AIR Series Box Set

by Amanda Booloodian

  "Not yet. The locals are working with someone from the sorority. Vincent and Rider are on their way. We have another team en route as well," Hank responded.

  I put my hand out in a gesture to stop one of the girls. Thankfully, she was one of the few that weren't freaking out.

  "Do you know how many others are up here?"

  She shook her head.

  "Felicity, have you seen her?"

  "She was in her room."

  "Thank you. Backdoor, straight outside. There's someone there to help."

  She ran off.

  Closing my eyes, I concentrated as hard as I could, stretching my mind, but there was nothing, only darkness.

  Frustrated, I looked around and saw that Logan was already standing outside of Felicity's room.

  "Hank, we need the backyard cleared of civilians. We gotta get our guys back there," Logan said. "We also need a fast and thorough check of the first floor. Get in and get out, unless they're ours."

  I joined Logan by the door.

  "Four locals will be clearing the first floor. Rider's in the back, and Vincent's on his way inside," Hank said.

  "Entering," Logan said.

  My heart threatened to hammer out of my chest as Logan held up fingers to count down. He was focused on the door.

  Holding up a balled up fist for zero, he kicked the door in. After a quick glance in the room, I entered, concentrating on one side and trusting Logan to cover the other.

  Felicity was sitting on a bed in the small room. She looked like she had been crying at one point, but now she looked more ticked off than distressed. The room was a disaster, and it was steadily growing worse. Logan had his gun trained on a closet. Clothes, shoes, and everything else was being tossed onto the floor.

  "Hands up and come out," Logan said.

  The closet exploration didn't stop.

  You know as well as I that we would not hurt an Other if it can be avoided.

  "Logan, get back!"

  We know their pain. We caused them much pain.

  Logan took a step away. "What is it?"

  "It's him." I moved across the room to Felicity and held out my hand to her. She jumped up, took my hand, and positioned herself behind me.

  Logan's features began to contort. Both ears were at their points and his face stretched to become more jagged.

  "Felicity," I kept hold of her hand and made sure that I was always between her and Einar, "stay behind me. When you reach the hall, go straight for the central staircase. It's closest. We have someone downstairs that can help."

  "Vincent will meet her at the stairs," Hank said through my earpiece.

  "His name is Vincent. He'll make sure you get outside. Talk to no police officers. Other AIR agents will help. Are you good with that?" I asked.

  "Yeah, I'm good," Felicity said.

  We made it out the door and I watched as Felicity dashed towards the staircase. Once she was out of sight, I entered the room again. My arms were screaming in protest from the weight of my gun, but I wasn't about to let it go.

  "Hands up and back out of the closet," Logan said again.

  The flurry of activity in the closet stopped and Einar came out. He paid Logan little attention.

  "Put your hands up!" Logan hissed. His voice was almost as alien as his appearance.

  I struggled not to look at him. When an elf let his true appearance show it brought out a chilling fear that tried to override everything else.

  I will assist you shortly.

  Gooseflesh broke out on my arms. "What's that supposed to mean?"

  An end to your suffering.

  My step back was involuntary.

  "Is he talking?" Logan asked.

  My creators thought allowing me to speak would be a mistake. Now they do not know why they must die.

  "Why who must die?"

  The creators. Those responsible for the travesty that is our existence.

  Einar was looking around the room. When he turned his back to Logan, the elf took his chance and tried to grapple Einar's arms from behind.

  There was a deep sigh from Einar before he turned, picked up Logan, and then tossed him effortlessly into a wall.

  Logan hit with enough power that the drywall buckled.

  There is nothing here to explain.

  "Explain what? Why are you hurting people?"

  Not the people. Those in charge. Einar appeared downcast. Then he turned his face to me. They allowed you to speak. His resentment was tinged with disgust, and he took a step towards me.

  "No one allows me to do anything. I speak because I want to speak."

  This seemed to stop Einar. Explain.

  "Explain what?"

  He took another step towards me.

  "Come any closer and I will shoot," I said.

  Logan hurled himself at Einar. When the pale man reached out, Logan dodged under his arm, brought one arm against Einar's throat, and using his other arm as leverage, started to squeeze.

  I do not wish to hurt him, but he leaves me little choice.

  Einar twisted around with incredible speed, breaking Logan's hold. As if Logan were a rag doll, he slung Logan out the door where I heard the elf make full contact with the opposite wall.

  Then Einar rushed at me. I fired three shots, which made Einar screech in my head, but it didn't slow him down.

  You will tell him that I wish to harm no Others.

  The words reached my mind as Einar seized my arms. I fired until my gun was empty.

  "Let her go." Behind Einar, Logan gripped the doorframe. He looked ready to jump back into the fight.

  I do not understand. The Others fight with you and not against. Einar's features didn't change, but the confusion was evident.

  Trying to reach for the Path was a struggle that got me nowhere. I didn't know what Logan could do against Einar. I didn't know what any of us could do against him.

  I am not done here.

  The movement was so slight, yet so fast that my brain had trouble catching up with what was happening. My feet left the ground as Einar threw me straight into the window. When his hands left me, my back struck the glass. I might not have gone through, but Einar had launched himself after me. Our combined weight hit the window and it shattered.

  When I slammed into the tar tiles of the roof outside the window, I skidded down them. Einar loomed over me, standing on the roof, but I was sliding away. As I reached the edge I made a panicked grasp at the gutter, which slowed my fall, but gravity quickly dragged me down and I took the gutter with me.

  I hit the ground, back first, and all the air was knocked out of my lungs. There was noise above me on the roof and yells from ground level. More shots rang out.

  My lungs burned as I struggled to breathe. Logan flew off the roof. I strived to move as the first ragged breaths of air returned to my body, but my arms collapsed when I tried to leverage myself up. In the air, Logan twisted like a cat and landed on his feet. He hit the ground not far away from me and turned to aim.

  Clutching at my chest, I tried to roll over and get my gun. My injuries caught up with me and pain lanced through my body, almost taking my breath away again.

  Logan glanced at me, but he didn't need the distraction. Einar was the priority, so I waved a hand at Logan indicating he should get moving. Logan ran off while giving orders through the comms.

  Lying on the ground, I stared up at the sky for a few moments, trying to bury the agony that seemed to scream from everywhere at once. My biggest issue was the fact that the Path hadn't opened. It put my partner and me at risk each time I tried and failed.

  A shadow fell over me as Vincent knelt on the ground next to me. His eyes were slate black and his face tense.

  Gritting my teeth, I pushed myself up. "Logan went that way."

  "Did you hit your head?" Vincent started probing.

  "Ouch. What are you doing?" I shoved his hands away.

  The flash of anger from Vincent nearly bowled me over. I was grateful that it did
n't stick around.

  "I'm fine. Bumps and bruises. Go!"

  Vincent balled up his fists.

  "Here." I dug around in my pocket and took out a comms unit. "I'll let you know if I need anything."

  "Dammit," Vincent said under his breath. He turned on the comms unit, gave me one last look over, and then ran off.

  Sitting up wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but there was no way I was going to lie back down on the ground. I looked in the direction the others had disappeared. Sound was coming in and out on my comms, so I was having a hard time figuring out what was going on.

  Grimacing, I picked up my gun and then forced myself to my feet. I released the magazine and stowed it in my pocket before taking out another, sliding it home, and then chambering a round. Guns seemed useless against Einar, but it made me feel marginally better to have at least some weapon in hand.

  The decision not to follow the others was an internal struggle. The need to help was battling with the understanding that I was a liability in my condition.

  "Are you hurt?"

  Jumping, I turned and almost stumbled over. It wasn't one of my finer moments, and it was made worse by the fact that I stood face-to-face with Ethan.

  "Oh, uh, yeah." I could feel the heat rising to my face.

  Ethan shook his head. "You're bleeding."

  I rolled my eyes, tugged out my useless comms unit, and then dug around my pocket to find the last one. Twisting it, I could finally catch up to what the others were doing.

  Logan was issuing orders, but it didn't take long to discover that they lost sight of Einar.

  "Hank, my comms are sketchy. Does someone have Felicity?" I asked.

  "She's on her way to the Farm," Hank said. "Satellite will be available in three minutes."

  I muted my comms and turned back to Ethan. "Has the house been cleared?"

  "It's empty and everyone has been accounted for," Ethan said. "Interviews are being conducted, but no one really saw much of anything. No injuries reported beyond you and Logan."

  "Did Logan look hurt?" I stared in the direction he had disappeared as though I could see through the buildings and find him.

  "He looked like he'd been tossed around." Ethan looked uncomfortable. "Logan, um... His face? And ears..."

  "Crap." I thumbed my comms on again. "Hank, remind Logan he elfed out."

  "Got it," Hank said.

  Ethan looked around before dropping his voice. "Elfed out?"

  "Yep." I holstered my gun and didn't offer any further explanation.

  "And Vincent's eyes, they were... I mean they looked..."

  "Black. Yes."

  "And Rider? The tracking or whatever he does?" Ethan asked.

  "He's good at it." I crossed my arms and tried to hold back my hostility. My anger shouldn’t have been directly aimed at Ethan, but my partners were gone and I was feeling useless. His timing wasn’t great.

  "He growled at me."

  "Don't aggravate a werewolf." I tried to shrug as though the answer should have been obvious, but the gesture sent a jolt of pain up one arm.

  Ethan opened his mouth and shut it again. It was vindictive, but I enjoyed watching him struggle with that one.

  "And you..."

  "I told you about me. You wanted time." I glared at him as my anger rose.

  "You took me by surprise," Ethan said.

  He looked repentant, but I wasn't giving him an easy out. "And today, here you are jumping in with both feet."

  Ethan ran a hand through his hair. "Look, you're still bleeding. Let's at least find a medic."

  My arms did appear to be oozing. "I scratched myself on the roof tiles."

  "How's your back?" Ethan asked.

  "It was already bruised."

  I held a finger up to stall Ethan's next question and listened to Logan through the earpiece. "They still haven't found him," I said.

  "What can we do to help?" Ethan asked.

  He sounded as relieved at the change of conversation as I was and for the first time that day, I liked the way he thought.

  Closing my eyes, I reached out to the Path. I wavered on the precipice before my mind finally decided to make the jump.

  I un-muted the comms for a moment. "Hank, let Logan know I'm reading and moving his way."

  "Passing it on now," Hank replied.

  Chapter 18

  The inky Path on the roof was out of place in the brightness of the midday sun.

  "Hold up," Ethan said.

  I didn't look at him, but kept my eyes on the dark cloud of the Path. If there was any doubt that it was Einar that left the Paths at the other murders, this put the issue to rest.

  "What is it?" I asked, continuing to follow the trail from the ground.

  "Put this on," Ethan said.

  He slid a jacket it onto my shoulders.

  "It’s really warm out. I’m not cold," I said.

  "No, but you are covered in blood. I'm pretty sure standing out isn't what you had in mind."

  "Oh, thanks," I said, turning to him.

  It was the first time I had done more than take a glimpse of his Path since we started to see each other. His core was swirling with color and it rippled away from him in waves. Warm oranges were wrapped in blue and they reached out to me, wanting me to know that he cared. Uncertain greens and browns chased each other around as though he wasn't sure if he should follow his own instincts. There were dark smudges and signs of other emotions that flared up. It was fascinating to see that the dominant oranges and blues threw off golden sparks as they worked to overpower the rest.

  "Something wrong?" he asked.

  "Oh, no." I wrenched my eyes away. "Sorry."

  I looked around and picked up Einar's trail from where he jumped off the roof.

  "Can they hear us?" Ethan asked. "On your microphone I mean?"

  "Only when it's not muted." I followed close to the black cloud, once again feeling the urge to reach into its depths even though the thought made my skin crawl. "We're muted now. The others have split up to search the area."

  We left the sorority house property and started to move away from campus.

  "That's good to know," Ethan said.

  "You don't have to follow me," I said.

  "That's funny. I think the others might disagree."

  That made me crack a smile. "They might at that."

  "Pretend they're here now. What would your partners want me to know while following you around?"

  "Make sure I don't get lost?" I suggested. "And make sure I don't wander into the street and get hit by a car or something."

  "I can manage that," Ethan said.

  We walked without talking for a while. Ethan was especially wary when we approached a busy intersection, worried that I might actually walk out in front of a car.

  Ethan took a phone call. My inclination was to snoop and listen in, but this time I didn't pay much attention, staying intent on the Path. The call was followed by giving instructions through his radio.

  When we entered a park, the hustle and bustle of the busy campus and surrounding streets faded away. The Path itself was lighter, and I felt some tension fall away.

  "If I talk, will it distract you?" Ethan asked.

  I shrugged. "That probably depends on what you say."

  He seemed to mull that over. "Fair enough."

  When he was quiet again, my curiosity became piqued. "What did you want to talk about?"

  Being deep in the Path, I could not only sense his anxiety, but also see and feel it fill the area.

  "I wanted to apologize for last night."

  I slowed and my grip on the Path wavered. "Oh." It was lame, but I couldn't think of anything to say.

  "But then I figured it wasn't the best time," Ethan said. "Maybe we can talk later?"

  "Um, yeah, maybe later." I picked up speed again while trying to drive thoughts of my personal life out of my mind.

  "Cassie." Hank's voice seemed farther away, but I'm sure the comm
s was still in my ear. "Logan's pulling back. Are you at the sorority house?"

  I started to talk, but then remembered the comms was muted. "No, I'll be a little while."

  "I'll relay the message." Hank didn't sound happy about it.

  "The others are meeting back at the house," I said.

  "Should we do the same?" Ethan asked.

  I shook my head. A part of me knew I could help if I followed a bit farther. Another part was telling me that was stupid and I had already done too much.

  Looking ahead, I tried to see how far the Path ran, but there appeared to be no end. Knowing I had to walk away made me feel worse than the pains that were radiating through my body. Still, I knew it had to be done.

  From experience, I knew that with the dense black cloud of Path beside me, I wouldn’t be able to stop reading. I tried anyway, but I didn't expend too much effort.

  "We need to move away from this Path." I peered closely at it one last time, watching the brilliant, waving strands of color, then turned my back to it and walked away.

  Ethan stuck beside me. He was quiet, but I could tell he was watching me carefully. I didn't know what he was looking for. Maybe he thought I was going to grow another head or something.

  When we reached a bench, I sat down to hide the fact that I was becoming unsteady on my feet. Hopefully I was far enough away.

  "The Path goes that way," I told Ethan, "but I don't see an end to it. I can't tell where he stopped or went."

  "Got it," Ethan said. "That's more than what we knew before."

  Nodding, I closed my eyes and thrust the Path away. The moment it was gone, my pain rammed home, back in full force, and I could feel myself sway. Gripping the bench stopped the swaying part.

  "How far away from the house are we?" I asked.

  "I'd say about a mile. Maybe a bit more."

  "Lovely," I muttered.

  "Should we go back?"

  "We should," the next part was like pulling teeth for me to admit, "but I need a few minutes."

  Ethan got another call. He answered, but then walked away to talk.

  Leaning my head back, I stared at the sky for a while. Puffy white clouds shifted across the blue backdrop. It was calming to watch. Ethan was still talking, so I closed my eyes and concentrated on feeling the warmth of the sun across my skin.