Nova Unchained

by D. N. Hoxa

  “Look, there is a way out of this. If we deliver a devamp right into their hands, trust me, things are going to change,” Terrin said.

  “I already made the mistake of trusting you once,” Ross said, and this time, he sounded more desperate than angry. “If I don’t send them everything we have now, they—”

  “So, send it to them.” Nash cut him off. “Send them everything, and then send us off hunting. By the time they’re here, we might even be back.”

  “No,” Terrin said, shaking his head. “Ross is off this one. He’s not sending us off anywhere.”

  I jumped to my feet so fast, the room spun. “I’m not going to let them take me.” Just the thought of it threatened to make me throw up. No, I’d run away and hunt devamps on my own before I allowed that.

  “Nobody’s going to take you,” Terrin said with a sigh. “Here’s what I propose: Ross sends in the report and the surveillance footage, and while he does that, we get the hell out of here. When the Senior Order comes, Ross tells them that he did not approve the hunt, and that I made the decision to go out there myself.”

  “We both know that’s a death sentence,” Ross said.

  “It is, unless we bring a devamp back, and we’re going to.”

  “Nobody has been able to even get close enough to those things! What makes you think you even have a chance?” Ross shouted.

  Terrin turned to look at me. I did not like the sneaky look on his face, not one bit. “Nobody ever had Nova before.”

  His words spun like a tornado in my head, leaving no thought unturned. The worst part was, Ross didn’t object. He didn’t say anything, and neither did Nash.

  “Wow, thanks for the pressure, guys,” I mumbled, unable to stand in one spot anymore, so I stated to pace around the office. What they were saying was ridiculous. They all knew I was no good in a fight. Sure, I could turn magic around apparently, but didn’t Nash say that vampires didn’t have active magic?

  “This is not going to work,” Ross said, but suddenly, he didn’t sound that angry anymore.

  “It is. It has to,” Terrin said. “We won’t even tell you where we’re going. All you need to do is make sure that they know that you did not approve of this.”

  The next second, Ross stood up and walked over to the door. “Get me Foster, now!” and he slammed it shut again.

  “Wouldn’t it be wiser to keep this between us?” I said. The less people who knew about what we’d done and what we were about to do, the better.

  “Foster is his half-brother,” Nash whispered. That certainly changed things.

  “You’re going to end up dead,” Ross said. Shivers washed down my back. He had no idea how much I agreed with him, and that alone made me want to crawl up in a hole and die.

  Who the hell was I kidding? I wasn’t ready for this. Not even close. And Luke…my Luke was going to suffer the consequences.

  “No, we’re not,” Nash and Terrin said at the same time.

  “She has no idea what the hell she’s even doing. You expect her to stand up to a devamp?” Ross said, as if he’d read my fucking mind. I wanted to say something. I wanted to tell him to shove it where the sun doesn’t shine; I wanted to sound brave and strong…but instead, I lowered my head and kept my mouth shut.

  “She did it before. She’ll do it again,” Terrin said, bringing the memory of the night I slapped Red Tie back to my mind. “We already made our bed, and now it’s time to lay in it. This is the only way.”

  “He’s right,” I said, though I didn’t sound as strong as I hoped. Fake it ‘till you make it, right? “We have to do this. We’ve already made a mess out of everything.” And by we, I meant I. “There’s no other way to fix this.”

  It was easy for me to talk, I guessed, because I’d never been into direct contact with the Senior Order, but if the looks on Ross and Terrin’s faces were anything to go by, I should have been a lot more scared than I was.

  Before they could say anything else, Vincent Foster came in. He was the guy who took notes and occasionally nodded at Ross, without ever saying a single word, when I was being interrogated by them. He looked exactly the same, as tall as Ross but skinnier. Aside from the height, they looked nothing alike.

  “Take a seat, Vince,” Ross said, and he sat down himself.

  “I’m good,” Foster said. It was the first time I was hearing his voice, and it was just as deep and as edgy as Ross’s. “What’s up?” He looked at Terrin and Nash, but then his eyes stopped on my face and he didn’t look away from me, not until Ross explained to him exactly what was going on.

  Nash stood by my side, looking at me every now and then, but I refused to meet his eyes from fear he’d see how scared I was. If everybody else started to think I wanted to start running already, it was going to be impossible to pretend.

  When Ross finished his story, Foster didn’t nod. Instead, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked at the floor for a long minute. Silence. The only thing that moved in the office were my fingers, tapping furiously at my thigh. My nerves were getting the best of me.

  “He’s right,” Foster finally said, nodding at Terrin. “The only reason they’re going to agree to forget about this, is if you bring in a demonic vampire.”

  Hallelujah.

  “There’s no time to waste,” Terrin said, suddenly excited. “We should get going before they catch us here.”

  “Are you sure?” Ross asked Foster, half hoping he’d change his answer, or so it seemed to me.

  Foster didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely. If they can’t bring in the devamp, I’m afraid we’re going to be shut down and tried for treason.” And he said it so fucking calmly, you’d think he was talking about the goddamn weather.

  Heat crawled up my cheek. I didn’t want that kind of thing on my conscience. And what if they were found guilty? What would happen then?

  “We’re going to get them,” Terrin said, but even his voice wavered.

  “Then I suggest you start packing right now,” Ross said, and turned to his computer.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Everything was suddenly moving in slow motion. We were out in the hallway. Terrin was saying something to Nash, but I couldn’t clear my head enough to make out his words.

  My heart seemed to have gone all the way up to my head, the sound of its beating demanding to be the only sound I heard. The butterflies in my stomach rolled and rolled, as if their sole intent was to make me throw up.

  Then, there were the others. Pixie, Lucian, Aiden and Kitty, coming at us through the narrow corridor. Why on earth were they moving so slowly? Or maybe it was just me.

  Terrin was saying something to them, too. I blinked and blinked and looked at his lips moving, but I still couldn’t figure out what he was saying.

  Something touched me on my shoulder. My hair floated when I turned my head, as if I were underwater. Nash was in front of me, his autumn eyes pouring into mine. His lips were moving, too.

  Nova, he said. He was calling out my name.

  Suddenly, time stood still. My heart stopped beating. Reality hit me with all its wrath. Luke’s face painted itself in front of my eyes and it molded into Nash’s. Fear reared its ugly head and formed a lump in my throat.

  “Nova, are you okay?” Nash was saying.

  “Yes.” What a filthy lie.

  “It’s up to you,” said Terrin to the others, who looked pissed off and even a bit scared. “We’re leaving in twenty. If you’re in, you’re in. If not, nobody is going to hold it against you.”

  This was it. Terrin was trying to talk them into coming with us to hunt down the devamp, which Nash claimed to know the location of. What if Clearwater had lied? What if he was lying? I’d done it myself. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did it, too.

  And most importantly, what if the fear was making me come up with all kinds of reasons why we shouldn’t even leave the station in the first place?

  “So, you know where a devamp is? You have a location?” Pixie aske
d. She seemed the least afraid of all of us.

  Terrin turned to me and Nash. “We’ve got the coordinates,” Nash said. He sounded sure. Very sure. Maybe he really was telling the truth.

  “Whoever’s in, we’ll be up on the roof in twenty,” Terrin said, and with a nod Nash’s way, he took off down the hallway.

  Nash grabbed me by the arms, seemingly knowing that I wouldn’t be able to walk on my own.

  “Hey, wait up!” Aiden called. He followed us to the elevator doors.

  “She’s coming with, isn’t she?” Lucian said. He seemed to be right behind us, too.

  “She is,” Nash said. “If you don’t like it, avoid the roof.”

  “Knock it off, guys,” said Kitty. “We’re a team here. We’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this for two years, remember? We’re finally being unchained for real.”

  “Except, we’re not,” Pixie said. “Ross didn’t approve of this.”

  “Like I said, just avoid the roof,” Nash said, just as the elevator doors opened. I didn’t need him to guide me this time. I hopped in the car all by myself.

  Everybody else followed.

  “Don’t be stupid, Pixie,” Aiden said. “Of course, Ross approved.”

  “All I’m saying is that I don’t want to die because of her.” I wasn’t looking at the pixie, but I was willing to bet my life that she was talking about me.

  “Then don’t,” I said, and my voice sounded stronger than I expected it to be. “I don’t need your protection. You fight your own battle, and I’ll fight mine. If I die, so be it. If you do, I’m not going to cry over your dead body. Just stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours.” Tough words coming from a girl who had no idea how to deliver a single kick to save her life.

  “Just take guns with you. I’m not going to share mine again,” Kitty said, but instead of being pissed off like the rest, she was smiling, and when I met her eyes, she winked at me. Without realizing it, I returned the smile.

  “My fox is bloodthirsty for a devamp, for one,” Lucian said. He was now smiling, too. “Remember the fire thing we rehearsed, fire boy? Let’s do that.”

  “You got it,” Nash said. The elevator doors opened. We were in the corridor that led to all of our rooms. “Don’t take too long.”

  Everybody ran toward their doors in a heartbeat.

  “Where are we going to get weapons?” I said to Nash, but he’d already taken us to the last door in the corridor. It was his room, and I could tell by the red shirt lying on the bed, the one he’d had on the day before. The room was a copy of mine, except there was no black bag under my bed, like in his.

  “Kitty’s right. Guns are perfect for you. Whatever you do, Nova, don’t get close enough for someone to touch you, okay?”

  In other words, don’t get into a physical fight because you’re going to die. Fair enough.

  “I’ll stay in the front,” I said as he put three guns on the bed, then proceeded to put some sort of a hip belt around himself, then filled it with knives of all sizes. Pretending to know what I was doing, I took two guns and put them on the waistband of my yoga pants. They fit perfectly, though the metal felt foreign against my skin. “Whatever they throw at us, it’s going to go back at them.” That I could do, at least.

  “Except bullets,” Nash said. “Remember the ice ball I hit you with?” How could I forget? My forehead had hurt for a good, long ten minutes. “Bullets are not going to stop in front of you, Nova. You’ll stay behind.”

  “You heard Terrin. I’m the reason you’ll even have a chance. Trust me, I need to stay in the front.” Screw the fear. This was exactly what I signed up for, what I practically sold my soul to get. I wasn’t going to cower back in the battle.

  “Let’s figure it out in the chopper, okay?”

  “Chopper? As in helicopter?”

  Nash finished putting everything in place, including a holster around his arms. He also took a shotgun out of the bag and offered me another gun. It was a bit different from the others, but where the hell was I going to put it?

  Nash realized it, and he fished for another hip belt, this one brown and worn. I had to tie it around me twice for it to fit, and the four guns on it made me feel really heavy.

  “Yeah. Let’s go.” He zipped the bag and took it with him as he strode for the door.

  “Wait, don’t I get like a bulletproof vest or something?” If bullets could get to me, that was the only thing that made sense.

  “We don’t actually use vests,” Nash mumbled. “Maybe Terrin can find one for you.”

  “I’m going to die,” I said with a laugh, because it was supposed to be a joke, but then Nash stopped walking and turned to me so fast, I almost bumped into his chest.

  “You’re not going to die. You’ve got Luke to save, remember? That’s going to keep you alive.”

  “How do you know?” I didn’t. In fact, I was pretty sure it was the opposite.

  “Because if there was a chance for me to save my family, it would have kept me alive through hell,” he whispered.

  His words knocked my breath away, but at the same time, they awoke something in me, something that vibrated in my very core, but now, instead of growling like it did before, it simply hummed, just loud enough to tell me that it was there.

  “Okay,” I said with a nod. That worked for me. And it seemed to work for whatever was inside of me, too. I’d take it.

  ‘You’ve got five minutes.” Nash nodded at the door to my room. I had no idea he knew which one it was, but I didn’t stop to analyze. Instead, I rushed inside and changed my clothes into another pair of the same in record time.

  Then, I opened my small bag and took out my diary. You’d argue that this was not the time to write in it, but you’d be wrong. This was the perfect time because I didn’t know if I was going to ever see it again. The diary needed to know what had happened, or our story would be forgotten forever.

  With the old blue pen that I’d left in there the last time I wrote in it, I started a new page.

  Dear Diary,

  We were one hour away from fulfilling our fifteen-year-old dream. One hour.

  But then, they came. They killed. They took a part of my soul prisoner by putting Luke into a coma.

  Remember how, every time one of us gets in trouble with The World, the other comes to the rescue?

  Well, this time, Luke isn't going to be there to fend off the bullies and the psychos who think my body is theirs to take. This time, Luke isn't going to be there to wrap his arms around me while his father--my uncle--beats us bloody. This time, Luke isn't going to be there...period.

  For the first time in my life, I'm going to be alone. I'm going to have to fight against The World all by myself.

  But mark my words, dear diary: I'm going to win.

  --Nova Vaughn

  Feeling a thousand times lighter after the promise I’d made, I put the diary back in the bag and ran out the door, no longer fearing that I’d never see it again. It was amazing the strength just writing in it gave me. It was why I never went anywhere without it.

  Nash was waiting for me right where I’d left him. He grabbed my hand and rushed us up the corridor and to the elevator. I couldn’t see the others, but maybe they were still getting their things. Which reminded me…

  “Do I have guns and stuff like that under my bed?” Maybe I just hadn’t thought to look.

  “No, all of these are Order issued. They’d have to admit you to Ross’s team to bring you this.” Nash nodded at the bag.

  “Is it true what Kitty said? That you’ve been training for two years?” I said, unsure if I really wanted to know, or if I just wanted to keep talking to keep myself from thinking.

  “Two years and a month,” Nash said.

  “Is this the first time you’re going after a devamp?”

  “The third. We’ve been on the hunt twice before, but both times, we either didn’t get there on time, or the information the Order got was false.” The doors opened and
Nash dragged me toward the door that led us to the roof.

  “What if Clearwater lied to you, too?” I asked halfheartedly. Most of the panic was gone now, but I still needed to make sure that we weren’t simply going on a wild goose chase.

  “I don’t think he did.” Nash pushed the door open and bright light made me squint my eyes. “He’s the only mage I know that’s in direct contact with them for business.”

  Business. Of course. All that money on the tables had to have come from some business. Illegal business.

  “I just don’t get it,” I said when I scanned the roof and saw that we were the only ones there still. No helicopter, either. “Why didn’t they go after Clearwater a long time ago?”

  Nash pressed his lips together and he looked away from me. “Because I haven’t told them the details,” he said. “They don’t know about Clearwater’s business.”

  Oh. “Why not?”

  “Because if the Order got a location from him, they’d never send us on the hunt. There are eight other devamp teams—that I know of, and we’re one of the weakest, according to them. Why do you think they activated us only twice in two years, and only when they practically knew we wouldn’t find anything?” Nash said reluctantly.

  Now that cleared up some things for me. “So that’s why Terrin insisted…” on me taking the fire spirit procedure. On putting me on the team. On going after the devamps without the Senior Order knowing about it.

  He knew that they’d send someone else, too.

  “There’s a lot you need to learn about the Order, Nova, and you’re probably not going to like most of it,” Nash said, and I agreed wholeheartedly. “For now, just keep it all to yourself, okay? When this is over, we’ll talk some more.”

  It was amazing how positive he looked, even though we were probably on the way to our graves. But the sound of a helicopter rising in the air from somewhere behind the station building distracted me before I could tell him that, and soon, the others came running out on the roof, too.

  Now, there really was no turning back. From the bottom of my heart, I wished Luke was there to hold my hand and jump forward together with me. The only thing I wanted more than that was to see him open his eyes.