Heart Seeker (The Fire Heart Chronicles Book 1)

by Juliana Haygert

  “Go,” I rasped, out of breath. “I’ll explain, but now just go.”

  She drove away. “What’s up with that?”

  I glanced back through the rearview mirror. Nothing yet. “Let’s just say I’m under house arrest right now. I had to sneak out.”

  “Uh-oh. What did you do?”

  “Nothing.” That wasn’t technically a lie since I hadn’t done anything. The alchemists were the problem.

  “You’re under house arrest and you did nothing? That doesn’t sound right.”

  She turned right on the first road, going around the block, like she said we would. Artan and Sloan would soon realize I wasn’t there. They would start scouting everywhere, and they would find me in a matter of minutes.

  “You can leave the subdivision. That way it’ll be harder for them to find me.”

  “Them? Who is looking for you?”

  I shook my head. “It’s a long story.” Then I stared at her. “Let’s talk about you first. Why the sudden change of heart?”

  Her hands tightening around the wheel, Ellie drove past the subdivision’s entrance and into a busy road.

  “Can you hold this, please?” She showed me her closed fist.

  On instinct, I placed my hands under hers. “What is it?”

  She opened her hand and a green stone the size of my thumb fell in my palms. The moment it touched my skin, nausea revolved in my stomach, my vision blurred, and my head felt like it was filled with cotton balls. Like I had drunk all the tequila in the bar.

  “What’s happening?” I asked, but my words were slurred. I tried lifting my arms, dropping the stone, but my body wouldn’t, couldn’t move. “What’s … h-happening,” I rasped.

  I didn’t know what happened. I didn’t know if Ellie answered or not. I didn’t know if she was still driving. With my body numb and my vision blurred and even my hearing impaired, I didn’t know anything.

  Panic threatened to explode in me.

  I sent out my senses—I couldn’t. My senses were as numb as my body.

  Panic flared in me.

  I didn’t know how long I had been a prisoner inside my own body and mind, but finally, the stone was snatched from my hand and I could see again. I could hear again. I could move again.

  Before I could take in what was happening, a heavy, clammy hand closed around my wrist and tugged me out of the car.

  “What …?”

  I gasped. The big man who hauled me out of Ellie’s car was wearing only black, had a bald head, and a mask covering the lower part of his face.

  My knees gave out; my heart froze.

  Another alchemist as big as the first one appeared by my side, and they both held on to my arms. I jerked against their hold, but they were at least three times my size, and there were two of them. I could do nothing to get free.

  They started dragging me forward and that was when I looked up. A huge house spread in front of me. Four stories, reddish brick walls, balconies, large windows covered by beige curtains.

  Then, as if this was all normal, Ellie marched past me, past the brutes. She climbed the front steps as the double doors opened.

  A man with a shaved head, but no mask, stepped out. He was too thin and too pale, and his lips dark, almost black. I shuddered. Like a mummy, Ellie halted in front of him.

  The man didn’t acknowledge her. Instead, he stared at me. He opened his arms wide, a big smile spreading over his lips. “Dear Mirella. Welcome to my home.”

  24

  I was dragged into the house.

  The moment I crossed the open doors, a strong wave of pain hit me, making me breathless, and I fell on my knees.

  I was barely aware of the door closing and the people surrounding me.

  “So glad you’re here, Mirella,” the man said. “I’m William.”

  The pain settled, becoming just a dull ache in my muscles, and I looked up. William stood among five other alchemists, all wearing masks, in the center of a foyer. Behind him, cowered in a corner, Ellie cried.

  “I’m so sorry,” she muttered between sobs. “I couldn’t help it.”

  “Yes, yes.” William waved her off. “She couldn’t help but bring you here.”

  I shook my head, not following. “W-what?”

  “She was under my influence,” William said.

  Influence. What the hell. Now, I thought I was under the influence. Of alcohol or some drug.

  “What … what was that green stone?”

  “A little elixir to keep you dizzy. In subtle pain. To numb your powers. The basics.”

  The basics. Did he think he was funny? I would give him funny.

  I tried standing up, but a new wave of pain assaulted me. On all fours, I yelled as my body jerked, trying to push the pain away.

  Then it hit me.

  I could go with the basic what-do-you-want-with-me question, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew what they wanted with me. My power, my blood, and my heart.

  Shit.

  Panic rose in my chest as I realized I was trapped inside a fort of a house with a bunch of alchemists. Many options of how they could end my life flooded my mind, and I almost gagged.

  “Take her to the lab,” William said.

  Seconds later, the two brutes had their hands around my arms again. They pulled me up and dragged me forward.

  I thrashed around, trying to break free, but I was weakened by waves of pain.

  “Bring her too.” He pointed to Ellie.

  Ellie yelped as an alchemist walked over to her.

  “No, leave her alone,” I spoke up. “She already did what you wanted. Now let her go.”

  “Not likely,” William said. “She will come with us, in case you give us a hard time.”

  Shit.

  We were pushed through a long corridor, a door, down four sets of stairs, another darker corridor, and through a metal door.

  Brightness hurt my eyes once we entered a cold room. When my sight adjusted to the new light, I discovered we were brought to a large lab-like-room, stark white, with too many lamps, a dozen hospital beds, equipment and machines, steel desks with utensils and tiny bottles, and an alchemist dressed in a white coat—without his mask. His lips were as dark as William’s.

  A man stood in the center, dressed in an expensive brown suit and smoking a cigar. When he noticed the commotion, he approached me. His white-blond hair was gelled back, and his gray eyes were small and shrewd. No shaved head, no mask, no dark lips.

  No doubt, this man was the boss.

  “So you are Mirella.” He puffed a cloud of smoke in my face. “Finally, we meet.”

  If I weren’t being held with my arms behind my back, I would have pushed that cigar inside his mouth and laughed while he choked on it.

  “We brought the other one too, sir,” William said, gesturing to Ellie, “for leverage.”

  “Good thinking,” the chimney man said without taking his eyes off of me. His free hand reached up and he picked up one of my curls. “My, oh, my, you’re beautiful.” His fingers slid from my hair to my cheek. I flinched from his touch. “I’ll be almost sad to use you.”

  “Don’t touch me,” I snarled. Damn, how I wish I could kick his ass.

  He took a long draw from his cigar. “I don’t think you know who I am.” He puffed another cloud of smoke toward me. I did my best not to cough. “I’m Jonathan Ophir. The owner of this lovely property.”

  “Do I look like I care?” I jerked around, kicking the air between us, wishing it would hit him.

  “I get the impression you won’t cooperate.” Still looking at me, he snapped his fingers. Knowing what the signal meant, William held Ellie’s arm and brought her closer to me. Poor girl, she was shaking hard. “I’ll say this once, so pay attention. If you so much as struggle against my men again, your friend here will pay.” Shit. Ellie’s panicked eyes met mine and my heart broke. She was so, so scared. “Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” I said, afraid that if I hesitated, they would hurt Ellie.


  “Good.” He smiled at me, a large but fake grin. Turning to the doctor, he said, “You can prepare her now.” He pointed to William and a large black guy. “You two stay here. Use the other girl in case our prestigious guest gives you a hard time. The rest come with me.” With elegant strides, he leaned closer to me. “I’ll be back soon. We’ll have so much fun.”

  Before I could spit in his face, Jonathan and his band marched out, leaving Ellie and me with two of his bodyguards and a doctor.

  The black guy held my arms and pushed me toward one of the beds, while William held Ellie back, and the doctor played with sharp utensils and syringes.

  Without fighting—why would I when the gorilla before me was about three times my size?—I lay on the reclined bed, my mind working overtime, thinking about possibilities, searching for escape routes, considering insane plans.

  Fear and desperation dripped from Ellie’s mind, making it hard for me to focus on my thoughts and try to find a solution for us.

  Her mind.

  My mind.

  My senses weren’t as numb anymore.

  As I closed my eyes, I hoped the doctor didn’t start playing with me yet. I sent my senses out, out and far away.

  To Theron.

  Adding to my own desperation, he wasn’t at the ranch. Shit. How could I search for him through all corners of Broken Hill? And what if he wasn’t in Broken Hill? I didn’t have time for this.

  I took a deep breath and thought where he could have gone. A hunch told me I knew where he was and with whom.

  My lucky guess was right, and I found him in front of my house. I felt the presence of more tziganes, but couldn’t tell who they were. I only knew Theron’s mind well. Not wasting any more of my precious seconds, I burst inside his mind and tried to flood him with my agony and helplessness. A second later, his worry assaulted me and I was shocked by how strong this feeling was.

  A cold prickling in my arm brought me back to the lab room. The doctor was rubbing a wet cotton ball on my arm.

  “When tziganes close their eyes, they’re trying to reach out, find help,” he said, a European accent to his words. He now wore a doctor’s white mask, covering his dark lips. “But you see, this place is secured and charmed. No tzigane can reach out.”

  Say what? How had I reached out, then?

  I couldn’t worry about that yet. Now that Theron knew I was in danger, I had to make time until he figured out where I was, and arrived with the cavalry.

  When the doctor went back to the steel table and held up a syringe, a wave of cold ran through my body. Shit.

  “So,” I started, “want to tell me what preparing me entails?”

  The doctor snapped at the syringe, making sure the liquid was ready. I swallowed a lump of fear.

  “Not really,” he said.

  “So you won’t tell me what that thing does?” I pointed my chin to the syringe.

  He shrugged. “This isn’t preparing you. Not yet. This is a light tranquilizer so you won’t fight us when we start.”

  Shit, did that mean whatever they were going to do would be painful?

  I glanced around, thinking, looking, hoping. I found Ellie’s wide eyes. She had stopped crying, but she was still shaking. If only the two of us could take three. If only I could tell her ... once more, my stupidity astounded me. I hoped I was only stupid when terrorized; otherwise, damn, I didn’t deserve to have these powers.

  For the first time, I reached into someone’s mind without closing my eyes, in case the doctor suspected what I was doing. With my eyes locked on hers, I entered her mind. She gasped.

  “What is it?” William asked, tightening the grip on her arm.

  “No-nothing,” she muttered, cowering from him.

  Willing my thoughts in the right direction, I tried to pass on to her the feeling of what I wanted to do. To attack them. It didn’t matter how. Even if we had to use nails and teeth. We had to try.

  When she gave me the slightest nod, I almost cried in relief. She had understood me. She was on my side.

  The doctor’s hand on my arm made me jump. Instantly, the black guy glared at me, his fists ready for service.

  The doctor waved him off and extended my arm.

  “Are you sure that’s necessary?” I asked. I had made Ellie agree to attack, but I had no idea how and when.

  Well, it had to be now, before the doctor drugged me.

  The needle touched my skin and I reacted. I kicked the doctor in the chest, sending him back, grabbed the syringe from his hand before he fell and, when the black guy lunged for me, I spun on him and drove the syringe into his throat. He fell on his knees, and I didn’t know if it was from the stab or from the tranquilizer.

  William threw Ellie on the floor and charged at me. I ran to the other side of the bed, but he jumped over it and landed a hard punch on my cheek. I stumbled sideways, cringing in pain as stars blinded me for a moment. Shit, it hurt!

  I leaned against the steel table, trying to recover fast as he came for me again. I retreated, putting the table before me. That was when I saw them. Steel utensils on a tray, including scalpels. I grabbed one and charged him. He prepared for a punch, but his hand met the scalpel. William howled, his huge eyes fixed on his bleeding hand. I pulled the scalpel back and stabbed him again, this time in the stomach. He doubled over, his good hand over the new wound.

  Shit, how many times did I need to stab him before he fainted?

  Ellie appeared by my side, a silver tray in her hands. She slammed it down on William’s head and he fell on the floor, out cold.

  “Good one,” I said.

  She nodded, still shaking.

  We turned to the doctor, who had crawled into a corner, behind a table.

  “Please, don’t kill me,” he begged, his tone shaken.

  I didn’t want to kill him or anyone. I just wanted to get out of here.

  On one of the tables, I found the tranquilizer liquid. I pulled a new syringe from the table drawer, filled it with the liquid, and gave it to him.

  “Inject that into your vein,” I ordered, the scalpel still in my hand, poised to stab him if necessary. As he hesitated, I picked up another scalpel and pointed it at him. “Do it, or you’ll ended up like the others.”

  With shaking hands, he injected the tranquilizer into his arm. Soon, his body relaxed and he slid to the floor.

  “Light tranquilizer?” Ellie asked, disdain marking her trembling voice.

  “We should go.” I grabbed her hand and we darted out of the lab. “Let’s be careful,” I whispered to her once we were out into the dark corridor. “We don’t know how many there are and where they are.”

  In the darkness, we tiptoed our way up the stairs without complications. However, once out the other corridor, we heard voices. Shit. Pressing ourselves to the wall, we tiptoed to the door that led to the ample foyer and waited behind the door, spying on what was happening.

  Jonathan descended the stairs as one of his bodyguards opened the front door.

  A man arrived. He looked confident. Followed by a little girl. She looked terrified. And I knew them both.

  Phillip and Annie.

  25

  My heart stopped for a long beat, then went into overdrive.

  What the hell were they doing here?

  No, no, no.

  “Just in time,” Jonathan said before greeting Phillip.

  “Good,” he answered, his voice cold. Detached. A far cry from the one I remembered. “I don’t want to miss this event.”

  “I know. None of us want to miss it.” He moved to greet Annie, who recoiled behind her father’s leg. “Still wary, child?”

  “Yes,” Phillip answered for her. “To keep her calm, I have to give her lots of elixirs.”

  Elixirs? To Annie? What the hell was going on?

  “That won’t matter if we succeed,” Jonathan said, returning his attention to Phillip.

  Phillip took off his jacket and threw it to one of the brutes standing g
uard. “If we succeed, this will be a historical day for alchemists.”

  My heart dropped. He … he was an alchemist? That couldn’t be.

  “Historical day followed by a bright future,” Jonathan said, his arms opened to his sides. “I can’t wait to start. One of ours is preparing her. Come join me for a drink before we head down.” He gestured for Phillip to follow him to a room to the left.

  “Are they talking about you?” Ellie whispered in my ear.

  “I have no idea,” I whispered back.

  “What do we have here?” I jumped and Ellie yelped as an alchemist approached us from the other side of the corridor. He extended his arm and a shadow dagger appeared in his hand. His eyes meant trouble. “Come on. Through that door. Now.”

  Without choice, we walked into the foyer, stunning all six alchemists.

  “Ms. Reyes!” Annie yelled before running to me.

  I opened my arms and caught her up. “Hello, sweet bun.”

  “These are bad men,” she whispered to me. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “What about your father?”

  She shook her head, her eyes wide. “He isn’t my father.”

  What?

  “But … the way you are with him …”

  “Not my choice. They made me do it. With elixirs.”

  The alchemists surrounded us, their shadow daggers pointed at us, just as Phillip turned toward us. I gasped, taking in his dark, dark eyes and the black lips. How …?

  “Now, that’s a surprise,” Jonathan declared with an amused smile. “Did you escape two of my best alchemists and a doctor by yourself?” I didn’t answer. “Remarkable.”

  “Annie,” Phillip said, “come to me.”

  The girl wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her head in my hair.

  “What is going on?” I asked Phillip, feeling bold and protective of Annie. “What do you want with her?”

  “Wanted,” he said, emphasizing the past tense. “I thought she was the tzigane we were looking for. When we found out she wasn’t, we used her unique powers to find you. Then, we used her sweet face to approach you.”

  I shook my head once. “You knew I was a tzigane from the beginning?”