House of Imperial

by Jaymin Eve

  There wasn’t a big enough hole in the panel for me to crawl through; I’d only gotten two hands in, but hopefully it would be more brittle now. My kick might actually work. As my anger vanished, so did the last of the heat in my body. My brain was already trying to work out how I’d done that, and the only logical explanation I had was Daniel. He could turn into a flaming fireball. I was sharing some of his abilities.

  Whatever it was, I’d just be grateful I at least had a chance to escape now.

  As soon as the red faded from the partially-destroyed panel, I kicked it with all of my strength. This time it shattered, glass tinkling out into the dark world beyond my prison. The hole, which I was pretty sure I could squeeze through, was now completely clear. Well, there were a couple of little ragged edges, but I didn’t care. I was getting out of here.

  It was not easy to leverage myself up and through the window. The only reason I somewhat managed was from years of being forced to climb that damn rope in the gym. Ignoring the cuts in my palms, I wiggled my top half through the opening. The fit was tight, and I didn’t like the sensation of being wedged in, especially with so much darkness on the other side. I couldn’t see a thing out there, no noises…

  But the dark had to be better than waiting to starve in this prison. Twisting and squirming through as far as I could, eventually I let gravity do its job. My arms went out to prevent my head from smashing into the ground, and I managed to half roll, so landing wasn’t quite as painful as I’d anticipated. When I was standing in the darkness, my heart pounding rapidly, I waited for my eyes to adjust. Because despite my words about taking my chances, randomly walking in this level of darkness seemed kind of stupid.

  I waited and waited, but that unnatural blanket of black remained. Dropping down, I ran my hands across the ground. It felt slightly textured, like a compacted dirt. Probably the same as my jail. I couldn’t see my hands to know if there was any sort of residue on them, but my fingers felt dusty as I rubbed them together.

  My fear was getting harder to control. I’d never hated the dark, but I also wasn’t overly fond of it. And this was no ordinary night, this was magical in nature, and that was messing with my nerves. With no other choice, I started to walk away from the box with its small window of light, my movements slow, cautious, both hands out in front of me as my only option of stopping an obstacle from smashing me in the face. The entire time I walked my eyes strained to see anything. This darkness … I’d never experienced anything like it before.

  This world was making me really nervous.

  After walking for what felt like a few hours, I decided to sit for a moment. I hadn’t run into one thing, hadn’t seen another speck of light or felt any energy from a living creature. Where the hell had Laous dumped me? Would I ever find my way out of here?

  Sitting got me nowhere, so I started to walk again. After some time, all I had as company was the stomping of my feet and the harsh intake of breath. Two things reminding me that I was alive.

  I walked until I collapsed. Closing my eyes, my mind filled with as much darkness as the outside. After seeing nothing for so long, it appeared that’s all I would see ever again. I either slept or drifted in a daze, and when clarity returned some time later, it was to an aching neck and a dead left side of my body. I waited for hunger and thirst to kick in. I had to be needing sustenance soon. But … neither did. My mouth wasn’t even dry.

  As I started to move again, I tried not to think. Protecting the fragile nature of my mind seemed to be the most important thing. So … denial it was. Denial wasn’t keeping my anger at bay though; it returned with a vengeance as I walked in darkness. My life had not been much to talk about for the first eighteen years, and Laous just had to go and one-up that by doing … whatever this was …to me.

  Fucker.

  I felt the burn inside of me again and I welcomed it, hoping like hell that my hands would light up and show me whatever was out there. I just couldn’t do this darkness for one more moment. “Come on!” I screamed, holding my hands out. “Burn, baby, burn.”

  Nothing.

  I thought I heard my name then, like a whisper on the nonexistent breeze of this place, but even when I stilled and held my breath, I didn’t hear it again. With no other choice, I walked until I fell again, and then I slept.

  This routine continued on for countless days … nights … whatever time existed here. My mind was frazzled, my thoughts confused. I still did not hunger or have any thirst. I had no need for a bathroom. It was almost as if time stood still, and all I could do was run.

  12

  The longer I was trapped in the darkness, the more confused my thoughts got. I kept forgetting who I was and why I was here. I couldn’t remember my mom’s face, the color of her hair. Even the color of my own hair.

  I became nothing more than a mindless machine, walking, resting, walking and resting. When I stumbled for the millionth time, falling to my hands and knees, a spark of red lit up my hands for a split-second. Just a single beat, but with that came a single image. Daniel’s face. His beautiful perfect face, bright and strong. I almost sobbed as I realized I had forgotten him until that moment. How could I forget Daniel? We were a team.

  Fiery streams of power churned in my center. I was starting to recognize the build of energy, the pulling of power. When Daniel bonded us, he must have shared more than just his life force. He had shared his Imperial powers.

  When my hands lit up, burning a bright red, I remembered everything. I am Callie. With the whisper of my name, more of my self came back to me; memories returned. Laous must have put me here as a way to break me. He was a clever torturer. I would have preferred he broke every one of my fingers than leave me here in this darkness. Bones could heal. Minds were much harder.

  Holding my red hands up, I willed more fire into them, the glow immediately spreading to my wrists and then forearms. Despite the intensity of the heat, my clothes didn’t burn. Somehow the magic knew what to burn and what was off limits. I began to walk again, using the light to finally see my surroundings. I really couldn’t make out much outside of the grayish ground. I appeared to be moving through a land without a single rock or tree or landmark. Which explained why I hadn’t crashed into anything in the dark yet.

  I started to run, sobs still racking me, tears dripping along my cheeks, only to sizzle off as the heat dissipated them. I couldn’t deny this any longer, I was trapped here, in this eternal darkness.

  “Callie!”

  This time the call was distinct enough that my feet faltered and I tripped … again. Fifty million times was the charm, right?

  “Keep using the power,” the familiar voice said again.

  Rolling onto my back, I pushed all of the burning energy out into the world. My fingertips started to tingle, then there was a pop as a small flame shot up into the air. With a low shriek, I rolled to the side, unsure if it was going to fall back down and land on my face. What if I was only safe from the burn when it was attached to me?

  “Daniel,” I shouted, desperate to see him.

  Daniel had owned my freaking soul long before he bound us together. There was no one else in any world who could compare. I had fallen for that huge alien asshole in five damned minutes and there was no taking it back. My brain could deny it all it wanted, but my heart knew the truth.

  It had chosen.

  My fire was running out, and as the energy died away so did my specks of hope. “Daniel,” I cried, frustration and pain my only companion. “Dan … please.”

  “Callie! Open your damn eyes.”

  What was he talking about … my eyes were open.

  “We’re losing her,” a female cried. “What did Laous do?”

  I tried to tell them, explain where I had been, but there was no way to open my mouth. I was just too tired.

  “Fight, sweetheart. Please, fight for me. Don’t let that bastard take one more person I care about.”

  There was true agony in Daniel’s voice and it strummed within
my chest. I wanted to comfort him, wanted that so badly, and as I stood in the darkness, I held on to that dying ember of his voice.

  Then I threw myself toward it. And…

  Brightness burned into me. I cried out and tried to lift my hands, but I couldn’t move them. Someone placed a soft cloth over my face, and I had immediate relief. It took me a few minutes to adjust to the light. When I could finally see, I gaped at the three people who stood around me. Daniel, Emma, and Lexen.

  My mouth opened and closed, and turning my head, I saw that I was not on the ground in a land of darkness, but instead floating in a tank of thick liquid.

  “Wha...?” I tried to talk, but my voice rasped out like it hadn’t been used in days.

  Daniel reached in and cradled my head in his hands, holding me slightly out of the goo. “Callie? Do you remember me?”

  I nodded, tears burning my throat. “I would never forget you, Daniel.”

  I almost had, but Laous was not strong enough.

  He closed his eyes briefly, and I immediately wished he would open them. I didn’t like being cut off from him this way. When he did meet my gaze again, gold blazed at me. “We’ve been trying to get through to you for hours. Laous has your energy tied to the legreto in this rebirth tank. You had to break free on your own. We couldn’t do anything, or it might have destroyed your mind completely.”

  With a cough, I tried to sit up. Daniel slid one of his hands down, so it was under my back, gently drawing me up and into his body. The liquid clung to me for as long as it could, before finally releasing me from its deadly embrace. Bits of goo were still attached, but Daniel didn’t seem to care as he pulled me to his chest.

  “What happened?” I coughed, looking around.

  If I could have screamed at that point, I would have. The room – which was filled with tanks like the one I’d just been pulled from – had a creepy alien-abduction-probing setup going on. “What in the actual hell is this place?”

  Daniel, still holding me, started walking, moving with ease through the small spaces between the tanks. “This is an old underground facility in Overworld,” he said, and I realized in that moment how flat his voice was. “It was used for mass experimentation when our four houses warred with each other. This is Imperial territory, right on the edge of our land.”

  Emma’s worried face popped into view. She reached out and took my hand, and my heart ached at the sight of tears tracking down her cheeks. “It strips you of everything,” she said, sounding like she was repeating what she had been told. “Takes away who you are and leaves a blank canvas. The boys explained it all while we tried to wake you up. They told me to expect you might be gone by the time they freed you.”

  I didn’t understand what they were saying. “You all need to go back and explain from the start,” I got out somewhat coherently.

  Lexen answered: “The liquid you were floating in is called concrestia … also known as the Soulstealer, a weapon developed by a House of Imperial overlord, the one before Daniel’s father. He wanted to go to war when no one else would. He was going to try and create an army of Daelighters to fight for him. Basically, when you go into the water, your mind becomes open to suggestion. You can be brainwashed, and if you’re left submerged in it for long enough, eventually your mind will be wiped clean, to be manipulated as needed.”

  That’s why, when I had been running in the darkness, my mind had been slipping away from me. “It almost got me,” I told them, swallowing the rough lump in my throat, glad at least that my voice had returned. “For days I have been running through the darkness, and I kept forgetting everything. It was only when I used … a fire power … that some clarity returned.”

  I tilted my head back to gauge Daniel’s reaction; he was looking straight at me, his expression unreadable.

  “I’d never been so lost and alone,” I confessed to him. “My mind would drift away. I thought I was going to disappear forever.” My voice broke and I choked on the words, small sobs escaping in between each one. “It works, whatever this soul stealer stuff is. It does what it was supposed to.”

  “How are you still here with us?” Emma sobbed with me, our hands still clinging together.

  “Daniel,” I breathed, still looking at him.

  His steps didn’t falter, but there was a twitching on the corner of his jaw, like he was fighting against saying something.

  “When I started to use the fire power, I felt him again. I remembered him. The only thing in the darkness was him, and the energy we shared.”

  He pulled me closer, jolting my hand out of Emma’s.

  “That’s when I felt your consciousness,” he growled. “When I knew we were finally getting through to you.”

  Since we were nearing the end of this massive, freaky capsule room, I tapped him on the arm. “Put me down, please.”

  He just growled again.

  “Daniel…” I made my voice as stern as I could. “Put me down. I can walk.”

  Probably a lie, but I needed to stand on my own two feet. I didn’t like this distance he was keeping between us. Not physically – he hadn’t let me go, not for a second – but he was holding back emotionally. And that both confused and upset me. I was new to this emotions thing, and no doubt missed a lot of things that others would recognize.

  And right now, I just wanted to know what to do to fix us.

  I thought he was going to ignore my request, but with a huff he finally slowed, and then my shoes hit the ground. My knees faltered for a second, but before I could be swept up again, I managed to gain my footing.

  “I should have gotten to you sooner.” The self-loathing in his voice made my heart feel like it was being crushed. “You trusted me to keep you safe, to follow you, and I almost lost you to the darkness.”

  Needing to touch him, I slowly placed my palms flat against the hard planes of his chest muscles. They lifted as he roughly sucked in air.

  “This is not your fault,” I told him firmly. “You didn’t want me to leave. I knew the risks when I did, and you saved me in the end.” Popping up on my tiptoes, I went to press a kiss to his cheek. He let out a low rumble and turned his head so hot lips crashed into mine.

  A low moan slipped out as our mouths moved together, his tongue caressing mine. My body went weak again, and it was only Daniel’s strength that kept me standing. “You’re never leaving my side,” he said, pulling back briefly, before pressing his lips to mine again.

  Lexen cleared his throat, and I blinked a few times before I remembered that we weren’t alone here. Daniel and his best friend exchanged a look, and I recognized the urgency in Lexen’s eyes.

  When Daniel turned back to me, panic immediately took hold. I held my breath as he said, “I’m going to make a liar of myself, because I actually have to leave you alone for a short time. The council has a lead on Laous. They had certain locations tipped to track him, should he go there, and the land of clouds was one of those. We have no idea why he went there, but he’s now on our radar. A small party has been assembled to go after him.”

  No wonder he was so angry at Rao. This was exactly what Laous had been dreading.

  “Where will Emma and I be while you’re gone?” I asked. “Laous wants us alive. He told me he was going to keep us prisoner, just in case he needed more blood. These tanks…” I waved my arm across the room, “are kind of the perfect solution. Alive, but completely compliant.” Ready to obey his every command. Misogynistic asshole.

  Daniel’s strong arms wrapped around me, and I sank into him. The relief I felt at being back with him was almost impossible to describe. If I had to try, though, I’d guess it was how it felt to come home after being gone for a long time. For those people who had real homes.

  He spoke against my hair. “Laous is not going to touch either of you again. I know I promised once, and my word might not mean as much as it should, but I’ll do everything in my power to ensure you’re safe.”

  “Your word means everything,” I assured him. “
Everything in your power is more than enough.”

  “Hopefully we take him out today,” Lexen added. “The council seems pretty confident.” He turned to Emma. “You and Callie will be staying with Chase.”

  Lifting my head from Daniel’s chest, I looked up to meet his eyes. He nodded. “Chase is the only overlord not to be in the search party, and that is solely so he can stay and protect you. Laous is afraid of House of Leights. He will never step foot in the trees. He has hurt too many of them over the years to face their wrath.”

  A tree’s wrath? That sounded pretty cool, and scary.

  Part of me wanted to argue. I didn’t like us separating. This team thing was really growing on me, along with the concept that we were stronger together, especially when it came to dealing with Laous’ psycho ass, but I knew he needed to be there. To protect his friends. To protect the secret keepers. Emma didn’t argue either, but it was clear she was no happier than me.

  We moved toward the door again. My heart fluttered as Daniel made a point to stay by my side. We walked like a couple, like Lexen and Emma, so close that our arms brushed against each other, which sent shivers down my spine and through my stomach. The distance that had been there when I first awoke in the gel was gone, disappearing with his confession of guilt. He had been beating himself up for letting me leave the school, and for not finding me right away. I could already tell he was the sort of guy who took his responsibilities seriously.

  We stepped outside – it was nightfall wherever we were. The dark made me shiver, but it wasn’t all-encompassing like the world in my head, so I pushed through it without too much distress. I was not alone. That made all the difference.

  “How did you find me? How long was I missing?” I asked. It felt like days when I was in the dark, but maybe it hadn’t been that long at all.