Warrior's Destiny

by Allie Burton

  My step was slow and steady. Xander joined me by my side. He’d be disappointed. He’d given me the task of retrieving the vessel and I’d come back empty-handed.

  “It wasn’t there.” The words were sludge on my tongue.

  “That was the correct spot, right?” He stiffened beside me but kept walking out the door. “The book opened?”

  “Yes.” My thoughts dove with the doom that spread through me like a virus. “I spelled out Fo-ti-tieng on the spine for it to open. That had to be the right spot.”

  “Let’s think this through.” He jogged down the rest of the steps to the short wall we’d sat on earlier, turned, and then paced. “Who would have taken it and why?”

  “The Society.” Even though my world had come crashing down, my brain still functioned.

  “Possible. What about X?”

  “Or any man that couldn’t get his groove on.” Maybe not so normal brain function.

  Xander’s eyes practically fell out of their sockets. His face flamed red.

  “You did say it was a sexual stimulant.” I plunked onto the wall, my body shivering with horrified merriment. I couldn’t control myself. Maybe it was the exhaustion or the constant sense of fear or the fact my last hope had disappeared like an oasis in the Sahara Desert.

  He rubbed his temples. “Let’s think. Because we have the oil from the Nilometer, we know the oil at Coit Tower would’ve sent us there. And we know the last vial is located on the Golden Gate Bridge.” He snapped his head up. “We have to go to the bridge. Before anyone else does.”

  “How do we know the Society hasn’t already collected the rest of the scarce oils?”

  “We don’t, but we can’t give up now.” Xander was already walking ahead.

  “We’ll still be an oil vessel short.” Without all seven oils we had no bargaining power with the Society. No way to learn if there was a way to stop the burnout.

  Short on oil, short on time, meant short on life.

  For me.

  * * *

  Xander and I jogged to the bottom of Coit Tower hill and headed toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Urgency was in every step. We had to get to the bridge and find the last oil. What happened after that we still needed to figure out.

  I hoped that the last oil told us how to stop the burnout. If it didn’t, bargaining with the Society was the next best hope. Returning to Fitch with this curse, unable to touch Tina and Doug, and knowing I was going to die would be terrible. Leaving Xander would be even worse. I refused to expose him to Fitch and his world. Not with Fitch wanting Xander dead.

  “Check out the car following us.” Xander pointed with his chin.

  A black, four-door car crept along the street. “Are you sure?” I’d been so wrapped up in my thoughts I hadn’t noticed. So much for being a good thief.

  “It came out of the parking lot and turned both times we did. Plus, it’s going too slow even if it was looking for parking.”

  The hairs on my arm tingled. I stopped and stared at the car, stared at the driver with long, gray hair. “Jeb.”

  “What?” Xander twisted around. “How did he find us?”

  “I don’t know.” I picked up my pace as my guilt increased.

  “Run.” He ran beside me.

  The black car sped up.

  So, did my heart. “We can’t outrun a car.”

  The streets around us were congested. If we could duck down an alley or hide in a doorway, we might escape.

  “Look.” He pointed. “Cable car’s coming.”

  The clang clang of the bell woke up my optimism. “Jump on.”

  “It’s going the wrong way. Away from the Golden Gate Bridge.”

  “We’ll be going the wrong way, the dead way, if we don’t get away.” I jogged alongside the crowded cable car timing my jump.

  Tourists hung out the side with their cameras. Businesspeople held onto straps wearing suits and ties and heels. The conductor’s muscles strained operating the large levers.

  I grabbed a pole pulling myself up. Xander jumped in beside me. Taking my first easy breath in a while, I took note of the how the car following us was blocked further down the street. We could blend into the crowd on the trolley and lose Jeb. He’d have no way of knowing where we jumped off.

  We rode the cable car to the end of the line planning to turn around and ride back toward Battery Park and then walk to the Golden Gate Bridge from there. Except at the terminus, a line of tourists waited for the next cable car. Typical. No turning around immediately and we couldn’t wait in line because we’d be found.

  “Now what?” Xander’s exasperation came out in his tone. “We’re even further from the bridge.”

  “Let’s get away from here.” This would be the first place Jeb would look for us. “We have to make ourselves scarce.”

  We headed down Market Street and then crossed over into the Yerba Buena Gardens. Carousel music filled the air and the manicured park bustled with people. “If we go to the bridge, will Jeb look for us there?”

  “I don’t know if he knows that’s where we’re headed. Especially now that we went in the opposite direction.”

  “True. Maybe we threw him off our trail.” I slouched onto a bench needing to rest.

  “Olivia!”

  I froze at the sound of my name. Guess, there’s no rest for the wicked. Or the soulful or would that be full as in more than one.

  Xander jumped off the bench and stood in the direction of the call. Alarm rang on his features. His taut muscles and bunched fists signified he planned to protect me. Again.

  “Olivia!” Two kids ran toward us.

  The boy had an awkward shuffling gate and red, frizzy hair that looked like a clown’s wig even when I tried to tame it. The girl’s tied back strawberry blonde hair appeared oily like she hadn’t washed it in days. Tina and Doug. The neglect was starting already.

  Instinct had me standing and reaching out to them. The urge to hug and comfort overwhelmed. “It’s okay. I know them.”

  “From where?” Xander kept his stance wide guarding me like a treasure.

  Now, I wanted to hug him, but not in a comforting way. “Fitch’s family.”

  Approaching, the kids slowed. They observed me with a wary look in their eyes. Too wary for two ten-year-olds.

  “Will they tell Fitch where you are?” Xander stayed put as the kids dragged their feet to a stop.

  “Olivia?” Tina peered around Xander.

  “Hi! What’re you guys doing alone in the city? You are alone, right?” I ran my gaze over them looking for additional signs of neglect or abuse. I’d only been gone a few days and they were roaming the streets without one of the older kids.

  “We’re alone.” They didn’t attempt to hug me, either.

  Which was weird. We always hugged in greeting. But it was better this way. I didn’t have to tell them not to touch me. Wouldn’t have to explain.

  Doug leaned heavily on his good leg. “Fitch gave us these.” They each held a pre-paid, burner cell phone.

  Tina bounced from one foot to the next. “In case we found you.”

  Fitch obviously didn’t trust me to call. And he was right. I’d been debating the next step. Waiting to see what we found at the Golden Gate Bridge. I couldn’t call him while I was with Xander. Fitch planned to harm him, and I wouldn’t allow that to happen. Making the phone call should’ve bought me time. Instead, the call had rung Xander’s death sentence.

  “Who’s he?” Doug’s upper lip curled in distrust.

  “This is my friend, Xander.”

  “Oh.” Doug backed up and his expression went from curiously distrustful to pale. “Fitch said, he gonna kill you.”

  I let out a slow breath. My hope that Fitch had calmed down about Xander crushed. Fitch was like a tracker missile, once he got an idea in his head it was impossible to dissuade him. This proved my point that Xander not only couldn’t come home with me but would need to hide. Trembles sprinted down my spine.

  “L
et’s go.” Xander grabbed hold of the backpack, ready to run. “They probably already called Fitch.”

  I knelt down to look Tina and Doug in the eye. “Did you guys call Fitch before coming over here?”

  That would give Xander less time to get away. He’d argue, want to stay and protect me. The best way to protect him was to push him away. Get him away from me and the danger that’s attached to me. And I wasn’t talking about the curse.

  Tina shook her head and her curls bounced with the movement. “We were too excited to see you.” A tear ran down her cheek. “We thought you were gone forever.”

  “I’m not gone, sweetie.” My heart wept with each tear that fell on her dirty cheek. I wanted to wipe the tears off, tell her everything would be fine, but I couldn’t. “I have to take care of something first.”

  Tina hiccupped. “Fitch said you’d be gone forever, and we’d better get used to it.”

  “I’ve always been there for you, right?” I nodded trying to persuade them to my way of thinking.

  Tina nodded along with me. Doug tilted his head and angled his chin.

  “Fitch can’t know that you saw me. And I promise, I will call him.” If only to yell about his idiocy of letting two kids out in the city by themselves. I pointed to the cell phones. “Why don’t you lend me one of those so I can call him easier.”

  Finding another pay phone might prove difficult. Guilt landed in my stomach like a rock.

  One issue at a time. “When I get home, we’ll make the biggest batch of brownies ever. Do you promise?”

  The two kids looked at each other, then nodded. “Yeah.” Tina held out her phone with her little fingers.

  “All right then. I want you to head home right now.” I rubbed my hands on my jeans before using my fingertips to clasp the phone, careful not to touch her. “On top of the brownies, there’ll be hugs for everyone.”

  I hoped. I really, truly hoped.

  The two kids scattered.

  I sank back onto the bench. Seeing Tina and Doug hit me hard. What would happen to them if I couldn’t come back?

  “What happens if the last oil doesn’t give us any more information? What if it’s gone?”

  Xander still stood like a warrior letting the situation sink in. “Like we discussed. We bargain with the Society for the solution.”

  “I thought they didn’t know how to end the burnout.” Confusion swirled like the nightly fog hanging off the coast.

  “They said they didn’t.” He looked past my shoulder. “But I bet they have a hint or an idea in all those ancient scrolls and documents.”

  “Why would they help? They didn’t seem to care about stopping the burnout.” About saving me and protecting him.

  “The oils are rare. They can’t just buy them at the grocery store. They need the oils for whatever they have planned.”

  “They need me, too.” And here comes the drama queen. I cringed at my thoughts except they weren’t that dramatic. They were all fact.

  “When we make a deal with the Society it will include them telling us as much as they know and free access to Jeb’s office. We’ll figure this out.” Xander paced in front of the park bench.

  “I’m not going to work with the Society.”

  “What if you don’t have a choice?”

  No way would I help that bunch of crazies rule the world. No way would I help damage the environment. “I’ll refuse.”

  “What if we tricked them into thinking you’re going to go along with them?”

  I tugged on the amulet beneath my shirt. The heat seared my fingers. His words shot holes in my chest. I sucked in a wheezy breath trying to find coherent words. “You mean use me as bait?”

  All the action movies where the girl is used as bait flashed. None of them ended well for the heroine. This probably wouldn’t end well for me. I swallowed the ball of bile in my throat. Panic, fear, and terror wiggled inside me as if I was already hooked—a worm dangling on the end of a fishermen’s line.

  Until two nights ago I had always played back up to Fitch’s thievery plans. I’d done the research and casing, studied the security systems, figured a plan to get out. I’d never been in the spotlight, never had to act out a part.

  And while I’d been stressing how to tell Xander about the new danger to him, he’d been plotting to put me in more danger. As bait.

  His gaze pleaded for understanding and gleamed with a hidden sorrow. “I wouldn’t have suggested the idea if I could think of any other way. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  Anything that hadn’t already happened.

  “I won’t let them get near you.” His solemn words soothed my pain, calmed my nerves.

  He’d become my personal protector. “I’ll meet with them. Show them the oils. Tell them I’m representing you.”

  “That’s risky for you.” I didn’t want to put him in jeopardy either.

  By being with me, Xander risked his life in more ways than one.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Xander

  Xander felt slow and sluggish trekking across the Golden Gate Bridge’s mostly empty sidewalk. The night sky had fallen darker than usual. The moon a shadow of itself. A couple of cars passed in the lanes, their headlights arcing off the top of the bridge.

  “Do you think the sun burns me out more during the day or night?” Olivia’s question poked deep.

  “I wish I knew more.” His throat burned and he wanted to spit the excessive saliva in his mouth. “I should’ve asked more questions.”

  “You didn’t know the Society deceived you.” Her voice soothed but didn’t change his self-disgust.

  “Jeb’s library was right there. I could’ve snuck in or asked to see proof that what they said was true.” He hung his head, letting his past darken his present.

  “You were raised by them. You didn’t know any better.” Her compassion for him caused him to fall a little deeper. “I never thought to question how Fitch spent the money we earned. I mean, the family must’ve made money and yet we live in a condemned building and wear ratty, second-hand clothes.”

  “Hindsight is twenty-twenty.” Xander kicked the ground. If he’d known he’d meet someone like Olivia, care for her as much as he already did, he would’ve lived his life differently. Been more rebellious to the Society. Questioned more. Acted out. Gone out of his way to meet other people and learn different lifestyles. “Before meeting you, I was definitely blind.”

  “Both of our eyes are open now.” The softness in her voice cushioned around his heart.

  She stopped walking and turned toward him. Her amber eyes lit from behind sending warmth straight through him. Her plump lips lifted in a slight, secretive smile as if she was communicating something special to only him.

  His heart pounded. “They certainly are.”

  His gaze connected with hers like long lost souls finding each other. They understood one another. Knew each other so well even though they’d only met a couple of days earlier. An electrical charge of emotion passed between them, joined them like an invisible thread tying two people together.

  Time didn’t pass. The sun didn’t move. Their hearts beat in tune.

  He wanted to reach out and touch her creamy cheek. Raising his hand, he held his palm out. She raised her hand and matched it to his. Not touching, their palms were within a half an inch of each other. Their own private ritual. Heat vibrated between their hands, warming him more than the sun. Even though they weren’t touching, he felt her. Felt her emotions. Felt her caring.

  His heart swelled so large there wasn’t any room for air in his chest. He couldn’t breathe. He loved Olivia. He’d been so wrapped up in proving himself, he hadn’t thought deeply about his feelings. Hadn’t realized he’d been falling from the moment she stayed to help him at the museum.

  Her courage and her spunk. Her funny sense of humor.

  Did Olivia love him? He knew she cared, or she wouldn’t still be around. She would’ve gone back to Fitch.

&
nbsp; Xander opened his mouth to confess his feelings, knowing this was right—

  A lone tourist bumped into him, jostling and ending the moment, taking them both out of the daze they’d been entrapped in.

  They both dropped their hands and looked away.

  A damp heat flooded his body. Not the kind of heat he’d felt when staring at Olivia, but an embarrassing kind of warmth. This wasn’t the right time to confess. She might not feel the same. Besides, they had bigger problems. They might not survive long enough to even consider a future.

  “We should look for where the oil vessel might be hidden.” He stepped over to the red railing and looked at the water rushing far below.

  “You’re right.” She glanced across the large expanse of the bridge. “Where should we look? It could be anywhere on or even below the bridge.”

  Red railings, massive cables that were inspected regularly, fenced off towers. All the lines were clean. No place to hide even the tiniest vessel. Not with the tightened security of anything suspicious.

  “There aren’t a lot of places to hide an object without causing widespread panic.” Fear of terrorists had put any major iconic structure on a watch list by authorities.

  “The vessel is small.” She squinted at one of the high points of the bridges.

  He started walking across the bridge again. They needed to keep moving, otherwise he’d feel like a sitting target. “The clue from the Nilometer vessel said what?”

  She walked beside him. “Gateway to gold. Lights behold.”

  “Hmm.” He examined the light post we passed. “Lights.”

  “I thought that meant the light of the sun. I mean, that is what this entire search is about.”

  “What if it hinted at the location in a light? There always seems to be a double meaning in the clues.” His gaze swiveled around the entire bridge. “The railings are metal with rivets holding them together. No place to hide anything. The cables are one long chord.” He stomped on the ground.

  “The sidewalk is solid.”

  They walked by one of the towers. “The towers are surrounded by fencing so unless the Society knows someone who works for the bridge authority, they couldn’t get in there.”