AIR Series Box Set

by Amanda Booloodian

  Boone glanced at Rider before moving his ever-roving gaze to his side of the hall. "How did you two get to be friends?"

  The way he said it made me think he knew what it meant to be friends with a werewolf.

  "It started after she shot me," Rider said.

  I nodded. "Then I yelled at you some."

  Rider nodded. "We spent that entire evening together and I saw who she was."

  "And I got to know him," I added, craning my neck to get a better look into the room beside me.

  "Without sparring," Rider said, sounding like he wanted to make that clear.

  "And then we went for a walk the next day or the day after," I said. "And we talked quite a bit."

  "Then we killed a fiend and she died," Rider said. "I was very sad when that happened."

  I vaguely remembered that as well, but kept my mouth shut.

  "But she pulled herself together and came back to life." Rider stopped and looked thoughtfully to me. "Yes, I think after that, we were friends."

  "You also joined AIR soon after," I said.

  "And I was no longer bored," Rider said.

  "Yeah," Boone said. "I could see how being friends with Cassie wouldn't be boring."

  I rolled my eyes. "I'm happy I can entertain you both. How close do you think we are, Rider?"

  He stopped and looked at the space between us. "Five feet."

  "Huh," Boone chuckled.

  "I mean to who we're tracking," I said patiently.

  "Oh, we are hours behind," Rider said, moving on. "Are you able to see traces of his passing?"

  "Not yet." I tried very hard not to sound depressed over this fact. "I think I suck pretty bad at this now. A few hours is too long ago for me to see anything."

  Rider nodded and entered an office. He walked around in a circle before exiting again.

  "Was he using that office?" I asked.

  "Yes." Rider quickened his pace. "He had a new smell, so he changed again."

  "So you know which smell is his now?" I asked.

  "I do," Rider said.

  "Then we can pick him out of a group of others," I said.

  "We will definitely be able to spot him. I think he will look like me," Rider said.

  "He wouldn't go after anyone else, though, would he?" The thought of a fake Rider tricking Vincent or Logan made my stomach clench. "I mean, we're all here. There's no reason for him to attack anyone else. Right?"

  "I think it depends on what his goal is now," Boone said.

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "If his goal is to get out, I would think he would turn himself into Kyrian and order the lockdown over," Boone said. "Did he turn into Rider to get closer to the director to take her out of the picture?"

  "I guess that's feasible," I said.

  "Or, would he turn into Rider to get closer to Vincent or Logan," Boone continued, "in the hopes that one of us would turn ourselves over in exchange for your friends."

  Rider began to jog when we entered the next stairwell.

  "There's no way he would be able to take Logan or Vincent," I said. "He'd have to knock them out before he touched them." That was something I was fairly certain of. There was a reason Kyrian had sent Vincent and Logan to clear the building. They could take care of themselves.

  Rider dashed up the stairs, his long legs propelling him up much faster than I could.

  "Maybe him turning into Rider would confuse people enough to get an advantage," Boone said.

  "Maybe," I conceded.

  Above us, Rider crashed his way out of the staircase and into the top floor of the building.

  "If a changeling turns into someone, they can't clone their powers, can they?" I tried to get my legs to move faster to catch up. "I mean, when he changed into Vincent he couldn't steal souls. If he could have, he wouldn't have resorted to other methods."

  "No." Boone held out his arm when we reached the landing. "It's only a physical change."

  "But a werewolf's power is physical, isn't it?" I asked, thinking it through. "Logan's too. Their strength is physical."

  Boone gestured for me to wait while he peeked into the hallway. Apparently satisfied, he motioned me forward. Since Rider had been there moments before, I had no problem following his Path. As I did, another one began to take shape.

  "That's true," Boone said. "A changeling turning into a Walker only gives him the advantage of the fear others have in Walkers. As a werewolf or an elf, he'd have their strength."

  I dashed around the corner, and before I could react, Rider slammed into me and we both fell to the floor. My ribs protested, but I tried to ignore the pain. When I looked up Rider, a second Rider ran toward us.

  The Rider, which had fallen over me jumped to his feet. He charged and the two clashed a few feet away. I had to scramble back against a wall to avoid the fight.

  "Which is which?" Boone called from the other side of the dueling pair.

  I stared at the two fighting werewolves for a short time. Their Paths sold them out. "The one closest to you is Rider."

  A growl issued from Rider, my Rider, and an eerie hush fell over the hallway. The noise was one which could cause any warrior to fear the darkness. Shadows crept up and the changeling hesitated.

  That gave Rider the upper hand. Not taking any chances, or any extra time, Rider drove the changeling to the ground.

  Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. The changeling started to change shape, and in moments, something that looked only vaguely like Rider was there, but what Rider would be if he had been pumping up on steroids. He issued a growl of his own. Nothing like the noise that brought instinctual fear out from everyone in the room, but one of frustration. He shoved Rider off him and jumped to his feet.

  He looked up and went for the softest target.

  Me.

  Rider grabbed his foot and tripped him up, and the changeling fell to the ground.

  I scrambled farther away. My heart raced and I struggled to bring more of the Path to my aid. The changeling kicked Rider squarely in the face, but Rider didn't let loose.

  Behind Boone, Logan and Vincent came running around the corner, guns in hand—rifles this time. It didn't take long to see who was who in this mess, but to hit the changeling might mean hitting Rider.

  "Back up," Vincent yelled.

  The fake Rider tried to make another lunge and I ran further away.

  The Path wasn't getting any stronger. My soul was the issue. I knew that calm smoothness held back the tide of the Path. When I pushed into my soul, it felt like a sponge. It moved and rippled where I tried to shove it out of the way.

  Rider was on his feet now. In fact, both Riders were. My Rider had the changeling slammed against the wall, but once again, that put him in the way. Vincent and Logan were training their aim, but neither took a shot.

  The hulking fake twisted Rider's arm. The crunching snap made me cringe. My hand flew to my mouth and internally I started to beat frantically against my own soul.

  Rider wasn't done, but he should have been. He should have fallen back, but he gave one last dark growl and tried to push the beast to the floor once again.

  It didn't take much. The changeling only had to grab Rider where the break had been. Rider cried out, then managed to get one more hit before crumpling to the ground.

  Logan wasted no time in firing. The shot wasn't as loud as I had anticipated, and when the fake Rider turned to me, I could see why. He had been darted, but he didn't look ready to go down.

  Panic welled up, and I heard several more shots go off. Mentally, I stretched out my soul, trying to break through. With a damaged soul, I could stop this thing.

  He bore down on me. Another shot came. This time loud. Catching a glimpse behind the creature, I saw Vincent had fired a gun, a real one.

  The fake Rider cried out when he was hit, but he didn't stop.

  He held out an arm, ready to grab me. I wasn't sure if he planned on using me as a shield, or if he wanted to kill me as he passed. Either wa
y, he wasn't slowing down.

  There wasn't much I could do, but he gave me an opening that would be easy to take.

  Did this monster seriously think I would stand here and let him get hold of me?

  Since the creature didn't slow down, I moved to the side subtly and gripped his wrist. I planted my foot in his stomach and fell back.

  The falling back was planned, which was a good thing, because it was happening whether I wanted it to or not. Using the monster's momentum, I tossed him behind me and rolled out of the way. Several more shots rang out. The changeling hit a door at the end of the hall and took it off its hinges. Logan and Boone immediately charged after him.

  Some yells came from the staircase and a scream that was cut off. Gunshots filled the air.

  From my position, still panting and lying on the floor, I watched the empty hallway. There was a crash and another scream. Metal crunched and more shots were fired. Then there was silence. I'm not sure what had happened, but whatever it was, it was over.

  I dropped my head, resting my forehead on the carpet, and tried to catch my breath. It was over. A few yells made me jerk my head up, and through the fading adrenaline, I realized I had no idea who had made the screams. I shoved myself to my feet intent on running to help.

  "Cass!" Vincent yelled.

  I turned and saw him squatting down next to Rider.

  Oh, crap, Rider. He was still on the floor. I forgot about the others and ran back. When I saw Rider was still breathing a shuddering relief wracked through me.

  Rider's eyes opened and he looked panicked for a moment, but he reined himself back. A low groan escaped him when he tried to move.

  "I need to check on Logan and Boone," I said to Vincent. "Do you have Rider?"

  "No, I don’t." Vincent looked like he held a lot back. When he stood and turned on me, I thought he was going to yell, but instead, he grabbed my arm and started turning it in his hands.

  Rider groaned again from the floor, catching my attention. He was trying to get to his feet.

  "What are you doing?" I snapped at Rider. "Wait until the doctor gets here. We need to check on Boone and Logan."

  Vincent shook his head and looked around, putting pressure on my arm at the same time. The pain started to register about the same time I noticed the blood.

  "Damn it," I said. I tried to pull my arm away from Vincent, but he didn't let go. Where he applied pressure, the tingling feeling which spread between us was overpowered by pain. "I'll hold this and make sure Rider stays put."

  Vincent hadn't said anything, but he still didn't let go.

  "It's not as bad as it looks," I said. In fact, it didn't look bad at all. The changeling must have clawed me, trying to keep hold of me when I threw it over me.

  There was a noise at the end of the hall and Logan came in. Boone wasn't with him, but Logan didn't look too upset, so I figured Boone must be okay. Logan was ticked off, though.

  "He got away," Logan said.

  "Where's Boone?" I asked.

  Vincent's hand twitched, but didn't let go. Remembering what Rider had said about Vincent's concern with Boone and me, I put my hand over Vincent's and I could sense some of his tension fade.

  "That changeling tore through two of our men guarding the door to the roof. Boone and a few others are helping with the injured and someone's run for the doc."

  Rider had his arm clutched to his stomach, but he moved to his feet.

  "That arm doesn't look too good," Logan said. "Let's get you down to the clinic before it starts to heal and they have to re-break it," Logan said.

  I put a hand to my mouth in horror. That didn't sound pleasant at all. Vincent rubbed my shoulder with his free arm.

  "You two need to head down there as well," Logan said. "How bad did he get you?"

  "It's not bad," I said.

  "She'll need stitches," Vincent countered.

  "Well, keep pressure on it and let's go," Logan said.

  By the time we made our way to the clinic, Dr. Yelton was already in surgery with an agent, but others were around and helping out.

  Seeing the chaos, Logan stepped aside to call to Hank, asking Hank to reach out to Taylor, hoping he was in the area. He wasn't, but he started our way. It would take two hours for him to get to the office, but who knew how long surgery would take.

  Rider was taken off for x-rays, and many of the patients were starting to get lined up and sorted out by two nurses. A nurse practitioner started with the worst and did everything they could while they waited for the doctor. What they could do turned out to be far more than I had imagined.

  Logan disappeared and lockdown came to an end not long after. We weren't trying to keep anything inside anymore, so the building was opened.

  My arm was a low priority, which wasn't a surprise. It was only a cut, after all. Vincent lifted his hand to check on the cut now and again. The bleeding had slowed, but he kept pressure on it. Since I wasn't in a hurry for him to let go, I said nothing. We sat side by side and watched others as they moved through the clinic.

  Vincent was mostly quiet. Paulson joined us for a while. He didn't seem inclined to say much, but he asked about Rider and about how we were doing. We hadn't seen Rider since he had been taken for x-rays, so there wasn't much to report.

  By the time Taylor arrived—much sooner than I would have expected—the flurry of activity had died down. Some of the patients were merely stable though, and needed a lot more help.

  Six agents besides Rider and myself had been injured. Four were badly injured and Dr. Yelton had one in surgery.

  Taylor whisked by us with no more than a nod before he disappeared into a room, listening to one of the nurse's litany of descriptions on where everyone stood.

  A nurse pried Vincent off my arm almost a half-hour later. His name was Paul, and while he looked really tired, he was friendly and took me into a room with three other mildly injured patients. He inspected my arm and started to treat it. Another nurse poked her head into the room every few minutes to check on things.

  When I came back out, bearing ten fresh stitches, Rider was waiting with Vincent. He wore a cast and a dazed look.

  We left the clinic and met Logan downstairs.

  "Did you all get released?" Logan asked.

  I shrugged. "I'm not sure they're doing much in the way of releasing people. It was more like we were encouraged to leave as opposed to being released."

  Logan nodded. "I'm meeting with Kyrian again in five minutes. If you'd like to join me, you're welcome to."

  "I'll pass," I said. "I just want to go home."

  "Let Hank talk with you. You two can walk him through everything and I'll talk with Kyrian."

  Chapter 23

  I found a desk near Hank and pulled a chair over to him. The room started to clear out now that lockdown was over. There were many people, agents and staff, that had been holed up in the building for ages. Not everyone had a hospital room to bed down in like I did. There were rooms on one of the floors, but with so many people in the office, they would have had to rotate people in and out of them.

  "You look like hell," Hank said.

  I gave him a weak smile. "I'm not feeling too bad. Tired, but not bad."

  "And him," Hank asked, nodding to Rider.

  "They got to him before they had to re-break the arm," Vincent said. "Whatever shot they gave him is starting to wear off though. Again."

  Rider was sprawled out in a chair. His lean, six-and-a-half-foot frame never fit in a chair on the best days. Right now, he didn't seem to bother trying.

  "He doesn't look very comfortable," Hank said. "You might want to see if there's anything else they can give him."

  "He burns through it too quickly," I said. "We'll take him home soon though. With some rest, I'm sure he'll be as good as new."

  "Well, let's go over everything and maybe we can get you all home sooner rather than later."

  There wasn't much to tell. We had done exactly what we had been sent to do. We h
ad tracked the changeling, found him, and tried to stop him.

  Vincent filled in his part of the story, which gave me a few surprises. Apparently, he and Logan hadn’t been clearing the building. Instead, they were following us around, well out of eyesight and well out of earshot for Vincent.

  His voice remained even when he spoke of his approach to the changeling. He had fired several shots, but like us, he had done what he had been sent to do. When the tranquilizers hadn’t worked, he took the measures he had needed to take.

  He had planned on following the changeling to stop his escape, but Logan asked him to hold back and Boone had taken his spot. We knew almost nothing about the chaos that went on after the changeling had left Rider lying broken on the ground.

  Hank told us there were four agents guarding the roof exit and two agents on every other staircase landing on the way down the building. We knew six agents had been injured, but the surgery was going well and everyone else was out of danger.

  Logan and Boone chatted at the edge of the control room. Hank nodded in their direction when he was done with us, and Logan and Boone came over.

  "Well, partner, you look tuckered out," Logan said.

  "You could say that," I said.

  "Let's get you home before Margaret tries to break into the Farm," Logan said.

  "Sounds good to me." It did, didn't it? I'd been wanting to go home for days, what felt like weeks, but the moment Logan said the words, my stomach started to twist.

  Still, there was no way I was staying here for another night. I stood and stretched, and tried not to show my trepidation.

  "I should grab my flowers," I said, despite the fact I didn't want to go back to the clinic. I knew I was stalling for time.

  "We'll get them another time," Logan said.

  "Does Gran know I'm coming home?" I asked.

  "She does," Logan said. "Agent Boone, she's invited you along. And you may as well grab your bag because she said you needed to get out of this place as much as Cassie."

  "Tell her thanks," Boone said, "but I'll be fine here."

  Logan grinned. "That might be true, but she'll have my ears if I don't bring you along."