Equinox (Beyond Moondust Trilogy Book 2)

by J. E. Nicassio

  “Sam, you have to get out of here….”

  I stopped wiping his face and covered my mouth. I felt like I was hit by a truck. “Oh, my God! What is this? This can’t be.” I fell back on my rear end. “Michael?” I screamed, frightened and confused. I was suffocating.

  “Sam, what is it?” Michael crawled around to where I fell. “Shit, Sam.”

  I raised myself to my knees.

  “Where’s Cassiel? You son of a bitch! How could you?” I yelled. “Of course. It all makes sense. All those times I thought I saw him, I did.” I backed up.

  My eyes shot to Nathan. He stared, wide-eyed too. “I had nothing to do with this,” he said apologetically. “It was Lucien’s idea. Cassiel tried to talk him out of it.”

  “You were never gone? Where did Cassiel go? This is so messed up,” I said, looking down at Lucien as he lay. His eyes opened.

  “Sam, understand,” Lucien said between coughs.

  I couldn’t answer him. I just stood there, unsure of what to do. He closed his eyes while Michael lifted the rocks from his body one by one. Nathan rushed to help. Both men lifted Lucien, his arms limp at his sides. I couldn’t see his face any longer, but I felt him. Michael’s eyes met mine as he passed.

  “Sam, come on. We have to get out of here before it totally collapses.”

  I followed them through the dark tunnel, not saying a word. All this time it had been Lucien. My legs struggled to walk. I was weak with emotion. The air was stale with the smell of blood. We made our way out the way we came in.

  69 The Deception

  The bunker was filled with Division Six advisors, some I had never met. They tended to the injured. Michael and Nathan carried Lucien to the press room. Michael pushed books off a table and laid Lucien down, pushing the podium out the way, knocking over an American flag. I scrambled and picked it up. Nathan went to find a blanket. I sat down on a chair off by myself. I didn’t want to go to him. I was angry and confused. Nothing made any sense. Why would Lucien shapeshift?

  I felt Lucien’s eyes on me, but I looked away. I glanced up and saw Michael make his way in my direction. He pulled up a chair and didn’t say anything at first. Tears broke through and glided down my dirty face.

  “Why?” I finally asked. “Why did he let me think he was gone all these months?”

  “Sam?” Lucien called my name.

  “Are you going to go to him?” Michael asked in a solemn voice.

  “I don’t want to.”

  This was a side to Lucien I didn’t know. He not only had betrayed me back at the mountain, but he had lied to me as well.

  “I thought he was gone,” I said, coughing back my tears. “I thought everything good was gone. His leaving almost killed me.”

  “But it didn’t; it made you stronger.” Michael gave me a half smile. “You’re a fighter now. Go to him.”

  A moment passed as I made my way to Lucien. I ran my hand through my tangled hair and pulled up a folding chair next to him. Nathan came in and whispered something to Michael. I could see he was needed. I nodded, letting Michael know it was okay.

  I wasn’t sure what I was going to say. My tongue was tied. I fought tears when Lucien began to speak.

  “Sam, don’t hate me, please.”

  After all these months, words failed me. I took his crystal and lifted it over my head. I paused before I placed it over his head, lifting his long dusty hair. “You need this more than me now,” I said. It began to pulsate. Lucien closed his eyes, drawing energy from it.

  “You weren’t supposed to hold on, Sam.”

  “I know that now, but then….” I shook my head as tears cascaded down my cheeks. Lucien touched my cheek. “I don’t understand.”

  “It was my idea. I thought if I were gone, you would be less at risk of being taken.”

  “Why?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It does to me.”

  “Sam….”

  “Why didn’t you just tell me?’ I said, suddenly angry.

  “We had to make it real; if you had known, there would have been no way to make sure you would be convincing to the others. Banth wants you. I had no idea the Illuminati did as well.” He lifted his body to a seated position. “I had to be sure you thought I was gone.”

  “Let’s just run away from here,” I said, almost begging. “How do I know if you’ll still be here when I wake up tomorrow, Lucien? I’d sell my soul to be with you somewhere else.”

  “We can’t run, Sam. That’s crazy talk.” He forced a smile on his face and closed his eyes a moment, drawing energy from the crystal. His coloring came back, and the dark circles were gone. “I have to go back.”

  “What? You’re kidding.” I moved back from him.

  He took hold of my wrist. “It’s just for a little longer.”

  “Why? I’m not going to lose you all over again, Lucien. This is cruel,” I said, pulling my arm free. “You’re cruel and inhuman. Here’s the thing. Since you’ve been gone, I’ve changed. When you left, I couldn’t breathe. Thanks to you, I’ve grown up. I thought you wanted to be with me. You promised me you would never hurt me. But you did. You had your chance.”

  “And I blew it, I know. I never meant to hurt you, Sam.”

  “Thanks to you, my father thought I was dead, burned in a fire,” I said through tears.

  “I never left you, Sam. I’ve been with you every step of the way.”

  “I knew I saw you. Why did you let me think you were gone all this time? Why did you do that in your room when you kissed me? I knew those were your lips,” I said, clenching my fists. “Lucien, you made me think I was going crazy, believing Cassiel was falling for me when it was you all along.”

  “I didn’t play you, Sam, believe me. I had to make you believe I was gone,” he said with compassion in his eyes.

  My body wanted to kiss his lips right now. How I missed him. “I hate you,” was what came from my lips instead.

  “Don’t,” Lucien said.

  Michael and Nathan walked toward us.

  “You ready, brother?” Michael said, barely looking at me. “You tell her?”

  “Uh huh,” Lucien said with a look of regret.

  “We have to go,” Nathan said, looking back at the others.

  I couldn’t watch. I had to leave and find Dusty. My heart was heavy and my mind confused. I headed for the bunker to where the yellow fake wall was. I opened the door and ran from to the lobby of the hotel. My heart was broken again. I needed to get him out of my head. I don’t know what it is, why I felt like I needed him. It was he who had saved me from Banth and O’Neil at Oakridge. It was him holding me when I was drugged. It was him on the treadmill, on his bed, on the plane…. All those times I thought it was Cassiel. He knew what I was feeling, what I was thinking, and he let me think he was gone. I was thankful he was alive, but I was so angry. I ran through the lobby, out of the glass revolving doors to the lawn, breathing heavily. I fell to my knees, looking up to the sky. Then it hit me. I got up and ran through the hotel to the bunker, knocking by people. I lifted the yellow wall and turned the wheel, opening the door. I looked around, searching for Lucien. “Lucien?” I said, hating the remorse in my voice.

  “He’s gone,” Michael said.

  70 Breakfast

  The aroma of cooked bacon and brewed coffee entered my nose as I walked into the Georgian dining room for breakfast. I thought back to the past couple of months that we had stayed at Greenbrier, wishing it had been a nightmare. But unfortunately, it wasn’t.

  I got to see my dad on Skype. He thinks I was sent to Oak Cliff Rehab Center after Oakridge Estates was burned to the ground. I would be going home soon.

  I brushed shoulders with the guests as they walked through the hotel lobby. My thoughts drifted to Dad and the last time we had breakfast together. Lazily,
I strolled, looking at the breakfast spread. I couldn’t make up my mind as my mouth watered at all the different pastries: bear claws, cinnamon buns, Krispy Kreme donuts, pancakes, waffles, bacon, and sausage. It was a dieter’s nightmare.

  I picked up the biggest Boston cream donut I could find and devoured it. I felt a tap on my shoulder, no chance it’s a nightmare. There he was: Mr. Jackass himself. It was Cassiel; at least, I thought it was him.

  At first I wasn’t sure if it was Lucien pretending to be Cassiel. Then I knew it was him by the way he walked. Why didn’t I see that before?

  “Enjoying yourself, I see.” A crooked smile crawled across his face. Taking a finger, he touched my upper lip, removing a drop of cream. He held my gaze as he brought his finger to his mouth and unexpectedly licked the vanilla cream on the tip. “I heard you met up with my brother?” he said with questioning eyes.

  “Which brother? I have no idea who you are. Are you Cassiel or maybe Daniel? Wait, it wouldn’t surprise me if you were Eden.” I said with sarcasm.

  “I can see you’re a little pissed.”

  “Little is an understatement.” Not liking my tone, I watched his tongue linger on his finger. “Won’t it make you ill?” I said curiously, just a bit glad if it did.

  “It’s well worth it, just like when I kissed you back at the ranch.” A smirk lit up his arrogant lips.

  “That was Lucien,” I corrected.

  “Was it?” Cassiel said smiling. “I guess you’ll never really know. Will you?”

  “Oh, I hate you both. Well, if it was you, thanks for reminding me how much I dislike you. I had almost forgotten.” I took a bite of my donut.

  “Are you almost done, Miss Piggy?”

  I finished my bite and licked my lips. “I’ll ignore that.”

  “Seriously, we can’t waste any more time; Landson Shaw has a car waiting for us. It will take us to Greenbrier Airport, from there, Houston. Gabe will have a chopper waiting just in case the Illuminati or any other shadow government wants a crack at us,” Cassiel said.

  “And when will I see my father?” I asked, hoping for an answer I would like.

  Cassiel raised an eyebrow, “I don’t think that is on the schedule.”

  “I knew it. Jordan lied to me.”

  When was this charade going to end?

  I wiped my hands on my napkin and took a chug of my cold coffee. “Aren’t you going to eat anything?” I asked, trying not to sound too worried.

  “I snuck into the kitchen and found some ribs marinating in a wine sauce. It was pleasantly good,” Cassiel said while texting, taking the time to smirk at me.

  “Of course.” I watched his fingers move fast on his phone. His face twisted with what he was reading. “Who’re you texting?”

  “Making sure the chopper will be on time.”

  “Chopper?” I said, not really liking the idea, but I guess it’s no worse than the Piper.

  ***

  We left through the main lobby; and, of course, Cassiel was on target. Landson Shaw had a black Cadillac Escalade with a driver waiting at our disposal. I was not sad leaving this beautiful state, but I was sad leaving Dusty. It all seemed so surreal, like Lucien never leav-ing me. Did he come back, or was it Cassiel’s waist I held onto all along when the light took us on the mountainside?

  Landson held the passenger door open for me. I stared at the hotel one last time before getting in. Cassiel moved in next to me and broke the silence.

  “All right, I guess you have good reason to be mad.”

  I glanced at him with a frown, not saying anything.

  “Believe me, I could think of better things to have done. Where I went…. Let’s just say it was enlightening.”

  “Oh?” I said, turning back to him with interest.

  “Sam, you think it’s all about you. It’s not. Lucien broke the alliance. We all know that. But now the Illuminati are involved, not just Blue Book.”

  71 Blow Out

  The ride started out quietly. Everything was going as planned until the Escalade swerved. The driver lost control and we ended up in a small ditch on the side of the road.

  “Sit tight.” Cassiel climbed around to the driver’s side and lifted the driver out as gently as possible. I watched him lean the driver against a tree as I fumbled with my seatbelt. He walked over to my window and poked his head in, scanning me for any injuries. “Are you okay?”

  Not paying attention to his question, I stopped trying to undo the seat belt.

  “Let me,” Cassiel reached in the window. I pulled away. His expression grew cold and he retracted his hand.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” I whispered.

  I lifted my hair from my neck, trying to cool off from the sudden rise in temperature and sighed, wondering how far we were from the airport. As soon as I moved to unfasten the seatbelt, a wave of panic rushed over me. I couldn’t breathe, and my heart started to beat wildly in my chest. My hands couldn’t move fast enough as I fumbled to undo the buckle. It finally released, and I tore out of the Escalade and ran toward the woods.

  “Sam!” Cassiel shouted; it sounded as if he were yelling through a tunnel.

  I slowly turned to face him. I found myself sitting in the dirt next to the driver, shaking.

  “Between the lying and the explosion and now this…. I just want to go home, Cassiel!”

  “Hey, that was not my idea. It was Lucien’s.” His piercing glare made me look away.

  “That was a mean trick.”

  “It must have really upset you, finding out that way that Lucien had never left.” He said it so calmly.

  “I thought you were killed in the tunnel.”

  His arrogance resurfaced and a smile returned to his face. “Awe, you care.”

  He held his hand out to me. I paused a moment before clasping it. I sighed once again as he pulled me up. Cassiel’s phone vibrated and he read a text.

  “Is there something wrong? Is it Dusty? Lucien?”

  He shook his head.

  Then what? I struggled to understand. His gaze wandered from his phone. Living with aliens was really getting old.

  “Landson Shaw said Divison Six’s Intel suggests we may have been followed. A little too late, wouldn’t you say?”

  I glanced around, wary of more trouble. “Now what?”

  He shrugged. “We’ll figure it out. You’re going to be okay.”

  “Yeah, but what about you?” I gently touched his head and he flinched at my touch. “You’re bleeding.”

  “Nah,” he rubbed his brow.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked.

  “I’m trying to figure out what we should do.” He walked over to the tire on the Escalade that was blown out. “I don’t want to bring attention to ourselves by calling 911,” he said, his jaw clenched.

  I surveyed the area. A stillness settled all around us. Not knowing if the driver was okay, Cassiel set out to assess the damage. While he was doing that, I sat by the driver, whose name I realized I did not know. After a few moments, he was awake and alert with only a bump on his head and a bad headache. He insisted on helping Cassiel. My nerves were get-ting the best of me as I watched the driver take the jack from the trunk and begin to remove the lug nuts on the wheel. Cassiel started to remove the tire from the Escalade when I suddenly said, “This is a mistake. We should just walk and get the hell out of here.”

  “What are you rambling about?” Cassiel said. His attention was on the tire and not me.

  I remembered when I used to race at Keystone, and I had a lot of blowouts. “This doesn’t look right,” I said.

  The driver lifted the wheel, fingering the rubber. “There’s a definite puncture hole.”

  I knelt down and touched the rubber. “Cassiel?”

  He followed my hand with his gray eyes. “You may be right, Sam
. This isn’t your every-day blowout.”

  I bent down, to see the tire shreds.

  “It’s a gunshot,” the driver said, peering out into I-64. “Light traffic, literally no one on the road. Vast woods. I hate to say it, but this wasn’t any deer hunting accident. Hunting season isn’t for another six months.”

  “We’ve been shot at,” I said.

  “It damn sure looks like it,” said the driver.

  “Maybe it’s small-game season,” I said.

  “I never took you for the hunting type,” Cassiel said with a smirk. I let his comment roll off my shoulders.

  “Okay, maybe not.” I lowered my eyes to the tire and kept my mouth shut.

  Cassiel squatted down, examining the rubber. “Umm, come here.” He handed me a bullet.

  “Someone did this on purpose. It’s a high-velocity round.”

  “Wouldn’t have gone straight through,” the driver said, scratching his head.

  “Not necessarily. It could have been any number of the ones after us: the military, the Illuminati, Banth’s mutants.” Cassiel glared at me with uncertainty in his voice.

  “Someone did this intentionally,” the driver said.

  I looked around at our surroundings, wrapping my arms around myself. I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling creeping over me like a dark cloud.

  “We’re sitting ducks,” growled Cassiel. He looked around, meditating on our situation. “If we don’t get this tire changed, and quickly, the tire’s not going to be the only thing blown apart.”

  The driver popped the trunk. “There’s no spare,” he said with a grimace. Cassiel’s eyes narrowed at the empty spot where the spare should be.

  “Now what are we going to do?” I said.

  “Who in the hell would have taken the spare?” Cassiel said.

  “How are we going to get out of here?” I said, panicking.