Sentinel

by Emerald Dodge

  Sentinel

  The Battlecry Series - Book Two

  Emerald Dodge

  Sentinel by Emerald Dodge

  www.emeralddodge.com

  © 2018 Emerald Dodge

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For permissions, contact:

  emerald@emeralddodge.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Cover by Mario Lampic.

  Proofreading by Patrycja Pakula for Holabird Editing.

  Contents

  Emerald’s Mailing List

  Also by Emerald Dodge

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  One Week Later

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Emerald’s Mailing List

  To receive the latest freebies, sneak peeks, news, and more, visit www.emeralddodge.com to sign up for Emerald’s mailing list.

  Also by Emerald Dodge

  The Battlecry Series

  Ignite (Prequel Novelette)

  Battlecry

  Sentinel

  Mercury - Available Fall 2018

  Enclave Boxed Sets

  Of Beasts and Beauties

  This book is dedicated to the memory of

  Gregory Buck Welch

  6/30/1994 - 2/14/2013

  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more. Nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away. - Revelations 21:4 (DRB)

  Ora Pro Nobis

  1

  The lions had come out of nowhere.

  One minute my team and I had been corralling skittish deer and chattering monkeys back into their enclosures, and then the next we were running for our lives from the Saint Catherine Animal Park’s main attraction, the pride of five full-grown lions.

  I’d seen them earlier as we’d canvassed the zoo with tranquilizer guns in hand; they’d been sleeping peacefully in the shadows of the enormous rocks that dotted their enclosure. None of us had thought to double check the bolt on their gate. After all, if the malicious wag who’d set the other animals loose had wanted to liberate the lions, the lions would’ve been freed.

  But it seemed the ruckus from the other animals had woken the pride, and in short order we’d all been scattered across the zoo.

  The pride had stopped chasing my teammates, apparently deciding I was the tastiest-looking prey. They herded me through the zoo’s main entrance, over the turnstile, and across the street. My teammates had shouted my codename, Battlecry, a few times before they were distracted by other animals.

  Now it was just the lions and me on the dark street, illuminated by the pre-dawn moon and Christmas lights from nearby yards.

  I perched on top of a beat-up sedan and watched the pride slink toward me, their unblinking gazes never leaving my face. They were quiet, almost unnaturally so. My sensitive ears picked up the faint padding noises of their paws striking the pavement, but I heard no rumbling beginnings of growls, no snorted breaths, nothing.

  Just the sound of five killing machines drawing closer.

  The male, a magnificent beast at least six feet long, sauntered ahead of the others. Though I knew little about African fauna, I knew that lionesses were typically a pride’s hunters. Why was the male leading?

  The gentle breeze billowed their scent toward me. Beneath the musky, sweaty smell of cat lingered the unmistakable aroma of death. The lions had killed recently.

  I drew my largest knife from its sheath on my thigh and held it up. “Firelight, tell them I’ll kill them if they don’t stop!”

  Even if my telepathic teammate Firelight, whose real name was Ember, didn’t hear my distinct words, she’d know to tune in.

  Indeed, a second later, her wispy mental voice filled my head. What’s up, Jill?

  Tell the lions I’ll kill them if they don’t stop.

  I felt Ember slip out of my mind, then back in. I can’t sense them. I couldn’t reach them before, when they were chasing us. I thought it was because there was so much chaos. But I can’t sense them at all. It’s like there’s nothing there.

  The hair on my arms stood up. Without Ember’s ability to control animals, I had to rely on my powers alone to defeat the pride. Fast, strong, and agile as my powers made me, I was mortal and had faced death enough times to know when I needed to fold. This fight was better suited to Reid, my earth-moving second-in-command, or Marco, who could redirect the sun’s heat and light.

  However, they were still entangled with animals inside the zoo. I needed to make a decision, fast. My tranquilizer gun had been lost during the frantic scramble to safety, and for the first time in my life I found myself wishing superheroes were permitted to bear proper firearms.

  The male stepped aside, and a lioness tensed to spring.

  I took aim and hurled my knife. It sunk to the hilt between her eyes.

  Instead of dropping, she bared her fangs. I might as well have thrown a kitchen sponge at her.

  I leaped off the car and sprinted back toward the zoo’s entrance, the image of my knife’s hilt sticking out of the lioness’ forehead seared into my mind. I’d fought some formidable enemies during my time as a superhero in Saint Catherine, but none of them would’ve survived a knife in their brain.

  Whatever this situation was, it required a team effort. The zoo’s entrance was just ten yards ahead—

  One of the lions pounced, slamming me to the ground so quickly I couldn’t even shriek. My nose broke from the force of the impact, and hot blood gushed out of my face while searing pain licked up my cheeks. Large paws on my shoulder blades pinned me down.

  Ordinarily, I would’ve pulled out my shoulder knife and slashed at the lion’s legs, but I doubted that it would do any good to a beast that could survive a knife between the eyes. All of my combat knowledge was founded upon the assumption that my opponent could die.

  Suddenly, the lion standing on top of me stepped off.
A rough tug on my hair bun lifted my head, forcing me to face the male.

  I pushed myself up, my hands scraping painfully against the bloody pavement, and stared at the enormous cat. His white-rimmed eyes were vaguely cloudy, obscuring my pale-faced reflection. Was he blind?

  The lion leaned in as if he were studying me. The stench of death and decay became overpowering. His jaws were inches from my face, and I wrinkled my nose at the smell seeping from him. What did the zookeepers feed these things? And what was he doing?

  To my right, one of the lionesses took the knife’s hilt into her jaws and pulled it out of her sister’s head. Instead of a spurting shower of blood, or even a steady flow, a single congealing drop of blood pooled at the bottom of the red slit left by the knife.

  Realization sunk in.

  I slowly leaned back from the dead lion in front of me.

  “Who are you?” I whispered, my skin crawling. “Why are you controlling the lions?”

  The carcasses were puppets. I’d never seen anything like this before, but I had no other way to explain how five dead lions were able to move and operate. Clearly some higher intelligence was behind their actions, but what was the goal? Why chase me down the street and knock me down, but not kill me?

  As fascinatingly bizarre as the situation was, I could not ignore my gut feeling—the person controlling the lions meant me serious harm. I had two options: try to fight the lions and probably be mauled to death, or somehow alert my team that I needed backup and try to contact the puppet master in the meantime. Clearly, he or she was waiting for something, or the lions would’ve killed me already. Instead, they stood around me in a circle, never taking their eyes off me.

  As I weighed my options, the male gazed up at the zoo’s entrance. There was a moment of silence, and then the five lions opened up their mouths and roared.

  I clamped my hands over my ears but couldn’t help but feel a twinge of hope. The roars would get my team’s attention.

  I planted my foot on the ground to push myself up, but the male swiped a paw at me, shredding my arm above the elbow. I gasped and doubled over while the other four lions moved in around me, low growls ripping out of their fangs. I pressed my hand to my arm and looked up, heat coursing through my cheeks.

  I didn’t care how many lions this unknown person was controlling—I wasn’t going down easily.

  Jill, what’s going on? Ember’s concerned voice cut through my fury.

  Get the team and get out here now. Look for the lions.

  She slipped out of my mind and I glared into the white murkiness of the male’s eyes, sensing he was the main avatar for whomever controlled them. “Come out and fight me yourself, coward.”

  The lion shook its head, its teeth bared in a hideous feline grin. He raised a paw. There was a flash of fur, and pain exploded across my other arm. Blood dripped from my new wounds down to my elbow and pooled on the ground.

  Without thinking, I grabbed a fistful of the lion’s mane and jumped on him, leapfrog style. Before he could buck me off, I pulled my shoulder knife free, twisted around, and gouged one of his eyes.

  In the corner of my vision, I saw a nearby chain-link fence at the edge of a small neighborhood playground. If I could make it there, I could climb it and leap onto a low residential roof to safety.

  Without pausing for breath, I jumped off the lion and fled toward the fence, the pounding of paws close behind.

  I made a wild, running leap onto the fence and clambered to the top, ten feet from the ground. The lions snapped and snarled below, but I was a good two feet out of their reach. Unwilling to risk falling while walking along the narrow rail of the fence, I gripped the metal and waited for help.

  In the distance, Reid and Marco ran toward me. Ember and Benjamin, my fifth and final teammate, were not with them.

  “Don’t destroy them!” I yelled to the men. “Just trap them!” I didn’t want to damage the connection to the person controlling them.

  Reid’s eyes glowed white, tiny pinpricks in the faint morning light. The ground rumbled, and a depression appeared beneath the lions, sinking six, seven, eight feet below the surface of the street.

  Before I could yell my thanks, the fence wobbled and collapsed. I crashed down eighteen feet in a painful heap of loose dirt, metal fence, and cold lion corpses.

  I braced for the inevitable mauling.

  It never came.

  When I realized that I was still alive, I tested my limbs for breaks. Finding none, I pushed myself up and shoved away the portion of fence that had fallen in, still bleeding from my arms and nose.

  The lions were limp and inanimate on the ground around me, no more dangerous than rag dolls. I dusted myself off and peered up at the edge of the pit above me.

  Marco’s light brown face appeared, amusement and worry battling for dominance in his youthful features. Reid’s significantly paler face appeared next to him.

  Reid winced as he looked down at me. “I’m so sorry, Jill… Battlecry. Give me a second and I’ll raise the pit again.”

  Reid’s slip-up by almost calling me by my real name hinted at how upset he was. We were all more than used to the real-name-code-name flip flop in battle. Though we privately thought of and referred to each other by our real names, in battle Ember was Firelight, Marco was Helios, Reid was Tank, Benjamin was Mercury, and I was Battlecry.

  I waved dismissively. “No, don’t bother. I don’t want to give them a chance to get free. Throw me a rope or something. I’d climb out myself, but my arms are busted.”

  Marco frowned. “Let me get that useless medic.” He disappeared from the edge. “Hey, Mercury! Your girlfriend is bleeding to death! Get over here!”

  Reid stifled a laugh. I put my hands on my hips. “Useless medic? What’s he sore about?”

  “Mercury threw a punch at one of the animals, but he hit Helios instead. It was the funniest thing I’ve seen all week.”

  “It was not,” Marco snapped from somewhere unseen. “Firelight fights better than Mercury, I swear to God.”

  I heard someone—probably Ember—smack Marco.

  A whooshing sound heralded the arrival of Benjamin. His lovely face appeared above me and he grinned crookedly. He extended a hand down. “You look like you need a medic. Tank, give her a little boost and I’ll grab her.” Beneath his humor lay the tenderness he reserved just for me.

  I raised my hand to grab his, a real smile spreading across my lips.

  A horrible growl from behind made me spin around.

  There wasn’t time to scream as four lions sprang, their teeth sinking into my arms, legs, sides… anything they could bite. My vision colored white, black, and red.

  Agony, almost unreal in its intensity, seized my entire consciousness. It was hot, it was freezing, it was liquid and everywhere, it was needle-like and specific.

  I was being torn to pieces.

  Growls around me mixed with shouts above me, and then I was on the ground, the lightening sky mixing with swirls of purple, red, and green.

  In the sky, a bright star twinkled like the crystal on the necklace Benjamin had given me two days before. It was such a lovely necklace, very… very…

  I smelled cooking meat.

  I heard the thud of boots hitting the ground.

  Warm fingers grasped my cold ones.

  Electricity surged through my hand and up my arm, down through my abdomen, and into my legs. Skin and muscle sewed itself together. Bones mended. Aches and pains evaporated, leaving wholeness in their wake.

  My dull vision, formerly swimming with little dots, came into sharp focus, and I saw Benjamin kneeling next to me, cradling my hand to his cheek.

  Marco, Ember, and Reid stood next to the severely burned lion bodies, no doubt Marco’s doing. Ember looked nauseated.

  I gave my head a little shake, droplets of blood flying everywhere. “Thank you.”

  Benjamin didn’t let go of my hand. “I thought the lions were dead. I don’t understand how they just jumped u
p and attacked you.” Painful confusion was in his eyes.

  I pulled my hand free and stood, my shredded tunic hanging off me like rags. I beckoned the rest of my team to join me while I kneeled down next to the least-burnt carcass. Marco’s blast of heat had scorched most of its fur off, revealing a tiny bullet hole in the skull I’d missed before.

  I pointed to it. “They were dead when we arrived at the zoo. When we passed them earlier, I thought they were sleeping. Someone killed them and was controlling them like puppets, but I don’t know how. Firelight said she couldn’t hear anything in their minds.”

  Ember tapped her temple. “Well, yeah. If they were dead, there’d be no mind to hear. Whatever was controlling them isn’t telepathic. Or at least, it’s not like any telepathy I’ve ever encountered.”

  Wisps of dirt rose up from the ground and flew into Reid’s palm, where they made beautiful, delicate little patterns. He wiggled his fingers, and the dirt clumped together to form small lion-shaped figures that prowled around his hand. “Maybe it’s more like my power. I manipulate earth. This person might be able to manipulate dead tissue.”

  I had a sudden image of being attacked by a flying steak. Ember visibly fought a laugh.

  Benjamin stared at the tiny dirt lions without blinking for several seconds. Finally, he looked at me. “Wasn’t there a break in? Captain Nguyen said someone robbed the aviary, right?”