There were the sounds of raised voices, I heard Elliot call to stop, then there were sounds of fists hitting flesh. I stumbled around the corner. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I couldn’t stand it if Elliot was being hurt. George was huddled in a tight ball against the skirting-boards and three men were on the floor around Elliot’s feet.
Elliot came right over to me and scooped me in his arms as though I weighed nothing, “I told you to stay out of sight,” he growled.
“I see George was a big help,” I said.
“Forget about him. Laura is straight through here.” He stepped over the men and went to a closed door. He set me on my feet and opened the door with a set of keys I imagined he’d found on one of the men.
The door swung open and my heart faltered. The room was sparsely furnished with only a chair in one corner of the room. Standing in the middle of the room, was Laura. I gasped, staggered into the room, and gathered her into my arms. She hugged me back so tightly I could barely breathe. But I didn’t care. I’d found her. She was here and in my arms. We sobbed against each other’s shoulder, relief pouring through me.
“Cassie! I can’t believe…how are you even here?” Tears streaked down Laura’s cheeks as she clutched me.
“We’ve come to rescue you. We followed you through, after you…were taken.”
“I can’t believe you’ve found me!” Laura’s gaze flicked from me to Elliot, “Both of you came?”
I nodded, “We couldn’t just stay back there and not look for you. I had to see for myself if you were…”
“I know…here or…not.”
“But you’re here. We can go.” I turned to Elliot, “We can go. All of us.”
She stared at Elliot for a long moment, her eyes roaming all over him, as though memorising every feature. She seemed to be in shock, as though finally meeting him in the flesh like this made him that so much more real. I had to remember she’d only seen him in a grainy black and white photo and in those few seconds when Ariel had first come to us.
He held his hand out to her, “Pleased to meet you in person, Laura.”
“Stuff being formal. This deserves more than a handshake.” She gathered him in a bear hug. “You didn’t mention he was such a dish!” she said to me.
“I described him to you.”
“Yeah, with as much eloquence as a mime. He’s nothing like what I thought. He’s so…”
“I know,” I said quickly when I noticed Elliot’s cheeks growing red.
Laura looked back at me, “Oh my God. What happened to you?”
At the mention of my shoulder, elation gave way to the pain that ripped down my arm. My knees buckled and Elliot sat me down on the chair, kneeling next to me.
“We have to get Cassie out of here quickly. Not only has she received a gun-shot wound, her life cord has faded into near nothing. She…doesn’t have much time.” His voice caught and I saw the emotion pass through his eyes. He clutched my fingers, squeezing.
There was a commotion at the door. Four thugs crowded into the room and ran right over to us. I barely drew a breath when Elliot was hauled away from me, lifted as though he was nothing by the largest man I’d laid eyes on. As tall as Elliot was, his head only came to the thug’s shoulder.
Elliot swung a fist at the man’s thick jaw. He didn’t flinch. Instead, he threw a meaty-fisted punch into Elliot’s stomach. I heard the breath expel from Elliot’s body. He doubled up, dropped to his knees, gasping. Elliot went to stand even as he struggled, but another thug brought a two-fisted punch to the back of his shoulders that had Elliot sprawled onto the floor. He didn’t move.
“Elliot!” I screamed, trying to stand from the chair. A man pushed me back down, crushing his fingers against my gun-shot wound. I cried out, vision blurring. I tried to fight his hand away, but I only picked uselessly at his fingers. I was light-headed, dizzy, and fighting for breath as the world slanted.
I felt, rather than saw, Laura launching herself at another man. She kneed him in the groin with a swift movement. He wasn’t expecting it. He cried out wordlessly at the same time as I heard Laura’s exclamation of elation. That was my kick-ass sister.
Laura tried to reach the man who’d trapped me on the chair, but she was too late. He overpowered her with a manoeuvre that had her arm pinned behind her back and the man’s forearm around her throat. She screamed, kicked, and elbowed him, but his arm tightened so much she fought for breath, her body going limp. She clawed at his forearm with both hands, her body going limp.
The man’s mouth twisted into a triumphant grin. Nauseous that he had his hands on Laura like that made me angry enough to stagger to my feet. “Get your fucking hands off my sister!”
The world tilted. Black edged my vision. My knees gave way. I crumpled to the floor. Then nothing.
Chapter Eleven
“Cassie! Cassie!”
Something tapped my cheek. I tried to move my hand to flick it away, but my limbs were so heavy. I slipped back into the warm blackness. The tapping persistent, the voice more urgent.
“Cassie! Wake up. They have Elliot!”
Elliot.
I shot up through the layers of black into a dizzying world of light. Nausea punched my gut and I fought against my roiling stomach as I levelled out. Laura was crouched over me, concern etching white lines around her mouth. She sat behind me and had my head resting on her knees.
“I’m back,” I croaked.
“Looks like you’re more gone than back, but I’ll take your word for it.” Her eyes flicked to my shoulder, “Want to tell me about it?”
“No time. Have to get Elliot.” I tried to sit but fell back uselessly against her knees. I was more gone than alive. I glanced at my cord. It barely made a shadow. I didn’t have much time left.
“Not like this you’re not,” Laura said.
I had to agree. I didn’t have the energy left to raise myself from the floor, let alone finish the rescue mission I was on. Elliot was missing, having God knows what done to him. I knew he wouldn’t crack. Wouldn’t tell Black John where the ruby was. I gasped. The Ruby. I clutched the necklace. It was still around my neck, hidden beneath my blouse.
My head filled with a thin plan that was based on an even thinner presumption I could get the stone to work one more time. I fumbled upright and pulled the ruby from beneath my shirt.
“The Light-Portal,” I said.
Laura reached behind the stone and cupped it in the palm of her hand, “Is this…what I think it is?”
“Depends if you think it’s the Light-Stream Ruby,” I said.
Her eyes went round as she glanced at me then back at the ruby, “How the hell did you get this? It’s been missing for decades!”
“It’s been safely locked away in a jewellery box in the Grey-Mists by a very clever person.”
Her eyes grew rounder, “How…why?”
“It’s a long story. The Portal opened up for us once, and we’re going to use it to get us out of here.”
“You…opened the Light-Stream Portal? You?”
I ignored the look of incredulity on her face, “To tell you the truth, I don’t know how I did it. It took Sam, Elliot’s detective partner, and then it closed and we haven’t been able to work out how to open it again. But…how do you know about this?” If anyone would know about this type of stuff, it would be Laura. Surely.
Laura studied the ruby, “It’s not well known, but over the years I’ve found people looking for it. The information is sketchy at best, but once a Portal is opened, it’s said that a person can travel between dimensions wherever and whenever they want. It’s the key to the universe. Very powerful. I shudder to think what would happen if it even fell into the wrong hands.”
“Black John wants Elliot to make it work for him.” At Laura’s confused look I quickly explained the basics.
“Shit. We’re in strife if he knows we have it,” Laura said.
“He can’t get his hands on it. Ever. Elliot died to keep i
t safe, Laura. We can’t let his life go to waste.”
“How did he discover the ruby in the first place? It’s generally not something many people learn about.”
“There’s a lot we don’t know about Elliot. But he’s remembered. Everything. There’s a whole side of him I’ve discovered.” I couldn’t help the flush that crept onto my cheeks as the memory of our night together slipped into my mind.
Laura didn’t usually miss a trick. This was no different, “And was that side…satisfactory? Mind-blowing? Orgasmic?”
I cleared my throat, ignoring her comments, “Do you have any idea how to open a Portal?”
She frowned, fingering the ruby as she thought, “As with anything involved with light and energy, and since we’re technically in the Grey-Mists, intention is the key. If you want it to happen, you think it. But you have to be very clear about your thoughts. Your intention has to be one hundred percent. If you’re wishy-washy in any way, the ruby won’t know how to respond and so it will do nothing. It sounds easy to use, but it isn’t. Usually only those highly trained have the capacity to open a Portal.”
That’s why I was able to open it when Sam was attacking Elliot. I wanted Sam taken out of the equation. It was my sole wish and the ruby responded. Quite well, in fact. I was awe-struck by its power. It literally was the key to the universe. And in the wrong hands it would be a devastating weapon. It would endanger every being in every dimension.
Pain ripped through my abdomen. Sweat broke out on my skin. I could actually feel my body dying down the connection of the cord. A shudder worked through me and centred in my lungs. Death breaths. The last my body would take before I was separated from it forever.
“Cassie, you’re…fading. What’s happening?” Laura whispered.
“My body is dying. And when it dies…I die. Here. Take the ruby. Try to create a Portal and escape.”
Laura clutched my hand, “I’m not going anywhere without you.”
I smiled weakly, “You might not have a choice.”
“You saved me. Now I’m going to save you. This is not the end. Hang on, Cassie. You are not going to die like this.”
I didn’t want to go. I wanted to fight. It wasn’t fair I was fading before I’d finished doing whatever the hell I wanted. I had a job to do and I damn well hadn’t finished doing it. Laura needed me. Elliot was relying on me. I didn’t want to go. I wanted to be here. I wanted to be back throwing my fist into some thug’s belly. I wanted Black John to see his own Portal. Elliot couldn’t have given his life for it to end this way. Marie had suffered the loss of her husband. She’d taken care of Elliot’s work as he was lost in the Grey-Mists. It wasn’t going to end this way. This wasn’t fair. I would not go. I would survive. Elliot would survive. Laura would survive. The steely edge of my determination, anger, and frustration built inside of me until I felt I would explode with it.
Survive. Survive. Survive. I repeated the mantra in my mind until the words mingled with the emotion. There was no beginning to it. There was no end to it. It just…was.
The ruby heated in my hand. Light glowed through my fist, brilliant white mixed with sparkling golds that flickered outwards, expanding to cover me. Heat filled my body, but it didn’t hurt. It was the heat of sunshine on a beautiful day, the sunshine that would make you smile and lift your face upwards just because you enjoyed the feel of it on your skin.
If I was being taken through a Portal, I hoped it would be to a good place where I would feel like lifting my face to the sun all the time. I relaxed into the warmth, letting it fill every pore of my body. I sent my love out to Laura, Mum, Dad. Elliot.
If this was dying, then it wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t like Sam at all. I didn’t want to struggle or fight it. Rather, I felt lightness returning to my limbs. As though I was being rejuvenated. My head cleared. My body burst with energy, the light of my very soul and the light of the ruby merging, dissolving, blending.
Slowly I filtered back into the room, settling into solid form. There was the hard concrete beneath my back, my head on Laura’s knees, the warmth tingling inside of me, humming with a different kind of energy.
I felt…harmonised. Re-synchronised. I felt like me. I was me, but there was extra now. A depth I could reach further into, an insight I knew was there but didn’t know anything about. It didn’t make much sense to me, but I was on a precipice that waited for me to fall into. I could sense it was there, even though I had no proof of its existence. And I knew it would merely wait for me until I was ready to fall.
I opened my eyes to see that the light had faded. The ruby buzzed in my palm. It seemed…happy. Content. I frowned knowing stones didn’t have emotions. It wasn’t human. It was much, much more than that. A slight disapproval simmered in the background.
“Cassie! You’re back!”
“What just happened to me?” I whispered.
I lifted my arm. My skin glowed with health, as though I were made of light. I saw it radiating from within my limbs. I spread my fingers and studied my hand. It was me. I couldn’t be anyone else, I knew it was impossible, but I was lustrous with vitality. I was also solid. My silver cord floated above me, flicking this way and that with renewed life before it faded through the wall. I sat, realising I was pain-free.
I shifted the bandage from my shoulder. Beneath the material, my skin was intact. There was no trauma at all. Apart from my blood-soaked shirt, I’d never know I’d been shot. I raised my arm and flexed my shoulder. Not a twinge. My mouth gaped as I stared at Laura.
“I didn’t know it could do that,” Laura whispered.
“Do what?” I asked as I absently rubbed my arms.
“Restore.” I saw the awe on Laura’s face as her gaze roamed over me, “Cassie, you’ve been…revitalised back to perfect health. It has to be the ruby. What were you thinking? What was your intent?”
“My intent…” My words faded. It was more than just intent. So much more. What I’d felt had been my entire existence. In that moment, I’d been what I was thinking. Just like I’d felt when the Portal had taken Sam. I’d wanted him gone with every ounce of my soul and the ruby had responded. It had done what I had wanted when my mind, body, and soul were in sync. That must be it. That must be how it works.
“Laura—I think…I think I know how to open a Portal!”
Chapter Twelve
“Let’s get out of here, then.” Laura gripped my wrist and helped me to my feet.
“You can get out? How come you didn’t do that before?”
She shrugged, “Where was I going to go? I was hoping that Elliot would be able to find me, so I just sat and waited. Easier finding a still target.”
She braced herself and flung her foot at the door with a precise kick. The handle shattered and the door splintered open.
I stared at her, open-mouthed, “How do you know about these things?”
“I’m sworn to secrecy. Ready?”
“Someday you’re going to sit down and tell me everything I don’t know about you.”
A grin flashed across her face. She dashed out of the door. When I’d recovered enough to move, I was stepping over the two guards still unconscious from Elliot’s fists. Laura barely waited for me before I was jogging after her down a corridor.
“Do you have any idea where Elliot might be?” she asked.
“If I had a guess, it would be the Boardroom. Black John seems to have made it his personal office.”
“Okay. We’ll take the stairs rather than the lift. Safer that way.”
We found the entrance to the stairwell and climbed the stairs as quietly as we could. Inside the air was cool but stale. We were the only people in here, most people taking the lift and our footsteps echoed softly off the walls. “I guess people are lazy even in spirit,” I murmured.
The Boardroom was on the fifteenth floor. Luckily, I was re-energised from the ruby and I followed Laura up the many steps. Even then my breathing was laboured and sweat prickled my skin before we made it to the t
enth floor.
I grabbed Laura’s elbow, to talk and to take a breather, “What are we going to do when we get up there? Shouldn’t we have a plan of action?”
Laura leaned over the handrail and glimpsed up the stairs, probably checking for anyone else in the stairwell, “Depends on what we find there.”
“But what if…what if…Elliot…” I croaked.
She squeezed my shoulder, “We’ll get him out. He’s strong. And so damned stubborn he wouldn’t think about going anywhere without you.”
I nodded anyway, knowing that stubbornness wouldn’t stand a chance against Black John. I appreciated her effort to comfort me, anyway. “But there’s only three of us and lots of them.”
Laura indicated the gem around my neck, “Don’t forget the ruby.”
“What if I can’t get it to work again?” The ruby heated against my skin. I frowned, taking it off from around my neck and cupping it in my palm. It glowed with its inner light.
“Have faith, Cassie. It will work. You’re the only person who is able to make it work. It’s synced with you.” Laura started to jog up the stairs.
“Like an Ipod?”
Laura snorted. “Much more than that. Some people think that there’s a life force inside it. A very powerful energy that chooses the user. Maybe that’s why some people have been able to use it and others can’t. There’s only been a handful of people over the eons.”
“Really?” Then I mustn’t have imagined the slight buzz and feeling I’d picked up.
I followed her, my foot-steps a little heavier than hers, mulling over her information. We came to a decorative number fifteen attached to the door. Laura clutched the knob, “Thank God, we’re here. I’m going first. You follow.”
I nodded, wondering for the umpteenth time how she knew how to do this kick-ass stuff. I only knew it would be better if I did follow her. She’d be able to lay out whoever might be on the other side of the door. The door opened silently and I slipped out behind her. We pressed our back against the walls and slowly walked down the corridor, watching and listening.
Spirit Page 12
