by May, W. J.
Then Carter looked back inside and called, “Victor, are you coming?”
In one brisk motion, the man pushed to his feet, placing his bowler hat firmly back on his head and heading outside with the rest of them. The door shut firmly behind him, and for what felt like the first time in hours, Rae took a deep breath.
Damn it!!
Finally! She thought she was going to stroke out from the stress of it all.
Now for the hard part…
She turned again to the hidden door, and moving as quietly as she could, she slowly pulled it back to reveal a small stone cavern on the other side. It was dark, save for the pale glow of moonlight shining down from above, with a tiny stone column rising up from the center.
Sitting upon the column, shining faintly in the silver glow, was the missing piece.
Rae sucked in another quick breath and prepared herself for what was going to be a grueling climb. She’d come to rely upon her powers so much that being in this ‘dead zone,’ she literally had no idea what to expect. Would she even be able to pull herself out of there to where Gabriel was waiting for her at the top?
You have to. Everything depends on it.
With a silent prayer for strength, she took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. She took a step into the cold, small room, and gazed up through the bars at the full moon.
She was still marveling at how ironically peaceful it was when an alarm began screaming, the frequency high-pitched and near her ear.
Chapter 10
NO, NO, NO! PLEASE NO! NOT NOW!
There was a distant crash and a series of shouts, but by the time Rae could turn around to look, the stone door to the chamber had already locked shut.
“Devon?!” she screamed, pounding on the wall. “Molly?! Jules?!”
The alarm didn’t have to do with her in the room. It had to do with those outside the office. Her friends.
Strangely enough, when the second the door was closed she could no longer hear anything of the commotion she knew was happening on the other side. What the hell had just happened? Had they subdued all her friends so quickly?!
She pressed her ear to the door in panic, but it was then that she realized.
This was thick stone. Of course she couldn’t hear through it.
And she didn’t have her powers anymore.
“Well, that’s just perfect!” she screamed out, giving the stone another useless punch.
Of all the moments to get locked in a tatù-proof room. It had to be precisely when her three best friends in the whole world just got outed as traitors in front of the entire Privy Council!
Despite all their contingency training, none of them had ever prepared for this. To be frank, the risk in this plan had been Rae’s alone. No matter whether or not she was successful, the others would always have been able to walk out the door scot-free. But this…?!
Where had that alarm come from anyway?! Carter had laid out every inch of the compound and this was in his own damn office! What?! He’d forgotten he placed a trip-wire behind the door?!
A loud noise from behind her made her whirl around again, only to see that the column supporting the missing piece was sinking slowly back into the earth.
“What is this?! Indiana Jones?!” she shrieked, darting forward to get it.
She was able to snatch it up just before it disappeared entirely, and stood there in a breathless panic, clutching it to her chest as she stared up at the sky.
What the hell was she supposed to do now?! How the hell was she supposed to just walk away from here, knowing that there was a three-on-forty fight going on right outside the chamber?!
First thing’s first, Rae. Get the hell out of this hole so you can use your powers!
After securing the device inside a leather strap wound tightly across her chest, she darted to the wall and grabbed onto the first jagged edge she could find.
It was nothing like doing it with powers. Her body ached and strained in protest, and by the time she was only a few feet up, her arms were shaking like branches in the wind.
“Hang for hours from the rafters, he said.”
One hand in front of the other, higher and higher.
“It’ll make you so much stronger, he said.” She was sweating now, little trickles pouring through her long hair as she spoke through clenched teeth.
“And don’t worry, it’s not like there’s a freaking trip-wire!”
Her hand slipped and she swung out into the open air with a shriek.
“Rae?!”
She squinted up in alarm as her fingers struggled to find a new grip. “Gabriel? Is that you?!” She could have hugged him with relief if he’d been within arm’s reach.
Even silhouetted through the bars, she saw his face break into a wide grin. “We have got to stop meeting like this.”
“Would you shut up for once?!” she demanded, inching her way ever higher. “Did you not hear the freaking alarm go off? The others were still down there! We’ve got to go back—”
“The others are going to be fine,” he said calmly, abruptly shifting tone as he registered her blind panic. He knelt down and laced his fingers through the bars. “I may not like your terrible boyfriend, but I have to admit when it comes to this stuff, even I have to respect him. Devon wouldn’t have gone in there unprepared. They’re going to be fine.”
Rae shook her head, her eyes swimming with tears as she struggled to hold on. “But the entire Council was there, Gabriel! How can they fight their way out of—”
“They’re going to be fine,” he repeated firmly. “Trust me. What we need to do right now is worry about you. Watch your left foot. That ledge is crumbling.”
She glanced down in fright to see that he was right. With a strained gasp, she yanked herself up to a higher perch and then paused to take a rest. She was about halfway up now, but her body was rigid with fright and stress and the physical shock of not having her powers. It felt like all of her muscles had completely atrophied, leaving her weak and alone. Without bothering to feel embarrassed, she leaned her forehead into the rocks, panting and crying, unable to think until she knew what was happening on the other side of that wall.
“Gabriel…” she whispered. “I can’t lose them. They’re my family.”
For a moment, his face froze. Then it tightened in determination and he re-doubled his efforts. “And we can’t lose you. I mean—they can’t lose you. Listen to me… Rae!”
He waited until she forced herself to look up at his face. It was gleaming silver in the moonlight, his beautiful green eyes boring into hers with every word he said, “We are going to make it through this. I promise you that.” He paused again and measured her expression. “Do you believe me?”
Somehow, as she stared up into his eyes, Rae found that she did. She may not particularly like Gabriel sometimes but, for whatever reason, she trusted him. Trusted in him. He would keep his promise. She had no doubts about that. And he would protect her.
After what seemed like a long time, she finally jerked her head up and down. “Yes. I believe you.”
He flashed the faintest of smiles before growing serious again. “Good. Now, the first thing we have to do is get you up out of that hole. How are your arms holding up?”
“Not—not good.” They were shaking uncontrollably. “Gabriel, I can’t hold on much longer.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’re already over halfway there.” There was a note of sternness and authority in his voice. “You’re stronger than you think.” She realized with a start that it was the same kind of voice Devon had used when he was first training her back at Guilder. “Now stop feeling sorry for yourself, Kerrigan, and let’s go. There’s a crevice about a foot above your right hand, try to reach it.”
And so it was. He guided her up, foot by foot, inch by inch. It was excruciating work, but eventually she made it to the top.
Once she was there, she was able to see his face better in the light. Up close, he was sweating just as much as sh
e was, secretly petrified the whole time that she would fall.
“Hey,” she gestured to the iron bars with a grin, “get me out of here—okay?” She could feel her tatù itching to come back to full power.
He laughed. “I’m on it.”
Without another word, one hand waved carelessly over the bars as the other reached down for her. Except…nothing happened. With a frown, he ignored her for a second and lifted his other hand, running both of them slowly over the bars as Rae clung to the rock directly beneath.
“Why isn’t anything happening?” she gasped, panting with the growing strain.
For the first time all night, his face went shock-white. “I don’t know. This has never happened to me before.” Then it clicked “Except…”
“Except what?” she demanded, struggling to readjust her grip.
“Rae…the bars are part of the chamber. No tatùs in the chamber.”
All the air rushed out of her chest in one big whoosh.
“So that’s it?” Her voice rose in panic. “I’m stuck in here—”
“No,” his brow furrowed in concentration as he leaned his entire body into the iron, closing his eyes in concentration. Eventually, a few of them began to shimmer and seemed to shrink just marginally in size. He pulled back, panting. “The bottom half of each bar is in the chamber—power-proof. But the top half is in the open air. If I can just weaken them enough, maybe I can kick my way through.”
Rae’s fingers slipped again on the slick rock and she gasped as she steadied herself. “Well, please do it in the next ten seconds, because there’s no way I can hang on.”
“Cool. No pressure.”
But behind the joke, he looked sincerely nervous. He kept glancing between her trembling fingers and the wavering bars. Before long, his own hands started shaking from the strain of pushing his ink so far. But no matter how fast he worked, no matter how much he tried, it quickly became clear to both people that there was no way Rae was getting out of this hole in time.
“Gabriel,” she said softly.
He ignored her, running his hands again and again over the slowly shrinking bars.
“Gabriel,” she tried again, “take the piece.”
His eyes darted down to her in shock. “What? Rae, I am NOT giving up on you!”
“And I’m not asking you to. But in case this doesn’t work, we need to at least get the piece out of here before Cromfield can come and steal it. Otherwise, all of this was for nothing.”
His face tightened in indecision, but she was sure.
“Take it,” she said again, stronger this time. “It’s on the strap.”
It was a testament to the graveness of the situation that Gabriel didn’t make a single joke as he reached down through the bars and gently took the device from her chest. His fingers brushed against her bare skin, trying to pull it free whilst not groping her, until eventually, it came loose.
He held it up for just a split second—his eyes flicking between it and Rae’s face—before he slipped it quickly into his pocket.
Rae didn’t know exactly why, maybe it was because there was a chance she was about to fall and break her neck, maybe it was because Gabriel might be the last person she saw before she spent the rest of her life in prison, but she felt like there was something she needed to say. “Gabriel—”
“So,” a familiar voice interrupted, “I leave you alone for five minutes, and you’re already trying to cop a feel?”
“Devon!” Rae’s heart just about exploded in happiness. “How on earth did you get up here?! I thought for sure you guys were—”
“I brought along a couple contingencies of my own in case things didn’t go our way.” He grinned breathlessly as he knelt beside Gabriel in the grass. “Aerosol fluothane. They’re going to be out for another two minutes. I’m afraid I had to get Carter too, but…” His voice trailed off as he registered their predicament for the first time. “Why are these bars still here?” he asked Gabriel accusingly.
Gabriel gritted his teeth as he continued running his hands over the melting metal. “It’s the chamber; it’s effecting my power too—”
“RAE!”
Devon shouted into the night as her fingers slipped silently off the ledge.
He dropped down onto his chest and caught her in the nick of time. They watched together as both of her shoes fell off, dropping noiselessly before clattering against the hard ground. “Gabriel—hurry the hell up!” he commanded, before his voice instantly softened to honeyed tones. “Rae, sweetheart, you have to hang on, okay? Can you do that for me? You just need to—”
His voice cut off in a sharp cry and he buried his face in his arm to silence it.
“Devon?!” she shrieked in fright, dangling thirty feet in the air. “What’s happened?”
A few drops of blood dripped down onto her face, and Rae immediately understood the problem.
Devon’s powers didn’t work down here either, and she was holding onto his mangled, recently dislocated arm.
Her mind raced as their fingers struggled to keep hold. “Where’s Julian?”
Devon gritted his teeth, trying to keep the pain off his face so as not to worry her. “He’s getting the car with Molly. We thought you’d be there already. I… I… I only came here to see what was taking so long.”
She slipped an inch down and they both yelled at the same time, “GABRIEL!”
“I’m trying!” he shouted back, putting every ounce of strength he had into his tatù. “Just give me another minute and I’ll do it.”
Another bloody minute…?
Rae looked up at Devon and her eyes filled with tears. Would he make it that long? Would she? Would the entire Privy Council come to and then find them here like this?
“I can’t believe this is happening,” she murmured, barely hanging on. “Can this year turn into any more of a nightmare? Damn it!”
“Hey, honey, it’s—” both Devon and Gabriel started at the same time.
Devon shot Gabriel a dark, silencing look before he continued speaking alone. “We’re going to be fine, okay? I promise. We’re going to make it through this, and we’re going to go back to the house in Scotland, and we’re going to have a ton of sex really loud so that this idiot has to hear it…”
Even Gabriel had to smile at the audacity of that one, and Rae giggled weakly.
“…and everything is going to be fine,” Devon finished through gritted teeth. “I promised you once that I was going to give you the life you always wanted. I intend to keep that promise. You just need to hold on for me, okay?”
Her hands trembled uncontrollably, but she nodded. “Okay.”
In the distance, Rae thought she heard a series of muffled voices coming closer. Devon, who could hear them just fine with his ink, paled a little before turning to Gabriel. “Seriously, man, how much longer?”
Gabriel was just as pale, giving it everything he had. “A few… more… seconds…”
There was a muffled crack; a crack that Rae was horrified to realize had come from Devon’s arm, and she slipped another few inches down his wrist. “Devon?!”
“It’s okay,” he winced, eyes closed. His fingers jerked and trembled, but they tightened painfully around her arm. “It’s—” He sucked in a quick gasp and another spatter of blood fell to the floor. “Shit—Gabriel, hurry!”
“Come on, baby! Please don’t let go,” Rae whimpered, willing herself not to look down at the thirty-foot drop beneath her.
“There! It’s done!” Gabriel vanished the rest of the bars in triumph.
At that moment, several things happened at once.
Rae’s hand slipped out of Devon’s at the precise moment his slipped out of hers. In what felt like slow motion, she began to fall—a silent scream coming to her lips as her hair streamed up around her. In that same moment, Gabriel shoved Devon out of the way, and reached into the cavern himself. He caught her by the tips of her fingers and held on for all his worth.
“Damn you, Ke
rrigan!” he panted, tightening his grip. “I’ve got you!”
Without a shattered arm to contend with, Gabriel was able to pull her out of the hole in a matter of seconds. Rae’s tatù clicked instantly back to life. It turned out to be not a moment too soon. The second they were all top-side, they saw several dark shapes rushing towards them in the distance.
“Come on!” Gabriel yelled, pushing the others forward. “We’ve got to go!”
Nobody needed to be told twice.
Without looking back, the three of them tore over the lawn. They passed several scattered guards along the way, curtesy of Julian and Molly. By the time they reached the gate, Julian’s Jaguar was already revving and ready to go.
They leapt inside, all three in the back.
Rae grabbed Devon’s good hand and screamed, “DRIVE!” at the same time Gabriel yelled it and grabbed her other hand.
The car tore off into the night.
Chapter 11
“We’re fugitives…we’re fugitives…” Molly whimpered for the millionth time, wringing her little hands as she stared out the window. She’d been looping since they left Guilder, unable to stop.
“Are you sure you don’t need to go to a hospital?” Rae asked Devon in a low voice, helping him carefully out of his shirt to see the damage beneath.
“Remember what I told you about getting blood on my upholstery…” Julian warned from the driver’s seat. Rae shot him a death look and he amended, “…it couldn’t matter less.”
“…fugitives…”
“I don’t need to go to the hospital—and we can’t, anyway,” Devon winced as he glanced down at the torn skin and bruised muscle. “I just popped it back out of place, that’s all. Julian can fix it in a minute when he pulls over.”
Gabriel leaned hesitantly forward. “I could fix it right now.”
Devon’s eyes locked on his. “No.”
“Dev,” Rae murmured, “this is no time to be proud.” She looked at her hand. “Where is all this blood coming from? That’s not from a dislocated shoulder.”