I swung around to find George leaning against the railing, panting. “I lost track of him.”
“No, but I wouldn’t mind some backup here.” I nodded toward the shier hordes waiting in the shadows. “Things are about to get messy.”
“Don’t worry about them,” he told me, bringing something to his lips. “The cavalry’s about to show up.”
A shrill whistle pierced the room—followed by a chilling chorus of others, all over the complex. The sound bounced off the walls, like they were using it to locate each other. Or maybe it was their war cry. Who the hell knew anymore? Either way, it meant something.
A mammoth rumble wound up before lights flooded the theater. Not the dim shit you usually get after a movie, either. It was like standing on the fifty-yard line at The Shoe. All at once, fights broke out all over the place.
Shit. While the thought of indiscriminate killing sometimes appealed to my darker side, it wasn’t exactly something I wanted to try now. I didn’t know these people. How the hell was I supposed to know who to help?
I couldn’t tell if my heartbeat’s acceleration stemmed from the situation or the fact that Mr. Nullari had stumbled back, reigniting my speed, but the pounding surged up my neck into my ears. My eyes scanned the room, taking in every detail. Every damn, minute detail. If I could just—
An agonized scream rent the air, muffled from a distance, but recognizable just the same. My brother, my twin, was in pain.
George caught my gaze. “It’s fine. Go.”
“But you’re…” I didn’t want to bring up his lack of power—because as we all knew from Rena’s training, the Augari could be downright lethal—but I doubted he was ready to use that kind of force on people he’d lived with for however many years.
“I’m capable.” He shot me a finalizing stare that left little room for argument. Talk about badassery. This guy was fully prepared to go down in a blaze of glory. Tits was going to love hearing about—
No.
My stomach turned.
Tits was gone.
“Go!” George called, at my hesitation, making his way to me.
I grunted in lieu of formal acknowledgment and jumped the row of seats. Vlad was still holding his own up top, so I didn’t interrupt. Our buddy system had been worthless anyway. I shoved people out of the way, not knowing if they were friend or foe. Not caring, either. It didn’t matter now.
The second I busted through the double doors to the old shopping center, I sprinted for the balcony overlooking the courtyard. I’d jump it. It couldn’t be more than, what, twenty feet? If I broke anything, I’d crawl away from the Nullari hostiles and heal. A few minutes, and I’d be ready to deal some damage.
If we had a few minutes.
I moved faster, faster than I ever remembered going, the belt I didn’t have time to refasten clanking the whole way. The edge came rushing forward in a startling blur. There’d be no time for second thoughts or alternate game plans. I’d just have to—
STOP.
I dug my heels in and fell back in my own momentum. Back slam. Rug burn. Gail—I’d seen her somewhere before the edge. Musty air refilled my impact-slammed lungs as I scrambled to my feet, whirling around. If that bitch was here, she’d probably come with her whole vendetta squad.
We could be in trouble here.
A spark of silvery blue stole my attention from the shadows beside a trashcan, frizzy curls painting a distinct outline. “Gail!”
Screw stealth. If she had anything to do with whatever had happened to Wallace, I had to step in now.
She startled as if woken from a dream, peering around with half-focused, dimming eyes. “I…I…”
Telltale signs of manipulation. She’d gotten someone down there. I barreled halfway over the railing and searched for signs of distress.
No! My heart stopped.
CHAPTER 22
« WALLACE »
As Rena and I stood back to back in the courtyard, an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. We might have bitten off more than we could chew.
SAGES of every size, shape, and age watched us from windows and shadows, as if awaiting a single command. If they were anything like Aiden, it wouldn’t take much. Since his last surgery, he’d become ridiculously open to suggestion—almost to the point that he seemed to lack any free will anymore. If Franklin showed up and ordered them all to slaughter us, I didn’t know how many I could keep back.
I wanted to shove Rena behind me and back us into a corner where I could shield her, but that wasn’t going to happen. I’d have better luck coaxing a cat into a hot bath. She had steeled herself this morning, knowing this was going to be—had to be—our last stand against ERA. Subterfuge hadn’t worked, and we couldn’t keep living in fear of what they’d do next. If we didn’t stop them, no one would. No one would be able to. Within a week, the world wouldn’t know what had hit it.
“Where’s Franklin?” Rena asked under her breath.
“I’ll find out.” It’d be easier since I’d spent time with him during our last so-called visit. I closed my eyes and let in the storm of emotion crashing over the island engulf me—anticipation, panic, determination, outrage…even lethal resolve.
Something sparked in my mind, a note of familiarity. I knew that energy. Those emotions, skewed as they were, belonged to someone I’d interacted with a lot. Not Cole, though, he was pissed off and probably beating the shit out of some ERA loyalist.
ERA.
That was it. Faye—she was here! Gail had come, too. How the hell did they get to the island? My eyes shot open, and I reached for Rena’s hand. “We’ve got troub—”
“Don’t worry,” Faye announced, sauntering out into the light. “This isn’t a social call. Those days are, fortunately, behind us. What we have at hand is strictly business.”
My back straightened, and I pulled my shoulders back. “We’re done with deals.”
“As am I, dear. This is merely leverage to prevent your interference.”
Rena scoffed. “You think we came this far to back down now?”
“Even better, I think you came this far without telling anyone. I think the only people who’ll know where to look for you are, shall we say, preoccupied…”
What the hell did that mean?
Rena stepped forward at that, but Faye held her off with a hand.
“Not just yet, dear. You’ll want to see this.” She dug around in her bag and produced a tablet. After a few quick swipes and passwords, she turned the screen to face us. “You’ll recognize your wedding guests, I’m sure. They took a little detour on their way back to your place.”
“Todd.”
“That’s right,” she couldn’t resist bragging. “One of mine. Speaking of which…”
His face appeared on the screen. Shaky, like he was trying to walk and record at the same time. “We’re in place.”
“Excellent!” Faye’s good eye crinkled. “Give us a pan around.”
The camera swept over the room, showing the friends and family we’d brought together for our second wedding. Beside me, Rena’s heart kicked into overdrive. Her parents, her brother and soon to be sister-in-law, even her dog had been captured. They stood against a white wall somewhere in ERA’s Underground.
Pastor Mark stood beside them, whispering what I could only assume to be a prayer under his breath. Gabby’s folks were next, eyeing Todd and someone who must have been beside him with nervous suspicion. Then Corynn’s family came into view. Her parents had their arms protectively locked around her brother, doing their best to shield him from the situation.
They knew what they were in for now. We had shared just enough earlier for them to realize they were in the enemy’s hands. That we had been betrayed. That they were in danger…
I clenched my first.
“You all right, baby girl?” Glen called to his daughter, squinting to see her.
Rena swallowed and nodded. “Yes. Are you?”
He shrugged his shoulders an
d tilted his head toward the camera. “For now. You think you can find a way off that island without this yahoo?”
The man who barely had a grunt for anyone any other time was making small talk. I couldn’t believe it.
Rena ran a hand through her hair. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, we’ll have to.”
“Good.”
Faye looked ready to vomit. “All right, that’s enough of that. Todd, Maverick, standby in case we need you to take action.”
So that was the other person in the room. They’d roped their unscrupulous intern into babysitting the hostages. That meant we had one less ERA minion to contend with here, but I didn’t feel any relief from it. Rena’s family—no, they were my family now, too—our family was in serious danger because of us.
Even if we backed down, there was no guarantee they’d be let go. We were all too far gone in this war. Too many lives had already been lost.
“One more thing,” Glen called out. “Would you kids mind if we brought Aunt Tammy to the reception?”
Faye scrunched her nose and mouthed his words back to herself in confusion.
“No!” Rena moved toward the screen, excited out of nowhere. I didn’t get it. “We wouldn’t mind at all, Dad. Go ahead.”
He smirked. “Love ya, kiddo.”
“Love you guys, too.” She held her family’s gaze for an agonizing moment, before Faye started to put the tablet away.
“Enough of this nonsense. We need to proceed with our next course of action. Non-threats will be transported back to have their memories altered prior to release, while the four of you, assuming Nicholas and my dear sister are hiding around here somewhere, are dealt with.”
Dealt with. It sounded a lot like killed.
“As I said, it’s not personal.” Faye waved a dismissive hand. “You’ve simply outlived your usefulness and now stand in the way of progress.”
“And we’re supposed to just stand here and let you make your royal decrees?” I asked, incredulous. “How high and mighty do you think you are?”
She smiled. “I’ve always appreciated your backbone, Wallace. It’s a shame things have to end this way.”
Was this woman truly delusional?
Murmurs came from the sideways tablet she’d stopped to gesture with.
Bang!
I jumped, but tried to play it off as a stretch. What the hell?
Faye forced the screen back into her line of vision. “Todd? Todd!”
Rena bumped my arm with her shoulder. “Guess he met Aunt Tammy.”
It clicked then, who they were referring to. The small, concealed pistol Glen had brought to celebrate our nuptials. He’d shot Todd.
Holy shit. Rena’s dad was scary.
“Maverick!” Faye bellowed. “I authorize you to use lethal force. Do what you need to, but leave me a few to negotiate with.”
She thrust the tablet back around to show us, baring her teeth. “See? Do you see what your people have made me do?”
What I saw was a tilted view from the floor. Sneakers that must have been Maverick’s rushed forward, but a pair of dress shoes intercepted him. Mark? Impact preceded a groan, and Maverick hit the floor. Our pastor had clocked him.
Raw hate bubbled up from within Faye, fueled by a zealous fever so strong it blanketed the other emotions around us. She jabbed at the screen, bringing up another window, and started barking orders. “All available guards to area one thirty-six. We have hostiles. Detain three and do what you will with the rest.”
Did she just give a kill order?
Rena must’ve come to the same conclusion, because she tackled Faye without warning. The tablet skidded off across the concrete, still showing the scene back in Cleveland. Shit. Was it a higher priority to back up my wife or try to call off the order to kill her family? I hesitated for the slightest second…and paid for it.
A familiar tremor surged up my spine, Gail’s brand of manipulation claiming control. She’d definitely gotten stronger since our encounter in the forest. This time, it didn’t start with a growing impulse. Her hold cemented, spiking around the eye my clusters devastated every night.
Standing there, useless, while the love of my life tried to best ERA’s leader solo was torture. I struggled to reclaim control over nerve endings that had gone numb, sending chills back through my limbs, and scanned the courtyard. If Gail came out into the open to gloat, I could try to steal her focus.
Faye pulled her scarred lid back and smoke spilled from the void-like miasma. It swept up around Rena in wicked plumes, suspending for long, agonizing seconds—then it struck.
Rena tried to get to her feet, but it speared her from underneath, ripping blood through the back of her white dress. The dress I’d so carefully unbuttoned last night before making love to her. My bride. My wife. She screamed, and every muscle in my body shook.
Change of plans. The second I regained control, I was going to murder Faye with my bare hands. I didn’t care if she regenerated and I had to do it a hundred times. She would pay for what she’d done, what they were both still doing. If they had just backed down, if they had used their resources to help people instead of control them, we could’ve avoided this whole damn thing. They had brought us to this point!
Searing hot tears stung my eyes, and it was all I could do to blink them back. Blood. All I could see was blood. Spatter stained lace, crimson pooled on the concrete. My soul thrashed with torment, doing whatever it could to circumvent Gail’s power. Move, damn it. Move!
Rena’s pain lanced my body, her panic grasped at my heart, but I couldn’t open my mouth to utter even a single word of comfort. Her hands grasped at nothing, and her trembling chin lifted in my direction. Eyes blind with pain met my own.
Please, please understand…
Faye pushed herself to her feet with unsteady knees, anchoring a silvery lock behind her ear. “You ungrateful wretch! I gave you a chance, and you threw that generosity in my face. For that, you shall suffer dearly.”
Rena spit red on the ground and narrowed her eyes, summoning a golden glow. “Then you’ll…suffer alongside me…”
No! I wanted to yell, to stop her, but she was already shifting the atmosphere. After months and months of practicing her ability, I knew what it did to her. On good nights, she blacked out or succumbed to exhaustion. But on the bad nights, the nights she forbade me from bringing up again, she’d gone into horrible convulsions. Henry vocalized his concern over her forcing her ability, but she wouldn’t hear it. She had a part in this war, she’d told him, and no one else could play it.
It wasn’t worth it, to me. I didn’t care if the world went to hell if it meant losing Rena. If that made me a bad person, then so be it. Tears jetted down my face, and I struggled to grit my teeth. I’d find a way to stop this. I had to. I just couldn’t think. Couldn’t move…
My leg jerked forward of its own accord. Then my other one. Before I knew it, I was taking bold steps toward her. Rena’s eyes flashed in my direction, warning me to stay back from the field she was intensifying, but I couldn’t acknowledge it.
I reached down as Faye’s smoke dissipated and jerked my bride up by her collar. She cried out in agony, clutching at her abdomen, and I pulled back.
No, no, please, God, no!
I threw Rena across the courtyard, a broken doll heaved through an old hotel window on the first floor. Glass shattered and dust kicked up, sending SAGEs running for cover. No! How was Gail doing this without revealing her location? She couldn’t have known where to…
My thoughts trailed off. Cole had mentioned this somewhere in the mess of things, right before he started wearing that damn eye patch. She’d stolen the sight from his left eye and used it as a remote means of manipulation. Without that feed, her actions would be blind, useless. She’d have had to come out into the open.
I tried to force my left eye closed, but it teared up and stayed pried open by an invisible force. My feet started moving again. I was following Rena. They were going to have me finish her
off. Then they’d have Cole come after me, or vice versa. Having us kill each other off would be the most satisfying form of vengeance in their eyes. We couldn’t end like this. I had to do something.
“E-Elise!” I forced the name past my unmoving lips, still charging toward the broken window. Shouting her deceased mother’s name was as close to the jugular as I could get with limited opportunity. My hand twitched.
“Don’t listen to him, Gail,” Faye snipped from behind me. “He’s trying to break your concentration.”
I sent out empathic feelers to latch onto the emotion I’d disturbed, a trick I’d learned from Rena’s first encounter with the Nexus. Dark, resentful, and raw. It pulsated from somewhere above us. In my mind, I pulled the pain from its source, letting it fester in the space between us until it overwhelmed me—overwhelmed Gail.
A thread of feeling coursed down my arm as I reached the window’s darkened opening. She was struggling to focus with all of that bogging her down. My eye still wouldn’t close, but I could move my right hand. That was a start.
Rena’s fingers, pale and bloodied, reached up and grasped the jagged glass distorting my reflection. She groaned and used it to shakily pull herself up, crimson spilling anew from her palm.
I wanted to touch her, to save her and whisk her away from here, but I couldn’t trust myself yet. I had to stop Gail’s feed. Even now, she was regaining control, compartmentalizing her emotions to finish the task at hand.
Rena’s expression softened when she saw me. “Baby…”
“No.” The word came without effort, a soul-jerk reaction to keep her at bay. She couldn’t be in my line of sight. I needed her to get back, so Gail would have a harder time using me to get to her.
Another chill descended over my arm, and I knew we’d almost run out of time. My other hand, the one still sickeningly numb, reached out and tore a piece of glass from the frame. I pulled back. Either through premonition or one of Gail’s projections, I instantly understood its intended destination—Rena’s heart.
“No!” Using my last burst of control, I grasped my wrist and struggled against my own strength. Knuckles whitened, blood spilled from jagged edges. Beyond the pane, Rena’s eyes widened in terrified understanding. She got what was happening here, what was about to happen…
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