Crystal Fire

by Jordan Dane

  The last thing she remembered before everything went black was looking up into the faces of Oliver Blue and the Crystal child.

  Fiona knew she would die.

  15

  Outside Haven Hills Treatment Facility

  7:15 p.m.

  Gabriel stared down at the security badge with a key that he’d taken from the doctor’s purse to get them into Ward 8. He stared at her photo ID and name—Dr. Fiona Haugstad. She looked scholarly and refined in her photo, but that’s not how he would remember her.

  He gritted his teeth and slouched against a brick wall with his eyes on the Haven Hills facility below. He had laid out a plan for them to get into the hospital basement. Between Luke’s visions and Oliver’s sense memory, they had pieced a strategy together and spent the last two hours scoping out the facility for access.

  The others were waiting for him. He could see them in the shadows of the alley where he had first “met” Oliver. They stood next to his uncle’s Navigator and Dr. Fiona’s Mercedes. They’d stolen the doctor’s car to have an extra vehicle in case they needed room for kids they’d have to rescue from the ward. Gabe felt their eyes on him, but he had walked away to be alone. He was sure the others thought that whatever came next, they would cross a threshold in their fight for freedom, but Gabriel had already crossed that boundary.

  Are you okay? Kendra reached out to him. Luke had too, but he hadn’t responded to either of them.

  He still felt riddled with anger from his psychic assault of the woman. Violence of any kind carried a price. Even if the doctor deserved the same heartless treatment she had heaped onto innocent kids, that didn’t make him feel any better for doing the same to her.

  Gabe thought of Rayne’s brother when he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d proven Luke’s point on killing after the guy argued, “That would make me no better than them.” Not much separated him from the merciless doctor once his rage took over.

  But Gabriel had another reason for wanting to be alone—Oliver was still inside him. He’d retreated there again, after their confrontation with the doctor.

  I know you’re there. Why haven’t you left? he asked the Indigo boy.

  In truth, now that Oliver was stronger and not such a burden, he didn’t mind the company, especially after they’d shared what happened. Oliver was the only one who could truly understand the darkness that had seized his soul and still lingered. Rayne had seen him manifest his power from a distance, but Oliver had a unique front-row seat that left Gabriel with no secrets from him.

  What you did...to Dr. Fiona. I’d never felt anything like that. She helped me...become who I am now, Oliver told him.

  Gabe felt like shit. He wanted to hit something. After he took a deep breath, he shoved his hands into his jeans and stared into the night sky. Oliver only knew what he’d remembered of his experience with Dr. Fiona Haugstad. The mind often blocked terrible things or twisted them into something more tolerable. Oliver hadn’t seen his visions, the nightmares he and Lucas had endured. He hadn’t even seen his own torture at the hands of this vicious woman when she locked him into a sensory-deprivation helmet to see if he’d survive. The sick experiment of a soulless woman.

  She didn’t help you, Oliver. She tortured you.

  When Oliver fell silent inside him, until he almost didn’t feel him at all, Gabriel had to reach him, to make him understand.

  That helmet was Machiavellian, sick and depraved stuff. She wasn’t doing it to help you...or your girl.

  Oliver interrupted him.

  Caila isn’t my...girl.

  Despite the gravity of their situation, Gabriel had to smile and shake his head. Oliver denied Caila meant anything special to him, yet he’d insisted on keeping her in the dark on the secret meeting he had with Dr. Fiona. He had Caila pass on his message and do nothing more. He didn’t want to put the girl at risk or give the doctor something to torture out of her. Oliver clearly wanted to protect her. Gabe had sensed that and more.

  You protected her. You did the right thing. When we get to Ward 8, you’ll see what the Believers do to Indigos. You don’t have to believe me.

  When Gabriel glanced at the others standing at the SUV and the doctor’s Mercedes, he knew it was time to go.

  Now let’s get your body back...and find your girl.

  Gabe headed to the vehicles and muttered, “That’s something a guy doesn’t say every day.”

  * * *

  “What’s up with Gabriel?” Kendra paced the alley behind where they parked the Navigator and the doctor’s Mercedes. “Do you think he killed her? That doctor?”

  Rayne wanted to tell her no, but the truth was that she couldn’t be sure. Gabriel was complicated and the Indigos were about to break into Ward 8. No one knew what had happened at the doctor’s place and no one asked him. They only saw Gabe drive up in her Mercedes. He didn’t want to talk about it and Oliver was still in him. Rayne felt like shit that she couldn’t help him, but she had to trust Gabriel when he told her that he wanted to be alone...to think. He’d talk to her when he was ready.

  Kendra was complicated too. She looked wired and wouldn’t stand still, but Rayne suspected she had another reason for being wound tight.

  “I think...things are gonna get ugly. Gabriel is trying to spare us, but he won’t be able to. He’s just beginning to see that.” Rayne touched her arm to get her to stop and listen. “You still can’t sense Rafe here?”

  Kendra couldn’t look her in the eye. She only shook her head. When she stopped pacing like a crazy woman, she stared at the hospital.

  “The truth is...I think I’ve lost my gift. I used to hear Indigo voices through my garden, but I don’t feel other Indigos as much anymore,” Kendra told her. “God’s punishing me. I’m not worthy and Rafael is paying the price.”

  “What do you mean?” Rayne closed the gap between them and stroked her hair, but Kendra pulled away.

  “What if he’s in there and I can’t feel him? He can block me. He’s done it before, but what if I’m weak? I could be failing him. He could be in there and dying. Or maybe they killed him already.”

  Rayne heard the fragile break in her voice and knew she was crying.

  “We have to find him, Rayne. He’s got to be here. Even if I can’t sense him, if we don’t find him soon...” The girl broke down. “I can’t lose him. Not now.”

  “I know.”

  She didn’t know what else to say. Telling her that Everything will be okay or We’ll find him, you’ll see sounded like bullshit. Something personal had happened between Rafael and Kendra. She felt it every time she saw them together. Benny’s death had forged a bond between them, whether Kendra wanted to admit it or not. She only hoped the girl would get a chance to tell Rafe how she felt.

  Until that happened, all Rayne could do was hold Kendra while she cried over the things she may never get to say.

  7:20 p.m.

  “Okay, once more. Since Lucas has been inside and knows the layout, he’ll be our eyes and ears in the hospital,” Gabe told them. “Kendra will back him up outside. She’ll have the twins with her.”

  Luke had volunteered to be the first one in. He’d insisted on being the one to locate the right elevator that matched Oliver’s descriptions. Gabriel wasn’t sure he liked the idea of Rayne’s brother going back to the hospital that still caused his nightmares. It would be hard on him, plus the guy had been a patient and someone on staff might recognize him. But Lucas had promised not to take any undue risk and had worn one of Gabe’s hoodies to cover his face.

  Kendra would make a strong backup, but if things went to hell, Luke would have to rely on the Effin brothers and use their abilities the same way he had. As a Crystal child, Rayne’s brother could magnify what the twins could do, if he didn’t doubt his power.

  “If something doesn’t fee
l right, pull back and we’ll find another way,” Gabe said. “We’ll have forty minutes to locate Ward 8 and get in there. That’s when visiting hours will be over and access to the main floor will be closed to the public, but once we locate the ward, it won’t matter if the main floor gets shut down. We’ll find a way out, even if it’s the hard way. They won’t be expecting an uprising from kids drugged and locked away.”

  Gabriel stared into the faces of the Indigo family he had grown to love. They stood around him in a circle.

  “If anyone senses Rafael, we all want to hear about it,” he said. “Does everyone know what they’re supposed to do?”

  The Effin brothers looked up at him and smiled. Their white-blond hair shone blue under the moon. Kendra placed her hands on the boys’ shoulders. She knew the key role they would play and would keep them safe.

  Lucas was harder to read. He kept a poker face, but Gabe knew him well enough to know what he’d be thinking. The kid had heart and would do his part, even though he hated violence and wished he lived in a world where it wasn’t necessary. Despite his strong beliefs, he’d taken up the cause of these Indigos when he could’ve lived a proper life of privilege. He had a legal battle ahead of him, to regain control of the trust fund money set up by his dead parents. His older sister, Mia, had power of attorney now, but Luke could fight for his independence in court, as Rayne had done. The guy had options. Gabriel respected Luke’s choice to take a stand. He made doing the right thing look simple and easy, when it often amounted to an uphill scramble with unseen perils.

  Uncle Reginald winked at him with his usual charming smile. He looked dapper, dressed in a summer tweed suit, a bow tie and a Ripley newsboy cap in herringbone that made him look like an Oxford professor. All he lacked was a vintage Sherlock Holmes calabash smoking pipe. The man had opened his home—and his life—to these children. Now he risked everything to defend their right to live free. He could’ve refused their need for a safe haven or stayed at home and taken an easier path of apathy, but here he stood. Gabriel couldn’t have been more proud to call him blood.

  When his eyes glanced at Rayne, his heart filled with everything he felt for her. He wanted to protect her, but she had chosen to be here—alongside her brother and these children she now called family, as he had done. He loved her more than his own life.

  Looking into her eyes, he said what was in his heart.

  “The Believers see us as children. Let them dismiss us. Let them believe that we will act as children and run in fear when they show force. We will prove them wrong.” Gabriel shifted his gaze to Lucas. “Trust your gut and your Indigo heart to tell you what to do. It will be enough.”

  He put his hand in the center of the circle, and the others did too. When they all touched, and the blue auras melded into one, he said, “For Benny...and Rafael.”

  They bowed their heads in silence, and without prompting, the hive filled with images of the little ten-year-old they’d lost and the guy who had loved him like a brother. It was as if Benny and Rafe were with them now. The Effin twins never said much aloud, but they didn’t hide their tears now. They’d lost their best friend and the boy who had replaced him in their hearts, Rafael.

  Gabe noticed that Kendra wore two infinity bracelets, hers and the one that Rafael had left behind on Benny’s grave. Benny had been buried with the third one. Rafael had meant those infinity bracelets for the family he always wished he had. Gabriel understood what it meant to lose everything.

  They were ready, as they ever would be.

  “Let’s go.”

  Gabe gripped Dr. Fiona’s ID badge in his hand as he headed off into the darkness with the others. He didn’t feel Rafael in this place. Kendra had told him that she didn’t either. If Rafe wasn’t here—dead or alive—they’d have to keep searching. But for Benny, they would take the first step in shutting down Ward 8.

  Rafael would’ve liked that.

  Outside Haven Hills Treatment Facility

  Lucas had been inside ten minutes. Using binoculars, Kendra had a good view of the rear entrance of Haven Hills from a grassy knoll, a landscaped fringe of the hospital parking lot located near a garage loading bay. She and the Effin brothers would be only steps away if Lucas got into trouble.

  She watched for any signs of danger and kept an eye out for uniformed security, something to do while she slowly went crazy with worry. Kendra felt every second ticking down until visiting hours would be over. They’d purposefully picked the timing, even though it would be tight. At the end of visiting hours, they could be in the building without drawing attention, while security staff would be distracted by making sure visitors left and the hospital was secure again. But if they didn’t find the right elevator, they’d lose their window of time to get into Ward 8.

  What’s happening, Luke?

  When he didn’t answer right away, she glanced over her shoulder to the Effin twins. They looked anxious too.

  I sense more Indigos here, somewhere inside, but I can’t pick out one voice. It could be that they’re drugged like Lucas was. Kendra sent a message to the twins and the hive before she directed her next thought to Lucas.

  Talk to me, Luke. Tell me something.

  I’m here. Gimme a sec.

  They’d lost two more minutes. Kendra shut her eyes and listened hard, praying Lucas would come through. She had a bad feeling and it had to do with Oliver. Rafael’s life hung on Oliver.

  They had to do this—now. That’s all she knew.

  I’ve hit three elevators to the basement, but none of them matched Oliver’s description of the turns and steps. I’m not feeling it either.

  Kendra felt the stress in Lucas’s message.

  Maybe there’s a private entrance down. If Ward 8 is secret, that could be an added security measure, she told him.

  Kendra thought more about what Oliver had told them.

  He said they brought him into a garage loading bay that had sliding doors into the building. This rear entrance is the only place that fits that description. It has to be right. Stick with it, Luke.

  Three more minutes went by.

  I’m down to the last two. I’m going as fast as I can, but it’s gonna be tight.

  Kendra looked at her watch. Visiting hours would soon be over.

  You got fifteen minutes, she told him. We’re coming in. We can’t get caught out here if they close the doors early.

  Kendra stood and brushed grass off her jeans and the twins before they headed for the rear entrance. She held the boys’ small hands as they walked toward the hospital. The last place she wanted them to be would be Haven Hills. It broke her heart to be the one to walk them through the door, but the Effin brothers had a unique gift that Gabriel knew how to maximize.

  Understood, Luke told her. Get to the gift shop. It’ll still be open. Gabriel is there.

  What about you?

  I’ll catch up. Don’t worry. Take care of the twins.

  Kendra didn’t like deviating from the plan, but she didn’t see any other way. When she saw a man in uniform standing at the door, she squeezed the hands of the twins and held them firm.

  “Visiting hours are almost over,” the guard said.

  “We’re just here to pick up my grandmother. She’s in the gift shop and needs a ride. We’ll be right out. Promise.” She smiled and the guy waved her on.

  She breathed a sigh of relief as they stepped through the glass doors, but when she heard the sound of a fast-moving vehicle behind her, she dared to glance over her shoulder.

  A dark van pulled up. It didn’t have windows or markings. Kendra tensed. She’d seen a van like it before—the first time she’d actually set eyes on Lucas—when a group of mercenaries had beat him into a concussion on the rooftop of a parking garage.

  Kendra rushed the boys inside and looked for the gift shop. She spotted it
right away, near a bank of escalators.

  You boys get to that store. She pointed. Look for Gabriel.

  After the twins nodded and left her, she hid behind a column and watched the van. Terrible images flashed through her mind as she waited to see who would get out. A bead of sweat trickled down the back of her neck and felt like unwanted fingers.

  Like a waking nightmare, Boelens jumped out from behind the driver’s seat, the leader of the Believers security. The man knew her and Lucas, and Gabriel too. He hated them enough to kill them on sight.

  “Oh God.”

  The twins would freak out if they saw the man again. They’d recognize the cruel mercenary, the guy who never blinked. One of the twins had been injured in the blast that had killed their best friend. It had taken the boys weeks to sleep through the night after Benny died. She’d held them in her arms when they cried. Fear like that shouldn’t be on a kid’s face...ever.

  Boelens had shattered their lives—and now it looked as if he would ruin everything.

  Kendra stuck around long enough to see that the mercenary didn’t have anyone else with him. He parked the van at the door and stopped to say something to the guard. Odds were that he was headed to Ward 8, but she couldn’t afford to let him see her. She could jeopardize everything by confronting him without knowing where the others were.

  She gritted her teeth and did the only thing her gut told her to do. She had to stick to the plan. Kendra ran for the gift shop to stay with the Effin brothers and she warned the hive by letting them hear the message she sent to Luke.

  Lucas, watch your back. Boelens pulled up in a van. If he heads for Ward 8, we’re screwed. When she didn’t hear from him, she sent Luke another message.

  Lucas, did you hear me?

  He didn’t answer.

  16

  Haven Hills Treatment Facility

  7:55 p.m.

  Earlier in the evening, Dispatch interrupted his patrol assignment and sent Boelens a message to make a hospital run after visiting hours. They had no other explanation except that they would have a pickup by eight o’clock. The order had been issued during his dinner hour by Dr. Fiona Haugstad. If he got a message like that, it usually meant one thing.