The Dark Cage

by Dana Gricken

  After the two of them had left, taking Michael’s limp body with them, Caleb walked over and linked his hand with mine. We stood in silence for a few moments, staring down at the city. We were both exhausted and panting, still reeling from our near-death experience.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Caleb asked. “I know you said you were, but this can’t be easy for you. Stopping a deadly bomb, learning about your new power… It must be overwhelming. I know it was when I discovered my firepower, even though that was much different.”

  “I’m still in shock,” I replied. “And I just want answers, which I hope Bane can give me. I’m…I’m afraid, Caleb.”

  “Don’t be,” Caleb said, removing a strand of hair that had fallen in my face. “Whatever happens, you can face it, Riley. You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever known.”

  Strong enough to resist the Cardinal? Strong enough to seek the truth, even if it could be terrible to hear? I wasn’t so sure.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t bring it up now, but something is bothering me,” Caleb said. “I heard you talking to someone back there, Riley—someone who wasn’t one of us. What were you doing?”

  I turned away from him, watching the rain fall. I couldn’t tell him, not now, when I couldn’t even explain what had happened. “It was nothing. I was…delirious. Confused by everything.”

  He seemed suspicious, but dropped the issue. I was grateful.

  “What should we do with the bomb?” Caleb asked, gesturing to it. “We can’t leave it here. Someone else might discover it, and who knows what they’ll do with it?”

  I nodded. “You’re right. We should take it with us for safekeeping. With it, we might learn how the Darkhunters modified their weapons. Just be careful taking it down the stairs, all right? It looks heavy—and awkward to carry.”

  Caleb shuddered. “A part of me doesn’t want to know how they’ve done anything. This seems like a terrible nightmare, and the less I know, the better.”

  He didn’t need to explain himself. Like him, I desperately wanted to forget what had transpired here.

  But I knew I never would.

  When we returned to the headquarters, our people were waiting outside, desperate to hear the news. Mom was standing in the front, and she rushed over and pulled me into a big hug.

  “Oh, sweetie,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “Lara told us everything—about your father and the bomb. I can’t believe Jeffrey would do such a thing! What happened? Are you all right?”

  “The kid’s a damn hero,” Patrick said, clapping a hand on my back. “She saved the soulless. If it weren’t for her, the big boom would’ve killed them.”

  The crowd cheered, especially the soulless. They swarmed around me, worshiping me as if I were a hero, but I didn’t feel like much of one. They didn’t ask questions, like how I’d managed to stop the bomb, or how I had survived the ordeal myself. Maybe they didn’t need to. Maybe they had faith in me.

  I didn’t.

  I walked into the building, and Violet rushed over to me immediately. “Riley, I’m glad you’re back. I wanted to talk to you about Jade’s condition.”

  “How is she doing?” I asked, following her to the medical bay.

  “She’s stabilized. It’s a good thing the Darkhunter was a terrible shot. A few inches higher and she would’ve been dead.”

  When I walked into the medical bay, Ruby was fluffing Jade’s pillow. Jade, however, was not having any of it. “I told you, Ruby, I’m fine! Stop babying me!”

  “Well, she looks like she’s back to her normal self,” I said, chuckling. “How do you feel, Jade?”

  “How do you think I feel? I was just shot!” she snapped. “I’m grateful to be alive, though. Thanks, Victor.”

  The Healer nodded from across the room. “My pleasure. What I do, after all.”

  “Healer, can I ask you a question? Do you know of any cure for the soulless, one that would make them soulful again?”

  He shook his head. “Unheard of. Impossible, really. Why?”

  “The Darkhunters lured me to the university to drain my blood. They were going to give me soulful transfusions,” I replied. “They swore it would heal me. Out of curiosity, I just wanted to know if it would’ve worked.”

  The Healer chortled. “Ignorant. No soulless cure. They were delusional, wrong. Unscientific idiots.”

  So that settled it. If Caleb and the others hadn’t come to my rescue, I would’ve bled out in the laboratory of the university. And to make matters worse, all my soulless friends would’ve died after the bomb exploded.

  I glanced across the room when I heard a groan. Wanda began to stir, moving in the bed across from Jade. Her movements were frantic and unusual, much different from her normal comatose state.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “I think Wanda is waking up,” Violet replied, rushing over to check the monitor. “I don’t understand it. The sedative I gave her was too strong to—”

  Wanda lurched forward in her bed, grabbing Violet by the throat and lifting her up. Violet dropped her clipboard, her feet dangling in the air. Wanda’s eyes were twice their normal size, and her body twisted in a way that was inhuman.

  “I must warn you,” Wanda said, “before it is too late.”

  “Wanda, let her go!” I said, rushing to Violet’s side. “I won’t ask you again!”

  Violet was starting to turn blue. I placed my hand on Wanda’s and tried to tug, but the old woman was strong. She had Violet in a vice grip and refused to let go.

  “You must listen,” she said. “The Dark Queen is coming, but so is the Cardinal. They quarrel just as they did long ago, but this time, Riley Stark stands between them. She is the key.”

  And then she flopped back down on the bed, letting go of Violet, eyes closing again. Her body went rigid, lying still. Violet fell to her knees, coughing and gurgling.

  I helped Violet to her feet. “Violet, are you okay? Can you breathe?”

  She nodded, still gasping for air. “I think so. What…happened?”

  “Something woke Wanda up,” Caleb said, entering the room. “Something evil.”

  “Strange,” the Healer said, placing a hand on Wanda’s forehead. “Should not have happened. Something evil, indeed. Should not wake again. Not for a while.”

  Violet took a deep breath and reached for a nearby vial. “I’m still going to give her another sedative. Until Wanda has healed from…whatever it is she’s suffering from, I don’t want a repeat of the choking incident.”

  As she plunged the syringe into Wanda’s vein, I thought about what Wanda had said. What kind of quarrel was there between the Dark Queen and the Cardinal? And why was I, of all people, at the center of it? As the key, what was I supposed to do?

  “Our soldiers are placing the bomb under lock,” Caleb whispered as I walked over to him. “If you’d like to study it, it’ll be available to you. But I’d recommend avoiding it altogether, just in case we accidentally activate it again.”

  I nodded. “And I can’t remember how I used my power, so I might not be able to save us twice.”

  “Good point. I came to get you for a reason,” Caleb replied. “Our soldiers told me our prisoners are in the cells now. Would you like to see them?”

  I sighed. “Maybe I should talk to them. Is my dad there too?”

  Caleb nodded. “Violet treated his wounds. Angel scratched him up really bad, but he’s conscious again. He hasn’t said a word to our guards. He might talk to you, though.”

  “Then lead the way,” I said, balling my fists. “Let’s hear from the terrorists themselves.”

  The basement of the headquarters needed a major renovation, but we had managed to set up a handful of cells in the event of an emergency. With as many enemies as we had, we’d need a place to put them all.

  I passed several Golems—including Hannah, the new Chief—and nodded in appreciation of their hard work. Jacob’s sister, Jessica, still hadn’t recovered from the horrors she’d
witnessed in the Grove. To cope, she had devoted herself to making our sanctuary a little more secure.

  When I arrived, three cells were in use. Spencer and Dad each had a separate cell, but Rachel and her Darkhunters shared one. We simply didn’t have enough space to separate them all.

  “There’s my father’s killer,” Rachel said, as soon as she heard Caleb and I approaching. “Are you here to rub it in my face? To brag about your win over us?”

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry it had to come to that, Rachel—but you brought this on yourself.”

  I heard footsteps behind me. When I turned around, Mom had entered the basement and was walking down the stairs. She sauntered over to Dad’s cell, placing her hands on the bars.

  “What do you have to say for yourself, Jeffrey?” Mom asked. “We’ve been married for over twenty years. You’ve kept secrets from me, but I never would’ve thought you’d behave like this. You tried to murder your own child—our child!”

  “I’m sorry, Claudia,” he whispered, but he wouldn’t look her way. “I saw no other choice. For Christ’s sake—how can you look at her and still see the same little girl? The one who used to host tea parties and win spelling bees?”

  It was my turn to look away now. Dad spoke of me as if I were an animal now—or worse, a thing. Did he even love me anymore? I couldn’t bear to ask him that question.

  “Riley is your daughter,” Mom began, “for better or worse. If you can’t accept her for who she is, then you don’t deserve to be her father.”

  “Why don’t we talk about what she is?” Spencer asked, walking toward the bars of his cell. “I was there. I saw what she could do. It was unnatural—evil.”

  “All soulless are dangerous. They’re savage killers,” Rachel said, leaning on her cell door. “But Riley? She’s worse. She can’t even control her power!”

  “I despise sharing an opinion with a Darkhunter,” King Bane said, entering the basement behind us, “but I must. The soulful woman is correct about Riley.”

  “What are you talking about, Father?” Caleb asked. “I can accept that Riley is untrained, sure—but she’s not dangerous. Her power is no different than mine or yours. She just needs time to learn!”

  I smiled weakly. At least someone here was going to defend me.

  Bane shook his head, sadly. “I’m afraid it is more than that, my son. If you have not suspected it already, Riley’s power is not like ours. It is different—deadlier.”

  “Just say it, Bane,” I replied. “What is my power?”

  “Your power is…control of the Quintessence. In time, you will be able to open the realm of the dead,” Bane replied. “In order to deactivate the bomb, I believe you sent it into the afterlife, where the spirits aided you.”

  I could’ve heard a pin drop with the level of silence in the room. I had known my power was unique—strong, even—but I’d never suspected it was related to the Quintessence. I had just assumed it was energy or matter, not life and death itself.

  “You must be wrong, Father,” Caleb said, crossing his arms. “There’s only one other soulless who can control the Quintessence, and all our people think it makes him a God. If what you’re saying is true, then…Riley and the Cardinal are intertwined.”

  Bane nodded. “That’s exactly correct, my son. Do you remember what I said before, Riley? That two soulless sharing a power is rare, but not unheard of?”

  “Yes, of course,” I said. “You said two soulless linked would be like twins. But…how? How could I be linked to someone like the Cardinal? Does it also make me a God?”

  “That is uncertain,” Bane replied. “But what I am certain of is that there is a connection between you, much like the one between Wanda and the Dark Queen.”

  “Does that mean if one of us is weak, the other will be strong, and vice versa?” I asked.

  Bane shook his head. “No. That is unique to Wanda’s situation due to her time spent in the Mindfield. With you and the Cardinal, I believe it’s quite the opposite.”

  “What are you saying, Bane? I don’t understand.”

  “I am saying you both draw strength from each other,” Bane replied. “And that draw will only get stronger. Whatever the Cardinal has planned, he will expect your cooperation. I’m sure one day soon, he will seek you out to join him.”

  It was just like Wanda had warned us about—I was the key. The Cardinal needed me, and I needed him. It explained the telepathic messages, the dark nightmares, and how he had been able to heal me twice and help me escape from the Darkhunters.

  “What did I tell you?” Rachel asked, shaking her head. “These soulless are terrible, but Riley? She’s a monster, bound to some evil God. It would’ve been better to kill her.”

  For the first time, I was starting to believe she was right.

  13

  The Signal

  I could still hear the Darkhunters and Bane arguing as I walked away. I didn’t want to hear it—didn’t want to know the truth. My head pounded, and I needed to get away from the bickering before I said something I’d regret.

  The Cardinal was quiet in my mind. I didn’t know how our link worked, exactly—if he could always communicate with me or if it was only sometimes—but he wasn’t saying anything now. Did he know I had learned the truth? Or did he not want to talk about it?

  As I walked up the stairs, Caleb followed. “Riley, wait. Rachel shouldn’t have said she wished she had killed you, and my father doesn’t know what he’s talking about! Don’t listen to them!”

  “No?” I asked, turning around. We were chest to chest now. “Bane’s story was pretty convincing. Maybe Rachel has the right idea. You were there, Caleb. You saw what I did! How else would you explain it?”

  Caleb shrugged. “Even if you can tap into the Quintessence, so what? Like all power, it can be learned, practiced, and controlled. You may think it’s terrible, but it could work to our advantage.”

  “How?” I asked, exasperated.

  “Maybe it’s the only thing that can stop the Cardinal,” Caleb replied. “We aren’t sure what he wants or where he is, but the old legends say he seeks to combine this world with the afterlife. If that’s true, you might be the only one among us who’s powerful enough to stop him.”

  Was Caleb right? Could my power come in handy? As the Cardinal’s twin, he’d have a harder time defeating me than anyone else. But despite how hard Caleb was trying to make me feel better, I still wasn’t sure.

  “We could speculate all day, but we won’t know for sure until we meet the Cardinal,” Caleb continued, before he noticed how worried I looked. “Sorry—I know this is probably overwhelming.”

  “Yeah, a little bit. I just need time,” I replied. “I think I’m going out. See you later.”

  As I pushed through the headquarters, everyone stared at me, including Patrick. He looked worried. I could only imagine how much more worried he’d be once he knew the truth. They had just found out about the Cardinal—some kind of soulless Boogeyman. But now they’d learn about our connection, one I still didn’t understand.

  I was Riley Stark, the descendant of the famous Mira Stark, and had become the soulless General of the Samaritans. If that wasn’t enough, now I had the power to manipulate life and death with the flick of my wrists.

  And it was all Doctor Zero’s fault.

  When I reached for the keys to the truck at the front desk, Caleb stepped in front of me. “Where are you going, Riley? It isn’t safe out there.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said, slipping my Deathblade into my holster. “If you care about me, you’ll let me go. I have to be alone to figure this out right now.”

  Caleb sighed, moving to let me pass. “One hour, Riley. If you’re not back by then, I’ll be coming to look for you.” When I turned away, he grabbed my arm. “Remember that I still love you, Riley—no matter what you are, or what you can do. What you mean to me will never change.”

  You’re in love with a monster, I wanted to say. Someone who could des
troy the world.

  I said nothing instead.

  I drove around for half an hour, trying to find a private place I could think and escape for a little while. I eventually found myself driving past my house, and I sighed when my hands automatically turned the truck into the driveway.

  I was home. Where else could I go?

  I walked through the front door and collapsed. There wasn’t even a floor to sit on anymore—it was just a thick layer of dust and debris. When I placed my head in my hands, I started to sob.

  There were more reasons to cry than ever before. Losing my best friend, my father’s betrayal, Elaina’s death, my link to the Cardinal… Where had it all gone wrong? Rather, where had it gone right?

  I walked into the living room and sat on the couch, which looked split in half. When my tears stopped, sticking to my wet face, I closed my eyes and crossed my legs.

  Maybe meditation was exactly what I needed right now. I took a deep breath, trying to focus. I brought my mind to my breathing, drowning out all the negativity and self-doubt inside my brain.

  “Your friends will turn on you,” the Cardinal began, “just as mine once did. They cannot handle our power, Riley. It frightens them because they are jealous and weak.”

  “Shut up,” I muttered through gritted teeth. I kept my eyes closed, hoping to push him out. “Get out of my head, Cardinal. I won’t ask you twice.”

  “But we are connected now,” he replied. “And that connection cannot be severed. Don’t you see how rare this is? How special?”

  “There’s nothing special about it. You’re a freak who can control life and death, and for some strange reason, you made me able to do the same. Why? How did it happen?”

  He tsked. “I could tell you, but that would be too easy, wouldn’t it?”

  When I opened my eyes, I gasped. I wasn’t in my living room anymore. I was floating in a swirl of colors, seemingly in another realm entirely. Little sparks of energy circled around me, and I knew they were spirits. I could feel them.