by Trudi Jaye
He stares back for a moment, and then sighs. “Si always spoke well of you. He said you were worth it. I hope he’s right.”
I can only shake my head. “No one is worth their deaths,” I say, and I mean it. “What are you doing here? You need to keep away from me. The Earthbound are stepping up their searches.”
Melinda nods. “They got a whiff of you when they killed Si and Jeff, and now they’re desperate to have you. Everyone knows it, but not everyone is on their side.” She looks conspiratorially left and right. “There are some people who believe that the Earthbound have overstepped their bounds. That we no longer need the spell web, but they’re holding it in place just to keep their power.”
I blink. It’s the same argument Jeff had with Agent Barnes. “And you think I’m going to be able to help with that?” I feel the spell web coating me like a warm blanket and shudder at the thought of it disappearing.
“The Earthbound certainly do. That’s why they’re chasing you. At least that’s what Jeff thought.”
I know Jeff’s thoughts on the spell web. That, at least, he wasn’t shy about telling me. I just didn’t agree with him. “He didn’t know that for certain. I don’t think anyone knows why the Earthbound are so determined to find me.”
“Your father knows.” The quiet words are spoken from the room behind us. Agent Barnes is awake.
Everyone turns to look at the agent, who is now sitting up. He still looks pale, but his eyes are clear and focused. Rupert is sitting on a chair nearby, his eyes closed, his face haggard, and his hands hanging limply at each side.
“My father?” I say cautiously.
“It’s the only possible conclusion. Of course he knows what you are.”
Melinda nods next to me. “I’ve always thought that as well.”
I flick my gaze to her, only to find her staring at me like I’m an insect under the microscope. “If my father knows, why didn’t Jeff know?”
“But that’s the point. I think Jeff did know what you are. He just didn’t tell you,” says Agent Barnes.
Even though it’s what I’ve always thought, the hurt twists through my stomach.
CHAPTER NINE
I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter now—”
I’m interrupted by the sound of several helicopters flying overhead. “They’re here,” I whisper. It’s faster than I was expecting.
Melinda nods. “That’s what we came to tell you. Old man Pinkerton rang the hotline number and gave a false direction, thinking he was helping you. Didn’t realize they’d be able to trace his call. He’s drawn them here.”
“Then we have to go,” I say, already striding over to Barnes, pulling him to his feet. “They were heading to the north side of town. We’ll take the old dirt road and head south.”
“Your pickup truck is on every radio and television station around here,” says Herman. “You’re being pegged as a dangerous criminal to the humans. You can’t go in that vehicle.”
“Then how?”
“There’s an old walking track,” says the chameleon. “It takes you out onto the other side of the mountain. They won’t look for you there. At least not yet. I can take you, but you have to come now. Melinda and Herman will help Rupert cover your tracks here. We must hurry.” His spell web glows brightly for a moment.
“What do we do after getting to the other side?” I’m trying to figure out our next move. The safe house is still a long way away.
“There’s a track that leads down into the next ridge. There’s an old hut there you can stay at for the night, and an old jeep you can take. You’ll need to move on quickly.” The chameleon watches me closely, waiting for me to agree.
I hesitate. But common sense wins out. They’re right. We’d never make it anywhere in Bertha. “Okay.” I nod. We’ll have to figure out the next move once we’re out of this town.
I turn to look at the agent. Barnes is standing, steadier than he’s been since he was shot.
“How do you feel?” I ask.
“Well enough.”
“If you want to stay here, I’ll understand. You’re hit.” The thought of being alone turns me cold all over. But he barely knows me. Why should he risk his life for me?
“I was assigned to protect you. I’m not going anywhere.” He gives me his intense stare, his face serious.
I can’t help my small relieved grin.
“Great job you’re doing of that so far.” Melinda’s tone is sharp.
He ignores her. “We need to hurry. Let’s go.” He strides to the front door and puts one hand out to open it.
“Not that door,” the chameleon snaps. He leads the way toward the kitchen.
I turn quickly to Melinda and Herman. “You’ll look after Rupert?” I say. He doesn’t deserve to be in the firing line because of me.
“We’ll sort it out. He’ll be fine. Just go.” Melinda pushes me toward the door that the chameleon and Agent Barnes have already exited through.
We follow the chameleon up a path through the woods behind Rupert’s house.
“Do you have a way to contact your father?” Agent Barnes asks in an undertone beside me.
I shake my head, glancing up ahead at the chameleon. “No phone, no way to contact him. I only know that SIG headquarters are in New York and he’s based there when he’s in the country.”
Agent Barnes nods as if he’d figured as much. “I think we need to get to your father. We should head toward New York.”
“There’s a safe house near here—”
He shakes his head quickly. “We need to get to your father as soon as we can, so he can sort this mess out. He’s the only one who knows the whole story. You and me, we don’t know what the hell’s going on here, right?”
I reluctantly nod. It’s what I’ve been saying to myself.
“Then we need to go to the one person who can tell us.”
“Okay.” He’s right. It’s our best option.
We climb in silence for a while, until I realize Melinda never officially introduced us to the chameleon. I move up beside him. “What’s your name?” I ask.
“Ben.” His tone is short, not encouraging chitchat. That’s fine with me. We climb higher and higher through the woods in silence, none of us inclined to talk.
I can hear Agent Barnes puffing behind me, but he doesn’t utter a word of complaint. He looks fit, and I know they work the cadets at the academy hard, so I don’t imagine he’s used to being out of breath on a simple walk like this. His wound isn’t completely healed though, and he’s going to suffer if we do much more physical activity.
“How much further?” I ask Ben.
“Not far,” he mutters. “Just up ahead.”
I haven’t heard or seen any more of the helicopters that flew over. I hope, for Old Man Pinkerton’s sake, that they dismissed his call as the ramblings of an old man.
We run out of trees for protection, and now we’re climbing over large rocks, with a scattering of stones. I slide over the small pebbles, falling onto one knee, and blood appears over the scrape. But I just pull myself to my feet again and carry on. My arms are aching from hauling myself up over the boulders, and the sun is hot on my back. Eventually Ben calls a halt. I help pull Agent Barnes up over the last rock and look around. We’re all standing on a small flat section of the mountain, and in the distance I can see a tall, narrow cave opening in the rock. I can’t see more than a couple of feet past the entrance.
“This is where I’ll leave you. Just go through here and it will lead you to the other side. Then head down the track and you should find the hut where I’ve got the car stashed. You can take that.” He hands me a set of keys.
I nod. “Thank you for your help. I appreciate it.”
Something flashes in his eyes, and for the thousandth time I wish I could read people like Jeff. It feels like he’s annoyed at me for some reason. “Did you know Si well?” I ask. Perhaps he blames me for his death, the way Rupert does for Jeff.
Ben shak
es his head. “No. I knew Lee, one of your other protectors far better.” He pauses. “He was my brother.”
At the mention of Lee’s name, I see myself being bounced on Lee’s knee, and of him showing me how to swim in the Mississippi river. I smile warmly. “Lee was a wonderful person,” I say.
Ben nods solemnly. “Yes, he was.” He turns away, already starting to climb downward. “I wish you luck on your journey. You’ll need it.”
I frown at Agent Barnes who shrugs. “He’s right. We will need luck to survive this.”
The dark cave looms beside us. It’s more a crack in the rock than a proper cave opening. I try to peer inside, but can’t see a thing. “You ready for this, Agent Barnes?” I say.
“Call me Seth,” he says softly. “Once you’ve saved my life, you get to use my first name.”
I glance back at him, and he’s staring at me, his hazel eyes hooded. “Seth, then,” I say. I take a breath. “Let’s get going.”
The first few steps into the cave don’t seem so bad. The light is still behind us, and my eyes acclimatize quickly to the darkness. But after a few minutes, the light from the opening narrows and disappears. I can see a little, probably more than Seth, but the further we go, the more it seems to crowd in. The ceiling pushes down on me, and it’s like I’m trapped in a dark, damp, ever-decreasing cell. No windows or doors, and no way out. I start gasping for air, and my head feels woozy.
“Mei. Calm down.” Hands grasp my arms from behind, and Seth turns me around, leaving his hands on my shoulders. He moves so his head is level with mine and looks me in the eye. “Take slow breaths.”
I try to do what he says, but all I can manage are shallow inhalations. “I... don’t... know what’s... the matter.” I’ve never had a problem with caves before. I’m not used to being so lame.
“You’re having a panic attack. It’s okay. We’re okay.” He rubs his thumbs over the place where my shoulders meet my neck, and I nod, still trying to get myself back in control. I don’t understand what’s happening. As I concentrate on breathing in, I catch the scent of gunpowder and pine, mixed with an undertone of blood. My gaze flicks up to Seth; his hazel eyes are watching me like a hawk’s. I inhale again. He’s so close, his unique scent fills my senses; suddenly all I can think about is leaning forward into his body. My breath hitches, and I swallow hard. The urge is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. I close my eyes and try to block it out—block him out.
I need to get my breathing under control and get out of here. I focus on my breathing, and soon I’m back to normal. Seth straightens up and moves away.
“I’ve never... felt like that before,” I say. My brain is mixed up and I don’t know whether I mean the panicked breathing or the reaction to his scent.
Luckily, Seth doesn’t know about the second option.
“It could have been a delayed reaction to what you went through against the Earthbound,” he says. “That guy had his arms pretty tight around your neck. You’re going to have bruises.”
I wince and put one hand up to my neck. It’s tender and sore. Seth is probably right.
“Thank you,” I whisper. And I really mean it.
He doesn’t say anything for a moment. “We have to keep going.”
Taking another deep breath, I step forward. I miss the warmth from Seth’s hands. Briefly, I consider asking to hold his hand, but I manage to keep silent. I’m not comfortable showing that level of weakness to him. Bad enough that he saw me lose control just now. I’m back in command, and I need to stay that way.
It seems like forever, but it’s probably no more than half an hour before we see a light up ahead in the tunnel. It becomes bigger and bigger until we’re only yards away from the opening. I’m about to step out into the open air, ready to take a deep breath of sweet fresh oxygen, when Seth grabs my arm. “Did you hear that?” he whispers, holding me next to him. His muscled arm brushes my shoulder.
“Hear what?”
“I think there’s someone out there,” he says. “Stay here. I’ll check first.” Seth goes down low and creeps to the edge of the cave entrance. He peers around, and then pulls back quickly.
“What is it?” I whisper. I really didn’t hear whatever it is he’s heard. He might have just saved us.
“You better come have a look for yourself,” he says, his voice grim.
I peer around the edge of the rock; on the grassy valley below us are three helicopters. Supernatural guards are spewed out across the valley, their spell webs clear and strong. I don’t know how I could have missed them. Most are waiting around the cave, their guns trained on the entrance. If they’ve seen us, they’re not letting on.
“Holy shit,” I say. “We better turn around.” Even as I say it, I hear footsteps echoing in the tunnel behind us. “They’re back there as well, aren’t they?”
“I think so. It would make sense.” He glances at me, his hazel eyes bright. “It appears your friends aren’t as friendly as you thought.”
Shaking my head, I think it through. The others might have their faults, but I can’t believe they’d turn us in. “It must have been the chameleon, Ben.”
“Why?”
I pause, and let out a small sigh. “He thinks I caused his brother’s death.” Of course he does. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before.
“Did you?”
“In the same way I cause everyone’s deaths,” I say, my voice cracking. “Because they’re protecting me.”
“Then it’s not your fault. They chose to protect you.”
A sudden anger washes over me. “They’re doing it for nothing, you know. I’m just an ordinary girl.”
Seth’s eyebrows rise, but he doesn’t say anything.
I let out a frustrated breath. “For a supernatural, I mean. There are any number of supers out there who have the same kind of magic as me. It’s nothing that should make the Earthbound hunt me down for my entire life. I’m not worth it.” Tears well in my eyes, and I swipe them away with the back of one hand.
“That’s quite a pity party you’ve got going on there,” Seth drawls.
I glare at him, but something inside me lightens. For a second, he sounds a bit like Jeff.
“It’s not you killing them. It’s the Earthbound. And if they believe it’s okay to attack and kill someone like you, then I think Melinda might be right. Perhaps they have overstepped their bounds.”
I look back around the edge of the rock. There are at least twenty men out there, all armed and dangerous. They look much more intimidating than the men I saw at Si’s house. The sound of jogging boots on the cave floor is louder now too, as the men behind us jog closer to our position. It’s sending vibrations along the rock and up through my arms. We’re surrounded. “What are we going to do?” I ask.
“Do you want to get out of this?”
I nod. “Of course I do.”
“Then we fight.”
“And how the hell do we do that?” I’m used to bad odds; Jeff and Si made me defend myself against all sorts of nasty creatures, including themselves. But we’re trapped.
“The men behind us are stuck inside as well. They can only go one man at a time through a narrow pass. I have a few rounds left in my gun; I can hold off the ones behind us. I need you to figure out some way to get us to the helicopters.”
“Can you fly a helicopter?”
“I’ve had some training.”
I don’t trust the look in his eyes. “But—”
“COME OUT NOW, AND WE’LL LET THE SIG AGENT GO,” a voice calls out through a megaphone. I lean back around the edge of the rock. They’re all looking straight at us.
This is it. We’re going to die.
CHAPTER TEN
Nothing happens for a few minutes after that. The man on the loud speaker and another man are conferring. I can almost hear it now. You can’t promise that. We’re not authorized to let him go, says the first guy. Don’t worry, I’m not going to let him go, says the second guy.
I’m just telling her that so she’ll give herself up.
“Can you do anything that might help us here?” Seth asks.
I glance back at him. “I can manipulate water. Maybe there’s something out there that will help.” I look out at the valley. There must be a stream for it to be so fertile. But I can’t sense it.
I can use the spell web. That’s the other thing I can do, but I’m not telling Seth that.
Looking out along the spell web, I send a tendril of thought along its lines, to see if I can find anything useful. Every single one of the men is supernatural. Not just that, but I realize the glow of the spell web over their bodies is much brighter than normal. Like, almost too bright to look at. I frown. Something strange is going on.
Squinting, I try to see what it is. I push a bit of my magic out over the spell web, and as soon as it touches the first supernatural guard, the electric shock of an energy blast zings back to me like lightning along the web. I swear, and shake my head as the pain reverberates inside my brain. I’ve never felt anything like it.
“Are you okay?” Seth asks.
“Yeah.” I don’t know how to explain without giving away my secret, so I don’t.
Peering out at the guards again, I try to figure out what this means. Somehow their magic has been amped up through the spell web and they’re using it as a weapon. What else can they do when they’re like this? The thought makes me shiver. As if the Earthbound weren’t powerful enough.
Then another thought occurs to me and I frown. Could the Earthbound soldiers be sucking more energy than they’re supposed to from the spell web to amp up their own magic? That would definitely be overstepping the bounds. It would send the supernatural community into turmoil. Using a portion of our powers to maintain the spell web is seen as a necessary evil; if it turns out they’re taking advantage of it, supers everywhere would bay for the blood of the Earthbound.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t help us right now. I don’t know how to fight this many trained guards. We’re probably going to die here without letting this particular secret out.