“All right, then. We’ll do this the hard way.” He turned to the table and grabbed a small bucket while directing everyone to write down their name on the scraps of paper inside. The bucket was passed around until one by one, we all retrieved slivers of papers and scribbled our name onto them, dumping them back into the bucket when we were done.
The bucket was returned to Rico, and he wasted no time digging his hand in to pull out a name. Every hair on my neck stood on end; a slight tingling spread down my spine. Instead of feeling a chill, the tingling filled me with rejuvenating warmth. My pulse raced with the thought of being picked, and what it might mean for the rebels. For the human race. My heart pounded harder, and then another thought came, one that sent me tipping over the edge from sanity to insanity.
What would it mean for Jet and his sister Hera?
My arm acted independently from my mind, ignoring every reservation stirring there. My hand shot up in the air and I called out before Rico could read the name on the piece of paper he pulled from the bucket. “I’ll do it,” I said.
Jet spun around, his blue eyes bulging from his head, his hands clamping onto my shoulders. “Skylla, what are you doing?”
“Who’s that?” Rico asked, craning his neck in the direction of my voice.
“Skylla!” Jet said, louder this time.
I glanced around him to Rico, then returned my attention to his shocked, disbelieving eyes. Their blue was strikingly fierce, with flecks of fire lurking in their depths. “Think of Hera,” I whispered calmly. “This is your prime opportunity to find her. You were implanted … you were close to finding her location. Just a little more digging, and you could’ve—”
“No,” he said with no hesitation. “You can forget it. I won’t let you do this.”
“Let me finish what you started, Jet.”
“I said no. You made me promise. Made me swear I’d never let you be held prisoner again. I’ve broken a lot of promises, Sky. This is one I won’t break.”
“Hey, little girl,” Rico shouted over the chatter that had ignited throughout the room, glaring around Jet’s protective shield. “What’s your name again?”
“Skylla.”
“Step forward.”
Jet caught my elbow but I shook him away, moving forward toward the man who now held my fate in his hands. “What do I have to do?”
Rico watched me for a moment, no doubt sizing me up and questioning my loyalty. “You’re prepared to do this?”
My body trembled, telling me to run. “Yes, whatever it takes,” my mind said, pushing the words from my mouth.
A string of curses exploded from behind me. One glance over my shoulder confirmed the fact that Jet was officially freaking out. He was saying something to me now, but his words were blurring together, sliding and bending into one another, creating an incoherent, jumbled mess of speech. I watched as his desperate features pleaded with me, watched as his fingers weaved rapidly through his hair, but my focus wasn’t on him. It was on Rico and the other rebels waiting, expectant, curious to know whether I’d follow through with my word.
“Good.” Rico nodded, resolute. “I’ll give you a briefing in one hour. Have some breakfast and collect your things.” He disappeared through the crowd and out the metal door, leaving the other rebels to the food portions on the table. Excited chatter ensued the moment he exited, and as if nothing significant had happened, everyone began to spread out and help themselves to breakfast.
How easy it was for them to forget. It wasn’t their lives on the line. Not yet, anyway.
I’d already had my allotted portion of caffeine, so I reached for some water and snatched a bagel before turning to head back to my sleeping quarters. Jet was hot on my heels, his mouth still moving and arms flailing wildly around as he spoke, but my mind was in a haze. The warm, tingly feeling hadn’t left my body since I’d raised my hand, and something in me wanted nothing more than for it to stay. It felt as if I was on the right track somehow, that I’d done the right thing.
But I couldn’t explain that to Jet. Not when I couldn’t even explain it to myself.
“Skylla, are you listening to me?”
He jumped in front of me and then my body was encased against the wall, his firm hand cupping my chin, forcing my eyes to his. When I found them this time, something in me sank. They weren’t just desperate—they were heartbroken.
“I’m listening. I’m sorry … I’m … still processing what I just volunteered to do.”
“March back there and say no. Hell, I’m going to find Rico right now.” He pushed off the wall and started in the other direction.
“Jet—”
“Don’t!” He pointed a finger without looking back. “Just don’t.”
I released a frustrated sigh and began to charge after him, only to be yanked back by Kale. “Kale? What the—” My bagel flopped onto the ground.
“Quiet.” A silver blade appeared in his hand and he brought it to my neck, hooking his arm around me from behind. His other hand moved to cover my lips. I flinched, feeling the heavy weapons banging between my body and his. He was strapped for combat. Moving his fingers just enough for me to speak, he asked, “Where’s your boyfriend going?”
“I—I don’t know, he went to see Rico,” I stuttered, blinking furiously. “Why are you doing this?”
“Just stay quiet and come with me.” Yanking me tighter against his body, his chin shifted above my head as he scanned from right to left, then dipped down the hall and into a narrow crevice. The jagged rock formed a tight passage, barely big enough for a child to fit through. He shoved me forward, eyeing my hand as it hovered over my gun holster. “Move.”
“I can’t fit through that.”
“Yes you can.” He reached over and snatched my gun. “Now move. Hurry! Rico’s men are looking for me. I don’t have much time.”
He forced me forward into the passage. The rocky maze led me deeper and deeper into darkness. Kale waited until we were almost completely submersed in the gloom before he turned on his flashlight.
“Are you going to tell me where you’re taking me?”
“I told you, I need allies.”
“Holding someone at knifepoint and kidnapping them is not the way to make friends.”
“I had to get your attention. I would never hurt you, Skylla. What’s Jet doing with Rico?”
“Hoping to talk him out of sending me on the mission.”
“What?” Kale came to a dead stop. “They volunteered you?”
“I volunteered myself.” The whites of his eyes flickered in the dim cave light. “Why would you do that?”
“I have my reasons.”
“Skylla, cut the bullshit, why would you do that?”
“I want to get on the inside. It’s my best shot at finding Jet’s sister.”
Kale blew out a heavy breath and rubbed at his eyes. “This is all wrong. Rico will take him out. Come on, keep moving.”
Kale smacked into me as he tried to move forward. “I’m not leaving without him. I won’t let Rico touch him.”
“I don’t know what you two are … whatever you have going on or whatever, but in case you haven’t noticed, the circumstances aren’t exactly ideal for having any kind of relationship. You get that, right?”
“I didn’t ask you for fucking relationship advice.”
“If he challenges Rico, Rico will take him out. Sorry, but it’s reality. We have to go.”
“I’m not leaving without—”
“Yes,” he withdrew the blade again, pointing it at my throat, “you are.”
His face went cold and he pushed me into motion again, sparking an uncontrollable rage, a rage I would’ve happily let eat him alive, if it weren’t for the shiny blade at my back and the fact that I was unarmed.
CHAPTER 9
The claustrophobic pathway bore down around me, closing in inch by inch. My breathing was growing shallow, my palms sweaty and heart crashing against my breastbone. Still, I kept moving
as Kale instructed, cursing the reality that I was at his mercy. “You said you wouldn’t hurt me,” I said. “Make up your mind.”
“I’ll explain everything when it’s safe. Just keep moving.”
The sound of trickling water echoed throughout the cavern maze, growing louder when we approached a clearing—and a dead end. “Duck down, right there,” he directed, pointing to a hole near the ground. “Slip through. I’m right behind you.”
“Is that supposed to be comforting?”
“Just do it, damn it.”
I crouched down and pushed my body through the narrow hole, standing to my feet when I reached the other side. The hollow echo of running water morphed into a heavy roar. Kale was next to me in an instant, and my jaw dropped when I spotted a waterfall. It spilled over blue, glistening rocks, creating a mesmerizing curtain over a vast, shimmering pool. Blood thumped hot in my ears as my heart worked overtime, thinking of what might be happening to Jet. He could handle himself, but without Kale and me there to back him up, it was one to nothing.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“It’s what’s behind it that’s important. Here,” he chucked my backpack at me. “Your stuff. And don’t bother reaching for your other weapons.” He patted his own backpack, sliding his knife into his belt. “I have everything. I also stocked up on meds and some food. We’re getting out of here.”
He took my hand and started walking us along the rocky ledge toward the waterfall. Resistance hadn’t gotten me anywhere. It was time to resort to begging. “Wait, please. Kale, I need to make sure Jet’s okay. I’ll go wherever you want me to go, but please … I need to know if he’s safe.”
“He’ll be fine.”
“You just said Rico and his men would take him out.”
“If he does something stupid, yes.” He froze. “Damn, they really are gonna kill him.”
“Kale!”
As fast as he’d been dragging me along toward the waterfall’s veil, he turned around and moved even faster, cursing under his breath and shaking his head as he led me back the way we’d come. “If we all die because of this, I’m so haunting you in the afterlife.”
My fear vanished and was replaced with adrenaline, the relief pumping it thick in my veins at the prospect of saving Jet from Rico’s wrath.
Just as we began to backtrack our way through the narrow, cavernous maze, gunfire sounded from the opposite end.
“Skylla!” Jet’s voice echoed, bouncing into me and hooking itself in my heart. I leaped forward, trying to worm my way around Kale, but Kale wasn’t having it. “Skylla, you in there?”
“I’m here!” I screamed through the gunfire’s ringing, squirming against Kale’s grasp.
Kale pivoted on his hip and reached for two Glocks, gripping one in each hand. “When he reaches us, we have to haul ass or we’ll never make it out.”
I nodded and we started to walk backwards, my breath catching when I spotted Jet moving toward us. He fought to push his big body through the narrow tunnel, firing behind him until his gun clicked empty.
He ducked but continued to move while Kale took over, firing shot after shot over Jet’s head. We reached the end of the clearing and I dropped through the hole, pulling Kale through after me. Jet was harder; his broad shoulders hindered him from sliding through.
“Come on!” Kale yelled, leaning down to help me tug on Jet’s arm. He squeezed through, and then we were racing over the rocky ledge, back toward the waterfall, plunging through it and ducking into the cave situated behind the mask of rushing water.
Three long, oval white Capsules, similar to the ones we’d grown accustomed to seeing in our skies since the Invaders’ arrival, lined the cave. They sat side by side on a launch platform, the cave’s ceiling sky-high and seemingly endless. Kale tossed us each weapons and rushed forward to the first Capsules, hitting a silver button near the hood. “Get in!” He popped the side panels on the other two Capsules and ripped at the wires, unloading a few shots into the controls for good measure, then returned to our escape Capsule.
Jet lifted me up and then jumped in after me. I slid into the middle seat, my body forming to the smooth bucket-shaped cushion, and Jet hopped into the seat behind me. Kale took the front seat and jammed another silver button. We all scrambled to pull on harnesses while the Capsule’s clear lid hummed and slid closed above our heads, making a robotic drone ringing in our ears to alarm us of the Capsule’s lockdown. The lid clicked into place and the machine purred to life, smoothly lifting us from the ground. The gray, blue, and silver panel illuminated what appeared to be a dashboard. Kale’s fingers worked over the panel, gliding to touch all sorts of buttons. I’d never seen anything like it. The entire panel was transparent, floating in the air in front of him, over the Capsule’s console.
Kale was obviously busy, so I asked Jet, “How’d you find me?”
“I went back to where I’d left you. Saw your bagel on the ground when I was looking for an escape from Rico’s men—that’s when I saw the passage. You know how to fly this thing?” he asked Kale, snapping the final piece of his harness.
“Yeah. The rebels stole all three of them on their last recon. We were able to override the Invaders’ language barrier and rig them. Hang tight.”
Muted pops sounded from outside. “We got company,” I said, braced myself and dug my fingers into my harness straps. Rico and his rebels poured into the cave, jumping through the waterfall.
We ascended higher, moving vertically toward the cave’s ceiling. The rebel’s fire stopped, and I caught a glimpse of Rico’s enraged expression as he shouted something to his partner, pointing upward to the ray of light that was now beaming over us. The cavern’s ceiling opened up and sunlight flooded the vehicle, streaming down through the clear hood and casting warmth on our skin.
I squeezed my eyes shut and bit down on my lip as we shot through the opening. I’d never felt g-force power like this before. Kale was screaming and laughing like a kid on a roller coaster as we powered straight up into the sky, then thundered forward, away from the Black Hole. “Woooo-hoooo! Haha! This never gets old!”
Jet’s hands clamped onto my shoulders from behind and my stomach dropped as the Capsule flipped. I could feel our direction shift, the machine rolling and banking a right.
“I promise, it gets easier, you just have to let your body get used to it—”
“No talking!” Jet hollered from behind me. “I mean it, you SOB, I’m gonna kill you for putting us in this thing!”
“Haha, get in line!” Kale flung back, still laughing.
“I thought you loved to fly,” I offered, stifling a laugh myself.
“This isn’t flying … this is … I don’t know what this is, but I swear I’m gonna enjoy puking on Kale’s shoes the minute we step out of this thing.”
“Bring it, brother. I’d pay to see you lose your shit. That would absolutely make my day.”
“What were you doing with my girl, anyway, jackass? You just take off with her and leave me to the wolves? I don’t think so, brother. I’m gonna do more than puke on you when we land.”
“It’s not my problem you weren’t with her. Noooo, Mr. Alpha-Knows-All had to go and duke it out with Rico instead. You chose a testosterone rush. You snooze you lose.”
“He was gonna send her into fucking service! Why’d you take off like a bat out of hell, anyway? Where are we going?”
“Sounds to me like it was her decision. And I took off because things were about to go south and trust me, we didn’t want to be around for it.”
“Um … guys?” I said, “I’m right here, you know.”
“Well, it was a bad decision,” Jet snapped back, ignoring me. “I’m looking out for her. Something you’re obviously not concerned about, sneaking off to escape in this thing. You could’ve killed her. And why do you get to decide what we do and don’t wanna be there for? We had a deal—you wanted allies, we wanted revenge. It was a fair trade—one you wanted, remember? What are we supp
osed to do now, huh? Being with those rebels was our ticket. The deal’s off. We are not amigos, yo comprende?”
“Oh, first off, will you cut the knight-in-shining-armor bullshit? I came back for your ass, didn’t I? I did that for her. Instead of puking on me, you should be kissing my feet. And we were never amigos. Nothin’ new there.”
I tipped my head back against the headrest. “You guys!”
“Whatever, punk. You play Nice Guy, but I’m onto your game. You’ve known my girl for all of what, forty-eight hours? Kick that puppy-dog crush of yours and go meddle in someone else’s business. The deal’s off. The second we step out of this contraption, me and Skylla are gone, you hear me?”
“Wah, wah, wah. I’m over it, dude. Cry me a river. You didn’t get to save the day this time. You’ll still get your revenge, don’t worry. Believe me, what Rico had planned was only going to make things worse. I just did you a favor. Obviously you felt that way, too, or you wouldn’t have been ready to beat his ass over sending Skylla on the mission.”
“Forget it,” I whispered, closing my eyes.
“A favor? Really? Rico’s plan sounded good to me. I just didn’t want Skylla to be at the center of it.”
“Finally, something we agree on.”
“You almost got us killed back there to get us into this hunk of metal. So tell us, what’s so bad about Rico’s plan?”
“For one, he’s keeping it from the other rebels. They have no idea what he’s really up to. Plus he’s getting sloppy, resorting to extreme tactics when he doesn’t even know what he’s up against. If he was really concerned with long-term survival of the human race, he wouldn’t be all about taking out the Shepherds. Attempting to get rid of the Sacred Seven is only sweeping things under the rug. It’s not a long-term solution.”
“And you know this how?”
Kale’s eyes flickered to Jet’s in the rearview mirror. “The rebel movement’s been around a long time, before the Invaders ever came around. I’ve heard and seen it all—each and every theory about how to try and take them down, or prevent them from completing their mission. At first I thought Rico was different, I thought … maybe he was one of the few to see things differently. When he started suggesting accessing Central Control to gather the Shepherds, I thought he might be on to something. But I was wrong. He just wants to get rid of them, like every other rebel group, and he refuses to see that’s only a means to an end.”
Curses, Fates & Soul Mates Page 113
