by D.J. Bodden
CHAPTER 10
“Jonas? Are you okay?”
He heard Amelia’s voice, faintly, as he took a knee to try to control the wave of dizziness and nausea that suddenly came over him. On an almost subconscious level, he realized that Bert and Phillip had bulldozed their way through the crowd and were speaking. “What’s wrong, kid? Where is it—?”
♟
Jonas was in the dark place again, or rather, someone had planted the thought in his head. He could feel it pushing through his outer barrier, like a pipeline of images and emotions. Irritation and impatience surrounded the thoughts, driving them deep into his mind.
He reached into the flow, forcing a thought, Who are you? into it.
Madoc, came the answer. Then Jonas felt something grab him and drag him into the stream.
His father was running from something unseen, flowing from shadow to shadow. I have to ask Eve or Viviane how to do that, he thought. He followed his dad, like before, from room to room. There were werewolves, vampires, zombies, and other things he didn’t recognize lurking in each of them. He understood some of it, now, but not enough.
His father scrambled to the top of the last flight of stairs, down a short passageway, and into the room with the locked door. No one’s chasing him, Jonas thought. Someone must have breached his barriers and driven him here. The monsters — supernaturals — had merely watched him flee. Some of them seemed confused, others chuckled. Then the door flew open and Fangston appeared in the doorway, framed in sunlight, while Jonas’ father backed away in terror. He was afraid of the light, afraid of burning up… poof, like flash paper.
The problem Jonas had with the scenario playing out in his head, was that Fangston couldn’t tolerate sunlight either. He’d had to wait until full-dark to come to Jonas’ apartment… plus, he was Victor’s friend. Madoc was the name Jonas had heard in Fangston’s mind, the one that’d made him so angry he’d used his full power to rip the thoughts from Jonas’ head. Madoc probably took my father, Jonas thought. And Madoc sent the man who trashed our apartment. He remembered seeing his mother thrown across the room while he just stood there. Helpless, he thought, as feelings of hate and self-loathing welled up inside him all over again.
Suddenly, the floor and walls of the dream world trembled. He remembered Mr. Edwards saying that the best way to defend something was to attack, so he harnessed his anger and rode it upstream against the encroaching mind, driving it beyond his outer walls and hunting for its source. He could sense Sam, shoring up the breach behind him, and as he moved beyond himself into Madoc, a flurry of images passed before his eyes. He saw his own mother, Alice, dark eyes staring mercilessly through the visor of a black helm, someone’s breath fogging the air in front of him, then blood pooling on fitted stones.
What the heck? Jonas thought.
Panic and pain pulsed through the conduit. The connection was severed.
♟
“—coming from?” Bert said.
Jonas caught himself with his hands to keep from pitching forward on his face. “That way,” he said, pointing in the direction the conduit had led. He wasn’t sure how he knew, he just felt it.
“Go,” Phillip said, and Bert tore off across the street, dodging traffic and jumping over the hood of a car. “Are you okay, Jonas?”
“I’m fine.”
Amelia stared at them. “What just happened?” She leaned away from him like he was a dog that, any moment, might decide to bite.
“Nothing. I just… stumbled.”
“Right.” She looked at Phillip. “Your friend moves very quickly for someone his size. Especially when nothing happened.”
Phillip shrugged. “Chasing cars is kind of a bad habit for Bert.”
Jonas laughed, even though he was on the edge of tears. I hope Bert rips Madoc in half, he thought. Then he took Phillip’s hand, letting the big man pull him to his feet, and they walked Amelia the rest of the way to her apartment.
“Are you sure you don’t want to tell me what’s going on?” Amelia said.
Jonas looked at Phillip, but he just shrugged. Not my problem, the gesture told him.
“I’m sorry, Amelia. I want to, I just can’t. Not yet.” Then a thought hit him. Last time, they went for my mother after mentally attacking me. “I have to get home!”
He left Amelia on the steps of her apartment without saying another word and ran the entire way home. Frantically, he tapped the elevator button until the doors slid shut, while strengthening his barriers and getting ready for a fight. Phillip had kept up with him easily. “Your mother?” he said.
“Yes,” Jonas replied, silently cursing himself. “I should’ve sent you ahead.”
Phillip shook his head. “We have people watching the apartment and, besides, I wouldn’t have left you to get snatched off the street.”
Jonas looked at Phillip incredulously. What am I going to do if she’s gone? What good is being safe then?
As soon as the elevator doors opened enough to squeeze through, Jonas tore down the hallway to his apartment. He froze on the welcome mat. The door was partially open, and there was blood on the handle.