by Skye Genaro
Someone pounded on the door. Jaxon jumped up to answer it, then thought better of it.
"I'm out of here," I said, and Jaxon slapped his hand over my mouth.
Another knock shook the door. I tried to yell and call him names, but my voice was muffled under his hand. I braced my arms and tried to shove him away. His weight and strength were leveraged against me. His hands reached for my jeans.
I'd given him a chance to back off. I'd asked and pleaded. Now, he left me no option. I stuffed my palm into his ribs and shot a pulse of white-hot electricity into him.
Jaxon flew off the couch and skidded across floor. "Ow! What do you think you're doing?" The smell of burning skin wafted into the air. He gaped at the quarter-sized char mark on his chest. "That was not a smart move."
I plastered my eyes directly on his. "I don't want to do this. I don't love you. I don't even like you anymore."
"I don't care." He took a stride toward me, but I raised my hand and he stopped cold.
"Really, Jaxon? Are you that slow a learner?" I found my jacket. "I'm going home."
A fist railed against the door. "Let us in, Jaxon," drawled a guy from the other side.
Jaxon watched me for a moment. Something sickly sweet rose off him.
"Fine. You want to go home? Go right ahead." He gestured toward the exit.
As I reached for the doorknob, I felt it: dagger-sharp, grotesque energy seeping into the apartment. I backed away.
"Something the matter?" he asked. "Here, let me help." He swung the door open.
Two Mutila soldiers stood in the hallway.
Chapter 26
Roth and the boy with the burned face filled the doorway, blocking my escape.
"Jaxon?" I peeped. I stepped behind him for protection.
"I said I wasn't finished with her," he said to Roth.
What did he mean, finished?
The three guys set their eyes on me. Two of them soldiers. Each of them far stronger than me. All the blood siphoned out of my muscles and panic froze me from head to toe.
Jaxon wasn't taking any chances. He twisted both my arms behind my back.
Roth's meaty face went dark. "We've been looking for this girl and you're wasting time trying to get her into bed?"
"I wasn't keeping her here because of that," Jaxon replied. His ears reddened. "It just happened."
"Uh-huh," Roth frowned.
"I wasn't about to bring her in until I knew about her skills. You know what happens if I hand over a recruit with sketchy ability." Jaxon stumbled over his words. "Tell him, Ivan."
The boy with the burn mark shook his head. He rolled his one good eye. The other one was milky. "Whatever. You've been stalling while we've been pounding the city looking for her. He wants to see her now. If she's everything you promised, she's your key into the Mutila. That's what you want, isn't it?"
My throat parched. "Jaxon?"
Jaxon gave an indifferent shrug. "This is where I belong. My foster father was with the Mutila, and I would have been too, if I hadn't been forced to leave the family. Philip took my life away when he made me live in West Region."
So this was why Jaxon had been looking for them, why he had agreed to get close to Keenan and Luma. And me. He'd faked liking me. Pretended to care about my well-being.
The heat of anger came roaring back and I mule-kicked Jaxon. My heel landed on his shin. His grip loosened enough for me to roll away. I charged into Ivan and knocked him into the hallway.
An enormous hand clamped down on my shoulder. Two fingers found the soft spot behind my jaw, below my ear. Needles of pain shot into my head. The hallway spun and my knees gave out.
"Grab her!" Ivan yelled. I collapsed into a pair of arms.
"She's fine. You're fine, aren't you? Back on your feet. That a girl," Roth drawled. I teetered. He looped an arm around my waist. "Don't make this difficult for yourself. Things could get nasty for you very fast."
The three of them formed a tight pod around me and we marched down the stairs. The entire way, Roth's fingers pressed behind my jaw.
On the ground floor, Ivan pushed through the exterior door. We barged into the night like a small army. Right outside, Jaxon's neighbor was coming up the stoop with her Rottweiler.
The rush of people spooked the Rottweiler and all hell broke loose. It snarled and lunged at Roth. We all jumped backward. Roth's hand fell away from my neck. I jammed my elbow into Jaxon's gut and ducked out of Ivan's reach. The Rottweiler charged, claws tearing at the cement, its muzzle spraying saliva on my bare arm. Another stride put me out of its reach. The dog lunged at whomever tried to follow.
"Call off your dog!" Roth shouted.
I ran like I'd never run in my life. I sprinted until my lungs froze from the cold, and then I ran some more. Jaxon's apartment was in the northwest district, ten minutes from my house. I put as many blocks between us as I could and stepped into a coffee shop. I called Kimber and, thank God, she answered her phone.
An hour later, I was sitting at our kitchen table with my head in my hands. There was only so much I could tell her, so I'd kept it simple: Jaxon had tried to force me to have sex with him. He didn't take no for an answer and I pushed him off and ran to the coffee shop.
Tito sat in my lap, licking away my tears. Kimber pressed against me like a mother bear, her arm firmly around my shoulders and her aura spitting nails. I think if she'd had any weapons in the house, she would have gone after Jaxon herself.
I shoved the tips of my fingers into my temples. How could I have trusted him? Every conversation we had came shrieking back. He had walked the razor-thin line between truth and lies. We had been on the same track, working side by side to find leads, but our reasons could not have been more different. When I grilled him about the faction waves coming off him, he actually commended me for being able to sense it. Made me think I was helping our search. I'd never dug deep enough to catch him in a lie.
"This is all my fault," I said.
Kimber thought I meant the assault. Heat burned her cheeks. "Don't you ever say that, do you hear me? When you told that boy to stop, he should have stopped."
I nodded. That much was true.
"Kimber?" I wiped moisture from my eyes. Her face was blurry. Everything was, right then.
"Yes?"
"Can I get out of Portland for a while? Like, go to Seattle and stay with friends? I don't want to run into him at school." I wished I could tell her the other reasons why I needed to leave town.
"For how long?"
"A couple of weeks? If you talk to the principal, maybe they can email my homework." That would give me time to figure out what to do next. I had to find a way to get out of the Mutila's reach. That might mean leaving the city for good, or moving even further away. I winced, knowing this meant leaving behind those I cared about the most.
She hugged me. "I'll see what the school policy is. You can stay home, though. You don't need to go all the way to Seattle. I'm going to insist that boy gets kicked out of school so you don't have to see him again."
I nodded. "Thanks," I said and set about planning my escape. I had to get out of Portland, whether she gave me permission or not.
*******
I spent Saturday night sleeping next to Kimber in her king-sized bed. The security system was armed. I held Tito close, knowing his doggie radar would wake us if anyone got past the alarm.
What little sleep I got was haunted by nightmares involving Connor. He hadn't come to me in my dreams in weeks, but when he had, the dreams had been peaceful and loving. That night, though, he was fighting off attackers. Like so many of my dreams, some parts felt surreal and others frighteningly realistic. The shadowy forces that he battled were featureless, faceless demons. When one of them struck Connor in the back, I felt the blow. I twitched and jerked myself awake. Unable to fall back to sleep, I listened to Tito's steady snore until the sun came up.
The next day, Kimber hovered, bringing snacks and lunch and pecks on the cheek. The attention
was calming, but I knew it couldn't last forever. No amount of her mothering would chase away the suffocating threat waiting for me outside our front doors.
Kimber's social schedule was packed most days, even on Sunday, so when mid-afternoon came, I handed her the car keys.
"You don't have to cancel your whole day. I'm perfectly fine." I did a respectable job of keeping my voice level.
"If you need me for anything at all, call, all right?" She kissed me on the forehead and left.
No sooner had she slipped the deadbolt into place than I ran to my closet and pulled out a suitcase. I wrote a note telling her that I'd decided to take the bus to Seattle, would stay with friends for a few days, and would check in with her when I got there.
I packed my suitcase to the brim and zipped it shut. I had everything I needed except for one thing—the portrait. I didn't know how long I'd be gone but I refused to leave it behind.
The painting sat facing the wall, as it had since the day I decided to make a play for Jaxon. I picked it up, wanting to apologize to Connor's likeness for ignoring his warnings. For trusting Jaxon.
I gasped. Someone had ruined it! The red streak near Connor's scar was wide and black. The blue and green smudging on his cheek resembled bruising. Saturated color around his mouth made his lip appear puffy.
Jaxon was the one person who would desecrate the painting, but he would have had to sneak into the house to do it. This didn't seem likely, but now that I understood how much he despised the McCabes, anything was possible. His hatred and desire for revenge ran deep.
Another thought occurred to me, both absurd and surreal. I'd stretched my imagination plenty to adapt to my new, paranormal existence, but even this was a leap: was the portrait energetically connected to my soulmate? Was it channeling physical changes that he experienced one hundred sixty years in the future?
My chest throbbed because if it were true, then something awful was happening to him. I shook this possibility off, deciding there had to be an everyday explanation for the damage.
Tito whined and nuzzled my suitcase. His highly tuned Chihuahua nerves vibrated with anxiety. Like most dogs, he recognized when one of his owners was leaving for an extended time. The next bus to Seattle left in less than an hour. I intended to be on it.
"I won't be gone long," I said, wrapping him in my arms. We both knew this wasn't true.
He licked my ear and then sneezed into it. I laughed even though moisture beaded in the corners of my eyes. His ears perked. He wiggled out of my arms and his bug-eyes centered on the corner of my bedroom. A high growl warbled in his throat.
A cold ball of trepidation filled my chest. "Tito, quiet." I listened for sounds of an impending intrusion—a car in the driveway, a knock at the door.
The air had changed. The hairs on my arm rose as the room filled with static electricity. He jumped to the floor and yapped at the corner next to my desk.
There, in the space where the sunlight was broken by shadow, a column of light sparkled.
My heart raced. The form grew to six feet tall and began to take shape.
Chapter 27
I bounded across the room to the materializing body. It was him. It had to be. I forced my hands to stay at my sides. It was torture, waiting for the glistening phantom to become human so that I could throw myself into his arms.
The tall figure coalesced slowly. A hand appeared, and then a leg. They were delicate and gangly and definitely not Connor's. Confusion overtook my elation and I let out a small whimper.
As the sparks solidified, I made out a narrow face and wide, feminine eyes.
"Carina!" I threw my arms around her. She wasn't who I ached to see, but any visit from West Region was a gift. Her showing up in my time meant that portal travel was allowed again!
Carina's hug was fierce. "It's so good to see you." It had been a few months since she had escorted me home after the dance at the Great Hall. She wore her standard lab uniform, a white smock and pants, and her short chestnut hair had grown past her ears. Her big brown eyes darted around my room.
"Are you well? Is everything good?" I caught an almost imperceptible quiver in her high, light voice.
"Omigod. Everything is screwed up! Did Connor send you?" I was sure he would have come himself if he could get out from under his dad's nose long enough.
Her face fell. "Send me? I don't understand."
Impatient, I rushed through the explanation. "Connor was always able to feel when I was in danger, even when we were apart, but then I thought since the portal shut down, he couldn't feel me anymore. But he must be able to. He knows what Jaxon did to me. Right?"
"Jaxon?" Carina yelled so loudly, I jumped.
Of course. Nobody in West Region knew he had escaped to Portland.
I exhaled a deep breath. "Mr. McCabe was going to put Jaxon in jail, so he snuck to Portland."
She grimaced. "You're telling me Jaxon is here?"
I unloaded the torrent of events, from his arrival to the recent twelve hours. "And last night, he sold me out to the faction."
Carina stared at me wide-mouthed.
"Right? Can you believe he would do that?" I said.
"No, no, no, no." She shook her head slowly.
"I thought I could trust him."
"Oh, no."
"Carina, you have to take me back with you. Connor will know what to—"
Her hand flew up to cut me off. "Please quit talking. I need to think." She held her head as though to keep it from reeling while she paced my room. The minutes ticking by felt like forever.
She spoke carefully, as though connecting pieces of a puzzle she was afraid might fit. "After President McCabe shut down the portal, Jaxon was going to jail, but he conveniently left out the real reason why. He was accused of treason for allowing East Region to hack into the portal. He's the reason Solomon was able to come here and track you down. We think Jaxon was trying to align with the East and they dumped him once Solomon was killed."
Solomon's name brought back terror-filled memories. He had managed to get a position as a physics teacher at my school. When he found out about my extensive gifts, he attacked me at the mall and tried to take me to East Region. He had planned to use me to torture West Region citizens. Connor had accidentally killed Solomon while fighting to save me.
East Region was run by terrorists that oppressed its people. The fact that Jaxon had worked with them made me sick to my stomach.
Carina's face flashed an emotion I couldn't pin down. "Jaxon hates the McCabes, especially Connor. He hates their privilege and is willing to do anything to gain his own power, even sell his own government's security secrets. But how did he get here?" she muttered to herself.
"Oh, that's easy. He used the backup code."
Her outrage blasted through the room in blistering waves. "I created that code! It's our security login!" She punched the air with her fists. "That traitor! I'm going to kill him when I get my hands on him!"
"Carina, I have to get out of here. I think the faction is going to come after me."
"Oh, sweetheart, they'll definitely come after you. Handing you over to them is Jaxon's sweet revenge. "
"Then let's get out of here! We need to talk to Connor!" I said.
Carina ripped me with a look so full of dread, my heart contracted. She held my gaze like she was trying to communicate something too horrific to say. I realized, then, that I still had no idea why she was here.
"He didn't send you, did he?" I asked.
She stormed through my room in another fit of rage. "Dammit! This is a steaming pile of a situation!" She took three swift steps to add distance between us. "I have to go back," she said, and prepared to leave without me.
I grabbed her arm and she tried to wrench out of my grip. "You have to let go, Echo."
"Why won't you take me with you? Doesn't he want to see me?"
She noticed the suitcase next to the door. "Were you going to leave town?"
"Yes, but if you'll—"
"Then go. Hide somewhere for as long as you can. I can't take you with me, so let go."
"Not until you tell me why you came." I squeezed her arm harder.
There was real fear in her eyes now. "Connor is missing. East Region put a bounty on him after he killed Solomon, so we assumed they had him. But East Region hasn't sent any demands. On a whim, I checked the portal log. Me and Philip were the only ones who had access to that security code, but Connor can be remarkably creative where you're concerned." The corner of her mouth twitched in a tiny smile. "I thought he might have snuck here to see you. Someone time-jumped this morning but I can't tell who, and if Connor isn't with you, then where the hell is he?"
Tito's ears pricked and he galloped down the stairs to the first floor. I barely registered this. The news about my missing soulmate made my entire body buzz.
"Have you checked the Reserve? He liked to hang out there," I offered.
"Of course we have. The entire region is on alert. Nobody's seen him for over twelve hours and the president is frantic."
We stared at each other, our distress mirrored on one another's faces. Concern for my own life was bleached away by the possibility that something bad had happened to Connor.
Downstairs, Tito started barking maniacally. The doorbell rang. "God, now what?" I said.
I went to my bedroom window. A black SUV sat in the driveway. Roth leaned against its hood, and when he saw me looking down at him, he waved. "Omigod." I began to shake uncontrollably. "It's them."
"Son of a—" Carina's eyes cut to the doorway and back at me, indecision pulling her in every direction. "Take my hand," she finally said.
I took hers in both of mine and immediately felt the familiar tingle of the portal as it locked onto us. Tito's barking turned vicious. He scratched at the front door, ready to attack whoever came through it.
"Wait!" I dropped her hand. "I can't leave Tito."
"Echo!"
But I was already launching myself down the stairs. Halfway to the second floor, the Mutila's polluted discharge fouled my lungs.