by K. J. McPike
I rocked back on my heels, feeling like a creep watching some twisted reunion. After all the time Cade spent ranting about what this woman and her friends had done to him, I wasn’t expecting him to smile at her like that. She’d ruined his life. Why was he so calm?
Xiomara was breathing like she’d just sprinted for miles. I counted five inhales before she asked, “What do you want?”
“You know what I want,” Cade answered coolly.
Her breath caught, and she slid along the wall again, as if she were determined to be as far away from my uncle as possible despite the fact that her new prison was hardly six feet wide. “No,” she whispered. “I won’t. I can’t.”
“Oh, I think you can, Xiomara. And you will.” His gaze ran up and down her trembling body. Compared to Cade’s huge frame, she almost looked like a kid. “Once you help us find the other four, of course,” he added.
She shook her head, and her pink headband slid down to her brow. “Never.”
That made Cade laugh again. “I figured you might say that.” He turned to wink at me. “It’s a good thing my nephew here has ways of making you cooperate.”
“Nephew?” Xiomara’s gray eyes studied my face for a long moment before widening. “Kai?”
I nearly choked on my own spit. How did she know my name? I knew she worked with Cade for a while in Alea, but he never said she knew about me.
“I thought for sure the Eyes and Ears…” She trailed off, the astonishment in her expression making me even more uneasy. Why was she acting like she was relieved I was okay? She took a step toward me, and I backed into the wall with a thud.
“Whoa, lady.” I pushed my hands out in front of me. “I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but don’t think for a second that I won’t hurt you if I have to.” My voice came out sounding detached, and I told myself she wouldn’t see through my bluff. After all, I’d snatched her out of her house; she didn’t know what else I was capable of.
Her face fell, and she turned to Cade. In contrast to his alight expression, hers radiated pure hatred. “You’re disgusting,” she snarled, adjusting one of the straps of her nightgown. “Brainwashing your nephew to do your dirty work is low, even for you.”
“Hey!” I pushed off the wall. “You don’t—”
Cade held up a hand to silence me. “Forget it. Harsh as they may be, her words can’t save her now.”
My eyes narrowed to slits. He was right, but it didn’t make her disrespecting my uncle any easier to handle. Wasn’t it enough that she took his entire life away? I was the only person on his side, and now she was trying to turn me against him, too. She had some nerve.
Cade was the only family I had left in this world. He saved me from having to bounce between foster homes and took me in when there was no one else I could depend on. I wasn’t about to abandon him now that he was depending on me.
“So.” Cade arched a protruding brow at Xiomara. “If you are done trying to manipulate my nephew, let’s get down to business. Where are the others?”
She ignored him and looked at me. “Kai, don’t let him fool you. He’s—”
“You don’t want to test my patience,” Cade warned. “Tell us where the others are, or things are going to get very ugly.”
Her nostrils flared, and we all stood in a tense silence filled only by the patter of rain.
“Xiomara,” Cade finally said, his frown from a few seconds ago replaced with a slow-moving smile. “I’m afraid if you don’t cooperate, I’ll have no choice but to send my nephew out to hurt your children.”
She made a choking sound. “No! They have nothing to do with this.”
“Then I suggest you do what we say,” I snapped, willing her to cooperate. Even if she didn’t know it, I was as desperate as she was to avoid bringing her kids into this mess. I’d wasted the previous day spying on her for that very reason. I couldn’t justify harming them—physically or psychologically—when they had nothing to do with their mother’s actions all those years ago.
“I don’t know where any of the others are,” Xiomara claimed. “I swear. I haven’t seen them in years.”
Cade tilted his head to the side, studying her. “You must have some idea where to find them, or at least where to look.”
“I don’t.” Her face was insistent, almost convincing. But my uncle had already told me that she was a great liar. I hoped this was one of the epic performances he warned me about. If she really didn’t have any information on the others, then we were right back to where we started—with no way to Kala.
I shoved my fingers through my knotted hair. “Do you have any pictures of them?” I asked, trying to sound firm. With a single photo of the group, this could all be over in a matter of hours.
She blinked. “Pictures? What good would that do?”
“Just answer the question,” Cade commanded.
I held my breath as I waited for Xiomara’s response. She stayed quiet, her gaze darting around as if she were looking for an escape.
Cade cleared his throat loudly. “This hesitation won’t do. Time for a little encouragement.” He pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it to me.
I caught the hard object instinctively. Looking down at my palm, I realized it was a folding knife.
My blood froze.
“Get the youngest one,” he ordered.
“No!” Xiomara lunged in my direction, but Cade caught her around the waist.
“Go!” he yelled over the sound of her cries. Turning toward the mat, he let go of Xiomara. Her momentum made her stumble and fall into the foam. Cade whipped around to face me, his teeth bared. “Do you want to see your sister again or not?”
My fingers tightened around the cold metal in my palm. If this was the only way to get Kala back, I had to do it. I pressed the button to release the blade and forced my eyes shut.
“Kai, don’t!” Xiomara shouted. I tuned out the rest of her pleas. Replaying Cade’s mantra about compassion in my mind, I projected out of there praying I’d have the strength to do what needed to be done.
Chapter 4
Threat
I stood in the darkened hallway with the blade drawn. Sweat beaded above my upper lip as I scanned the empty corridor. Even though I’d memorized the layout of Xiomara’s house, I didn’t know which room belonged to which of her kids. The first door on the left was already ajar, as if telling me to start there.
Holding my breath, I eased it forward a centimeter at a time until I could see the bedroom behind it. Clothes and books littered the floor, illuminated by a small nightlight that bathed everything in a soft blue glow. The bed held a collection of plush toys atop a lumpy, animal-print comforter. All that showed of the girl beneath the blanket was a mop of black hair and a skinny arm wrapped around a stuffed elephant.
The knife suddenly felt like a weight in my fist. Judging from the girl’s tiny hand, she couldn’t fight off a kitten. How was I supposed to hurt her? Just thinking about it made bile rise in my throat.
There had to be another way—something to scare Xiomara into cooperating. Maybe just showing up with the kid would be enough. If I appeared in front of Xiomara holding her daughter at knifepoint and then projected the girl out of there, it might scare Xiomara into talking. I wouldn’t even have to do anything to the kid; any parent’s imagination would come up with countless horrible possibilities. I knew all too well how morbid the mind could be, how torturous it was picturing the different ways someone could be hurting a loved one.
I stepped around a splayed hardcover and a pile of clothes to get to the girl’s bedside. Her arm was perfectly positioned for a grab-and-go. One quick appearance, and I could bring her right back. She wouldn’t even wake up until we were already out of here, and she would probably think it was all a dream. It wasn’t like she’d be able to explain the situation any other way. No harm, no foul.
Provided you don’t give the poor thing a heart attack.
I let out a soft sigh. Maybe I’d just tell Xiom
ara that she could either lead us to the others or watch us force her kids to help us. Wouldn't that be a sight? A bunch of semmies running around with untrained abilities, wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting members of XODUS.
Too bad none of her kids were old enough to manifest their abilities. During my spying sessions the previous day, I’d overheard Xiomara’s husband joke that their oldest was “fifteen going on thirty.” Semmies didn’t develop their projection powers until sixteen.
Even if the kids were old enough, I couldn’t do that to them. Kidnapping them and threatening them until they mastered their projecting was exactly the type of thing the Eyes and Ears would do, and I refused to be like them.
The little girl flung her arm out in her sleep, and I nearly tripped over a notebook as I backed away from her bed. Her stuffed elephant fell to the floor, joining a sweater at the base of her nightstand. I stared at the toy, an idea unraveling in my brain. Maybe I could get Xiomara to crack without scarring a little kid for life.
I tiptoed forward to grab the elephant and quickly projected to the shipping container. When I appeared, Xiomara was swinging at Cade and screaming.
“Hey!” I shouted, my voice reverberating off the metal walls.
Xiomara whipped around, her hair wild and her headband now at the base of her neck. “What did you do?” She lurched at me but stopped dead when I held up the knife and stuffed animal.
Before she could say anything else, I stabbed the knife through the elephant’s head and ripped the blade through its body. The stitching tore open with a pop, sending clumps of white stuffing tumbling to the floor.
Xiomara cried out, covering her mouth with both hands. Cade glared at me over her shoulder, his face telling me he wasn’t impressed by my cop-out. But I couldn’t stop now.
“Make me go to your house again, and it won’t be a stuffed animal that gets a knife to the back.” I shoved the toy’s limp form at her. “Got it?”
She let out a sob, falling to her knees as she clutched the mangled toy. Tears filled her eyes, reflecting the flickering light.
“Last chance.” Cade stepped in front of her and crouched so he could look her in the face. “Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?”
I held my breath, aware of nothing but Xiomara’s reaction. I couldn’t go back for that little girl.
Xiomara hugged the scrap of stuffed animal to her chest and sniffled. “Okay,” she whispered, keeping her eyes on the floor. “You win.”
“We win?” Cade pressed. “And what might our prize be?”
“I…” One of her eyes spilled over, and she brushed her cheek with the base of her hand. “I have a picture.”
Chapter 5
Photograph
It worked. My whole body arched forward as relief flooded through me.
“Where is this picture?” Cade demanded, straightening his legs so he towered over Xiomara again. The light flickered behind him, making his broad shadow dance along the floor like a possessed spirit.
She sat back on her heels, refusing to look at either of us. “I don’t know exactly. I’ll have to dig around to find it.”
“Dig around?” Cade laughed. “I don’t think so. Tell us where it is, and we’ll get it.” His words wound me back into a cluster of nerves. I couldn’t have my uncle tearing apart Xiomara’s house in search of a picture. I wasn’t going to risk him waking and terrorizing her family after I’d done everything I could to avoid it.
Xiomara pressed a trembling hand to her brow, still cradling the limp form of the destroyed elephant in her other arm. “I told you, I don’t know where it is. Trying to explain where to look will take longer than if I look for it myself.”
“You expect us to trust you won’t try anything if we let you out of here?” Cade challenged.
“She won’t,” I jumped in, eager to keep him from joining any trip to her house. “Not when she knows I have easy access to her family.” I held up the blade still clutched in my hand and shot her a dark look, daring her to disagree. “Isn’t that right?”
“Of course.” Xiomara dropped the remains of the toy as she got to her feet. “I-I won’t try anything.”
Cade’s scowl returned, but I was sure he would be fine once we caught another member of XODUS. Taking Xiomara’s wrist, I pictured the same room I’d found her in earlier. I let the image play through my head for an extra second to make sure her husband was still sleeping. For a brief moment, I wondered if he would wake up and see me threatening his wife.
I shook off the thought. So what if he did?
Setting my jaw, I followed the preview before I could talk myself out of it. The bathroom light was still on, casting a soft yellow triangle onto the wood floor. It was enough for me to make out the nightstands on either side of the queen bed and a long desk that covered most of the wall to my right. There were a handful of frames propped up on their surfaces, but I doubted any of them held the photo I needed.
The floor creaked as Xiomara started toward the closet, and her husband stirred. She and I went still as stones, watching the man roll over. He muttered something unintelligible, and a few seconds later he was snoring again.
“You should wait in the hall,” Xiomara whispered so softly I could barely make out her words. “If Yoseph wakes up and sees you, this will take even longer.”
I knew she was right, but the thought of leaving her unattended left a bad taste in my mouth. I scanned the room again. There was only one door to exit, and it was a two-story drop from either of the windows. She’d have no way out except to go past me. Nothing to worry about.
Reluctantly, I lowered the knife. “You have two minutes.”
She nodded, and I headed out to the hallway. I left the door open, just in case she tried something crazy. There was no telling what someone would do when backed into a corner. I was a prime example of that.
Pressing my back against the wall, I blew the air out of my cheeks. I told myself whoever was in Xiomara’s photo would be able to lead us to the other three. Maybe we’d get really lucky and the photo would be of the whole group. Then I could get all five women to undo the energy sink tonight and have them home before sunrise. Their loved ones would be none the wiser.
I heard something rip, and my heart took a nosedive into my feet. If Xiomara was tearing up the picture, I was going to lose it. Knife drawn, I rushed into the bedroom. She was hovered over the desk, scribbling on a scrap of paper.
“What are you doing?” I closed the distance between us in two strides. “Leaving notes wasn’t part of the deal.” My free hand shot out to take the pen, but she pulled it back before I could reach it.
“I want to make it look like I left on my own.” The desperation on her face shattered my resolve to stop her. “Please. I can’t let my kids go crazy wondering if I’ve been killed.” Her words sent a jolt through me, and a memory played in my mind like an old movie.
Mommy and Daddy lay still on the floor. I call them, but they don’t move. Their eyes are open, but they don’t blink. There are red stains on their clothes and all over the carpet, the furniture, the walls. Kala’s pink lovey is crumpled in front of my shoes, but I don’t hear her crying. She always cries if she drops her lovey. Where is she?
“Please,” Xiomara said softly, snapping me back to the present. “They’ll already be devastated enough.”
A tremor moved through my throat. I knew the devastation of loss was nothing compared to the misery of uncertainty. Not knowing whether my little sister was alive was a slow, constant torture I was still enduring—one that I needed Xiomara’s help to end.
“Kai, are you—”
“Just hurry,” I managed to get out. Turning on shaky legs, I left the room before she could see how much her plea had affected me.
Back in the hall, I fought to calm my racing heart. Why couldn’t I find even half the strength Cade possessed? He never would’ve let her get away with that note. He would’ve ripped the paper out of her hand and threatened to crack her hu
sband’s skull if she didn’t get the picture right that second. Meanwhile, my knees turned to jelly at the mention of sad kids. It was pathetic. I was pathetic.
A cloud drifted away from the moon, letting a beam through the window at the end of the hallway. The blue-green glow landed on a collection of framed school portraits along the wall, and though I couldn’t see the details of the kids’ faces, I was sure they were all smiling—the vision of a perfect family.
I scowled. They had no idea what I’d been through, no idea that I was fighting so hard to get a piece of the life they probably took for granted. Why was I so worried about showing them mercy when life hadn’t shown me any?
Xiomara murmured something as she stepped into the hallway, but I was too caught up in my thoughts to process what she said. “What?” I asked, turning to face her.
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
I caught sight of the duffel bag in her hand and huffed. “Are you crazy? This isn’t vacation time.”
“I told you, I’m trying to create the illusion that I left.”
I narrowed my eyes. That’s what you get for giving her an inch. But Cade would never let me live it down if Xiomara brought luggage with her. It was bad enough she left a note.
“You’re not taking that with us,” I grumbled.
She opened her mouth to protest but thought better of it as she eyed the blade in my hand. With a sigh, she turned around and headed back into the room. I followed, noticing she had turned off the bathroom light so the only illumination came from the moon. She opened the closet and shoved the bag inside, taking a moment to unzip one of the pockets. When she turned toward me again, her arm was extended in offering.
In her grip was a small photograph.
Chapter 6
Weakness
I pulled the picture from Xiomara’s fingers, unable to keep my own hand from shaking. Even with the moonlight coming in through one of the windows, it was too dark to make out the details of the image. As eager as I was to project to whoever was in it, I didn’t want to turn on a light and risk waking Xiomara’s husband.