by K. J. McPike
“When we got back to this realm, Delta was understandably paranoid,” she said. “She created a collection of programmed stones that she could wear to prevent any Astralii from kidnapping her again.”
The last part hit me like an invisible fist in the gut. I couldn’t imagine the trauma Delta had been through—the same trauma Kala was probably going through as we spoke. I took a deep breath. I couldn’t start feeling bad for Delta when she was part of the reason my sister was still suffering.
“Why does it matter if she can repel astral energy?” I asked.
“Because your ability comes from astral energy,” Cade barked, still pacing. “Even if we managed to find a picture of Delta, the block will prevent you from projecting to her.”
“Oh.” I slumped on my stool, my back bumping the edge of the counter. Of course there would be something else to complicate things; I couldn’t catch a break with a net the size of Texas.
“That’s why we have to go when she’s there to do the ceremony,” Xiomara said. “I’m telling you, she’ll be there.”
Cade stopped dead in his tracks. “Fine. When will this little ritual take place?”
Xiomara’s expression turned to ice. “On the anniversary of the night Brendan died. You should remember it well.”
“Watch it,” Cade growled, triggering another tense look between the two of them.
“Wait.” I stiffened. “If Delta is wearing a block, how am I supposed to project to her?”
Xiomara stopped glaring at Cade long enough to look at me. “You won’t project to her. Just take us to Muir Woods. If we get there before she does, her block won’t affect your ability.”
Cade still looked furious, but as far as I was concerned, this was as good a plan as any. “So when will Delta be there?” I asked.
“The day before…” Xiomara swallowed. “I mean, February seventeenth.”
I nearly fell off my stool. “That’s—”
She nodded. “In two months.”
“Great.” I ran a hand over my face. Waiting until then would be agony.
“I know it’s a long time,” Xiomara said, “but it’s the only way to know for sure where Delta will be.”
“So we’re just supposed to sit around twiddling our thumbs for two months?” I spat.
“Of course not.” Cade’s voice came out so loud it startled me. “We’ll continue looking for the others.”
“Based on what?” Xiomara challenged. “I told you, I don’t know anything else. I want to get this over with as much as you do, but I can’t give you information I don’t have.”
Cade’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m sure you’ll come up with something before February.” Though the look on Xiomara’s face didn’t give me much confidence, I really hoped my uncle was right.
…He was wrong. Nothing we tried worked. I swear, I never planned on keeping your mom for so long. I thought it would be a couple of days—a week, tops. But time kept passing with no progress, and we couldn’t let your mom go home when there was a risk she would set up a block like Delta’s.
I still felt horrible, though, especially after witnessing your family’s reaction to her good-bye note. The guilt ate me alive, so much that I convinced Cade to let your mom stay in the in-law apartment in our basement. I told him it was too big a pain to keep projecting back and forth to bring her food and take her to our house to clean up, but the truth was that I just wanted to make her as comfortable as possible while we kept her captive.
When it was finally time to go after Delta, I thought for sure we were going to start making progress finding the others. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned…
Chapter 12
Escape
Xiomara and I sat side by side at the base of the redwood, both of us silent as the morning sky. She’s going to show. She’s going to show. I tried to will it into reality, even though my hope was dying a slow, painful death.
Delta was supposed to start the ceremony around sunrise, but the sun had been up for hours. It shone through the thick canopy of leaves above us, all cheerful and annoying. It probably would have been pretty any other day, but today I just wanted to get out of here—preferably with Delta on hand.
If this didn’t work, I didn’t know what we were going to do. Nine weeks had passed since I’d first nabbed Xiomara, and we’d made exactly zero progress with finding the other members of XODUS. Christmas and New Year’s came and went, both marked with failure. Everything we tried only led to dead ends.
We managed to find Delta’s family shortly after our first visit to South Creek, but we left with nothing more than a few choice words from her mother for stirring up old crap, as she so eloquently phrased it. From there, we tried tracking down the others’ previous employers and friends. We even turned to stalking Ursula’s ex-boyfriend, which took twice as long because Xiomara couldn’t remember if his name was Brian Connor or Brian O’Connor. That little pain-in-the-butt “O” added what seemed like another million guys to the list. Then, when we actually found the right one, he was useless. He’d married a woman who made him get rid of all traces of his ex-girlfriends, and he hadn’t spoken to Ursula in years.
We were so desperate that Xiomara tried drawing the others to see if I could use her art to project to them. I was pretty sure none of us really expected the drawings to work, though they did look almost real. Still, it was another bust to add to a list that seemed like it might never stop growing. At this rate, it would take a miracle to get all five women together to undo the energy sink.
Xiomara sighed, as if she’d been mentally tallying our failures, too. I fidgeted against the tree trunk at my back. It was uneven and uncomfortable, even through the thick fabric of the oversized coat I’d borrowed from Cade. Living in Hawaii for ten years and then moving to Miami hadn’t exactly given me a need to buy outerwear, so my uncle let me wear one of his peacoats to keep me from freezing to death in the February air. He refused to get rid of the coats after we moved—something about them being the first nice things he could afford in this world. I’d teased him for being so excited about a buy-one-get-one-free deal that he ended up with two of the same coat, but at this particular moment, I was grateful for it.
Cade was hiding nearby. Xiomara claimed Delta would never agree to help us if she knew my uncle was involved. Just in case Delta refused anyway, he was waiting with the gun I’d stolen from a convenience store almost a year ago. We’d made a pact to use it only in the case of confronting the Eyes and Ears, but Cade didn’t want to take any chances with Delta. After making no progress for the last two months, I had to agree.
In truth, the gun was more for scaring than for hurting. It was only a .22 handgun and unlikely to do deadly damage. Even so, I hoped there would be no need to pull the trigger. After all, a well-placed shot could still kill someone.
The sound of snapping twigs made my breath catch, and I felt Xiomara tense beside me. A moment later, a short, slightly overweight frame stepped into view.
“Delta!” Xiomara jumped to her feet.
I quickly got up, too, unable to believe that after all the recent letdowns something had finally worked.
Delta staggered backward, clutching the leather bag slung over her arm. “Who are you? How do you know my name?”
“Del, it’s me, Mara.”
“Mara?” Taking a small step forward, Delta leaned toward us and squinted. Sunlight sparkled in the collection of shiny black stones woven into a net-like pattern on top of her head. Was that the block? Through the gaps in the headdress, I could see her short hair was dyed a light shade of blue. Her pale hands trembled as she brought them to her mouth. “Is that really you?”
“Yes,” Xiomara said, dusting the leaves off the back of her pants. “It’s me.” She inched forward, but Delta dropped her bag and barreled into her old friend to give her a tight hug. They embraced for a long moment before Xiomara dipped her head in my direction. “You remember Kai, don’t you?”
“Kai?” De
lta studied my face, and her eyebrows shot up. “Kai Awana?”
My mouth fell open. How did she know me, too? Did all the members of XODUS know who I was?
“It’s him,” Xiomara confirmed with a tight smile.
“Oh, Kai!” Delta rushed toward me as if she wanted to embrace me, too. I staggered back, stumbling over an exposed tree root. No one had hugged me since Grandma Naida, and it was a reflex to avoid physical contact. Cade said hugs made people weak, and that was the last thing I needed.
Delta stopped short. “I’m sorry. You probably don’t remember me. I knew you when you were little. Before…” Her face fell. “I always assumed they kidnapped you, too.”
I swallowed. So she knew about Kala.
“I thought the same thing.” Xiomara glanced back at me. “But we ran into each other recently, and I realized Kai was never taken.” I looked quickly between the two of them. I really hoped Xiomara had come up with a more believable story than we ran into each other. But Delta didn’t question it.
“Del,” Xiomara continued. “They didn’t get Kai, but they got Kala. That’s actually why we’re here. We need your help.”
Delta blinked and cocked her head to the side. “Help?”
“I want to do everything I can to help get Kala back,” Xiomara lied. I had to give her credit, though—she did sound convincing. “The problem is, I can’t do much without my ability.”
Understanding washed over Delta’s face, and the loving look she’d been giving me morphed into fear.
“I know it’s a lot to ask,” Xiomara went on before her friend could respond. “But you understand crystals better than anyone.”
Delta shook her head, her fearful eyes darting from tree to tree, as if one of them might dole out punishment if she agreed to help us. “I taught you everything I know, Mara. And I can’t get your power back without the others.”
“You can trace them,” I jumped in. I couldn’t stop myself. We’d agreed to let Xiomara do the talking, but I needed to know if this woman could help us or not. “You can trace astral energy, can’t you?” Delta looked like she might cry, but I pressed on. “Please. We’ve tried everything to find them.”
“I couldn’t trace the others even if I wanted to,” Delta said. “Their astral energy—all of our astral energy—got trapped inside the crystal, too. Trying to trace it would only lead to where the crystal is buried.”
Xiomara’s fingers clenched and unclenched at her sides. “Well, have you stayed in touch with any of them?”
“I haven’t talked to any of you in over a decade,” Delta whispered. “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”
Cade cursed loudly behind us, his voice breaking through the quiet of the forest. Delta’s head snapped up just as he stepped out from behind a tree with the gun pointed right at her.
“Cade,” she choked out, nearly falling into the dirt as she staggered away from him.
“What are you doing?” I shouted, glaring at my uncle. Why was he showing himself now? There were still a ton of questions I wanted to ask Delta before letting her know Cade was involved. Now she was going to panic.
Delta turned back to Xiomara with accusation written all over her face. “You tricked me.”
“I’m so sorry, Del,” Xiomara whimpered, the tears in her eyes glistening in the sunlight. “I never would have brought you into this, but he threatened my children.”
“And now I’m threatening you.” Cade waggled the gun and moved toward Delta until she backed into one of the tree trunks. “These two may buy your helpless act, but I know you can find the others.”
Delta took in a shaky breath and squared her shoulders. “I will never help you.”
“Is that so?” he challenged. “Will you help your mother? You know we found her not too long ago. What was her name?” He glanced over his shoulder at me, a hint of a smile turning up the corners of his mouth. “Ah, yes. Dolores. She was a lovely woman, wasn’t she, nephew? Why don’t you bring her here and see if we can change Delta’s mind?”
“Kai, no!” Xiomara pleaded.
But it was too late. Now that my uncle had revealed himself, we would have to make Delta cooperate somehow. I pictured the short, plump woman who’d told us off for asking about her daughter weeks ago. I could still see her face clearly in my mind, but the moment I tried to project, something slammed into me with the force of a speeding bus.
My spine connected with a redwood trunk, and white spots swarmed my vision. Gasping, I collapsed to the ground. Shouts broke through the ringing in my head, followed by retreating footsteps. Someone tripped over my foot and fell across my body, sending another shock of pain through my legs. The gun went off, and one of the women screamed.
“Stop her!” Cade’s voice rang out over the scuffle.
“Delta!” Xiomara called. “Wait! Please, wait!”
No! My heartbeat thundered in my ears as I realized what was happening.
Delta was getting away.
Chapter 13
Search
Cade shouted as he scrambled to his feet beside me. Another gunshot fired, and I forced myself to sit up just in time to see my uncle running in the opposite direction, following Xiomara through the trees.
I pushed onto my feet. The ground swayed beneath me, and I stumbled into one of the massive redwood trunks. Catching myself with a scrape of my palm against the rough bark, I staggered in the direction I’d seen Cade and Xiomara run. I prayed they’d caught up to Delta. If she got away…
Shaking off the thought, I chased little more than the sound of snapping twigs. Sweat ran down my temples as I crashed through branches and underbrush. I leaped over a fallen tree and wove my way between the clusters of trunks until I came to a clearing divided by a small wooden fence. Xiomara and Cade stood panting on the other side, each of them scanning the area in different directions.
There was no sign of Delta.
I leaned on the top of the fence, fighting to catch my breath. “What…happened?” I managed.
“He happened!” Xiomara stabbed a finger at my uncle, clawing her hair out of her face with her other hand. “What were you thinking? I told you not to let Delta see you. You’re forcing me to help you, but you’re not listening to me!”
Cade’s eyes narrowed, his chest still heaving from the chase. “She wasn’t telling you anything.” He jerked out of his coat and draped it over his arm. Under it, he was dressed in a black button-up shirt and black slacks, looking as if he were headed to a job interview instead of trying to chase someone through the woods. “I took matters into my own hands. How could I know my nephew would launch himself across the forest?”
“I didn’t launch myself,” I said, finally able to stand upright. “Something hit me.”
“That would be the block I told you about.” Xiomara shot Cade a poisonous look. “Why did you tell him to project?”
I shook my head. “But I wasn’t trying to project to Delta. I was trying to get to her mom.”
“Delta must’ve been standing too close, or between you and your target.” Xiomara threw up her hands. “It doesn’t matter now. She’ll never take off the block, and she sure as hell won’t come back here. We’re never going to find her or the others because someone doesn’t even have the patience of a toddler!”
Though I hated to admit it, Xiomara was right—Cade had screwed up our one shot to get Delta.
“So now what?” I asked, the inside of my skull pounding.
“We find her.” Cade shoved the gun into the waistband of his pants. “She couldn’t have gotten far, but the longer we stand here, the further away she gets. Let’s split up. The first one who finds her, get that block off of her.”
The three of us headed in different directions, and I scanned the forest as I walked. Though I slowed my pace, the twigs underfoot made it impossible to move without making noise. If we didn’t hear Delta, she must have resorted to hiding. I paused, letting my eyes roam through the plethora of trees. Some of the trunks around me
were hollowed out. Delta could have easily slipped inside one to stay out of sight, but I knew there was no way we could search all of them.
Cade’s shout made my heart skip. I bolted toward the sound of his voice, afraid to project and get knocked on my butt again. I didn’t hear Delta’s cries or any sounds to indicate he’d found her, but he must’ve called us for a reason.
It didn’t take me long to reach him. When I did, he was kneeling on the ground and zipping up a tan bag.
Delta’s purse!
Xiomara burst through the trees to my right. “Did you—”
Cade put a finger to his lips and held up the bag. “There’s no sign of her,” he practically shouted, as if he wanted Delta to overhear. Grabbing up his coat with his other hand, he stood and continued speaking as if he were making an announcement to all the creatures of the forest. “But we need to head home. The park is going to open soon, and I don’t want anyone to find us here.”
I knew that was code for we need to get out of here and search this purse, though I wasn’t sure why it had to be a secret. What did it matter if Delta knew we had her purse? I was sure she would figure it out eventually.
Xiomara nodded, seeming to catch on to Cade’s plan. “Let’s get going,” she said, matching my uncle’s excessive volume. She and Cade started toward me, each with an arm outstretched.
I took a step back. “No way. I’m not projecting and hitting that block again.” The memory alone made me wince.
Cade sighed and dropped his arm. “Then let’s head to the entrance. From there, we can get out of here.” He passed Delta’s purse to Xiomara and whispered, “You take this. We don’t want anyone questioning if I stole it.”
Hurrying through the woods, we found the trail back to the entrance and ducked into the restroom near the parking lot. Once we’d gotten home, Cade snatched the bag from Xiomara and haphazardly dumped its contents onto the carpet. He fished Delta’s wallet from the pile of tissues and wrapped candies, unsnapped it, and slid a small plastic card from inside.
