Earth

by Jaymin Eve

  I didn’t stop. I continued to let the power flow from me, my wave spreading across the area, opening more of a gap and interfering further. I was watching closely, so I noticed that the shield had also started to crack. Brace was right. It was starting to disintegrate on its own.

  I was more than halfway through the stored energy when my legs started to feel like jelly. I was slightly weaker, but decided to hold on for a bit longer. Had I done enough damage? I couldn’t quite tell if it was the right time to stop.

  “Cut it off now, Abby.” Brace had moved as close as he could, but was still a foot from me. It was hard to stand in the force of all the power which was leaving me. “You’ve done enough. Save the energy in case we need it.”

  I could tell he cared nothing about saving power; he was just worried for me. I stared him down for a few moments, before deciding that he was right. I’d started the domino effect, and the rest of the barrier should continue to shatter now. There was no point in wasting our power stores.

  I began to withdraw my energy, to close down the flow and seal off whatever goodness was left inside. I did the usual with my tether, mentally severing the cord – only the flow didn’t stop.

  My trickling stream had turned into raging rapids and couldn’t be halted. I jolted forward, mentally locking down my body. Trying desperately to cut myself off from the barrier. Usually the moment I decided to cut off the power it halted, but I’d lost control.

  “Abby, what’s wrong?” Lucy was next to Brace now, trying to reach me but unable to penetrate the energy.

  I couldn’t speak. All I could do was shake my head.

  Brace swore, and threw his arm toward the wave of power around me. I felt the shuddering crack as he hit the energy, but he wasn’t able to break through. My knees buckled even further. I was very close to having an empty filing cabinet and I had no idea what was going to happen when I ran out. Whatever it was, we were going to find out soon. There wasn’t much time left.

  I tried to connect to my half-Walkers, but the golden tether was locked down in the flow. I also couldn’t trace or open a doorway. I had not felt so stuck and helpless in a long time. I was in big trouble and there wasn’t a damned thing I could think of to get myself out of this mess.

  I could hear the others talking. “Clearly they have security on it. The barrier is destructing, but it plans on taking the destroyer with it.” Colton’s words were low and growly. His wolf eyes peeked out.

  “No!” Lucy cried. “We have to do something. Now! Guys, think of something.”

  Brace was still trying to crack the energy and reach me. I could feel our melding bond. It was strong, but there was something interfering with the connection. It was like a mini version of what had happened when the lalunas broke the bond. The cabinet continued to empty, one row of stored energy after another, and then – it was all gone.

  I cried out, but there was no sound, my agony silent within the barrier. The energy leaving me now was my own, wrenching out of my well inside. Walker and First World power flowed, and further weakening spread through my limbs. My knees crumbled and I hit the deck, just managing to keep myself from face-planting.

  I knew Brace was losing it. I could sense the way he tried to get to me, and I wanted to reassure him, but I could barely hold on to the small semblance of lucidity I still possessed.

  In the end, right before I knew the last of my essence would be stolen, I decided to stop fighting the force. Instead, with a final surge of strength, I threw myself at the field and went with the flow. My body jerked in a forward motion; I was off the boat and out into the barrier.

  Holy crap. What had I done?

  The moment I became part of the barrier, the flow of energy from within cut off. I was swimming through the air, following the electronic pulses. It was sort of like body-surfing the electromagnetic force.

  Behind me the shield continued disintegrating, but whatever was tugging me along managed to keep me in front of the destruction. I knew there was no point struggling or stressing. I would save that for when I finally reached my destination. My eyes scanned the surroundings. I wanted a heads up if I was about to face-plant into a mountain or something.

  I continued to fly across the ocean. Its sheer size and beauty was both mesmerizing and calming. Since I was trapped, I had little choice but to relax and watch the white wash below, water surging and crashing against itself. There was also the flip and shine of scales as fish ducked and dived with the currents. Even a few of the larger variety could be seen in the clear depths.

  During this time small slivers of energy started filtering back into my depths. Which was a relief. I’d been severely depleted, like almost dead. But since I wasn’t dead, my Walker side was kicking into gear – regenerating me. No doubt, wherever I ended up, I was going to need as much energy as possible.

  Movement was limited within the field, but I could shift my head far enough to keep track of the destruction behind me. The energy back there continued to fissure and shatter. Now, I was no measurement expert, but to my untrained eye, the gap between me and the destruction was getting smaller.

  What would happen if it reached me before I reached my destination? Would I also crack and shatter, since I now seemed to be integrated into the barrier? Or would I simply drop into the depths of the oceans? I hoped I didn’t have to find out. I did not need to add anything new to my craptastic list of the week.

  Have I mentioned lately that the Seventine were asshats? Stupid. Douchebucket. Asshats.

  I felt marginally better after cursing them out. Nothing like a good swear-athon to keep a girl sane.

  It was silent in the barrier, but as the fracturing loomed closer, my sensitive Walker hearing picked up a metallic screeching sound. Great. If the noise level was increasing, then it was definitely closer. My heart rate sped up. I craned my neck to see if there were any visible landmarks yet – where was the barrier taking me? The answer remained a mystery for a few more moments, but then finally I noticed that the ocean was tapering off and land was visible. Was this crazy ride actually coming to an end?

  I mentally urged my body forward, and in some sort of strange jolt I actually started moving faster through the shield. Maybe I did have some control here. I tried again, and sure enough I surged even further forward. Narrowing my eyes against the sun and wind, I focused on the endgame target. Which was to get off this freaking ride-from-hell. I was suddenly mimicking an arrow, zooming through with the force of a projectile. At the start my flying speed had been slow and relaxing, now it was fast enough to have my stomach turning and swirling.

  Lucy and I had attended a carnival once, when we were about eight. Back before it was quite so dangerous out on the streets. I hadn’t been a big fan of thrill rides then, but now I found something quite exhilarating as I flew through the air at hundreds of miles an hour.

  The shield was over land now, but it wasn’t New York City. Somewhere more in the countryside, with lots of brown grass and even a few scattered trees. I had never seen trees within the downtown area.

  Keeping my arms tucked in at my sides, I zoomed across the shield.

  Behind me the barrier continued to destruct, but with my burst of speed there was now a decent distance between us. The shield curved around at this point and, just as I cleared the other side, my breath caught in my chest. Shit! I was out of space.

  My exhale was nothing more than a wheeze as a structure loomed right above the barrier. It looked to be part of the shield, but also separate from it as it towered into the air. I blinked a few times, trying to figure out what I was seeing.

  Made from thick steel pillars and interconnecting metal wires, the structure was familiar. Not something I’d seen before, but – I must have read about it in a book. Studied it in school.

  It took me a few more moments, as my body continued to advance toward the gigantic metal monstrosity, to finally recall what it was. A power grid.

  I couldn’t remember much about electricity, or how it rea
lly worked. Burning coal – and other fossil fuels. There had been some nuclear too. I did have a faint recollection of the lesson on this particular grid.

  Power used to be generated, cycled and then distributed around the state from this structure. We learnt about it in history – we hadn’t had electricity in the city for most of my life. The compound and rebels relied on generators and some solar and wind turbines to keep us powered.

  Was this energy transference shield the reason New York had no power for most of my life? Had it somehow hijacked the electricity to power itself? And could it actually be storing all of the gathered power in those cell-like panels that were scattered around?

  Holy crap. I was heading straight into the mouth of the beast. If this was the hub of the energy transference shield, then the Seventine were probably here also. Or if they weren’t, and for some reason were not aware of this, then the very annoying bond the first had with me would clue them in. I really hoped I hadn’t just led those creeps here. This shield had been accumulating power for eighteen years. I guessed there would be more than enough here to free the seventh.

  I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when I hit the building, but I surmised that it would probably hurt.

  So I prepared myself.

  Whenever I knew something painful was coming, I thought back to how I felt when I severed the melding bond. The feeling of hot blades carving across my soul; the empty, echoing hollowness that devoured my insides and crushed my spirit. Not many physical pains could compare to that moment or all of the days following. That was my perspective when things were getting hard for me. All I hoped was that when I hit the grid, masses of electricity didn’t decide to run through my body. That would most probably kill me.

  And I had to survive. For everyone that was counting on me.

  The steel structure loomed even higher, and my trajectory slowed again. I no longer had any control over my speed. But slow was good; it gave me a chance to see what was coming. A gasp died in my throat as I was suddenly jerked to the right, thrown across to the other side of a building and slammed up against the tallest of towers in the center.

  Yep. I had nailed it. That freaking hurt.

  I couldn’t move, my entire body forcibly held on the grid. Metal and bolts dug into my spine. I struggled to breathe. Not only was the pressure constricting my airways, but I thought I might have broken a rib in that jolt.

  The destruction of the energy transference shield continued, the shattering pieces looming closer. I was going to be stuck here until the shield hit me. I was still worried that I would shatter into pieces with it. Which I was totally not okay with.

  I attempted to trace myself again, and this time I could actually sense tethers around me. My golden cord was finally free, but I couldn’t seem to find the strength to attach. I was still drained from when the barrier had stolen my energy.

  Abby! For just a brief moment, a shout broke through my mind.

  Then it was gone.

  I was pretty sure that had been Eva. But how would she have known to do that? And how could she do it on Earth without my help?

  I took a few more painful but slowly drawn out breaths. Calming myself. Which was not as easy as it sounds, considering the splintering wall was just feet from me now.

  I reached for my Walker girls, focusing on Eva, who was closest to me. I knew she was my best chance of a connection.

  Abby. She was with me again, her voice faint, but the connection held.

  And then it was gone again.

  I cried out as frustration gripped me. If I couldn’t reach the half-Walkers, whom I held an ancient bond with, then there was only one other. Brace.

  Our melding was also an ancient bond, and my soul was his – basically every part of me belonged, in some way, to Brace. And he was also mine.

  I drew from the depths of my soul, from the depths of my endless energy well inside. Gathering together every facet of love I held for my mate. The warmth filled me, the emotions flooding my body. Without him I would not survive – no, that wasn’t right. I would survive. But it wouldn’t really be living; it would simply be existing until I could join him wherever he had gone.

  He was my everything, and I needed him right then. I expelled every iota of the energy I’d managed to regain on the trip here and, with a sucking pop – the sound of the shield releasing me from its grasp – I was no longer slammed against metal. I was free.

  Chapter 9

  Strong arms wrapped around me, and a familiar, tantalizing scent exploded across my senses and filled all the achy and empty spaces inside. A faint groan left me as my ribs protested against the firm grip holding me. Of course, Brace then loosened his hold and I was not okay with that. I grumbled as I wriggled myself toward him. I wanted to be as close as was humanly possible without actually living in his skin. Which would be weird – and gross.

  I heard a soft, albeit strained chuckle, and then I was hoisted up and into his arms. I didn’t hesitate to wrap my legs around him. My body was suddenly flush against his. This was perfect. I wanted to stay here – here was home.

  “You’re killing me, Red.” This wasn’t the first time he’d said that in his husky tones, and I would hazard a guess that I’d hear it many more. “Where the hell have you been?”

  My face was pressed into the hard planes of his chest. I could see and feel the definition of his body through the fitted cotton shirt he wore. I knew he was waiting for me to answer his question, but I was distracted by the expanse of deliciousness surrounding me. Of course, in the back of my mind I knew now was not the time for me to be wrapped around my mate. We needed to get back to the power grid and cut the Seventine off. Now that the shield was down, they’d know, and they’d be trying to get their power.

  I knew all that, but couldn’t actually pull myself from Brace. I was going to blame my weakness on the fact that I probably wouldn’t be standing if he wasn’t holding me up. I was still very weak, my body shaking.

  “Should we all dive overboard and give you two a few moments?” Lucy sounded relieved, though the sarcasm was still strong with this young grasshopper.

  We ignored her, although ignoring the tittering giggles of the other females was harder. What? Hadn’t they ever seen a grown woman climb her man? That was normal, wasn’t it?

  Should be a daily occurrence, he growled across my mind.

  I finally lifted my head and stared out into the wash of ocean. As my mind intertwined with Brace’s, I ran smack bang into his thoughts. Starting from when I’d been sucked into the barrier. His emotions were still hot, the mental images tinged with red and edged with flames of fury. He had not been thinking very rationally during my absence.

  Brace had tried to follow my path, swimming with me for some of the way. I’d actually lost him when I’d chosen to speed up my trajectory. Shit.

  Eventually he had returned to Colton and Lucy. They had remained on the boat to protect the females.

  Brace had continued trying to reach me through our bond, not to mention alerting every Walker he knew. My ass was being hunted across the universe. The only reason that it hadn’t been worse was that he had known I was still alive. Which prevented him from completely losing his shit.

  During my read of him, he’d also quickly flicked through my thoughts. He knew where the barrier had taken me and understood what that grid represented. He knew we had to go back there and figure out where that power was being held, and then we had to destroy it. Before the Seventine got their hands on it.

  Brace had just set me back on the ground, although keeping me tucked into his side. I was still shaky on my own legs. We were about to turn to explain everything to the group when a siren blared around us. Brace pivoted and placed his body in front of mine. His thoughts were now calm and cold. He was working hard not to snatch me up and steal me away to somewhere safe. He was still recovering from my last little disappearance.

  “We have company,” he eventually said. Relaxing minutely.

  I r
ealized that siren had been from a human vessel. Shit! Humans – like from the other side of the barrier humans. We were finally going to find out what the rest of Earth was like.

  I shifted my gaze out to the left side of the boat as a white vessel approached. It was large, with spotlights and a megaphone system set up above the glassed-in cab. About twice the size of the Boston Whaler we were squished into.

  “Your ship is not authorized in these waters.” The large megaphone was put to good use, the words blasting across at us. “Follow us into port.”

  The word ‘Coastguard’ was stenciled on the side of the boat. They were like the authority on the water, right?

  Brace fired up our boat again. The engines sputtered, as the gas was barely at usable levels. I hoped we had enough to make it the short distance.

  Now that the barrier was gone, a large set of docks was visible on the horizon. We had not been very far out to sea; the barrier had prevented us from seeing that. The females huddled closer together, and I couldn’t blame them for their renewed fear. They’d just narrowly escaped a life worse than death, and now had to trust that by following this coastguard we weren’t putting them back into the same situation. Of course, they didn’t know that I would never let that happen to them. Not while we were here to protect them.

  Eva and Chrissie were deep in conversation with some of the girls. I couldn’t hear what was said over the rush of the wind and waves, but it felt like they were working double time to reassure everyone that this would be okay. Chrissie had said that quite a few of the females were from her vigiladies group, so they’d look to the brunette as their leader. They would trust her.

  The coastguard remained close to our vessel. There were three or four males on board, dressed in navy-blue polos and black shorts. I hadn’t seen anyone dress in uniform in New York for a long time. That would require a level of organization that had been sorely missing for the past few years. Well, that was if you didn’t count the identifying tattoos of the gangers, which were not exactly the same as a nicely pressed polo shirt.