“Come on, we need to leave,” I yelled, yanking their helmets off. I hesitated, not wanting to touch the drips and wires. “Shit.”
Roe brushed past me. “I’ll take care of these girls. You know what to do now, go and grab Ms. Aikan.” He handed me a roll of bandages before unwinding another roll, ready to use it on the catchers. How the hell had he known what to bring with him?
I didn’t have time to question him, was just glad he was helping. I turned to look for Ebony. There she was, still lying on one of those horrid chairs with her eyes closed. I rushed to her side and felt for a pulse. It was sluggish but she was still breathing. I pocketed the bandages.
Now that I knew it wasn’t a good idea to yank these attachments off, I lifted the helmet away from her tangled hair and put it aside. Then pulled the drip line gently, applying pressure. I then disconnected the wires taking blood and reached for the bandage, but the only thing dripping around her was the clear liquid. She wasn’t bleeding.
“Eb, wake up,” I said, patting her cheeks in an attempt to rouse her. I wasn’t full of ideas about how to force her to wake if she didn’t on her own. I looked up and the hole on the wall was just a little bit bigger than a tennis ball. We were almost out of time. “Please, Ebony, wake up.”
“I can take care of her too,” Roe said behind me.
The catcher trio scampered out of their seats and it took several attempts for them to get to their feet. They all looked pale, dazed, disoriented.
“Run, get out of this room!” I yelled at them.
None of the girls challenged me, and instead limped their way out of the nightmarish white room, leaning on each other.
I turned back to Ebony and found Roe holding up a syringe.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to revive her—”
“Wait, with that? What is it?”
“A shot of adrenaline,” he said.
“Are you sure it will help?”
“It’s what gets me going every time I zone out.” Without waiting for my response, he shoved the needle into the middle of Ebony’s chest and she sat upright, sucking in a deep breath and looking around before once again slumping back onto the chair. “There! She’s okay, but she won’t be able to walk.”
“How did you know what to do?”
Roe’s eyes were watery. “I know what it feels like to be split at the seams.”
I nodded. He didn’t need to say more because he’d just answered so much with that one statement. The hole on the wall was now the size of a ping-pong ball.
“Roe, we need to get out right now!”
He nodded and threw Ebony over his bony shoulder with no effort at all. Where did he get the strength? “Let’s go, Ms. Fox.”
I followed close behind, clearing the white room and running out into the corridor just as the fizzling sound began.
“This way,” Roe said. He headed toward the stairwell at the end of the floor.
The other three spook catchers were waiting in the corridor, so I motioned for them to follow Roe and ran after them. The first explosion hit just as we reached the door leading into the concrete stairwell, so we sped up and managed to shut it behind us.
The floor vibrated beneath my feet as I pressed my spine against the closed door.
I caught my breath, but none of us lingered. We raced down the stairs as fast as our weary legs took us. Even though this concrete stairwell might provide relative safety, it wasn’t going to shield us if we didn’t put some real distance between us and the floor we’d escaped.
When the full extent of the explosion hit, we were about ten floors down but still felt the heat chasing us. In spite of feeling as if my legs were made of rubber, I continued down the stairs after the others and didn’t stop until we were chased out of the stairwell by the metaphysical flames, and onto the ground floor foyer.
I literally lost my footing and smacked my already pounding head against the shiny, tiled floor. I knew it wasn’t safe to remain inside this building for long but needed a moment to catch my breath and find the strength to keep moving.
The energy-induced explosion might have happened way up on an upper floor but could affect the whole structure and I didn’t want so much concrete, steel and glass to fall down around us.
“We need to keep moving,” I whispered. Yet I could barely lift my head.
The sound of breaking glass and the high-pitched echo of an alarm hit me simultaneously, but I still couldn’t convince my limbs to budge. I vaguely wondered if the others had already reached the safety of the street, and hoped they at least survived. The marble floor felt nice against my sore and swollen eye, and this seemed a nice place to stay for a while.
“Sierra!”
“Ebony!”
I recognized both voices and tried to use them as the focus to help me get up. I had to warn them about Mauricio.
First, I raised my head and then pushed my body off the floor with shaky arms. Oren wrapped an arm around my shoulders and helped me get to my feet.
“Thank the gods and goddesses, you’re alive! Come on, we have to go.”
“Are the others outside already?” It felt nice to have his cool hands on my arms. Maybe he was transferring some of his magic to me, keeping me conscious. But it did nothing to numb the pain, because my body ached just about everywhere.
“Almost there. Come on, someone set off the alarm so we need to get out right now.” Oren helped me head for the glass doors and a shuffle of feet caught my attention.
I turned my head, expecting Mace to run out the stairwell to attack us. Instead, I noticed someone else in the shadows, someone who certainly shouldn’t be there—Jonathan. Had he sounded the alarm? He was standing right next to it and the glass was shattered near his feet. He ducked back into the gloom and disappeared from sight.
“Oren, look, Jonathan’s over—”
“Sierra, come on, we have to leave before any of the authorities get here. We’ll never be able to explain any of this.” He tightened his grip on me, dragging me away from Jonathan.
“But—”
“Sierra, please, just listen to me this one time.” His blue eyes were watery and silently begging me to pay attention.
I nodded. He was right. My focus had to be on getting out undetected and making sure the other catchers were okay. Not on figuring out what Jonathan was doing inside the Council building.
“Good, let’s go.”
Conrad had taken Ebony from Roe and was carrying her out the open glass door. Roe followed close behind, helping the three now-sobbing girls reach freedom.
I leaned heavily on Oren as we rushed out to join them on the sidewalk.
“I’m sorry we were so late,” Oren whispered. “We got here awhile ago but couldn’t get anywhere near the doors.”
“Thanks for coming.” A warm breeze caressed my face and it made me feel animated. For the first time in hours, I truly felt alive. After being disjointed from my body, I was glad to be in the corporeal world again. “Is Papan…?”
The question died in my throat as a black, shaggy dog appeared out of nowhere and knocked Conrad over. He didn’t have a chance to protect himself or Ebony. They both hit the concrete, Ebony’s unconscious body landing on top of his.
Roe managed to shoo the three girls fast enough to hide behind the side of the building, hidden from view.
Oren released my arm and stepped in front of me.
I didn’t want this to be his fight. Mauricio had been my problem for days now, and I was going to finish this. The bite on my clavicle did its usual itching, and I wanted to make sure it disappeared forever, so I would never react to this black hound again.
“Stay there, Oren,” I whispered.
“Sierra—”
“Please, now it’s time for you to listen to me.”
Oren stopped his advance and I shambled past him, mumbling the incantation I’d memorized under my breath.
If enough people tell you you’re strong and powerf
ul, how long before you either start believing it, or want to prove them wrong? Right now, I was hoping for the former, but either choice would do. After the ordeal I’d just experienced, I was ready for anything.
My lips moved faster than the words swirling inside my head.
When Mauricio leaped at me, he bounced off the invisible protection barrier I’d set up around both me and Oren. He tried again, this time clawing at the obstacle he couldn’t breach.
He opened his mouth and growled, revealing a mouth full of sharp and pointy teeth. His red eyes glared at me with so much hatred, he probably wished looks could kill. But a look wasn’t enough to finish off what he’d started, and making him angry was tiring him out. Distracting him enough that he didn’t even notice when I stopped the chanting and the barrier dropped.
Oren did, and he snaked a hand around my elbow.
“Let me do this, Oren. Don’t interfere.” I shook him off with the same hand I used to draw up the dagger from its sheath still sitting inside my boot. I held the blade at my side, wondering if Mauricio could see it now.
Mauricio’s confident grin showed off his large fangs, but it also confirmed he hadn’t detected my weapon. He rushed me, Oren jumped out of the way, and the impact of the dog-beast smashing against my chest sent us to the ground.
My spine hit the pavement so hard and fast that it winded me. My clammy grip on the dagger slipped and it clanged to the sidewalk.
Mauricio looked confused, must have heard the clatter without actually seeing anything drop. He pushed his weight down against me, pinning me to the spot.
If I couldn’t roll out of this, my plan was going to fail. So I turned my head and spotted the glinting silver blade. It was within reach, if I could just squirm my way out from underneath him. But he was too strong and his teeth were already closed over my throat, over the first bite he’d given me.
I cried out in pain, a second before he did.
Oren stood above us. He’d just kicked him hard enough to send him flying off me. I rolled over and crawled to the waiting dagger, wrapping my fingers tightly around the hilt just as Mauricio grabbed me again. He forcibly spun me around, handling me like a ragdoll. But it didn’t matter now.
I let him climb on top of me, until our bodies were aligned and his red eyes were trying to hypnotize me with fear. A smile curved my lips and he soon realized why I wasn’t worried. I held the dagger near his abdomen and embedded it deep into his side. I pulled it out, taking my time so the silver edge sliced him up real good, and stabbed him a second time.
He whined above me and raised his body off mine, giving me the perfect invitation to his chest.
I didn’t waste a second and stabbed the blade hilt-deep into his heart. His red-black blood splattered my face.
Mauricio took his last breath while staring into my eyes, still not understanding what had happened to him. As disturbing as it should’ve been, I was glad he’d died knowing I was the one who finished the game he’d started. I was now determined to prove that I wasn’t an easy target.
I kicked him off with my weak legs, using what I was sure was the last of my strength. Still, I felt accomplished. With my enemy’s blood on my face, hands and clothes, something shifted inside me. I finally realized survival was my only option—no matter what it entailed—and it raised the stakes.
My ears popped and sirens started up in the distance.
Oren offered me his hand, but I didn’t need it. I got up on my own and retrieved my silver dagger from the monster that had been stalking me for days. He’d ignored Mace’s direct orders and hadn’t killed the others because it was me he’d wanted all along. Cocky fool.
Mauricio’s body turned to black sludge, and in seconds he was just a stain on the sidewalk.
“We need to go,” I said, breathless, and wiped the blade on the black denim before sticking it back into its scabbard, which was still inside my boot.
“Our ride’s almost here,” Conrad said, getting to his feet with Ebony still in his arms. “Thanks for getting her out, just like you said you would.”
I nodded. Seeing Ebony unconscious in his arms, I couldn’t help but wonder if she was going to be okay. The fact the other girls had woken up by themselves and she hadn’t, really worried me. And I was pretty sure she’d been the last one Mace had actually connected to those chairs, so it didn’t make any sense.
A black van screeched to a haphazard halt in front of the car Mauricio had used to abduct me. Someone ran out of it, and when the streetlight caught the driver’s face, I couldn’t believe it.
“Papan, you made it!” I hobbled into his open arms and he squeezed me tight, lifting my feet off the ground. I winced but ignored the discomfort because holding him and knowing he was okay outweighed everything else right now. “I thought you were…”
“It takes more than lead bullets and being run over in cold blood to kill me.” He held me back a little, gazing into my face. “Oh, Foxy, what did they do to you?”
“You should see the other guy.”
He didn’t respond, but kissed me softly and quickly.
“Guys, you can smooch later. We really have to get the fuck out of here!” Conrad held the door open, staring at us. “Now would be nice.”
“Is everyone inside?” I asked, not wanting to let go of Papan.
“Two old men, three chicks, Eb, and me…yeah, we’re all accounted for. Now get us outta here!” Conrad answered, shutting the door.
We untangled our arms and Papan smiled. He opened the passenger-side door and helped me inside before racing back into the driver’s seat.
“I didn’t know you owned a minivan,” I teased.
“It’s not mine; it belongs to a friend.”
“I’m sure it does.”
As Papan sped down the city street and the sirens were now joined by the red and blue lights of emergency vehicles, I glanced out the side mirror and looked up at the Council building. The damage was near the top, so we must have been inside a hidden room within the accommodation floors. The fact there was no debris on the street below also confirmed it was probably magic containing the damage. But with the human authorities now involved, I couldn’t wait for the Council to face the backlash.
It’s not something I need to worry about now.
I pressed the back of my head against the seat and exhaled.
Papan took my hand and I closed my eyes.
With all the action, fear and adrenaline draining out of my body, every ache and pain hit me. Yet, the bite mark Mauricio had given me no longer itched.
Chapter Seventeen
Late on Friday night, I waited outside the abandoned building in Wallace Street, trying to get a sense of the usual ghostly activity surrounding it. I could still detect the odd cold of spooks, but it was nothing compared to what it used to be.
The balance had temporarily shifted.
After spending the beginning of the week holed up inside my bedroom, with Papan and Oren helping while I recovered, it still took me several more days to actually leave the house. I’d been to the hospital the day before, but Mara had already been pronounced dead and I hadn’t been able to help her.
“Hey, Sierra, sorry I’m late.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Lavie was always late. “Don’t worry about it. Did you bring it?”
She nodded, and held out a slim USB drive. “This is everything I found on the Obscurus.”
Obscurus—the group or organization trying to ruin my life—were an enemy I had to find out more about. I’d combatted against three of them already, and although getting rid of Travis the ghost hadn’t affected me much, Mauricio had been a living, breathing man when he wasn’t a black dog. Killing him felt different, took a little more adjustment.
But if I didn’t adopt the them or me state of mind, I wouldn’t survive their continual attacks. I had no doubt this dark maniacal group would continue to send more of its members my way, and I had to be prepared.
I took a deep breath and let it
out slowly. “Did you read it over?”
Lavie shook her head. “It’s not my business. This is something you need to know about. I’m not going to interfere…unless you need my help. My aunt said that if you have any questions, you’re free to pay her a visit.”
I didn’t know why her aunt would offer such a thing, but decided not to pursue that line of questioning just yet. There were so many things I had to deal with at the moment that I’d started a to-do list in my witchy journal. I’d also added all of the things the professor had told me about my spook-catcher line, and made a note to learn more about whatever ritual my grandmother took part in to strengthen our familial line.
“How’s Ebony holding up?”
“She’s okay.” Ebony was taking some time off work—or maybe, life. She hadn’t left her apartment since the night we got away from the Council and didn’t want any visitors, just Conrad. I’d tried to visit anyway, but he’d greeted me at the door and we seemed to have reverted back to the can-rarely-stand-each-other routine.
I didn’t push, knew what it was like to feel totally disconnected from the world and unsure of whether you would ever make it back to your body, so I gave Ebony the space she wanted.
Roe was doing okay, though. He and the three girls were currently staying in my house. The spook catchers were sharing a room, and didn’t leave each other’s sides. Roe was staying in my grandfather’s bedroom. He said it made him feel at home. I assumed it was the spook residue.
“Sierra, is everything okay with you?”
I nodded, staring at the USB drive in my hand. “It’s just…I was actually expecting a small explanation, not this many files.”
“There are pictures too.” Lavie’s hazel eyes were shiny as she looked into mine.
“How did you get all of this?”
“My aunt knew some of it, and I have an acquaintance who owed me. He supplied everything else.”
“Is this acquaintance of the demonic kind?” I was starting to learn that although these people called themselves “hunters”, sometimes they dabbled in the same circles as those they hunted. Or in some cases, were even the same kind of thing. Like my biological grandfather, Oren.
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