Freaking Off the Grid

by L. L. Muir

  And then something happened.

  In the midst of Gabriella’s hyped-up performance, her masked slipped. For a fraction of a second, the woman’s eyes narrowed and shifted to the side, to see how Skye was taking it all. A little assessment of the audience to see if she was buying in, or if a hard sell was going to be necessary.

  Skye pretended she hadn’t gotten a peak at the snake within, but she was glad she had. There was no question now—no matter how Gabriella’s story lined up with Jamison’s, she would be an idiot to believe a word she said. Whatever the truth was behind Gabriella’s interest in her, she was going to have to wait to find out.

  She only hoped that she and Jamison could survive that long.

  With her mask back in place, Gabriella faced her. “Take your revenge on Jamison. Join me, Skye. We’ll make them all pay for the immortality that was stolen from us.”

  “Gabriella.” The caress of her name whispered through the room like a breeze taking advantage of an open window.

  Skye whirled around and found Buchanan on the step, filling the space, commanding even more attention than his whisper. He lifted his arm toward Skye with his hand outstretched.

  It was a warning to stay back.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Skye didn’t move.

  Gabriella scowled at Buchanan. Her lips parted while she studied the Somerled who was neither her minion, nor her prisoner.

  “Who are you?” She took a small step back, turning slightly, as if looking at him from an angle might make his features more familiar. “I don’t know you.”

  Buchanan’s face was wary, watching, waiting for her to recognize him. Skye realized Jamison had looked at her the same way while he’d been standing, gagged, in Gabriella’s office.

  “Give me your name,” the woman demanded.

  “Gabriella,” the big man said again, then descended into the room.

  She took another step back and held out her hand as if she could stop him with just the gesture. “I don’t know you,” she said, like they were arguing.

  He kept walking, slowly, like he was approaching someone with a gun pointed at his chest. His empty hands he held open in supplication. “You know me.”

  The woman stiffened, rigid as a flagpole, and she pointed an accusing finger at him.

  He stopped.

  Her head shook, then her whole body joined in. “You cannot be—”

  “Buchanan? Yes. I can. I am.”

  Her arm fell to her side, lifeless. “I’ve seen your picture.” Her voice was weak. “You betrayed me.”

  “No.” Buchanan tilted his head and silently demanded she listen closely. “Pilot betrayed us.”

  Gabriella swallowed hard, then started sinking toward the floor. Buchanan reached out and caught her, then lifted her into his arms. He searched her face. His eyes flashed, over and over again, while he took in the details, like there was something there he recognized, and he seemed…relieved.

  Suddenly, he turned and headed out of the room with her. Gabriella was coherent enough to protest all the way down the hall, though her voice was still weak and missing her usual confidence.

  “Come along, Skye,” he barked.

  Skye jumped, startled out of her stupor, and followed along though she didn’t want to witness their little reunion if it had to happen in the bedroom. Reluctantly, she went to the end of the hall and waited.

  Gabriella was alert and positioned on the bed with a couple of big, pink pillows between her back and the headboard. She was too focused on Buchanan to notice Skye. The snake, it appeared, was long gone, and the more she watched Gabriella, the less sure she became that she’d ever seen it. The Gabriella before Buchanan’s interruption was a completely different person than the one now sitting in the middle of the bed. The other one would probably insist on him exchanging the pink pillows behind her back with the blue ones from the chair. The current version didn’t seem to notice, or care, where she was, her attention focused on Buchanan alone.

  He frowned at Skye. “We need some cold water.”

  She nodded and hurried out again, then returned with two large glasses of water and ice. He took a glass and forced Gabriella to take it, then he noticed the second glass and smiled.

  “We Somerleds don’t need food or water any more than we need sleep, but thank you.”

  “Really? Oh. I guess you wouldn’t.” Skye took the drink for herself and sat the tray on the tall bureau. She downed most of it while she deliberated whether to stay or go.

  Buchanan frowned at her. “Sit.”

  So she sat.

  Then he frowned at Gabriella until the woman had drunk enough to satisfy him. It was amusing to watch her take orders from this man/angel, even silent ones. Maybe she was still in shock.

  Finally, she pushed the glass back into Buchanan’s hand. “Why are you here?” Her voice had contracted to a whisper.

  “I came to find you.” He set the glass aside and sat on the bed.

  “Why?” she pressed.

  “Because I’ve only just learned where to find you, that’s why.” His own voice softened. “I didn’t think you were mortal. I’ve been watching for you among the Somerleds—for nearly fifty years.”

  Skye shouldn’t have been surprised by the time frame. The woman had an ageless look, but fifty was definitely the high end. And she supposed Buchanan, in his forty-something form, probably never changed.

  “Have you come to stop me?” Gabriella asked. She was still pale, like she’d seen a ghost. Her arms hung limply at her sides, not folded neatly in her lap like they usually were. If the guy suddenly produced a sword to cut off her head, she didn’t appear capable of reacting at all.

  “I love you,” Buchanan said simply, ignoring her question. “I’ve loved you all this time, and would have found you sooner had Pilot not lied to me.” He leaned closer, his hand pressed into the bed mere inches from Gabriella’s knee. They both noticed, but he didn’t move it. “He said you’d gotten cold feet and changed your mind, but that you’d been too afraid to tell me. It pained me to think you were afraid of my reaction. And then, when my assignment ended, I didn’t choose mortality either. I didn’t care. I was willing to wait until you were ready. But then, strangely, I wasn’t given a new assignment. I was sent back to Lanny’s ranch. And Pilot had moved on.

  “Every time I asked Lanny if I could be reassigned, so I might have a better chance to find you, she claimed she’d been told not to allow it. I thought, after time, that might change.”

  Gabriella’s brow wrinkled. “But something must have changed for you to find me now.”

  “Yes.” He took one of her hands in his. “I heard your name. Jamison, Lucas, and a Somerled named Jonathan came to see Lanny. Jamison went tearing out of there like Satan himself was hanging from his tailpipe. And Lucas and Jonathan mentioned you when they didn’t know anyone could hear.

  “I followed them down the canyon until we were out of Lanny’s hearing range, and stopped them. Lucas told me everything he knew about a woman so dangerous to Somerleds that few were ever sent to Nevada. He was surprised I’d never heard of you.”

  “He told you all about me?” Gabriella looked everywhere but Buchanan’s face.

  “Yes. And he knew a great many things.”

  “Such as?” She lifted her chin in defiance and pulled her hand back to her lap.

  “Such as,” the man pulled her hand back into his. “A prediction was made, a long time ago—”

  “You mean a prophecy?” Skye asked.

  “No. A prediction. It was rumored to have come from Adrian, The Keeper—the angel whose task it is to watch over the flow of time. And because he watches over the past, the present, and the future, some considered it prophecy, believing it couldn’t be altered.”

  “Let me guess,” Gabriella said. “He predicted a woman named Gabriella would become so powerful she would assume Lanny’s position?”

  Buchanan chuckled. “That could never happen. Lanny is a Primar
y. One of the Final Host could never become a Primary. Either you’re a Primary from the beginning, or you’re not. If Pilot told you differently, it was just another of his lies. Along with the fact that he’s not a Primary himself.”

  Gabriella’s nostrils flared as she took a deep breath into her lungs, but it was her only visible reaction to what had to be a shock. If she believed Buchanan.

  “In any case,” he went on, “it was predicted that a Somerled called Gabriella, with the help of the one who loved her, would bring about the destruction of the Somerled world by exposing their real identities to mortals everywhere.”

  Skye watched Gabriella’s face, knowing Buchanan’s account didn’t gel with what Pilot’s version of the prophecy. But the woman kept cool, even when her own name was mentioned. Whatever she was feeling, she wasn’t about to share it, even with the guy who forced her to hold his hand.

  “Lanny and Adrian fought often over the Final Host,” Buchanan continued. “Everyone in the compound knew because each time they argued, her place of perfection needed repair. We all suspected Adrian didn’t approve of the Primaries trying to help the Final Host, and Lanny wore herself ragged defending her position. So if Adrian had been the one to make this prediction, I assumed Lanny would have done everything in her power to make ensure that prediction would not come true.

  “She knew about us. Together, you and I went to her and learned about our option for mortality—information none of us is given unless we ask. A ridiculous policy. And though we kept it from her, she knew about our pact with Pilot. If she believed that together we would destroy her Somerled structure, then keeping us apart was her remedy. And Pilot was only too happy to assist her.”

  Buchanan leaned toward Gabriella and Skye thought he might kiss her, but he stopped a few inches away.

  “But thwarting us didn’t change the prediction…because the one who loved you, in the prediction…was not me.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Lying back on his cot in his quiet, cold cell, with a Somerled robe bulking up his pillow, Jamison tried not to worry about Skye. She was a smart girl. And Buchanan was still out there somewhere, watching out for her.

  Pilot wasn’t the real worry, either. It was obvious by Skye’s lavish apartment Gabriella thought she was important for some reason. Pilot wouldn’t be able to harm her without paying dearly for it.

  That was, if Gabriella was still around. She’d been ushered off that stage pretty quickly. Pilot had threatened to make her remember how important he was to her. Who knew what the man, or rather, the demented angel, had done with her.

  Buchanan was their only hope. And as their Somerled friend didn’t get caught and end up in the next cell, Jamison would try to stay calm and wait for the next miracle.

  But after three days, staying calm and hopeful was too much to expect.

  He took off his shoe and started hammering at the door. He tried yelling through the crack beneath it, but his voice just bounced back off the slick, hard floor and made his ears ring, so he went back to beating on the door again. After about twenty minutes, a guard came down the hall. His robes were pretty bright, but there was no telling if he was human or Somerled. He was hoping for a Somerled, but those had to be rare since the ceremony.

  He stepped back so he didn’t appear threatening. After staring him down through the window for a minute, the guy opened the door.

  “What is it?”

  Jamison smiled and spoke politely. “I’d like to talk to Gabriella.”

  The guard frowned. “You can’t.”

  Jamison cocked his eyebrow. “Because you won’t let me? Or because she’s locked up somewhere?”

  The other guy shook his head. “Because she’s in a conference with Skye.”

  “Hmm.” Jamison frowned, hoping to pique the guy’s curiosity. Of course he was glad Gabriella was still around but only because she would keep Skye safe if she could.

  The guard still frowned. “What?”

  Jamison shrugged. “I just wanted to ask her a question, that’s all.” He waited a beat. “But maybe you know the answer.”

  The guy shrugged, pretending not to be curious. “So ask.”

  “Why do they make everyone put on those belts when they take their seats in the coliseum?”

  The guy rolled his eyes. “That’s your question?”

  “Yes.”

  The guard mulled it over. “It’s a matter of trust, maybe. They always do it. Clubs and Hearts alike.”

  Jamison shook his head. “I don’t think so. Why would they expect the Hearts to trust them at all? And the Diamonds aren’t expected to lock in, are they?”

  “Then it’s a matter of discipline. Humans need rituals. And the bands provide an electrical deterrent if they speak when they’re expected to remain silent.”

  “Glorified shock collars? But what about the Diamonds?”

  “Diamonds are held here by the stones above their heads. None can leave unless it’s through the open sky.”

  “What? They don’t like stairs?”

  Those eyes rolled again. “We are compelled to take a vow not to flee. We are not…able…to break a vow.”

  Jamison grinned. “Ah. So you are a Diamond.”

  The guy looked back and forth, checking the hall in both directions. “A Spade,” he said.

  Jamison laughed at his guard’s nervousness. “I don’t get it. I thought you guys weren’t equipped to lie.”

  The Somerled’s chin dropped to his chest. “I didn’t lie. I only said A Spade. I didn’t say I was one.”

  “The art of misleading, then. Bravo.”

  The poor guy checked the hall again. “Please. What do you want?”

  “I want you to spread the word to everyone—everyone—that they must not lock the bands the next time they are summoned. Do you understand?”

  The guard narrowed his eyes and studied Jamison for a minute. “You think it will cause chaos.”

  “I’m hoping.” He couldn’t seem to breathe while he waited for the Somerled to sneer at him and walk away. But he didn’t.

  “Fine. I’ll tell them.”

  “And the Hearts. Especially the Hearts.”

  The guard reached for the doorknob, then gave Jamison a hard look. “Is it true?”

  “Is what true?”

  “That you betrayed Skye? When she was a Somerled? That you only pretended to love her in order to steal her immortality?”

  “No. It’s not true. I wasn’t pretending. I loved her as a Somerled, and I love her now. I’m here to protect her.”

  The Somerled’s eyes lit with relief. “And my friends have returned Home? They haven’t been cast out?”

  “They have gone Home.”

  The guy smiled. “No one will lock the yokes.”

  After the door closed, Jamison found himself on his knees in front of his cot praying that Lanny hadn’t been lying, and that those Somerleds had gone Home.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Skye sat quietly in the corner chair of her bedroom and watched the color return to Gabriella’s face.

  “I’m confused,” she told Buchanan. “Now you’re saying you didn’t love me?”

  He squeezed her hand and shook his head in a quick denial. “No, Gabriella. I’m saying I wasn’t the only one. The one who loved you and would bring ruin to the Somerleds was Pilot. If Lanny would have known, she would have found a way to stop him too.”

  Suddenly, Buchanan jumped from the bed and spun to face the open doorway, but no one was there.

  Skye found herself already on her feet. “What is it?”

  “Pilot,” he said and looked at Gabriella. “He might have heard all of it. What will he do?”

  The woman knocked pillows out of her way and stood. While she found her balance, she refused to lean on Buchanan’s arm, even though he offered it. “I don’t know. He can’t be sure I believe you.” She started to pass Buchanan but paused. For a moment, they just looked into each other’s eyes, and Skye guessed
they were communicating in their heads.

  She forced herself to look away and give them their private moment. When she looked back, Gabriella was gone.

  Buchanan waved Skye to him. “Come on.” He put a hand on her shoulder to help her hurry.

  They had just stepped into the hallway when a loud alarm sounded. Ahead of them, Gabriella stopped, turned around, and looked at Buchanan. “He’s summoning everyone to the coliseum.”

  He and Skye caught up and together the three of them entered the elevator.

  “The bowl,” Gabriella said clearly.

  No one spoke after the doors closed. Buchanan tried to take her hand again, but Gabriella clasped both of hers together in front of her and he gave up trying. Skye didn’t care what was going on between them. Her mind was focused on finding Jamison again and making sure he was all right.

  Did he already know everything Buchanan knew?

  Skye.

  She glanced up at the large Somerled next to her. He gave a barely discernable wink, then looked away.

  Listen to me. Whatever happens, do not react. Stay calm. Stay close to me. Do you understand?

  In her thoughts, she asked, “You know what’s about to happen?”

  Not sure. Stay calm. Remember, you are important to her. You are not without influence.

  The doors opened silently. A few dozen people dashed out of Gabriella’s way when the three of them stepped into the lobby. A flood of people in street clothing rose up through the tunnel and poured through wide doors and into the massive, domed stadium. She knew, from the last assembly, that the wide line wouldn’t end anytime soon.

  Small metal balls, attached to devices around their ankles, slid along silver tracks until they stepped through the doors. She hadn’t noticed them the first time, but she had been looking down on them from the balcony.

  Some of them noticed Skye and pointed at her, but no one spoke.

  Gabriella led her and Buchanan into her office. “Wait here.” She went through a door and closed it behind her.