Destiny

by A D Starrling

  An elevator appeared up ahead. He watched one of the guards touch a pass card to a sensor. The metal doors opened and they were escorted inside the cabin.

  Tomas studied the interior panel when it closed after them. It indicated thirteen floors, with the highest number at the bottom.

  So, we’re underground.

  They stopped two levels up. The elevator doors slid open onto yet another concrete corridor. Tomas counted five doors on either side before they reached a junction. Their guards turned and shepherded them into the passage on the left.

  An armor-plated panel came into view at the end of the corridor after some thirty-five feet. Tomas stiffened. Lily’s anxiety soared across their connection.

  A buzz sounded from the portal when they reached it. It opened with a hiss of air, the door gliding smoothly on electric-controlled hinges.

  The smell of antiseptic washed over Tomas as he and Lily were ushered across the threshold and into a large, white, rectangular room. His gaze skimmed the leather straps on the two gurneys in the middle of the linoleum floor before focusing on the glass wall spanning the length of the chamber to the right. His pulse spiked.

  Though he could only see his, Lily, and the guards’ reflections in the polished surface, he could sense people behind it. People watching them.

  ‘Do not be afraid,’ a female voice said through speakers in the ceiling. ‘We do not wish to hurt you.’

  Tomas glanced at the cameras in the corners of the room and noted some strange-looking, metal sprinklers dotting the white surface above them.

  The men who’d brought them to the room turned and left, the door closing behind them with another hiss of air. Tomas studied the exit over his shoulder, his heart thrumming against his ribs.

  This is a negative pressure room.

  He was mulling over the possible reason for this when the unseen woman spoke again.

  ‘Why don’t you take a seat on the bed?’

  Tomas turned to face the glass wall. Despite his fear, he stepped in front of Lily and glared at their invisible audience.

  ‘If you do not cooperate, I’m afraid I will have to hurt you,’ the woman said, her tone hardening.

  Lily’s fingers closed around Tomas’s right hand. Though her pulse had accelerated noticeably too, he could sense her growing defiance beneath her apprehension.

  ‘Reveal yourself first.’ He swallowed, annoyed at himself for the slight tremor in his voice.

  A cold chuckle came through the speakers. ‘Do you take us for fools, child? We know what you did on the island.’

  Tomas frowned. The woman’s voice was starting to irritate him. He tilted his head to the side and arched an eyebrow, annoyance overriding his disquiet.

  ‘You do?’ he said, his tone deliberately mocking.

  Power surged inside Lily. He let it flow through him, strong waves of golden energy that filled him with light and augmented his elemental abilities.

  ‘Yes,’ the woman snapped.

  Tomas smiled coldly. ‘Somehow, I really doubt that.’

  I’m ready.

  He acknowledged his sister’s grim words with a silent nod and raised his free hand toward the glass wall. Lily mimicked him.

  For a moment, nothing happened.

  The wall suddenly shivered. A ripple danced across the polished surface, the plate buzzing as it vibrated and warped. A tiny crack appeared in the center seconds later.

  ‘Stop that!’ the woman shouted angrily. ‘Get them in there!’

  Tomas knew the last command had been directed at someone behind the glass wall.

  There was movement to his left. A concealed door opened in the wall, invisible hinges swinging silently to reveal a rectangle of darkness. Something shifted in the gloom beyond. Tomas’s eyes widened.

  Up ahead, the crack spread across the glass, a growing spider web that turned the wall into a giant, silver jigsaw.

  Four figures stepped inside the chamber.

  Tomas.

  Tomas swallowed at his sister’s warning. I see them.

  These men were big. Bigger than normal people. Bigger even than the soldiers who had attacked the island and the guards who had escorted them to the chamber. And their minds were even more impenetrable.

  An icy sensation skittered across his skin as he scrutinized their faces.

  They showed no expression. None whatsoever.

  ‘Immobilize them,’ the unseen woman ordered the four men.

  Tomas turned as they headed across the floor toward them. He moved his hand, shifting his elemental power from the glass wall to their bodies. Lily followed his gesture.

  The men slowed but did not stop.

  Sweat broke out across Tomas’s forehead as he intensified the energy surging from him. He backed toward the armor-plated door, taking Lily with him.

  Focus on them!

  He felt his sister’s acknowledgment in his mind and placed his hand on the metal panel at their backs, his mouth dry with fear.

  The men leaned forward and continued advancing across the floor, the air shimmering faintly in front of them as they were buffeted by the full force of Lily’s psychokinetic powers.

  Tomas sent a blast of power through the door, seeking the electrical components controlling it while he rapidly manipulated its elements. Metal groaned as the panel started to buckle.

  ‘Stop them now!’ the woman barked.

  The door gave a heartbeat before the first man reached him. Fire shot through Tomas’s arm when the giant closed vice-like fingers on his flesh. He gasped as he was dragged inexorably from the exit, feet sliding across the floor.

  Lily screamed beside him.

  ‘No!’ Tomas snarled at the man who’d grabbed her and kicked him in the shin. Numbness spread up his leg, his nerves tingling from the contact.

  He cried out as he and Lily were violently wrenched apart.

  Two men pulled him toward a bed, their grip so strong he felt bone grind beneath his flesh. He ignored the pain and dug his heels into the linoleum, resisting them with all his might. Tears flooded his eyes when he saw the other pair pick Lily up and carry her kicking and screaming to the second cot. They immobilized her roughly on the mattress and strapped the leather bands around her wrists and ankles.

  ‘Let her go!’ he yelled.

  A hot sensation erupted inside Tomas’s chest. It jolted the golden lines of his heart, turning his fear into a red mist of bloodlust and drawing a gasp from his lips. Power flowed through him, an incandescent blaze that filled his entire body with heat.

  He realized he was experiencing rage for the first time in his life.

  The equipment around the beds trembled and shook as it shifted across the floor, metal creaking and buckling before it was driven violently into the walls by the raw energy pulsing around the chamber.

  The fingers wrapped around Tomas’s arms slowly uncurled as the men holding him prisoner let go and fell back, unable to weather the elemental storm lashing at them.

  Tomas turned and took a step toward the bed where the other two held Lily prisoner, fire in his mind and at his fingertips.

  Something sharp punctured the skin on the side of his neck.

  Tomas paused. He raised a hand and removed the dart embedded in his flesh. He stared at it before scowling over his shoulder.

  The armor-plated door lay open behind him, the deformed panel hanging off its hinges where he’d damaged it. Men with tranquilizer guns crouched just beyond the threshold, faces invisible behind gas masks.

  Confusion flashed through Tomas as he started neutralizing the sedative seeping into his bloodstream with his healing powers.

  Why the masks?

  More darts slammed into his body. The drugs surged through his veins like they had done in the helicopter, faster than he could get rid of them.

  ‘Tomas!’

  Lily’s scream echoed in his ears and his consciousness, her voice filled with a fury so raw it sent an involuntary shiver down his spine. He looked dazedly
toward the bed where she lay and saw the leather straps holding her down snap. The men next to the gurney fell back, feet skidding across the floor.

  Lily sat up, her blue eyes filled with an unholy radiance, something he’d never seen before. An eerie glow danced under her skin, lighting her up from the inside out.

  Her power washed over him, so intense it shook his very bones and rid his body of the chemicals numbing his senses in an instant. He felt his strength return and fisted his hands.

  The glass wall finally collapsed under the pressure of the unearthly forces whirling around inside the chamber.

  Tomas looked to his right and caught a glimpse of a roomful of shocked people in white coats through the shower of falling shards. At the head of the crowd was an Asian woman with fair skin and almond-shaped eyes. His gaze collided with hers. He read the anger and fear in the dark depths and blinked.

  Her name is Jessica. Jessica Wu.

  ‘Do it!’ the woman screamed. She lunged toward a workstation and grabbed a gas mask. ‘Release it now!’

  An alarm sounded in the chamber, the sound shrill and grating. White mist hissed from the sprinklers in the ceiling.

  Tomas’s eyes widened as he stared at the vapor rapidly filling the space around him. He gasped and choked when it reached his nostrils and mouth.

  Lily coughed and covered her face with her hands.

  Fire filled Tomas’s lungs as the gas worked its way down his throat. He fought back with his healing powers, eyes tearing and burning, fingers rising unconsciously to his neck to claw at his flesh.

  His legs gave way beneath him seconds later. He fell to his knees and thudded onto his side, convulsions shaking his body as his brain shut down from the lack of oxygen. The last things he saw were the four giant men standing silently above him, their eyes cold and dispassionate as they watched him twitch at their feet through the thickening haze.

  Chapter Eleven

  ‘How long until we reach Europe?’ Anna asked.

  Asgard glanced at the instrument panel of the jet. ‘Seven hours. We left the East Coast an hour ago.’ His eyes darkened as he studied her. ‘You should get some rest. You’ve not slept since we left LA.’

  Anna bit her lip. ‘I’m okay.’ She leaned down and dropped a kiss on his cheek. ‘Besides, neither have the two of you.’

  Madeleine reached out from where she sat in the co-pilot seat and clasped her fingers tightly. Anna smiled at her tremulously before heading back into the main cabin.

  Zachary looked up from his laptop as she came down the aisle.

  ‘Hey,’ he said quietly. ‘I just got a call from Alexa. They’re heading back to the airport.’

  ‘Did they discover the origin of the bullets?’ Anna said, unable to mask the hope in her voice.

  One look at Zachary’s expression had her heart sinking once more.

  ‘No,’ he said with a grimace. ‘The ballistic expert at WMRD said she’d never seen anything like the shells from Balthazar Island. She’s convinced they’re made of some kind of new metal polymer. She’s kept one of them for further analysis.’

  Anna swallowed a sigh and lowered herself into the seat opposite his.

  A noise came from the galley kitchen aft of the jet. The curtains parted. Olivia walked out with a tray in hand.

  ‘I made us breakfast,’ she said with a tired smile. ‘It’s nothing special but it should keep us—’

  She froze in her tracks.

  Anna stiffened as she watched color drain from her cousin’s face.

  The tray dropped from Olivia’s hands and thudded onto the cabin floor, sending food pinwheeling across the carpet and under the seats.

  Anna jumped up and headed toward her, Zachary rising from his seat to follow in her steps. Dread filled her veins when she registered Olivia’s unseeing eyes. She slowed and stopped a few feet from her.

  ‘Is she—?’ Zachary said behind her.

  ‘Yes,’ Anna breathed. ‘She’s having a vision.’ Her heart slammed against her ribs, hope surging inside her once more.

  Is she seeing them? Is she seeing Tomas and Lily?

  ‘Should we do something?’ Zachary murmured.

  Anna shook her head. ‘No. Ethan said we should let her be when she’s in this state. She’ll—’

  ‘Hey, is everything okay?’ Madeleine strolled rapidly into the cabin from the direction of the cockpit. ‘We heard a—oh.’

  Olivia’s expression hardened. She raised her right hand toward them.

  A faint vibration ran through the floor beneath Anna’s feet. The seats started to shake on either side of the aisle. Lights flickered overhead.

  Her stomach twisted. Damn! She’s tapped into Ethan’s powers.

  Anna took a step forward. ‘Olivia, snap out of it! You’re—’

  Her breath locked in her throat as a wave of elemental energy blasted her off her feet. She slammed backward into Zachary and Madeleine and took them to the floor.

  Alarms sounded from the direction of the cockpit as the plane pitched forward violently. A crash came from the direction of the galley kitchen. The storage compartments opened around them, spilling their bags onto the floor.

  ‘What’s going on back there?’ Asgard yelled.

  ‘It’s nothing we can’t handle, honey!’ Madeleine shouted in a bright voice. ‘Just make sure we don’t crash!’

  ‘Really?’ Zachary said as they climbed clumsily to their feet, bodies buffeted by the invisible forces swirling through the cabin. He eyed the cutlery levitating near the ceiling. ‘You think we can handle this?’

  ‘We’re gonna have to,’ Anna said grimly.

  They gripped the armrests of the chairs and stumbled one step at a time toward the woman who stood frozen at the other end of the aisle. The plane rolled and pitched around them, engines screaming as Asgard struggled to regain control of the aircraft.

  ‘Is this what happened in Yuma?’ Zachary yelled above the deafening sound as they slowly closed the distance between them and Olivia.

  Madeleine shook her head. ‘No! This is nowhere near as bad as what she did back then!’ She clenched her teeth. ‘Let’s hope she doesn’t do the fire thing or we’re screwed!’

  The unearthly storm pounding them intensified. Anna gasped.

  Light flickered across the birthmark on Olivia’s palm. It danced up the skin of her arm until it reached her face, filling it with an unearthly glow.

  The hairs rose on the back of Anna’s neck.

  The Seer’s eyes flashed green.

  ‘Oh shit,’ Madeleine said dully.

  They fell back under the escalating energy. Metal screeched, the fuselage straining under the ungodly assault battering the aircraft from the inside out.

  Just as suddenly as they’d arisen, the forces lashing at them started to abate. The plane juddered violently for a moment before finally leveling out.

  A puzzled expression crossed Olivia’s face. Her eyes suddenly widened. She gasped and choked, fingers rising to her throat and clutching desperately at her flesh.

  ‘Olivia!’ Anna shouted.

  They rushed forward, able to move at will again, and caught her as she fell.

  Fear drenched Anna in a cold sweat as the young woman started convulsing in their arms, eyes rolling back in her head and lips turning blue.

  ‘On her side!’ she barked at Zachary. ‘Madeleine, get the oxygen from the first aid kit!’

  Zachary helped Anna put Olivia in the recovery position. Madeleine returned with an oxygen cylinder and a face mask.

  ‘So, where to now?’ Ethan said.

  The Jeeps had pulled to a stop on the airport tarmac. Lucas ran a hand through his hair and stared at the jet through the windshield, frustration gnawing at him. With no further clues as to the identity of their enemy, there was little else they could do at the moment but wait.

  ‘Anatole should be in Hawaii soon.’ Lucas thanked the soldier who’d escorted them back to the airfield and exited the Jeep with Conrad and Ethan. His gaz
e shifted to the Healer. ‘You got anything from Connelly yet?’

  Conrad shook his head. ‘I’ll give her a call in the next hour if I still haven’t heard back.’

  Alexa and Reid joined them from the second vehicle and they strolled toward the plane.

  ‘I gave Zachary an update,’ she said, tucking her cell into the rear pocket of her jeans. ‘They’re over the Atlantic right now.’

  ‘Good.’ Lucas hesitated. ‘How’s—?’

  ‘She’s okay.’ Alexa’s face softened slightly. ‘She hasn’t slept either.’

  Lucas flashed her a tired smile. He doubted either he or Anna would sleep until they held their children in their arms again.

  They were nearly at the jet when Alexa slowed. She stopped and looked over her shoulder with a frown. Lucas halted in his tracks and followed her gaze.

  Ethan had come to a standstill some dozen feet behind them. He stood frozen, his face pale.

  Unease flickered through Lucas as he registered their cousin’s glazed expression.

  Conrad frowned at Ethan. ‘Hey, are you—?’

  Alexa stiffened. ‘Shit.’

  It was the only warning they got before a wave of energy blasted across the tarmac and nearly threw them off their feet.

  Lucas cursed and stumbled backward. He clenched his teeth, dug his heels into the ground, and leaned into the invisible force buffeting them. He knew this power. He’d experienced it enough times during his sparring matches with the Elemental.

  Ethan scowled, staring straight through them, his fingers clenched at his sides. Light flickered across the birthmark on the back of his left hand. He raised it toward them, palm facing outward.

  Lucas gasped as he was nearly driven to his knees by the raw power of the unholy storm sweeping over them. Conrad and Reid dropped down beside him, feet skidding across the asphalt. Only Alexa still stood facing Ethan.

  Tires screeched to the left; the Jeeps that had brought them to the airfield moved sideways across the tarmac, horrified soldiers frozen inside.

  Lucas struggled to his feet. ‘Alexa!’

  ‘I’m on it!’

  Ripples of energy washed across his skin as Alexa’s own unearthly power erupted from inside her body. She headed for Ethan, her expression determined and her steps steady.