DAEMONEUM

by Laney McMann

  Cole nodded with a small smile and a half wave.

  “You take care, darlin.’” Thatcher closed the front door.

  “Not there,” he said to Kade, as he crossed the road. “I say we head to the Leygate we went through to get to Verona and see if my Jeep is still in the field. Maybe … I don’t know.”

  “Fly?” Kade asked. “Run?”

  He kissed her forehead. “Think we better run. We’ll go through the trees again.”

  It felt good to run, to just let loose. It seemed like forever since Cole had had that kind of freedom. The cold air inundated his lungs again, and for a few brief moments, he forgot all the issues, all the problems, and just relished in his speed, Kade—his incredible and beautiful Sparrow—at his side.

  The wide-open field where they’d taken the Leygate into Italy was just that: wide-open and empty. The Jeep wasn’t there.

  “Dammit.” Cole put his hands on his hips and glanced at Kade. “We have to go to your dad’s. I’m sorry, but that’s the last place Danny told me he went before he met up with us in Verona. He came back to Boulder looking for the coiled ring. He would’ve gone back to your dad’s to look for any leads he might have missed the first time.”

  Kade bowed her head. “So, he didn’t find anything?”

  Cole looked away.

  “What? Tell me what he found.”

  “There’s a room the size of your house underground.” Cole’s words were like an apology.

  Kade inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Where?”

  “Underneath the house itself. I didn’t plan on telling you or going there with you. I’m sorry. I have to go.”

  She squared her shoulders, resolute. “Do you know how to find that room? How to get in the house? I don’t have the keys.”

  He lifted his hand, electricity zinging from his fingertips. “I can figure it out.”

  “Lead the way.” She gestured in front of her, and Cole took off like a rocket.

  The front of the house looked the same as it always did, Kade thought, big, but that wasn’t what held her attention. It was Cole’s Jeep parked in the driveway her gaze locked on to, and the feeling of an instant slap that something was very wrong. Danny would’ve answered Cole’s call if he was investigating Kade’s house not too far down the road from the Brotherhood. There was no time to think about it, though, Cole was already hauling ass across the driveway toward the front door. He turned the doorknob and cursed.

  “What?” Kade looked at him.

  “It’s unlocked.”

  Kade stared without a word.

  “Stay beside me.” He released his telums to sit against his palms. Kade reached for her own, gripping it in her fist. All of their altercations up until now had been at farther range, so the use of her energy had worked well, but being in the confines of a house meant close range, and as Cole had taught her, close range meant using her crystal as a weapon. Cole pushed the front door open with his foot.

  The inside of the house looked the same as it had the last time they’d come. Nothing was out of place or gave reason to believe anyone had been there—except the unlocked front door. Staying close on Cole’s heels, Kade followed him inside and closed the door behind her. Cole remained completely still and put a finger over his lips. His gaze roved the ceiling, the walls, and he tilted his head, staring toward the kitchen. With soundless steps, he made his way across the living room, trailing his fingers against the wall. Kade mimicked his movement. There was a distinct vibration coming from the wall itself.

  In the kitchen, Cole stopped beside the laundry room door and waved his open hand through midair. Silver energy crackled and popped, and disappeared.

  “How did you do that?” Kade whispered.

  He smiled without a word and tracked into the laundry room, scanning the walls, the shelves near the door that led to the garage, and then toward the washer and dryer. Bending down on hands and knees he put his ear to the tile floor, wedged his foot in between the washer and the dryer and shoved. The washing machine moved cleanly away from the wall, revealing a large dark hole in the floor, and an equally dark downward staircase.

  “Whoa.” With Cole, Kade found it impossible not be in a constant state of awe.

  He hopped to his feet, brushing his hands off on his pants.

  “You weren’t kidding when you said you could find it,” she said.

  “There’s more energy running through your house than a power plant,” he said. “And no one is here, but I want you stay next to me.” He headed down the pitch black staircase.

  “How do you know no one’s here?”

  “I can feel it. Everything creates an energy field. Plants, animals, people. When the conditions are right, you can feel it. Eventually, you’ll be able to.” He took careful steps, and Kade followed until she hit the bottom. Cole reached forward and found a light switch, illuminating the space.

  The underground room was massive and empty, and Kade felt a rush of relief run through her. She didn’t know what she’d expected.

  Cole eyed the walls, the floor with a suspicious gaze.

  “What?”

  “When Danny was here he said this place,” he glanced at Kade, “looked a lot different.”

  “Different how?”

  “Let’s just say it looked more like a laboratory and leave it at that.”

  Kade gave a curt nod. She was more than fine with leaving it at that. “What now? Danny isn’t here.”

  “No,” he said, trailing his hand about two feet off the floor through the air. The tips of his fingers crackled with red light, and a swirling silver geyser of energy burst through the floor near his feet. A Leygate sat spinning in the middle of the room. “But he was here.”

  “Holy crap. You just did that?”

  “Reopened it, yeah. It’s a blacked line.” Cole rubbed his forehead. “Listen, I have no idea what’s on the other side. That’s the risk of re-opening blacked gates. They can lead anywhere.” He balled his fists. “Shit. Kade. I have to take it. Danny’s on the other side somewhere, but—“

  “I’m coming with you.” She held her ground, no wavering. “We’re together. We don’t separate. Come what may.”

  He held out his hand. “Come what may.”

  Cole had no idea where the Leygate from Kade’s house spit them out. The ground, if he could call it that, was an uneven cluster of boulders and jagged concrete slabs. Pieces of scrap metal lay haphazardly everywhere and what had to be some kind of scaffolding hung precariously fifteen feet overhead. Kade landed beside him, and he caught her before she fell face first into the wreckage.

  “Where are we?”

  He shook his head. “I have no idea. What the hell?” Piles of dirt were everywhere, mounds and mounds of it, and a few broken pieces of what looked like terra-cotta pots, and just heaps and heaps of impassable rock. It was like a quarry. Nothing was recognizable except the Rocky Mountains in the distance.

  Cole let out a breath and glanced at the mountains again. The mountains with a view from the … West instead of the … East … “Oh, shit. Danny!” Cole took off, climbing over fallen slabs of concrete, trying to pick his way through the rubble—trying anything at all, but it was everywhere. He had no idea where to look or start. If anything happened to Danny …

  “What?” Kade scrambled behind him, fallen rock and bricks making it almost impossible to move in any direction.

  “We’re on the roof,” Cole shouted. “The Brotherhood’s atrium. Goddammit!”

  “Oh, no,” she said under her breath.

  There was nowhere to even begin. Cole had no idea what—or who—he might be standing on—crushing—where to try to move some of the rock, or anything. Danny could be anywhere. And Giselle …

  “Kade, I want you to go back to where the Leygate opened and stay there, okay?” His face was drenched in sweat, hands trembling. “Okay?”

  “Okay.” She backed up.

  “I’m going to move all of this, so stay there
.” He pointed, stricken.

  Kade nodded, eyes glassy, and he could see she was forcing herself to stay calm, to not panic.

  Cole waved his hand through the air, and huge slabs of concrete creaked, were swathed in red energy, and lifted from the wreckage, and thrown toward the only recognizable thing: the mountains. The ground shook underneath the building as the slabs fell, one piece at a time.

  “Danny, can you hear me?” Cole yelled.

  Metal scaffolding ripped free from overhead, and Cole hurled it like a missile through the air. Scrap metal followed, along with loose rocks, fallen bricks, and parts of the screen cage.

  “Dan!” He scrambled through the now somewhat recognizable, but obliterated rooftop garden, throwing debris out of his way, searching, hands and fingers scraped with cuts.

  Kade followed, shifting through smashed potted plants, mounds of dirt, and let out a cry. “Cole!”

  He whirled, facing her, but she was on all fours, hovering above a body that wasn’t moving. All the air knocked free from his lungs.

  “Jake?” Kade pressed her ear to his chest and cleared blood and black smudges from his face. “He’s breathing. “Jake, can you hear me?”

  Cole cursed. “If Jake is here they’re all here. Danny!” He tossed more concrete through the air in a flurry of panic, willing himself not to come completely undone. “Giselle!”

  A mound of concrete was piled up near where Cole thought the door that lead into the common house used to be. Shifting through it, he spotted someone’s foot. “Kade! Help me!”

  She ran over, as Cole moved a mound of broken up slabs, tossing them with all the other wreckage. Giselle lay on top of a mound of dirt, her arm stretched out to Lindsey who lay a few feet away, and Danny was halfway on top of his sister, face down.

  “Oh, god. No, no, no, no.” Cole gently rolled Danny onto his back. His leg was broken, likely crushed by the falling concrete. The side of his face was covered in gashes and blood, but he was breathing. “Dan?” He touched his cheek. “Danny?”

  Kade was next to him, shifting Giselle’s leg gently, awkwardly bent to the side, and feeling for a pulse. Cole was amazed. Although she’d seemed panicked when they’d landed on the roof, Kade seemed to be an entirely different person now. She was completely calm. Totally in control.

  “We need to get some help up here.” She moved over to Lindsey and let out a breath.

  “What?”

  “We need some help up here now.”

  “I’ll have to fly them down to the ground. No one will hear us if we yell, there’s too much going on out on the front lawn.” Cole didn’t hesitate. The six foot falcon stood in front of Kade.

  “Take Lindsey first.” Kade didn’t say it, but Cole knew. Lindsey wasn’t okay.

  He scooped her up as gingerly as he could and took off from the roof.

  “G?” Kade touched Giselle’s face. Her pulse was weak, not as weak as Lindsey’s but too weak not to be concerned. “Cole will be here in a second. You’re going to be okay.” The best thing to say when a person was in shock from an injury were soothing, calming words, her dad had told her once. She squeezed Giselle’s hand and moved to Danny.

  His pulse was steadier, like Jake’s was, but he was losing a lot of blood from the cuts on his face and his leg was crushed. Kade repeated the same calming words to him, and ran over to Jake. His eyes were open, pretty blue ones—she’d thought that the first time she’d met him at Crystalline weeks ago. His light blond hair was matted with dirt and blood from a deep cut near his eye, but he didn’t seem to have any broken bones. The worst of the explosion had clearly hit the center of the Brotherhood compound, right where Danny, Giselle, and Lindsey had been.

  “Hey.” Kade squeezed Jake’s hand. His eyes shifted around, wide and panicked. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”

  “Kade?” His voice was rough, distant, eyes blinking like he couldn’t focus on one particular thing.

  “Yeah. There was an explosion, but we’re here now. You’re going to be okay.”

  His hand tightened on hers. “Where’s Giselle?”

  “She’s here, too. Cole’s coming to get her. There are medics from the Ward treating people. Everything is going to be okay.”

  He swallowed, breathing heavy now, as his eyes continued shifting everywhere. “Is she okay? Giselle? Is she okay?”

  “She will be.” Kade touched his face. “She’s unconscious.”

  He moved his leg, trying to shift his weight like he wanted to get up, but Kade put her hand on his chest. “You have to stay still. Just stay calm. Everything’s okay.”

  He nodded, still staring, and the falcon landed in a rush of black wings and wind. His large gold eyes shifted toward Jake.

  “Take Giselle next,” Kade said, “she needs to go.”

  Jake put his hand on Kade’s, resting on his chest. “Who are you talking to?”

  Cole flew like a shot overhead, Giselle’s body held gingerly in his talons.

  “I’m talking to Cole,” she said. “Just relax. I have to go check on Danny. I’ll be right back.”

  “Wait.” He didn’t let her hand go.

  “It’s okay. I won’t be far.”

  “Kade?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I can’t see.”

  Chapter 35

  From a distance, the tower on the hill drew the eye. Sitting atop a high hill, its aged stone peaks reached for the sky. Long ago St. Michael’s Tower at Glastonbury Tor was surrounded by water on all sides. The high hill had served as an island. Now, it was surrounded by sweeping grounds.

  Warden Caelius took in the view from the highest point of the tower. It had been a long time since he’d been there, years. His mother and father had taken him on a tour of Europe when he’d been a child, and this was one of places they’d visited. It hadn’t changed at all. A few repairs to the brick facade, but that was to be expected for such an old structure. The rest of the monument retained the glory it was known for.

  Turning away from the view of the rolling green hillside, he looked down into the massive vortex of swirling white energy in the very center of the tower and lifted his head. Principals lined the circular concrete walkway that surrounded the central hub of the vortex—the entrance to Stella Urbem.

  Eyeing the Principal in charge of St. Michael’s Tower, he said, “Have there been more attacks?”

  “Yes, sir, the Hurlers Stone Circle, sir. We have the Leylines blacked in a three mile radius surrounding the Tower. Even if we get hit, the propulsion of an explosion shouldn’t get close enough to mar us.”

  “The Damemoneum will just destroy half of Europe in their attempt.” Caelius shook his head.

  “Sir?” The man looked at Caelius like he didn’t know how to respond.

  “Nothing. Do your best.”

  The Principal nodded and returned to his post.

  It was a simple fact, Caelius thought. Whoever was leading the cause, the Patriarchae, the Devil’s Children, knew they were close to finding the entrance into the Celestial Plane, and therefore, the Star City. There was no other explanation for attacking site after site on the St. Michael Line. Clearly annihilating Europe wasn’t a concern.

  The Warden shook his head again and glanced at his mother. She faced the pearly white vortex, hands folded before her, off-white Eldership robes sweeping the floor.

  “Who else could possibly know this is here? And why would they want it?” She exhaled. “We have had our entire arsenal guarding the Araneum since the attack three years ago. I did not think to add forces to guard Stella Urbem. Clearly, that was a mistake.” She walked toward one of the several small windows at the top of the tower that looked over the rolling hills below. “The Anamolia could lead the Devil’s Children to the Araneum, but she could not lead them here.”

  “They want both,” Caelius said. It was obvious.

  “I believe so.” Her hands gripped the steel railing she held, veins showing under her skin.

  “T
hey cannot break through the lines to get in, Mother.”

  “It’s not getting into Stella Urbem that concerns me most.” She glanced at him. “It’s who, and why.”

  Heru was standing in the front lawn when Kade and Cole finally got everyone into the medic’s tent at the Brotherhood. Several of the Principals were staring at him, not that he seemed to care in the least. Blue winged tattoos shifting on his ebony neck and arms, bright eyes glittering, Heru walked through the grounds like he owned the place. The Ward’s doctor was speaking to him in hushed tones, his small, beady eyes shifting anxiously from side to side.

  “We will simply do the best we can do,” Kade heard Heru say. “There are several Principals who can stand in for Warden Caelius until he returns.”

  “And when will that be, exactly?” the doctor snapped. “No one has heard from him. It’s very unusual,” he wrung his small hands, “and now this? Elder Cato should be here. Where is he? And several of the Eldership guards are now being treated for injuries at the Ward’s infirmary. Why were they here? We need leadership, and as I am looking around, you are the only leadership I see.”

  Heru gave a courteous smile. “I appreciate that, but I am retired. As ya know.”

  “Well … un-retire yourself.” He threw his hands up. “We are in dire need. Look around.”

  “I am sure the Eldership will assign someone to take the reins until Warden Caelius is able to. I am not yar solution, although I do appreciate yar confidence.” He tilted his head in Cole’s direction with a look of ‘please help me.’

  Cole didn’t seem in the mood to offer a response or to help his uncle. His gaze had barely left Danny. Neither had his presence. He sat by the gurney underneath one of the big white medical tents, head in his hands, staring at the ground. Danny’s left leg was in traction, a bandage covered half of his face from cuts and burns, but as Kade had known, his vitals had seemed relatively stable. Thankfully, the blood loss had been from flesh wounds only.

  Heru continued trying to edge himself politely away from the Ward’s doctor, and Kade gave him what she hoped was an encouraging half-smile from across the yard. She remained seated in between Giselle and Jake on a wooden stool, a hand in each of hers. Lindsey had been immediately taken through the Leygate to the infirmary in Rome, and Kade was trying to not think about how serious her injuries were.