In a heartbeat, Oberon changed from his human form to that of a massive onyx-skinned angel. Raph tried to step forward to warn his father, but he couldn’t move—it was like he was paralyzed. “Dad—look out!” he shouted, hoping that somehow, through the layers of time, his father would be able to hear him.
Marcus Kain glanced around for a moment, as if he thought he might have heard something, but an instant later his attention was once more on his work.
Raphael kept shouting as, above, the bucket continued on its path until it was directly over his father. Oberon pointed his index finger at the bolt that secured the bucket to the metal arm holding it. The bolt turned—and turned again—and turned faster and faster until it fell out of its curved anchor shackle and dropped to the floor at Marcus’s feet. He looked up and the bucket swung downward, spilling the glowing load of molten metal as it fell. It struck Raph’s dad and knocked off his hard hat. He collapsed against the side of a big machine and then slumped to the floor, unconscious. The boiling metal poured out onto his back and shoulders. For a moment everything was silent and still and then the place erupted in shouts and curses from some of the other workers. The man in the control booth came rushing down to the factory floor. Everyone was yelling.
Call 911! Get an ambulance out here! Kain’s hurt! He’s hurt real bad!
Raphael couldn’t watch anymore. He already knew how this story played out. His father had died, and he hadn’t been able to stop it. But now he’d seen how it had happened, and he knew who was responsible. The Magician’s words came back to him.
Vengeance makes for a bitter feast.
Maybe so, Raph thought. But Jack and Oberon would pay for what they’d done. One way or another, they would pay.
Chapter 27
Weston Darling ran into his house, slammed the door, and slumped onto the floor. His heart was pounding, he was out of breath, and his face was slick with sweat and streaked with tears.
“Weston, is that you?” his mother called from the living room.
Weston cursed under his breath. The world was collapsing around him; the last thing he wanted to do now was try to explain it all to his mother. If she saw him, she would demand to know why he’d been crying. Even though she’d never done any government work, she was a better spy than Weston had turned out to be.
“Just need to grab something from my room,” he said, and he dashed up the stairs.
By the time he’d slammed his bedroom door shut, he’d already dug his cell phone out of his pocket and punched in the number.
“This is Hackett.”
“We have a problem,” Weston blurted out. “Li’s a double agent.”
There was a pause. “Who is this?”
“It’s me—Weston. Li’s my . . . my friend. You met her.” He choked up for a moment; he’d almost said my girlfriend. “She’s one of them. She has the shard.”
“One of what?” Hackett asked impatiently.
“One of the Snake people!” exclaimed Weston. “She just raced out of Hilltop Haven in a black BMW. If you hurry, maybe she can lead you to them!”
* * *
“You can all get home okay from here?” Aimee asked Maggie and the others as they came out of the tunnel to present-day Middleburg. They all assured her they could.
“Yeah—and after what we just went through, that hot shower idea of your mom’s sounds really good,” said Maggie. “If you need a place to stay, Mrs. Banfield, just let us know.”
Aimee turned to her mother. “Are you sure you want to go home?” she asked. “Maybe we should go with Maggie, and you can let your lawyer get in touch with Dad.”
“Oh, no,” Emily said adamantly. “This is one showdown that has been a long time coming.” She looked at Miss Pembrook, Dalton, Kate, and Maggie. “Thank you all for your help,” she said. “Maggie, tell your mom that I’ll probably be seeing you soon—but make sure it’s all right with her if Aimee and I bunk in with you guys for a couple of weeks.”
“Okay, then,” Aimee said when they’d gone. “Are you ready?”
Emily smiled and nodded.
“You’d better brace yourself,” Aimee added. “Dad is not going to be too happy about this.”
She took her mother’s hand and they slipped—and appeared in the kitchen of the Banfield house in Hilltop Haven, right in front of the refrigerator. The room was dark; no lights were on, but from the den came flickering illumination and canned laughter from the TV. She could hear something else, too—soft voices belonging to her father and Savana. They were back from their mini honeymoon.
Before Aimee could say anything, Emily put her finger to her lips and she leaned over and whispered in her daughter’s ear. “I’m going around front—I want to make an entrance.” Aimee started to protest but Emily added, “Don’t worry. It’ll be okay. I’m a lot stronger than I used to be.”
Soundlessly, her mother opened the back door and went out while Aimee tiptoed down the hall, past the dining room, and to the doorway of the den. She found them sitting close together on the couch, and her father was tenderly caressing Savana’s huge baby bump. For the first time, it crossed her mind that her dad might actually truly love Savana. From her vantage point in the shadowed doorway, she could stand, unseen, and watch them. After a moment, she heard the sound of the front door opening and closing.
“I’m home!” a voice sang out from the living room.
“Oh, what the hell,” Jack grumbled.
“Who is it?” Savana asked.
“How should I know?” Jack replied, getting to his feet, but in the next moment he found out. Emily Banfield came walking confidently into the den, and at the same time, Aimee came out of the kitchen.
There was a thick silence as Jack tried to take it in. Smiling as if she didn’t have a care in the world, Emily looked up at him and asked calmly, “What’s wrong, Jack? You look like somebody died. Who’s your friend?”
“Emily!” Jack was stunned. “What—where the hell have you been?”
“Emily Banfield?” Savana asked, and she too rose to her feet.
“That’s right,” Emily said brightly, extending her hand. “And you are?”
“I’m Savana,” the pregnant woman said quietly. “Jack’s wife.”
“But that’s impossible,” Emily said sweetly. “I’m Jack’s wife.”
“Look, I can explain everything,” Jack said. “Just sit down and listen.” He took Emily’s arm, but she pulled away from him. He stared at her, clearly unable to take in her sudden reappearance.
“Surprised to see me?” Emily asked. “Never mind. Of course you are. You are a pathetic human being, Jack Banfield. All you do is take and take and take. You’re like a human black hole—you suck everything into your darkness and keep it. I swear, if you could put a rope around the sun and drag it down here, you’d keep that, too—and charge people twenty bucks a pop to look at it. You’re a selfish bastard, Jack—and you’re a coward. I see it didn’t take you long to replace me. I knew you were having an affair.”
“Look,” Jack tried again. “I told you—I can explain.”
The contempt Emily felt for him showed in her face. “You always could,” she said sadly. “And I used to be stupid enough to believe you. Not anymore.” She looked at Savana sympathetically. “I hope you don’t think you’re the first,” she told Jack’s new wife, and then she faced Jack again. “You’ve always gotten what you wanted, haven’t you? And you justify it because you think you’re all powerful, because you’re the richest guy in Middleburg. But the truth is, Jack, you’re a failure. You failed as a husband, and you’ve failed as a father. You’re going to drive your children away—and one day, this poor misguided woman and the baby she carries will leave, too. You’ll be all alone with your big house and your cars and your money. You’re going to die alone, and no one—not a so
ul on this earth—will even notice you’re gone.”
Her words finished, the silence echoed through the big house. Aimee wanted to applaud: it was exactly what she’d wanted to say to her father so many times in the past, but had never found the courage. He stood there, glancing from one wife to the other, speechless. Then he noticed Aimee.
“Aimee, honey,” he began. “I hope you don’t think—”
But an agonized groan from Savana interrupted him. Even in the dim light of the TV, Aimee could see that the sweatpants she wore were suddenly soaked with something.
“My water broke,” she said.
“I’ll call Dr. Rosenberg,” Jack said. “We’ll get you to Topeka in a couple of hours—or I’ll get him here on a helicopter.”
“No,” Savana said firmly. “I want Lily Rose.”
“Dammit, Savana!” Jack yelled. “I told you—I’m not having that old woman deliver my child.” He already had his cell phone to his ear. “Yes, I need Dr. Rosenberg . . . I know this is his answering service. . . . I don’t care if he’s on duty or not. This is Jack Banfield. Get him on the line—now! I’ll hold.”
“Jack, please—take me to Lily Rose,” Savana begged, her tone growing more desperate.
“No,” Jack said flatly.
Savana started to cry. “Jack please. I need Lily Rose. Otherwise, the baby—”
“It’s my baby!” Jack shouted. “And you are my wife. And my baby is going to be born in the hospital I choose, brought into the world by the best doctor in the state, the one I chose for him. Is that clear? So settle down, Savana. I will not have some ex-stripper making medical decisions about my child.”
Aimee got a whole new respect for Savana when she looked at Jack, a strange serenity in her eyes. “It’s not your baby, Jack,” she said.
Jack looked at her. Without a word, he ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket.
“I wanted it to be yours,” Savana continued. “But it’s not. And I need you to take me to Lily Rose. Now.”
Jack stared at her for a long moment, and Aimee held her breath, bracing for whatever was going to happen next. Jack cleared his throat and said softly, “You’re delusional, honey. I understand that you’re mad because Emily is back, but there’s no need for hysterics. I’m going upstairs to get our bags, and then I’ll try to call the doctor again. I’ll be right back.”
When he was gone, Savana’s face contorted as a contraction suddenly wracked her body. “Something’s . . . wrong,” she said. “The contractions shouldn’t be this strong yet. It’s happening too fast!” Aimee saw the sheen of sweat on her face, the glint of her bared teeth, heard the gut-twisting howl of pain that issued from her lips. When she could speak again, she said, “I’ve got to get to Lily Rose.”
“I’ll take you,” Emily said quietly. She turned to Aimee. “At least your dad kept my car. I noticed it was still in the garage when I circled around. You coming, too?”
“Yeah,” Aimee replied. “But there’s a faster way to do this.”
Emily smiled. “You’re right,” she said. “Let’s go.” And then she turned to Savana. “By the way—about Jack. You can have him, with my blessing.”
“No thank you,” said Savana. “I think I’ll be better off on my own.”
Aimee reached out and gently took Savana’s hand. For some reason she didn’t quite understand, she felt a sudden, overwhelming love for Mrs. Kain. “I’m going to help you,” she said quietly. “I’m going to take you to Lily Rose, but you have to trust me, okay?” With her other hand she grabbed her mom’s arm. “Okay, let’s all close our eyes for a second, like we’re saying a prayer, and relax. One . . .”
“What—why?” Savana asked, bewildered.
“Two . . . just close your eyes . . . three.”
And when they opened their eyes they were in Lily Rose’s living room. Savana looked around for a moment, amazed.
“I don’t know how you did that—or if maybe I’m in the middle of some weird dream—but thank you.” She gave Aimee a big hug, and then she turned to Emily. “All I can say is that I’m sorry. If I’d thought for one moment that you were still alive, I would never have—”
“It’s okay,” Emily interrupted. “It doesn’t matter. What you need to do right now is concentrate on having a healthy baby—right, Aimee?”
But Aimee was imagining the look on her father’s face when he got downstairs and found that his wife—both his wives—were gone. It was all she could do to keep from laughing.
“Right,” she said. “So . . . if you don’t need me right now, there’s someplace I have to be.” She had to get the shards she still carried in her pocket to Zhai. Maggie and Dalton had said the Flatliners were going to put them all together to try to bring back that boy, Raphael. For some reason she didn’t understand, she was as eager as they were for that to happen.
* * *
The driveway was overgrown, hemmed in by trees and crisscrossed with cracks. Off to the right, a faded, half-fallen sign read Solomon Industries Zhai pulled the car up next to the sign and put it in park as Nass looked doubtfully out at the thick forest surrounding them. Abandoned places always gave Nass the creeps, and this empty driveway was worse than most.
“You sure Li went this way?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Zhai said. “The Obies kept me in an abandoned factory when I was their slave. This is it. It must be one of the places Middleburg Materials put out of business.”
Nass glanced at Chin. “Maybe we should call the police,” he said hopefully, but the old man shook his head.
“They’ll alert the government agents—and if they get the shards they’ll try to weaponize them. It will be just as bad as the Obies getting them. The tapestry is clear on this: the only hope for Middleburg is if we get the shards, reunite them, and use them to try to bring Raphael back. He is the ring’s rightful guardian.”
Nass could see Zhai in the front seat, texting his friends for reinforcements. Nass did the same. By the time their cars pulled in behind them, and Zhai put the Maybach in drive and started to roll, dusk was settling in.
“You think they’re expecting us?” Zhai asked.
“Since it took us a while, maybe they’ll think we lost her,” Nass said.
“No,” Chin said. “They know we’re coming. They’re waiting for us. Watching us. See?”
He gestured out the window. In the shadows of the forest floor, Nass noticed a barely visible black shape slithering along next to the car, just far enough away to remain indistinct.
“Look,” Zhai said. Up ahead, Lotus’s BMW was parked in front of a huge, brick warehouse along with several other large black sedans. Nass stared up at the building. It was at least six stories high, with four huge smokestacks reaching up toward the darkening sky. One of them had been damaged, probably by a storm, and the bricks from it lay scattered across the weed-tangled parking lot.
As Zhai stopped the car, the Flatliners and Toppers pulled up next to them. On their right was the Beetmobile, with Beet, Benji, and Josh in it. On their left was Michael Ponder’s Lexus, with Dax in the passenger seat and the Cunningham brothers in the back.
They all climbed out of the cars and stood shoulder to shoulder, with Chin just ahead of them, gazing up at the massive factory. Nass felt a strange sense of pride at the sight of all these former enemies standing together. Just the fact that they were all finally on the same side was an accomplishment.
In the next moment, however, a prickling of fear replaced that warm fuzzy feeling. Sure, they were united, but if they didn’t defeat the Obies now, none of it would mean anything.
“Whatever happens, we’ve got to get the shards back,” said Zhai. “If the Obies get them, then the apocalyptic vision the Magician gave me and Raphael will come to pass. Middleburg will be destroyed.”
“So we won’t let that happen,” said a feminine voice behind them. They whirled about to see Aimee standing there, smiling at them. “I’ve got three shards—mine, Dalton’s, and Miss Pembrook’s. What do we do now?”
“We have to try to get back the ones Li took from Zhai,” said Nass. “And then figure out how to get the others from those government guys.”
They all looked over at the abandoned factory, but there was no movement visible through the dusty windows and no sounds coming from the place. Chin took the lead.
“Don’t pretend you don’t see us, Feng Xu,” he shouted. “Come out.”
After a moment of heavy silence the large, rusted steel doors of the factory rattled upward, revealing a man Nass recognized from Agent Hackett’s picture—Feng Xu. He wore an expensive-looking black suit and his dark hair was slicked back. Five Obies stood behind him in their familiar black suits and derby hats. And behind the Obies, in the factory’s dim interior, a shaped moved. Nass recognized it.
The Black Snake God.
“Hey, guys,” he said quietly. “The odds do not look good.”
“Chin. I know you are stubborn, but this is bold, even for you,” Feng Xu said in a deep, strangely accented voice. “My congratulations. You survived the venom of the Snake. Don’t you think you should quit while you’re ahead?”
“I’ll quit,” Chin said. “As soon as you hand over the pieces of the ring.”
Feng Xu laughed. “Ah, Chin. When you’re gone, it’s your sense of humor I shall miss most of all. Even if you could take the shards from us, there are elements of the Chinese military on their way here right now to transport the ring back to its rightful home. How do you think your kung fu would fare against their machine guns?”
The tingly, uneasy feeling of the knowing was creeping up the back of Nass’s neck and whispering in the back of his mind, but it took him a long moment to understand what was bothering him. When he realized it, it was like a shout inside his head. All their enemies were there except one. Where was Li?
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