“It’s not too late,” Toby said. It was quite possibly the only thing he could have said right then that would make her calm down a notch.
“How do you know? We don’t even know where to go, and they have an hour head start on us!”
Toby grabbed her hands and Maya quieted. She was close to tears anyhow. She needed a moment to collect herself.
“Then why is your father still here?” Toby asked, voice low and even.
Maya’s head buzzed. “The Operatives overseas will never get here on time and they need as many as they can get for the assault even if he did want to stay and dissuade me from going.”
“Right.”
“So you think he’s lying?” she whispered.
“I think they’re having technical difficulties.” Toby released her hands, dug in his pocket and presented her with a metal square no bigger than a piece of breakfast cereal.
“What is it?” Maya asked.
“It’s jamming the signal from Aedan’s tracker. I saw your father slip it on him, so I took the liberty.” Toby’s face flushed with his same old excitement at inventing gadgets.
“So we can track him too?” Maya asked.
“So we can track him instead. The others will get a fake signal leading them in the opposite direction from where he really is.”
Maya threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “Thank you,” she said after a moment.
“Don’t thank me yet,” Toby said in an almost inaudible whisper. “I suspect your father is on to me.”
“Even the Great and Noble Palmer Sloan can’t do a damn thing about it,” Maya said, scooping up her bag.
“What makes you so sure about that?” Toby asked.
“Easy. I’ve got the one and only Merlin coming with me.”
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Aedan
Aedan felt like someone had drilled a hole through the center of his head. He groaned and worked himself into a sitting position. Beneath him, wire creaked in protest. He blinked against the light, dim as it was, and finally registered that he was on an old cot in some sort of cell. Great.
The walls and floor were dark gray concrete, damp from exposed and leaking pipes, some of which opened right over the floor, still dripping. The chill air seeped right into his bones, and he pulled the coarse brown blanket up around his shoulders. The cot was the only thing inside the ten-foot square, though it was clear there was more around him since he could see through the metal slats across from him. Just like a prison. Or a cage.
“Hello?” he called. His voice echoed back through the space beyond. He threw the blanket up over his head and buried his face in his hands.
“So you’re up.” The woman’s voice was scratchy like it hadn’t been used much, or maybe too much.
Aedan threw the blanket off and jumped to his feet. Big mistake. He groped behind him for the thin mattress as the world spun out of control. He groaned again.
“It’ll wear off,” said the voice. It sounded amused.
“Where are you?” Aedan asked.
“Next door. I suspect you have the better accommodations though. Not that it makes much sense considering I’ve been here far longer, and I’ll most likely continue to be here long after you’re gone. That is unless you’re Fire.” She paused here, barely attempting to hide her excitement.
“My name is Aedan. Are you Terra?”
“My reputation precedes me?” A high-pitched insane sounding laugh surrounded Aedan after this question.
So Morgana had left the fourth Elemental caged in the basement like an animal all this time? So much for Serena’s supposed kindness. Aedan’s power flared along with his anger, and he focused on the metal bars before him.
“I wouldn’t do it if I were you,” Terra sang from the side.
“Why not?” Aedan asked, holding for a moment.
“Let’s just say I’ve tried moving the earth, and I’m still here.”
Aedan didn’t want to say it, but it made sense that Earth couldn’t move all the metal and concrete. But fire? He’d melted metal weights before. He focused again, holding his hands out toward the bars and let go. Some kind of electric force field sizzled to life between the slats as the fire hit.
A rushing sound filled his ears. Aedan barely had time to turn his head before the icy water flooded through the open pipes in his cell. Panic seized his chest, and he threw flames out in all directions trying to evaporate it. But something was wrong. This stuff wasn’t going away. In fact, it was growing higher and higher, much faster than should have been possible. It was already up to his knees and it had only been seconds.
“Shit!” he screamed.
Terra’s maniacal laughter mixed with the roar of the water.
“How do I stop it?” he asked, reaching for the bars, only to find it impossible to grasp them through the energy field surrounding them.
“You don’t. You learn to take your punishment. And maybe that it’s a good idea to listen to me,” Terra said.
“I’ll die!” Aedan screamed, climbing on the cot that had already been lifted in the rushing water. The whole thing toppled, and he scrambled for the mattress like it was a floatation device. All it did was soak in the water, and begin to sink. He threw it to the side and banged on the walls. “Help!”
“She won’t let you die,” Terra said.
Aedan wasn’t so sure. The water was up to his chest now, and he shook uncontrollably. There had to be a way out.
Teeth chattering, he pushed off from the floor. It looked easy enough when Maya did it. How he wished she was here now. She’d be able to get them out of this, he was sure. What made him think he could handle this on his own?
A mouthful of water and he found himself gasping for air. How could the water only be feet from the ceiling? Fire was everywhere because of his panic, but it was nothing compared to the frozen ocean that surrounded him.
And then it was gone. Sucked out in a whirlpool that yanked Aedan down to the floor, spewed him out, and left him crumpled and trembling on the ground. His throat was raw with coughing, and when he finally quieted, he lay there staring at the bars of his cell. Once again they sat innocuously still, the energy field surrounding them quiet and invisible.
“I’m trapped,” Aedan said. It finally hit home.
“Told you she wouldn’t kill you.”
Aedan rolled onto his back on the damp floor. “But why am I here? Why are we here?”
More laughter. “She puts us here to break us. She has to be certain she can control us before she brings us together.”
“But I thought she would automatically control us when we turned nineteen,” Aedan said. His head hurt even more now, and it was hard to think clearly.
“She’ll control the darkness inside. But we aren’t all dark. No one is. She can’t control that other part of us, so she has to make it as weak as possible.”
“You sound like you’re pretty sure about all this,” Aedan said.
“Ha ha! Yes, yes I am. That’s why I’m the one who’s still down here.”
Aedan wished he hadn’t destroyed the cot. He could really use that scratchy blanket. He was still shivering. “So how’s she going to b…b…break us, other than almost drowning us?”
“Oh, I’m an excellent swimmer. For me, the torture is the wind. She’s my opposite. Water is yours.”
“But if we know she isn’t going to kill us…” Aedan already knew the answer, and Terra didn’t bother to reply. He was feeling pretty beaten down already and he’d only been conscious ten minutes. “How long have you been here?” he asked quietly.
“Three years. About the same as Sergey. Kari was only down here for a few months. I’m going to give you… a week!”
“Nice.” Aedan forced himself up, and hugged himself, rubbing his arms vigorously against his damp shirt until smoke issued from the material. In seconds he was dry. Much better. “We don’t have that much time anyway.”
“Why not?” Suddenly the voice nex
t door sounded serious, and not the least bit crazy.
“Morgana. She said she was making it happen because she wasn’t following the old ways. She said she wants to put us all together before the equinox.”
“Did she now?” The maniacal laugh returned, and Aedan desperately wished he still had a piece of furniture to sit down on.
A scraping sound cut off Terra’s giggles like a switch, and feet pounded against hollow metal steps. Aedan tried to focus the flames inside that lapped against the surface along with his beating heart.
“You tried to blast your way out,” Morgana said, face appearing between the bars.
“And you nearly killed me,” Aedan said.
“I apologize. This cell was designed to hold the fire Elemental many years ago before you were born.”
“But you put me down here. Even though you said you’d explain everything. You said we were coming home, and you threw me in a cage.” Aedan struggled to keep the fire contained. It did not help that whatever was inside of Morgana was calling to him, tugging at his power.
“I had no choice. Once I’ve told you what I have to say, you may react… in an undesirable fashion. This is safest for all those involved.”
“You really think he’s going to fall for that?” Terra snorted. “No one’s that stupid.”
“Silence!” Morgana barked. A howling sound filled the space of the basement, and Aedan’s shirt blew back against his chest. When the wind died, Terra’s whimpers could be heard around the corner. “Now, where were we?”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Maya
From the outside, the house looked as innocuous as the one in Tucson. And the fact that it wasn’t more than a couple of hours up the coast was disconcerting. Malibu was known for surfers and the Hollywood elite, not dark forces, but Maya supposed that was why they chose it.
The stretch of ocean behind the beach house was no less obnoxious than the one near her home, and Maya tried her best to ignore it. And the fact that if Sergey was around he’d have a lot more to work with than a swimming pool. She glanced over at Toby whose face was set in concentration, focused on the pale peach front like he could see right through it. Maybe he could. Now that she embraced the idea, she allowed herself a moment of comfort in the idea she was working with Merlin.
“It’s weird that it’s so quiet,” Maya said, scanning the grounds.
“They have no reason to suspect we could find them,” Toby said.
“Still, it’s the Scimitar’s house. They aren’t going to let us just stroll in. We should scout the perimeter.” Maya squinted out toward the shoreline, searching for anything out of the ordinary.
“I’ll go through the front. You go around back and look for another entrance.” Toby moved toward the front door, but Maya threw out a hand, catching him by the arm.
“I’ll go in the front. They’ll kill you on sight. Me they’ll want to use to enrage Aedan, which gives me more time.”
Toby looked like he wanted to argue, but Maya was right and he knew it. She let go and marched toward the door. They’d wasted enough valuable time.
Maya laid a hand against the door, as though it might be hot and give away Aedan’s presence. But it felt just like normal wood. She took a deep breath and tried the knob.
Locked.
Okay, that was a good sign. If it was open, she’d have been certain it was a trap. Maya pulled her pick from one of the many pockets on her cargo pants. Comfortable, cool, and protective, they hid a multitude of weapons. Plus, they made her butt look great.
The door clicked open and drifted back inside about a foot. Maya peered into the opening, pulse racing, and switched out the pick for something a bit deadlier. She pulled the seven and a quarter inch V-42 Stiletto from its special reinforced sheath and let the thin double-edged dagger lead the way inside.
The silence was suffocating. Maya licked her dry lips and crept into the open living room. The only movement came from a wall-sized aquarium filled with lion-fish and other predators. Maya turned toward the sitting area. The inviting sectional appeared deserted, but she imagined others lying in wait behind it. So she slunk her way toward it. Just as she reached the arm of the shorter end, the flat-screen TV on the opposite wall burst to life on high volume. Maya spun and released her weapon, which sliced right through the screen. A hand reached around her throat from behind and yanked her off balance. She smelled the salty tang of the sea and knew who it was immediately.
Maya owed Sergey. She went limp, used his momentary uncertainty to pivot toward him, and brought up her knee between his legs. He doubled over but caught her leg before she could remove her next weapon, and she went down also.
“You wish to die, little bitch, yes?” Sergey asked through heavy breaths as he crawled hand over hand over her body.
“Not gonna happen,” Maya said, and groped for the closest pocket. But as she released the safety on the gun, Sergey grabbed her wrist and twisted until it clattered to the ground.
He wrestled her other arm down, forcing her to release the fire-retardant ball she’d removed, and she watched as it rolled away toward the edge of the sofa so many feet away. His foul breath brought her attention back to his solid body now on top of hers. He’d immobilized her, but if he moved a centimeter, she’d be able to throw him off, so she considered it a draw.
The way he was smiling told her he didn’t see it that way.
“I could have drowned you, but I wanted to do it the old-fashioned way. You disappoint me. You hardly put up a fight.” His grip on her wrists tightened, and he leaned down to whisper in her ear. “It’s more fun when you fight.”
“I’m happy to oblige,” she said, still waiting for the opportunity.
Sergey pressed his mouth over hers, and for a moment she was so shocked she just lay there. But the moment she felt his slimy tongue, she snapped out of it and bit down hard.
He pulled back, loosening his grip, and she rolled out of his grasp, coming to a standing position holding three throwing stars. Sergey made it to his feet as well, and he was leering at her with blood trickling out the corner of his mouth. “That’s better,” he said.
She raised her hand and flicked her wrist, releasing the first of the spinning blades. But Sergey dropped and somersaulted to the sofa where he grabbed a cushion and caught the next two stars in the heavy material.
“What’s next?” he asked. “You like blades, no? Do you like to cut? I wonder how you would like to be cut with your own weapons. Perhaps we should test that out.”
Sicko.
Maya ran at him, feigning left at the last moment and kicking out hard with her right leg. She connected with his shin and he screamed something in Russian she was pretty sure wasn’t a nice word. She punched at his kidneys hard, but by the second thrust he’d twisted and threw a fist of his own right in her stomach.
Maya folded with the flow of the punch to minimize the damage and swept out with her foot. In moments they were on the ground yet again throwing out everything they had. At least Sergey didn’t talk anymore. He was too busy blocking and assaulting for that.
“Enough!” he yelled finally, and though she took the opportunity to land a great right hook, she knew something was wrong. She looked over his shoulder on time to find the wall of the fish tank splintering. She ducked her head to avoid the sudden rain of broken glass and took one deep lungful of air before it hit.
And hit it did. Like a hammer.
And the world went black.
Chapter Sixty
Aedan
The cold stone floor pressed unyieldingly against the side of Aedan’s face. There was still a puddle there and in it, the steel bars of his prison glinted behind him. He coughed and a ripple disrupted the reflection. He didn’t bother trying to get up. He was sore, and tired, and had learned it was useless.
Two days. He hadn’t even lasted the week Terra had given him. How pathetic could he be?
He pushed against the ground, lifting his torso, and cringed with t
he pain in his chest. It was from holding his breath so often and so long, he was sure. His arms trembled as he shifted his weight to his knees. Then he grappled for the wire cot for leverage but decided partway there he needed a break before he could stand completely.
“You haven’t spoken to me in a while,” he said. Terra had clammed up after Morgana’s visit. The human conversation might have helped him stay sane. Though he couldn’t exactly blame her. Morgana showed her true colors. No need to hide it when she’d already gotten what she wanted.
“I’m not stupid,” Terra whispered. “If it’s you or me, you’re on your own.”
Aedan nodded and pulled himself up the rest of the way only to end up leaning against the wall for support. “That’s what she wants. If we all worked together-”
The water rushed down on him from the pipe above, and he closed his eyes. He struggled so hard for so long until it occurred to him that if he relaxed and went with it, he might be better off. It wasn’t easy. Not when every fiber of his being called out danger. He’d all but given up this last round, merely minutes before, but this time he embraced the picture of Maya’s face behind his eyelids. He allowed himself to focus on her and drew a deep, albeit painful breath before going under.
She’s safe, he told himself. They can do what they want to me, but she’s okay, and that’s what matters. Sam, Edy, Maya, Toby – he’d made sure they were out of harm’s way.
The water held him longer than usual this time like it sensed his unwillingness to comply with the panic. But he continued to focus on Maya. On the feel of her body against his, her touch, her kiss. The fire in his stomach buoyed and he didn’t bother to try to beat it down, nor call it up to help. He learned quickly that didn’t do anything other than tire him out faster.
Maya. Her smile sent a pang through his chest. Or maybe that was his lungs finally running out of air. Maybe this was it. Maybe Morgana meant to kill him. Or Sergey had his way. Or maybe it was an accident. But either way, Aedan was sure he was about to die.
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