The Conduit (The Gryphon Series Book 1)

by Stacey Rourke

  “Alec!” I fell to my knees to extend my hand down to him. “Give me your hand!” I glanced over my shoulder at my sister. “Kendall, help me pull him out!”

  “What the heck do you need my help for?” She questioned as if I had somehow forgotten my own abilities.

  “One second, Alec! We’re going to get you out!” I spun on my momentarily dense sister. Through my teeth, I hissed, “As far as he knows, I’m just a normal girl that cannot lift a grown man with one hand, remember? So, help me.”

  “Oh! Right!” she agreed and crossed the stage toward me.

  The large paw of a jungle cat blocked her way. Gabe jerked his head in the direction of her wings. Catching his meaning, she swiftly drew them in. As she came to kneel beside me, Gabe-lion slunk back behind the thick curtain. That was for the best. The last thing we needed right then was his appearance to startle an unsuspecting Alec.

  Kendall and I reached down for our friend. With the lights on the stage and none in the pit, it was impossible to see exactly where Alec was. “Alec, can you grab our hands?” I asked. I felt a weak grip close on my fingers. I grabbed it firmly with one hand, wrapping the other securely around his wrist. I looked at Kendall, “You got him?”

  “Yep.” With that, we both heaved him up out of the hole.

  He landed on his knees on the stage, which gave me a clear view of the wound on the back of his head. His hair was matted together with blood, the hair and skin torn away in a spot the size of a half-dollar. I felt myself turn green as I assessed the large gash and the bloody mess surrounding it. It became crucial I distract myself by examining Alec’s condition elsewhere. I found no other visible injuries.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “I think so,” he slurred, a clear sign to the contrary. He rolled, or more accurately fell, from his knees onto his rear. On his face was the same dazed and confused look Gabe had worn right after I socked him in the face. “We have to quit meeting like this,” he garbled and tried to stand.

  Keni and I grabbed his arms to steady him. “How’s that?”

  “In mid-head injury,” he laughed weakly.

  With Alec in our possession, we could move on to step two of our plan—run. Barnabus hadn’t shown himself yet. Maybe, just maybe, he didn’t see us come in. He could be on an evil guy coffee break or something. I didn’t care what was keeping him. I just wanted to make a quick getaway.

  “Let’s go,” I said to Kendall. We completely supported Alec’s weight. His arms hung limp around our necks.

  “Where are we going?” Alec murmured.

  In retrospect, I should’ve just said we were leaving, but instead I made the error in judgment of telling him, “We’re taking you to the hospital.”

  He had been shuffling along with us but instantly planted his feet and became immoveable dead weight. “No way. You didn’t go to the hospital when you hit your head. I’m not going either.”

  “Your injury is way worse than mine was.”

  “Nope. Not goin’,” he declared stubbornly.

  “You might have a concussion or need stitches,” Kendall argued as she readjusted his arm to get a better grip.

  “I said the same thing to your sister.” Alec tried to make his wavering voice sound firm.

  “Okay,” I tried negotiating. “I told you I would go to the hospital if my Grams said I needed to. So let’s go see her and see what she thinks.” We didn’t have time for this. If Mister Bigshot Reporter didn’t start cooperating, I was going to toss him over my shoulder and carry him out.

  “Nice try,” Alec said. “Your Grams is in the hospital.”

  “Celeste, we gotta go!” Kendall exclaimed urgently, her eyes frantically scanning the room.

  “I know!” I shot back. “Alec, what does your Mom do?”

  “She’s a beautician. Her name’s Marcie.”

  “Oh … hey!” Kendall perked up, pointing to her new ‘do. I glared in response. We didn’t have time for her “hey, small world” moment.

  “Great,” I stated. “We’ll go see your mom. If she thinks you need to go to the hospital, you go. Okay?” This made no sense. His mother was a good three hours away. I hoped his head injury had him foggy enough that he wouldn’t remember that.

  “Okay,” he relented and unplanted his feet. With him cooperating, we scurried for the exit, practically dragging him. He noticed and slurred out, “What’s the rush?”

  We ignored him and kept moving. The door was in sight. Our chance for escape only a few steps away. Then the theater went black.

  “Whoa, did I just pass out?” Alec asked.

  “No. The lights went out.” Every muscle in my body tensed. The darkness was no coincidence. It wasn’t a friendly janitor flipping a switch. It was a man with murder on his mind, letting us know that the games were about to begin. “Kendall, get Alec outside. I’ll go see about those lights.”

  “No way. You need me to help you turn the lights back on.” She adapted her argument for Alec’s sake.

  “Get him out of here, then come help me find the switch.”

  “You two are making an awfully big deal out of the lights. Aren’t we leaving anyway? Leave ’em off; conserve energy,” Alec garbled.

  “No can do, Alec. But we’ll take care of everything, all right?” I reassured him.

  “Whatever,” he murmured.

  “He definitely needs a doctor. Stay with him, Keni. Come on, Gabe.” Fur brushed my leg as my lion bodyguard fell into step beside me. Together we strode back out onto the stage.

  This time we didn’t have the aid of the footlights as we ventured across the lofty stage. Each step we took in the thick darkness was made with the utmost caution, on high alert for when Barnabus would strike. Without warning, a blinding spotlight snapped on, pointed directly at me. I brought my arm up to shield my eyes and squinted to see past the offending light. Its brightness blinded me to anything beyond it.

  From the shadows came a voice. “So you are the one. The little girl I have been searching for. My mentally-deficient minion was right. We did calculate your age wrong. No matter now though, is it? All that really matters is that I have you.”

  His voice sounded shockingly ordinary for a three hundred-year-old villain. Not that my legs weren’t trembling in fear because, believe me, they were. I mustered up every ounce of courage I had to reply, “I knew you were a coward when you attacked my grandmother. But are you really so scared to face me that you have to hide?”

  The theater boomed with the echo of his loud guffaw. With laughter still thick in his voice, he answered, “Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ll show myself soon enough. I’m thrilled you have a feisty spirit though. It’ll make killing you much more enjoyable.”

  “You’ll have to go through us first,” Kendall stated as she strode up beside me. Gabe took a step forward as well, his lip curling up in a threatening snarl.

  Under my breath, I whispered to Keni, “Did you get Alec to safety?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You two?” Barnabus chuckled. “You two are merely pawns not even worthy of my time.” In the blink of an eye, Gabe and Kendall both went flying through the air in opposite directions. No one and nothing touched them. Yet it seemed an unseen force hooked them around their midsections and flung them across the room. They each disappeared behind the sides of the stage curtain. Two heavy thumps followed by loud groans let me know that their unexpected rides ended painfully. I stood there alone, vulnerable and exposed. “But you, ah, you are the real power. The Conduit. The chosen one—bound to all that is good. Most importantly, you’re my key to unlimited power.”

  The spotlight clicked off. He stood perched on the ledge of the orchestra pit not fifteen feet from me. A wide grin split his face while his mismatched eyes glared with his evil intent. He looked human enough, except for his one clear, blue eye and one solid, black eye and a distinct grey pallor to his skin. The Seeker had that grey look too. Apparently, centuries spent in the Underworld wreaked havoc on
the complexion. Deep auburn hair hung to Barnabus’ shoulders, where it brushed against his coal black cloak. He was clad head to toe in black, just as the Seeker had been. My inner smart aleck wondered if the all-black wardrobe was a necessity to remind themselves they were evil. Like if a member of the Dark Army accidentally threw on a powder blue polo shirt, they would get confused and book a tee time instead of trying to take over the world. If I wasn’t terrified I was going to die, I may’ve asked.

  “I have waited for you a long time. Longed for you. Finally, our time has come.” In a grossly intimate way, he devoured me with his eyes. Relief flooded me at the unexpected ruckus from stage-left that broke his gaze, until the cause of it added a mind-blowingly stressful obstacle to this situation.

  “Wha’s going on?” Alec asked as he stumbled onto the stage. Apparently my definition of “get Alec to safety” differed from Keni’s.

  What… did she just drop him out the backdoor?

  My eyes flicked back and forth between him and Barnabus. A wide grin of glee spread across Barnabus’ face as he reveled in my panic. “Who’s that? Hey! You’re the guy that hit me! Wha’s your problem buddy?”

  “Did you enjoy my choice of bait?” Barnabus asked merrily. “I had every intention of finding a nun, small child, or your basic good Samaritan to lure you here. Then I stumbled on to him. This gawky man-child that just reeked of your scent! It was too perfect to pass up. Please humor me, for I must know, is he special to you?”

  I hadn’t answered that for myself yet. The diabolical fiend sure as heck didn’t get to know before I did. “Why?” I asked tartly. “Were you going to ask me out? Because I gotta say my standards are lax, but I draw the line at psycho crack-pot. Sorry.”

  Raw hatred mixed with disgust flickered across his face, which I tried not to take personally. Quickly, his look of mocking and condescension returned. “You have a sharp tongue, girl. I think I’d like to cut it out and eat it.”

  “Eeeew. Dude that’s really gross,” Kendall grimaced as she rounded the curtain. She had no physical injuries that I could see. No doubt her wings took care of that for her.

  “You cannot protect her, you spiky-haired twit,” Barnabus sputtered. “Your presence here is completely inconsequential. I have waited too long. I will retrieve my prize.”

  “Even so. This is where I belong.” She hooked her arm through mine and graced him with an angelic smile. Her normal sweetness and innocence were absent from her eyes. In their place lay steel.

  “Wha’s he talking about? Wha’s going on?” Alec wondered aloud.

  I held up a hand to silence him and addressed the deadly villain across from me. “The Gryphon and all he protects will never be yours Barnabus. We’ll see to that.”

  The corners of his lips curled up wickedly. “But it will. That creature…” he spat the word out as if it left a bad taste in his mouth, “is dense and way too easily fooled. The gossip and murmurings that led him to call on you in the first place were all my doing. I had my men spread the word that we had found a way to enter his precious Spirit Plane and were coming for him. It was all a lie. A lie that seeped its way back to him and motivated him to channel his powers through a mortal. Imbecile that he is, he did it. Now all I have to do is kill you. He’ll be weakened, and we will enter his realm. My army and I will take him down. Then all the power he harnesses and protects will belong to me. It’s almost too easy.”

  “If it’s so easy, why did it take you three centuries to come up with it?” I asked with venom in my voice.

  He laughed that fiendish cackle again. “It didn’t take long to come up with the plan. The rest of the time I was busy learning a few tricks to aid the process along. Would you like to see one?”

  Okay, little side note here. If a psychopathic killer asks if you want to see a trick, say no. That’s the smart thing to do. I, on the other hand, responded, “Bring it.”

  CHAPTER 30

  Barnabus’ mismatched gaze locked on mine as he casually stepped off the brick ledge and disappeared into the orchestra pit. No sooner did he vanish from sight than the ground began to tremble under our feet.

  Being from Michigan, an earthquake was a new, terrifying experience for me. Where I come from, the ground stays put—a wonderful trait I took for granted up until that very moment. We stumbled from side-to-side, struggling to keep our footing.

  “What’s happening? We don’t have earthquakes in Tennessee!” Alec yelled.

  “I’m pretty sure it had to do with the guy that just jumped down there, and there’s more to come. Really bad stuff. Seriously, Alec, for the sake of self-preservation, you need to run!”

  But Alec didn’t get his chance to run. None of us did. The shimmying ground came to a halt. Gabe stalked out from behind the curtain and stood protectively beside me.

  “Whoa!” Alec yelped. He scampered away from Gabe and practically climbed onto Kendall’s back. “Lion! Lion! Big friggin’ lion!”

  “It’s okay. He’s with us.” Kendall patted his hand.

  “You guys have a pet lion? Seems that should have come up in conversation!” Without channeling it, I knew Alec’s feelings were a heaping mess of pain, horror, and confusion. However, the low, ominous hiss that began reverberating up from the orchestra pit told me things were about to get boatloads worse.

  “Here we go,” I prepped my team. Kendall’s wings sprang to life and knocked her hanger-on to the ground. Gabe arched his back and let out an intimidating roar.

  Legs splayed out before him, Alec murmured, “What the…”

  The hiss became thunderous. Something unrecognizable began to rise up out of the pit. It was big—huge in fact. But I couldn’t identify what the greenish-brown mound ascending toward the ceiling was.

  Gradually the mass tipped in our direction. Two deep holes that dripped with ooze came eye level with us. Then it exhaled. My cohorts and I backpedaled frantically until our backs were pressed up against the back wall of the stage. We were staring down the snout of an enormous lizard. Thick scales covered its narrow, reptilian face. Its menacing, yellow-slitted eyes bore down at us. A forked tongue flicked out from between jagged, yardstick-sized teeth.

  “That’s a dragon! He turned into a dragon!” Kendall squealed and wrapped her wings around herself. “No one said anything about dragons! I don’t do reptiles! And dragons just plain suck!”

  As freaked out as I was, I really didn’t want my shield to fly away. “Yeah, but as dragons go, he doesn’t look that big!”

  The dragon snorted out a malicious chuckle. Then, as if to deliberately prove me wrong, began to rise up out of the pit. Up and up and up until all we could see before us was a wall of rutted, deep olive scales. His head brushed the ceiling of the lofty theater as he towered over us. No denying it—he fit into the category of massively, undisputedly gigantic. Kendall was right. Dragons do suck.

  The immense lizard swerved his lower body slightly. A long, whip-like tail, complete with flesh-impaling spikes, swung at us. I grabbed the back of Alec’s shirt and pulled him along as we dove to safety.

  “He’s pretty friggin’ big, Cee!” Kendall snapped at me.

  “Size doesn’t mean anything! The bigger they are …” My sentence got interrupted by the dragon belching flames at us. “… the larger the flames they spit! Kendall shield!”

  Kendall leapt in front of us, her wings our umbrella of protection. I watched her face as the flames cascaded over her. She didn’t seem to be in pain, but the exertion from the force of the erupting fire took its toll. I grabbed her upper arms to help support her. Her eyes met mine, but all she could manage was a brief nod.

  Noticing that his wrath was being diverted, Barnabus stopped. Kendall didn’t budge from where she was anchored, anticipating his next strike.

  “Pretty birdie,” Barnabus growled. His voice morphed into the satanic hiss Grams mentioned. With one jagged claw, he pointed at Kendall. He slowly raised his finger. At the same time, Kendall’s feet left the ground. By her
shocked, wide eyes, I knew this flight schedule had not been on her itinerary. Barnabus circled his extended digit, and Kendall spun around to face him. “Now move!” He demanded and flicked his finger. Kendall flew through the air, forcefully colliding with the wall. Had her wings hit first, she would’ve been fine, but she hit head first. I watched in dismay as she slid down into a heap on the floor.

  “That’s better,” Barnabus hissed. In a swift, fluid motion, he ducked around us. His enormous body curled around the stage and blocked the exit. “You must be as dim as the Gryphon. It was so easy to lure you here. I just needed the right bait.” His claws closed around a stunned Alec.“Hellooo, Bait!”

  “No!” I screamed as his grasp tightened.

  “You never told me just how you feel about this boy,” Barnabus said in his malicious purr. He stood to his full height, his captor in tow. “Do you love him? A crush, perhaps? Or, maybe just a naughty lusting? What is it?”

  I was speechless. My earlier sarcasm completely silenced by my panic and terror. It was my job—no, my calling—to stop this from happening. But my emotions had me petrified into immobility.

  Barnabus’ eyes twinkled with joyous evil. “What seems to be the matter child? Do you not yet know how deeply your feelings for him lie? Well, it is my experience that the saying is very much true.” With his free hand Barnabus placed one dagger-like talon directly under Alec’s chin. Alec whimpered. “You never know what you have until it’s gone.”

  Alec let out a blood curdling scream as the gargantuan beast slowly and methodically dug its claw into his tender flesh. Blood rained down and pooled on the stage at my feet.

  CHAPTER 31

  My head swam. Alec’s agonized screams were cut off as blood spewed out of his mouth and over his lips. The magnitude of the horrific events before me reduced me to a paralyzed lump. Thankfully, Gabe sprang into action. He soared through the air. Teeth bared. Claws readied. As our chestnut-maned lion latched on to Barnabus’ hand, he became a ferocious blur, biting and slashing with vengeful vigor.