Without a second thought, Evangeline and Everett opened the nearest door and entered.
“I always knew we’d be the ones to die,” said Everett, pressing his back to the door and breathing chaotically.
Evangeline, however, was frozen where she stood, her eyes focused on the beaten and unconscious man lying on the bed. “Everett.”
Everett opened his eyes and followed her gaze. “Shit,” he said again.
“Is he alive?” she asked, running forward and collapsing by the man’s side. She put her hand against his mouth and felt warm breath, as shallow as it was.
“Who cares? Prisoners would be kept in the dungeon. He’s obviously one of them.”
Evangeline glared at him before checking the man’s forehead. “Call the others and let them know we’re okay.”
Everett groaned but still pressed his earpiece. “This is Team Eve reporting. We’re okay, still in uniform and on the third floor of Saevus’s tower.”
Click.
“Thank god!” shouted the voice of Nita. “We couldn’t tell which floor you were on and overshot it a bit. Team Nade is close!”
Click.
“Team Boyce is closer,” said Neo. “Head northeast from where you are and we’ll grab you.”
“How the fuck did everyone get in here?” asked Everett.
“Don’t be crude,” said Evangeline, pulling back the blankets to follow a bruise on the man’s shoulder.
Then, without warning, his hand shot up and snatched her wrist. His eyes opened and he looked at her without blinking. “Anna?” he said, the word barely a whisper.
Evangeline’s eyes widened. “No. I’m not Anna.”
“The eyes ...” he said, his grip loosening. “Anna’s kind eyes.”
Evangeline’s breath hitched. “Do you mean Anna Bell -”
The door to the room opened, slamming into Everett. A dark-haired woman in a Guardian trench coat stepped inside. She froze when she saw them.
“What are you doing in here?”
Everett and Evangeline both stood at attention.
“Searching for the intruders, Ma’am,” said Evangeline. The beaten man grabbed her hand again and, with a surprising amount of strength, yanked her down.
“Luka, you’re awake!” said the Guardian, running forward and cradling the man’s face while Evangeline tried to pull her hand free.
“Do you know him?” asked the woman, looking at Evangeline.
“Anna,” Luka said again.
“That’s not my name.”
The woman tilted her head. “Then why -”
“Lona, what’s going on in here?”
Evangeline finally got her hand free and looked at Everett. He’d gone white as he stood beside the Guardian Finley Scout.
The woman, who must have been Lona, smiled at Finley and said, “Luka’s awake,” seeming to forget all about the strange guards in the room.
“And we are late reporting for duty,” said Evangeline, saluting Finley and grabbing Everett. Luka followed their joined hands up to Everett’s face. Something snapped inside of him.
“AHHH!”
Luka knocked Lona to the floor and lunged for Everett, stumbling on his weak legs but successfully grabbing him.
“What the hell?” shouted Everett as he smacked against the wall.
“Luka, what are you doing?” asked Finley, pulling him up until he was standing properly and blocking his access to Everett.
“Hel ...Hele ... he killed ...”
“It seems like you have this under control. We’ll be going now,” said Evangeline, grabbing Everett again and running the hell out of there.
Luka held out his arms but was too weak to grab him. “N-noo!”
Finley followed them with her eyes. “They were strange.” She half-carried a struggling Luka back toward the bed.
“Yes,” said Lona, standing from where she’d fallen and helping Finley settle Luka under the covers. “He kept calling the woman Anna but she said that wasn’t her name.”
Finley nodded. “Follow them. Found out what squadron they’re with.”
“But -”
“That is an order from a superior.”
Lona sighed but nodded. She stroked Luka’s face before following the guards. As soon as she was gone, Finley closed the door and pressed the earpiece she wore that would connect her directly with Odette. “She’s headed your way.”
“Got it. Thank you, Fin.”
Finley turned back to Luka, who was watching her with wide, unaware eyes. “Anna’s ghost was here,” he said, his voice faint but certain.
Finley sighed and sat down beside him, hoping that one day his head would be right again.
• • •
Odette and Neo waited in a room down the hall, keeping an eye on their map and the two dots that were Team Eve. As the dots approached, Neo threw open the door, grabbed them both by their uniforms and tossed them inside. He glanced down the hall, just catching sight of Lona before shutting the door behind him.
“She’s coming,” he said.
“Who? One of those Guardians?” asked Everett, his eyes widening as he searched the room for some sort of exit.
“Yes,” said Odette, stepping forward. “Lona Von.”
Evangeline’s eyes blinked in recognition. “Oh.”
“Oh, what? Let’s get the hell out of here!” snapped Everett.
“Von is Odette’s family name, Everett. Lona is obviously a relative of some sort,” said Evangeline.
“She’s my sister,” confirmed Odette.
The door opened. Lona poked her head in and looked around. She saw Odette almost instantly. Her eyes widened as her sister silently held her arms out for her. Tears filled Lona’s eyes as she began to step forward.
“Lona!”
Lona froze, her face hardening as her father’s voice echoed down the hall. She looked sadly at her sister before shutting the door between them. Odette shook her head and lunged forward, but Neo was quick to grab her and hold her back.
“I’ll kill that -”
Evangeline threw a hand over Odette’s mouth, silencing her before her father Arron could hear.
“What are you doing down here?” they heard Arron ask from the other side of the door.
“I thought I heard a noise so I was checking for the intruders. Haven’t found anyone yet but I’d like to keep look -”
“Forget about that. The president is contacting Elvira and she’ll be bringing Xander to the execution block immediately. He’ll be securing the entire building, so everyone is to vacate the premises.”
“But what about Luka?”
“Finley and Wyatt are already dragging him to the twentieth-floor balcony. All Guardians are to meet there. Now hurry along before we get trapped in here with those Resistance scum.”
Odette’s tears dripped onto Evangeline’s hand as two sets of boots headed far away from them. As soon as the hallway was completely silent, Neo and Evangeline released her.
The moment Odette was free she kicked the wall. Then she hit it. Again and again. Neo wrapped his arms around her shoulders until she calmed, letting his wife cry it out.
“So close. She was so close!”
“Perhaps you all missed the part where he said we have a very short window to get the hell out of here!” shouted Everett, stomping toward the door. Before he could open it, someone on the outside was doing it for him.
They all raised their weapons, their hearts thumping in relief when Adrian walked through the door.
“Where’s Neetles?” asked Evangeline when she noticed no one was behind him.
“When she heard Team Boyce was already down here, she headed up to help Team Leon.”
“That was stupid,” said Everett.
“This coming from the team who ruined our whole fucking plan,” spat Odette. “I was supposed to have more time to get Lona.”
He sneered at her. “So that’s what you were doing this whole fucking time? You needed us to save y
our damn sister, using the Guardian on death row as your excuse.”
“We didn’t need six people to get Xander! Team Leon and Team Nade would have been more than enough!” she screamed, putting her face close to his, her hot breath hitting him in erratic spurts.
“We can argue this later,” said Neo, getting between them. “Odie, notify the others of what we heard just now. I’ll get our escape route ready.”
Odette nodded. While she spoke into her earpiece, Neo went to the window and used a laser on his gun to melt a large hole in the glass.
“We assumed Elvira would be with him. We’re two floors from the top. Izzy, let us know if there’s anything you can do to assist,” said Talon.
“Roger that,” said Izzy. “Give me a minute to take a look.”
“I’m almost there too,” added Nita.
Everett rolled his eyes and pressed his earpiece. “What’s almost?”
“Almost, Everett! I’ll make it on time!”
With the hole in the glass, Neo went into his pouch and pulled out a long piece of wire.
“Indestructible,” he explained.
He secured the wire to the doorknob and tossed the other end out the window. “Hope you all brought gloves,” he said, showing everyone his. He climbed out the window, took hold of the wire and slid until he was in the empty alley below.
“We knew no one would be on this side of the tower, since there’s no points of entry. It’s skipped in patrols,” explained Odette before following her husband’s lead.
The other three looked at each other hesitantly before taking turns climbing out the window and sliding down the indestructible wire. At least they were only three floors up and not ninety-two.
CHAPTER 7
Xander stared vacantly while lying on his back. He’d started singing as a way to drown out the noise of Deryn being attacked. Over and over and over ...
First, he had sung Blackbird, but if Deryn’s relationship with the repeat function on her record player had taught him anything, it was that he could only take so much of that song before he got sick of it.
So he started singing the drinking song he’d made up while in guard training.
But then he realized both songs he was singing directly reminded him of the two people he loved most in this world. The two people he had failed.
So he came up with a new song, finding a small amount of joy when Elvira started screaming at him to ‘shut the fuck up’. But he never did, of course. No matter how many times she shocked him.
“Elvira’s a bitch, bitch, bitch,
A fucking snitch, snitch, snitch,
I’d throw her in a ditch, ditch, ditch,
Because she’s a bitch, bitch, bitch!
She sucks Daddy’s dick, dick, dick,
Loves a rapist prick, prick, prick,
I’d give her a kick, kick, kick,
‘Cause she sucks Daddy’s dick, dick, dick!”
There were many verses and not always about Elvira. She got angriest when he sang about Soren, which he still didn’t understand.
“You can’t rape somebody you own, Xander,” she said while leaning against the glass room with her back to him, which she did every time Soren’s turn with Deryn began.
“You can’t own people,” he said, stopping his singing for only a moment.
“You can if they’re trash, which is exactly what she is. And, if you recall, just about every hologram in that room with you owned that trash at some point.”
Xander growled and cleared his throat.
“Elvira’s a bitch, bitch, bi -”
“If I’m the bitch then how come you’re the one being executed in twenty minutes?”
Now Xander laughed. “Come on, Elvie. You and I both know this isn’t about executing me. It’s about recapturing Deryn, who - despite your ‘trash’ talk - is worth something to your father. And since you came in here to hang out with me, I can only assume she’s already in the building and on her way up here. Or someone is, at least.”
“I’m just here to guarantee your execution,” she said, turning back around as Soren’s turn ended.
“Watch your husband right now,” said Xander, pointing at Soren’s hologram without having to look. “You can see him beg your father to let him keep her for himself.”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Elvira glance ever-so-slightly at her husband’s hologram.
“He told me about that, when he came up here with the two-way he still had from when he was Talon Leon’s rat. He wanted me to contact Deryn and warn her that your father knew she was coming, silly prick. If he knew her at all, he would’ve realized it’s pointless to ever try and tell her what to do. She’ll always do the opposite. It’s part of her charm.”
“You’re going to die whether we capture her or not,” said Elvira, scowling at the image of her husband.
Xander raised his eyebrows. “Am I? Then perhaps you could answer something for me. When your father made the announcement that there would be an execution of a Guardian today, did he give my name?”
Her silence was all the answer he needed.
“That’s what I thought.”
Elvira jumped when her wristband suddenly rang. She answered. “What is it?” A pause. “The elevator? Who has control of -”
Xander perked up his ears but couldn’t hear much as Elvira walked toward the elevator in question. So he began singing again. It was really the only logical thing to do.
“Elvira’s a bitch, bitch, bitch,
Her existence a glitch, glitch, glitch,
She gives me a twitch, twitch, twitch,
Because she’s a bitch, bitch, bitch!”
Elvira stopped in front of the elevator, which apparently wasn’t working. It was the only one capable of reaching the ninety-second floor and the other Guardians and guards were marching up the stairs unless they could get it working again.
“It says it’s stopped on your floor,” said Wenton Pace through the phone in her wristband.
“Any chance the person who took hold of our cameras also got the elevator?” she asked, pressing the down button. It opened immediately.
“If the Resistance had someone that skilled on their side then why the hell wouldn’t they have used them before? Cameras are easy, but the elevator needs identification to rise to such a high floor.”
“It just opened for me,” said Elvira, poking her head in but not seeing anything.
“Then send it down to the sixty-third floor. That’s where our guards are about to be.”
Elvira stepped into the elevator and pressed the correct button. She was about to step out again when the lights in the small space began flashing red. “What the -”
Before she could get out, the doors slammed shut, giving her a very brief glimpse of two people appearing from the door that led to the stairwell. And then she was shooting downwards at an incredible speed.
“Wenton! Get back control of the elevator!”
While Elvira went for the ride of her life, Talon and Deryn searched the ninety-second floor until they found the only active room. It had four glass walls and Xander was lying in the center of it singing his heart out.
“I’ll kill that fucking cunt, cunt, cunt,
With a serious blunt, blunt, blunt,
Force trauma to the head, head, head,
Can’t wait till she’s dead, dead, dead!”
“Nice mouth on that one,” said Talon, trying the door to Xander’s room but unable to open it.
“Oh god.”
He looked at Deryn, who was watching the hologram in the room with her hands covering her mouth. He followed her eyes just in time to see Eamon Graham force himself on top of his younger sister.
Talon’s head spun in that moment and he nearly toppled over. He caught himself on the panel and swallowed back vomit. “Shit,” he whispered.
“Talon, make it stop,” said Deryn, unable to move from where she stood and trying to force her gaze to stay on Xander.
T
alon wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the panel. He had no clue how to work it, so he pressed his earpiece. “Izzy, we can’t get into the room they have Xander locked in. There’s some sort of panel that must be used to control the door.”
“You need access but I can’t give it to you right now. They’re trying to get the elevator back from me and the only way I can keep them from doing that is to keep it moving,” she answered.
“Shit,” he whispered again while staring at the panel. He glanced around the room, looking for anything that might help him. The only thing near them was a chair. So he grabbed it and, with all his strength, swung it against the glass wall.
Xander shot up from the floor of his glass prison, his eyes widening as Talon held up the chair and swung again. He stood and glanced around in a panic, trying to locate Elvira but she was nowhere to be found. And then he saw Deryn, frozen in place with her eyes darting from Talon, to her hologram, to him.
Their eyes met and everything was right in the world again.
The glass between them cracked. And then it cracked some more. His heart raced as the possibility of survival finally seemed like an option within his grasp.
Deryn’s gaze drifted from him to her hologram.
“Don’t look at that,” said Xander, attempting to step forward but forgetting about his hurt leg. When he flinched, Deryn was quick to put her focus back on him. “That’s right. Keep looking at me.” He moved forward as best he could. The glass between them cracked a little more.
Deryn gulped and kept his gaze, her eyes tearing as the noise from the hologram continued. As they stood there, she fell deeper into his golden eyes. Xander was there in front of her. Alive. It was only then that she noticed the clotted mark down his face from when he’d blocked her from the whip of light. She smiled.
The glass shattered.
Deryn and Xander held up their arms to protect their faces from the falling glass. The moment it was gone, Deryn ran through the broken wall and into Xander’s arms. They held each other tightly, both of them crying as they realized they would either live or die together. The way it always should have been.
Talon stood behind his sister, staring down at the floor as she pulled back from the Guardian she was holding and kissed him. Until that moment, he had really hoped that Nita was wrong. But Nita was never wrong. Deryn had been heartbroken. And the way Xander was looking at her now had him believing that she wasn’t the only one who had been shattered by their separation.
Arise (Cruel and Beautiful World Book 3) Page 6
