“Babe, we don’t have to talk while we jog. We can run in silence; it won’t bother me. It just feels good to train with you.” I do my best to match her stride.
After completing our two hours of running, we do a cool-down lap. Adi and Dani Jo catch up to us.
Adi catches her breath. “It’s hot as hell out here. Air… I… need… air…” She purses her lips while breathing deeply.
Dani Jo, on the other hand, is scheming as she twists her hands together with an evil smile as she suggests, “Want to seek out Kage and his tormentors today and show them they’ve messed with the wrong group of trainees?”
Tova belly laughs, “Absolutely.”
Glancing at the determined trio, I remind them, “Girls, y’all know that he’s the absolute best at this cat-and-mouse game, right?”
Dani Jo places her right hand on her hip, cocking her knee out at an angle. “Yeah, but you’ve lived with him all of your life, and we have you on our side. He won’t even see us coming.” Dani Jo looks entirely too proud of herself.
Eyeballing her, I scoff, “This is true, but it’ll be damn near impossible to beat these guys. If Tova doesn’t go wandering off on her own, then Kage will stay with his team. It’ll be easier to defeat him and induce as much pain as we can if he’s alone. We’d better come up with a damn good plan before we go in guns a-blazin’ because if we don’t have our shit together, he’ll make examples out of all of us, and we’ll be crawling out of that arena today.”
Looking at her comrades, Dani Jo asserts, “I’m up for a challenge, y’all?”
Finally able to breathe, Adi exclaims while high-fiving her, “Hell yeah!”
“You had me at ‘seek out Kage.’ Girl, it’s on.”
Shaking my head in disbelief, we walk over to our towels and wipe sweat from our dripping brows., “Okay, we’ve got our work cut out for us. Let’s head that way now and come up with a plan,” I say, resigned to helping them with this foolhardy mission.
We let Jace, Kole, and Kaden in on the plan on the way over to the arena. Scaling some trees, trying our best to scan the arena before we’re allowed in, we get the best vantage point on the east side of the wall. We can see several places that Kage would likely hide and the best place to get him alone.
God, he’s going to kill me for this. Oh well, it’s too late to back out now. All of us are situated on branches in large oak trees near each other as we try to memorize the arena. Climbing down, we gather together and conspire.
“Okay, guys, our best bet is to take him out near the falls,” I explain. I turn to squint at Tova. “I know Kage told you never to leave your group, but today that’s exactly what you need to do. We need to get him away from Larson and the other Superior Protectors. He knows that I’ll likely follow you; so, he’ll wait and watch for my lead, then take off in the same direction. That’s how we track deer when we’re on a hunt.”
Swiveling my head to Jace, I coach, “I want you with me. We work well together. Plus, there’s safety in numbers. Not to mention, your skin is so dark, Kage most likely won’t see you with me, and he will only think it’s me going after Tova. If he attacks me, we both can take him on and have a better chance at overcoming him.” Jace gives me a nod in affirmation, and I continue, “Kage will be on the east, waiting for Tova.” I, then, turn to Adi and Dani Jo. “I want you two to head to the top of the falls before she leaves the group. Sneak off together. He won’t be focused on y’all. Kole and Kaden are tall enough to hide you two as you head off. We’ll give you a five-minute lead, then I’ll signal for Tova to high-tail it off on her own.”
“What weapons do you think will work best for taking him down?” Kole asks.
Staring at him, I chuckle, then scan each member of our circle briefly. “Y’all, it’s crucial that you take more than one weapon.” I pause for a slight second. “I know we’re supposed to only take one each week, trying to master it first, but I want us to hide guns and rubber bullets in our pockets. I want some of y’all to grab crossbows with rubber-tipped bolts, and a couple of small rubber axes, and shove them anywhere in your clothes that’s not visible, just to be safe. When he gets wind that his Protectors can’t find us all together, he’ll call them all together. When that happens, we’ll be walking into a shitstorm, and I promise…” I stop for a moment, pinning each of them with a solemn stare, then emphasize, “We. Will. Not. Walk. Out. Of. Here. We’ll barely be able to crawl.”
“What do Kole and I do after y’all take off?” Kaden questions.
“You two head straight for the top of the falls as well, right above where Tova will be. She’ll be at the bottom where it’s loudest, hiding in the brush at the bottom of one of the trees.” I explain, turning in the twins' direction.
Next, I focus my attention to Adi and Dani-Jo. “You two, when you get there, stay out of sight. Once I get to the pine across from Tova, I’ll give a whippoorwill call. That’ll be your cue to start down toward us. By the time we all meet up, we’ll either have Kage all to ourselves or be against his entire team. Be prepared for the worst. If it’s just Kage, Tova will distract him by scurrying out of hiding toward the next oak about thirty feet away. It has a hollow groove in it where she’ll remain hiding as the rest of us sneak over the downed log near the base of the falls. Do not fall off of the log! The falls have enough power to either drown your ass, or if you’re lucky enough, wash you a mile or more downriver before it calms down enough for you to drag your battered body to shore.”
Giving everyone a once over, I emphasize, “This is no joke. These waters are a force to be reckoned with. Once we reach the other side, we will sneak up behind Kage and take him down. If it’s the worst-case scenario, then we’ll meet our doom, get intercepted, and ambushed by his team, and it’ll be every man for himself at that point. Everyone got it?”
They all mumble their agreement, and we walk as a group to the entrance of the arena.
After we all grab our weapons and suit up, we go inside and wait for the buzzer to sound. I clutch Tova’s hand and pull her close to me, whispering, “Be safe, Spitfire.”
She reaches up on her tip-toes, giving me a quick kiss. “I will, you be safe too. I’ll see you on the other side.” With a downright evil glint in her eyes, she smiles and declares, “He’s going down.”
The buzzer sounds. We all glance at each other, then Kaden and Kole form a human wall hiding Adi and Dani-Jo. Once they head off, the rest of us sneak into the forest, slinking around for a good five minutes. While we’re giving them their head start, we shoot at some random targets appearing to be in normal training mode.
After about five minutes, our team shifts our focus to a group of faux Lynxwolves. That’s when I motion for Tova to take off. At my gesture, she tears through the woods toward the falls.
I hold up my right hand to gesture the guys to stop walking. Coming to a halt, I close my eyes, listening to her tracks. As if on cue, I hear another set of padded feet. With my eyes closed, I twist my body toward the sound of the second pair of footsteps. Snapping my eyes open, I catch a glimpse of Kage dashing after her.
I motion for Jace to follow me and nod for the twins to head to the falls. Hot on Kage’s trail, we stay on the opposite side of the sounds of Tova’s running. She’s stealthy, so Kage has to stop and listen now and again to see if he can stay on her trail, but we know exactly where she’s going. He already knows I’m on her trail; that’s just how we work, one benefit of growing up with the ‘Tormentor’ as the girls call him. However, though he knows I’m going after her, he doesn’t know that we already know her plans. So, when his steps falter, we stop as well.
A good forty-five minutes into him tracking her, we end up at the base of the falls. Water is rushing so loudly it’s almost deafening. When I told them I’d send up a call to let them know when to head down, I should have considered that.
What am I going to do now without giving away our positions? Considering for a moment, I need to belly crawl to Tova and see if she can sen
d an actual whippoorwill up to them on the ridge. I tell Jace my plan, and at first, he looks at me skeptically, then after I tell him I’ll explain later, he nods in agreement.
Crawling low to the ground, I make my way to Tova in the brush. She peers out of the leaves and furrows her brows demanding, as low as she can but loud enough for me to hear, “What the hell are you doing?”
“The falls are too loud; they’ll drown out my call. There are several birds here. Can you tap into your gift and see if it’s possible to send one up as the signal?” I whisper yell in response.
“Oh my God, Pierce, you have got to be kidding me!” she demands, flabbergasted.
With pleading eyes, I push, “Wish I were, babe. Can you do it?”
“Well, I don’t have a choice, now do I?” she barks, smacking her forehead.
Removing her hand from her head, she closes her eyes, and within a matter of minutes, birds scatter everywhere, all but one, that one ascends to the area where the rest of the crew should be. I lean back and peer up and see some branches rustling, and I know they got the message, but the birds scattering must have startled Dani-Jo, or the single one that went up scared her, because her form descends our way.
Son of a...!
Tova gasps as she lifts her hand to her mouth.
Oh No!
If Dani-Jo falls thirty or forty feet, she’ll either die or wish she had because breaking every bone in her body will hurt like hell.
Wait… What the hell?
About a third of the way through her descent, Dani-Jo sprouts… are those wings? Stretching from her arms to her sides like a wingsuit, but attached to her body. They’re not gigantic wings from her back like a bird’s would be, but more like a sugar glider, just enough to keep her from plummeting to her death. Spreading both arms out, catching the wind, she lands without a sound. Not realizing I was holding my breath, I let out a deep huff.
Focusing back on Tova, the horror dissipates from her face, and peck her on the cheek. “You’re awesome, babe. I don’t know how you did that, but you just saved our hides.”
Shoving me backward, she says, “Thank God my adrenaline is pumping. Check on Dani-Jo, then get back to Jace and let me know when I need to get to that other tree.”
Back on my belly, I head toward Jace. The rest of the group is with me, Jace, and Dani-Jo in less than ten minutes. Once we are all settled, I motion for Tova to move.
Just as she reveals her position, the sharp pop of shots rings out through the trees.
Damn it!
Kage is firing at her. Keeping her in my sights, I check; she’s not hit. Thank God. I motion for our team to get to the log.
Creeping through the brush, staying well-hidden, we make it to the tree that bridges each side. We fix our concentration on our target, watching for Kage or any of the other Superiors.
Shit, this log is slippery.
I’m doing my best to go as fast as I can while not losing my balance when the log suddenly bounces underneath me. When I look back, I see that Adi is barely holding onto the log with her arms. She doesn’t scream, but you can see it is a struggle for her to stay on.
Rushing to get to her, Kole reaches down, but as soon as she lifts her hand to grasp his, she plunges into the rushing white water below.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Tova must have been watching from her hideout because I see her running as fast as possible to get to our location. Hesitating, she waits a minute, then looks at me in desperation. I point my two fingers at my eyes then back to her. Getting the hint, she dives in.
If I’m right and pray to God I am, her cat vision should help her. They have excellent night vision. Scooting to the other side of the falls, we forget our task of taking out Kage and hide behind trees, waiting to see if Adi and Tova surface. After what seemed to be the longest minute in my life, Tova’s head pops up. None of us see Adi, though.
Holy hell!
Come on, Tova, you can find her.
She gets a gulp of air and submerges back into the depths below. Damn it, my nerves are getting the best of me as my hands begin to glow. Shit. I can’t give away our position, so I have to just breathe, pray, and calm down.
Another minute passes, and Tova resurfaces, again empty-handed. Refusing to leave without Adi, she searches for her four more times before she tires and climbs out of the water onto the banks on the other side.
Collapsing onto her back, breathing heavily, she rests for a couple of minutes. Once she has her energy back, she looks our way then points downstream.
Maybe Adi got pushed downstream by the force of the water. Ok, I see what she's thinking and where she’s going with this, but we still have to worry about Kage attacking or his team charging us.
Lifting my index finger, I motion for the crew to head down the river. We stay close to the water to drown out our footsteps, but far enough away that no one will find our trail.
On our way to where the river calms down, we hear no more gunshots or get ambushed. I figure Tova hasn’t been shot, but I just pray she hasn’t been hit by anything else or captured by Kage.
Roaring waters seem to cease as we step into a clearing and see a small pebble beach. Searching the area, we are greeted with the most superb sight. I gasp and rush to the small beach Tova and Adi are at.
“What the hell happened, Adi? You scared the shit out of us!” I scold, landing at their sides. Everyone else is bustling to get at her side.
“Well, dip shit, you saw that I lost my balance and tumbled into the water, but the force was too much. I couldn’t resurface, so I decided not to fight it and just go with the flow,” Adi explains.
Tears fall on to Dani-Jo’s cheeks. “But we never saw you come up for air. I thought you were dead. Tova dove in after you and searched for you for five to six minutes before deciding to look for you down here.”
Adi hugs Dani-Jo. “I’m so sorry I scared you, but the weirdest thing happened,” Adi explains, embracing Dani-Jo. “I was terrified to fall into the raging river, but I realized that I wasn’t struggling to breathe once I was submerged. In fact, it was quite the opposite. My lungs weren’t burning or starving for air like they do when I run. I could breathe underwater. So, I decided to stalk Kage. I could see that he took off toward his side of the arena. When the water was calm, I surfaced at this beach and hid.”
She pauses, pointing to the forest behind us. “When I saw Tova, I waved furiously to get her attention. When I caught her eye, she flew into the river to get to me. We haven’t been here long. I just got done telling her about my mermaid-like ability right before you all showed up.”
“You can breathe underwater! That’s flipping awesome. I want superpowers like that,” Kole says, with no small amount of jealousy, as he gawks at Adi.
Kaden wallops his brother on the back. “And Dani-Jo, you can fly? Hell Yeah!” Looking back at Kole, he affirms, “I sure hope we have freaking amazing abilities.”
“Adi, I’m glad you’re okay, but there’s still thirty minutes left in this training, and Kage and his team are still at large. We need to hustle and find him before he finds us,” Jace states calmly, scooting closer to Adi.
Straightening from my hunkered down position, I concur, “I hate to admit it, but Jace is right. We’re almost to their entrance of the arena. Let’s travel that way and see if we can find him, because in this clearing…we’re sitting ducks.”
27
Tova
We all head through the woods, not knowing where Kage ran off to, only that it was toward his side of the arena. I can only assume when we find him, we’ll be ambushed by his team. Dreading the worst, we are all on high alert, prepared for anything. I mean, where did he run off to? I was so engrossed in saving Adi that I didn’t think twice about Kage.
Creeping around, careful not to give up our positions, we end up all the way to their entrance gate, with none of them in sight. We can’t have more than twenty minutes left to go in the training when the hair stands up on the back of my
neck, and adrenaline floods my veins. I jerk my head toward Pierce and the team to let them know something’s up. Getting the hint, each of us ready our weapons, crouch down, and wait.
Fifteen minutes left.
Ten minutes left.
My blood is pumping, adrenaline coursing when at five minutes left, we hear Kole yell in pain. Gripping his hamstring, we see he’s been struck with an arrow. Even though it’s a rubber ball, it incapacitates him, bringing him to his knees.
Kaden immediately shoots up into the trees where the arrow originated from when abruptly, one of the Superior Protectors falls to the ground grasping his chest. He couldn’t have been over ten to fifteen feet up in the tree, so he didn’t get hurt badly from the fall.
Then the ambush begins.
They hammer down on all of us from the surrounding trees. We’re hit with rubber bullets, axes, knives, and arrows.
I shift my eyes to my newfound vision and notice movement in the trees. Our team has assembled in a circle with our backs facing each other. I yell the opposing team’s whereabouts, and each of our team unloads their weapon in that direction.
A minute before the buzzer sounds, our time is up; we have their entire team downed… all but Kage. Where the hell is he? I close my eyes and listen. A few seconds later, the sound of rustling leaves in an oak straight above me has my eyes opening, and I fire my gun, unloading every bullet left in the clip.
Kage falls down fifteen feet, gripping his chest. Heaving, he pants, “Damn girl, that aim is flawless.”
After a few minutes of writhing in pain, he gets his wits about him and declares, “I was about to thrash you with my ax, but you nailed me. Well done, Tova. Well done. Now I’m going to exit with my team while I still have a little dignity left.”
Hooting and hollering our accomplishment, our team leaves the arena.
Wiping the sweat off of my brow, I address the group, “I don’t know about y’all, but I need to clean up before we go eat lunch.”
Protecting Tova (Iron Mountain Book 1) Page 15
