by Rebecca Main
JJ rubs both hands over his face, taking a few deep breaths as he straightens. “Cal, that’s not all you would have to do.”
“What?” I ask, aghast.
“They’ll make you kill the prisoner to prove your loyalty. After losing the ring and the blade, they thought it the simplest way to demonstrate it. Of course, they’ll also expect your full cooperation during the trial as well. You’ll answer all their questions honestly and to the best of your knowledge.”
“I can’t.” The words come out broken and mangled as I stare at JJ in anguish. “I can’t survive that, JJ. I’d rather be dead.” JJ nods stoically in response.
“If I could find some way to get you out of all this, I would. I just don’t even know where to begin, Cal.” Silence falls around us, enveloping us within its solitude.
“JJ,” his name falls quietly from my lips, “what prisoner?”
“They snagged one of the wolves. Some big guy with a ton of tattoos. He looks like a mean son of a bitch. They’re keeping him pretty heavily sedated to keep him under control.”
The world tilts on its axis. I thought… I had thought….
“JJ, you have to help me get out of here. You have to help me.” I surge to my feet and lunge toward the cell bars to support myself. JJ takes hold of me through the bars, eyes wide at my state of pure panic.
“Cal, I—”
“You can’t let them hurt him. You can’t. We have to save him. Get him out of here.”
JJ’s face pinches in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about, Cal. That dog took out—”
“I don’t care what he’s done,” I tell him harshly, a burst of adrenaline rushing through my veins and keeping me upright. With a low cry, I seize JJ by the shirt and yank him forward, breathing in hard, shallow rasps. JJ bangs against the cell bars. A look of fear crossing over his face. “I don’t care. You have to get us out. Do you understand me?”
I barely recognize myself in the reflection of his eyes. “Cal, calm down. This is the darkness—”
I give JJ a shake, feeling far too satisfied when he bangs once more against the cell bars. “There is no such thing as ‘the darkness,’ JJ. It’s just some made-up story to coerce us into submission and keep us in line. Do you want to know what’s real? This.”
I release JJ and yank down the side of my pants to reveal a smattering of tattoos, and the one among them that is so much more.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he barks, taking a step away from the bars.
“This.” I jab at the impression of the fang. “This isn’t a tattoo, JJ. I was born with it, and that man has the exact same one on him. It’s—”
“A soulmark,” he breathes, taking another step back. “Jesus Christ, Cal! That can’t be. It can’t.”
“It can, and it is, JJ,” I tell him, moving back to lean against the bars. “And the man they’ve taken as prisoner—”
“No.” JJ’s head moves quickly from side to side. “No.”
“Yes.” I don’t know if it’s my softly spoken insistence or the expression I wear upon my face, but JJ quits his tremulous actions. His shoulders sinking as his face falls into a grimace.
“Cal—”
“Please, JJ. Please, I’m begging you. Help us. Find a way. You always find a way.” I’ve never seen JJ look so torn. So defeated. I can see the tears of frustration cloud his vision.
“I….” He moves backward uncertainly, body tensing as he avoids my gaze. “I have to go, Cal.”
JJ’s name is a mere whisper on my lips as he turns heel and strides away. For the briefest of moments, I thought he would stay. I thought he would help. Now? Now, I am sure I’ve just sealed my fate.
+++
Nobody comes for me. No food is sent. Nothing. It leaves me feeling hollow inside. Hopeless. As if I’m nothing myself. There’s nothing more I want than to have Keenan’s arms wrapped around me, rather than my own. I’ve come to find solace there. A sense of security. A new home.
The pulse of his life is still weak through the bond, and now I know the true reason why. No doubt my comrades have been giving him a quicksilver tonic combined with a tranquilizer. It would guarantee his submission and his weakness. The thought brings another bout of angry tears to the surface, but I brush them determinedly away. My tears will do neither of us any good. I have to reserve all my strength for the trial to come.
Somewhere in the distance, a door opens and slams closed. I sit up a little straighter on the bench, my body screaming its protest. My wounds feel as if they’re on fire, and I’ve never felt more tightly strung. I need more medicine, I think grimly. Otherwise, infection is almost guaranteed. My heart stutters to a brief stop when I hear not one, but two sets of feet make their way toward me.
It’s Nathan, the guard usually stationed at the atrium, and another older guard. Both wear grim expressions.
“Calliope Sawyer,” Nathan states, coming to a stop before the cell door, “we are to escort you to the Auroral Bastille. Please remove your bracers and any other tokens on your person that are the property of the Wardens.” Not the observatory? No, I think to myself, it could barely fit the Alaskan Council.
“Hi to you too, Nathan,” I respond lightly. “I’m glad to see you’re well after that first attack.”
The minuscule downward turn of his mouth expresses quite plainly his displeasure in having to be here. I’m sure I mirror it.
“Remove the bracers, Sawyer,” the other guard reiterates. “You’ve been stripped of your titles and are required to return your gear.”
Oh.
It stings more than I thought it would. The words stabbing deeply into my heart, and draining me of hope. It takes but a moment to remove both sets of bracers, my fingers lingering over the smooth metal fondly one last time before I set them down beside me and rise.
“I’m ready,” I tell them, walking stiffly to the door as they open it. As I exit, each guard takes me by the upper arm to guide me forward. Thankfully Nathan is on my left side. His grip isn’t nearly as tight as the other guard’s and lies considerately below where the hellspawn took a bite out of me.
“We don’t have all day,” gripes the man on my right.
“Let’s not pretend you have anything better to do,” I snark back. The guard whirls on me, his fist hitting my cheekbone with enough force to snap my head to the side. I collapse into Nathan, who lets out a cry of alarm.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, man?” he shouts, leaning me against the wall and stepping between us.
“What the hell am I doing?” he retorts. “She’s mouthing off. Scum like her who mouth off are dealt with accordingly. She’s a thief and a slut for messing around with that pack of wolves. Hell, I bet she probably planned the whole thing with them.”
“Fuck you,” I spit out. The man lets out a snarl and lunges toward me, but Nathan is there to stop him. He pushes him back into the intercepting hallway, not expecting the dart that suddenly appears in the man’s neck.
“What the—” Nathan says with a grimace before rushing to the man’s side. It’s a bad idea on Nathan’s part. The second he breaches the other hallway an identical dart impales itself into his neck. “—fuck.” Both guards collapse within seconds of each other, and another pair of feet quickly sound.
“What are you doing here?” I ask in amazement as Noelle and Naomi round the corner.
“We don’t have much time,” Naomi says as her sister races back into my holding cell. “We’ve secured the van they were going to transport you in to the Auroral Bastille.”
“What about—” I hiss in pain as Naomi maneuvers me away from the wall, her arm wrapped tightly around my waist.
“Here, help me put these on her for a moment,” Noelle says once she’s back at our side. A throaty cry ushers from my lips as the bracers are placed back on my arms. Both sets.
“How fast can you go?” Naomi asks. I activate the bracers and let their energy sweep through my body.
&
nbsp; “I can keep up,” I promise. Noelle looks ready to jet off, but my hand on her wrist stops them both. “Thank you.”
“Just keep trying, okay? Don’t give up on her,” she responds after a moment, voice growing nearly as thick with emotion as mine.
“I won’t. I swear it.”
“Come on, they’re waiting outside,” Naomi tugs at my waist and we dart off through the maze of hallways and stairways. “Come on, Callie. You can do it,” Naomi encourages from behind me as we traverse up another stairwell.
My body burns with the effort. “I’m trying,” I pant.
“Hurry it up,” Noelle calls down from above. “The cameras are on a timer and our time is almost up. We need to get to the van. Now.”
“Come on, Callie,” Naomi cajoles, her hands giving me the boost I need. “Do it for Nova. Do it for that guy out in the van. Just push past it, Callie. You’re stronger than this. Stronger than all of us.”
Her words have the desired effect. Something inside me—a lightness and warmth—swims through my veins. Even as I stumble up the stairs, knocking my knees and palms painfully against the hard concrete, I keep going. For Nova and Keenan and myself.
Noelle ushers us through a heavy black door, once she has scanned the perimeter, her gun held securely out in front of her. “Follow me, in three, two, go!”
We race around the corner of the building, and there, only a hundred yards away, is a black van.
“Drive till you reach the old Lander’s farm. They’ll be a black truck for you to switch to. The keys are hidden in the exhaust pipe.” I nod, hardly able to believe this is actually happening.
“Where is he?”
Naomi gestures in the direction of the back. “JJ put him in the back already along with a bag of some provisions. Be careful with it, all right? I put something in there that has to be handled with a lot of care. We also put that weird stake you had on you when you arrived in there. Promise you'll be careful, okay?”
My bottom lip quivers. “I will.”
Naomi throws her arms around my neck, pulling me into a fierce hug that I return with equal zeal. “She loved you, you know?” she whispers into my ear.
I nod my head once more, blinking back tears at this final goodbye. “I know,” I whisper back, pulling away and out of her arms.
Noelle comes to my side and passes me a burner phone. One of those tiny Nokia’s so popular in the early 2000s. “For when you see her again,” she says before wrapping me in a similar hug. “Ready?”
My ragged breath sounds heavy in the air around us. The night is at its darkest, but it will only last for another hour or so. “I’m ready.” The girls spare me one last glance before racing back into the building. I barely wait until their backs are turned before hobbling over to the rear of the van. I deactivate the bracers and feel the remnants of their energy linger in my cells. I can’t afford to use up their power.
My hands are on the door handles when he steps out from the other side of the van. His robotic hand training a gun straight at my head. My breath catches in my throat as I slowly take a step back, hands raised weakly in the air.
“Dad.” Another cautious step away from the van, and I am granted a sickening new view. JJ, lying on the ground, body unmoving. “Dad, what did you do?” He must have attacked him after he helped Keenan into the van.
“It’s far past time you take responsibility for your actions, Calliope,” he tells me stonily, “but to know that you manipulated your brother into helping you.”
“Just… just let me check on, JJ. Okay? Please, Dad, just let me see if he's all right.”
He lets out a growl of frustration as I attempt to tread cautiously toward JJ. “He’ll be fine. Now, walk back to the building, Calliope. I’ll be right behind you with that thing in the back.”
The hopelessness returns full force, almost knocking the breath out of me as my father takes a determined step toward the van’s back doors. Before I can think otherwise, I dodge in front of him. Plastering my back against the van doors to block his access. My father stares at me in shock, the gun in his robotic hand wavering.
“Move,” he snarls.
“No, Dad. Just let me go. Let us go,” I plead. He opens his mouth to speak, but I plow on. “I know I’m a disappointment to you, okay? Staying here won’t change anything. No outcome of the trial will end happily for our family or me, so just let me go.”
He struggles with hearing my plea, jaw tightening minutely. “Calliope—”
“Please, Dad,” I beg. “I won’t be a bother to you anymore. I swear. It can just be like I was never here. Like I never existed at all. I promise I won’t come back. I promise I won’t cause any more trouble. I’ll be good.”
My father shifts uncomfortably. “You don’t have to do this, Calliope,” he reasons. “The Council is willing to go a different route tonight. It hasn’t been done in a long time, but—”
“You mean the exorcism? You would let them do that to me?”
His face turns red before running pale. “Wyatt is a respectable young man. He’s far better than that beast in here could ever be for you.”
I shake my head, biting down on my bottom lip hard enough to draw blood as I try to quell my growing distress. “How did you find out?” His gaze darts to JJ for a split second. “He’s not a beast, Dad. He’s a kind, good man. He’s my soulmark.”
The word makes my father’s lips press together in a firm line. “You’re letting your emotions get the best of you, Calliope. Empathy for these monsters will only get you hurt or killed. When will you learn, you insolent child?”
“I’m not going to end up like you, Dad,” I keen, my eyes moving purposefully to his prosthetic. “And my emotions? My empathy? They’re not a weakness. You're wrong.”
I use his momentary surprise against him, calling upon the Borealis Matter inside of me to rush him and knock the gun from his hand. It takes him a moment to realize what I’ve done, but by then it's too late. The gun resides in my grasp, and I hold it unflinchingly in his face.
“So, this is your choice?” he says with a scowl, dropping to his knees at my gesture.
“Best damn choice I ever made,” I tell him, before pistol-whipping him. He falls on his side, hands weakly rising to push himself up, before dropping to the ground in a slump.
I rush to JJ’s side and spot the small, feathered dart protruding from his neck. Carefully I roll him onto his back, my fingers gently pushing back his hair. “Thank you, JJ. I love you,” I whisper to his prone form.
I desperately wish to stay and make sure he wakes, but I know my time is up. If I have any hope of escaping with Keenan, I needed to leave immediately. And so, with one last parting kiss on his forehead, I stand and go.
Chapter 20
Forever and Always
It takes three days to get to a safe spot and for the cash we’ve been left to run out. Three days for Keenan to fully come out of his drug-induced state. And three days before a nasty fever takes hold of me.
Once Keenan is lucid, he finds a way to contact the pack. They reach us in less than a day. I’ve never been more pleased than to have a pack of wolves converge upon me. Keenan, still weakened from the high dosage of quicksilver tonic is particularly growly and possessive when Atticus has to carry me to the new vehicle.