by Vicki Leigh
“The what?” Trishna asked.
I clarified. “In the Bible, the book of Revelation mentions four ‘Horsemen’ who bring on… plagues, I guess, to signal the end times are near. Conquest, War, Famine, and Death.”
“This is why the Angels wanted us to go to war,” Bartholomew said, holding his stomach. “The four Magus… Richard didn’t just want them because of their birthday.”
“He did say he manipulated their genes.”
Kayla and the other three—Alex, Margaret, and Adelynn—had all been born on October 31, exactly at midnight. And all four of them had been targeted by Richard and his Nightmares before Rome was destroyed. Now, his ultimate plan was starting to make sense. I gripped the edge of the bed as my legs weakened.
Bartholomew nodded. “Because he’s going to use them as his versions of the Horsemen.”
By the time I crawled into bed, it was nearing four a.m. My home was pitch black and quiet, except for Seth’s snores. For once, I was thankful for my supernatural ability to see in the dark. I really didn’t feel like waking someone by running into something and rehashing all the details from my four-hour meeting. We’d finally decided to call from the field all the Protectors who’d joined our fight—the rest would continue to guard their charges—and send nine teams scouting across the US for signs of Richard. “Operation Revelation” Trishna had called it.
Tomorrow, I’d explain everything to my friends.
The blankets were tucked around Kayla like she was the filling of a burrito. Wonderful. The caves were chilly, even in the August heat, but I lay on my side without cover to avoid rousing her. What Richard had planned for the world—for Kayla—shook my strength, and I still couldn’t stop my palms from sweating or my stomach from somersaulting. I didn’t want Kayla to see me like this.
When she rolled over, I flinched and pinched the bridge of my nose. I needed to calm down. Now.
Her arms wrapped around me from behind. “I tried to wait up for you,” she mumbled, half-asleep.
I placed an arm over hers. “It’s all right. Sleep, love.”
Her arms tightened as she slid closer until her cheek—and her chest—pressed against my back. One of her legs slipped between mine. Thank God I was too groggy for fleeting thoughts.
“What’s happening?” she asked, more awake than before.
“I’ll tell you in the morning.”
“But Tabbi told me about the Revelation thing… how my dad wants to use me as a Horseman. He’s not going to come in the middle of the night like he did last time and kidnap me again and—”
“Kayla…” Her name came out like a sigh. I moved out of her grasp just enough to roll onto my back and wrap an arm around her. She shifted closer, resting her head on my chest, gripping my stomach. I stroked her shoulder with my thumb.
“There are spells in place we didn’t have last time. You’re safe here, and you’re with me. I won’t let anything happen to you,” I said.
The room was quiet for a moment. I thought she’d fallen asleep, but then she said, “Not like I couldn’t fight them off this time, anyway.”
I smiled, my eyes closed. She’d come a long way from the scared girl in a mental hospital.
“Promise me something?” she asked.
I responded with some sort of grunt, too tired to open my mouth.
“Whatever you’re planning to do, don’t leave me behind.”
I kissed her forehead. Separating wasn’t an option; no matter where she was, Richard would not stop until he found her. There was no doubting that now. I’d rather be with Kayla when that moment came, so I could protect her or die trying. Besides, who knew how long I’d be in the field? To go one day without her was hard enough. I’d never make it weeks or months.
I tried to respond, to tell her that would never happen. But, unwillingly, I drifted to sleep.
awoke when Kayla brushed hair from my forehead. Immediately, I covered my eyes and groaned. My eyeballs pounded in my skull. Damn you, whiskey.
“Trishna sent out the message to meet in the banquet hall in twenty minutes. You okay?” she asked.
“Hangover.”
“So, you were drunk last night?” Her voice was playful.
I sat up and pressed my lips together, stifling a wave of nausea that made me sweat. “Won’t be doing that again.”
Who’s on your team? Trishna asked.
I winced. She might as well have held a megaphone to my ear.
Kayla touched my arm, and I pinched the bridge of my nose. Kayla, Seth, Sam, Tabbi, Nolan, Ivan, Lian… You pick the other two, I replied.
Trishna paused. Abigail and Shawn, then. You need more Magus.
“I’m sorry,” Kayla said. “I don’t know what to do for a hangover. I only got invited to a couple parties at my high school before… everything, and I never really drank much.”
“Everything” meant her near rape and few months in a mental hospital because of it. I frowned, the urge to pull her mother’s deceased boyfriend out of Hell and kill him again still boiling my blood.
I caressed her knee and stood. “It’ll pass.”
I stripped free of my trousers and dressed in dark jeans and a gray T-shirt, then reached a hand to Kayla and lifted her from the bed. Fingers entwined, we exited our home and walked side by side through the stone tunnel to the banquet hall. Most of the coven was already present, so we squeezed into seats near the back. Trishna had arranged the chairs in multiple circles, like an archery target. In the center, she stood, conversing with Bartholomew, her black hair tied in a ponytail. At ten o’clock sharp, Bartholomew sat, and a quiet please was sent telepathically to the congregation. The room silenced.
Trishna began. “Most of you should have been told who to report to following this meeting. For those who don’t know, starting tomorrow, everyone but our newest recruits will be leaving Caelum to proactively search for signs that might lead us to Richard. These missions will be highly dangerous, especially given the new information we’ve uncovered.”
New information? I leaned forward in my seat. Why hadn’t I heard of this?
“Last night, one of our Protectors apprehended a warlock who spoke of Richard’s ability to know when someone evaporates. This might be one of the reasons we’ve been so unsuccessful in finding any of his coven members—they always know when we’re coming. Therefore, all use of evaporation will stop from this day forward.”
My body chilled as the room exploded in gasps and loud conversation. Evaporation was one of the Protectors’ core abilities. Removing it was like stripping an avid reader of their ability to see.
Trishna raised her hands. “This isn’t a decision we take lightly, but if we want to stay undetected, Protectors cannot use this ability any longer. We’re lucky Richard’s knowledge hasn’t been used against us yet. How he’s tracking us, I don’t know. But we need to stay under his radar, as much for our success as our protection.”
Kayla squeezed my hand. I’m sorry, Daniel.
“So, what are we supposed to do, then?” someone shouted from the other side of the room.
“Your team leaders will each be designated a specific area of the country to target in your search. Witches and warlocks can sense when a paranormal is near, and we’ve pulled several Weavers from their current locations so that each group can have at least one in their mix. To you, Protectors, it will feel like you’re moving at a pace slower than decay. But in reality, by taking busses, cars, walking, biking… It might work to our favor. Weavers will be able to listen in on people’s thoughts; Magus will have a chance to use their energy to feel for Protectors and other Magus. Richard thinks he’s incapacitated us when, in reality, he’s given us an advantage.”
Trishna handed out coordinates to the team leaders. I was to start here at the Allegheny Tunnel, where our hidden entrance to Caelum was located, and work my way through southern Pennsylvania into Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., and Virginia. My jaw clenched, imagining the hours of sitting in a car—an experience I’d had
only once before: on the ride home from Kayla’s hospital. This was going to suck.
“Our allies on the outside have been working hard to secure vehicles and fake IDs for your use,” Trishna continued. “Be careful, and blend in.”
“And may the Angels watch over you,” Bartholomew added.
We spent the next several hours stuffing our belongings into duffels. Five people could cram into one car, which meant we had to fit five bags into each trunk. Any bigger than a camper’s sack, and they’d never fit.
“I am not going to be able to survive on one bag,” Samantha complained as we left our home to meet the others at the gate. Already, Chad’s group had left, heading in the other direction, toward Ohio. It would be our turn in minutes.
“You were on the road for five weeks. How are you not used to this?” Kayla asked.
I’d been surprised when Kayla had tossed only a few clothing items and toiletries into her bag, saying, “That’s what laundromats are for.” I smiled again, just thinking about it.
“Because Sam can’t live without five thousand pairs of shoes,” Tabbi joked.
Samantha rolled her brown eyes.
At the gate, Nolan chatted with two Magus—Shawn and Abigail. The two Trishna had assigned to our team to even out our numbers. Abigail was one of the oldest witches I’d seen, with light blond hair and a little extra weight around her midriff. Her welcoming expression was soft but genuine, though she appeared shy.
Shawn, on the other hand, frightened me beyond belief. He was my height, with dark skin and black hair that had been twisted into small knots all over his head. His face was pierced in multiple places. He wore skin-tight, black leather trousers, and a black, sleeveless shirt that showcased extremely muscular arms. The bloke reminded me of one of those body builders you see on TV. I fought the urge to avoid eye contact and run the other way. Bloody coward, I scolded myself.
“Seriously? More freaking teenagers?” Shawn said when we reached them.
Great. A New Yorker.
“Which one of you is Daniel?” he asked.
I dug my heels into the ground and stood straight. “I am.”
“And you’re how old?”
I smirked. “Two hundred and seventeen.”
He cackled. “Yeah, right. I ain’t taking orders from some punk ass kid. Where’s Trishna?”
Samantha jumped to my defense. “Hey, asshole, the only people here who are actually younger than you are Kayla and Nolan. So do us a favor and show a little respect ‘cause one of us ‘teenagers’ will probably save your life on the battlefield.”
Abigail’s eyes popped out of her head.
“Sam, that’s enough,” I said to my red-faced friend before turning to Shawn. “Look, I get it. You think we’re too young to be dishing out orders. But those Nightmares you’ve been hearing about, I’ve been fighting them for hundreds of years, and I’ve taken down my fair share of Magus. I know what I’m doing. Give me a chance to prove it to you before you decide I’m not capable of leading a team.”
Kayla squeezed my hand.
“Whatever,” Shawn said. “Any sign you’re gonna get us killed, I’m outta there.”
Holding his gaze, I nodded.
Ivan and Lian finally caught up with us, and the buzzer sounded as the guards let two people through the gate into Caelum. Both were as pale as the moon and thin enough to see their bones—and their irises were white.
They were allies?
“Wait, are those…?” Tabbi began.
“Vampires. Yeah,” I replied, adrenaline tingling through my body. I’d only seen one in the last two hundred years, and he had been ripping an artery from a human’s neck with his teeth. I gripped Kayla’s hand tighter and pulled her behind me.
“Wait,” Kayla said, “They’re real? But how—I mean—”
“Let’s just hope Trishna keeps a leash on them before they eat everyone in Caelum,” Seth said.
I snapped my head toward him, my gaze widening.
“What?” he asked.
“They have super sensitive hearing, you know.”
He shrugged.
“Your rides are here,” one of the guards called to us.
The ten of us wandered over to him, and I took the keys from his hand. “Who’s driving?” I asked, looking to Kayla. None of the Protectors could; we’d never had to learn.
She shook her head. “I never had to.”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Shawn snatched one set of keys from my hand. “Guess I’m playing fucking chauffeur.”
I sighed and held the other keychain out to Nolan. “Can you drive?”
He raised a finger. “I should warn you. My last car, Renaldo—”
I shoved the keys into his chest and led my team through the gate.
This late at night, barely any cars passed through the Allegheny Tunnel, so I wasn’t surprised to find it empty except for two parked minivans. At least they were roomier than cars.
I glanced behind me and watched as teammate after teammate popped through the concrete out of Caelum, like a scene from a television cartoon. To anyone who didn’t know to look for Trishna’s fancy T scratched into the wall, they’d never find the entrance to our safe haven. And to anyone witnessing this, they’d assume they’d gone insane. People walking through walls wasn’t exactly commonplace.
“Aw, man,” Nolan said when he saw what we were riding in. “I have to drive a minivan?”
“Thanks for takin’ us, Mommy,” Seth joked, hugging Nolan as he walked past.
“Call me that again, I will make you pee snakes for a week,” Nolan replied, following a laughing Seth to the van.
I shook my head and waited for the last member of my team to exit the underground city, then I approached the vans—and walked right into an argument between Samantha and Seth about who was riding with whom.
“Would both of you just get in? We can fit six in one and four in the other. It doesn’t have to be even,” I directed.
Seth stuck his tongue out at her and climbed inside. Samantha pushed him before yanking open the passenger door, and his head smacked the other side of the interior. He yelped. I ran my hand down my face. Kill me now.
After tossing my duffel bag into the small trunk, I climbed into the van and plopped onto the back row, next to Kayla. Tabbi sat in the seat in front of me, her head already against the window, fast asleep. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised. Tabbi was basically narcoleptic.
“So, where are we going?” Nolan asked.
I pulled the list of hotels Trishna had given me out of my back pocket. First stop: Washington D.C.
By the time we reached the country’s capital, the sun was up. We parked our vans in a city garage and used cash to pay for the day. Where and how Bartholomew got the money, I didn’t know. But if we wanted to blend in like normal people, we had to pay for things like normal people, especially now that we wouldn’t be requiring items in bulk. No more stealing to survive. The last thing we needed was to end up in a jail cell.
“Tell me again why we’re wandering a huge city filled with thousands of people to find one man,” Shawn said as we grabbed what we needed from the vans.
“And why I had to leave my weapons behind,” Samantha added.
“Because carrying knives and guns through the highly-populated capital will get you arrested,” I answered.
“Can you imagine the looks on the cops’ faces if they ran Sam’s prints?” Nolan joked, imitating what he imagined they would look like. Which, apparently, was someone ready to crap in his trousers.
I glared at him. “I’m serious. We’re trying to stay under Richard’s radar. We have no idea who’s working for him. Richard thinks he’s making this world a better place for the supernatural by killing people. We can’t get caught before we stop him from destroying everything.”
“Okay, fine. We get that,” Shawn said. “But why big cities?”
“Because the odds of finding one of Richard’s followers is higher,” Seth answered. When
I raised an eyebrow, he replied, “What? I do listen, y’know.”
I half-smiled. “We know his plan is to kill as many people and destroy as many places as he can. Large cities will be his prime targets. Not to mention, Tabbi’s odds of finding one person working for him out of everyone here is better than if we were in some small country town.”
“And we can blend in easier in larger crowds,” Lian added.
I nodded then turned to Shawn. “Is that enough explanation for you?”
He scowled, wandering away from the vans with his hands in fists. I had been a bit of an ass, but blast, it’d felt good.
“All right. Pair up,” I said, pulling papers from my bag and handing them out. “Bartholomew printed off maps. On the ride, I marked off five sections of the city. Some will take public transportation to reach. We’ll visit the different areas and meet back here in eight hours.”
Magus were the ones who could sense others like them or spirits like us; there needed to be a witch or warlock in each pair. Seth was going to wander with Tabbi, since she could read minds; I wasn’t leaving Kayla’s side. Samantha and Nolan had already clung to each other—which meant Ivan and Lian needed to split up, one going with Shawn and the other with Abigail. They rock-paper-scissored for Abigail, and when Lian lost, she swore in Mandarin before taking a map to her unpopular partner.
Taking Kayla’s hand in mine, I walked with her out of the parking garage.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” she said. “Trishna explained how to ‘feel’ for the frequencies of different species, but I’ve never done it before.”
“Well, I’ve never hailed a cab. So, we’re both in the same boat.”
“I think stopping a taxi is a little easier.”
I raised an eyebrow and waved at the first one to drive by. It didn’t stop. “Are you sure?”
She shot me a pointed glance and halted me at the edge of the sidewalk. We waited a few moments for another taxi to head in our direction. Letting go of my hand, she stepped into the street and held her hand out as one neared. The driver stopped.
