The last shreds of the Shadow flitted overhead and disappeared with a faint shimmer through the ceiling. With a curse, Cole mustered all the energy he had left, and transformed into the falcon. A piercing cry of pain spilled from his lips and he sped toward the gate.
Screams from the dead resonated around him, wind howling against his ears. Electric volts clipped the ends of his feathers as he cleared the gate, spasms racking his entire body. He rolled across the floor of the coal mine, twitching, and crashed into the wall in his human form.
"What the hell happened?" Danny yelled, standing over him in a blur.
Cole writhed. His skin was stretched too tight over his bones. The falcon's cry escaped his throat again.
“Cole!"
"Find Kade." Pain radiated through his body like he'd been stabbed repeatedly with a branding iron. "Now. Right now, Dan."
"I...what? I need to get you out of here."
"Kyle. He's a Nefarius," he breathed, vision slipping in and out, as tremors pulsed through him. "He's...working with Dracon."
"What?"
"Find Kadence." He choked down another stab of pain. "Alert the Brotherhood ... and the Ward. Kyle defected." Sweat beaded up over his brow, tremors shaking his body from the inside out. "Don't let anything happen to her, Danny.”
"Cole—"
He grabbed the neckline of Dan's shirt and stared him in the eye. "Promise me."
“Okay. Okay, Cole. I promise. But there is no way in hell I'm leaving you here.” Danny scooped Cole off the floor, supporting his sagging weight.
Cole swayed, knees giving out, and everything went black.
18
THE SECOND HIS FEET TOUCHED DIRT in the ghost town above the mine, Danny's first instinct had been to run. To blaze a trail straight back to Boulder. Running was the fastest mode of transportation for all Primordial, but it was also the riskiest. Too easy to be seen. Even though they could move at close to the speed of light, a corona always marked their wake, and fluttering ribbons of color floating through midair wasn't normal. There was also the question of trying to carry Cole and run at the same time.
Danny's second thought was to fly. Not nearly as fast, but faster than driving. But unlike Cole, who regularly shifted between his human skin and the falcon, Danny preferred his human guise over his form as the hawk, and Cole was in no shape to transform anyway, so the Jeep was the only option he had left. He just hoped it was fast enough.
Cole wasn't responding, and besides the blood smearing his mouth and neck, his skin had gone utterly pale. Red lines sprawled over his wrist and open hand, and Danny could swear they were moving.
By the time they made it back to Boulder, the sun was setting, and Danny was torn between jumping into a Leygate and taking Cole to the Ward, going to the Brotherhood, or trying to find Kade.
Cole made a grumbling noise from the passenger's seat, his head hanging limply from his neck. Danny reached for his phone.
Plumb answered on the first ring. "Where are you?"
He sighed. Everyone may have said that Thatcher was the one who always talked about having “feelings,” but Danny swore Plumb had ESP. "Pulling into the city limits now," he answered. "Cole's hurt."
Her intake of breath was sharp and quick. "I told Warden Caelius you were too young to be investigating mines!” Danny heard her pacing. "It's a Principal's job, not yours, not Cole's. Just because he's had a miserable childhood with all the 'training' his dad forced him to undergo, doesn't meant that he needs to be the one doing this kind of work. Do you have any idea how many years it took to get him to trust me? An adult? This is absolutely—"
"Plumb," Danny groaned. "Can you rant about Cole's upbringing later? I need you to call the doctor. Cole's unconscious."
Her phone hit the floor with a clack, and Danny heard her mumbling curses. "Get him home. Now! Now, Dan." She hung up.
He checked his watch. Six-fifteen. The next call was much harder to make, but he held his phone up and dialed the number.
"What." Giselle's tone was flat.
"Is Kade with you?"
"Yeah, why now? Does Cole need me to take her home as fast as I can again? Because I can't. We're already at her house."
"Do you always have to have an attitude when you talk to me?"
"Do you always have to talk to me?" she snapped.
"We never talk, Giselle."
"That's your choice, not mine."
"My choice?" Danny yelled. "This is why I don't talk to you. Damn. Never mind. I need you to stay with Kade. Is her dad home?"
"No. And why?"
"Is Kade standing next to you?"
"Jesus, hundred questions. No, I'm in the bathroom, if you must know."
"Ew." Danny held the phone away from his ear.
"Dan, what do you want?"
"You never call me Dan."
Giselle groaned. "If you called more often, maybe I would call you Danny."
"I would rather you call me Danny."
"Oh, my god! What do you want, Danny?"
"Cole's hurt."
"What?" All the sarcasm in her tone evaporated. "Is he okay?"
"I'm not sure. Listen, I need you stay with Kade until her dad gets there. Something happened in the mine we were investigating. Something with Kyle. Just keep Kade safe for me. Please."
"Okay. Yeah, of course, I will."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me, just make sure Cole's okay. Okay?" Giselle's voice cracked.
"I will. Talk to you soon."
"Okay. Danny?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry I called you Dan."
He laughed. "You're forgiven. How's Lindsey?"
Giselle let out a deep breath. "Fine, why?"
"Just wondering."
"Okay, well, she's fine."
"Hey, G?"
"What it is it now? I can't hang out in the bathroom all damn night."
"I'm good with it..."
There was a pause on the line. “Okay, well, goodbye now."
Danny laughed again and hung up.
Plumb stood in the driveway as he pulled up to the Brotherhood, the Ward's short, plump, mole doctor at her side. They both ran forward as he climbed out of the car.
"Mr. Roberts, exactly what happened?" the doctor asked.
"I don't know, exactly." Danny supported Cole's weight. "He got sucked into a Sheol gate."
Plumb gasped.
Danny adjusted his grip, trying to steer Cole through the front door. "I tried to go after him, but the gate kept blocking me, and then Cole reappeared in his true form, out of breath, and then he crashed into the wall at my feet in his human state and in a lot of pain. He said something about Kyle defecting and working with Dracon, but he passed out before he told me what happened."
Plumb opened Cole's bedroom door. "Kyle defected?"
"Cole said he was a Nefarius, but he was so out of it, I don't know if he was talking crazy or what."
"I'll go call Thatcher at the Kinship." She rushed from the bedroom.
The doctor ran a hand over Cole's open palm. "Did Mr. Spires also tell you that he's been using a fusionem crystal?"
Danny blanched, unsure how to explain, if he should even try. The consequences for Cole using a forbidden crystal were extreme. "He didn't use it," Danny said in a harsh, accusing tone. "We found it in a Hive we were investigating a few days ago. He turned the crystal over to the Warden, but he'd obviously touched it first." He figured that was all the information the doctor needed to know. The rest didn't matter. Unless Kade had the same marks, but Danny shook that idea out of his head.
"Well, I have very little experience dealing with this kind of thing. Besides old texts and notes, no one has seen marks of this nature in, well—"
"Two thousand years," Danny supplied.
The doctor's eyes narrowed. "Why, yes, Mr. Roberts, that sounds about right."
"Kyle's not at the Kinship." Plumb reappeared in the threshold. "Not that that means anything. Danny, why don't y
ou get cleaned up." She patted his arm. "Cole isn't going anywhere."
Danny pulled out the desk chair. "I'm okay." His shaking hands said otherwise.
“Dan, you're covered in blood—it'll just take a second."
He rested his elbows on his knees, green eyes focused on Cole. "I'm okay." Maybe if he kept saying that, it would make it true. If anything happened to Cole—
He rubbed a dirty hand over his forehead. Nothing could happen to Cole. He was the strong one. The strongest one. The one who was always there for Danny. Had always been there. The one who'd taught him most of what he knew, stood up for him when they were younger and all the older kids picked on him for being a newcomer. Cole made Danny proud of being a Primordial instead of ashamed of it. Prouder still when the Warden announced that he would be Cole's Beta. He couldn't remember a happier day of his life.
Cole was the best friend Danny had ever had, and he was in love with Kadence. With a sigh, Dan reached for his cell phone. Giselle's name lit up on the screen. Danny typed in the message.
Are you still there?
Yes. How's Cole?
Unconscious. His phone shook in his hand.
Oh, my god.
Text me when Kade's dad gets there and you leave.
Okay. Why?
Because I'm going to watch Kade's house...oh, and G?
Yeah?
I need you stay away from Kyle. Don't ask me why, just stay away from him. Lindsey, too. Danny cleared the screen.
"Mr. Roberts?"
Danny glanced over.
"It is time we alert the Warden. There are traces, small, mind you, as that is in itself the definition of the word trace, but traces no less, of Devil's blood in Mr. Spire's blood sample."
***
The Ward rose up out of the ground like an ancient castle, spires rising into the gray skies over Rome. Invisible to human eyes, the entire compound was surrounded by six foot high wrought iron fencing and gates that encompassed two city blocks. Danny was told that the building, in early times, was one of the original structures of the Roman Empire. From an outsider's view, it would appear as the ancient ruin always had, a crumble of off-white stones and half collapsed walls, but to the Primordial it was breathtaking, surely as beautiful as it had been thousands of years before.
Danny liked Italy, had liked it since the first day he'd come at the age of nine. The day he'd met Cole, and been introduced to Warden Caelius, who in his mind, had always been more of a dean of students rather than the leader of all the Primordials. He had a kind face, light eyes, and although he was an older man, probably around seventy-five, in no way did he ever exhibit any signs of being old. Hands folded in front of him, the Warden waited underneath the arch of the basilica. His expression was stern, a deep crease between his eyes, crow's feet and laugh lines etched into his gold skin.
Suspended off the ground by ribbons of shimmering energy, a gurney moved forward. Danny had finally stopped looking over his shoulder every two seconds to make sure Cole hadn't fallen off the stretcher, still not convinced it had been the safest way to bring him into the Ward's infirmary. He'd remained stable, though, so Danny kept his focus on the Warden Caelius’ concerned eyes.
Several nurses rushed down the front steps as they approached, and Cole was whisked through the front double doors, disappearing into the bowels of the basilica. Plumb reached for Danny's arm, keeping him from running up the stairs after them.
"I will meet you both in my office in a few minutes," the Warden supplied in a grave tone.
"Yes, sir," Danny said, as Plumb nodded.
***
The hospital room was stark white, florescent lights shining harshly from the ceiling over Cole's bed. With starched sheets pulled tightly over his chest, his arms were laid bare, the red lines from the fusionem crystal crawling over his palm and wrist. Warden Caelius stared down with a sigh and held Cole's hand.
"The traces I found in his blood are minute, thankfully," the doctor said.
"How did this happen?" The Warden shook his head. "Cole is the best we have. The best we've ever had. I don't understand."
"You will have to speak with Mr. Roberts about the events that lead to Mr. Spires' current state, sir, but I do believe the fusionem crystal's affects have been in play for longer than just this evening. Furthermore, I do not have reason to believe that the crystal has caused him to fall unconscious. Do you see how they travel in a web-like fashion?" He pointed at the lines on Cole's hand.
Warden Caelius nodded.
"From what I have ascertained, the lines will continue to crawl up a person's arm until they are either turned into a Primeva, and the moon's mark covers the star, or it has no effect on the bearer at all and the lines fade."
"Let us pray that it is the second scenario. What of his other injuries?"
"He seems to have been electrocuted several times, but without the necessary equipment needed to run tests at the Brotherhood, I cannot say what else. He did fall into a Sheol gate, so the repercussions could indeed be quite severe without knowing what he encountered there. He has obviously been in a fight, as well. I need to run more tests."
Cole's eyelids opened into slits. "I thought...it was a normal gate." His voice was barely above a whisper. "I was positive. Just like Dad showed me. Semper paratus. Always prepared. I was prepared.”
"Don't try to talk." The Warden squeezed his hand.
"It was Kyle." Cole’s breaths slowed. "And Dracon. They did something...to the gate. Check the mine. Grandfather," he whispered. "Protect Kadence. She's...in danger."
The Warden bowed his head and glanced across the bed.
The doctor stared back. "Forgive me, sir. I did not know."
"Very few people do." The elder man gently set Cole's hand on the bed. "I lost my son in an unforeseen Filios Daemoneum attack on the Araneum in Great Britain three years ago." He glanced at Cole. "Please do everything in your power to make sure I do not lose my grandson."
***
Warden Caelius opened the door to his study and settled himself behind his oaken desk in silence. Steepling his hands underneath his chin, he gazed across the collection of scattered books and papers on his desk at Danny. He had always liked the boy, although as a young fledgling he had been a miserable candidate for any position of substance within the Ward. Cole had taken a liking to him, however, and over the years Danny had proven the Warden wrong.
He was a strong fighter, a quick learner, very clever, and a loyal friend to Cole. There had been no question when the time came to select a Beta to work underneath Cole. Danny was the Warden's first and only choice.
"Mr. Roberts, please explain to me what you know of this afternoon's events." The Warden motioned for him to speak. Danny told him everything from driving to Denver to Boulder, to finding all the Leygates in some sort of maze at the end of the abandoned shaft, and how Cole had been sucked backwards into the silver stream of energy. He said the small bit Cole had told him about Kyle, Dracon, and protecting Kade, but there hadn't been much to go on. No one knew exactly what happened after Cole had passed into the Infernal Plane.
The Warden sat, listening to every word, before he finally spoke. "I want everyone in the Brotherhood on guard." His eyes shifted toward Plumb. "No one comes in or out without your knowledge. That includes every member of the Kinship."
"Yes, sir." Her hands remained in tight balls in her lap, eyes red from crying.
"Mr. Roberts, you said Giselle has been keeping watch over Kadence since you contacted her a short while ago?"
"Yes, sir."
"See that she continues to do so. Cole is fearful for Miss Sparrow's safety. I do not take that lightly. You will watch Kadence's house after school, and in the evening, while Giselle remains at her side during daylight hours."
"Yes, sir."
"Tell Giselle that I am giving you a direct order to oversee her, and to make sure that she follows through with any order you give her pertaining to Kadence." He rose from his chair. "I will not have he
r arguing with you over an age old dispute that we can neither control nor change."
Danny grinned “I’ll make sure she understands your order. Word for word. Sir, I don't mean to overstep my position, but what about Jake?"
"How do you mean?"
"Well, he's...if Kadence is going to be a member of the Kinship, isn't...Sir, should Jake be in on what's happening?"
Warden Caelius lifted a brow. "Miss Plumb, would you mind excusing us for a moment, please?"
Plumb stood hastily and left the room.
"No," he said. "I do not want Mr. Phillips involved where Kadence is concerned, at least not directly. I understand that this poses a certain unorthodox situation, not only for yourself, but for Giselle as well, but I feel it necessary. Mr. Phillips has a responsibility to keep his house in control, and that includes Kyle Jacobs. If what my grandson tells me is true, and we have indeed lost track of Mr. Jacobs, then until we locate his position, as well as his role in regard to the Sheol gate and my grandson's current injured state, we can only assume that Mr. Phillips is on the Ward's watch list as well. I will have the Principals take the lead in regard to the Kinship.”
Danny's jaw dropped. "Yes, sir."
"Let us keep the specifics of this conversation to ourselves, all right?"
"Yes. Of course."
"You may go. I am sure your sister is chomping at the bit for you to relieve her of her duties."
Danny grinned. "Giselle chomps at the bit about everything, sir."
"Yes, indeed."
Danny hesitated. "Sir, is he okay?"
"I pray that he is. My grandson is the only family I have left." The Warden glanced at his hands. "And he has an empire to inherit."
"Sir, just so that you are aware, Jake is taking Kadence to the school dance tomorrow night."
The Warden lifted his gaze. "Then I will assume that Giselle will accompany her, and you will be outside the dance location should anything go awry."
"Of course, sir." Danny turned away.
CRYSTALLUM (The Primordial Principles Book 1) Page 20
