The hall widened. Slowly at first, but then opening out into what seemed to be a large courtyard, an open space in the middle of the building. Light spilled onto the concrete walls, dotted specks that became circles, and then slabs, before the entire hall was bathed in light. The light made Jace jittery. It made it easier to clear the rooms as they passed through, but it also made them a hell of a lot easier to see. He turned to Payton. “Can you hear anything?”
“Pull it back, Sienna,” she said. “Let me scan the grounds.” Payton’s eyes closed, her eyes moving so quickly beneath the lids that Jace could see them roll back and forth beneath the thin layer of skin. She stayed that way for minutes, still and silent, before her eyes flew open and her breath sucked in, hard and fast. Sienna darted around him and Jace watched in amazement as light shot from her body and enveloped Payton. For every step they were taking into the twisted corridor, the stronger she got, until the light she’d spoken about in her mind was manifesting before his eyes.
“She’s coming,” Payton gasped. “She’s so close.”
He hustled forward with Reece, the group moving close behind, just a few steps forward until his feet moved from the concrete, hitting a dry, dusty dirt floor.
“Welcome home.”
A woman stood before them, standing at the top of a staircase built into the far side of the space. A smear of dirt tracked down the side of her face and she wore clothing similar to theirs. Utility, built for function. Sienna’s hand gripped on his bicep so hard he felt her nails digging into his skin, and more than one shout or gasp came from behind him as the others took in the scene before them. He didn’t care. Jace’s eyes didn’t move from the woman on the stairs.
She moved forward, her features becoming clearer with every step. Yes, she and his girl looked a little alike, but that was it. They couldn’t be more different. Her eyes were quick and sharp, her gaze aiming at Sienna, but there was no warmth there. Where Sienna practically glowed with her power, the woman who stood before him was cold, empty, and with death in her eyes.
37
Sienna
Isobel was smiling, her face twisted in an odd sort of way. It resembled a smile, but there was something missing. Her eyes remained dull, but it was more than that. Sienna stopped in her tracks and cocked her head to the side. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Isobel, trying to stare behind the sneering face before her. She hesitated as the light reached within feet of her.
“Don’t worry, Dear.” Isobel’s voice rang out over the yard. “You’ll see it all soon enough.”
Before Sienna could push her light forward further, Isobel let out an ear-piercing whistle. Another huge man rushed forward, dropping a limp bundle at her feet. She leaned down, scooping something up in her fist. When Isobel was upright again, the blood drained from Sienna’s face. A low whimper sounded behind her and her mind raced, trying to check the coverage of her shield and watch every step of the crazy lady before her.
She hadn’t needed to bother. It wasn’t her shield failing that was causing Payton to fall to her knees behind her. At the top of the staircase, Isobel held firmly to Cole’s collar, flanked on all sides by giants. In the middle slumped Cole, battered and pale with a layer of dried blood covering half his face.
She moved forward, half carrying, half dragging Cole toward the ground floor.
“You bitch!” Payton surged forward, a gun in her hand. She made it five steps before Aaron tackled her. She struggled against him, getting in a few good hits. He grunted as her elbow connected with his shoulder, but didn’t let go. Lainey looked over at Payton, fierce concentration on her face, and after several more seconds, Payton finally stopped struggling.
“You done?” he asked.
Payton glared at him. “Let me up, Asshole.” But then as soon as she was on her feet, she threw her arms around him.
“Not going to let you do that,” Aaron said. “Or the moment we topple this monster, Cole will have my head.”
Isobel’s delighted laughter pulled Sienna’s focus back. “You’re like children. Oh, you’re going to be so much fun to train.” She turned to the man standing directly beside her. “Arnold, take care of the nuisance.”
The giant dove for Aaron, but he stood his ground, driving his fist into the man’s temple when he threw himself at Aaron. A roar left the man’s mouth, but he was slow to dodge.
Heavy, but stupid.
She could work with that. Maybe she could even toss them like the boulder in Jace’s field. If she could only split her attentions for long enough. There was no way she was taking her attention away from her friends, or the demonic creature that was wearing her face.
The man stepped forward again, Aaron’s fist merely nudging him to the side. He moved faster this time, grabbing Aaron’s shoulder and trying to kick his legs out from underneath him. At that moment, Sienna thanked whatever fates had led Lainey to his side. Aaron feigned and then dodged the giant swinging his way at the last moment. He circled the man, taunting him, daring him to come closer, grinning with every failed kick and punch. She glanced over at the others, but Reece, Jason, and Jace each held their corner, protecting Sienna and the others inside her light.
Bam! Sienna’s attentions were jolted back to Aaron as the giant managed to land a hit. Damn it! There were too many things, too many people to keep a track of. Maybe she could move her shield further. She could pick things up with it, even crush them, and so it had to be more than mental. Could she block something with it, too? She took in a deep breath and imagined her light hardening, but before she could send the wish out through her mind, the man dropped to the ground, a neat hole drilled into his forehead.
Aaron stepped back into formation, a little out of breath, but he still managed to shoot Reece the finger. “Damn, man! I was having fun there. Couldn’t have waited a few seconds longer?”
Reece responded in kind, and then Isobel’s fingers twitched and another giant was sent barreling toward them. This time, it was Jace who didn’t hesitate, dropping him with a shotgun. One by one they came, and one by one they were taken out. Sienna panicked, her pulse racing, and her light wavered with it. How many men did Isobel have as ready pawns at her side? How many more could they take before they ran out of ammunition? She had to work out a way to block more than thoughts or feelings if they were going to survive.
Through it all, Isobel’s gaze never once wavered from Sienna. It had started as a mild tug in the back of her mind, but with each downed man, each shout, each push of her own light forward, it had grown. It pulled on her, forcing her eyes back to the mad woman, standing at the base of the stairs. Cole still lay nearby, but it was as if Isobel had forgotten all about him. He lay on his side, curled up, protecting his face and head as chaos swirled around them all. Someone was going to have to break soon, to try to reach him, but she was keeping them busy. Keila had joined in the fray with the boys, and Lainey and Emily were standing either side of Payton, half holding her up, half holding back anyone who made it through the line.
Something yanked on Sienna’s mind, a hard pull that she could no longer ignore. Her head snapped up and her gaze locked with Isobel’s. A surge ran through her, as if some kind of divine revelation were powering through her mind. This close, things were beginning to fracture. Sienna had thought it would be like staring herself in the face. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Sure, they looked the same, but Isobel wasn’t her. Not by a long shot. She’d been replaced by a plastic imitation, with a tailored body and calculated movements. She has the power, yes, but there was no spark. They were like oil and water, two things that could not exist on the same plane. But perhaps that had been the point all along. Perhaps her mom had known that from the beginning.
Her mom. This creature in front of her had killed her mom.
The hate and anger grew within her, becoming an almost tangible force. It fed from Sienna’s power, a wellspring of energy that pulsed between her and those under her shield. Was she giving them energy, too, or did it
only go one way? She had no time to find out as her light shot forward, meeting Isobel’s consciousness and pounding into it.
The cold surrounding Sienna grew until she was shivering. She clamped her jaw together to stop the chattering. Despite the desert heat, touching this woman’s light was freezing. A hard, cold energy, with no feeling.
No love.
“Give up now,” Isobel said. Sienna could no longer tell if her voice was speaking out loud, or the words were simply echoing inside her mind. “Stop now and I’ll let you and the outsiders live.”
“You’re lying.”
Isobel chuckled. “Oh, no, my Dear. I need you alive.” She looked over at Keila, who had jumped onto the back of a man who had Reece pinned to the ground. “Though maybe only some of you. That one is more trouble than she’s worth. You, I care about.”
“Bullshit! You don’t give a crap about me. You killed the only person who ever did!” Sienna’s rage burst forth, so powerful that it cut a gash in the front end of the building surrounding the courtyard. It made a screeching sound so loud that her hands flew up to cover her ears.
Get mad at it.
Sienna smiled. Thanks, Mom. I’ve got this. I’ll make you proud.
She turned back to Isobel. Rocks and debris from the building clattered around her feet, but Isobel did nothing to avoid them. Instead, she calmly lifted her arms, grabbing at the visible barriers to her own light, and crashed them into Sienna’s. The world went dark, the courtyard disappearing. Sienna could feel her light tripping, tangling, as her consciousness rushed to find its way back to the tent, to her safe place.
But Payton had tempted her out of there. She’d shown Sienna the way out, and this time she was taking it on her own. She pushed back—all the pain, all the regret, everything rewound through her mind, from the moment only seconds ago to finding her mom’s body on the living room floor. She would make Isobel see exactly what her emotionless actions had done to her.
“Look,” Sienna commanded.
They stood side by side in Sienna’s living room, staring at her mom’s body. She still lay there, still dead, but this time Sienna didn’t collapse next to her. She was stronger now. This time, she had the perpetrator right beside her, and she could take her revenge. She wrapped her shield around the broken coffee table and smashed it into Isobel’s psyche.
“Was that meant to tickle?” Isobel didn’t flinch, didn’t fall. The table passed through and over her, as if she were a ghost. “Silly child. This is your head.” She turned, picking up a piece of glass lying on the floor. She hurled it straight at Sienna so forcefully that she had no choice but to hit the floor. “The only person that can be hurt here is you.”
The glass sailed over Sienna’s head and caught behind her, cutting through the wall, shredding it. The fabric of her vision fell away and she found herself standing in an elegant parlor. Isobel was gone, the room empty excepting a tall man, standing by the door. “Where did she go?” Sienna demanded. “Where’s Isobel?”
“I don’t have time for your games today, girl,” the man said. His voice was accented, clipped, and his tone condescending, as if he were talking to a small child. “You may go and find Mistress, if you wish.”
“That’d be just dandy.” Sienna pushed past him and into another hall, this one decorated with carpet runners, and paintings hung on the nearly empty wall. Ornate lights decorated the entire length, and yet it seemed just as cold and dark as the hall they’d traveled through the warehouse complex to find Isobel. She had to get back there. What was going on with the others while she was trapped in—wherever the hell this place was?
“Miss?” Sienna looked across the hall. A woman stood, dressed in an old-fashioned nurse’s uniform.
“What?” The word came out sharply, and Sienna flinched at the sound. That didn’t sound like her.
“She’s awake now,” The woman said. Awake was a nice way of saying she wasn’t hallucinating. Somehow, she knew that, too. “She’d like to speak with you.”
Who was awake, and where the hell was she? The nurse turned, frowning when Sienna didn’t follow. “Isobel? Your mother is asking for you.”
Fuck.
38
Sienna
“Isobel, you came.” The woman in front of Sienna lay in a four-poster bed. Her eyes were sunken far into her head; her white lace nightgown was dotted with yellowed sweat stains. Sienna’s stomach flipped over. She felt deathly afraid of the woman, but at the same time had a deep admiration for her. For what she used to be. Were these Isobel’s memories, or her own? Was the floor beneath her feet even real?
“Isobel.”
She reached out a trembling hand, and pushed a wave of black hair away from the woman’s face.
Claudia.
The name echoed in her mind, rattling about before falling away.
Sienna spoke, the sharpness gone from her voice, and in its place a thick coating of grief. “Mom?”
Claudia reached out a hand. The bones were covered by paper-thin skin, blue veins showing through. Every detail of the room seemed to shrink and grow with her focus. It was as if she’d be able to see under Claudia’s skin, see what was sucking the life from her, if only she could look deeply enough.
A rough palm brushed over her face, and Sienna fought the urge to recoil. Isobel’s memories mixed with her own and she fought to separate them. It couldn’t all be real. She had to be inside Isobel’s head! They must have fallen through together when Isobel threw the blade of glass that sliced through her own memory.
“I want you to remember, Isobel, always fight. It will be difficult, but you are worthy. The people need you. You were born to change the world.” The hand still resting on hers patted at her lightly, slipping off in the end. “I’ve worked for decades, devoted my entire life to ensuring you have everything you need to save it.”
Sienna’s mouth moved without conscious thought. “I will.” A deep sadness came over her, and yet she showed no outward emotion.
No. Isobel showed no outward emotion. Sienna could see it now, almost like a line forming down the middle of her psyche, splitting her, freeing her. They may be genetically identical, but that’s where it ended. Isobel was nothing like her. Her own light was strong, and pulsed deep down in her mind, warm, and free. She just had to take it in her hand.
As if sensing her departure, Claudia reached out and snatched at Sienna’s wrist. “Nothing will stop you. You keep sight of that. It’s impossible. You’re protected. I’ve made sure of it.”
Before Sienna could ask her how, her light surged up. The bedroom fell away and she was standing back in the warehouse. The fight still raged about her. Sienna spun around, making a frantic head count. Some seemed a little worse for wear, but her heart slowed from a rapid gallop to a fast thump when everyone was accounted for.
“They can’t touch us, you know. Either of us.” Isobel tapped the side of her head. “You’re untrained. I’ve had years to practice. My mother taught me well.”
“Your mother was insane,” Sienna growled out.
Isobel growled. Her jaw clenched and color filled her cheeks, but still her eyes were cold. “I handled her with love and dignity, and then I walked away. I walked away and did what I was destined for.” Her lip curled. “What did you do when your mother died? You threw a hissy fit. You can’t control yourself. You’ll never control it.”
“I loved her!” Sienna’s voice cracked but she refused to give in. She pushed her light forward, felt it growing hotter against her own skin. She’d burn the bitch with it if she could. “You were cold and detached because you never loved her, just like your mother never loved you. You were a tool for her. Nothing more. You don’t even know what love is. I know. My mother showed me every day, and so does everyone standing here before you.”
Sienna was sitting in her mother’s lap, pinching her nose and giggling. The scene spun out and then she was sitting on the ground, crying from a skinned knee. Her mom kissed it better before dressing it with
a colorful band-aid. The world spun again, and then they were in the garden together, then cooking, then the playground, then simply lying on the couch together, laughing over their favorite TV show.
There had been more, so much more to her mom than some dusty old boxes and a tent hidden away under the staircase. Lost in her grief, her fear, and then chasing those responsible, Sienna had let herself forget. She was never going to forget again. Sienna and her mom had had a connection that Isobel had never experienced. She was never going to beat Sienna. She couldn’t.
Sienna pushed her light outward. Every single second of happiness she’d had with her mom—she hurled it at Isobel, the intensity building up, sprouting tendrils that whipped out at Isobel’s light. It pressed it in, intensifying and holding it. The woman had her face, but not her soul—she had stolen Sienna’s love, her heart, and now Sienna was taking it back.
She brought her shield down, raining on the field like fire and lightning. It tore whatever was left of Isobel’s away and pushed her down. For the first time since their arrival—how long had it been?—Isobel lost her feet. Her hands shot out to stop her fall, and Cole took his chance, wrenching away from her even as she fell. Sienna felt a small tug and then a pop on her shield as Payton rushed forward and grabbed him, half dragging him backward. She shot her light out to envelop them once more. It was as easy as wrapping them in a hug, Payton’s own light sparking gently under her shield. Was that it? Did she simply have to wish them to be protected, and they were? At the thought, her shield wobbled and then solidified some.
Sienna (Dreamcatchers Romantic Suspense Series Book 5) Page 21