Crystal Fire

by Jordan Dane

  “We’re not.” Gabriel locked his gaze on each of them. “We’re going straight through them. No more hiding. If they’re here for us, we’ll give them what they want.”

  The moment had come. No more drills and exercises. It was time to confront their enemy head-on.

  9

  Near Downtown L.A.

  Dusk

  Gabriel peered down from a ridge that overlooked the abandoned railroad tunnel. His vantage point had the cover of trees and thick brush to keep him and the others hidden. With his gift of second sight he felt the presence of the Believers, three men who stood in the way of their search for Rafael in the destroyed tunnels, the place the Indigos used to call home.

  He might’ve taken pity if these men were innocent pawns caught in the middle, but they weren’t. No matter what motivated them, money or religious beliefs, he had no mercy on anyone who would knowingly hurt children. In this place where the Believers had caused such destruction and the death of Benny, Gabriel felt justified in unleashing their growing abilities.

  These men were the enemy.

  “Lucas and Kendra, you’re with me. No more training exercises. Time to conjure a nightmare these men won’t forget,” he told them. When he turned to Rayne, he said, “You’ve got the keys to the Harley. We’ll create a diversion. When we do, take your ride and don’t look back. We’ll meet you at the SUV.”

  “But what if you need me?” she asked. “I could help.”

  Gabriel saw the fire in her eyes and knew he could count on her. Rayne had always shown a quiet strength. Even though she was only sixteen and didn’t have psychic powers, his brave girl had more guts than the cowards hiding below, but he needed her for something far more important.

  “If anything happens to us, you’ll be the only one left to warn my uncle. He’ll have to relocate the children. They won’t be safe if...we’re taken. If they have Rafe, we may not have a choice.”

  Kendra was the first to speak up.

  “Rafael would die before he’d say anything. He’s tough too.” When her resolve faded, she said, “Besides, he may already be dead.”

  “We don’t know that,” he said.

  From the look on Kendra’s face, she understood his concern. Uncle Reginald had talked about what might happen if any of them were abducted. They knew too much. No one would talk willingly—especially the grief-stricken and rebellious Rafael Santana—but what if the Believers had ways to force the truth? They had to know what happened to Rafe. If he was dead, they’d mourn him and give him a proper burial next to Benny, but if he was in the hands of the church, they’d have the safety of the children to worry about.

  Gabriel shifted his gaze to Rayne. “Once we stir things up, don’t...watch. Do what you have to do for the sake of the children. You’re our backup plan, a very necessary one,” he told her. After Rayne nodded and didn’t argue, Gabe said, “We’ve got to find out what might’ve happened to Rafael. We hit ’em hard, take a quick look round and then we leave. We won’t have much time. Everyone know what to do?”

  They nodded and waited for Gabriel to make the first move. When he stood, bathed in the fading light of the sunset, he didn’t bother to hide anymore. He started his climb down the hill near the shadowy entrance to the railroad tunnel.

  “Let’s do this.”

  It didn’t take long for him to feel Hellboy’s fierce kinetic energy jolt through him when his ghost dog broke through the barrier of his existence to join him. With Kendra and Lucas at his side, Gabe felt his connection to the Indigo collective grow stronger.

  “Don’t hold back, Lucas,” he said in a low voice. “Follow your instincts. Do it your way.”

  After Hellboy sensed the men hiding in the mounting darkness, the animal growled. Part wolf, the phantom dog gave in to his predator instincts and stalked his prey with ears perked and eyes alert, ready to attack. The blue shimmer of his body crept low and hovered next to Gabe.

  “Come on, boy. Hook me up,” he whispered, feeling a surge of power from Hellboy’s realm of the dead.

  Once Gabe reached the base of the slope, he headed straight for the tunnel entrance, ignoring the psychic push that warned him of danger. Two men cowered in the bushes and one remained in the shadows underground. Gabe felt the chill of the blue fire when it erupted over him. Shivers flooded his body, and a preternatural wind whipped through his hair. His breath turned to vapor from the cold. He felt the power of being connected to everything at once through the dog’s spirit.

  Now it was time for him to boost his transformation. Gabriel summoned the rage he felt toward his father, the man who had ruined his life. He fortified that anger with his enduring love for his mother, who had died protecting him from the man. The mix turned explosive.

  Gabe held on as long as he could. Containing such power amplified it tenfold. When he couldn’t restrain it anymore, he unleashed its fury and his consciousness splintered him into a million fragments. The sweet agony of straddling his world and Hellboy’s had come in a rush and blew him apart.

  After he shattered through the barrier between the living and the dead, he sensed a river’s rush of life forces sweep through him. Their light reflected off him as if he were made of crystalline. As he tapped in to other Indigo souls, they released their power to him and fueled his strength.

  Every trace of him vibrated and filled him until he heard a low hum that intensified. The sound of many voices. The clamor throttled the night air with a palpable feeling of dread. Something was coming. Even Lucas and Kendra turned to gape over their shoulders, searching the shadows. The drone of a menacing chainsaw grew louder and resonated a one-word warning to the men who lay in wait for them.

  Run!

  The deafening buzz manifested into a black swarm of bees. They blocked the dying sun and descended in a sinister cloud. Gabriel felt the hive’s consciousness as if it were his own and he knew he could control them. When he lifted his arms, the swarm swept aside and made a void to shield them. Where he pointed, the bees launched their assault.

  When one man stepped out from behind a tree and aimed a gun at them, Gabriel felt Kendra grow stronger.

  * * *

  Rayne crept through the trees and stayed low as she headed for her Harley. She had her keys. Once she got the signal from Gabriel, she’d hit the ignition and meet up with them later. Her part seemed simple enough, but when she heard the sound of a loud buzz, she had to do the one thing Gabriel asked her not to do.

  She watched.

  Lucas, Kendra and Gabe were meant to be the distraction she’d need to make her escape. If things went as planned, they’d rendezvous later. If not, she’d be on her own. Rayne came armed and understood how important her role would be. Someone had to think about the others, but hearing a swarm of bees amassing over them, she stopped. Rayne looked through the trees to see Gabriel, Lucas and Kendra confronting an armed man dressed in camo fatigues.

  Oh, please, God. Don’t let any of them die, she prayed.

  Gabe glared at the man, looking fierce and angry. She’d seen that expression before and it always scared her. How could such a remarkable and kindhearted boy morph into someone that intimidating? But when Kendra stepped in front of him and Lucas, she raised her hand at the armed man and something happened. The guy’s hand trembled and he couldn’t pull the trigger. Rayne saw him try. He dropped his weapon as if the gun burned his fingers.

  “Shoot. No prisoners,” the man yelled, and ran toward them.

  Rayne felt sick when another man raced from the bushes, holding an assault rifle on Lucas. In seconds, it could all be over.

  No, not Luke!

  * * *

  Because of Gabriel, Lucas got swept into the vortex of Indigo souls. Something took hold of him and he let it happen this time. He had to know what Gabe felt and what he believed.

  When a
big man in camo gear rushed from the trees and aimed an assault rifle at him, Lucas didn’t react as he would’ve done before. In another life he would’ve been afraid. Instead Luke trusted his gift and followed his Indigo instincts as Gabriel had taught him.

  He didn’t have to feel the same anger as Gabe to tap into his power. He radiated the light coming from inside Gabriel and drilled into the mind of his enemy to exploit his human frailty. With no mind shield to stop him, prying into the man’s past came in a flash. Luke got a glimmer of a dark memory and didn’t hesitate. He flung his arms out and hurled what he saw to plunge the man into his worst nightmare. He used a psychic push so extreme that it heaved the man off his feet and sent his weapon flying. The guy thrashed on the ground, flailing his arms and gasping for air in an all-consuming panic.

  Only Luke, and the guy under psychic assault, knew what he’d done.

  Lucas had read his mind and knew the man had awakened to countless bad dreams about drowning in a lake when he was a boy. He’d relived his near-death experience many times and it always sent him spiraling back to when he was a kid and couldn’t breathe or reach the surface. He’d drowned that day and would have died if someone hadn’t saved him.

  Imagining what that felt like hadn’t been hard for Luke.

  After Gabe played his prank, which left Luke splashing in the shallow edge of the high meadow pond on the Stewart Estate, it didn’t take much for him to summon a worse scenario and inflict that on the man. In another life Luke would have felt bad for what he’d done to a total stranger, but not today. Not after what the Believers had done to Benny and countless other children.

  Today for the first time, Luke felt...powerful. He felt stronger than his Indigo nature. He had a notion of what it meant to be a Crystal kid. Gabe and Kendra had been right about what he could do. When he released the man’s mind to let Gabriel’s bees do the rest, he grinned until he realized he’d only taken advantage of Gabe’s extraordinary gift.

  He had so much to learn without the luxury of time to do it. His psychic shove that sent a man into the murky waters of an imaginary lake paled in comparison to the real terror of the unmerciful bee attack. The insects swarmed the two screaming men. They rolled through the brush in agony with their hands covering their blotchy faces.

  But when Luke saw a third guy running from the darkness of the tunnels—and heard the Harley engine rev—he had to let go of his doubts and focus. Rayne was supposed to wait until they had control. Now the engine noise would draw the armed man’s attention to her.

  “Rayne.”

  * * *

  Rayne saw what she needed to do and did it. She had no one to ask and there was no time.

  The last man standing in their way had raced from inside the dark railroad tunnel to join the fight. She had faith in Gabe, Luke and Kendra, but if the man was more of a coward than the rest, he could retreat into the tunnels and set up an ambush in the dark or call for backup and bring more men.

  She’d had enough.

  Once the man cleared the tunnel entrance with enough distance, she revved the Harley, hit the gas and barreled through the underbrush to cut him off. After she came to a grinding halt, she spun the back tires and spewed gravel. The guy squinted and blocked the spray with his elbow. The distraction gave her time to pull her Glock and aim.

  “You came out for air, tunnel rat. Drop your weapon and don’t even think about going back in there.”

  Rayne glared at him and held her gun rock steady with adrenaline punching through her veins. The man blinked once and considered his options, but Gabe’s bees didn’t wait. After the guy got stung, he dropped his rifle and ran off with his loser buddies, wearing his share of bees. She doubted these men would want a round two after they tended to their swollen faces, but they couldn’t count on having much time.

  Lucas was the first to reach her. He didn’t look happy. “What were you thinking? You could have been hurt?”

  “Oh, and what were you doing? Playing it safe?”

  Still jacked with adrenaline, Rayne squared off with her brother, but regretted doing it. She was only glad they were okay. Kendra looked relieved that it was over for now, but when Rayne saw Gabriel, she had a hard time reading him. She holstered her weapon and turned off the Harley as he approached her.

  “We won’t have much time to search for Rafael,” Gabe said to the others without taking his eyes off her. “Let’s get to it.”

  Without a word, Lucas and Kendra shot her a sympathetic glance before they headed into the shadows. Rayne wanted to calm down and take a deep breath, but when she saw Gabe, she couldn’t move.

  * * *

  Gabriel waited for the others to get out of earshot and made use of his time by staring at her without saying a word. His beautiful eyes were a mix of emotions that she couldn’t figure out. She braced for what he would say.

  “You didn’t exactly follow the plan,” he said in a quiet even voice.

  She straddled the Harley with her fingers tight on the handlebars and said, “No, guess not.”

  Gabe stepped closer and brushed back a strand of her hair that had blown across her cheek in the evening breeze. The intimate whisper of his voice sent a rush of goose bumps over her skin.

  “I’d be a hypocrite if I asked you not to put your life in danger...when I can’t follow my own advice.”

  What he said surprised her. Rayne appreciated his honesty.

  “We’re in a fight that could cost us,” he said. “Playing it safe isn’t always an option, but that doesn’t mean we should embrace the dark side and go Rambo.”

  “Rambo... Seriously?”

  “The point is that I won’t lecture you, but you can’t stop me from worrying about you.”

  Gabriel pulled her into his arms and held her tight. He didn’t say anything and didn’t kiss her. His hug carried a different message that Rayne was only just beginning to understand. They were fighting for a better world, but until that happened, she had to trust her instincts and he did too—no matter what the cost.

  Blinking back tears, Rayne squeezed him harder. She didn’t want him to see how much it would kill her to lose him, not when she’d gotten him into the fight in the first place. God, please keep him safe.

  Haven Hills Treatment Facility

  Ward 8

  When Dr. Fiona looked through the wire-mesh window of Oliver’s cell, she saw him still asleep on the floor. That meant she wouldn’t have to bother with security guards. The boy was in no condition to be a threat to her safety.

  She had the library book and surveillance photo of the mystery Crystal child in her hands and couldn’t wait to see if Oliver could track him with a touch of his special gift. She had to see if sensory deprivation had enhanced this boy’s second sight.

  The exam room door shed light into the murky room as she entered. She flipped on the overhead light. He would need it.

  “Oliver?” She knelt by the boy and brushed her fingers through his hair. “It’s me, Dr. Fiona. You promised to help me, remember?”

  Oliver opened his eyes. When he saw her, he pushed off the floor and sat up. He didn’t say a word. His silence and the raw magnitude of his stare made her realize. His half-naked body and the intensity of his eyes up close made her uncomfortable. It reminded her that she was alone with him—locked in a cell with a boy she had tortured and lied to.

  She took a deep breath and held out what she had in her hands. The library book. “You help me find this boy and you’ll walk out of here. You have my promise.”

  What was one more lie?

  10

  Two hours later

  Rayne had hoped for more, but the search for Rafael at the old tunnels turned out to be a bust. Kendra didn’t sense his presence. They found nothing of him except for a broken liquor bottle that looked free of dust and smelled fresh, with
a brand label that Gabe recognized from his uncle’s stash.

  When Rayne saw the destruction again, it was an ominous reminder of what these kids had been through and the struggle that lay ahead. The Indigos’ fight to live free had become her fight and not just because of Lucas. It was the right thing to do. They all walked through the tunnels in silence—as if they were on sacred ground—remembering what had been lost because Benny had died here. She knew they couldn’t go home without trying harder to find Rafael. None of them would give up on him. They’d lost too much already.

  After they escaped the tunnels using a different exit strategy and returned to where they’d parked the SUV, Rayne felt down and none of them did much talking. Gabe was the first to bring up Rafe’s name.

  “Take heart, Kendra. At least we didn’t find Rafael’s body. That’s something. We must take hope where we can find it.” Gabriel put his hand on her shoulder. After she nodded, he shifted his gaze.

  “Where’s Ward 8, Lucas?”

  Luke looked surprised and more than a little disturbed by Gabe’s mention of the ward, the source of their connected visions. Rayne had seen her brother’s reaction before and hated that he’d always be tortured by his hospital nightmares.

  “Why? We can’t just walk in and look around.” With his voice raised, Lucas crossed his arms and leaned against the SUV. “Why would we want to go there?”

  Gabe stayed calm.

  “We don’t have to go in, exactly. If we can get Kendra close enough to sense if Rafe is there, we’d at least know more than we do now,” he reasoned. “So, tell us about Ward 8. Where is it?”

  When Lucas stared at his boots and hesitated giving an answer, his reaction surprised Rayne. She’d always assumed Ward 8 was part of the church hospital where Luke had been confined as a patient.