by Belle Malory
A small smile appeared, then faded just as quickly. “Of course, you do. We all have our choices. Kennedy was never a set path. She was your opportunity. An opportunity to be better, to be different. To be human.”
An opportunity?
Phoenix thought Kennedy was someone who was meant for him, not someone he had to earn. “What will happen to her?” He couldn’t help but ask the question. “If I don’t choose Kennedy, what happens to her?”
Calaya smoothed out her gown, averting his gaze. “Someone else will.”
Phoenix felt his hands clench into fists at his sides. “Someone who?”
“Stars,” she breathed, and clucked her tongue disapprovingly. “You sound mighty jealous. I find that odd considering only a moment ago, you were fervently stating the twelfth will not be your chosen path.”
She was right. But Phoenix didn’t care. Her being right didn’t soothe his urge to throw a fist into the nearest wall. God, he never knew he had a choice. Why didn’t Calaya ever make that clear to him? He might have looked at things differently…
“Anyway,” Calaya said, walking a few steps ahead. “You should know there is a war coming. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Phoenix froze in his tracks. “A war? On Earth?”
She nodded. “Between humans and an outside force. It will be the first of its kind. All of the keepers will play a big part.”
“Do you know anything else about it? Do you know when?”
Shaking her head, she said, “I wish I did. All I know is in order to win, Kennedy’s abilities in particular, are crucial. She will need to learn so much before the time comes.” Calaya looked around, taking in all of Olympus. “Not just here. It’s important for her to train beyond these walls. It’s important for all of you.”
War. On Earth.
Phoenix inhaled. It would be okay. He had been preparing for this his entire life. When the time came, he would be ready. And he would make sure the others were ready too.
Calaya took Phoenix’s face between her hands. “Although our conversation today was somewhat disheartening, it was good to see you again, Phoenix.”
“You, too. Calaya.” And it was strangely true.
She smiled, and the stud in her nose twinkled again. She started to leave, then paused. “Oh, and one more thing.”
“Yeah?”
“Kennedy is less vulnerable than you think. I think you may have had something to do with that.”
With that said, Calaya walked away, her lavender gown swishing behind her.
Forty-One
They put Kennedy inside a tank connected to the central water lines. It was empty, for the moment. Soon water would fill the tank to its ceiling, drowning her in the process.
She clawed at the ridges, trying to find a way out, not that it mattered. Commissioner Plaffles’s assistant Sean, and the two soldiers were outside guarding the tank. They were there to make sure Plaffle’s orders to murder her and make it look like an accident were carried out.
Their voices were muffled, but Kennedy heard them talking about what they were going to do with her body afterwards. They agreed to dump her inside the pool back at her apartment. “Plaffle has control of the cameras. He can stop them from recording in the time it takes us to get her there.”
Fantastic. It seemed they had her demise all worked out.
No one was going to know what really happened. Phoenix might figure it out. Possibly. But he couldn’t prove it. He would have nothing to go on but suspicions. And Plaffle might get to him, too. Phoenix thought General Vickard was behind the mission. Unless she miraculously got out of there, he would never know.
Fury sparked inside her chest. Throwing her fist into the glass wall of the tank sounded like a good outlet. It wasn’t. Stupid hard as rock glass. She cradled her hand to her chest, bouncing on her heels and letting out a string of silent curses.
Phoenix would put up a good fight. She had to believe that. Even with Plaffle’s large forces backing him, they wouldn’t stand a chance against him.
The pipe to her left moaned ghoulishly, indicating water was coming her way. Hearing the noise sent her into full panic mode. She forgot the pain in her hand and did some hysterical banging. “Someone help me!” she screamed as loudly as she could. “Let me out of here!”
Everything outside was blurry because of the tank’s curved shape. She saw someone move towards her, coming in clearer as they came closer. A soldier.
He beat on the surface with his fist. “Knock it off in there or I’ll end you now!” A gun was held up, pointing towards her head.
Kennedy backed away, letting out a miserable sob. Screaming and banging wouldn’t have done much good anyway, considering she could barely hear their voices.
Wait a second—Matilda!
Kennedy smiled, thinking of the Series Seven robot. Matilda would know the soldiers if they came there to dump her body. As long as they didn’t think to disable or destroy her, she would report their crime. Hopefully the robot would be discreet enough to stay quiet, which more often than not wasn’t the case. Even if it was a small sliver of a chance, Kennedy would take it.
Water flowed in through one of the pipes, startling her. It trickled in at first. But it quickly gained momentum. Before she knew it, rushing water poured in, soaking her feet.
“Showtime,” said a muted voice from outside.
Forty-Two
Kennedy thought she had come to terms with death.
She thought that up until the point when the water reached her neck. Then, she realized, death wasn’t something one came to terms with ever. Hysteria kicked in, and she began talking to the water. Or herself, she couldn’t be sure. Please don’t kill me. Somehow you managed to save me once. Could you do it again? Pretty please?
She couldn’t believe what she was doing. It went beyond the rationale of a sane person, but it didn’t stop her from doing it. Approaching the brink of death clearly inspired acts of insanity.
The water leveled to her chin, and Kennedy pushed herself up, pressing her cheek into the ceiling for the last of the air.
She thought about what Phoenix would do in her situation. If this was a pit of fire, instead of a water tank, he would use it to his advantage for sure. He wouldn’t let these scum suckers get away with murdering him. No way.
Kennedy took a deep, shaky breath, hoping it wouldn’t be her last. Water covered her head and every single amount of space left within the tank. Time to figure out something, or she was down to her last few precious moments.
The pressure of the water lifted her. Pressure…
Kennedy dug deep within the folds of her psyche, pleading with the water, visualizing what she wanted it to do. Getting out of there might be a little more difficult than forming the sphere, but she prayed to God it would work.
The water expanded, breaking through the glass. Piercing cracks and shattering pops vibrated around her. Water pushed through and the tank collapsed. Kennedy caught the ground on her feet, hoping she wouldn’t run into any shards of glass.
The water leveled out, and she slowly stood, admiring the waterworks in awe.
A few feet ahead, Plaffle’s assistant had been knocked down. Behind him, the two soldiers scrambled to get to their feet.
Kennedy’s sneakers squished and sloshed as she made her way to Sean. She hovered over him, noticing the panic in his eyes as he stared back at her.
After coming so close to death at his hands, she couldn’t deny the moment’s enjoyment.
One of the soldiers yelled, “No way! That glass was five inches thick!”
Kennedy imagined a circle of water attached to each soldiers’ nose and mouth, cutting off their oxygen. They tried to tear away, but she focused on using the water to hold them down. Suffocated groans reverberated from each of their throats as they struggled for air.
Sean tried to make a run for it. Kennedy kicked him in the gut, and he doubled over, holding his stomach in agony.
She stopped. Eyes widening,
her first thought was to profusely apologize. What had she done? She wasn’t the type of girl who kicked people.
She steeled herself, jutting out her chin. Thirty seconds ago, this guy was about to let her drown to death. Kicking was officially allowed. “You’re going to get me out of here,” she demanded.
Sean nodded fervently. In a pleading voice, he said, “Of course, of course. I’ll get you out. I swear.”
Kennedy gave him a satisfied nod. Snapping her fingers, she released her hold on the soldiers. They took deep, hoarse breaths, fighting for air.
Ah ha! She did it! The urge to jump up and down bubbled inside. Kennedy suppressed it, thinking it probably wasn’t a good idea to show how excited she was in front of her would-be murderers.
Forty-Three
Sean managed to get Kennedy back her brace and lead her out of Section 5 without argument. She should have tied him up and gagged him, then left him to rot in some abandoned room. It would’ve been the smart thing to do, since she was fairly certain he would run and snitch to Plaffle the first chance he got. But the lack of rope and tape at her disposal threw that option out the window.
Grudgingly, she let Sean go. Especially since she didn’t have the stomach to actually kill him. However, the thought did cross her mind.
She frantically dialed Phoenix on her brace in the elevator. He answered immediately. “Kennedy?” His voice sounded sharp, edged with worry.
“It’s me.”
“Thank God.” He let out a long breath. “I’ve been trying to find you all day.”
“Listen, Phoenix. We don’t have much time. Vickard never orchestrated the secret mission we found in the wall safe. Commissioner Plaffle is the one behind it. And he just tried to kill me.” She took a breath, and added, “Like five minutes ago.”
Her brace was silent. Most people saw Plaffle’s teddy bear image as the picture of wholesome goodness. Depraved and corrupt were the last words anyone would use to describe him. “You there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“I don’t know what to do, Phoenix. Tell me what to do.”
“Okay,” he said. “This is a lot. Let me think for a sec.”
Wherever he was, she imagined him pacing, the way she noticed he did when he was thinking hard about something. “Don’t go back to your apartment. Go to mine instead. It’s a few halls down from yours. Number nine. I’ll meet you there, and we’ll figure something out together.”
He gave her the directions and Kennedy recorded them onto her brace. She hurried through the tunnels, worried about the water dripping everywhere she went. Go away, she thought. Evaporate or something. Leaving a trail wasn’t exactly the best idea, and that was exactly what she was doing.
Finding Phoenix’s apartment was easy, but she got there first and had to wait for him outside the door. Nauseating knots grew in the pit of her stomach, and her eyes darted around anxiously, like a fleet of soldiers would arrive at any minute.
Thankfully, Phoenix showed up a few minutes later. The first thing he did was throw his arms around her. “You’re soaked.”
Kennedy hugged him back, so grateful to feel him beneath her hands, to breathe in the smell of him. To be alive, here, with him.
He cupped her face in his hands. The color of his eyes darkened to a cold black. “They tried to drown you, didn’t they?”
“I’ll tell you about it inside.” She spared another moment to glance around. “We should make sure no one sees us.”
He nodded, opening the door.
Kennedy gave Phoenix the short version of what happened, looking around his apartment while she spoke. His place was similar to hers, minus the pool. The furnishings were all elegant yet masculine, his place feeling a little more homey and lived-in than hers.
Photographs of star clusters and nebulas lined the walls, surrounding a set of brown leather sofas in the main room. Kennedy walked farther in, but didn’t sit anywhere. She was still drenched. Phoenix tossed her a towel.
His face turned hard with fury as she told him about the past few hours. He blurted out things every now and then like, “Plaffle is dead.” Later on he said, “I’ll blow up his whole damned army.” When she got to the part where she busted the tank, his anger vanished, replaced by astonishment.
“Incredible,” he said, shaking his head. “No one has ever manipulated something of that magnitude before.”
Kennedy allowed herself to glow. “It was sort of awesome.”
“I don’t think you realize how amazing you are.” He took a step closer. “And to think you may have died…” He reached for her hand, wrapping his fingers around hers. Zings of heat tingled through her. “It’s unimaginable. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I should’ve known something was wrong. I felt it in my gut. But never for one second did I think something like this would happen.”
“Why are you blaming yourself?” she asked. “I fell right into their trap. There’s no way you could have known.”
“Still.” His gaze drifted to the floor. “I wasn’t there.”
Wow. He was crazy if he thought she was going to let him take the blame for this when it was her dumb ass that ran out of the apartment without him. “You’re here now.” Gratitude dripped from her words. “That’s what counts. I seriously don’t know what I would do without you here.”
“I’m not leaving your sight again.” He pulled her close, wet body and all, plastering it against him. Kennedy could’ve stayed like that forever, could’ve drowned in his warmth.
Over her shoulder, Phoenix said, “Plaffle will be pissed once he discovers you aren’t dead. I think we need to leave Olympus altogether. For a while, until we can figure something out.”
Kennedy nodded. She was all for going back to Earth, always had been, but wished it didn’t have to be like this. Going home was supposed to make her feel good. Not strangely unsettled.
Phoenix left the room and came back a moment later with some sweats and a cotton shirt for her. She changed inside the bathroom. Phoenix’s clothes swallowed her, and she had to roll up the pant legs a dozen times, but they were clean and dry, and best of all, they smelled like him.
When she came out of the bathroom, Phoenix was talking to someone on his brace. When his eyes caught hers, fear coiled in the pit of her stomach. Something had happened. Something big.
After the call ended, he took the brace off his wrist. “We need to ditch these. Yours too,” he said.
“What’s going on?”
Grasping her wrist, Phoenix tore the brace off of her. He set both of them on the ground, stomping. “We’ve got to get out of here. Now.”
Kennedy watched him destroy her brace, her stomach clenching with each miserable crunch. “I saved up all last summer for that model.”
“If we get out of here alive, I’ll buy you twenty braces.” He steered her towards the door. “One in every color.”
Kennedy dug her feet into the floor. “I don’t have any shoes,” she screeched. “And look what I’m wearing.”
The sneakers she wore earlier were laying next to the door. Phoenix picked them up and tossed them to her. “None of mine will ever fit you, and we need to move fast.”
Inwardly sighing, Kennedy reluctantly pushed the wet shoes on her feet. Phoenix grabbed two ball caps and shrugged on a jacket.
No doubt she looked like a walking catastrophe, drowning in the big clothes and wet shoes. Leaving Phoenix’s apartment like that was the last thing she wanted to do. But Phoenix seemed to mean business, and it was sort of frightening. So she gritted her teeth, and went along with it anyway.
“Tell me what this is about,” she said as soon as they were out the front door. “Where are we in such a rush to?”
“The airport.”
She tripped over a stray pant leg and caught herself on his arm. “When you said we should leave Olympus, I didn’t realize you meant right this second.”
“A Red Alert was listed with our names on it,” he explained. “Attached to a warrant for our
arrest. We’re listed as being dangerous and unpredictable. It allows security personnel to shoot on sight.”
Kennedy’s steps slowed as the meaning of what he said sunk in. Red Alerts were only sent out in the most dangerous situations. “Who told you?”
“Professor Mason.” Phoenix took a sharp right, leading them into the tunnel that exited Section 9. “I didn’t want to tell him what was going on, but he was worried. In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have.”
“Why?”
“Because now I have a feeling he’s going to try and get us out of this. I just hope Plaffle’s men don’t put a stop to it.”
“Oh God,” Kennedy breathed. She swayed, feeling the need to curl up into a little ball and hide. “We’ll never make it out of here. And now it will be our fault if something happens to Professor Mason.”
Phoenix stopped short and swung around. He took her by the shoulders, shaking her a little. “Don’t freak out on me, Kennedy.” Tilting her chin up to face him, he added, “We’re going to get out of here, you understand me?”
Startled, she nodded. If Phoenix said they were going to make it, then they would. Probably. Okay, she wasn’t completely sure. She wasn’t even sure if he was all that sure. Matter of fact, it kind of seemed like he was winging this last-minute escape.
She needed to pray for a miracle.
Phoenix’s hand reached for hers. “Stay close.” He didn’t need to tell her twice.
The tunnel was dimmed and quiet, theirs being the only footsteps Kennedy heard. So when the sound of echoing voices drifted towards them, they heard it right away. Phoenix squeezed Kennedy’s hand to stop.
They paused there, listening for a few moments. Silently, Kennedy mouthed should we go on?
A voice in the distance said, “This way.”
Phoenix shook his head, whispering, “Not worth the risk. Let’s go back. I know another way out.”
They kept their steps light, hurrying back the way they came. Phoenix’s hand tugged hers as she tried to keep his pace without tripping over his baggy sweats. She thought of her family, wondering if she would ever see them again. Ashley’s voice filled her head. I would fight for your choices.
