“I do understand how frustrating this is for you, but I still think of you as my little girl. Give me time to learn to see you as you see yourself.”
“What if we don’t have time for that, Mom? What if this is it? Allie just saw your execution! If you die, I will have to live with the knowledge that I could have helped.”
“I’m so sorry, Sasha. Your father and I are about to fight for our lives. I can’t be worried about my children. I need to know they are safe so I can come back to them in one piece.”
“If anything happens to you and Dad, I’ll never be able to forgive myself,” Sasha whispered. “Please, Mom. Let me fight with you.”
“You will stay in the underground with the others while we handle this threat. And that is my final word, Daughter.”
“I love you, Mom. Don’t … don’t die. I can’t bear it.”
“I love you too … I should have protected you better,” Naeemah whispered as she ended the call.
“I hate this!” Sasha threw her phone, shattering it against the door. She wasn’t the girl they remembered, yet they all treated her as if nothing had changed.
“Why so screechy?” Aidan asked, peeking around the doorway. “You done throwing things?”
“I can’t take this, Aidan.” Sasha shook her head in frustration.
“That’s why we’re leaving. Now.” He peered back down the hall, gesturing for her to follow. “The babysitters think we’re holding vigil in the Yard. Grandma Nadira says it’s the safest place for us while this thing is going down.”
“Then how are we— Have you lost your mind? We’re swimming out?” Sasha hissed as she followed him along the corridor to the Yard.
“It’ll be cold, but it’s the only way we can get out of here.”
Sasha nodded. The far end of the Yard opened into a low, dark cave where an underground river surged into the lake. The stock room there was full of weapons and supplies for an emergency exit but anyone would be crazy to leave the underground that way. Or desperate.
“What do you know?” Sasha demanded. Aidan had a front-row seat to Allie’s visions. “What isn’t Allie saying?”
Aidan halted at the entrance to the Yard. “If we don’t fight with Allie, people we love will die. So we’re going.”
“Good enough for me. Let’s go.”
~~~
“Get down!” Sasha called softly to the others, scrambling for cover behind a stand of oak trees. Their journey through the lake was terrifying … and cold. Sasha had never been so cold in her life. But the closer they got to her sister’s house the more focused Sasha became on the task ahead of them.
“What do you see?” Aidan ducked by her side.
“Someone’s up ahead,” she whispered.
“What should we do?” Graham asked as he and Chloe joined them.
Sasha waited for Aidan to give instructions. But he looked to her for answers.
“What? I’ve been paying attention since you got back,” Aidan said. You’re way more qualified to lead us than I am. What should we do?”
“Smell that?” she asked. “They’re setting fires. We all know that’s the Coalition’s MO. This whole area is going to be ablaze soon. They’ll want to box them in with fire. We need to get through before it’s too late. Let’s circle back to the car and take the old horse trail up to the back of the barn.”
“Let’s go,” Aidan said.
“Stay close. We need to move fast,” Sasha added.
They crept quietly back down the narrow dirt road. When they were out of earshot, Sasha picked up the pace. She darted past the cluster of cars parked along the path. This route would take longer but it should give them the chance to slip past the enemy’s sentries. Allie didn’t know who the enemy was, nor what they wanted. She only knew it was happening and she’d figured it out just in time to get them the help they needed.
But none of it made any sense to Sasha. She had been so focused on her own issues for so long that the news of this attack showed her just how little she’d been paying attention. She’d had no idea that Allie was even capable of having a vision as powerful as the one she’d seen about their family.
I’m a terrible friend. But she vowed to be a better one once they got through this night.
Sasha breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the barn through a haze of smoke.
“Let’s get inside.” They ran up the path in a crouch, making as little noise as possible.
Sasha took a last glance behind them as the others stepped inside the barn. The fire was getting closer. She could hear the mortals in the distance—the Coalition. They were backing away, letting the fires do their job for them. Sasha shuddered at the thought that her parents’ funeral pyre might be burning at this very moment.
“This must be killing little bro, missing out on all the fun.” The voice drifted to the back of the barn. Darius was going to be furious with them.
“Who’s missing out?” Aidan asked as he stepped around the rusty old cider press.
Sasha wasn’t in the mood for their drama. She had preparations to make. As the rest of the family led their attackers to the orchard, Sasha would take her shots from the hayloft.
Graham was busy with his drones and Chloe paced, working on her own mental preparation. Sasha gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze as she made her way around the barn, checking each window and door, evaluating the best areas that would give her adequate protection and a clear shot to key points across the orchard.
She remembered playing in the orchard as a kid. It was always a happy place—a fun trip every fall to go pick apples and make cider. Tonight it was a battleground, a fight for her family’s lives. A fight she intended to win.
“All right, Allie. Let’s do this. Tell us how this is going to go down.” Darius called them all to the front of the barn.
“Chloe, I want you to stay away from the fight.…” Allie’s voice grew to a din in Sasha’s ears. The coming battle weighed heavily on her mind. Her training had prepared her for this. Sasha was confident in her ability to fight, but she knew she had to set her emotions aside. If she had to kill to protect her family, she would.
“Put this on,” Graham said, handing her a Bluetooth headset. “So we can all stay in touch.”
Sasha nodded, sliding it into her pocket. She didn’t want the distraction.
“Graham, when you see … Quinn, you cannot react,” Allie said. “Do not let him see you.”
Quinn’s here? Sasha’s knees almost gave out. This wasn’t just about saving her parents now. This was so much more than a random Coalition attack. If Quinn was with them, this was Soma. Just a month ago, at Amrita, Sasha and her friends had put the final pieces of the puzzle together. They always knew Livia was the head of the Fold, but that was just a front for Soma. A slave market. And now they were coming for her family. Sasha’s hands tightened into fists at her side.
“Sasha,” Allie said. “Quinn needs to see you. He has to see you.”
Sasha’s mind reeled and her pulse pounded in her ears as she caught bits and pieces of Allie’s instructions.
“…Go find Liam and tell him to take you up to the gates… Wait until you see Quinn on his own… Don’t get too close… Come back here… When you see Quinn with Emma… Snap out of it when he hears your voice.”
“Will we … get him back?” Sasha cleared her mind, putting on her assassin’s face.
“We’ll try.”
“There is no trying, Allie. This is the only chance we’re going to get.” Sasha would not let them fail. If Quinn was here, he was coming home tonight or she was going with him.
Leaving the others to their preparations, Sasha made her way across the orchard.
“Liam?” she called as she jogged along the path up to the gates.
“Sasha? What are you doing here?” His face turned so white he was almost translucent.
“No time. Allie says I have to be here so I’m here. You’re supposed to take me up to the gates. Quinn will be with
them.”
Liam nodded, turning up the path at a jog. They crouched among the trees to wait.
“The first wave came through a few minutes ago. I don’t know how, but they had a code to the gates. They’re circling the house now,” Liam said, pointing to the fires in the distance. “Nearly twenty. Mostly mortal.”
“When he sees me, I have to lead him back to the orchard. You have to stay here.”
“Sasha, I can’t leave you unprotected,” Liam protested.
“You know all about my training, Liam.”
“I know you’re capable, but I’m still not leaving you.”
“I’m not the same girl who left here—not by a long shot. I’m a trained assassin, Liam. I think I can handle a trip back through the woods on my own.”
“Please be careful, Sasha. Assassin or not, in my eyes you will always be my favorite little niece.”
“I’m your only niece, Liam.” She rolled her eyes.
“Well, I like you more than my idiot nephews.” He grinned down at her.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, pointing across the lawn. “Look.”
The gates creaked open and a familiar figure stepped onto the driveway. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes she would never have believed Quinn capable of such a betrayal. He’d entered the code. He was responsible for this.
“He’s succumbed,” Liam said softly. “This isn’t the Quinn we know, Sasha. Be very careful with him. Until we know more, we have to treat him like the enemy.”
“An enemy we intend to take captive.” She nodded, waiting for the flood of Immortals and Coalition to pass through the gates. There were at least twenty people with Quinn, in addition to the twenty that came in the first wave. Half of them crept over the lawns toward the house in the distance. The other half drove through the gates, their vehicles idling, waiting for the first strike to begin.
As the caravan of vehicles crept forward, Sasha and Liam watched in silence. More fires dotted the lawn as the second group set up a base point along the hillside just out of sight of the house. This group seemed to be patiently waiting for the others to do the work while they stood by to take charge of the prisoners.
Sasha waited for the opportunity to get Quinn’s attention as he closed the gate behind the last SUV.
She got her chance a few moments later when the fighting began up at the house. Sasha rushed out of the woods and onto the lawn, halting only steps away from him. He had his back turned to her.
“Quinn,” she called softly, almost afraid to reach for him.
He turned slowly in the moonlight. Their eyes met and she smiled, taking a hesitant step toward him.
Don’t get too close. Allie’s warning sounded in her mind. But this was Quinn. He would never hurt her.
“It’s just me,” she said, reaching for his hand. “It’s time to go home.”
His eyes narrowed to slits as he smiled. But it wasn’t the smile she remembered. Quinn lunged toward her—not in a help-me-escape way, but in an I’m-going-to-kill-you way.
“No….” Sasha turned and fled down the path back to the orchard. This was all too familiar for her. She’d killed that version of Quinn more than a hundred times. She refused to do it again. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure he’d followed. He was just steps behind her and getting closer.
As she entered the orchard, she dodged between the rows of trees, picking up her pace to lose him. She would get through to him, but she had to get her head on straight after the shock of seeing him so like the Quinn she’d fought during ankathari.
Sasha ducked into the barn, grabbing her bow, and hauled herself up to the hayloft where she could get the best vantage point. With her back against the wall, Sasha took a deep breath, settling back into the assassin’s mindset where emotion had no place.
She could hear activity coming from the direction of the beach house. She darted to the open window at the side of the barn and arrived just in time to fire her first shot. She needed only a fraction of a second to engage with her gift. Her wooden arrow sailed through the trees, striking the mortal chasing her father up the rocky path. She aimed for flesh wounds or joints, hoping to slow them enough to give her family the advantage. She’d get serious about it if they got back up. Tonight, the assassin in her wouldn’t be letting anyone get up a second time—not with her family on the line.
At the top of the path, Gregg and Emma turned to meet their attackers. Sasha watched as Allie met them, lunging for the man who’d followed them, but Allie hadn’t seen the woman just behind him. Sasha put a lodestone arrow through the woman’s head. She’d recover, but not tonight.
Sasha moved to the open hayloft door, scanning the scene below. The fight was coming to them. Sasha saw at least thirty people locked in battle across the orchard and the areas around it. But she couldn’t spot Quinn anywhere.
Then she saw the woman standing at the opposite end of the orchard. Sasha had never seen her, but she knew this was Livia. All of this—Quinn, the attack, all of it—was Livia’s doing, and Ming Lao was about to make her pay.
Sasha watched as Ming Lao stalked behind Livia, her long katana blade at the ready. Livia threw her sword up just in time as she turned to meet Ming’s attack. Livia seemed to taunt her, but she was no match for Ming. Their swords clashed and Ming quickly drew first blood. Daniel circled the two, looking for an opening. Mother and son intended to exact justice for Quinn.
Sasha did a double take when she saw Quinn taking up the fight alongside Livia. Helping her. Fighting against his father and grandmother.
“He doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Sasha murmured as Livia disappeared, only to appear again just out of Ming’s reach. She was using Quinn’s gift. The thought that she’d taken it from him—the one gift he was actually proud of—sickened her.
Sasha gripped her Chola blades and jumped from the hayloft, landing in a crouch on the ground below. In that moment she embraced her training, grateful for it. She charged down the rows of trees, mentally erecting a barrier between herself and her emotions. Quinn was coming home tonight whether he wanted to or not. And Livia would be lucky if she didn’t end up scattered across this orchard in pieces.
Sasha ran past clusters of her family working together to fight the enemy. She dodged random strikes, wielding her blades with calculated precision. By the time she reached the end of the orchard, where Quinn and Livia faced Daniel and Ming Lao, her white blades dripped red with blood.
“This isn’t you, son,” Daniel said, trying to talk Quinn down.
“Quinn’s not here.” His eyes flickered with blue fire and his insane laughter chilled Sasha to the bone.
This wasn’t the Quinn she knew, but he was in there somewhere. She could sense him struggling inside this creature that wore his face. If she could just get through to the real Quinn, she knew she could bring him out of this madness. But Sasha stumbled. The din of battle growing faint in her ears. She swayed on her feet, dizzy and confused as her breath came in short gasps. She ducked behind a gnarled apple tree. Her chest tightened, like a fist gripped her heart.
“Quinn?” She could feel the pull of his presence—the real Quinn. She felt it the way she always had, but seeing him again, after everything they’d been through, made it a thousand times stronger.
Her heart raced at the sight of him. Her chest burned and her peripheral vision burnished golden with the flames of the forest around them. She couldn’t draw a breath, overwhelmed by her feelings for the boy she’d loved most of her life. Sasha’s eyes filled with tears. Just when she thought she couldn’t last another moment without a breath, air burst into her lungs, fresh and sweet when it should have been tainted with the smoke of the fires.
The echo of an unfamiliar heartbeat thrummed in her chest, filling her with strength.
~~~
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FOUR
Quinn: Fall—The New Moon
Rural New York
“Quinnton Greggory Loukas!”
&n
bsp; Quinn stirred like a bear waking from a long hibernation.
“Sasha?” He fought to open his eyes, struggling to recall his last memory.
No! This wasn’t our deal! his gift raged.
Quinn felt a surge of strength coming from some outside source.
Sasha. Just the thought of her gave him clarity.
You will have to fight us!
Did you really think I would go quietly? Quinn reached for his power, grasping it by a thread. But it was enough. He wasn’t going to lose this fight now. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. Through all the years of resisting his power, refusing to use his gifts for fear of losing control, he’d given the voice of his madness too much power over him. No more.
We won’t go back! crazy-Quinn screamed.
No! This is my life! Quinn growled. I decide how and when to use my power. Not you. Never again. I am not afraid of you!
You will always fear us! his gift hissed.
I am done letting my fears rule me. Quinn clawed his way back, seizing control of his power and his life. Go back to where you belong.
Quinn took a deep breath to still his racing heart. He didn’t know how it happened, but he was back. He could sense his gift huddling in the dark recesses of his mind, howling and enraged. The madness would be back. It was a part of him and it was time he accepted it.
Strength flooded his limbs. Feeling surged into fingertips he mentally flexed, like he hadn’t thought to use them in a long time. He felt the pull of Sasha. More than just her calling his name … she was calling him. His power. His mind. Everything. She needed him.
He blinked and the world exploded into chaos around him. Screams. Blood. Moonlight. Livia fought beside him, but he only had eyes for Sasha.
She stood at the center of a battlefield, crazy hair on end, blood and dirt on her face with fury in her eyes. She was both a terrifying sight and an image from a dream. He stumbled forward, afraid she was just a figment of his imagination.
“Snap the hell out of it!” Sasha pointed her dagger at him like she would filet him on the spot if he didn’t lower his sword.
Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3) Page 28
