Arise (Cruel and Beautiful World Book 3)

by L. Stoddard Hancock

  Shit.

  Atticus stepped inside and shut the door behind him. “Do you mind telling me why you decided to removed young Voclain’s wristband?”

  “I didn’t -”

  “You haven’t been acting like yourself since Xander was captured. Why?”

  Finley held her lips closed tight.

  Atticus crossed his arms. He stepped forward, his eyes focused hard on hers. She gulped.

  “You have one minute to tell me what you know before I alert the president to your disloyalty.” He lifted his citizen wristband and readied his finger on the call button to let her know he was serious.

  Finley sighed. Well, fuck.

  CHAPTER 21

  Deryn and Xander sat on the floor of Talon’s room, his arm around her waist as she leaned into him.

  Harper and Adrian were on one side of them and Everett and Evangeline were on the other. Talon was on the other side of the room with Nita in his lap, and beside them were the three Triggs men, Piz, Laramie and Dakota. Matilda was the only one who opted for a chair.

  Everyone held glasses of whiskey. A toast to Deryn’s father from his closest allies.

  Dakota kept glancing at Deryn and Xander, thinking he was being sly. Xander kept catching those glances. He considered removing his arm from her waist, but only once. She was so sad about her father and he was the only person in that room who was familiar to her anymore. He wasn’t going to deprive her of that comfort just because some asshole couldn’t get over her.

  Dakota glanced again. Xander pulled her closer and rubbed his cheek against the top of her head, smirking as he slyly glanced right back at him.

  Okay, maybe it wasn’t all for her. But mostly.

  “You made the boat, Piz?” Deryn lifted her head off of Xander’s shoulder and looked keenly at the older man.

  “I did. But Dax did the carvings.”

  Deryn looked at Dakota for the first time that evening. “Did you do the carvings in my room too?”

  He stared at her chin and nodded.

  “I’ve made a lot of boats,” said Piz, quickly changing the subject. “So we’ll be prepared when this war finally comes to a head.”

  Deryn sighed and leaned back again. “There’s not enough people here for a war. It would be a death sentence.”

  The room went silent. All of the Resistance members began exchanging glances. They seemed to be communicating about something.

  “What?” asked Deryn.

  Matilda cleared her throat. “Talon. Your sister is back and your father is gone. This is what we’ve been waiting for. I think it’s time.”

  Talon fingered his bracelet and nodded. “I think you’re right.”

  “Time for what?”

  Everyone looked from Deryn to Talon, waiting for his call on the matter.

  Talon put down his glass of whiskey. Nita climbed off his lap and he pushed himself up. “Are you up for a walk?”

  Deryn nodded. “Are we walking far?”

  “Across the base.”

  She handed her glass to Xander. “After today you should probably stay off your ankle. Will you be okay staying here?”

  Xander nodded and she kissed his cheek. She stood up, as did Matilda and Piz, and the four of them headed out the door.

  Talon walked briskly across the rope bridges and wooden planks, leading her to an unknown area. Deryn quickened her steps so she was walking beside him.

  “Where are we going?”

  “A few years back, one of our teams located an old communication room in Utopia’s underground. It was once used to contact other underground cities around the world.”

  Deryn thought of the room where she, Xander and Finley had met up with Neo and Odette during their escape. Hadn’t Neo said something about?

  A light clicked in her head. “You replicated it.”

  “It took a long time but yes, we did,” said Talon. “And a little over a year ago I made contact.”

  A rush of excitement ran through her. “Other people are really out there?”

  “A lot of other people are out there. I didn’t just make contact with an underground facility. All of those were abandoned over a century ago. I made contact with a commander of the Peace Ops, an organization created with the sole purpose of traveling the world and -”

  “Keeping the peace,” she finished with a smile.

  Talon laughed. “Exactly. They had assumed we were all dead. I explained the situation to the commander and he wants to help.”

  “Help how?”

  He glanced sideways at her and smiled. “By giving us an army.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  Her smile grew. She glanced over her shoulder at Piz and Matilda and gave them an enthusiastic thumbs up.

  They arrived at a door to one of the larger buildings she’d seen in Blackbird, other than the mess hall. Talon used a key to unlock the door. Once it was open, Deryn shoved him inside, unable to contain her excitement. Her eyes lit up as she looked around the room, so similar in appearance to the room in the underground with one big difference. Everything was working.

  Talon approached the console, pressed a big green button that made everything light up and slipped on a headset. He glanced back at everyone.

  “Are we sure we’re ready for this?”

  Deryn looked at Piz and Matilda, realizing the question was not directed at her.

  The two of them nodded.

  “We’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” said Matilda.

  “Your father would want this, so you and Deryn could finally have the lives you were meant to live,” said Piz, smiling at the siblings.

  Deryn returned his smile and looked at her brother again. “I’m very much ready for this war to be over.” She stroked the blackbird tattoo on her finger and thought of the normal life she could have with Xander. She could teach him to swim. To fish. To find the best climbing trees.

  Talon smiled affectionately at his little sister and turned back to the console. He fidgeted with some knobs before pressing the button on his headset.

  “This is Talon Leon for Commander Sam Knight. Come in, Commander Knight.”

  There was a long pause.

  Talon started again. “This is Talon Leon for Commander Sam Knight. Come in -”

  Static.

  “Yeah, yeah, Leon. I heard you the first time. You can’t call in the middle of the night and expect me to answer right away.”

  Talon laughed. “You travel. How was I supposed to know it’s the middle of the night for you?”

  “Our ships are in America, coincidentally. But on the opposite coast of you, I’m afraid. Can I assume you’re contacting me because something has changed?”

  “You assume correctly.”

  “Have you found that sister of yours?”

  Talon looked at Deryn. “She’s right here beside me.”

  A moment of pause.

  “I’ll be there with my Lieutenant Commander to assess the situation in two weeks. We’ll be in contact. Now get your ass to bed.”

  The line cut out. Talon took a deep breath and removed his headset.

  “Well?” asked Piz from behind him.

  “Commander Knight and his Lieutenant Commander will be here in two weeks.” Talon turned around and grinned. “I guess that means we better start preparing.”

  CHAPTER 22

  Luka crinkled his nose as he looked around the destroyed apartment Xander used to call home. Blood and chunks of innards splattered the walls while larger, rotting body parts mixed with the rubble on the floor.

  “Is no one really going to clean this up?” he asked, looking at his father. It had been two weeks since his apparent involvement in Xander’s escape and he had finally been deemed healthy enough to return home.

  “It is the next of kin’s job to dispose of the body, and Soren has made it very clear that he has no interest in coming here,” answered Barath.

  “But it’s disgusting.”

&nb
sp; “Not our problem. You don’t live here anymore. Now gather your things so we can be rid of this shameful chapter of your life.”

  Luka narrowed his eyes before walking into Xander’s guestroom. There was a rotting leg in the doorway, maggots wriggling around while their brethren buzzed throughout the room. Luka winced and quickly kicked it out of the way, rubbing the toe of his boot on the very stained white carpet. Xander would have a heart attack if he saw the state of this place. All that effort screaming at people to take their fucking shoes off wasted.

  “So tell me again, Father,” he called from the bedroom. “Why was I living with Xander?”

  “Because he brainwashed you.”

  “Into thinking what, exactly?” he asked, poking his head back into the living room.

  “It doesn’t matter, Luka. Just hurry up so we can get out of here.” Barath pulled his coat over his nose.

  Luka retreated into the bedroom and started throwing everything that belonged to him onto the bed. Hidden at the very bottom of one of his drawers he found an unregistered Element. He stared at it blankly for a moment before sighing and putting it in his inside coat pocket. Better not let his father see that.

  Luka packed his belongings quickly. When he went into the front room, Barath wasn’t there. He could hear him rummaging around in Xander’s bedroom.

  He went to the front closet and grabbed his coat and several pairs of shoes. My god, he had a lot of shoes. Why had he never realized that before?

  Luka was just about to stop his father from snooping where he didn’t belong when he noticed a blood-splattered book sitting on the coffee table. He approached it, barely able to read the title through the blood and dust. He wiped it.

  Yesteryear.

  Luka glanced at Xander’s bedroom door to make sure his father was still occupied. Once he was certain, he snatched up the book and stuffed it into his bag. Then he went to get his father.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, leaning against the doorframe and watching as Barath searched a drawer.

  “If Xander is being mind-controlled, as Atticus claims, then what do you think that toxic trash was doing with this lovely outfit?” Barath held up a green negligee.

  Luka looked at it for a moment and shrugged. “Xander had women here all the time. Could belong to anyone. Could be his for all we know. Who are we to knock others and their peculiar fetishes?” He smirked and left the room. “Let’s go, Father.”

  Barath grumbled. He tossed the negligee aside and followed him out. “Why is it that you seem to believe Xander is being controlled? Is there something you’re not telling me, Son?” he asked, grabbing Luka’s shoulder and jerking him around.

  Luka stared down at his father’s hand. He grabbed his wrist and flicked it off. “No. I’ve told you everything. But him being controlled is better than the alternative, isn’t it? That he manipulated me of his own freewill.”

  He turned and opened the front door. Barath knocked him back and walked out first. Luka groaned and shut the door behind him.

  Luka struggled down the stairs while Barath went ahead. He was still in a great deal of pain and the president only allowed him limited care. Finley would sneak him tonics whenever she could, but it was never enough.

  Two floors below, Bronson was sitting in the hallway outside of his apartment, having an early morning cigarette. He’d been smoking even more than usual these past two weeks. Probably because he was constantly waiting for the day Saevus would come for him and Quigley. Really, they should just disappear. But where would they go? And without Fiona ... Without Luka ...

  Footsteps clanked down the staircase from two floors up.

  Bronson’s heart quickened. There was no time to run back into his apartment, so he just pressed himself against the wall as best he could, hoping whoever it was wouldn’t notice him.

  “Would you hurry up, already? I don’t want to be wasting any more time here,” said a man who looked vaguely familiar, stopping on his floor and staring up at someone.

  “I’m fucking coming!” called a crude voice Bronson had become quite accustomed to.

  His head was spinning but he kept his face placid, especially when the man standing at the bottom of the stairs turned and looked at him, his eyes cold as they narrowed into thin slits. Bronson knew why he looked familiar now. It was because he looked like Luka, only older, lighter, and with less of a boyish quality to his features. He’d met him once, when he helped Luka move out of his house.

  And with everything Bronson knew about the man, he was absolutely hideous to him. He also very much doubted Luka inherited that cute little smirk of his from his father. He imagined the man never smirked.

  To test his theory, Bronson smiled at him. Barath’s eyes only narrowed further.

  “You know, it wouldn’t hurt you to fucking help me or something, considering you just stood there while the president tortured me and all,” said Luka, holding onto the banister as he limped into view.

  Barath looked at his son. “How would you know what I did during a time you claim to not remember?”

  “Your implications are getting old, Father,” said Luka, tossing his suitcase into Barath’s arms. “Atticus told me. He said I shouldn’t trust you. And -”

  Luka stopped talking when he noticed they weren’t alone. On instinct, Bronson ran a hand through his hair, hoping he didn’t look too awful. Considering he hadn’t slept since the day Xander and Deryn had left, he imagined he wasn’t looking his best.

  “It seems those Rubys are dead-set on turning you against me.” Barath followed his son’s gaze back to Bronson. “Do you know him?”

  Bronson ignored him, unable to stop himself from staring at Luka, searching his eyes for some sort of sign that he was only pretending not to remember anything, some sort of recognition that he knew Bronson and he was important to him.

  “No,” said Luka after a short pause. He turned away and moved slowly down the next flight of stairs. “I think I met him once. Came out drinking with Xander and me or something.”

  Barath watched Bronson for a moment longer, trying to note some sort of reaction, but there was none. Bronson kept his cool and Barath slowly began to walk away. He listened as the two continued to argue over Atticus. Then there was a loud THUD.

  “OW! Th’fuck you do that for?”

  “Carry your own shit!”

  Bronson assumed correctly that Luka’s father threw his bag at him, hopefully not hurting him any more than he already was.

  Their bickering continued and Bronson kept listening. Then the door to the building opened and banged shut. They were gone.

  Bronson sat there, a long moment passing before it all finally hit him. His eyes began to tear as he realized Luka’s worst fear had come true. He’d forgotten everything, including the side he wanted to fight for. While he didn’t exactly seem trusting of his father, he was still with him, and probably going back to living with him. It was too dangerous for him there, but how the hell was Bronson supposed to get him out now, when Luka had no fucking idea who he was?

  There was nothing there. No light, no signal. Luka was just ... gone.

  The word echoed in Bronson’s mind. Gone.

  His cigarette burned to just a nub between his fingers. He put it out and went inside.

  “I heard voices. Who was out there?”

  Bronson came out of his daze and looked across the room. Odette was wide awake and sitting on the couch with a hologram screen in front of her. Her husband Neo was still trying to sleep on the pile of blankets on the floor, but the groaning coming from beneath his arm was a good indication that it wasn’t going well.

  Several Guardians had come looking for them in the Black Market just over a week ago, creating quite the scene. They barely got out unnoticed and, for some reason, decided to come there, seeking refuge with two people they didn’t even know.

  Bronson and Quigley originally turned them away, but then the couple offered a deal they couldn’t refuse. As long as Neo and Ode
tte could stay there, they would share their two-way that linked them to Deryn and Xander. Bronson had put it in his ear and Xander’s harsh voice came on, yelling many obscenities until he and Quigley finally let the Boyces inside. Then he put Deryn on and the conversation was much more pleasant.

  Bronson missed his little Cupcake every day. He even missed the foul-mouthed Guardian she had chosen as a lover, for whatever reason.

  And knowing they were alive and together ... well, that was everything.

  Bronson eyed the earpiece on the table.

  “It was Luka,” he said.

  Odette’s head snapped toward him and Neo shot up from where he lay.

  “And his father. They were getting his things.”

  “And?” asked Neo, finally standing and taking a nice, long stretch. “You knew him, right? Did he seem like he remembered you?”

  Bronson gulped. “No.”

  He walked the few steps to the table, snatched the earpiece and darted for Quigley’s room. His friend was still in bed but not asleep. His eyes opened just enough to take in Bronson before closing again.

  Bronson went over and lay down beside him, placing the earpiece in his ear.

  “Luka, huh?” said Quigley into his pillow.

  “Yeah.”

  “Did he look better?”

  Bronson sighed as he remembered the way Luka had looked on that platform two weeks earlier. He’d looked like death.

  “Much,” he answered. He pressed the button on the side of the earpiece. “Come in, Cupcake.”

  • • •

  Xander’s ears perked up as he pulled a shirt over his head, just able to make out the faint voice coming from his earpiece on the nightstand. The shirt wasn’t one of his own. The thick, long-sleeved items he had favored in Utopia proved impractical outside and he was forced to wear clothes Talon and Adrian had given him until he could obtain some of his own.

  There was something very unsexy about wearing the hand-me-down clothes of your girlfriend’s brother.