Heart of Stone

by Debra Mullins

  “We have no choice,” Maria said. “She drained the energy out of all the stones. We’ll have to recharge them all before Rafe tries again.”

  “I didn’t drain them,” Faith said. “I put them to sleep.”

  “Looks like you drained them to me.” Tessa put her hands on her hips.

  “Well, you’re not a Stone Singer, are you?” Faith mimicked Tessa’s pose. “I put them to sleep rather than let the lot of you continue to destroy them with your ignorance.”

  “Ignorance!” Maria’s eyes bugged.

  “Yes, ignorance. It’s clear as day Rafe’s stone was not created for him. Every time he uses it, he fractures it a little more.”

  “Damn it, Darius, how could you let this happen?” John demanded. “You were in charge of her, and you’ve done a miserable job of it.”

  “I was afraid of this,” Maria said. “What were we thinking, allowing one of them into our home?”

  “She’s trying to help,” Darius said. “She’s not like the others.”

  “The hell she isn’t.” His father put his arm around his mother’s shoulders. “I thought she just talked to rocks, but apparently she can use them as weapons as well. She’s dangerous. Take her, Rigo.”

  Mendez came forward. “Come on, let’s go.”

  “Hey!” Darius stepped in front of Faith. “We’re not locking her up. She just saved our asses.”

  “That’s not your call, son,” John said. He nodded at Rigo.

  “You’re making a mistake,” Darius said.

  “The only mistake we made was letting her into our home to begin with,” John said. “The safe room, Rigo.”

  Rigo moved to Faith’s left, keeping his handgun trained on her. He pulled a set of plastic hand restraints from his pocket. “Put these on.”

  “Oh, come on!” Darius glared at his father as Faith took the strip of black plastic and slid one wrist through the loop. “Isn’t this taking things a bit too far? I know you’re all scared—”

  “Damn right we’re scared. Here, let me help.” Tessa came forward and pulled Faith’s other wrist through the open loop of the restraints, then locked them with a yank. She gave Faith a smug smile. “There. Now I’m not so scared anymore.”

  “Gee, thanks,” Faith said through gritted teeth.

  “She’s not our enemy!” Darius appealed to his father. “Dad, there’s a reason everyone is looking for her, and we just witnessed it. She can manipulate the energy in stones.”

  “All the more reason to keep her locked up until we know the truth,” Tessa said. “Dar, I can’t believe you’re buying into her little innocent act.”

  “It’s not an act. She is innocent in this. Don’t you think I’d know if she wasn’t?”

  “I think you’re a little too close to this,” Tessa shot back. “Too emotional. I knew it was a mistake to put an empath in charge of someone like her.”

  “You all put me in charge of her because I’m an empath, remember?” Darius shouted.

  “Excuse me?” Brother and sister looked at Faith as if they’d forgotten her presence. And maybe they had, given the expressions of guilt on their faces. “Did you just say Darius is an empath?”

  “Rigo, get her out of here,” John said.

  Rigo tugged her toward the door, but Faith dug in her heels. “No, I’m not leaving. Not until you explain this.”

  “As if you have a choice,” Tessa said.

  “There’s always a choice,” Faith said.

  Just go along until I can get this sorted out, Darius said into her mind. Don’t do anything to make matters worse.

  Not feeling real cooperative right now, she sent back.

  I know.

  “Yeah, you do know, don’t you?” she said aloud. She met his gaze for a moment, steeling her heart against those beautiful—lying—blue eyes. She turned to Rigo. “Let’s go, jarhead.”

  She didn’t protest further when Rigo led her out of the room. And she didn’t look back.

  * * *

  Darius watched Faith exit the room. He could sense her feelings of betrayal, and it ate at him. He should have been the one to tell her, to explain.

  “So you really believe this screaming stone stuff?” Tessa asked.

  The doors closed behind Faith and Rigo.

  “Dar?” Tessa prompted. “You don’t seriously believe all that hooey, do you?”

  “Yes,” Darius said. “I do.”

  “Oh, please.” She gave a snort of disbelief.

  Darius spun to his sister. “Okay, let’s take a look at what we have right here in this room. A girl who can see the future, a guy who can turn into a badass killing machine, a woman who can match anyone with a soul mate. Some people would find that stuff hooey, as you put it.”

  “Don’t forget the dude who always knows what everyone’s feeling,” Rafe put in with a weak grin. “Mr. Lonely Hearts himself.”

  “Say that again when you can stand on your own,” Darius shot back. “Listen, I know you’re all scared—”

  “Not anymore, I’m not,” Tessa said. “Not now that Rigo has her locked up.”

  Darius leveled a no-nonsense look on his sister. “Pretend all you want, Tess, but you can’t fool an empath. Yes, it’s scary dealing with powers we’re unfamiliar with. And Mom, I know this is hardest on you. Especially after what happened to your cousins.”

  His mother nodded.

  “But let’s remember something. Faith walked away from the Mendukati. She doesn’t want to do what they are doing. Did it occur to you that she’s scared, too? Of us?”

  “Why would she be scared of us?” Tessa frowned. “We don’t go around manipulating energy or stealing the power from people’s stones.”

  “Her people are raised to believe that Seers are evil,” Darius said. “We’re the bogeymen in her world. They’re afraid of us, which is why they hunt us. And yet she still came here, where she’s locked away from the world and trapped with a houseful of Seers, to help us.”

  “Or to be the Mendukati’s Trojan horse,” his father said.

  “Darius, what did you sense from her?” his mother asked. “Is she up to something?”

  “As far as I can tell, she has no plans to hurt anyone.”

  “But how can we trust your opinion?” For once his sister had no hostility to her tone, only curiosity. “If what Mom says is true and she’s your mate, wouldn’t that affect your interpretation?”

  “She has a point,” Cara said. “Would you recognize ill will, or would you explain it away?”

  Darius stiffened. “Look, Faith is a Stone Singer. There’s apparently something wrong with Rafe’s focus stone, and she noticed it. That’s all that happened here, no stranger than Tessa having a vision in the middle of dinner.”

  “I don’t know if we can trust what she says,” his mother said. “What if this is a plan to weaken us?”

  “You all put me in charge of her while she’s here,” Darius reminded them. “Do you trust me?”

  “Of course we trust you, honey.” His mother sighed and rubbed her forehead.

  “Nonetheless, we’re going to have a little chat with Faith. And I’m going to have more security guards placed in the house and on the grounds,” his father said. When Darius opened his mouth to protest, his father held up a finger to silence him. “I know human guards may not be very effective against Atlantean powers, but it’s better than nothing.”

  Darius nodded. “If it makes you feel better.”

  “It does.”

  “Fine. But I’ll be the one to talk to Faith.”

  * * *

  Faith made it downstairs with some effort. Her limbs shook, and she barely had the energy to put one foot in front of the other after the drama up in the temple. The Stone of Igarle still whispered in the back of her mind. She tried to sever the connection, but her reserves were low, and her feeble attempts yielded nothing.

  Once she rested and recharged, she would have better control.

  Rigo marched her to t
he first floor and then to a door behind the staircase. He opened it, revealing stairs going down into a basement of some sort. He flicked a light switch to illuminate the way. Gray walls formed a tunnel on either side of the descending steps, with a metal door at the bottom. “Let’s go.”

  She went down, the noises from above them fading the deeper underground she went. When she reached the bottom, Rigo took hold of her elbow and punched in some numbers on a keypad. He placed his hand in a device mounted on the wall and looked into some kind of eye scanner above it.

  The door clicked open. Rigo pushed her forward, not hard enough to make her fall but enough that she knew he meant business.

  The first thing she noticed was that the safe room had no windows. There was another locked metal door to her left, and on her right was a small bathroom. There was a sink and countertop with cabinets above and below it, like a kitchenette without the stove and fridge. A coffeepot, nondairy creamer, and sugar packets were on the counter. A metal table and chairs sat in the middle of the room, and the table was bolted to the floor.

  Rigo closed the door behind him and walked her to one of the chairs. He pushed her into it with a heavy hand on her shoulder. “Sit.”

  “What is this place, a prison?”

  “A safe room.” He pulled out the chair across from her and sat, his gun pointed at her.

  “To keep me safe? Or to keep them safe from me?”

  “I don’t know how you did what you did back there,” he said, ignoring her question. “But I’m onto you now.”

  The door opened and Darius walked in. For one second her heart leaped. Then she remembered.

  “My father’s on his way down,” Darius said to Mendez, “but he said it was okay for me to talk to her first. You can wait outside.”

  Mendez narrowed his eyes. “I’ve got my orders. I stay.”

  “I thought you might need a bathroom break.” Darius focused on Rigo, and through their link, Faith could feel him push something at the other man.

  Mendez frowned and shifted in his seat.

  “She won’t leave this room,” Darius said, “and I won’t remove the restraints.”

  Rigo jumped from his chair. “Be right back.” Grabbing his gun, he hurried into the tiny bathroom and slammed the door.

  Darius pulled out a chair and sat down.

  “What did you do to him?” Faith asked.

  He glanced at the closed bathroom door. “Just asked if he needed a bathroom break.”

  “No, you did something. I felt it.”

  “Really?” He shrugged.

  “I don’t believe it.” She stared at him as realization dawned. “You made him think he had to use the restroom.”

  “Well, he did.” One corner of his mouth quirked. “I can’t manufacture emotion from nowhere, but I can take an existing emotion and … ah … emphasize it. In this case, urgency.”

  “Is that what you did to me?”

  His smile faded. “No. Never. Look, I came down here to say I’m sorry.”

  “Really.” She leaned back in her chair. “Sorry for what? For lying to me, for taking me to bed under false pretenses? You’re going to have to be more specific.”

  “For all of it.” He sighed. “I didn’t like it, either. I knew as soon as I met you that you weren’t one of the obsessed ones, but my family has been through a lot. They were afraid, so they asked me to let them know if you might be a danger.”

  “I get it. Really, I do.” She leaned forward. “This has been no picnic for me, either. I didn’t know what to expect from the Seers. Guess I do now. Same thing I expect from the Mendukati: betrayal and deception.” She slumped back in her chair. “I can’t believe I thought you were different.”

  “I am different. Yes, I know it doesn’t look like it from where you’re sitting, but I told my mother this morning that I was going to tell you everything. Think about it. I’m an empath. Do you really think I could handle deceiving you after last night?”

  Her lip curled. “I don’t know what you can handle, Darius. All I know is you’ve been spying on me, telling me only one side of the story.”

  “Here’s the rest.” He held her gaze. “I’m an empath, and yes, my abilities work on everyone, both human and Atlantean.”

  Her gut clenched. Just like Michael. “What exactly does it mean that you’re an empath?”

  “That I can feel the emotions of others. Everyone. Drives me nuts sometimes, having everyone else’s feelings shoved in my face.”

  “And you can make people feel things.”

  “Yes and no. Like I said, I can only amplify an emotion the person is already feeling. Example: When Criten broke in here, Cara tackled him. One of his goons freaked out and took a shot at her. He was terrified for his leader. I just took that and amplified it so his terror overwhelmed him.”

  “Like you did to Corinne.”

  “Right. I just turned their own emotions back on them.”

  “And what about my emotions?” Her throat tightened as she asked the question. “You knew I found you attractive. Did you amplify those emotions, too? Make me ignore my own rules about getting involved and beg you to take me to bed? Was it easier for you to spy on me that way?”

  “No.” He touched her bound hands, but she jerked them out of his reach.

  “Don’t touch me,” she whispered. “You forfeited that right when you lied to me.”

  He swiped a hand over his face. “I didn’t want to do it, but the safety of my family was at stake. Can you tell me you wouldn’t use your powers to protect the ones you love?”

  “I told you, I get it.” She reached for the stone all around them, the earth beneath them, humming a song to spin the energy into a new kind of Stone Shield, one that helped her hold the icy resolve that was her only hope of getting out of this with any dignity.

  “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “But you did,” she said as the walls of ice fell into place. “You won’t anymore.”

  * * *

  He’d certainly made a mess of this.

  One moment Faith had been simmering with anger, betrayal throbbing like a bleeding wound. The next moment, all he got from her was … ice.

  She’d done something. He could see it in her eyes. Somehow she’d shut him out. Mostly. And she wasn’t even wearing her ring.

  Rigo came out of the bathroom. A moment later Darius’s father came into the room. Both men radiated suspicion and antagonism directed at Faith. Darius shifted to be closer to her. She didn’t even acknowledge him.

  “Well, Ms. Karaluros,” his father said. “That was quite a show you put on.”

  “As I told you, Mr. Montana, there’s a problem with Rafe’s stone.”

  “So you say. But I have a problem now. We opened our home to you, treated you as a guest despite our misgivings, and this is how you repay us.” He laid his palms flat on the table and leaned in. “Are you working for the Mendukati, young lady?”

  “No.” Her jaw tightened, and Darius could sense her struggle to hold on to the ice shield she’d adopted. “I’m sick to death of defending myself to you and your family, Mr. Montana. You came to me. You need my help to analyze that stone you’ve got. I was minding my business, living a nice, normal life until you and the Mendukati came after me.”

  His father reared back, his eyes lighting with the ire Darius had sensed bubbling beneath the surface. “You dare put us in the same category as those murderers?”

  She held up her bound hands. “It looks the same from where I’m sitting. You both want the power the stone holds, but in order to get to it, you need me. Doesn’t matter to you or them if I’m willing or not. Both of you will steamroll right over my wishes to obtain your goal.”

  “We offered to pay you.” Darius recognized that terse tone in his father’s voice.

  “And they offered not to kill me. But neither of you trust me, neither of you will let me decide.” Her voice lowered, roughened. “You don’t seem to understand that I saved your son’
s life today. That stone was going to blow, and it would have taken him with it, if not everyone in that room. I did what I had to.” She sat back in her chair. “You’re welcome.”

  “Your attitude is not helping your case,” his father said.

  “And what will?” she shot back. “Kowtowing to the mighty John Montana? I don’t care who you are or how much money you have. You judged me before I ever stepped foot in your door, and at the first misunderstanding—your misunderstanding, mind you—you have your guard tie me up and lock me in the basement. Not creating a lot of trust on my side, either.”

  “She’s right, Dad.”

  Darius’s father shot a sharp glare at him. “I haven’t even gotten to you yet.”

  “Gotten to me?” Darius surged to his feet, balancing himself on his cane. “You asked me to spy on Faith empathically, like some kind of alarm in case she had a bad thought. And I did it, because I love my family. But you put me in a tricky spot, Dad, and now you’re making things worse by thinking with your emotions and not your head.”

  “I am not thinking with my emotions!” John swung away from the table.

  Darius raised his brows. “Did you forget who you’re talking to?”

  His father slowly closed his hand in a fist. Said nothing.

  “Look, this is a sticky situation for all of us.” Darius stepped closer to his father. He could feel the anger flooding his senses, but beneath that was a bone-deep fear that he recognized. “Faith is right. She didn’t come to us offering her services, we went to her. You keep wanting to make her into some Mendukati spy, but the truth is she hates them as much as we do.” He touched his dad’s arm, waited for his father to meet his gaze. “I know this, Dad. I know.”

  “You’re apparently involved with her. How can we trust your judgment?”

  “Emotion doesn’t lie. I sense the emotions and they are what they are. There’s no data to analyze, Dad. No mission, no secret Mendukati mole. Faith was trying to help. She has abilities we’ve never seen before, and what we don’t understand can be frightening.”

  “What she did, it was like him. Like Criten.”

  “We’re both Channelers,” Faith said. “We manipulate energy. That’s all we have in common.”