Rhapsody
The Nightmusic Trilogy, Book 3
Heather McKenzie
Contents
Content Disclosure
Also by Heather McKenzie
Poem
Prologue
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
Invitation
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
December 25
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Image
Kaya
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Spring 2017
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Autumn
Chapter 43
June 5, 2018
Chapter 44
Epilogue
Letter
Dear Reader
Music
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Travel Diaries
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
* * *
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
* * *
Rhapsody
Copyright ©2019 Heather McKenzie
All rights reserved.
* * *
Summary: Kaya has minutes to save the man she loves. Luke’s life is hanging by a thread, and Kaya must do the unthinkable—go back to her father. It’s a worthy way to die, giving your life for the one you love. But not everyone feels that way—Thomas in particular. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep her with him, even if it means stealing her precious time. But there’s more at stake than just Kaya’s life…
* * *
ISBN: 978-1-63422-342-3 (paperback)
ISBN: 78-1-63422-343-0 (e-book)
Cover Design by: Marya Heidel
Typography by: Courtney Knight
Editing by: Kelly Risser
For more information about our content disclosure, please click the picture above or visit us at www.CleanTeenPublishing.com.
Also by Heather McKenzie
The Nightmusic Trilogy
Serenade
Nocturne
Rhapsody
He was screaming in terror.
The flames licking at his leather shoes were about to turn his body into a candle in the night.
I should have felt something, I guess. At one point he had been family. He had raised me… maybe even loved me once.
But as I watched him burn, begging for my forgiveness, I felt nothing.
You should save him, Kaya.
Why?
There was nothing about Henry Lowen worth saving. He intended to murder me, his own daughter. He shot Thomas in cold blood. Manipulated Oliver. Took Luke from me.
No. I would not save him. Or forgive him.
The only thing I would do for my father is get a little closer and fan the flames.
Her laugh was wicked. Bone-chilling. It crawled through the dark and squirmed into my ears. But at least it wasn’t my skin The Girl was honing her skills on this time. A man held in a cell not far from mine was being asked the same questions I’d been asked and was now bearing the brunt of The Girl’s whip. He moaned. But amazingly, he never cried out.
I’d been fed, cleaned up, the chains removed, and a bed primped with fresh linens. I even put in dinner orders; macaroni with asparagus and creamed spinach on bagels, hoping that William in the kitchen would notice the unusual requests. If I could signal him somehow that I was still alive, maybe he could find a way to get me out of here.
Get us out of here.
Davis was still alive, too. After he told The Girl everything he knew about Luke, he was put in the cell with The Others. I couldn’t count the days he’d been in there, but it had been long enough to break him. When they put him back in the cell with me, I tried to get him to speak. I begged him to speak. But he just retreated into the shadows, lips not parting except to eat. He remained quiet even when I overheard one of the guards whisper, “We’re working on a plan… hang tight.” Even that shred of hope didn’t prompt him to talk. He’d given up.
My stomach lurched as The Girl continued questioning her victim. She was injecting him with that liquid fire, the stuff that made your mouth betray you and offer up your most coveted secrets. There was no fighting it. The truth would be spilled no matter how strong you were. Add a little pain and getting information was as easy as making a baby cry…
The whip cracked relentlessly. Sharp, dizzying, leather meeting flesh, until a new sound shook the brick walls; Sindra.
She was raging mad. Barking orders and giving commands. Mean as a lion with a toothache and as devastating as a hurricane. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief at the sound of her voice. She’d obviously come to rescue us. Even though we’d had our differences, I knew she wouldn’t let me rot down here.
I swung my infected legs off the edge of the bed and wobbled to my feet. The burns on the soles of my feet had started to heal, but walking was still painful. I got closer to the commotion in the stairwell. The huff of exertion and the thud of bodies bounced against walls. I smiled; Sindra was really pissed off.
“Let go of me!” she yelled. “Remove these cuffs at once, that’s an order!”
There was panic in her tone. She was not in control.
The stairwell door swung open and crashed into the wall behind it. I called out to Sindra, gripping the bars to keep from falling. Davis sat next to me and watched as six Lowen Security guards struggled to get her into the hall. She fought like a wild cat even with her arms tied behind her back and her ankles in chains. She writhed and twisted as they fought to contain her. That dark hair of hers, usually polished and braided, was wild and flowing. She was in her pajamas—a sheer black negligee that was inappropriate even for bed—and although I was shocked to see her ‘undone,’ what was more unsettling was the obvious terror in her eyes.
“I’m not a traitor. Let me go right now!” she yelled. “I’ll have your heads. Each one. Let me go at once.”
The guards ignored her threats. Davis and I watched in awe as she was dragged toward the room where The Girl with the purple hair liked to do her ‘work’.
Davis crumpled and finally spoke. “No…”
The security men left. Quiet filled the space until that laugh rang out again, rattling along walls and crawling back toward us. Davis went back to his bed and got under his blanket. I stood where I was, unable to move. What was going on? Sindra ruled this place. She was Henry’s right hand. What had she done that landed her down here with us?
The Girl’s
voice soared through the half-open door.
“Well, well. Sindra. Isn’t this interesting,” she said, accent thick. “Who would have thought I’d have the enjoyment of playing twenty questions with you?”
There were muffled sounds and since Sindra wasn’t yelling anymore I assumed she’d been gagged. The clang of metal against metal indicated she was being chained to the ceiling. I could picture it perfectly as it played out—been there, done that.
“So, Miss Mighty Sindra,” The Girl said with sick enthusiasm. “Let me introduce you to this gorgeous hunk-of-a-man over here. His name is Luke Ravelle. Oh wait. Apparently, you two have met before. At a motel where you knew Oliver was staying. Right? Remember Oliver? You were supposed to bring him back. You knew where he was. Instead of doing your job, you warned him so he could get away. That’s suicide, Sindra, because Henry doesn’t like it when people don’t do their jobs.” There was a pause. A rattle. A whimper. “Now, Luke here is a traitor, too, so you should get along fine. Exciting isn’t it? I know you’re looking forward to seeing just how much I have learned. Not that it’s cool to brag, but my skills are—shall we say—at expert level now. Then again, I did learn from the master.”
Any shred of hope I had of being rescued by Sindra did a one-eighty and headed for the exit. Not only was my chance at freedom about to be tortured, in the room next to her was exactly what Henry needed to lure my baby girl right into his lair—Luke.
I stalled, not wanting to make the call.
Staring out the truck window at the trees whizzing by, I let my mind drift. If I had three wishes, what would they be?
I guess if the wishing rules were lax, first I would wish for countless more wishes. I figure though that there would be some sort of restriction. So, if faced with only three, my first would be to have Luke, here by my side, healthy and well and still loving me even though I’d made such horrible mistakes. I would explain the note I’d left. Beg his forgiveness for leaving and for saying horrible things I didn’t mean in a backfiring effort to protect him. Yes, my first wish would be him. And my second? I’d wish for a normal family. A father that didn’t want to use my reproductive organs for financial gain and a mother that wasn’t a psycho killer now dead and buried in an unmarked grave. A grandfather I didn’t have to hide from would be cool, too. This second wish would give the genie a run for his money because my dream of holidays spent playing card games at family reunions with endless amounts of love and forgiveness, was certainly the most farfetched wish of all.
But my third? Impossible. This wish would be to undo what could not be undone. I killed a man at the Carlson’s ranch. It was in self-defense. But I had blood on my hands now, just like my father. And if the genie gave me a fourth wish, I would ask to never be anything like Henry Lowen.
With Oliver at the wheel and Thomas moping in the backseat, the town of Banff neared. The feeling of being home should have lifted my spirits. The mountains, snow-covered and crystal white, poked into the sky. The winding highway, lined with flat towering rock on one side, and thick trees and turquoise streams on the other, hugged familiar cliffs. It was always breathtaking. But that wasn’t why I couldn’t get any air. It was time. The phone in my hand shook.
No more stalling.
Oliver turned off the radio and did up the windows. Thomas fidgeted. I held my breath as my finger hovered over the keypad.
“You’re sure about this?” Oliver asked, worry pulling his mouth into a thin line.
I was sure that I had to get Luke away from Henry or he’d end up dead. “Yes,” I said, hoping I sounded braver than I felt. Going back to the estate and being locked up again certainly wasn’t on my to-do list. But if that’s what it took to save Luke…
Thomas was on the edge of his seat. “What are we going to tell Seth?” he asked, rubbing his forehead.
Oliver patted my leg then returned his hand to the steering wheel. “We aren’t going to tell him anything.”
Seth and Lisa were ahead of us, leading the way to our rendezvous point in Banff. They were under the impression that once we were all gathered there, we would mastermind some way of breaking into the estate and rescuing Luke together. This plan was a compromise between all of us. If Seth had his way, I’d have been shipped off to some remote place and hidden in a metal box covered in fragile stickers. Convincing him that I was coming along and that I would be part of the rescue party had almost resulted in blows. If he knew that I had made my own plan now, one that excluded him and involved exchanging me for Luke, he would have gone ballistic.
Just like Thomas had.
The cell phone was becoming hot as blazes in my hand. The number just sitting there, waiting for me to hit send and dial up the most heinous human being this side of the equator.
“Wait,” Thomas said, grasping my shoulder and leaning forward.
Smelling his mint gum and cheap soap, I twisted around to face him.
“Tell me again why you are calling Henry?” he said. “Remind me why you think he’ll exchange Luke for you, and not harm you afterward?”
Thomas was rattled. The worry in his eyes made his brown irises almost black. I pretended his concern didn’t bother me and that I was completely in control, willing my hand to stop shaking so it wouldn’t give me away. “Henry needs me. That means keeping me alive.”
“No. He needs an heir. So, once he realizes that you aren’t pregnant—cause after a few months or so that will be pretty obvious—what then?”
“By then, Luke will be safe and all I have to do is wait it out until I turn twenty-one.” It wasn’t quite as simple as that, but I’d spare Thomas the sordid details. “Then I’ll be free.”
“Or just plain old dead.”
I laughed, trying to ease his mind even though we shared the same thought.
“Jeezus, Kaya. You don’t turn twenty-one for two and a half years.” Panic wavered Thomas’s voice. “That gives Henry lots of time to figure out how to get an heir from you. Doesn’t he have a fertility lab? Isn’t that sort of thing his specialty?”
“Technically he needs an heir from me and Oliver. And he won’t have Oliver.”
Oliver gulped so loud I found myself eyeing his throat.
“Besides, I’m not weak anymore,” I added. “I can handle myself.”
Thomas tugged anxiously at the neck of his shirt. “Ah heck, no one thinks you’re weak. You are the toughest chick I know. I mean, look at what you’ve survived. It’s incredible. But once Henry has you, you’ll be at his mercy. And it terrifies me to think of what he’ll do.”
I reached to cover his hand with mine.
“I’m sorry, this is just a really bad idea,” he said.
Oliver nodded. “Thomas is right.”
There was nowhere to go but straight ahead, and no other choice but the one I’d made. “You both know I have to do this.” I took in a deep breath, steadying my fluttering chest. “Henry was taking a risk that I would even see that cold medicine commercial he staged and seemingly promoted. It was meant as a message to me and that means Luke’s life is literally hanging by a thread. Henry doesn’t make idle threats. If I don’t go back, Luke will die.” That thought stopped the flutter and replaced it with steadfast determination. “Besides, I know it won’t take too long for you and Oliver to find a way to get me out.”
“And if we can’t?”
“Then the both of you can move on. Forget about me and live your lives.”
Oliver shuddered, and the truck swerved. Thomas made a low grumbling sound. The tension between us increased significantly.
“You two need to relax,” I said, hoping I sounded calm and collected. “I’ll be fine. Really.”
No response.
“Anyway, I’m doing this, and you both promised you were with me. There’s no going back now.”
Thomas and Oliver exchanged a glance in the rear-view mirror that was alarming, but they made no objections. Breathing a sigh of relief, I put the phone on speaker for all to hear. Then I pushed th
e dial button.
It rang once.
Twice.
Then a voice so cold my body lurched with bone-jarring shivers cut through the silence. “Apparently you watched my latest commercial,” Henry said, too superior for niceties. “I wrote it and directed it myself. What do you think?”
“I think you’re sick.”
“Oh, my darling daughter, you say the darndest things. Are you on your way back home?”
Home. Hilarious. My hand had stopped shaking. My heart rate was even. “I’m not sure yet. I could be… if you make me a deal.”
Henry chuckled. “A deal? I have what you want. So, in exchange for Luke, unharmed and released from his current situation, you will come home. And you will bring Mr. Oliver Bennet—my loyal, adopted son—with you.”
I didn’t skip a beat. “I don’t have any idea where Oliver is.”
“Oh, don’t try to pull one on me. He’s right beside you, as always.”
Rhapsody Page 1
