She fell to her knees as Will rushed toward her again, pulling her up into his arms. “Give it up, Jake.” Will shouted. “Give up his power! You don’t need it.”
Jake’s power grew with his rage. “You’re only saying that because you want me weaker so you can kill me before I kill you.”
“No, Jake! I’m begging you to give it up before you do something you regret.”
“You aren’t the boss of me! Besides I can’t give it up! It’s done!”
Will growled like an angry wild animal. Water flew around the circle. Droplets sprayed in all directions, stinging and drawing blood when they hit Jake’s skin.
“Will! Stop!” Mommy’s voice rose over the roar of the water, and the droplets rushed together and moved in a wave back into the fountain. She hugged Will, leaning into his chest. “It’s okay. Just a change of plans.”
Aiden began to laugh.
Jake’s anger grew. “Why are you laughing?”
Aiden shook his head. “You haven’t figured it out yet?”
“What?” Fear clawed at Jake’s chest. What did they all know that he didn’t?
Aiden continued to laugh.
“What?” A storm appeared overhead, the clouds tumbling and churning.
“It appears you’re wrong about who killed Alex.” Aiden twisted his lips into a smirk. “It appears we both were.”
Jake held his breath then released it in a whoosh. “Will didn’t kill Alex.”
Aiden winked. “It appears not.”
“Who?” But Jake knew.
Mommy.
What had he done?
***
Panic flooded through Emma’s head and she struggled to sort through which emotions were hers and which were Will’s.
What has he done? Will’s hold on her tightened.
Jake’s face turned from anger to horror.
He’ll never be able to live with himself if he does this, Will. We can’t let him do it.
I don’t think we can’t stop him. I don’t think he can stop it.
He won’t have to kill me if I’m already dead.
No. That isn’t the plan.
When has anything gone as planned?
The pain on Jake’s face broke her heart. He hadn’t realized what he’d done. He was just a little boy and he needed to know that his Mommy loved him no matter what he’d done. Emma took a step away from Will. “It’s okay, Jake, You didn’t know. You thought you were doing a good thing. You wanted to save me.”
Tears glazed his eyes. “The shadows said I have to kill you.”
If two of us are dead, then that leaves you and Jake.
Emma, what are you going to do? Terror filled Will’s words.
She felt amazingly calm. Her death was imminent yet she knew she was dying for the best reasons—to save the two people who mattered more to her than anything in the world. “Jake, do you think I would ever hurt you?”
He cast his gaze to the ground. “No.”
“I want to give you a hug. Please.”
He nodded.
Will, I have to tell Jake goodbye.
I’ll watch Aiden.
She knelt in front of Jake and pulled him into a hug, burying her face into his ear. “It’s okay. You don’t have to kill me,” she whispered.
“But the shadows said—”
“Shhh…” She stroked the back of his head, the other hand running circles over his back. “I’m going to fight Aiden, but you can only watch.”
“He’s strong. Stronger than you.” His body stiffened. “I won’t let him kill you too.”
“Jake, your deal with the shadows was that you had to kill me first. Before you could kill Aiden. You won’t be able to interfere.”
“But if you… who will take care of me?”
“Will. He’ll take care of you.”
Jake jerked backward. “No! He tried to kill me!”
Her voice was soft as she tried to soothe him with her touch. “No. That was Marcus. Will stopped him from hurting you any more.”
“But Will took me away from you.”
“No. Will has spent all this time trying to find you.”
Jake’s mouth twisted in indecision.
“Promise me that you’ll try to love Will. He needs you. I promise that he’ll love you too.”
Tears fell down his cheeks. “But I want you.”
“Will’s the next best thing. I need you to promise to give Will a chance.”
Jake nodded.
She kissed his cheek and climbed to her feet.
Will, I’m ready.
Before he could stop her, she found her anger, burning bright and white-hot. She walked between Jake and Will to face Aiden. “I won’t let you destroy the lives of the people I love, Aiden.”
“It’s a fight to the end, Emmanuella. May the better man win.”
“That’s what I’m counting on.” Emma thrust her energy toward Aiden, and Will sent several spears of water toward him.
Don’t kill him, Will. Not yet. He has to kill me first.
Aiden deflected their attacks, sending electrical charges along the ground toward both of them.
It’s electricity, Emma told herself. She felt the jolt and absorbed the power, but Will felt it too, stumbling after the contact. She had no intention of lying down and letting Aiden just kill her. He was going to have to work for it. She sent burst after burst of energy toward him, without any result.
Will had recovered and renewed his attack. I’m going to weaken him. Maybe if you kill him, you can get his power.
And I’ll be harder to kill. Let Aiden and I kill each other.
She sent volley after volley toward her father as Will pelleted him with water spears. Aiden was weakening, and Emma was only slightly injured.
Aiden grew more desperate. “Time to end this, Jacob!” He sent a ball of fire toward Jake, who managed to narrowly dodge it. “Fight me, Jake!”
“No!” Emma screamed. Goaded, Jake forgot his deal with the shadows and sent a wind toward Aiden. It turned around and hit Emma with full force, slamming her into the shadow barricade.
Aiden sent another round of fire toward Jake, and Jake continued to defend himself—but the wind and fire he threw at Aiden was redirected and struck Emma. She felt her power weaken as she slid down the shadow barrier. The shadows crawled across her body, climbing toward her ear. “You can best him,” they hissed. “You have the power.”
“But I still have to die.” Maybe she had it wrong. Maybe there was a loophole.
“Yessss…”
She accepted their confirmation. “But if I kill Aiden first, then Will or Jake will have to kill me. I can’t make them do that.”
“Trusssst ussss.”
What did she have to lose by trusting them? They were the only ones offering help at this point. “Where is my power? How do I find it?”
“It’s within you.”
Will had stepped in front of her to take on Aiden’s advances.
She shook her head in frustration. No, she’d searched for weeks for another source for her power. It wasn’t there. And now Will was going to die too.
Will’s power flooded her, giving her strength and healing her injuries. She clamped down on their connection. “Stop! You can’t save me. You need the power for yourself.”
“I have to defend you, Emma. I can’t stop it.”
“You agreed.”
“No, you don’t understand. It’s our bond. It’s doing this on its own.”
She had to end this before Will became too weak. Climbing to her feet, she found her anger and let it grow. The shadows slid up her body, covering her with an icy coldness. “Find your other source,” they hissed.
“There is no other source!”
Will and Aiden stared at her in surprise.
“It’s in you. It’s been there all along. You only have to use it.”
She wanted to sob in frustration, but she couldn’t afford to expend the energy. What was in her that had
been there all along?
Her vision faded and the memory of Will in the South Dakota field when she was learning how to use her power came to her in a flash.
“Maybe you can use something other than anger.”
“Like what?”
“Like love.”
The image changed. She was with Will in the hotel the day before, and she was telling him how she was different than Aiden.
“Maybe the thing that will save us is what we’re fighting for. They fight for control and greed. We fight to save the ones we love. Which is more powerful in the end?”
Love. The answer was love. She’d wasted so much time on anger and hate and love had been the key the entire time.
She focused on her love for Jake and Will and how she’d do anything to protect them from Aiden.
Her power began to bloom.
Aiden watched in surprise, then shot a bolt toward her. She didn’t deflect it. She needed to be close to death to do this.
Emma! Will’s panic filled her head, but she blocked it out. She thought about the love she felt in his arms, basking in the knowledge that he loved her more than she deserved.
Aiden hit her again and she staggered. Not enough power. Not yet. She thought of Jake and how her heart had swelled with love and belonging the moment he was placed in her arms. She’d vowed to protect him with her life. And she would.
Power pulsed within her, white hot and pure, but somehow she knew it wasn’t enough. She pulled energy from the electrical lines and power sources and still it wasn’t enough.
Aiden hit her again, glee in his eyes.
Jake. She could use his power and Will’s too.
“Jake! Attack Aiden!”
Jake sent a wave of air toward Aiden and Emma pulled the energy from it, adding it to her own. The wave disappeared.
Aiden sent another attack, but Emma pulled his energy too.
Aiden’s mouth dropped and terror filled his eyes.
Emma, what are you doing?
Taking their power.
To finish Aiden off, she’d need to give everything within her until there was nothing left at all.
She walked toward Aiden.
Emma! Will took a step closer.
Will, stay back.
She paused in front of Aiden, her arms spread open. “Go ahead, Aiden, I’m right here. Kill me.”
Aiden’s eyes narrowed and a fiery glow surrounded him. Emma reached to steal the power from him, bringing it within herself and combining it with the writhing, unstoppable power in her chest, finally releasing everything in a fierce burst. Four pillars of fire twisted and burned, swirling in a circle around her and Aiden.
“Mommy!” Jake sobbed in wail.
Emma! Will screamed in her head. A wall of water washed over her, but she held onto the columns of fire until they converged into one, engulfing her and Aiden.
Aiden’s screams reached her ears and she knew the fire would burn her flesh as well as his, but the shadows clung to her with their icy coolness.
I love you, Will. I’ll always love you.
Darkness surrounded her and when Aiden’s screams stopped, and she was sure he was gone, she gave one last shove of every bit of energy within her and faded into the nothingness.
Chapter Thirty
“Mommy!”
Jake’s screaming brought Will out of his shock.
“Momm-mmmy!”
Emma lay on the ground in a charred circle, smoke rising around her.
Stars sparkled in the sky above them, the dome now gone.
She’d done it.
Jake ran to her, screaming her name over and over, falling to his knees next to where she lay.
Will shook his head. His breath came in short bursts as he tried to get control and recover his senses.
She’d done it.
The full weight of her sacrifice slammed into him, and he stumbled in his grief.
The streetlights had been blown out, but the moonlight provided enough illumination to see Jake laying over her. He grabbed her black sooty shirt and tried to pull her off the ground. “Mommy! Get up! Mommy!”
Will snapped out of his shock. Emma had just died in a raging inferno and Jake was now looking at her dead body. He’d seen enough burnt bodies in Iraq to know that Jake didn’t need to remember his mother that way.
“Jake!” Will rushed to him, reaching over to pull Jake away from her, terrified of what he’d find. But while her clothes were blacked from smoke, Emma was unburned. With a quick glance, Will confirmed that Aiden was a different story.
Jake looked back at Will, his face splotchy and wet with tears. “She won’t get up! Why won’t she get up?”
She looked peaceful, lying on her back with her eyes closed. Please God. Please. I’m begging you. Daring to hope, Will pressed his fingertips against her neck, finding no pulse.
His rage exploded. “No, goddamm it. You do not get to die on me!” He pushed Jake away from her, gathered her up in his arms and carried her to the grass. Tilting her head back, he opened her airway and blew, then started chest compressions.
Jake sobbed behind him. “Mommy!”
“One, two, three, four, five.” Will pressed then blew into her mouth again, beginning the next round.
Most of the people caught in the dome had fled screaming once it disappeared, but a few remained and formed a small circle around them. Sirens grew closer and flashing lights approached. A searing pain filled Will’s chest, and he gasped in surprise and panic. His bond to Emma had changed. What did that mean?
A hand touched Will’s shoulder and he jerked.
“Will, you have to get out of here.” James knelt behind him, his voice heavy with emotion.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Will choked out, trying to hold back his tears as he continued administering chest compressions. He couldn’t afford to fall apart.
“I got here just as that giant dome closed in around you.” James stood and pulled on Will’s arm. “Will, you can’t stay here. The place is going to be swarming with cops.”
Will shook his head. “I’m not leaving her.”
“I’m not asking you to. Bring her with you. But you have to get Jake out of here. When the police figure out that his mom is dead, they’re gonna put him in foster care. Are you really going to do that to him after all of this?”
“She’s not dead!”
Jake frantically tugged on Emma’s arm. “Mommy! Get up! Mommy, please!”
Will struggled to think, his thoughts drowning in anguish. Emma! he screamed into her head.
“Will! Now!” James’s voice rose with urgency.
Will paused his resuscitation and stared down at her, startled by the paleness of her face. CPR wasn’t working. What was he going to do?
James’s voice softened. “Will, I’m not asking you to leave her. I’m asking you to bring her with us so we can all get out of here. But we have to go now.”
Will nodded. That seemed to make sense. “Yeah. Okay.” He scooped Emma into his arms and got to his feet while James picked up a sobbing Jake.
Several police cars pulled up to the curb a hundred feet way, the officers getting out of their cruisers. James glanced around and pushed through the crowd. “This way.”
James sprinted down the path, Will on his heels as he held Emma close to his chest. Stopping at a van parked on the street, James opened the back doors, still holding Jake. “It’s the airport cargo van, so you can lay her down in the back.”
Will climbed in and gently settled Emma onto the floor of the van, worried that her body felt so cool. James shut the door and put Jake in the front seat. Jake leaned over the back, his body shaking with his cries as he watched Will resume CPR. James drove in silence, while Will concentrated on Emma’s lifeless body.
He was vaguely aware that the van had stopped and the back doors had opened. James put a hand on Will’s arm. “Will, she’s gone.”
“No.” Will shook his head. His tears blurred Emma’s face, and
his arms ached, but he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t accept what it meant.
“Will. You’ve been doing this for twenty minutes. She’s gone.”
“No.”
“Mommy.” Jake crawled between the seats and kneeled next to her, pulling her hand to his chest. “Mommy. Please.”
Will sat back on his heels, tilting his head as he released a cry of anguish. “No!” He hadn’t tried hard enough. He leaned forward to resume again, but James yanked him out of the van.
“Will, I’m sorry.”
Pain exploded everywhere. No. He couldn’t lose her, not after everything they had gone through. Didn’t she know he couldn’t live without her? He tried to tear himself away from James, but James’s fingers dug into Will’s arms.
“No, Will. She’s gone.”
Collapsing against the van, Will sobbed. “I failed her.”
“No. You got Jake. You saved him. That’s all she ever wanted. That’s all she ever asked for. You didn’t fail her.”
“But I lost her.” Will’s knees buckled as he sobbed and James held him up.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
Inside the van, Jake lay over Emma’s chest. Gut-wrenching cries shook his small body.
Will sucked in a deep breath. He had to get himself together for Jake. Will had just lost his soul mate, but Jake lost his mother, the center of his universe. “Jake. Come here.” Will grabbed Jake’s shoulders, pulling him away from Emma’s body and out of the van. He sat on the asphalt with Jake on his lap.
“She left me. She promised she’d never leave me.” Jake lay limp against Will’s chest, hyperventilating from his sobs.
Fresh grief stabbed Will’s heart. She’d left him too. “She didn’t want to. She loved you more than anything.” Will clung to the assurance that she’d loved them both.
“I want my mommy,” Jake’s hoarse voice wailed.
Will released a fresh sob. He wanted her too, and he considered trying to join her, but he’d made a promise to Emma, a promise he intended to keep. God help the person who tried to hurt this child again. He cradled Jake’s head to his chest. “I’m here, Jake. I’ll take care of you.”
Will took in their surroundings, realizing they were on an airport tarmac.
Redemption (The Chosen #4) Page 32