by M J Sherlock
The third ring missed and Galden fired several shots. Hate radiated from him. A bullet skimmed my arm, burning like fire as it passed. We ducked and weaved as a second bullet whistled over our heads. Galden fired again, a third bullet missing me by a hair’s breadth. It slammed into the door behind us, splintering the wood. A fourth bullet caught India in her left shoulder and spun her around. Her face went pale with shock. She yelped, dropped low and clasped her hand over the wound as she had in my vision.
No time to stop. I advanced further into the room. Keeping low, I crawled towards Alex and Taine. I dodged around computer workbenches, screens and chairs. They had subdued two out of the three Venator and used computer cables to tie them up. Alex held a gun on them while Taine picked up the remaining throwing ring. We both advanced on the remaining Venator, careful to seek cover.
A new intermittent alarm blared out and startled us. Red flashing lights appeared on the walls. A voice on a tannoy boomed, ‘Self-destruct sequence initiated. All personnel to vacate premises immediately.’ Galden fired one last shot at me but the bullet went wide. He ducked out a side door, bolting it behind him. A clock projected on the wall showed four minutes forty-five seconds left.
The remaining Venator were bug-eyed. Their gaze pinged between the countdown clock and our faces. Flabby lips twitched. The blonde-haired woman stared. I motioned for Taine and Alex to cut their legs free.
Taine passed me the gun and worked with Alex to free them. The Venator raced out the door and we barely kept up. Taine motioned for us to get a shift on. The alarm blared. The clock counting down, four minutes, three minutes thirty, and then three minutes.
‘It’s too far.’ Blood spurted from India’s shoulder. Her tan face was pale and sweaty.
I snagged her uninjured arm and yanked her along. My breath came in short pants as I struggled against the stitch in my side.
Two minutes left warned the alarm. Spotting a fire door ahead, we sped up, forcing our shaking legs forward. ‘Sixty seconds to total destruction.’ Air raid sirens wailed. We piled out and ran as hard as we could. The Venator veered left while we went right.
‘Down,’ yelled Taine.
We threw ourselves to the ground. India screamed in pain and I curled into a foetal position. Behind us, a fireball engulfed the building, blasting out windows and doors and sucking in oxygen. Multiple waves of heat washed over us. We protected our heads and prayed it would be enough. Debris fell like missiles. Choking clouds of dust filled the air making it hard to breathe.
I pressed myself into the ground, tasting dirt and making impossible promises to God if He would let me survive. Repeated booms vibrated the ground and chunks of concrete hailed down. The volume of rubble skittered to a stop. Most of the structure was below ground or it would have been worse. I checked my body for new injuries. Deaf again. My ankle was swollen and throbbing where chunks of concrete had landed on it. Tiny slivers of glass and debris burrowed under my skin.
I struggled to sit up, my neck stiff and throbbing with every movement. Whiplash. Were my friends alive? I reached for India. She was unconscious. I put two fingers on the pulse in her neck. Fast but steady. No obvious new injuries. I gave Taine a thumbs up. The relief on his face was palpable.
‘You okay?’ I mouthed to him as my neck twinged in agony. He nodded but pointed to his leg, where flying glass had penetrated. Not on the scale of François earlier but serious enough. Taine and fallen masonry blocked my view of all but Alex’s legs. He had not even twitched, something was wrong.
‘Alex?’ I mouthed to Taine, holding my neck, trying not to move it. Taine leaned over, took his pulse, and to my relief, gave the okay sign. I knew I should get up but my whole body felt like a mass of jelly. My head spun with fragments of colour whirling round. I felt dizzy, nauseous.
In going after Taine and Alex, India and I had missed the main extraction. Had my parents and the others escaped? Could Taine and I power the portal and bring Alex and India with us? Doubtful. Alex knew how to connect them together, but I didn’t. I searched for anything that might help us.
Much of the building’s steel structure stayed in place. It curved upwards at the initial impact point and then out again like a wide necked vase. Its twisted, misshapen appearance evidenced the strength of the blast. In the distance sirens wailed from emergency vehicles. To my left a blur moved towards us too fast for my injured neck to follow. I put my hands down amid the broken glass and masonry, wincing as I pressed down and prepared to stand.
‘There you are,’ exclaimed Zoe. ‘We thought we had lost you.’ Her blue armour was largely intact, and I wanted it even more now. She had been such an arrogant cow but right then she was salvation. I could have kissed her.
‘Can’t hear you,’ I mouthed at her, pointing at my ears.
‘Time to make a portal.’
Zoe checked Alex and India over for injuries and then gestured to Taine to help her pick up Alex. Taine hobbled as he moved Alex next to India. I staggered to my feet. Zoe joined our Étoiles together to create a circle around us all, tapping out the rhythm needed to form a portal.
A whirlpool appeared with the familiar crackling rim of blue and an odour of metallic ozone. Venator approached. The portal pulled us through to our next stop before they reached us. Zoe created a series of portals between sacred places and drew on their ancient power to make up for our inexperience and depleted energy reserves.
Would there be a confrontation at Looking Glass Pond? If Niall was part of the Venator, he might have sold me out. We tensed, holding any remaining weapons at the ready. Nothing happened, making my heart leap. Maybe we misjudged him. Alex gained consciousness for a few seconds before fading out. India showed no sign of stirring. She needed a healer fast.
We made our next jump to Stonehenge and from there to Castlerigg Stone Circle in the Lake District. Taine and I staggered on arrival, struggling to coordinate our exhausted bodies. Any adrenalin rush had packed its bags and vanished long ago. India flickered in and out of consciousness.
Chapter 31: Decuma
I awoke to the thrum of an engine and tyres kissing wet tarmac. A smell of mint and sage teased my nose. A dazzling light shone overhead making me reluctant to open my eyes fearing I was back in the Venator lair. It took a moment for me to remember that my old cell was gone, wiped out by the explosion.
‘Are you awake?’ A soft female voice asked.
‘Barely.’ I blinked my eyes, feeling a cool gel liquid on each lid.
‘I’m Luane. Feeling any better?’ She dimmed the light, so it no longer blinded me.
My voice came out as a hoarse whisper, ‘Much better, thanks.’ My lips were dry and cracked although the gel was there too. When I swallowed, my throat was like sandpaper. I had no spit left to moisturise it.
‘And the truth?’ She handed me a fruit smoothie with a thin straw. ‘Drink it slowly.’
The delicious, cool liquid slid down, easing my prickling throat. ‘I can hear again after being buried in a world of muffled sounds and vibrations. It’s a relief.’ I lay on a comfortable mattress, with proper sheets and pillows despite being in a moving vehicle.
Luane’s short blonde bob framed her face as she leaned over me, bright in her turquoise uniform. She had a gentle, caring face and looked to be in her mid-twenties. ‘Anything else?’ She checked my pulse before recording the results on my medical chart.
‘My eyes no longer feel like someone tried to stab them with a thin spiky brush.’
‘That will be the cooling gel. I covered most of your body in it and put in the odd stitch too.’ Luane probed my ear as she took my temperature. She squiggled a number on the chart. ‘How much pain are you in?’
‘It feels like a bad case of sunburn with blisters thrown in, especially my ankle and neck. I ache from head to toe as if I’ve been attacked by a hammer or worse, blown up.’ I made a feeble attempt to smile.
‘I will up the pain relief, no need for you to be in pain while you heal.’ Luane adjusted a
clear drip connected to a cannula in the back of my hand. It prickled uncomfortably, the tape pulling at my skin. ‘I’ve already removed the grit and debris the had pierced your skin and given you injections to guard against infection. The drip will also speed your healing and replenish your energy.’
‘Thanks. Not all done by magic then?’ I moved my legs and arms a fraction and regretted it. I was intact, but everything hurt, especially my ankle. Not surprising after surviving a grenade attack and an explosion. The tattered remains of my clothes were gone, replaced with a knee-length zip-up dress of forget-me-not blue. An improvement on the gaping hospital robe I anticipated.
‘We train as healers using ancient arts and also study traditional medicine.’ Luane added more notes to the chart. I handed her the empty carton and my eyes drooped shut.
Some while later, the ambulance pulled off a main road and jerked around narrow bends, waking me again. ‘Where’s India? How is she?’ I raised myself up a few inches. A searing pain in my neck made me slump back on the pillows. I knotted the sheets, trying to distract myself.
‘Drink some more.’ Luane handed me another carton of juice and waited for me to start drinking before answering my questions.
I began sipping the drink.
‘India will be fine. The bullet has gone now. We replaced her fluids and gave her blood, but she should recover. She will need to bathe in our healing springs daily, as should you. India will also need physiotherapy.’
‘My parents?’ I felt guilty, asking about them after India.
‘They made it to our capital, Decuma, and are in the infirmary now. They should heal physically although the damage to their minds could take longer.’
I drained the last of the carton in a noisy rush and returned it to her. ‘How are Taine and Alex?’
‘Both conscious and on the mend.’ Luane tidied various packages into cabinets and tied up a bag of rubbish.
‘Thanks.’
I fell asleep again and didn't wake when they transferred me to the infirmary. I awoke hours later covered in soft quilts. I raised my head cautiously and saw India lay in a bed next to mine. 'Where are the others?' I asked on seeing that she was awake too.
'Alex and Taine are next door. They've given us electronic tablets so we can all video chat. Your parents are on a different floor.'
The mint green walls of the room faded into darkness as I slipped back into sleep. It was a pattern I seemed to repeat for several days and each time I awoke terrified for my family and friends. Plain clothed Cloaken Intelligence Officers paraded in and out, asking questions until the healers expelled them. On the third day I grilled them for information instead. I sat up in bed, dressed in a soft blue nightshirt with white bed covers pooled around me. 'What happened to Hope? Did she escape the explosion?'
A brown-eyed black man answered me from the doorway. 'Hope was captured while searching for Morgan and Wyatt. They and two others were airlifted from the site by the Venator.'
At least now I could sit up comfortably in bed, albeit with the help of the electronic head rest which manoeuvred into place at the touch of a button. 'Do we know who the other two were?' I asked. 'Could Vashtin still be alive or some long lost Guardian?'
'We don't know, sorry.' He jerked his shoulders.
'What about François and Titus? Did they survive?' asked India. She was propped up on a stack of pillows too and wore an orange button-through night shirt. The Cloaken hadn't yet succeeded in erasing the bullet wound to her shoulder despite liberal applications of water from their healing springs.
' François remains in a coma,' the man said with a slight grimace. 'The doctors did what they could to mend it, but it is unclear whether he will pull through. Titus was more fortunate. The medics were able to stabilise him on route to the hospital thanks to Ellie-Grace's tourniquet.' He gave me a mischievous smile and his eyes twinkled.
I flushed remembering I had used my bra to tie the tourniquet firm. Still if it had saved his leg and his life it was all good.
A week passed before we pieced together each other's stories. Taine and Alex had succeeded in breaching the Venator electronic firewall. They neutralised the building defences allowing the waiting Cloaken outside to access. Alex created a loop of film showing the hostages still caged despite their escape. He downloaded Venator files onto SD cards and memory sticks which were now with the Cloaken intelligence service. Taine and Alex had been surrounded by the three Venator as they had been about to leave. India had been imprisoned briefly but Titus had released her before Orev had come to call unlike me.
On day seven after the explosion, Luane popped in to see us bringing some much-needed chocolate, clothes and footwear. 'Good to see you both looking so much healthier.' She dropped a bag on India’s bed. 'You Guardians get to leave today. I gave the boys supplies too.'
‘Thanks for all your help, that gel and those smoothies were a life saver.'
India grabbed some clothes for herself before tossing me the bag. 'Where are we going?'
'Queen Zoe has set you girls up with an apartment across the corridor from the boys.' A grin flashed across her face at our shared looks of surprised delight.
'Wow, generous,' I said. Not only were we escaping but we had our own place to recuperate. Guilt flared. 'Will I be able to go and see my parents before I check out?'
'Once you've got changed, I will take you to them.’ Luane made herself comfortable on a nearby chair and flicked through a magazine while we sorted ourselves out.
Shortly afterwards, India and I went with Luane to find my parents. It felt good to be up and dressed again and yet surreal after all we had gone through.
'Any news on François?' I asked Luane as we walked down corridors which were lined on one side with living walls full of greenery and flowers.
'Still touch and go. They’ve operated on him and have bathed him with water from the healing springs but he’s still in a coma.'
‘Pierre and Stella must be devastated.’ I ripped a leaf from a nearby plant and shredded it as we went.
We came to a circular room at the bottom of a tower. Luane waved her hand in front of a sensor to the side and the door slid open. 'We'll wait here.' She motioned me forward.
My parents lay in separate beds side by side. They had been given navy pyjamas to wear. There were no wires attached to them but still they looked very unwell. Yet their faces were wreathed in smiles as I entered. I rushed over to them, not sure who to hug first or how to do it without hurting them. I settled in between their beds; my arms outstretched to each of them as they clasped my hands. At first, we couldn’t speak, we were so relieved to be back together. All too soon a healer came and suggested I should leave.
'I love you. I’ll be back.'
'We love you too.' They released my hands.
Shortly after we had been discharged from the infirmary, Imal came to see Taine and India. I was out for a walk but heard their yelling from down the street. When Imal had confirmed that Taine and India still refused to disavow the Cloaken, he stormed off within less than an hour. India was sobbing when I returned from my walk. I told her he would come around, but she refused to talk about it. Alex’s grandparents also visited. It transpired they knew Stella already so they had a pleasant reunion while we watched bemused. It explained why Alex had seemed better trained than us.
A month later, my parents were still stuck in a rehabilitation centre. The images I had of their torture were real. Galden questioned Mum and drugged her when it became clear she knew nothing. Perhaps he retained a shred of decency. Orev had shown Dad no such mercy, instead he had inflicted pain for pain’s sake. My parents still seemed dazed. They couldn’t decide whether to sell up and move or try to go back to their previous lives. I couldn’t see how we could ever be safe there again, especially if Pierce was right and the Venator either owned or influenced their employers.
Despite having youth on my side, I didn’t feel in a much better state than my parents. I too was still traumatised. Eac
h time I tried to think of before, a black cloud descended, and I hit auto-reject. Too much had changed. India and I both regularly woke in the night drenched in sweat and comforted each other. I felt responsible despite knowing that my fellow Guardians had been chosen before me and that the role was hereditary on my side even if it had skipped a generation.
Niall was unreachable. I tried ringing him, but my calls didn’t connect. I hadn’t dared phone Katherine and Maisie. Each day the urge to ring them grew but I resisted. I couldn't face more bad news. Worse, my nightmares were filled with images of Niall in a white cell like I had been but with the addition of various tubes and monitors attached to him. Often, I awoke with a jerk in the middle of the night, my back arching in shock like my vision of him. Was it a figment of my imagination or real? I shared my fears with Annie, but she offered little comfort given my previous premonitions and visions had been accurate.
The days drifted by and soon we were well into December. The day Queen Zoe visited had dawned bright and clear, with frost coating spider webs outside the large arched windows. After a shared lunch with my fellow Guardians around an oval glass table in the open plan living area, we heard the staccato tapping of high heels along the marbled corridor between our apartments. Queen Zoe appeared at the door, dressed in sparkling amethyst robes. We all stood, surprised to see her. She looked the most flushed I had ever seen her, yet she greeted us in her normal cool tones. Alex motioned for her to come in and she stepped inside, following him to the dining area and pausing at the head of the table.
'We have urgent news and need your help,’ said Queen Zoe. ‘Hope has been seen with another hostage near Hadrian’s Wall in the company of the Venator. The Cloaken lost a rare amulet of power there a century ago. In Venator hands, it may become a weapon. Will you rescue Hope and find the amulet?' Her eyes pierced each of our faces in turn while her fingers gripped the back of an empty leather chair.