Keira Grim: The Final Breath Chronicles Book Two

by V. B. Marlowe

  "He'll be fine," Bram reassured him.

  Dunstan slid a skull ring off his finger and toyed with it. The ring looked vaguely familiar. Dunstan seemed nervous and more worried than usual. I felt like I had missed a lot being at Dunningham's , and I didn't like being out of the loop. "What's wrong, Dunstan? Something's wrong."

  He sat in a chair. "My doctors aren't back yet. It could be that they simply aren't done treating the people yet, but I have a bad feeling." Dunstan held up the ring. "My brother gave me this as collateral. The ring of immortality. I will return it to him when my men come back."

  I remembered what I had read about Dunstan and Dunningham. "Does it really matter which one of you has the ring?"

  Dunstan looked puzzled. "It's the ring of immortality," he repeated.

  He had missed my point. It was quite possible Dunningham didn't care about his brother keeping the ring because he knew as long as Dunstan was alive, so was he. He'd easily let Dunstan keep his ring in order to keep Dunstan's doctors. The doctors would be valuable to Dunningham. They knew all Dunstan's secrets and his plans for Grims to desert Nowhere and live in the real world.

  "Can we get back, please?" Bram asked impatiently.

  Dunstan stood and looked in my eyes. "How are you feeling? Do you think you need more blood?"

  I shook my head. "I feel normal. Fine."

  "She's good. I'm good. We're all good. Let's go," Bram said.

  "What's your hurry?" Colden demanded.

  "I don't like leaving them unsupervised. Anything can happen," Bram answered. I assumed them were the other Grims who were in the real world. I was worried about them , too , and I couldn't wait to see Josh.

  "They're better off without you spreading your bad influence," Colden said nastily.

  The tension between him and Bram was thick. I didn't know much about Colden, but he seemed to be serious, no-nonsense, and angry. Bram was a goof-off and angry, so I could see how the two were butting heads.

  "All right, all right, boys," Dunstan said. "The last thing we need is some sort of power struggle. Learn to work together. Colden, Bram's older. Follow his lead."

  Colden clenched his jaw and scowled.

  "And Bram, Colden knows what he's doing. He knows how things work over there. Listen to him."

  Bram sighed. "Sure, whatever you say." The sarcasm in his voice was obvious.

  Dunstan rolled his eyes. "To the chamber."

  Bram and I squeezed ourselves into the tiny silver chamber.

  "Behave yourselves," Dunstan warned as the doors slid shut.

  Our bodies pressed together, making the inside of the chamber warm. I had a feeling this capsule had only been made for one person.

  The chamber began to vibrate and move upward. After a few moments , it stopped abruptly, causing me to fall into Bram. We stood and smoothed ourselves out.

  The door of the chamber slid open , and the small capsule was invaded by sunshine. I shielded my eyes from the invasive sun. It was much too bright. I was disappointed that it was daytime in this dimension because I was exhausted and wanted to sleep. It was impossible for me to fall asleep when it was light out, so taking a nap was out of the question.

  The chamber opened up to a wide field. We had to walk a little ways to get to the barn.

  Josh and Naomi were the first to greet me when I entered the barn.

  "Hey, Dr. Keira!" Amaro yelled.

  I looked down at the lab coat I was wearing. Everyone began asking questions at the same time.

  "Let me change and I'll fill you guys in on everything," I promised.

  At lunch Marshall informed me that he was happy I was back and that I would have a couple of days off. I spent the small amount of free time that I had talking to Naomi as we hung sheets on the clothesline.

  Naomi pulled a wet sheet from the basket. "I'm so glad you're back. Nokomis and Ebony have been driving me crazy."

  I laughed. "I missed you , too. Guess who came to see me when I was at Dunningham's."

  "Who?"

  "Lei and Sabel. They tried to act like we were such good friends and that they had never ditched us. They have a lot of nerve."

  Naomi made a face. Then her expression turned serious.

  "What happened there?"

  I told her everything. Every last detail. Even how Hesper had been so kind and helpful to me, which seemed to surprise Naomi since Hesper had once slapped her across the face. I felt relieved to finally get it off my chest. I'd missed having someone to talk to.

  "I thought I was never going to get out of there," I said.

  "Bram wasn't going to let you stay there."

  I couldn't argue with that. Bram had a way of making everything better.

  My next job was two days later during the early afternoon.

  "Gauge the situation," Celeste told me. "Think about what could possibly happen in this moment."

  We had been given very minimal information about this assignment. Just New York City and a group of kids. The tracking device led us to a group of junior-high kids on a field trip at a museum. The students were gathered on the fourth floor.

  I did what Celeste had told me to do—gauge the situation. I was looking at forty-something kids dressed in varying shades of blue—private school uniforms. They were chatting amongst each other as they waited for their turn to enter the theatre to view a short film. The chaperones stood around deep in conversation while throwing occasional glances at the students. Everything seemed normal. Nothing dangerous screamed out at me.

  "I have a feeling that something is about to happen. What do you think? Look."

  How come she could feel something and I couldn't? I looked harder. Some, not all, but some of the kids were leaning against the full-height glass windows. They talked and played around carelessly without giving a thought to the glass they leaned against.

  "The glass," I said. "The glass is going to give."

  Celeste nodded. "Let's get them away from it."

  We grabbed kids by the arms, pulling and pushing them away from the glass.

  "Hey!"

  "What's going on?"

  "Stop it!"

  "That wasn't me!"

  We had them all confused, but they were away from the glass, all except for one boy. He leaned against the pane roughhousing with another boy. The boy pushed him into the glass. Just as I dove to reach him, that particular pane of glass gave way. It didn't shatter—just popped right out of the frame. I reached for the boy, grabbing his arm and pulling him to safety. For a brief second, I feared I might fall with him.

  Everyone stood in shock shocked as the large plate of glass fell toward the ground. I worried about where the glass would land. New York streets were busy and full of people. Had it not been for us, at least six other kids would have tumbled with it. Chaperones and people who worked at the museum ushered the kids away from the windows.

  Celeste and I took the elevator back down to the ground floor.

  "How do you get the feeling?" I asked.

  "With time. Don't worry. The more serum you get and the more you do this, the more you'll get the feeling too. You'll just know."

  "What about the people on the ground?"

  "That's taken care of."

  We stepped onto the street. A crowd of people were gathered around the fallen window that appeared to be to be floating. Three other Interceptors—Bronson, Kelby, and Fie—were gently laying the glass on the ground.

  "Hey, guys!" Celeste called, waving.

  They smiled and nodded.

  Celeste looked at me. "Sometimes you go it alone , and sometimes we work as a team. So how does it feel?"

  I thought about the lives we had just saved, up there and on the ground. "It feels good, I guess."

  "It'll grow on you," she assured me.

  We made our life on the compound as comfortable as could be. It took some getting used to, but it became home. Marshall had arranged for us to all get futons to make sleeping more comfortable , and he cleared the hay an
d horses out of the barn and moved them to the stable. The barn became our little home.

  We did our chores and , became better at being Interceptors, but best of all, we had time to live our own lives and do the things we wanted to do. Although I missed my parents, I had my brother and my best friends there. I didn't know if this was something I would want forever, but for the time being, I was happy.

  One morning as I brushed my teeth, I noticed something small and silver sitting on the rim of the sink. I picked it up and held it between my thumb and forefinger.

  Ebony stood in the mirror beside me brushing her hair. "What's that?"

  "It's the raven charm Bram gave me for my birthday."

  "Aww, sweet. Keep it in a safe place so you don't lose it." She threw her brush into her makeup bag and left the bedroom.

  She had no idea that this was the charm Dunningham had taken away from me back at his house. Maybe our safe haven wasn't so safe after all.[C6]

  * * *

  [LM1]Can’t really have her do it “always” and “most”

  [C2]This passage really made me feel for Keira.

  [C3]I like this sentiment.

  [C4]While going through this manuscript, I noticed that many chapters began with “The next morning” or a variation thereof. You may want to change the introductory sentences of some of your chapters.

  [C5]He must be a heinous, stone-cold bastard if he has a favorite type of execution. 

  [C6]Nice sequel hook.