"Oh, no," Jonathan said.
Looking up, I saw two men blocking the sidewalk in front of us.
The Path roared free with barely a thought. Not the small stream I usually viewed, but the raging river of power.
Why hadn't I been paying attention? We had already turned a corner or two so the diner would be out of sight.
I looked around, seeing two people crossing the street and two men following us. None of them looked friendly, and there was nowhere to run.
"Three sets of people," I murmured softly. "We can't lead them any further towards the truck without announcing that we're not civilians. How many can you take?"
"Three, maybe four."
Jonathan and I had never worked together, and there was no time to make a real plan. "You take the two behind us, and I'll take the front. Get the two in the middle as best we can. If they pull guns, disarm first."
My stomach clenched. Wrestling with the Path, I began to bend it. Jonathan turned around to cover the two men behind.
The men in front of us moved forward.
"My boss said Jin took an interest in you." The man wore a T-shirt advertising a heavy metal band and looked at least ten years older than everyone else. "We can't touch Jin, and we can only follow his man, but we can take you. The boy can stay because no one said anything about him. But you? We need you."
There were no guns in sight, and no one looked too worried about what we might do.
"Ready?" I asked Jonathan under my breath.
"Yeah." Jonathan's breathing sounded measured, but his voice betrayed his doubt.
"Now." It came out louder than I anticipated, which announced my massive uncertainty.
Jonathan was virtually silent. The men in front of me froze in confusion before scrambling to their pockets. I slammed together the Path in front of me, creating a solid, invisible wall in midair. It burned through my energy, but they never knew what hit them when I shoved the wall forward as fast as I could. They fell back, tripping when the wall smashed forward. When they hit the ground, they were thrown further away. Cloth ripped, and I heard a bone snap. A blow to the face broke my concentration, and the solid air fell apart.
I staggered back clutching my eye as pain radiated out. I barely noticed Jonathan darting to another target. The man was ready to throw another, but I found his Path. The man must have been a bundle of nerves when he had crossed the street, because his Path was thick in the air. I hardened the trail behind him and yanked him back into the street. As he flew back, I saw the gun, and it was aimed at me.
Mentally reaching out, I tried to draw enough energy to make the air solid again.
Why did I make the first wall of the Path so big? Nothing was pulling together fast enough. The trigger was pulled as the gun was smashed away by a kick. The crack of the gun was unreal as the sound reverberated between the buildings.
Jonathan's fist met the man’s face and the gun clattered to the ground. I took a shuddering breath and looked around. After another punch from Jonathan and the man crumpled, and Jonathan launched himself at the man in the street. It didn't take long for him to fall.
The men were down, but stirring.
"We have to go." I was shaking.
Moving to a man that had managed to get to his knees, Jonathan was ready to attack again.
"Hey!" I tugged Jonathan's arm, ready to drag him away.
Jonathan swung around, punching before thinking. His eyes widened, and I saw him pull the punch as it reached me.
I collapsed in a heap, with the air knocked out of me. After a few panicky tries, I was able to suck in a breath.
"No, no, no." Jonathan's face blanched.
I tried to talk but only managed a wheeze.
Without another word, he scooped me up. Any protest I wanted to make went out the window, when I saw the pale panicky face of the elf carrying me.
The tightness in my chest lightened and I breathed easier. "I'm okay." I tried to reassure him further, but he looked caught in his own world of panic.
Rider and Logan were running to meet us, but Jonathan didn't seem to notice them. Jonathan's focus was on running straight for the truck. His dad grabbed his arm and stopped him dead. Jonathan's head whipped towards him. Rider snatched me away, and Jonathan's gaze snapped back to Rider. Logan unceremoniously yanked Jonathan's arm behind his back, knocked his feet out from under him and pinned his son to the ground.
Chapter 24
Rider was putting me on my feet while Logan murmured in his son's ear. I heard a few words, but the language was unfamiliar. Rider patted me down.
"Were you shot?" Rider asked as he manhandled me. "I smell blood."
"It's not mine."
Rider walked around me checking every inch to make sure there were no new holes in me.
I stood clutching my stomach. Rider moved back in front of me, and this time, his eyes were on my face. From the pain, I was sure there had to be a spectacular bruise forming.
"We're taking Vincent in now." Logan's voice was rigid.
"We should leave." I tried to sound firm through all my aches. "Those guys—"
"Go get the truck." Logan tossed me the keys, which bounced off me and landed on the ground, and he dragged Jonathan to his feet.
Jonathan remained pale, but the panic was gone.
"We can't take him in. We'll blow his cover," I said.
"He did this!" Logan yelled, his voice going colder and higher pitched as his face elongated and his ears rolled out to points. His eyes became slanted and looked larger, much too large for his face. The destructive strength behind Logan's alien appearance made me take a step back while an icy feeling of dread spread through my body. Rider angled himself in front of me and tried to get me to move further away.
I took a few steadying breaths. "Someone was following him." I was afraid using Vincent's name would shove my partner over the edge. "They decided to follow us. I wasn't paying enough attention and didn't notice them." I groped around for the right words, but I couldn't find anything else.
Even through the alien vestige he now displayed, I could tell Logan was struggling. His hands were balled into fists, and he looked as though he was poised to run and holding himself back at the same time. I wanted to move closer to try to pull up enough dredges of the Path to lighten the atmosphere, but Rider wouldn't budge, and I didn't think I was strong enough to move the Path.
Logan closed his eyes and began to shrink in upon himself. His ears rolled back, and slowly, his face returned to normal.
The ice in my stomach melted as my partner began to look more like himself.
"Let's leave." I managed to keep my voice steady, but my hands were shaking.
Logan agreed and tried to steady himself.
Rider picked up the keys, handed them to Jonathan, and then motioned Jonathan away.
Jonathan took a nervous look at his dad before going to the truck.
Rider's hand remained in my way, refusing me to move any closer to Logan.
"Let me through," I said.
Rider didn't respond and kept a watchful eye on Logan.
"I can-"
"No," Logan interrupted me, "he's right to stand in the way. I lost control, and I shouldn't have. But when I heard that shot?" Logan leaned against the building. "If Jonathan had..." Logan took a shuddering breath and looked like the words were too hard to say. "And then I thought about what I would have to tell Margaret if you were shot."
Logan's pain was palpable in the air. We stood silently while he reined in his emotions.
"You know, your son kicked ass out there today," I said, trying to lighten the mood. "He’s the reason neither of us was shot."
"His first real fight," Logan said approvingly. "He didn't lose it like I did today?"
"No." I wasn't sure how to avoid telling him what made him panic and run, but Logan saved me the trouble.
"It's good he was partnered with you when it happened. Did he do that?" Logan asked motioning to my face.
"Wait, what?" Rider dropped his arm and looked from me to Logan and back again. "No, why would he?"
"He didn't," I said. "He hit me in the stomach, but pulled his punch in the end."
"But—" Rider started.
Logan grinned and held up his hands as the truck approached. "I could tell he hit her because no one was shot, but he was panicked. He never would have hit her on purpose, but he's never been in a fight before. He'll learn from this and do better next time. He did better than his older brother too, but then he was surrounded by other elves. Garashem would be proud."
"Older brother?" My brain was working hard to make sense of that confusion.
Logan's grin faded. "Never mind, only a passing thought. I don't want to hear the name come up from either of you, especially in front of the kids."
"Sure." Concern what might have happened to Logan's family overrode my confusion. "But-"
"It's a story for another time," Logan said with more force than necessary.
I agreed, still confused, but I knew there were areas of darkness in the elf that I should never try to see. They were buried within his golden Path.
Logan appeared to relax. "Thank you."
Jonathan parked the truck beside us, and Logan climbed in. I moved to the cab, but when I looked back, Rider was staring at us, looking puzzled.
I smiled back. "Come on, my friend, let's talk about Walkers and elves and why they shouldn't kill each other."
***
It didn't take long to fill everyone in, but there was a lot of time spent getting set up for my meeting with Vincent at the park. Logan wanted to make sure that every area was covered and that no one would follow us in or out.
I tried to cover the giant purple bruise spreading across my face, but it surpassed my skills with makeup, which didn't come as too much of a surprise. I found a thrift store and grabbed a pair of sunglasses with a large frame and lenses. The woman behind the counter gave me a concerned look and asked if I was okay as I checked out. When I retrieved the glasses from the bag later, I found a card for a woman's shelter. I worried about what others may be seeing when they looked at me, but then I tossed the thoughts aside. It was all part of the job.
It was too early to stop at the lake. At this point, the entire area would be under surveillance. Logan, Rider, Jonathan, Sable, Taylor, and a few other MyTH employees were watching everyone that entered and exited to ensure an attack like this morning wasn't repeated. Jonathan, Logan, and Rider were all placed close enough to the action that they should be able to hear everything.
Since I needed to stall for time, I parked at the art museum on the other side of the park. I flinched when I looked at myself in the visor mirror. The glasses would be large enough to hide some of my face, but there was no mistaking the bruise. I folded up the visor and my car door opened.
A gun was leveled directly at my face and I stopped breathing.
"Let's not add to the damage," Jin said.
A wet cloth went over my mouth and nose. Trying not to breathe in, I struggled to move away until cool metal settled against my temple. I gasped and fell away.
***
Shadows shifted until blurry images appeared. My head pounded and my mouth was dry and tasted like chemicals. I tried to lift my hand to wipe my hair out of my face, but I couldn't move my arms. Shifting in my chair, I felt coarse ropes digging into my skin.
"Are you awake?" Vincent's voice was low but clear.
I blinked and lifted my head. It took some time before my eyes cooperated and I focused in on Vincent.
His face was unreadable. "I was worried he killed you."
My brain was groggy, and it took its time catching up. Vincent and I were tied up, facing each other in chairs.
"I should have made you go home," Vincent said.
"You know you couldn't have made me go." I stared at my restraints, but my mind was too cloudy to try to figure out what to do about them.
"You wouldn't have liked it. You would have hated me, but I should have done it anyway. If Logan and Rider had known about Jin, they would have helped," Vincent said.
There was always a way out, I only had to reach for it. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on pulling open the Path.
Sharp pain exploded behind my closed eyes. It felt like a cleaver had been wedged into my brain.
"No!" Vincent yelled.
I think I screamed, but I couldn't tell what was happening beyond the pain. I wanted to crush my head between my hands, anything to stop the feeling of being ripped in two. The Path was beyond that pain, which made it beyond my ability to reach. Mentally, I drew back, and the pain began to subside. There was a feeling of gaping chasms of nothingness replacing the pain. Sagging, I stared at the ceiling trying to catch my breath.
"Are you alright?" Vincent's voice was panicked. "You've got to answer me."
Breathing heavy I asked, "What was that?"
Watching Vincent from the corner of my vision, I saw him sag in his chair.
His voice shook. "That was the void. Or a piece of it anyway."
With all the time I had spent with Vincent last fall, I had never heard his voice carry so much fear.
I looked up and watched Vincent. "What is the void?"
"One of the nightmares that live between the worlds. It's roving areas of nothingness." Vincent took control of himself again. "If it touches you, it will consume you. Not only your body and mind, but your entire existence will be gone."
Never existed? "That's not possible." If I believed that, why was my heart beating faster?
"Which is why only Walkers survive long stays between the worlds."
"We're not between— I mean we can't be there. Where are we?" Trying to think through the rising panic was difficult. I looked around, eyes darting from object to object, trying to take in all of my surroundings at once.
"We're in a basement," Vincent said. "When they brought you in, I sensed the void, trapped. It's on your head somewhere."
My eyes opened wide. "They brought this thing from between the worlds? They strapped it to my head?"
What could I do without the Path? Tears threatened to form. I leaned back again and squeezed my eyelids as tight as I could. I wouldn't cry over this, not in this place. Holding tightly to the arm of the chair, I tried to calm myself. There was no way I was going to survive this without a cool head.
"Don't—" Vincent swallowed hard. "If you don't try to tap into the Path, I don't think it will hurt you."
"And if I do try for the Path?" I didn't look at him, afraid to see his response.
"I think it will consume you," Vincent said.
"How is this even possible? You wouldn't do this."
"I didn't do this, but I have an idea who did."
The door swung open. Vincent kept his gaze straight ahead, but I turned to see Jin.
"Look at the two of you getting along so well," Jin said, pulling the door closed behind him. "I'm glad that you have had this chance together."
"What do you want?" I spat the words, eager to turn fear to anger.
Jin ignored me. "You know, William, I began to trust you. You were the only one to have enough skill to get close to me without being turned away. You've also shown me you could kill a man with a touch, so I know what you are."
Vincent's face betrayed nothing.
"Unfortunately, to protect my business interests, I must know more." Jin went to the door and knocked twice.
A skinny pale man entered the room. After a signal from Jin, he took out black, zippered, wallet, the size of a paperback book. He moved around behind me, where I couldn't see, but Vincent could.
Watching Vincent's face for a clue to what was going on wasn't much help. The only reaction was him closing his eyes momentarily, as though preparing himself.
The skinny man moved up beside me and tied a piece of plastic tight around my arm. My heart skipped a beat, and I looked from Vincent to our captor. Jin's eyes were firmly on Vincent.
My arm was being w
iped clean by a damp white wipe smelling of alcohol.
"We are of course, hygienic," Jin said. "The doctor here makes sure of that."
"Gee, what a relief." Showing sarcasm had to be better than yelling or crying, right?
The doctor had a needle. When he held my arm, I tried to pull away. Whoever had trapped my arms had done a good job, but I could still twist them around.
"That will make things worse." The doctor kept quiet, but there wasn't a trace of fear or anxiety over what he was doing. He gripped my arm tighter and repositioned it.
"Stop." Vincent's voice was strong but emotionless.
For that, I was thankful. If he could hold together, so could I.
The doctor looked up, and Jin held up a finger. The doctor moved back behind me.
"What do you want to know?" Vincent asked.
Jin moved in front of Vincent once more. "Everything. Anything that could cause trouble for my family, my business, or my employees."
"Injecting me with, whatever the hell is in that needle, is going to be a huge mistake," I tried to keep my voice level, but my fear slipped out.
I couldn't see his face, but I heard Jin sigh, and he shook his head. Jin whipped around and slapped me across my already bruised face.
Biting back the pained noise wasn't possible, but I balled up my fists and strove to end my cries quickly, working hard to pull myself together.
Jin waited until my fists unclenched. "You will stay quiet."
"Don't touch her again." Vincent's voice held a dark edge.
Jin looked unfazed. "We are doing this the nice way, William. Don't make us go the hard way." Jin motioned to the doctor again.
The needle was in my arm before I had time to react.
Fear and anger pushed me over the brink and an internal whirlwind formed. "What the hell is this stuff?"
The doctor sat the now empty needle aside. "This will cause temporary central sensitization."
"What?"
The doctor leaned in while removing the tourniquet around my arm, and lowered his voice for my ears only. "Any pressure, such as those ropes digging into your skin, will cause pain."
Broken Paths (AIR Book 2) Page 20