by Unknown
Gabe’s booted feet fall off the table and back onto the floor. He sits up straight, as if he flipped a switch into “serious” mode. “I don’t think we should go after them. We don’t have the manpower or military power to chase them down and win. Whatever that light is will render us all useless if we got caught up in it.”
Elan frowns. “So, we wait?”
“Yes.” Gabe glances to Elan and smirks. “I know you’d rather run headlong into the fight, but in this case, it would be better to wait here and fortify the City if they are coming this way.”
“And we’ll help,” Echo says. The very offer is enough for Elan to drop his jaw in disbelief, but I don’t think twice about it. How could I, the Dreamcatcher Queen, deny the help of the Dreamcathers, who are technically my people too?
I smile at Echo and reach over to squeeze his hand in thanks. “I never expected otherwise.”
“What?” Elan exclaims and stands up, fists balled up at his sides. “We are just going to let them waltz on in here? Into the City? The same City that we chased them out of just months ago?”
“Yes,” I quickly reply. “When I became the Keeper, I made it very clear that my mission is to repair our relationship with the Dreamcatchers so we can work together to free and protect our Citizens. This new enemy, whomever they are, is a threat to all of us, Elan. Seer, Dreamcatcher, and Citizen. If we don’t end them, then they will end us. And do you want to be ended?”
Elan mumbles, “No … ”
“I didn’t think so.” I redirect my attention to Echo. “Can you please issue your orders as soon as possible? Tell your Dreamcatcher army to come here with whatever ships and weapons they can spare.”
“Of course, Beatrice. Some will stay back to keep Aura safe, too. Let me go do that now.” Echo rises and quickly leaves to find his soldiers.
I watch as Echo disappears out the door and down the hallway before turning back to the other two. “Elan? I want you to go find Seer Jeremy, get his plans from him and get his efforts under way. I am trusting you both, so don’t let your temper get in the way, okay?”
“You got it, Bea.” Elan takes a few steps toward the exit, but stops and turns to me. “And I mean it. You can count on me.”
I smile and let go of my necklace. “I never doubted it, Elan. Not ever.”
He smiles a boyish smile and leaves.
Now, it is me and Gabe. I rake my fingers back through my hair and try to let all the wound up parts of me unravel and be calm. “This sucks,” I mutter.
“It sure does.” Gabe laughs and scoots his chair closer to mine. He reaches a few of his fingers out and brushes some of my hair back behind my ear and says in a quieter tone, “It’s nice to hear Beatrice again.”
I glance up into his violet eyes. “What does that mean?”
With a shrug, Gabe rubs his thumb over my cheekbone and down to my chin, which he tilts upward ever so gently. “I don’t know. All of this feels like it’s been one big … dream.”
“Wouldn’t that be ironic?” I continue to stare into his eyes, finding comfort in the familiar gaze. “If all of this was just some Dreamcatcher trick and we both woke up and were in our rooms waiting for our morning training to begin?” That weight that comes with a sudden sadness sits on my shoulders. “And Mae and Connie were out there, waiting for the two of us to appear so they could go on nagging us about how in love we are?”
“That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Gabe leans in and brushes his lips against mine. “But would we have us? Like this?”
A shiver passes over me, freeing the tension and drama from deep inside my bones. I shake my head, if only because I don’t know the answer, and I don’t want to bother coming up with one. I just want to kiss Gabe, and have Gabe kiss me back. Is that too much to ask for?
So, we kiss, and I pour myself into him as if asking him to protect me and keep me with just my lips. We are on the brink of something terrible, but inside Gabe’s kiss, I can’t remember any of it because it is just too far away.
If I didn’t have to come up for air, I wouldn’t mind it going on forever. If I didn’t have to will myself back into the present, where I am needed to help figure out how to save the City, I’d never leave this room. I break the kiss, and we stare at each other. “We have to get back to work.”
Gabe’s smile is forgiving when he stands from his chair. “Yes, My Keeper.”
I smile, and we leave our kiss behind.
Chapter 24
“Turn the shield off.”
The safety engineer stares at me like I’m certifiably insane. “What?”
I point to the screens in front of us, specifically to the one that shows a green, dome-like bubble that arches over a skyline. “Turn it off. We need to have our barriers down so the Dreamcatchers can come and go as they need to.”
“Y-yes, My Keeper.” The engineer stammers and reluctantly presses on buttons, shutting the shield off. The image on the screen turns from green to red as each section is powered down. I watch a meter drop from one hundred percent to zero, and just like that, the City is naked and vulnerable to anything out there.
“Are you sure this is a good idea, My Keeper?” Jeremy questions, though he does so under his breath, as not to second-guess me so boldly.
“It has to be done. There’s no other way to let the Dreamcatchers in and out without manually doing this each and every time. If we need them in an emergency, and no one is here to let them in, then what will they do? Wait on the outside with the enemy until the dome falls?” I turn away from the controls and leave the engineers to their thing. “Echo? How long until your fleet arrives?”
Echo closes his eyes like someone does when they are thinking. But unlike everyone else, Echo does it to sense where the other Dreamcatchers are, even if he could easily radio them through the walkie he wears on his hip. “Not long now. Maybe an hour?”
“Okay, good.” With a nod, I glance back to Jeremy, who is now standing over a table with Gabe, Elan, and a few other higher-ranking Seers. The table displays a blueish, 3D holomap. “Has there been any other sightings of our enemy? Any new information?”
Elan points to a place on the map, his pointer finger passing through some of the blue outlines to rest somewhere northeast of the City. “Last night, after our meeting, a group of Seers and Dreamcatchers were sent out to scout the area. They found debris around what looked like what was probably a small camp at some point. We are not sure if this is old or new, but it seemed to match some of the characteristics of a Rogue camp. Or, uh, what is left of it.”
“So, they are closer?” Gabe rubs his chin as he surveys the map, and Elan nods.
Echo’s radio, and several others in the room, squelch and squeal before emitting a static noise broken with what sounds like a person shouting. Echo grabs it from his hip and holds it up to his ear to try and decipher the words, but nothing is discernible.
“What is happening?” I ask of everyone, expecting someone to be able to explain the sudden burst of noise. The Seers by the controls are all maniacally tapping at buttons, switching from one screen to the next, security camera to security camera, trying to find anything that might show us what is going on.
That’s when we hear the loud explosion from outside with a reverberation that shakes the glass windows of the Institution. Echo grabs my wrist and looks down at me. “I am going to the roof. That’s where we will be able to see best.”
“Are you stupid? You are going to go up on top of the roof of the highest building in the City to see what is going on? Do you want to paint a bullseye on you too while you are at it?” Elan snaps and stalks over to the windows. He presses his palms against the cool glass and peers outside. “I don’t see anything.”
“That’s why I am going up there.” As Echo lets go of my wrist, he lightly draws his fingers across my skin. “Stay close to your radios. I’ll let you know what I see.”
A knot forms in my stomach. Is this his goodbye? A simple “stay close to your radios?
”
Echo leaves before I can protest. I stare at the door. Another explosion erupts somewhere in the City, and not even that can jar my thoughts away from the door. I start for it, my red robe rippling around my form with every step.
“Beatrice?” Gabe calls, his footsteps soon following my own.
I stop and spin around, and he nearly collides into me, but I stop him by grabbing onto his arms, fingers pressing into muscle. “Stay here, Gabe. I need you to stay here.”
“I’m not that crazy. I let you run after that boy once, I’m not about to do it again.” There isn’t a smile to follow his words, which makes it all the more apparent that Gabe is not joking around right now. “I’m not going to let you disappear, or get hurt, or leave … ”
“I’m not leaving. I won’t ever leave you.” Why do I make these promises? I search his eyes with my own, hoping to find any inkling or hint that he believes me. “But if anything happens to Echo … ” I pause to think about what would happen if we lost Echo. The City isn’t going to fall apart all because some Dreamcatcher is gone. What else would I say, though? What else can I say that isn’t the truth: that my heart would break, just as it would break if I lost Gabe?
“Stay here, Bea.” Gabe pleads.
“I will come back.” I tiptoe up to press my lips to Gabe’s, breathing in calm. When we break the kiss, I exhale the anxiety that courses through the both of us and let him go. “Help Jeremy. You are Acting Keeper while I am gone.”
Gabe doesn’t seem to know what to say. His mouth is open, words ready at the gate, but he says nothing as I disappear out the door and make a break for the lift.
I need to get to Echo and bring him back inside. While the lift pulls me up to the rooftop access doors, it shakes violently as another explosion rocks the Institution. The alarms are pulled, and a demanding siren echoes through the building, reminding me of the day the Dreamcatchers invaded. To think, in so short amount of time, Dreamcatchers and Seers are now pulling together to fight someone else’s invasion.
The lift stops and a soft chime announces that my destined floor has been reached. The doors part to the rooftop, and with each inch they pull back, I can see black and gray smoke rising into a sky full of oranges and pinks as the sun prepares to set. A ship spirals out of the sky and crashes in a fiery ball of twisted reds, but I can’t tell if it was a Dreamcatcher ship, or one of the new enemy’s.
Echo stands at the ledge of the rooftop, transfixed. I rush over to him, calling his name. “Echo! Echo! Come back in!”
My voice seems to bring him back to the present, and he turns to me, his eyes wide and filled with tears. “The Dreamcatchers … ”
I grab his hands in mine and cup them with a gentle pull. “We have to go back inside, Echo.”
“Aura is gone,” he blurts, the words overlapping each other.
I blink a few times, not understanding. “What do you mean? Why do you think it’s gone?”
Echo shakes his head. “I can’t feel them anymore, Beatrice. I can’t feel them.”
I don’t know what to say. I open my mouth to reply, but then I see a streak of light fly past the Institution followed by a loud hiss. I pull him down, convinced the light will hit us, but instead it flies over the rooftop and hits a Dreamcatcher ship not too far off in the distance.
“Holy Maker … ” I whisper as the reality of this fight sets in. A larger, more sophisticated ship zips over the top of us, following the trail left by the missile just moments before. Crouched down with Echo, my hands still over his, I look up into his heartbroken, blue eyes and sadness surges through me. It is a deep sadness, one that not just I could create.
Echo’s hands move around my wrists and he holds to them tightly, fearfully. He projects himself and the violent storm of emotions into me, and I gasp for air, unable to breathe as it courses through my body. I try to break through it, like a drowning someone desperately swimming for the surface before it is too late.
“Echo … ” I whisper his name, barely able to get it out. He is pulling me deeper, deeper, and soon I fear I will be lost forever. My vision tunnels, and I can only see a fraction of Echo’s tragedy-stricken face. Is this what it feels like to be truly Caught? Is this how I will die, at the hands of my husband, who seems to have zoned out in his grief?
Somewhere behind us, there’s another loud crash and it knocks us both to the ground. Echo’s hands lose grasp of mine, and I suck in a breath, filling my lungs all at once, just in case I get dragged under again.
What am I doing up here again? I clamor to my feet, wobbling as I find my balance. Echo is doing the same, and before I give him a chance to think about the world that he has just lost, I grab him by his arm and drag him, with all my might, toward the access door. “Come on, Echo. We need to get back inside.”
Either I am very strong, or Echo has given up his fight, but we both make it to the door, and just as I throw it open, everything turns white, too bright to see through.
And then everything is black.
***
The soft thrumming of engines purrs under me, lulling me back into unconsciousness. I try to wake myself, but my head hurts too much, and I want nothing more than to go back to sleep. How nice it must be to just give up, to let yourself go. But what would I be giving up if I did just let go? The City needs me. Gabe needs me. Echo needs me. I need to wake up.
When I open my eyes, I can barely see anything. It is fuzzy and one shape blends into the other, like I’m looking at everything through swamp water. I feel around with my hands, trying to figure out where I am. The floor is made of metal and cool to the touch. I reach in front of me, then crawl forward, trying to map out my boundaries, but my every move is painful, like my entire body is one big bruise.
“Echo?” I whisper. “Echo? Echo? Please be here, Echo. Please be here … ” I am desperate to find him, as the thought of being alone quickly sends me into a panic. My fingers crush into a wall in front of me, and I suck air in between my teeth, staunching a painful yelp. Where is he? Please be here, Echo, please be here.
The clink of a lock releases, and somewhere behind me, I hear the hiss of a door followed by clunky, heavy footsteps. I turn, pressing myself against the wall like a cornered animal, trying to get my feet under me like they taught us in combat class. Don’t let your enemy overtake you. Don’t let them have the upper hand. If you are knocked down, getting back up is half the battle—probably the half that will save you.
I get onto one of my knees before the person in front of me grabs me by the collar of my robe and yanks me up to my feet. This person, a man it seems, is much taller than I am, as my toes no longer touch the ground, and I dangle much like I’d imagine a baby cat from its mother’s mouth.
“You are the Keeper?” the man asks, his voice heavy, his breath sour. His words though are wrapped in an accent that I am not familiar with. One that reminds me of cinnamon and ginger. It makes his words seem serious, deadly, and alluring all at once.
I fight the urge to vomit as the moisture from his mouth settles on my face. “I am Beatrice.”
“How could someone so vile be someone so small?” He jostles me, and I wince, my head pounding from whatever knocked me out. I still can’t see well, but it’s enough to make out the outline of this giant man’s face.
“Who are you?” I demand, summoning my courage all while trying not to think about where Echo might be, and what they might have done to him.
“My name is Jorgen, but aside from that, I am no one that concerns you. Who should concern you is our leader, Kadijah.” He turns and walks with me held out in front of him, like I were a piece of trash that he didn’t want to handle, but he had to anyway. We leave whatever room I was in, and he takes me through the dim hallways of what seems to be a ship. I recognize the sway and pitch of flight from when Echo took me back to Aura. It reminds me of the way he kissed me then, and how excited I was to be on the edge of something new and daring.
Was it that long ago?
&n
bsp; I struggle and kick my legs as I pull at his meaty fingers in a vain effort to get him to drop me. “What do you want with me? Where is Echo?”
“Is that the scrawny boy who was with you?” Jorgen barks a laugh that is just as meaty as his fingers.
I don’t know how to take that answer, and it angers me. “Where is he?”
“He is not your concern right now. You are going to Kadijah, and she will quickly show you what you should and shouldn’t be caring about, Keeper.” Jorgen continues on his way, ascending through the ship by scaling metal stairs embedded into the hull.
What does he plan to do with me? What has he done to Echo? These questions run through my mind as I try to recall anything from our combat classes that would lend some help right now.
We enter what I assume to be the bridge of this ship, a large room with plenty of control panels and about seven people total taking care of each station. I squint and see a huge window that opens up to a view of Dreamcatcher ships zipping around and tangling with the enemy just outside the City walls. Bursts of light rip through the sky and explode against metal, sending fire and shrapnel everywhere. I can’t tell whose ships are whose after only watching for a few moments, but I sincerely hope the ones dropping from the sky don’t belong to us.
In the middle of the bridge, I spy the outline of a large chair, designed for a general. Jorgen throws me down behind the chair and I land on my hands and knees. I wince with the pain from the impact and try to clamor back to my feet. Unfortunately, I am stopped by Jorgen’s boot, which he places squarely in the middle of my back.
“General Kadijah, I have brought you the Keeper,” Jorgen announces with a salute.
The chair starts to turn, and when I settle back on the heels of my feet, I watch as this General is revealed. She kneels down before me, close enough for me to focus. I don’t know what I expect when I see her; perhaps I wanted to believe that whomever could be wiping hundreds of people off the map would be ugly or scary to look at. Instead, I see skinny black boots that give way to black stockings and long legs. The General wears a tea-length skirt and a matching military-style peacoat. Her hair is also long and black, and as she hooks it behind her ears, I can see the flush of pink that warms her olive-toned skin. She is, simply, beautiful.