James looked down into his questioning eyes. “I wasn’t going to make it in time driving, so I rented a plane. It’s waiting to take off whenever you’re ready. Where do you want to go?”
Will’s heart splintered, and he struggled to keep himself together for Jake. He needed a plan—but where the hell did he go from here? The only person he’d ever truly loved was laying in the van behind him. “I don’t know.”
James knelt beside him. “Is there anyone still after you?”
His jaw trembled as he tried to catch his breath. “I don’t know… maybe Warren. We killed Alex, but no one knows for sure it was us.”
“What about Aiden or Raphael?”
“They’re dead. So is Marcus.”
“Who’s Marcus?”
“Water. My biological father.” It all seemed so fucking ridiculous now.
James paused a moment, then stood. “My friend has a lake cabin in Missouri we can use. I say we lay low there for a few days and wait for any fallout.”
Glancing down at Jake, Will let James’s words sink into his addled brain. Hiding seemed like a good idea. They needed to figure out if anyone was still after Jake. “Yeah. Okay.”
“What do you want to do with…” James swung his gaze toward the van.
A fierce protectiveness flooded Will’s senses, agony following in its wake. The thought of leaving her lifeless body for anyone to find lacerated his soul. Who would find her here? What would they do with her? Maybe it was their bond or maybe his love for her, but he couldn’t walk away. He’d protected her in life. He’d protect her in death too. “I can’t leave her here.”
James didn’t seem surprised. “Okay, we’ll take her with us.”
Will nodded, a lump burning his throat.
“We need to get going in case anyone followed us here.” Bending down, James gently lifted Jake from Will’s lap. “Come here, buddy. We’re going to go on a plane ride.”
Jake tensed then kicked as he reached over James’s shoulder. “No! Will!”
“He’s coming with us. He’s getting your mommy.”
James carried Jake to the plane while Will lifted Emma into his arms, the coldness of her body cementing what he already knew but still couldn’t accept. She was really dead.
Where the hell did he go from here?
Chapter Thirty-One
Emma sat in a short, dark tunnel, disoriented and propped against a stone wall. Where was she? She knew she should be afraid, but instead she was suffused with an overwhelming sadness. Why?
Memories flooded her head. She was dead.
Echoes of sobs reverberated through the space, and she swore she heard someone call out her name. Cocking her head, she closed her eyes to concentrate on the sound. After several seconds, she gave up, disappointed. She was imagining things.
Unsure what to do, she turned a corner and found a gate blocking her path. A padlock bolted it shut on the other side. When she shook the gate, the metal groaned in protest, but the lock held tight.
Where the hell was she?
Emma spun in a circle, realizing she was trapped. The only place she could go was back into the short tunnel behind her. So this was it? This was her eternity? She slumped to the ground too heartbroken to care. The damp sank into her body, chilling her bones.
“I didn’t think you’d give up so easily.”
Emma’s head jerked up and she noticed that beyond the gate was a circular, stone room. More gated openings lined the walls, all empty except for one. A hooded figure stood in the gate directly opposite Emma’s.
“Who are you?”
The figure laughed. “The question is, who are you?”
Shaking her head, Emma leaned her forehead against the bars. “I’m not doing this. I’ve played enough games to last a fucking lifetime.” The irony of her words hit her and she snorted.
“Who are you, Emma Thompson?” a woman’s voice asked.
Grabbing the metal bars, Emma pulled herself up, irritation burning her chest. “If you know my name, then why the hell are you asking me who I am?”
“Emmanuella Thompson is your name, but you’ve fought that name your entire life. Who are you? Without the name?”
Who was she? The last six years had redefined her. “A mother.”
“Yes, what else?”
If Jake defined her, so did Will. How could she describe what she was to him—and he was to her? Her other half. “A soul mate.”
“And what is the commonality in those two roles?”
Emma shook her head. She’d learned this too late. What good did it do her now? “Love. Undying love.”
“Do you want to stay here, Emma Thompson, mother and soul mate? Possessor of undying love?”
“Do I really have a choice?”
“Yes.”
The word echoed and bounced off the stone walls before settling on Emma’s ears. She shook the bars. “Then I want to leave! I want to go back.” She stopped. The figure had asked if she wanted to stay here. She’d been through enough of Aiden’s mind games to realize that somewhere not here could be much, much worse. “Where can I go?”
“Back to Will and Jake.”
Emma’s breath caught in her throat and she eased it out carefully. “What’s the catch?”
A chuckle floated across the space. “You’ve learned your lessons well.”
“I’ve learned that everything has a price. What’s this one?”
“You have to help me.”
Emma studied the figure, trying not to get her hopes up. “How do I do that?”
“You have to let me free.”
With a derisive laugh, Emma glanced around at her cell. “How am I going to do that when I can’t even get out myself?”
“But you can. You have the power.”
It had to be a trick. “So I get out, and then I let you out and I go back to Jake and Will. Will I still be dead? Will I just be a ghost?”
“No, you’ll be very much alive. You and the baby.”
Emma instinctively reached for her stomach. “You’re going to tell me how to go back?”
“Yes.”
Emma remained wary. She’d learned that you didn’t strike a deal with these creatures and then go about your merry way. There was always a catch.
But what if she could go back to Jake and Will? And save the baby? How could she refuse? She cast a glance at the figure. Who hid under the cloak? Emma couldn’t decide until she knew. “Who are you? Do I know you?”
“You know me better than you think. I’m the one person who has an inkling of what you’ve been through.”
Emma’s voice escaped in whisper. “Who are you?”
But she knew, even as a slender hand reached up from the robes and lowered the hood. She knew before the woman’s chin lifted so Emma could look into her own face—a younger, softer version.
“Emmanuella.”
A gentle smile lifted the corners of her mouth, but sadness haunted her eyes. “Will you let me help you?”
“If I agree to help you?”
“We’re not so different, you and I. We want to be with the ones we love.”
Emma sucked in her breath. “Raphael.”
Emmanuella’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. “Yes.”
Raphael didn’t seem worthy of anyone’s love, but who was she to judge? James didn’t think she was worthy of Will’s. “Okay, I agree. What happens now?”
“It depends.”
“On what?”
“Will and Jake.”
“What about Will and Jake?” Had she failed them after all? Did she have to wait for them to join her, and then they could all share the same cell? No, Emmanuella had told her she could return to them.
“They have the power to help bring you back, but only during a short window of time. You’ve spent too much time here already.”
“But how does it work? What do I do?”
“The three of you must work together. You and Will using your bond, and Jake with his mar
k from the shadows. He can use their power to open the gate.”
Emma’s mouth dropped open. “How will they know what to do?”
“They only have to ask.”
How would they know to ask?
“Will might be able to hear you, but your bond has already begun to change.”
“I thought we were bound forever. Even in death. How do you know it’s changed?”
Emmanuella raised her hand and pointed to Emma. “Your glow. Your aura contained equal amounts of both your color and Will’s when you first showed up, but Will’s blue is fading and your red is growing stronger. You’ll always be bound together, but the bond is weakening. It’s necessary for Will to survive without you.”
She’d never noticed an aura before, but she’d never looked for one. Glancing down, she noticed a reddish glow emanating from her body, interwoven with streaks of blue. “What do I do?”
“Talk to him. Tell him to get Jake to open the gate.”
Fear crashed through Emma in roaring waves. It couldn’t be that easy. There had to be a catch. What if she unleashed a terrible calamity on the earth? The old man in Kansas City had declared her the destruction of the world. What if this decision meant destruction?
“Emma!”
Two choices. It seemed so easy. “What if it doesn’t work? What if my connection to Will is too weak?”
“You’ll never know if you don’t try.”
Selfish or not, she had to try. She would regret it for eternity if she didn’t. Will! Emma listened to the silence, then tried again. Will! I’m here! Can you hear me?
“You’re running out of time! Will’s light is continuing to fade. It’s happening faster than I expected.”
“No.” She had to reach him. Will, I’m here. I can come back, but I need you to help me!
Nothing.
There had to be something that would reach him. Something stronger than the both of them.
Their bond was the key. What better way to try to reach him than to say the joining words? She closed her eyes and recited the oath that bound them together.
***
Will was almost to the plane when he heard Emma’s voice in his head.
To the last ray of light from the stars at the end
I join my heart with yours
The joining words. His grief was making him hallucinate.
But the words reminded him that they were bonded. In life and in death. They were joined for eternity.
He stopped, reciting the words in his head.
Onto an endless path that winds through infinity
And sears our souls and power into an unbreakable bond.
Their joining was the key.
Through life and death and all that lies in between
I vow to be yours, forever.
“I think I can bring her back! I hear her in my head.”
James stuck his head out of the small plane. “Will, don’t do this to yourself. You’ve already tried, man. She’s gone.”
“No. No, I tried CPR. I need to use our bond. It joins us in life and death. Maybe I can reach her. Maybe I can bring her back.”
Jake scrambled over the plane seat past James, jumping out of reach as James grabbed for him.
James climbed down and lowered his voice. “Will, don’t do this to Jake. Don't get his hopes up, or yours.”
“No, I heard her in my head.”
“You only think you did.”
“I want to try to save Mommy.” Jake’s eyes narrowed and he looked remarkably like Emma when she’d made up her mind to do something.
James shook his head. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know.” It all sounded great in theory, but how would Will actually make it happen? “Do you have her pendant?”
“Yeah.” James dug it out of his pocket.
“Help me put it on her.” Will lifted her head and James fastened the clasp. Will laid her down again, the pendant at the base of her throat.
“Now what?”
Will grabbed her hand, frustrated. “I don’t know. Maybe if I say the joining words out loud.” He tried to ignore the fact that he and Emma recited them using telepathy when they joined.
“Okay.”
“With echoes from the beginning of time
To the last ray of light from the stars at the end.”
Emma’s pendant glowed.
“It’s working,” Jake whispered.
“Not yet.” Will shook his head. “It’s not enough.” He ignited his power, his body glowing a bright white. Water bubbled from the earth, and several geysers shot into the sky.
James fell back on his ass. “Holy shit.”
***
“It’s working,” Emmanuella said, her words whispered like a prayer.
Emma kept her eyes closed, afraid to open them and lose contact. “It’s not enough.”
“You need Jake to open the lock. But Will’s connection to you is getting weaker. You’re running out of time.”
***
Although her pendant was glowing, he didn’t feel her at all. He only heard faint snatches of her voice, and he wondered if that was his imagination. Panic threatened to overwhelm him, and he struggled to reason out what to do next. “It’s still not enough.” He looked up into Jake’s hopeful eyes. “Jake. Can you help?”
“Shadows! Come to me!” Jake shouted. The shadows crept toward him, dancing as they approached. “I need your power.” His mark glowed under his shirt, the outline of his intertwined circles a bright white. Jake took Emma’s other hand.
“Through life and death, and all that lies between
I vow to be yours, forever.”
White light burst from her pendant, shooting into the sky.
Emma, please. Come back to me. I need you. Will sent one last surge of power into her.
***
“It’s working!” Emmanuella shouted.
Emma’s body was on fire. She opened her eyes and saw a vivid reddish light shining around her. Then a bright white light shot from the base of her throat toward the padlock on the gate.
Reaching up, her hand brushed the pendant. How did she get the pendant?
She shook the gate, but she was still trapped, even though the white beam shone on the padlock. “It’s not open!”
“You have to get Jake to open the lock!”
Emma closed her eyes, focusing all her love and power on Will. We’re so close, Will. But we’re almost out of time. Tell Jake to open the lock.
Emma?
Tears burned her eyes. He heard her. Jake has to open the lock. Tell Jake to open the gate!
She felt his confusion, and she was certain he didn’t understand.
“Will’s light is fading, Emma! They have to hurry!”
Will!
There was nothing. She couldn’t hear him.
The white light faded.
“No!” Emmanuella cried out. “You’re too late.”
***
The light faded, and Will’s eyes grew wide. “Jake, we need more.”
Jake’s heart felt like it was going to explode. He could hardly see through his tears as he shook his head. There was no more, but he knew where to get it. Climbing to his knees, Jake shouted into the air. “Shadows! You promised to help me save my mom! You promised!”
A spot of light on the asphalt grew brighter until it became blinding. A black shadow spot moved toward them.
Will sucked in his breath. “Jake…”
Jake glared at the shadow figure, angry at its betrayal. “He can help.”
The dark spot stopped in front of Jake and the figure rose from the ground.
Will gasped and reached to pull Jake back, but Jake shrugged him off. “No. He can help.” Turning his attention to the creature, Jake’s eyes narrowed. “You tricked me.”
“The gift was freely accepted. You knew the conditions.”
“You said you’d help me save my mom, but you didn’t. You’re a liar. You’re just like Aiden.�
��
Will stiffened, his fingers digging into Jake’s arm, but the shadow figure remained silent.
“I need you to bring back my mom.”
The shape nodded slowly. “It comes with a price.”
“What is it?” Jake wasn’t going to be tricked again.
“The original elements are now gone, and you must take their place. You are Air. Will is Water. If you save your mother, she will be Fire. The baby, she will be Earth. Someone will need to stand in for her until she is born.” The figure lifted a single finger toward Jake. “The price is simple, but steep. The time of immortal elements is over. If you bring your mother back, you will give up all claims to immortality. You will live like humans. Your only power will be your element, a power you must pass on to someone else before you die.” Jake glanced over his shoulder at Will.
Will leaned closer, worry on his face. “He’s telling you that you won’t live forever. None of us will. Aiden could live forever until your mother killed him, but you will get old and die like you normally would have before…before all this. That is the price you pay to save your mother.”
“Then I’ll do it.”
Will’s mouth twisted, and he looked torn, but he also looked desperate. “I want you to do this, but I’m not sure if I should let you. It’s a big decision. It means you’ll die someday.”
“But Mommy will still be dead if I don’t.”
Will swallowed, and his voice was scratchy. “Yes.”
Jake’s anger ignited. “He asked me. Not you. You don’t get to decide.” Jake turned back to the shadow. “I agree to the price. What do I have to do?”
The figure nodded and Jake thought he saw the hint of a smile, even though if he looked closely he couldn’t see a mouth. “Put your hand on your mother’s pendant and think about opening the lock.”
“What lock?”
“The lock keeping your mother from you.”
Jake nodded. “Okay.”
“Will must help too.”
Will put his hand over Jake’s.
Redemption (The Chosen #4) Page 33
