The Forgeron Legacy

by J.D. Atchison

  Emma, Mark, and Jason stood around a bound and unconscious Loraine.

  “When is she going to wake up?” Emma murmured to Mark.

  Mark looked at her with a wry expression. “Bored already?”

  Emma wrinkled her nose at him. “No.” She said quickly, swatting at the air. “But the mosquitoes out here are eating me alive.”

  “You could always go home and leave this boring interrogation stuff to us.” Jason goaded her, fighting to hold back a smirk.

  Emma’s expression darkened. “I’m fine.” She muttered.

  After tying her hands, Jason and Mark had moved Loraine so she was sitting on the ground leaning back against a tree. Emma looked down at the unconscious girl and felt a pang of sympathy.

  “Don’t.” Mark’s voice cut into her thoughts. “She has tried to kill all of us and is working for someone who wants to hurt you. She is not worth your pity.”

  “Quiet.” Jason hushed them. “I think she’s waking up.”

  Loraine shifted on the ground, moaning quietly. Her eyelashes fluttered open and when she saw the three of them she jerked, trying to move her arms.

  “Good morning sunshine.” Jason said sweetly. “Sorry, about your hands. They’re a little tied up at the moment but we have a few questions for you.”

  “And what makes you think I’m going to answer them?” Loraine sneered. She stared at Emma, eyeing her up and down. For a moment a slightly shocked expression crossed her face but then she covered it with her customary sneer.

  Emma suddenly became aware of how much of a mess she was with twigs and leaves in her hair and dirt all over her clothes. She fidgeted under Loraine’s stare, tugging her shirt straight and pulling the loose twig from the front of her hair.

  Mark leaned towards Loraine, drawing her attention away from Emma. “Because if you don’t Jason is going to take you to The Blade to be interrogated. So you either tell us now, or you tell him later.” His deep voice was calm but his eyes shone with anger.

  Loraine’s face turned white at the mention of The Blade. She dragged her terrified stare from Mark to Jason. “You know him?” She whispered.

  Jason nodded his face serious. “Yes, I do. And I’ve seen what he does to Drake’s minions when they are careless with their powers.”

  Emma watched Mark and Jason as they spoke to Loraine. Their faces were dead serious and for the first time she saw how dangerous they were. Shocked, she realized that as she looked at them they appeared to have two layers. Their surface image, which was how she had always seen them before, and then there was a second layer.

  Emma watched entranced as she stared at Jason. She could see flames flickering in his eyes and his skin glowed like fire flowed in his veins. He looked like fire personified and just like looking directly into a fire Emma found herself being mesmerized. Dragging her gaze away from Jason she looked at Mark and saw a difference in his appearance too.

  While Jason’s appearance was dangerous and entrancing, Mark’s was overwhelming. He towered above her and his muscles pressed against the shirt that had once been loose on him. Mark’s eyes caught every twitch Loraine made, every heartbeat, how her eyes dilated. Emma saw his ears twitch at sounds she couldn’t even hear and she knew without a doubt that there wasn’t anything in their vicinity that had escaped his notice.

  “What do you want to know?” Loraine whispered. She still looked terrified at the thought that Jason would take her to this mysterious man called The Blade. Emma was becoming even more curious about who this man was and why his name would have such an effect on someone like Loraine.

  “What were you doing in the woods?” Mark asked.

  “I was sent here to capture Emma.” Loraine replied sullenly.

  “Who sent you?” Jason cut in.

  “Greco.” Loraine said. She looked at Emma with a smirk. “If Greco is after her than you might as well give up now. He always gets what he wants.”

  “Not this time.” Mark snarled. “Where were you supposed to take her?”

  Loraine hesitated and looked at them suspiciously. “If I answer your questions how do I know you won’t turn me over to The Blade anyways?” She asked.

  “I promise you we won’t.” Mark replied steadily.

  “You promise? That means almost nothing to me.” Loraine sneered.

  “Maybe you’ll like this one more.” Jason said, flames bursting out along his hands. “If you don’t tell us what we want to know I promise I will personally make sure that you burn the entire way to the Enforcer’s encampment and once there that you receive the treatment we normally reserve for only the worst offenders. Do you believe that promise?”

  Loraine looked at Jason’s flaming hands nervously. “There’s a cabin thirty minutes drive out of town up in the mountains. Greco told me to take Emma there.”

  “Is that where they are keeping Tyler?” Jason asked.

  “I don’t know.” Loraine said, shaking her head.

  “Where else could they be keeping him?” Mark pressed.

  “I don’t know!” Loraine snapped.

  “If you don’t have any good information for us then there is no need for us to uphold our end of the bargain.” Mark said, standing up. “Jason, call The Blade and tell him we have one of Drake’s spies.” He said, nodding at Loraine.

  Jason stood up and reached into his coat pocket for his phone. When he started to dial Loraine called out. “Wait!”

  “Wait for what?” Jason asked, his finger hovering above the call button.

  “I can’t tell you for sure where they are keeping Tyler but I overheard Greco telling Ethan to go get chains and other equipment to take with them into the mountains. If they’re not in the cabin then they are probably somewhere close to it.” Loraine said, her words tumbling over each other in her haste to tell them what she knew.

  “How many men are going to be at the cabin?” Mark asked.

  “I don’t know.” Loraine said. “Greco, Ethan, probably a few of Greco’s Elites. Greco didn’t take many men on this trip, it was supposed to be a quick snag and back to the manor. Things got complicated when they found out Tyler had hidden the journal.”

  “I bet they did.” Jason muttered.

  Mark looked at Emma and Jason. “I need to talk to the two of you.” He said, motioning away from Loraine.

  The three of them gathered in a circle out of earshot of Loraine.

  “I don’t think we’re going to get any more out of her.” Jason told Mark.

  “I agree.” Mark looked back at Loraine. “But what are we going to do with her now? We can’t let her go, she would only run off and warn Greco that we are coming.”

  “What about sending her to The Blade?” Emma said, looking at Jason. “It sounded like he would be able to handle her.”

  “No,” Jason replied, his expression closed. “We can’t involve him in this.”

  “Why not?” Emma asked. “I thought you worked for him?”

  “I do, but in this case it would be best to handle it ourselves.” Jason replied evasively.

  Mark eyed Jason suspiciously but Emma just shrugged.

  “So what do you think we should do with Loraine then?” Emma asked him.

  Jason frowned in thought. “We could keep her at my place until we rescue Tyler.” He said. “I have a basement we can keep her tied up in. After the rescue we’ll let her go but until then she needs to be kept locked up.”

  Mark looked thoughtful. “That might work.” He said. “Do you have the right set up for keeping someone there?”

  Jason nodded. “A few minor adjustments may need to be made but it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Emma cut in. “Are you guys listening to yourselves? You are talking about kidnapping someone and holding them captive! What if she has parents who will be worried about her?”

  Mark shook his head. “Loraine is living on her own here, just like Jason is. The only one who will be missing her is Greco.”

  �
�Which means we will have to move quickly before he suspects she was captured.” Jason said.

  “But…” Emma said.

  Mark held up a hand to silence her. He tilted his head to the side, listening to something Emma couldn’t hear. Then he looked back at Emma.

  “Your mom is calling for you.” He said. “Go back home, stay there for the rest of the day. Jason and I will take care of Loraine. Tomorrow you and Jason need to go to school and act like everything is normal. We’ll all meet up tomorrow night and figure out our next move.”

  “Are you serious? You just expect me to go home and pretend like nothing happened?” Emma asked. “After finding out that there are people running around with super powers and I’m at the top of a bad guys most wanted list you’re telling me to go home and go to school tomorrow like everything is fine?”

  Mark looked at her. “Yes.” Was his blunt reply.

  When Emma opened her mouth to argue he cut her off. “Look, I know it’s a lot to take in but it’s really important that you do what I say. I’ll explain more tomorrow but for now just go home.”

  Emma looked at Jason for support but he just shrugged. Emma glared at Mark and stormed off in the direction of her house.

  “Emma, wait!” Mark called after her. With a huff Emma turned around. “What, Mark?” She demanded, propping her hands on her hips.

  “Don’t leave your house tonight.” Mark warned.

  Emma glared at him, but when he gave her a stern look she turned and stormed off.

 

  That night Emma sat in her room and stared out her window. The house had gone to bed hours ago. No lights were on and the air was absolutely still. Emma wished she could sleep as easily as everyone else. She had tried to go to sleep hours ago but everything that had happened that day kept circling in her head, keeping her awake.

  She hadn’t been imagining things when she had seen Greco torture a man with just a touch or when the knives the knife wielder had been spinning suddenly disappeared. Those men had powers like Mark and Jason. “Don’t leave your house tonight.” Mark’s words floated across her thoughts. Did Mark really think she was in danger? Loraine had caught them off guard but Mark and Jason had been able to handle her easily. Maybe she wasn’t in as much danger as they thought.

  Even as she tried to convince herself that was true a voice inside her head told her it wasn’t. Loraine had just been the first move. Greco couldn’t have known that Jason and Mark would be there to protect her. If Emma had been by herself Loraine would have had no problem catching her. Emma realized how vulnerable she was. She couldn’t count on Jason or Mark always being there to protect her. What would she do if Mark and Jason weren’t there and she had to defend herself?

  The thought made her frown. She had never been a fighter, she was more the type to turn the other cheek type. Or to trip over her own feet as she stumbled backwards and make a complete fool of herself. But in this case when turning the other cheek meant being captured by a dangerous man for who knows what purpose...putting up a fight was probably a better idea.

  The thought of being captured made her think of Tyler. The image of his face when he had seen her flashed through her mind. He had looked stunned to see her and then he had panicked when he thought they were going to catch her too. He had called her Alexandra though. Emma frowned. Was it just coincidence that he had thought she was someone named Alexandra or had Tyler known Alexandra Savage?

  The thought send Emma scrambling from her seat next to the window and running over to her closet, digging the box out from where she had hidden it. Pulling out the diary Emma curled up on her bed and began searching through it for any mention of Tyler. After skimming through entries for half an hour she finally found something.