An Army of One: The Extraordinary Series

by Eaton, Pam

  I look around the boat. There are too many. “You can’t take us all,” he says, reading my thoughts.

  My eyes search the group. “Gregory, Tony, and Mike, you’re with me,” I say, not caring one bit that I’m taking charge.

  Mike hesitates, eyes shooting towards Mr. Smith. “Go. Becca and Tiberius are in charge here,” Mr. Smith tells him and the rest of the group.

  Mike gives him a firm nod. “Hold on tight,” I tell them.

  They each latch on to me and I transport us to Daemon. Because I need the firestarter. Gregory sucks in a harsh breath at that thought. But in a blink we’re gone.

  Forty

  “I need you,” I blurt out, interrupting the kiss he’s having with Raven.

  He raises a brow. “Not like that, you perv. One of the little girls has been taken. I need you to encircle Fordlandia in a ring of fire.”

  Voices start shouting over each other.

  “You’ll burn down the jungle.”

  “Someone might die.”

  “Are you insane?”

  I don’t bother answering. “I don’t think I can do that,” he says, his cocky attitude erasing and turning into dread.

  “With me you can,” I tell him. “You just need to grab my hand and focus on the fire not burning anything you don’t want it to.”

  He lets out a heavy sigh. “A lot easier said than done.”

  “We don’t have time for this, so suck it up,” I say, making Raven’s eyes widen and Daemon’s jaw hit the floor, while the guys behind me start to shift in place.

  “Don’t pull any punches,” he says.

  I turn away from him and look at Raven. “Can you ask the animals to scout?”

  “Yes,” she says and heads out the door.

  “Tony, head out to the water tower. But run by Lucy and grab a walkie-talkie first,” I say, and before he can move away, I grab his arm. “You’ve got this.”

  “I won’t let you down,” he tells me.

  “I know you won’t.”

  I watch his throat work, but he gives me a nod and heads out.

  “Mike, I need you with me. The jungle is dense and dark. We might need to hide.”

  “Got it,” he says, and I have to blink a few times because I didn’t expect him to agree so quickly.

  “And me,” Gregory whispers into my ear.

  “With me, always,” I tell him.

  I open the maps on my phone and pull up a satellite picture of the main living area. I turn back to Daemon and hold out my hand. “This is where we are, and this is the boundary I want you to put up,” I say, showing him on the phone.

  He hesitates with his hand hovering in the air, but then he clasps it with mine.

  “Picture the fire acting like a wall, not burning or destroying, but waiting for your command.”

  He looks at the map once more and then closes his eyes. I squeeze his hand, hoping that I’m enhancing him enough to pull this off. Because I’m terrified that Rivers is already here or he’s having his people hide in the jungle.

  Daemon eyes pop open. “Okay, I think I did it. But I’ve got no clue how long it’s going to last.”

  “Let’s go see,” I tell them and grab everyone’s hands.

  I transport us to just outside of the range, somewhat hidden by the shed that holds the targets. I grip Gregory’s hand.

  Do you think you could cripple someone’s mind if I enhance you? I ask.

  He blows out a breath. Probably, but I’ve never even attempted something like that.

  If someone has Melanie, can you try?

  He nods once.

  “Is your fire still burning?” I ask Daemon quietly.

  He lifts up his hands, as if he’s feeling something in the air. “Yeah. I can sense it’s holding.”

  “Good. I don’t know if we’ll be able to use Mike’s shadows until we’re closer. The flames might make it too bright. But we’ll find out in a minute. Tiberius said Melanie was in the abandoned building on the north side of the range.”

  “Are we transporting in?” Gregory asks.

  I peek around the shed at the building. Nothing looks amiss, but I’m too afraid I’m missing something.

  “No. I’ve got no clue if she’s alone.”

  “Shouldn’t we wait for everyone else?” Mike asks, looking over his shoulder like he can see them.

  “Can’t Gregory see if he can read anyone’s minds from here?” Daemon asks, arching a brow.

  “There’s too much of a certain stone here that’s blocking me. I can’t hear anything. Let’s go,” Gregory says.

  “We’ve got a little girl who’s probably terrified, and we need to get her to safety. Time is something we don’t have,” I tell him, still looking at the building.

  “Stay close and within touching distance so we can transport in a moment’s notice.”

  I take the lead with Gregory right behind me, grumbling about me being the one in the line of fire. His hand rests on my lower back. The closer we get, the more I can just make out the top of Daemon’s flame wall.

  “Awesome,” I hear Mike say in awe. He’s not wrong.

  Flames lick at the sky, but they don’t touch the canopy of trees. We move closer and I can finally see the wall more clearly running behind the abandoned building in both directions. Gregory’s tightens his grip on the back of my shirt. He slides his hand under it and lays his palm on the skin of my back.

  I turn my head and quirk my brow. With his free hand he holds up three fingers.

  Who? I ask him.

  Thompson, Sariah, and Melanie.

  I drop to the ground and motion everyone to come closer. Gregory keeps his hand on my back, and I grab the hands of the other two guys.

  We’ve got two people in there besides Melanie. Mike jolts at the sound of my voice in his head, but quickly shakes it off.

  Thompson and Sariah are in there.

  Daemon curses.

  Mike, can you handle this? I ask him, widening my eyes.

  His eyes dart from the building to mine. I give his hand a squeeze. If we can get Sariah to turn against Rivers and help us then we will. But we can’t let her hurt another kid. With Gregory’s help I send him the images from when she kidnapped Poppy in England.

  Mike’s face drops.

  Maybe away from Rivers she’ll want to be different, but we’ve got to be careful.

  He nods.

  Good. Bring your shadows to you and I’ll see if I can cover all of us.

  Daemon mouths the word shadow like a question. And I tilt my head towards Mike. Daemon’s eyes widen as the shadows pool around Mike’s feet and slither up his body. I grip everyone’s hand and pump some enhancing into Mike.

  Gregory curses as we’re plunged into Mike’s smoky shadow world. “Let’s go save a little girl,” I whisper and make a move for the building.

  We run hunched over until we get to a small opening in one of the crumbling walls. I really hope we’re blending in and not looking like a floating black blob. I lean forward to look into the opening. Melanie sits in the corner, her knees up to her chest. Sariah is planted against the wall and Thompson stalks back and forth. They’re too far apart. We’re going to have to split up.

  Thompson will be able to freeze one of us, and Sariah is probably carrying a gun. Do whatever you have to do to get Melanie out, I tell the guys.

  Why don’t you just transport in and grab her? Daemon asks.

  If she does that, Thompson is going to freeze her before she has a chance to get away, Gregory tells him.

  Mike, what if you try knocking out Sariah? That way we can get her out of here.

  He nods once, but then his eyes shoot to my forehead and I feel the sweat gathering there.

  You’ve got to slow down or you’re going to burn out, Gregory warns.

  I wave away his comment. I’m fine, I assure him and hold up my hand. On my signal.

  I watch Thompson and Sariah for a beat more and then lower my hand, dropping our shadow shield.<
br />
  We sprint into the building.

  “Now!” Gregory screams, startling everyone.

  I lock onto Melanie. Her wide, scared eyes find me. I try to let her know with my eyes that I’m coming for her. She gets on to her knees, hands frantically waving in the air. Thompson shouts and he freezes me in place. Daemon throws a fireball at Thompson’s feet. He jumps out the way of Daemon’s fire, and my body stumbles forward.

  Sariah raises a shaky hand and points a gun at Melanie.

  Everyone stops. Eyes trained on her.

  “I’ll shoot,” she says.

  “No. You won’t,” I tell her.

  Someone crawls in the window behind Melanie. My stomach revolts at the sight of Henderson. “Melanie! Use your power!” I scream at her, and everyone bolts into action.

  Mike races towards Sariah, while Gregory and Daemon work to attack Thompson.

  Melanie bites her lip, eyes darting all around the room.

  “Now!” I command her.

  My heart is racing as more Hendersons climb into the room.

  Melanie turns, letting loose a blood-curdling scream, and throws her hands up. Lightning bolts shoot out of her palms, hitting Henderson directly in the chest. It must be the original one, because he staggers to the side and the other ones disappear.

  I close the distance between us and open my arms for her. She hesitates but jumps to her feet and runs to me. I scoop her up and turn to get the guys.

  Mike has the gun out of Sariah’s hand. He raises his hand like he’s going to strike her, and she closes her eyes like she welcomes it. His fist connects with her temple and her body starts to drop until he picks her up, throwing her over his shoulder. She wanted him to knock her out. I only hope he saw that too.

  “Gregory. Daemon. Let’s go,” I yell. We need to get to Lucy because I don’t know what else is happening.

  Daemon throws another fireball, but Thompson freezes him and his fire. “Gregory, his mind!” I call out as I come up behind him with Melanie in tow. I plant my hand on his back, pushing my power into him.

  Gregory focuses on Thompson and in a moment he’s on the ground, clutching his head. Daemon unfreezes, and he and Mike each snatch up one of my hands. Gregory turns and grabs my waist. I close my eyes and picture Lucy’s living room.

  Forty-One

  We stumble into Tiberius’s living room. I sway to the side and Gregory scoops me up his arms, taking me over to the couch. Lucy’s computer chair crashes against the wall and she runs to Melanie.

  “Are you okay?” she asks me as she holds Melanie close.

  “I’m fine,” I say, waving her off. “Take care of Melanie.”

  Lucy keeps her close and leads her out of the room.

  “You’re almost spent,” Gregory says as he stands over me.

  “I’m fine,” I say through gritted teeth.

  “You won’t be able to help anyone if you pass out,” Daemon says.

  Walter hurries into the room from the kitchen, doctor bag in hand. “Who is that?” he says, heading for Sariah’s prone form.

  “That would be Sariah.”

  He does a double take but doesn’t pause as he squats down at her side where Mike laid her on the floor.

  “I knocked her out,” Mike says, shifting from foot to foot.

  “Better out than dead,” Daemon says bluntly.

  Walter rolls his eyes but takes his stethoscope and checks over Sariah. “She seems fine. Probably will come to in around twenty minutes or so.”

  “We need to tie her up before she wakes up,” I tell them.

  The front door swings open and Tiberius charges in the house with Mr. Smith and Xavier following close behind. He looks at Sariah on the floor, but quickly dismisses her.

  “Rivers’s group is surrounding the village,” Tiberius says, out of breath. “A large group is making their way to the water tower.”

  I push to standing and sway a little on my feet. Gregory reaches out and grabs my waist to steady me. “Get Tony on the walkie talkie,” I tell him.

  Tiberius grabs it off Lucy’s desk. “Tony, it’s Tiberius. What do you see?”

  The line crackles and we all lean forward, waiting for him to respond.

  “I count at least twenty people coming in from the west side of the tower. They’re picking their way through the jungle. There are about ten more coming in from the south and the east. Did he hire mercenaries or something? How did he get so many people?”

  “We’re outnumbered,” Xavier says quietly, his face pale.

  I open my mouth to tell them about my dream with my mom when Luca crashes through the front door. His shirt is torn, like bullets ripped through it.

  “What happened?” I ask, meeting him as he leans against the wall.

  He takes huge, gulping breaths. “We need to get out there right now. Dante’s been hit. And I might be bulletproof, but it hurts getting shot at.”

  We fly out the front door, spilling onto the front walk. Dante hobbles around the fence, clutching his side, blood seeping through his fingers. Xavier curses and runs over to grab him, ushering him towards the house where Walter stands in the doorway. “My house is now the infirmary,” Tiberius yells to us.

  The walkie talkie crackles. “Incoming!” Tony’s voice booms out of the speaker.

  Together we run onto the dirt street. A huge group has all of us pulling up short. Daemon’s hands become completely engulfed. Raven comes from across the street, and I blink rapidly to make sure I’m seeing the three jaguars walking on either side of her.

  The group across from us parts and Chelsea walks forward, Henderson on her left. Where’s Mr. Rivers? I scan the faces, but I’m not seeing him.

  “Surrender now and save yourselves. Or don’t. Your DNA is still good to us whether you’re alive or not,” Chelsea yells.

  A maniacal grin spreads across Henderson’s face. Guess Melanie’s lightning bolt didn’t knock him out for long.

  “You’ve got another group coming in behind you,” Tony frantically yells at us.

  Gregory curses, and I turn. They aren’t past Tiberius’s house. With Project Lightning agents and the people from Fordlandia, we number about sixty, but it’s not enough.

  I reach out and slap a hand to Daemon’s back. “Encircle us and the house in fire.”

  The flames covering his hands grow and brighten. I turn my face away because it’s so bright. Screams break out from our group.

  “It’s okay,” I yell over the roar from the inferno. “Stay together.”

  Everyone huddles close. “This isn’t going to last long,” Daemon shouts, sweat falling in steady streams down his face.

  The flames start to lessen, and I try pumping more enhancing into Daemon, but they hardly budge. “What’s wrong?” I ask him.

  “I don’t know,” he says through gritted teeth.

  I kick at the dirt. I can’t see through the flames.

  “It’s Chelsea,” Gregory yells.

  “Can you cripple her mind?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “There’s too much carnelian. I can’t get a good enough lock on her.”

  “Daemon can make an opening in the flames and Raven, can you send you jaguars to attack her?” Mr. Smith asks.

  Raven nods, and Daemon grits his teeth. “I can try,” he says, and he slowly lowers his arms.

  The flames part like curtains and the three jaguars rush through. The flames crash back together, blocking our view, but not the sound. Screams from the other side of the flames reach my ears, but then I hear the distinct sound of three gun shots. Raven clutches her head, screaming. The flames completely extinguish.

  “Daemon!” I scream at him, fisting his shirt.

  “I can’t,” he yells back, panicking.

  A sound starts, shrill and harsh. “What the hell is that?” Mike yells, his hands covering his ears.

  A man walks on the other side of Chelsea. His mouth is wide open. Chelsea jabs a syringe into his arm and almost instantly the soun
d becomes earsplitting. One by one my group starts dropping to their knees, hands covering their ears. Mr. Smith howls in agony, blood trickling through his fingers covering his ears.

  He’s got a supersonic voice, he tells me, and even his inner voice sounds pained.

  What was in that syringe? I ask.

  Probably your—

  “No!” I try to catch Gregory as he lists to the side. His eyes roll in the back of his head, and he starts seizing.

  The sound increases and I cry out. It’s like someone is pushing a hot needle through my eardrum.

  The group in front of us starts moving in closer. I think Tony’s yelling through the walkie talkie, but I can’t hear him.

  Things can’t end this way.

  I try to stand but my body won’t obey me.

  Something flickers to my right. A man comes strolling towards me. His hair is long and dark. Skin a deep bronze. He holds out a hand and I grab onto it.

  “Enhance,” he commands.

  Shemnon?

  He nods once, and I pump every last drop of power left into him. His long hair flies around his face from an unearthly wind. The hairs on my arms stand and the feeling of electricity crackles through the air.

  Shemnon drops my hand and walks slowly forward. I fall to my knees and sway until my body topples to the side. But my eyes track him. He lifts his arms to the sky. The clouds darken, and thunder booms. Lightning strikes a nearby tree, causing sparks to rain down on us. He brings his arms down in a swift strike. Ghostly apparitions surround him, numbering in the thousands. As one, they walk forward and the ground shakes, cutting off the supersonic voice.

  “You have angered your ancestors.” Shemnon’s voice booms across the space like a cannon. “You have defied the laws of nature.”

  With each step forward lightning strikes, felling trees.

  “Face your judgment.”

  Screams rise up from Mr. Rivers’s people. “What’s happening?” Tiberius yells.

  “I think our ancestors are attacking them,” I tell him.

  One by one the group surrounding us drops to their knees, hands fisting over their hearts. “You do not deserve the powers given to you,” Shemnon roars.

  The souls of ancestors raise their hands, arms outstretched. Small lights stream out of the chests of Chelsea and Henderson.