Jax attacked. She blocked one punch, then another. Managed to dodge a kick by jumping back and away. But he was like a machine, relentless. She twirled and twisted, straining to defend herself, relying on her instinct and agility. All thoughts of attack vanished as self-preservation took over, and it was all she could do to avoid the limbs snaking toward her, seemingly unattached to a body as they kept coming at her, too quick to process. The shadows hummed in the back of her mind, offering escape, pleading she retreat into their safe folds. But Pandora remained stubbornly beneath the hot sun, refusing to take the easy way out as Jax continued his onslaught.
A bead of sweat dropped from her brow and landed in her eye. She tried to blink it away, but it was too late. One fist caught her in the shoulder, and the force sent a vibration through her entire body, shocking her still, leaving her wide open as Jax sliced at her feet. He brought her easily to the ground. In two seconds, he was on her chest, holding her forearms against the ground, using his thighs to pin her legs. She bucked once, trying to exploit a point of weakness or an avenue of escape, but there were none.
She blinked, looking up to find his face silhouetted by the sun.
And suddenly it was no longer Jax holding her down.
The vision came swiftly, stealing all thoughts of reality away as hands grabbed at her body, twelve sets of meaty palms pawing at her, holding her down as she cried and screamed, as she fought with everything she had to get away. But the shadows were gone, burned back to a place beyond reach. And she’d learned to rely on them too much. Without them, she was nothing. She was just as pathetic as she’d always thought she was, just as meek as they wanted her to be. And as her father stepped forward, knife held high, there was no move Pandora could think to make. The edge of the blade glinted in the blue haze surrounding her, sharp as the fear cutting through her as it barreled down, aimed at the center of her chest.
“No!” Pandora screamed, caught somewhere between her memories and her right mind, aware that the titans were gone, that Jax was trying to train her, but not so aware that she could stop the fear rippling through her, taking on a life of its own.
Jax loosened his hold immediately. “Dory?”
Pandora shook her head and reared her hips, kicking out with her legs and her arms, utterly out of control.
He rolled off her chest and knelt beside her, then paused with his hands in midair, as though unsure if he should reach out in comfort or if his touch would only make it worse.
Tears sprang to her eyes as her shoulder throbbed, haunting her with an ache that had long since dulled. She crushed her palm against the spot and held the phantom wound as every muscle in her body clenched tight, then released, leaving her limp against the ground.
“Dory?”
Pandora shook her head. She could still feel the little bump along her otherwise unblemished skin—the only scar her body had been unable to heal completely. Why? She had no idea. But it was fitting really, especially since her father had been the one to put it there. Two inches to the side and the knife would have hit her heart. The mark was a constant reminder of what exactly it was that she was fighting for—her life.
She looked up at Jax.
His eyes were a stormy sea, filled with concern and framed by hooded dark brows that were smashed together.
“I’m fine,” she murmured, lifting off the grass into a seated position, looking away. But Jax didn’t break his intense gaze. “Really, I don’t want to talk about it. Okay? Just drop it.”
The muscle in his jaw ticked once.
Five years ago, that would have been a sure sign that he’d be charging full steam ahead, forcing the walls she was quickly building to come down with all the grace of a sledgehammer. Now, they were in uncharted territory. Because he knew exactly what her fingers were rubbing. And he knew he’d played a part in putting that scar there. So he had no right to demand answers, no right to demand anything at all.
Jax relented, twisting his torso and reaching for the water bottles a few feet away. He tossed one in Pandora’s direction. “We’re taking a break.”
This time, it wasn’t a question.
“I tried picking up Naya’s location again earlier today,” Jax said while Pandora guzzled her water. “But she must still be too far away or in her jaguar form. Since I don’t have anything with her smell, my range is just not where it needs to be.”
Pandora nodded, disheartened but not surprised. They’d had this same conversation almost every day. Because finding Naya wasn’t just about finding her friend—it was about finding answers too. Something about the medium’s presence had brought Pandora’s memories closer to the surface, had allowed her to see more of her past lives than ever before. Memories of holding Sam within the fire. Memories of being a willing sacrifice so many centuries ago. Memories of the stories her mother used to tell her. And they were both banking on the fact that once Naya arrived, somehow, her magic would help Pandora remember all the answers locked inside her past. Until then, their only course of action was to probe the information trapped in Jax’s mind.
“I’ve been trying to remember every detail of the memory the archivists gave me,” Jax continued, “but even if I could tell you, there’s nothing I can think of that would help.”
Pandora ticked her tongue, thinking. He was, of course, talking about the memory he’d seen during his initiation when the titan secrets had finally been revealed to him. Every titan was gifted with the same one—a view of the moment the titans were created, the moment Sam had been locked in his prison, the moment Pandora had become the key. If she could only see it, she knew it held some clue about her next move, some clue about how to kill Sam. But the tattoo inked onto the back of Jax’s neck bound the knowledge from coming out. Every time he tried to tell her the slightest detail, his throat would close, choking him and cutting off air until he finally gave up.
Yet, same as every day before, Pandora still couldn’t help but ask the questions she knew he couldn’t answer. They’d devised a somewhat old-school tactic of trying to deal with the situation. Yes or no questions, with a nod or a shake for an answer.
It was frustrating to no end.
“Do you see Sam in the memory?”
A shake—no.
“But you see me?”
A nod—yes.
What do I look like? Different? The same? Strong and defiant? Or a lovesick weakling? Are my eyes still blue? My hair still blonde? Would I recognize myself?
But she bit her tongue.
None of those were simple questions, and they weren’t important anyway.
“And the original twelve were all there?”
A nod. The original twelve were the men and women present the moment she had locked Sam inside his prison realm—the original twelve titans who each held a power now passed down through generations, forming the twelve divisions of titan magic. Her mother had said the titans were born during the creation of Tartarus, not enclosed like the legends would have the humans believe. Somehow, during the making of the prison, the titans had been made as well. Everything was connected by invisible tethers she couldn’t figure out how to see.
“Do you understand the magic of the jail?”
Jax squinted, puckering his cheeks as his head wavered, somewhere in the middle.
“Could you repeat it?”
A firm shake. Definitely not.
“Could I?”
He lifted his brows, unsure, hope the barest glimmer in his eye.
“It’s not made of shadow, is it?”
No.
“It’s made of whatever the blue haze is that becomes the ink for the titan tattoo, right?”
An enthusiastic yes.
What the heck is the blue haze?
And why did touching it force the shadows away, making me vulnerable?
And why does it somehow feel familiar to me?
Alas, not a yes or no question. And that was the problem, because they’d gone through this exercise a thousand times, and while i
t narrowed the information down, all it did was give her more questions—questions Jax physically couldn’t answer.
Pandora reached behind and traced the tattoo at the back of her neck with her fingers, recognizing the shape of a key. Hers was different from the titan seal, something all her own. But it was made of the same magic, and every time she touched it, her fingers burned with the power, trembled from the magnitude of the energy that called to her, luring her in. But she didn’t know how to use it, how to wield it, how to bend such a force to her will.
She snapped her fingers away.
The tips tingled.
“Do you feel anything when you touch your tattoo?”
Jax snorted. “Other than disgust?”
Pandora paused. Their eyes met briefly but jumped away, like fingers that accidentally brushed against a hot pan, a gut reaction against the pain. His answer brought them too close to topics they didn’t want to discuss, didn’t know how to confront.
“I mean, no,” he muttered, then reached for his water and took a long slug.
“Hmm,” Pandora hummed, rubbing her fingers together as the prickle of magic lingered. “I do. When I touch mine, it buzzes under my skin, like some sort of natural electricity.”
“Really? Let me see.”
Pandora spun, lifting her ponytail to present Jax with her neck. A shiver raced through her when his fingers brushed against her skin. She swallowed a tight lump in her throat and didn’t move as he followed the lines of the key. Though his touch didn’t deviate from the designated path, Jax lingered all the same, traveling slower than necessary. Then gone.
His swallow was so loud she heard it before he opened his mouth to speak. “I didn’t feel a thing.”
Pandora arched a single brow he couldn’t see. Didn’t feel a thing, my ass—
“You try,” he said, cutting her off midthought.
Pandora turned in her spot, lifting her palm, but she stopped midmotion when she spotted Kira and Luke twenty feet away and gaining ground fast. She dropped her arm. Not involving the conduits meant not discussing titan secrets when they were around, and she was determined to stick to the plan.
“Let’s get back to this later, okay?”
Jax nodded but not before Kira shouted out, “Get back to what?”
Her smile was sweet, but her gaze was sharp.
“Nothing,” Pandora replied.
“If you tell us, we might be able to help,” Kira pushed.
While Pandora knew the conduit’s intentions were good, the game was getting old. But she bit back her snappy retort because, well, she didn’t have many friends, and she wanted to hold on to the ones she did have. Despite the secrets, she considered Kira an ally, and deep down, she knew the conduit only wanted to help and was pressing the issue more because she couldn’t stop herself and less to pry.
“You are helping,” Pandora said, completely honest. “Giving me a place to live and food to eat is more than enough. And you’re looking for Naya too, so believe me, you’re doing everything you can.”
Kira frowned and plopped down next to her on the grass but relented. With a shrug, she lifted the basket in her hand. “We brought a picnic. I was getting hungry just watching you guys train.”
At her words, Pandora finally glanced around, realizing Kira and Luke hadn’t been the only ones watching. They’d been practicing in the park at the center of Sonnyville, a completely public space, and there were more than a few conduit eyes peeking in their direction—actually, quite a lot of their spectators were openly gaping. Yeah, the wide-open field was not her preferred spot, but their one and only training session in Kira and Luke’s front yard had resulted in a broken mailbox, a dented garage door, and a crushed flower bed. Fighting with inhuman strength made it hard to remember how fragile some human things actually were. Needless to say, they’d been forced to relocate. Hence the park, where trees were the only possible casualties. Nearly everyone in Sonnyville had come to watch them train at least once, curious why their normally quiet streets had suddenly been filled with the thunder of pounding fists. Nearly everyone except the one person in the town Pandora actually wanted to see.
Pavia.
The vampire who had once been her maker, now cured and living a few minutes away. There were so many questions Pandora wanted to ask—why had she turned her? Why had she helped her? Why had she never ratted her out to the titans after being cured? And more important things too, not only matters of curiosity, but of life and death. How exactly had Pavia locked Pandora’s memories of that night away? And while she was deep in her thoughts, had she seen any other memories buried in the back of her mind? Memories of Sam? Of what they’d been to each other? And maybe, just maybe, how to destroy him?
But Pandora had no interest in returning to the vampire reintegration center to find answers, and for some reason, it seemed as though Pavia had no interest in leaving it. Pandora had been in Sonnyville for over a week already, and despite asking Kira about Pavia a whole handful of times, the girl remained determinedly absent.
“Are Pavia and Tristan coming for dinner tonight? You’d mentioned they were thinking about it,” Pandora asked casually as she leaned forward to help set the plates and Tupperware out on the blanket.
Kira and Luke looked at each other.
Brief. Hardly a second.
But Pandora saw.
And there was undeniable intensity in that shared moment, an intensity Pandora had seen in their eyes before. They were hiding something, hiding Pavia, but why she didn’t know. And asking too forcefully might risk the careful safety bubble she’d built for herself here.
“They might,” Kira said, shrugging but not meeting Pandora’s eyes. “They’ve been really preoccupied lately. A few of the cured had terrible reactions to their newfound humanity, and it’s been a bit of a crisis.”
Seven days, seven excuses.
Pandora lifted a sandwich to her lips, then took a bite as her eyes found Jax’s. They shared a moment probably just like the one between Kira and Luke. Intense. Brief. But full of meaning.
Something had to change.
Maybe not today.
Maybe not tomorrow.
But soon, something had to change. Because they were wasting time waiting for Naya, wasting time not pushing the conduits for answers, wasting time trying to walk the edge, and they didn’t have very much time to waste.
In less than eleven months, Pandora would be twenty-one.
In less than eleven months, they had to figure out how to destroy Sam.
And if not…
Jax looked away, unable to follow where her thoughts were taking her. Because if their time ran out before they found answers, he’d made a promise he couldn’t undo, a promise she’d cornered him into.
If they couldn’t find answers, in less than eleven months, Jax would put a knife through her heart. Sealing the prison. Saving the world. And sacrificing their souls in the process.
~~~
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis writes young adult fantasy novels under the name Kaitlyn Davis and contemporary romance novels und
er the name Kay Marie.
Always blessed with an overactive imagination, Kaitlyn has been writing ever since she picked up her first crayon and is overjoyed to share her work with the world. When she's not daydreaming, typing stories, or getting lost in fictional worlds, Kaitlyn can be found indulging in some puppy videos, watching a little too much television, or spending time with her family.
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Freeze (Midnight Ice Book Two) Page 23
