“Then, would you like to inform us of the plan?” JD said as he eyed the approaching Jagers.
“Charge the ones by the stairs,” I whispered to the group so that the Jagers couldn’t hear. “They know we’re here, already, so we might as well make a break for the exit as fast as we can.”
“Okay.” Jamie crouched low, ready to pounce. “Just say when.”
I waited a few seconds before giving the signal, and then we all shot forward at the weakest part of the circle. We broke through easily, and the rest of the Jagers jumped at us, but we were already running up the spiral stairs. They couldn’t catch up now that we had a lead, so the only thing we needed to worry about was more Jagers blocking the way ahead.
We quickly reached the spot where we had put Aderes after she passed out from Pulsing, and shortly after that, we found the gate. The four Jagers that we had left alive were now dead, and the gate was wide open. Aderes must have killed them all as she left. It was very lucky for us, because if we had to stop and open the gate the Jagers would have had time to catch us.
We bounded through the gate and into the first of the marble tunnels. Luckily, going back, we wouldn’t have to find the marble circles that led us into the lair through the marble tunnels. We just had to keep moving forward as fast as possible. Once we were out of the marble tunnels, we entered the maze of dirt and brick. Following my previous markings, we found our way to the human-made tunnel very easily. I was the last to enter the mucky water, but the first to see that the Jagers were still behind us.
“Elliot!” Matt called from ahead. “We’re almost at the elevator! Should we climb it?”
“Yes!” I yelled back. “It’ll be faster!”
As the mucky tunnel came to an end, I saw the elevator just ahead. Matt jumped above it and crawled up the empty shaft, followed by Jamie, JD, and, finally, me. The climb was fast, and I could see it had become night when we emerged from the top. I ran ahead to lead the group again as we sprinted towards the sewer tunnel that would get us out of Queens, under the East River.
As we ran from the construction site, we were forced to come to a quick stop. Grath, Rose, and five more Jagers stood in our path. The other ten Jagers that had been pursuing us came to a halt as well.
“Very nice!” Grath clapped slowly as he walked towards us. “I thought they would have killed you in the lair, but when I heard you managed to squeeze by them, I just had to come and intercept you.”
“How did you get out here so quickly?” I asked him in an attempt to stall. I needed time to think of a plan.
“Well now, that’s the advantage of having helped build these tunnels.” Grath stopped about five feet away. “I know all of the ways in and out. The one you picked was very long, and the one I picked was very short.”
“Can I tear the girl’s head off?” Rose asked with a crooked smile. She was gazing at Jamie with a glassy look.
“Be patient, Rose,” Grath snapped at her. Then, he looked back at me. “Now, where were we?”
The Jagers all crouched down, waiting for Grath’s order of attack.
“Are you sure you want to kill us?” I asked him. I still couldn’t think of a way out, and Grath was usually easily delayed. He was so arrogant that he wouldn’t just kill us and get it over with.
“Of course I am!” Grath yelled at me. “Now kill them!”
The fifteen Jagers formed up around us again, this time moving faster. But just as they were about to pounce, there was a loud bang to our left. Every eye fell on a single Dahmshed standing in a fading cloud of smoke. He was a very tall, skinny man that looked about the age of twenty-five. He wore thin jeans and a black t-shirt with the sleeves purposely ripped off to form a tank top. His hair was styled into a Mohawk with the tips dyed green. I recognized him immediately as Lily and Dane’s son, Cato.
“What’s up, everybody?” He waved at us. “Are you ready for a fun time?”
With another puff of smoke he was gone.
“What is this insolence?” Grath cried. “Somebody kill him!”
The Jagers looked confused. If they followed Grath’s new orders, we would be left to escape, but if they didn’t, Grath would probably send them all to one of the disposal rooms to be burned.
Before any of them could make a decision, there was another bang and cloud of smoke. This time, the smoke covered Grath and Rose, making them completely blind to the scene that was now unfolding. Four Dahmshed jumped into view and killed the five Jagers that Grath and Rose had brought with them. Each of the four threw something into the air, and multiple explosions erupted from behind us. I turned to see that the other ten Jagers had vanished into a very large cloud of smoke.
“Elliot, let’s go!” I heard Lily call from the other group. They ran toward the buildings, and we followed immediately. I saw them throw more things behind us and looked to see that the street had become completely engulfed with grey smoke. Grath, Rose, and the rest of the Jagers wouldn’t be able to find us now.
“Everyone in here, quick.” Dane was motioning us to enter a manhole. I jumped in and Dane followed close behind.
It didn’t take long for Lily to open the next manhole for our exit. We came up on the street where we had first met the odd family. They rushed us into their home where we all sat down at a large table in what used to be a kitchen. The rest of the building was broken-down and boarded up. The windows were smashed, the stairs had collapsed, and buckets were placed around every room to collect water when it rained. All of the buckets were full and overflowing.
“Do they know where you live?” Jamie asked after a few seconds.
“If they did, we would have been killed long ago.” Dane smiled lightly.
“How did you find us?” Matt asked next.
“When we didn’t see you come back, we started to worry,” Cato’s twin sister Coby explained. She looked just like him, except for her hair; it was bright pink and barely reached her neck. “We waited for a while, and I guess it paid off. You guys would’ve been killed.”
“I don’t think we can thank you enough.” I gave them all a wide smile.
“No need for thanks.” Dane patted my shoulder. “We’re always glad to help out a friend in need.”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” JD spoke after a few seconds of silence. “But, we really need to be going.”
“Oh, yes!” I stood up suddenly. “I’m so sorry we keep running out on you, but this is a matter of the utmost importance.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Cato asked, as he jumped up to sit on the kitchen counter. “We’d be very happy to.”
Before I could reply to his offer, there was a loud crash from outside the building. We all rushed to the window and saw that ten Jagers had just smashed in the door to the building across the street.
“How did they find us?” Jamie asked tensely.
“I have no idea,” Lily replied. “We’re going to have to leave, though.”
She turned to her family, and they all exchanged looks of disappointment.
“This is our fault,” I told them. “Why don’t you come back to the marina with us? You’ll all be safe, and I’d like to talk to you about something, anyway.”
“That’s very generous.” Dane smiled at me. “Are you sure you’ll have room for all four of us?”
“Of course we will. I’m just very sorry you have to leave your home.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Dane patted me on the shoulder again. “We’d much rather be with you than here where the Jagers are so close to us.”
“Then, it’s settled.” I walked back over to the table. “Grab what you need to bring with you, and we’ll leave immediately.”
Chapter 17
Delusions
Jason-
The inside of the house was just as horrible as the outside. It creaked and moaned with every small breeze that blew past and seemed to hold the freezing temperature from outside. It smelled of rotting flesh, making me sick to my stomach. I was tied to a c
hair in the front hall of the house. It was dark now that the moon had been covered by clouds again, and the boarded-up windows let in no extra light. However, I could still see the chaotic remains of the evil house. There was a torn sofa with one of its legs missing, a dining table with every other chair knocked to the floor, and bits of clutter that led to a kitchen door that had its top hinges ripped from the wall. To the left of the kitchen was a flight of stairs that went up to the second floor.
I had been alone, and very cold, for a while in the scary house. I knew that two men had been stationed out front when Caleb and Chase left me. I didn’t know where they were going, but Caleb had told me they’d only be gone for a short time. It had been hours since then, and I was beginning to think they’d never come back. I didn’t know if that would be a good or bad thing, but if something didn’t happen soon, I would freeze to death. I couldn’t feel my hands or feet, and my face was burning in the icy air. My heart rate had slowed, and my body was shaking uncontrollably. If I didn’t try to get myself out, I’d probably die of hypothermia. My mind was becoming foggy, and I was having trouble forming complete thoughts.
As I looked around the room for something that would be able cut through the ropes that bound me to the chair, I began to feel considerably warmer. It was nice, like someone had put a heater right beside me. After being cold for so long, I was able to sit back and close my eyes in the newfound heat that was warming my body up to its regular temperature.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash. It came from directly in front of me, but when I opened my eyes, nothing was there. I scanned the room, looking in every direction for the source of the noise, yet the entire house seemed to be empty. There was no movement, and it was quieter than it had been all night.
As I looked up to the second floor balcony, I finally saw movement in my peripheral vision. I whipped my head forward to see Aderes standing a few feet from where I sat. Her hood was down, revealing her beautiful, black stare that came from the dark abyss of her eyes. She didn’t move toward me; she just stood there like a lifeless statue.
“Hello, Jason,” she spoke suddenly in her soothing voice.
“Can you untie me?” I asked. My own voice was raspy and my throat was sore. “My wrists hurt.”
“I can’t, Jason, I’m sorry.” I looked at her curiously. She stared back with the same lifeless expression.
“Why can’t you? Is there something wrong?” My voice was becoming stronger with every word I spoke.
“There is, Jason.” She smiled at me with her long canines. “I have to alter you.”
“What?” I couldn’t think of anything to say. There was no way to respond to that.
“I said, I have to alter you, Jason. It’s the only way.”
“But, you told me that you wouldn’t…”
“Forget what I told you!” she snapped back at me, interrupting my sentence. “You’re becoming too troublesome.”
“Aderes, what’s going on with you?”
“Think about it, Jason.” She broke her frozen posture and walked toward me, placing each of her hands on my shoulders. “If you were a Dahmshed right now, you wouldn’t be cold.”
“I’m not cold.” As I spoke I realized something. “You made me warmer, didn’t you?”
“Not yet, but I will now.” She began to wrap me in a blanket that I had not seen her carrying. Again, I became increasingly warmer.
“Thank you.” I smiled at her.
“You’re welcome.” She patted me on the forehead and took a few steps back. “Are you ready?”
“For what?” I questioned her.
“To be altered.”
“This is no time to joke, Aderes.” I tried to pull my hands out of the ropes so I could stand up. “Just get me out of here.”
“If you were a Dahmshed, you could break those ropes in less than a second. In fact, if you were a Dahmshed, you wouldn’t even be here.”
“I don’t want to be a Dahmshed!” I yelled at her. “Now get me out of here!”
“It’s not up to you anymore.” She reached out and brushed her hand across my cheek. “I’m altering you now whether you want to be altered or not.”
“Aderes, please stop, you’re scaring me.”
“I don’t want to scare you. I’m just doing what has to be done.” Aderes leaned in and placed her cold lips over my jugular. “It would have happened eventually, but I say the sooner the better.”
I closed my eyes tightly, waiting for the pain of her teeth in my neck, but nothing happened. Seconds flew by, and I still felt nothing. I opened one eye at a time and found that I was now alone in the cold. There was no blanket over me anymore, either; yet, I still felt warm.
“Aderes?!” I called out. My voice echoed around the walls but there was no answer.
I called for her again, but the only response I received was a “shut up” from one the Rogues guarding the front door. Aderes had not been here at all; I had imagined the whole thing. The hypothermia was making me hallucinate, and pretty soon I’d be unconscious. If I didn’t find a way to get warm, there would be no hope.
With my mind whirling, I tried to find some way to escape the ropes that bound my wrists. I had been pulling on them ever since I saw Aderes appear, but without being able to feel anything from the elbow down I couldn’t tell if I had made any progress. I was growing very tired, but I knew that if I fell asleep I wouldn’t wake up, so I concentrated on breaking free. I tugged and pulled at the ropes as I looked around the room, now even more unnerved.
Then, miraculously, the clouds opened up, and the moon’s light was reflected off of a shard of glass that was still in one of the windows. It was only a few feet from where I sat, so all I had to do was shuffle my feet and slide the chair over to the window. I moved as fast as I could, which was a difficult task with my legs being completely numb. Luckily they weren’t bound like my wrists, or I never would have made it to the windowsill.
I backed up to the small piece of glass and blindly fumbled for it with my hands. I felt a very faint tinge of pain on my right palm, but without being able to feel my hands, I couldn’t tell if it was from a tiny cut or a large gash. If it was the latter, at least the glass would be sharp enough to cut the rope. I ran the rope across the sharp edge of the shard, being careful not to push too forcefully so the glass wouldn’t break from the windowsill. With only three swipes at the glass, I could hear ropes tearing. Five more, and my arms were already burning in pain. The cold was making my muscles weak, and if the ropes didn’t break soon, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the constant swiping. I pushed on, though, and soon my wrists were free.
I took a few seconds to give my arms a rest and catch my breath before trying to stand. I checked my hand, which had a very large slash right down the middle of the palm. Luckily, I couldn’t feel the pain; it would have been excruciating. The urge to stay sitting in the chair was crippling. I was so tired, and I felt so warm that I wanted to lie down and sleep.
My first step was shaky, but not as bad as my second where I collapsed to the floor. My legs felt like Jell-O, and even if I did push myself back to my feet, I probably would have fallen again. All that was left to do was crawl. My arms were still tired from cutting the ropes, and from the elbow down, they felt as numb as my legs. The only way I could move forward was to throw my arms out and pull back by rotating my shoulders. This would have been a difficult task even if I had been in perfect health, but at that moment, it was nearly impossible.
I aimed for the kitchen door down the hallway, hoping that there would be some way out. There was always a back entrance to a house through the kitchen. Hopefully it wouldn’t be locked or boarded up, because I wouldn’t have the strength to break it down.
Lost in my jumbled thoughts, I hadn’t realized that I was heading straight for the stairwell until I suddenly cracked my head into the banister. The pain seemed to echo around my skull and come back full-force in rapid percussions. I shut my eyes tight and rested my head on my right ar
m.
I laid there for at least five minutes, death gaining ground with each second. My only hope was to push on, but my willpower was gone. Even if I escaped the cold house, I had no idea where I was or how far I would have to crawl before I found something to keep me warm. The Rogues must have planned for me to die this way, cold and alone. It seemed like something Chase would do after being tortured by Vlad. He would never be able to get his revenge on a Dahmshed, so he must have decided to take his anger out on me.
I opened my eyes when a sudden crash interrupted my thoughts. My head seemed too heavy to lift, so I just lay there waiting for whatever would happen next. But what happened next was something I’d never have expected. Falko’s rugged voice addressed me from across the room. It was cold and uncaring, like he didn’t realize that I was freezing to death. His words also seemed to float by, making me replay each one in my head so that I could understand.
“Let me see it, Jason.” His demand was confusing. I didn’t know what he was talking about, and my mind was already so foggy that it made it even harder to comprehend.
“What?” I croaked. My throat had become hard, making it almost impossible to talk.
“I said, let me see it!” I was surprised he knew that I had even talked at all, never mind knew what I had said. “It’s on your foot, isn’t it?”
I felt a pressure around my ankle, and my body slid across the floor. Even though my feet were numb, I could still feel the freezing air hit them as Falko ripped off both of my shoes. After a second, he dropped my left ankle, but he still clutched my right in his iron grip.
“This is truly amazing,” Falko said quietly. “It’s too bad I’m going to have to kill you. It would be much too great a risk to try to train you myself. Just look what happened to Aderes.”
He dropped my foot and walked around to my side. I began to back away into the kitchen. Falko’s presence seemed to give me what I needed to move. The adrenaline created from my fear of him made me forget the burning in my muscles. I watched Falko follow me slowly into the next room, his black eyes gazing down at me.
Descendant: The Protector (The Descendant Series) Page 24
