taking too many will slow us down, and we don’t know what kind of condition they are in.”
“But—”
“For once, I agree with Blake.” Daemon met my shocked stare. “We can’t, Kitten. Not now.”
I wasn’t okay with this, but I couldn’t run down the hall, letting people free. We didn’t plan for that and we only had a set amount of time. It sucked—sucked worse than people who pirated books, sucked more than waiting a year for the next book in a beloved series, and sucked more than a brutal cliffhanger ending. Leaving here, knowing we could possibly be leaving innocent people behind, would haunt me forever.
Blake took a deep breath and keyed in the last code.
Daedalus.
The sound of several locks sucking back into place broke the silence and a light at the top of the door, on the right, flashed green.
As Blake inched the door open, Daemon moved to stand in front of me. Matthew was suddenly behind me and I was shielded. What the…?
“We’re clear,” Blake said, sounding relieved.
We went through the door, discovering another onyx shield. Now we had two more to get the others through. This wasn’t going to be easy.
The tunnel was like the one above, but all white and like Blake had informed us, it was shorter and wider. Everyone was moving but me. We’d made it—we were here. My stomach lurched and my skin tingled.
I almost couldn’t believe it.
Happy and anxious all at once, I felt the rush of responding Source, but it peaked and then quickly sputtered out. The amount of onyx in this building was insane.
“The third cell is hers,” Blake said, rushing down the hall, toward the last cluster of doors.
Spinning back around, I held my breath as Dawson reached for the onyx-coated door handle and turned. It met no resistance.
Dawson stepped into the room, his legs shaking, his entire body trembling, and his voice cracked when he spoke. “Beth?”
That one word, that one sound was pulled from the depths of Dawson and we all s
topped, our breaths holding again.
Over his shoulder, I saw a slender form on a narrow bed sit up. As she came into view, I almost cheered—I wanted to, because it was her, it was Beth…but she looked nothing like she had when I’d last seen her.
Her brown hair wasn’t stringy or greasy but pulled back in a smooth ponytail. A few strands had slipped free, framing a pale but elfin face. A huge part of me feared that she wouldn’t recognize Dawson, that she’d be that cracked shell of a girl I’d met. I’d been planning for the worse. That she might even attack Dawson.
But when I saw Beth’s dark eyes, they weren’t empty like they’d been at Vaughn’s house. They also looked nothing like Carissa’s frighteningly blank stare.
Recognition flared in Beth’s eyes.
Time stopped for those two and then sped up. Dawson stumbled forward, and I thought he was going to drop to his knees. His hands opened and closed at his sides as if he had no control over them.
All he could say was, “Beth.”
The girl scrambled off the bed, her eyes bouncing over us and then they settled and stayed on him. “Dawson? Is that… I don’t understand.”
They both moved as one, rushing forward, crossing the distance at the same moment. Their arms went around each other and Dawson lifted her up, burying his face in her neck. Words were traded, but their voices were thick with emotion, too low and too fast for my ears to track. They were holding onto each other in a way I knew they were never going to let go.
Dawson lifted his head and said something in his language and it sounded just as beautiful as it did when Daemon spoke it. Then he kissed her, and I felt like an interloper watching them, but I couldn’t look away. There was so much beauty in their reunion, in the way he showered her upturned face with tiny kisses and the wetness that gathered on her cheeks.
Tears crept up my throat, burning the back of my eyes. Happy tears blurred my vision. I felt Matthew place his hand on my shoulder and squeeze. Sniffling, I nodded.
“Dawson.” Urgency filled Daemon’s tone, reminding all of us that we were running out of time.
Pulling apart, Dawson grabbed her hand and turned around as a whole boatload of questions came streaming out of Beth’s mouth.
“What are you guys doing? How did you all get in here? Do they know?” And on and on she went as Dawson, who was grinning like an idiot, tried to keep her quieted down.
“Later,” he said. “But we have to go through two doors and it’s going to hurt—”
“Onyx shields, I know,” she said.
Well, that solved that problem.
I turned as Blake came back, carrying the prone body of a dark-haired Luxen boy. A reddish stain bloomed across the teenager’s jaw. “Is he okay?”
Blake nodded. The skin around his lips was drawn tight and pale. “I… He didn’t recognize me. I had to keep him quiet.”
A tiny crack fissured my heart. The look in Blake’s eyes was so hopeless and bleak, especially when they flickered toward Dawson and Beth. Everything he had done: lied, cheated, and murdered had all been for the guy in his arms. Someone he considered a brother. Again, I hated that I felt sympathy for Blake.
But I did.
Beth looked up and her onslaught of questions faded off. “You can’t—”
“We need to go.” Blake cut her off and stalked past us. “We’re almost out of time.”
And we were. The reminder whipped through me and I gave the other girl what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “We have to leave. Now. Everything else can wait.”
Beth was shaking her head vigorously. “But—”
“We need to go, Beth. We know.” And she nodded at Dawson’s words, but panic was building in her eyes.
Urgency kicked adrenaline into high gear and without any more delay, the five of us took off down the hall. Daemon punched the code into panel on the wall, and the door opened.
The all-white waiting room wasn’t empty.
Simon Cutters stood there—missing, presumed dead Simon Cutters—as big and burly as ever. All of us were caught off guard. Daemon took a step back. Matthew came to a halt. I couldn’t wrap my head around how he was alive, why he was standing there, as if he were waiting for us.
The tiny hairs on my arms started to rise.
“Oh shit,” Daemon said.
Simon smiled. “Missed me? I missed you guys.”
Then he raised an arm. Light reflected off a metal cuff he wore. A piece of opal glittered, nearly identical to the one I wore around my neck. Everything happened so fast. Simon opened his hand, and it was like being hit with gale force winds. I was lifted off my feet and thrown back through the air. I crashed into the nearest door, my hip hitting the metal door handle. Pain exploded, knocking the air out of my lungs as I hit the floor.
Oh, my God… Simon was…
My brain raced to keep up with what was happening. If Simon had a piece of opal, then that meant he had to have been mutated. He probably wouldn’t have gotten us if we hadn’t been so unprepared to see him. It was like with Carissa. He was the last person I expected.
Daemon was picking himself up several feet back down the hall, as was Matthew. Dawson had Beth pressed back against the wall. Blake was closer, using his body to shield Chris’s.
I pushed myself up, wincing as pain arced down my leg. I tried to stand, but my leg gave out. Blake was there, catching me before I hit the floor for the second time.
Simon stepped into the room and smiled.
Daemon staggered to his feet. “Oh, you are so dead.”
“Ah, I think that’s my line,” Simon responded. A burst of energy flew from his hand, and I yelled Daemon’s name. He narrowly avoided a direct hit.
Daemon’s pupils were starting to glow white. He reared back. Energy arced across the room, a whitish-red light. Simon dodged it, laughing.
“You’re going to wear yourself out, Luxen.” Simon sneered.
“Not before you.”
Simon winked and then spun toward us, throwing his hand out again. Blake and I skidded back. I started to fall and Blake grabbed me. Somehow his arm ended up around my neck. There was a tugging feeling and then Daemon was beside me, shoving me behind him.
“This is so not good,” Blake said, edging closer to Simon. “We’re running out of time.”
“No shit,” Daemon spat.
Dawson shot toward Simon, but he threw him back, laughing. He was like a hybrid suped up on steroids. Another blast of energy flew at Blake and then toward Matthew. Both of them dive-bombed the floor to avoid taking a hit. Simon kept advancing, still smiling. I looked up and our eyes locked. His were devoid of all human emotion. Unreal. Inhuman.
And they were so very cold.
How had he been mutated? How was it successful? And how had it turned him into this unfeeling monster. There were so many questions, and none of them mattered right now. The breath-stealing pain made it difficult to concentrate, to even keep standing.
Simon’s smile spread, and a shudder rolled through me as I pulled on the Source, feeling it spark deep inside me. Before I could release it, he opened his mouth. “Want to play, Kitty Kat?”
“Oh, screw this,” Daemon growled.
Daemon was just so much faster than me. He shot past Blake and Matthew, beyond Dawson and Beth. Moving so fast had to have affected him with all the onyx, but he was like lightning. Half a heartbeat later, he was in front of Simon, his hands on either side of Simon’s head.
A sickening crack echoed down the hall.
Simon hit the floor.
Daemon stepped back, breathing deeply. “I never liked that punk in the first place.”
I stumbled to the side, heart racing as the Source stirred restlessly inside of me. Eyes wide, I swallowed hard. “He’s… He was…”
“We don’t have time.” Dawson pulled Beth down the hall, into the waiting room. “They have to know we’re here.”
Blake scooped Chris up, casting a look at Simon as he passed the prone body. He said nothing,
but what was there to say?
My stomach dipped as panic threatened to take hold. Forcing myself forward, I ignored the jagged pain racing up and down my leg.
“Are you okay?” Daemon asked, his fingers threading through mine. “You took a nasty hit.”
“I’m okay.” I was alive and I could walk, so that had to mean I was okay. “You?”
He nodded as we entered the waiting room. Taking the elevator filled me with so much dread I thought I’d hurl, but there were no doors to stairwells. Nothing. We had no other choice.
“Come on.” Matthew slipped into the elevator, his face pale. “We need to prepare for anything once these doors are open.”
Daemon nodded. “How is everyone?”
“Not feeling very good,” Dawson answered, his free hand open and closing. “It’s the damn onyx. I don’t know how much is left in me.”
“What the hell was up with Simon?” Daemon turned on Blake as the elevator pitched into motion. “He barely seemed affected by the onyx.”
Blake shook his head. “I don’t know, man. I don’t know.”
Beth was babbling on about something, but I couldn’t pay attention. The ball of dread was building in my stomach, spreading into my limbs. How could Blake not know? I felt Daemon shift beside me, and then his lips brushed my forehead.
“It’s going to be okay. We’re almost out of here. We got this,” Daemon whispered into my ear, and more tension seeped out of him, out of me. Then he smiled. It was a real one, so wide and beautiful that my own lips curved to meet his. “I promise, Kitten.”
I closed my eyes briefly, soaking in his words and hanging onto them. I needed to believe in them because I was seconds away from freaking out. I had to hold it together. We were a tunnel away from freedom.
“Time?” Blake asked.
Matthew checked his watch. “Two minutes.”
The doors released with a suction-cup sound and the long narrow tunnel appeared, thankfully, beautifully empty and devoid of anymore freak-me-out surprises. Blake and his bundle were the first out, his strides long and quick. Daemon and I took up the flank with Matthew in front of Dawson and Beth, just in case something happened.
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