by Carly Marino
I break our kiss. The first and last I’ll ever have as myself, at least for now. He draws me closer, but I pull away.
“What’s wrong?”
“I have to go.” Tears tickle my cheeks. “We’ll be together again someday.”
“Lyra, please, don’t—”
I touch his temple with my free hand. The moment the charm on my wrist leaves the box… I swallow the sadness clutching my throat. “Good bye, Cole.”
Air filled my lungs, and I thrashed in my cuffs. My eyes flung open, blinded by the fluorescent lights. Cole had seen Lyra before she became me. Or was she already me? He had said, even like this… But how could that be possible? He’d have remembered me. Right? Unless, someone erased him.
I jerked from Rayna. Her face had plumped, and her green eyes now sparkled but from the neck down, she was still frail.
She snarled. “She doesn’t have it. Get me up, brother.” Every word she said had sounded as though she had to work to speak. “Bring in the human. She doesn’t even have enough essence to sustain me, and we may need her if we can’t find the formula. Draining her isn’t an option.”
“We were unable to retrieve the girl, and Ethan never returned,” Drake said.
I flicked my gaze to him, relief flooding my body, temporarily cooling my anger and sadness. “Wynter’s okay?”
Drake’s mouth formed a tight line, and he nodded ever so slightly. Just enough to reassure me. Why? I wasn’t sure. But it didn’t matter. All that mattered: Wynter had escaped.
Rayna adjusted. Her body pressing against mine brought bile to my tongue.
“For now.” A smile slithered to the side of her face. “You might be immune to mind control, and I might not be able to take your life, but there are more ways I can hurt you. Remember that, child.”
The shades rattled and Jonathan stepped inside. He walked around my bed to hand feed me a glass of water. Rayna snatched it and gulped the liquid, dribbling from the sides of her mouth.
“Thank you, Jonathan.” She coughed. “Find her other humans and bring them to our safe house. We’ll be leaving here soon.”
I struggled. “Drake, you can’t let her hurt Ethan and Wynter. Please, I’ll do anything.”
Drake’s brows knitted to the center. I knew deep down Drake cared. He had to.
Larc’s foot tapped. “Rayna, we don’t have time for this. We need to take the back tunnels out of here.”
“The girl needs to be punished.”
“You killed her aunt. Isn’t that enough?” Drake yelled.
“Are you defying me, boy? I can force you.” Rayna beckoned him with her gnarled finger. He straightened and stepped toward her, mesmerized. She gripped his cheek, blood dripped from his skin, and his eyes glazed. Rayna growled. “You will get the humans and bring them—”
“Stop,” I screamed. “I know where the formula is.”
I held my breath and regretted my words.
She released Drake. His shoulders swayed until Larc placed a hand on his shoulder. Drake shook his head, waking from her trance.
Rayna’s eyes slanted in my direction. “Do you now?”
“I have the memcap. It’s on my charm bracelet. Leave my human friends alone. They have nothing to do with this.”
“If she is telling the truth, we now have the key.”
“What about the other—”
She held up a hand, silencing Larc. “Where is the memcap, Lyra?”
“Give me your word you will not hurt Wynter or Ethan.”
“Very well. The humans wouldn’t do me much good.” Rayna peered at her shaking hands. “I need another Inflexaen.”
“How do I know you won’t break your promise?” I snapped.
“You don’t. It’s a chance you’ll have to take.” Her breathing slowed. A sour stench expelled with her exhalations, and her front teeth darkened to a shade of brown.
If Rayna didn’t have the memcap, then Cole never gave my bracelet to Larc. Maybe I could get them to take me out of here. I’d have more of a chance of escaping out in the open. “It’s on my bracelet. I can take you to it.”
“We don’t have time.” She scooted off the bed, slumped, and Larc supported her. “Larc, search her memory. Drake, be a good boy and carry me. I need to charge.”
Drake’s lip quivered as he reached for me.
“Don’t touch me,” I hissed.
“Drake.” The kindness in behind Larc’s tone surprised me. “Get my sister out of here, please.”
Drake’s gaze steadied on me. “Thea, I’m sorry.” His knuckles brushed the side of my face. I wanted to bite his fingers, but I froze. My anxiety and anger toward him slightly cooled as he penetrated my mask. Drake truly was a skilled Fector. Heat brewed in my mind as he pumped bravery into of me. Not much, but just enough to hold my head higher.
Drake forced a smile before he lifted Rayna into his arms, and she rested her head on his shoulder. He stilled, connecting with my eyes. The intensity of his gaze skirted up my spine. He mouthed—I’m sorry.
Jonathan flanked Drake’s side as Larc clutched my temples. I squirmed. Shocks pinched inside my head, and pain clenched my lips together. Screams vibrated in my throat.
Buzzing.
Loud, almost deafening buzzing reverberated from outside. My shaky sight searched the glass walls. Zaffre-blue light glowed through the gaps in the blinds. Machines, tables, and chairs rattled. Metal clinked and the wheels of the hospital bed scraped the floor. Medical tools clattered to the ground.
Larc squeezed me tighter, and I shrieked.
Several loud cracks pierced my ears, and the walls shattered. Blinds and shards of glass hovered in the air. They dropped like a curtain to the floor. Three shadowy figures loomed behind the clouds of debris and dust. Their human forms flickered until Cole, Nora, and Logan appeared.
They had come for me.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Let her go!” Cole fired and blue light grazed Larc’s arm. The smell of sizzling skin infiltrated my nostrils and churned my stomach. I expected Larc to falter or clutch his arm in pain, but he didn’t even flinch.
Crouched beside the bed, Larc growled and threw a globe of yellow light back at Cole. I scrunched as low as possible to avoid flying beams.
Another light soared over my head and ricocheted on the machine behind Larc. He ducked, yelling, “Drake, get Rayna out of here.”
Drake faded into a shadow, pivoted, and ran. His silhouette blurred into the darkness. The sound of a door slamming followed. Anger filled me. That evil woman had escaped, and Drake had helped her. How could he do this to his family?
Electricity snapped in the room from the soaring light charges volleying over my head. I had to get out of the bed before I got hit. I yanked on my cuffs, sweat beading on my temples. “Come on, break.”
Larc discharged light at Nora as she sidled closer. I was thankful she’d dodged the blast. I sucked in a breath, relieved for her safety.
Several Resparés cut through the smoke and dove at Nora and Logan. Shadows zipped around the room, their silhouettes occasionally coming into view from a light charge colliding with an object. Still pulling at my cuffs, I frantically searched the blurring figures. Which ones were Nora and Logan? I couldn’t tell. And where was Cole?
A man’s shadow morphed into his human, and Cole’s eyes pierced through the commotion. He warded off attacks, flinging Resparés to the side, pushing closer to me. His damp, dark hair framed the fury on his face.
Larc pounced, dug his fingers into my cheeks, and dove into my subconscious. My screams vibrated in my head as he combed my memories. He weaved in and out of my brain matter, gnawing at my mind. My eyelids fluttered. Yellow. Blue. Black. The only colors, blurs, I could see.
Light exploded nearby, and alarms wailed. Larc released me, hunkered down, and a veil of smoke filled the room. I coughed, gasping for air, my body pushed to the limit.
The bursts of yellow and blue stopped and through the billowing plumes, the las
t two Resparés crumble to dust. My shoulders slackened at the sight of Nora limping to Cole. She was all right. They were all right. But where was Logan?
Parts of the ceiling cracked above Nora and crashed toward the ground. I jerked forward, crying for her to move, but Logan appeared in human form and dove, shoving her out of the way.
I blew out a breath. That was too close.
Bulbs flickered and shorted out, leaving only a crackling fire to light the room.
“Let her go,” Cole repeated, a sphere of blue and yellow light hovering in his hand.
Larc lit his hands in turn and held the burning orb next to my head. Stomach quaking, I squirmed and leaned away from him. He could kill me with one tap of his light. Then again, would he risk killing me? I was the only one who knew where my family had hidden the formula. Or so he thought, anyway.
“Where is it? Where’s the memcap?” Larc’s light charge skimmed my cheek, burning my skin. I shrieked as warm liquid trickled from the wound.
“I’ll kill her. I have no use for her now.” Larc growled.
Maybe I was wrong. No. He had to be bluffing. He needed me to save his sister.
Logan emerged from the smoke, hands lit.
Cole halted him. “How about a trade? Thea, for the memcap.”
I gasped. “No, Cole. He won’t kill me. He—”
Larc stabbed his nails in my scalp, and I whimpered.
“We searched you. You don’t have it on you.”
“You must not have looked hard enough.” Cole reached into his pocket and revealed his empty palm. His hand faded into a shadow and then reappeared, cradling the white washcloth containing my bracelet just like he had done with my flower at Homecoming. He unfolded the cloth, and the metal glinted in the firelight.
Larc loosened his grip. My heartbeat rushed to my temples and the vein above my eye throbbed. He couldn’t give him the bracelet.
“Bring it here,” Larc yelled.
“Thea first.”
“Bracelet first. Then the girl.”
“Same time.”
“Fight back, girl, and I’ll drain you.” Larc unbuckled my straps but kept a firm grip on my wrist. He yanked me off the bed.
I had half a mind to kick him in the shins but I knew if I retaliated, he’d kill me, and I didn’t want to die.
Glass crunched under Cole’s feet as he sidled toward us, his arm stretched out. Behind him, Logan’s flaring light illuminated his face. I searched for Nora but didn’t see her. She’d been there a moment ago.
Larc seized the bracelet, closed his fist, and yelped when the metal burned his skin. The chain skidded across the floor, and I scrambled to retrieve it, but Larc ripped my hair backward. I screeched, tumbling over. He kicked me in my side. I grunted, my hands blocking his next blow. The pain radiated to my abdomen, and my arms and legs folded around me.
“Backup,” Larc yelled.
Cole shuffled back to Logan, and our eyes connected. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” I held my side and inched up.
Larc retrieved the bracelet with his sleeve and tucked it into his pocket.
“Run, Thea,” Cole said.
I scurried to stand. My ribs ached, and my torso curled forward as I stumbled toward Cole.
“Get her out of here,” Cole demanded.
Logan intercepted me.
“Let me go.” I fired my fists at Logan, my gaze focusing on Cole.
“What about you, bro?”
“I’ll catch up.”
Yellow light soared at us, and the charge just missed Cole’s head. Electricity danced between Larc’s fingertips, the orb of light forming in his hands. “Your move, son.”
Cole glanced over his shoulder. “He’ll never stop looking for her. I’ve got to end this. I’ll find you guys.”
“I’m not leaving him.” I stomped on Logan’s foot, and he yelped.
Nora materialized at Logan’s side. She clutched my other arm. “Hey, luv. This is for earlier.”
Without my ability to hold my masks, Nora easily subdued me and my shoulders slackened. Nora and Logan maneuvered me around debris until we met the metal door.
Logan pressed the button but the door didn’t slide open. “The fire shorted the damn thing out.”
They set me down. I slumped, peering through the fire as Cole stalked toward his father. My heart picked up tempo, causing my head to spin. He could die. How would I ever live without him?
Beside me, Nora and Logan fired light at the door, the hiss of metal spearing into me.
Larc’s elbows bent, and his fists clenched. He spoke to Cole, but I couldn’t hear him. I wanted so badly to hear him.
Cole shot blue light at Larc, who faded to his shadow form. He materialized next to Cole and slammed him to the floor. My stomach lurched and my breath caught. We had to help him. A ring of yellow light engulfed Cole’s arm and his face strained, resisting the force.
“Logan”—Nora spun, her palms still lit—“we can’t leave Cole.”
My gaze fixated on Cole. A confident smile rose on his face, and he heaved Larc over his shoulders. I leaped inside. All wasn’t lost. Not yet. Cole would win this and we’d run, together.
Larc grunted when he hit the floor. Then Jonathan aimed at Cole, knocking him across the room. I clutched my chest, fighting to stand, forcing myself to break the trance Nora had put me under.
“We have to get her out of here,” Logan said. “Before she tries to fight Larc herself.”
He was damn right. I couldn’t watch, helpless, another minute.
The door blasted open, and we flew backward.
Shrapnel soared past, slicing and embedding in my skin. I cried and pulled a tiny shard of glass from my bicep. Cuts burned on my arms and blood seeped through the tears in my jeans. Ringing once again overtook my hearing, and I crawled toward Logan and Nora.
“Are you both okay?” I asked, unable to hear my voice.
Resparés charged into the room and surrounded us.
Logan helped Nora stand and she looked at me, face pinched. She wiped blood from her cheek and steadied herself.
As the Resparés closed in on us, sound returned to my ears.
“You all right, Pigeon?” Logan yelled as they sandwiched me between them.
“Bloody fantastic.”
Resparés threw punches and kicks, fading in and out of their shadow forms. Nora and Logan reacted. They swerved, protecting me, and all I could do was cover my head and peek between my forearms. If we survived this, they were training me to fight.
Logan nodded to Nora as if giving her a cue of sorts, and she spun into the air, knocking one of the Resparés back with her foot. I gasped, amazed at how fast she moved. How quickly she could disappear into darkness and reappear before my eyes. She gripped the Resparé’s head and drained him. In seconds, he aged then puffed into white ash.
Logan led me behind a turned-over metal table and pointed a finger. “You don’t have any power, so don’t do anything stupid. Keep low.” He dashed into the chaos.
Glass crunched under my knees as I crouched. Cracked Bunsen burners lay on their sides, sticky substances oozing from their openings, and test tubes scattered the floor.
I peered through the white and black haze. Several microscopes had tipped over on tables. Flames spouted from various machines, and wafts of iodine and formaldehyde burned my nose, leaving an acid taste in my mouth. This place was some kind of laboratory. Larc was experimenting on people or other Inflexaens.
Nora’s and Logan’s silhouettes circled back to back. He turned, clutched her hands, and whipped her around. Her legs smashed into the Resparés. Others ducked and scurried out of the way. Nora flipped over Logan’s shoulders, rotated, and swept a foot under the Resparé behind her. Wow. They truly fought in sync. It was like watching a wedding couple’s first dance, only more violent.
Logan slid in and drained the Resparés lying on the ground. Then he and Nora smiled at each other.
I hated being useless.
All I could do was hide. If anything, I’d get in their way. Since Cole had taken my powers, and I was just human.
Cole kicked at his father’s face. My brows and shoulders tensed with each of his movements. Larc leaned back and launched his light in defense. The beam collided with Cole’s chest, and he toppled. His back hitting the floor twitched my legs. I wanted to run to him but getting captured wouldn’t help any of us.
A shadow loomed over me, and Jonathan’s icy-blue eyes and platinum-blond hair came into view. His crooked teeth twisted in a revolting side-smile. I scrambled to run but my foot caught in something slimy. I skidded and Jonathan appeared before me. I swerved to go the other way and in a flash he blocked my path.
He was fast. Much faster than me. I had no training, no abilities, and no way to fight back. But there was also no way I’d let him knock me out again. Screw him.
I grabbed a nearby chair and shoved it at him. He seized my arm, tossing me down. I slid across the tile, and hard object poked into my sore ribs. I rolled over, clutching my injured side.
Jonathan dove. He straddled me, one hand cupped over my nose and mouth, his other curled around my neck. Pain shot down my spine. I struggled to breathe, to move.
“Thea,” Logan shouted.
Jonathan drew bits of my human essence, tightening my chest. I didn’t want to die. Not here. Not after everything I went through. I bit his hand and the taste of iron flooded my tongue. He jerked back, and I bucked, knocking him off of me. Now was my only chance. I scrambled toward Logan and Nora who had taken out all but two Resparés.
Jonathan snatched my collar and slammed me to the ground. Wind whooshed from my lungs and pain radiated from my tailbone. I coughed.
“Thea,” Logan yelled. A Resparé woman whipped a kick to his cheekbone. He soared to the side and collided with a metal desk.
He shook his head, gripped the edge of the table, and stood upright. “Drain him, Thea!”
Jonathan laughed, a mocking tone. Agony tore along my arms. I clawed at the air. Concentrate. I focused. The world slowed, and sounds hushed. All I could hear was the steady beat of my own heart.