by Dannika Dark
She clenched her fist and stared defiantly at him. “My friends will come for me, and when they do, you’ll be sorry.”
Cyrus tossed back his head and laughed. “You watch too many movies. You’re starting to sound like one of those pathetically hopeful characters who believes goodness always prevails.”
Gem stared at the floor and squeezed her eyes shut. This was the man who’d taken Hooper’s life? Was his heartless laugh the last thing Hooper had heard? She’d never wanted to kill someone with her bare hands until this moment. Just when she thought she’d let go of the pain, his confession had reawakened it on a whole new level.
“See that cuff on your ankle?” he asked.
She glanced at her feet. Sure enough, there was a silver link around her right ankle. Gem reached back and turned it, unable to find the opening. It fit snugly against her skin with no wiggle room.
“They are so rare to find on the black market,” Cyrus informed her. “So very rare. And this one is far superior to the one they sell for the wrist. You’d be surprised how a determined person will break their fingers and cut through skin to remove them. Not so easily done on the ankle, I’m afraid. And if you manage to sever off your entire foot, good luck escaping.”
“What do you want from me?”
He laced his fingers together. “Our Nikodemos has been very uncooperative.”
“How do you know him?”
His gaze drifted off. “We go… way back.” Cyrus slapped his knee and stood up. “Who knew that he would lead us on such an expedition across the globe? The greatest quest of all time and led by a blind man.”
She tried to be concise, but none of his answers gave her any inkling of what he wanted. “What do you want from Niko?”
“So much, little Mage. He’s a conniving thief who absconded with my greatest treasure many centuries ago. He broke my trust, and I want my book.”
A book? What would Niko—of all people—be doing with a book? “He can’t read, let alone care for a fragile book that would have fallen apart and decayed from improper care through each passing century. It’s impossible.”
Cyrus spun on his heel and looked at her with sudden interest. “What would you know about such things?”
With all the strength she could muster, Gem pushed herself to her feet to face him. “I study language, and part of my interest involves books.”
“Ah, so you’re a scholar.”
“Not exactly.”
“A studious woman is a blight that insults the gods.”
Ignoring his ignorance, she went on. “You say the book you’re looking for is hundreds of years old? I’m assuming we’re talking about a book and not clay tablets,” she said with derision. “Without proper care, it wouldn’t have survived in the hands of a blind man traveling the globe. Books decay when stored in an attic or garage for a long period. Even parchment buckles with humidity. Books that survived the ravages of history were cared for, kept in libraries or churches. Many didn’t survive fires and floods. Do you really believe a blind man traveling on foot could have kept it from sunlight, water, or thieves?” Gem huffed and shook her head. “Why kidnap me when I’m not even the one who has what you’re looking for?”
Cyrus tipped his head to the side. “Friendship is a bond that is rarely tested, and when it is, it often crumbles. Nikodemos has proven this theory, but I am fortunate that my other brothers are loyal. Even in death. Do you know why? Fear. That is the strongest influencer of all. Except for love, perhaps. Funny how humans romanticize such a fleeting emotion when it is the very thing that brings them to ruin. Love makes men weak. But it can also be used as a weapon. I can manipulate anyone I want simply by threatening to destroy what they love.” He gave Gem an oblique grin and turned toward the door. When he reached for the knob, he looked over his shoulder and studied her for a moment before turning to face her. “You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you? Let’s take that little boy, for instance. Everyone loves a child, am I right? It’s automatic, even when he’s not yours. If I told you that I would murder that boy if you escaped, what might you do? Save yourself and let the boy perish? Do you think you could protect the child from my reach forever and ever? Do you think I wouldn’t follow through with my word?”
Chills rippled down her spine at the thought of anyone hurting Hunter. Now she couldn’t escape—not if it meant this maniac going after a little child.
“Isn’t love a fascinating emotion? That which makes you feel invincible actually renders you powerless.” Cyrus opened the door and gave her a baleful look. “I do not enjoy listening to the wails of a woman, fists pounding on the walls, or having to sleep with one eye open. No doors will be locked. You are free to walk about. You are also free to escape… should you feel so inclined.” Cyrus bowed his head and left the room, leaving the door wide open.
Chapter 12
I dreamed of falling down a hole that tunneled through the center of the earth. The walls around me were made of beautiful crystals, but each time I tried to reach for them to slow my descent, they would slice my hands.
“Raven, wake up.”
I gasped and rose to my elbows. Out of breath, I stared into Christian’s welcoming eyes, but part of me still felt tethered to the dream world as the road hummed beneath the tires of the RV.
“Are your nightmares back?” he asked quietly.
I relaxed my shoulders. “No, it wasn’t one of those. I felt helpless, and I think I know why. Any updates on Gem?”
“No word on anything new.”
“I can’t believe someone took her. I hope Niko finds out who it was and puts a dagger in their eye.”
“That man can find a needle in a haystack. You want a glass of water? Perhaps with a splash of blood?”
I glared at him.
“Don’t be giving me the evil eye. A tiny drop will calm you down. It’s not enough to cause any problems, but it’s just enough to smooth out the rough edges.”
“No thanks, Poe. You’re the one who told me I shouldn’t drink on the job.”
“It’s hardly a drink.”
“Have you ever transported Potentials before?”
Christian shook his head. “They’ve always been an urban legend, but the ancients know about their existence. People choose what they want to believe.”
I scooted up and swept my tousled hair away from my face. “They’ll never have normal lives.”
“Unless they become Breed. Private organizations do what they can to protect the children until they’re old enough to make a choice. It’s a dark world we live in, Raven. There’s wickedness the likes of which you’ve never seen.”
I peered over at Claude, who was fast asleep on the adjacent couch. Though it was still dark outside, I reached in the backpack at my feet and found a T-shirt to change into. The cabin felt uncomfortably warm and stuffy. When I took off my hoodie, Christian stretched his legs and put his hand over his growing erection. His hot gaze slid down my body, giving me a little tingle between my legs.
After dressing, I folded my hoodie and stuffed it in my bag. “You better watch yourself, Poe.”
Carol appeared from the back room, feeling her way around the dark cabin.
Christian shot out of his seat and approached the kitchen cabinets. “Are you hungry?” He turned on a dimmer switch.
“No, I just need to…” She sneezed and quickly covered her nose.
Christian handed her a paper towel, and she blew into it.
“I can’t sleep with that lady lying next to me.” Carol handed Christian back the paper towel, and I could have sworn I saw him shudder. She moved past him and peered out the door window. “Where are we going? Is it like a prison with security bars and electric fences?”
“I doubt they’re sending you to Jurassic Park,” I said, trying to be a voice of reason. “I’m sure it’ll be nice. I’ve heard it’s new and the best of its kind.”
She rolled her eyes. “Jail is jail. Can we please stop at a gas station before
we get there? My head’s stuffed up, and I need some nasal spray.”
I leaned toward the front cab. “Shep, do you have anything for a cold?”
“Negative.”
Carol plopped down next to me, her jacket still on but unzipped. “I bet they don’t have any good medicine where we’re going. They didn’t at the last place. I just had to suffer.”
“Aren’t they supposed to take care of you?”
She shrugged. “They’re supposed to hire Relics that know about humans, but they hardly ever gave us medicine when we were sick. I think their job was just to make sure we didn’t keel over and die or something.” She studied her fingernails. “I’ve got money saved from working in the kitchen. I can buy the nasal spray. I’m not a drug addict, if that’s what you’re afraid of. But I can’t breathe.” She pinched one nostril closed and made an attempt to breathe through the other one. It made an awful sound before she sighed.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I promised her.
Christian moseyed to the back where Blue was sleeping.
“How long have you lived under protection?” I asked.
She crossed one leg over the other and picked at the thick treads on the bottom of her black shoe. “My whole life. My mom—or whoever—left me at a fire station when I was born. Someone must have seen the mark on me, because they never sent me to foster care or anything like that. I went right to the Breed facility.”
“Does anyone get adopted from that place?”
“Are you kidding? It’s not an orphanage, so getting a family isn’t an option.”
I leaned back. “At least you got to grow up with the same kids, so it was like having siblings.”
“Not really. Sometimes they shipped kids out in the middle of the night, and nobody got a chance to say goodbye. Why bother making friends? I think they only kept me around because I did a lot of work in the kitchen. Not everyone there worked for money. I like having personal stuff that’s mine, but I had to leave it all behind,” she grumbled. “They didn’t even give us time to pack because they were afraid we might tattle or try to escape. The only time there were runaways was during a transfer. You get attached to your friends, and it’s the only home you know.” She sighed and put her foot down. “I wish they’d never found that mark on my back. I would have had a normal life in foster care.”
“Trust me, kid, you’re better off. I knew someone who grew up in foster care, and it was no picnic. She told me stories about how they were bounced around, neglected, and sometimes abused. You’re lucky if you can get through the system unscathed.”
She sprang to her feet. “Do I look unscathed? I don’t have any family, I’m not allowed to go outside by myself… like ever, and now I’m being kidnapped and taken to some top secret location that no one will tell me about.”
“Shhh.” I pointed at the sleeper above where Adam and Eve were.
“Don’t bother,” Adam said from behind the curtain. “She whines about everything.”
Carol wrinkled her nose and stared upward. “At least I want something better in life.”
Adam ripped open the curtain and scowled at her. “You gaze out the window all night like some kind of lunatic. That’s not even your real accent.”
“It is too!”
“Nobody in the northeast talks like that. You sound like a hillbilly. At least I live in the real world.”
I stood up and yanked the curtain closed. “Go back to sleep.”
“Whatever,” he grumbled.
If I had to listen to these kids bickering for the next twelve hours, I was going to need a whole lot of alcohol. I gripped the back of Shepherd’s seat and noticed Viktor snoozing on the passenger side. “We need to pull over at a convenience store and pick up a few things.”
He looked at me in the rearview. “Later. I’m only making one stop, and that’s to top off the gas.”
“Fine, but we’re stopping for medicine.”
I went to the fridge to get a drink.
“He don’t know nothing,” Carol whispered loudly.
“Who, Shepherd?”
“No.”
“Oh, you mean Adam.”
“This is too my accent.”
I filled the glass, and after I took a drink, I set the plastic cup in the sink. “But if you were raised in that orphanage—”
“Prison,” she corrected.
“Semantics. Nobody in Cognito sounds like you.”
“On the contrary, people have all kinds of accents. Even him,” she said, pointing to the back room where Christian had gone.
“But he wasn’t born here. You were. How did you end up with yours?”
She looped her finger around her gold necklace and leaned against the counter. “When I was a baby, there wasn’t anyone else my age. Just a few older kids who were like teenagers or something. So an elderly lady took care of me. She taught me how to talk and read and… well, I guess I learned to talk like her.”
“Did you at least get to say goodbye to her when you left?”
“I said my goodbyes a long time ago. She died. She was kinda old. Relics don’t live that long, you know. Just as long as humans, and they can get diseases and stuff.” Carol fished a piece of gum out of her pocket. “My last one.”
“We’ll stop somewhere a little later. You can buy gum and cold medicine then.”
Her eyes lit up, and she pushed away. “Awesome! If I fall asleep, wake me up, okay? I don’t want to miss it. Hey, can I sleep in the back by myself? It’s weird having people in there.”
“You can sleep here on the sofa.”
“I can’t sleep with y’all talking all the time. Can you please ask that lady to leave?”
I journeyed down the hall and opened the doors. Blue was facedown on the bed to the left, her arms and legs spread wide. I stared at the open window straight ahead and then to Christian on my right, who had wedged himself on a counter between two storage closets.
“Clear out,” I said. “Carol wants to sleep.”
He knocked the heels of his shoes against the lower cabinet and nodded at Blue. “Good luck waking up that one. She sleeps like the dead.”
An hour or two after Carol had gone to sleep, the RV entered a long tunnel. Claude shared his sofa space with Blue, and every so often, he’d start purring, only to be silenced by Blue slapping his chest. The twins had finally gone to sleep, the television now off.
Christian unwrapped what looked like a Jolly Rancher and tucked the plastic wrapper in a trash can beneath the sink.
“You can sit next to me,” I offered, thinking he couldn’t be comfortable on the floor.
Christian patted the floor, his knees bent and his back against the counter. “And you can do the same. There’s plenty of room down here,” he said with a naughty wink.
“You can’t be trusted.”
He lowered one leg and rested his hand over his crotch. “To be sure.”
I stood up and stretched. This trip was dragging like molasses. It was still dark outside, and we had hours left to go. I squatted behind the two front seats and looked for the end of the tunnel. “Are we there yet?”
Shepherd gave me a peevish glance over his shoulder, a cigarette wedged between his lips. “Whenever you two are done eye fucking back there, can someone look up the weather report?”
“No rain in the forecast,” Christian piped in.
Shepherd blew out a puff of smoke. “Yeah? How do you know that?”
“Me bones don’t hurt,” he said, his humor lost to the boredom in his voice.
I took out my phone to search for the weather report. “How long is this damn tunnel? I’m not getting a signal.”
Viktor snored loudly when his head rolled the other way. That man could probably nap through an asteroid collision with Earth. Lucky for me, I didn’t require the same amount of rest as everyone else, but it made time crawl.
When we emerged from the tunnel, everything went dark again.
Shepherd steered his head back towa
rd me. “How about now?”
“Maybe you should call Wyatt for the weather forecast. I don’t even know what zip code we’re in.”
“Spooky asks too many questions on the phone. Nobody’s got time for that.”
I looked up ahead. “What’s that?”
Shepherd turned his attention back to the road and gripped the wheel. “Jesus fuck!”
We jerked left. Then right. My shoulder hit the side of the trailer, and I fell back. Eve squeaked from above, and the loud thump of a body hitting the floor sounded from behind. The tires screeched when Shepherd hit the brakes.
He barked out a curse, and everything tipped on its side. The children screamed. I hit my elbow on something, objects went flying, and the sound of grating metal filled my eardrums.
When everything stopped moving, I realized that the trailer was on its side. What I thought was furniture on top of me was actually Christian. Somehow during the chaos, he’d sailed up from his spot on the floor and cradled my head.
My heart thumped against my rib cage. Out of breath, I sat up and surveyed the damage. One of the cabinets had vomited Tupperware everywhere.
Shepherd crawled over his seat, the cigarette still wedged between his lips and a long ash miraculously hanging from the end. When he spoke, it broke off and fell to the floor. “Everyone okay?”
Claude sat up holding his head, a small sliver of blood trickling between his fingers. His eyes suddenly widened, and he climbed over the wall and toward the back where Carol was sleeping.
Viktor looked startled when he finally unbuckled himself and fell toward the driver’s seat.
The overhead curtain had opened, revealing the two siblings who were wrapped together like pretzels, their legs hanging out. The sleeping cab now looked like a standing closet.
“What the crap?” Adam said as he climbed over me and tripped on the shutters.
Christian stood on the end of the sofa and reached up to open the door overhead.
“What happened?” Viktor wedged himself between the seats to join us.