She quirks a brow, assessing me. Appearing to come to a conclusion, her tongue clicks against the roof of her mouth as she pivots away, “I’ll take you to the surveillance room. Everything you need to know is there.”
The surveillance room is in the east wing of the Gilbert compound basement. We pass a handful of other Peace Keepers on our way back to the elevator—most off duty and the majority male. Tallulah retrieves a key from around her neck and unlocks the control box, giving us access to the lower level. I send a thought to Solas as we ride the elevator down, How many people do you think live here?
“At least sixty.”
Do you think they’re all immune?
“They would have to be in order to survive… Doesn’t mean they don’t carry the disease within them to pass on to the next person who isn’t immune.”
Fucking hell.
The elevator dings, announcing our arrival to the lower level. The doors slide open to a whitewashed corridor with a single door at the end. Tallulah announces, “Don’t be alarmed when we enter. Everyone in the surveillance room is Fallen. We all have a common goal here, and there is no reason to fight.”
I nod in agreement while thinking, I’ll be the judge of that.
She uses another key to open the room and guides us in. The room is dark with only the light of twelve televisions in various sizes illuminating the room. There is a Fallen for every three screens, meticulously scanning the live feed. Eric is the last to enter the room. He closes the door but remains a barricade for potential threats.
I admonish, “Where did all this come from?”
Tallulah explains, “It’s been here. We all work for Roman. This was his equipment. Trey used to run things down here, but it was passed to me after…” My brows pulse in wonderment and relief that she doesn’t know Roman is dead or that I was the one that killed him. She spins around, nudging one of the Fallen, “Morrice, let me show them what we found.”
Morrice allows her to take over the system. Her fingers flying over the keys. I examine Morrice out of the corner of my eye. His spiky hair is bleached at the tips, reminding me of a horrible punk hairstyle from the early nineties. He’s gangly with not much of an expression.
Tallulah pulls up a video, “Ok. This was seventy-eight hours ago.”
We watch the silent, black and white playback of the entrance to the coffee shop. A group of girls enter with books tucked against their chests or sides. A young man enters next, followed by a couple. I shrug, commenting to Solas, “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary.”
“There!” Tallulah points.
My attention snaps back to the screen just as large man with dark skin, wearing a flat woolen cap that hides his face, walks out of the camera’s view and into the coffee shop. “I missed it. What happened?”
She changes to another camera’s view, bringing up the interior of the coffee shop. I witness the large man step up to the counter, and his wallet falls out of his pocket. A young woman swoops down, picks it up, and taps the man on the shoulder to return it. He turns at an angle, so I can’t see his face, but the young woman’s expression is clear, falling from a smile to alarm as she holds the wallet out to him. He takes it from her gently, his head moving as he speaks. She gives him a wan smile, and he turns away.
“Did you see it?” Tallulah asks.
I shake my head. Solas steps closer to the screen, “Wait. Play it again.” Telly rewinds the video, then lets it play. Solas points to the screen where a solar flare covers the man’s hands as he takes his wallet, “There.”
“What is that?” Alice asks before I do.
Tallulah answers, “This is where it started. That’s a Fallen, and he just infected her with the disease.”
I counter, “How do you know?”
Morrice intrudes on Tallulah’s space, taking over the keyboard. “Here,” he says crossly. The same video feed pops up at a different angle. “Do you need more convincing?”
I inspect the scene closely as the girl taps the Fallen on the shoulder. The Fallen turns, facing the camera. A deep growl rumbles in my chest. Jack prompts, “I take it, you know him?”
The name is gritted through my gnashed teeth, “Mephistopheles.”
“Where is he now?” Solas inquires.
Morrice informs, “Off grid. Haven’t seen him since.”
Alice checks her watch, her brow beginning to sweat. I remark, “You alright, A?” She nods unconvincingly. Eric steps away from his post at the door to hold her hand, then I note his discomfort as well. “What’s going on? What’s wrong with you two?”
Eric’s voice is gruff, “Being so close to too many deaths at once can be draining on Guides until the souls are taken to the Veil.”
Tallulah enlightens, “We’ve been working our asses off for the last three days on practically no sleep at all. We’re doing our best, but you’re looking at all the Reapers in town.”
“You’re all Reapers?” I question.
She affirms, “All but Randy. He’s a demon.”
Great, I think.
Alice urges, “We need to get into the coliseum.”
I regard Tallulah, “I have an idea. You’re not going to like it, but it’s all we’ve got right now.”
“We’ll do whatever it takes to get you in there,” she declares.
“I need a map.”
gh
Strapped with walkie-talkies and assault rifles, Tallulah’s team of five voyage to the southernmost point of Red Meadow. My team of five wait within the tree line for cover two blocks from the coliseum. I do my best to block out the voices from within, but it’s harder to accomplish when my body is on the verge of imploding. I take another swig of the tonic and replace the flask into my back pocket.
Tallulah’s voice comes over the radio, “We’re in position and ready when you are.”
Jack looks askance for my reply. I nod to him. He radios Tallulah, “Good to go.”
“Copy,” she confirms.
Shots are fired in the distance, Tallulah’s team only stopping to reload. They scream and do whatever they can to draw the attention of the helicopters. It works. The helicopter hovering over the coliseum flies south.
Tallulah reports, “I’ve got three inbound. Be advised.”
Remaining cautious of the fourth helicopter possibly being in the vicinity, we rocket to the doors of the coliseum, one at a time. Solas arrives first. Alice goes second with Eric on her heels. I follow quickly, and Jack brings up the tail end of our team, ramming through the glass doors. The glass shatters into a million pieces, tinkling like sharp drops of rain as they decorate the ground. I step through the broken glass, into the empty outer hall of the coliseum. The rest of the team follows vigilantly.
I pause at the first set of doors leading into the main area of the coliseum, mentally preparing for the worst. You can smell the sickness in the air. It’s a rotten, souring scent accompanied by the thick musk of body odor. I jerk the doors open wide at both handles. The smell assaults us ferociously, a cruel invisible cloud of bile, forcing us to pull our gas masks on before we vomit. I had expected the situation to be severe, yet somehow, the scene within the coliseum is more grave than I imagined.
No one is standing or sitting. They’re all laying across each other in piles. Not an inch of the floor can be seen. Everyone is covered in boils. They’re on their faces, arms, hands, legs, feet, and backs. A majority of the people are bleeding from their ears, and noses, their blood mixing with the puss from open sores. The rest of the infected have streaks of dry blood from their eyes and mouths, their skin pale, cold, and unmoving.
Alice’s muffled voice cracks beneath her gas mask, “Not again.”
Eric steps in front of her, grasping her biceps, “One at a time. It’s all we can do.”
I crouch down to the man at my feet. He clearly doesn’t have the energy, but he reaches up to me. I take his hand, mindful of any sores. His voice rasps incoherently. My heart breaks for him, a tear trailing down my f
ace. I send a thought to Solas, There’s too many of them. What if I can’t save them all?
“You can’t allow yourself to think that way. Just save as many as you can.”
Continuing to hold the dying man’s hand for support, I take in the sheer numbers of the infected. Anxiety takes control of my system, causing me to rip the gas mask from my face so I can breathe. It slightly helps, but I’m to the point of hyperventilation.
Jack puts a hand on my back, rubbing circles, “Just breathe. You don’t have to do this.”
Breathless and wide-eyed, I snap to Jack, “Are you kidding me? We can’t just leave them here.”
His hand falls away from me as he defends, “They’re beyond saving now.”
Solas supports, “That’s Ivy’s decision, not yours.”
“Is that supposed to have more than one meaning?” Jack blusters.
“Does it need to?” Solas questions.
They continue to badger each other, but my ears begin to ring, drowning them out. I become nauseous and dizzy. My decision is made for me. I don’t know why I never thought of its simplicity before now. I take a small sip of the tonic from my pocket, then turn my focus on the infected hand in mine. Opening my mind, I’m overcome by pain, guilt, and regret. Then…there’s hope.
I let my Darkness surface as I interrupt the pissing contest between Jack and Solas, “Get out.” Jack hates my Darkness. I can read it in his expression. He spins on his heels and walks out of the main arena. I see an apology coming from Solas and stop him before he can start, “I don’t care about your petty fighting. I need you to get Jack, Alice, and Eric out of here.”
Solas argues, “I’m not leaving you in here. What do you plan to do?”
I let my wings sprout from behind me. The man staring up at me doesn’t bat an eye. I admit to Solas, “I’m going to heal them…all at once. I don’t know what will happen, so I want you all to leave.”
“You don’t have the energy for that,” he points out.
I plead with him, “Do you trust me?”
He inspects my state a moment, then gives me a curt nod. “I will escort everyone out, but I will remain in the outer halls in case you need me.”
Alice appears sick, relieved to be leaving the coliseum. Eric and Solas shuffle out behind her. Assured they are out of the vicinity, I turn back to the dying man with my eyes of obsidian and lower my empathic walls down completely.
I start with a connection—the man’s hand in mine—and open my mind in welcome of his emotions again. Pain, guilt, regret, acceptance. I push my mind’s reach through his touch with the person next to him. There’s no emotion. I reach further to the next person and the next. I’m asphyxiated with the gravity of emotions pouring into me and the weightlessness of emotions absent. My heart pounds heavy and slow with the ache in my chest. My breathing comes quickly again, a sheen of sweat coating my skin. I contain the scream building with the intense pressure of emotions as best I can.
Placing my free hand on the man’s chest before me, heat builds in my core. It grows into a raging fire, and I know it’s too late to back out now. I let it swell until I can no longer hold it. It trickles through my veins, down my arms, and into my hands. My eyes blaze with an all-encompassing darkness, blinding me. The fire in my palms flows through to the man’s hand and chest with my touch, seizing us together. The darkness of my vision fades, leaving a vision of the man arching off the ground towards my touch with a silent scream.
I drive the power I know I’m capable of deeper through the chain of bodies. My ears burn with a high-pitched ring. Bodies begin thrashing around violently as if the ground was electrocuting them simultaneously. The wails of agony echo through the coliseum. I feel my abilities weakening and refuse to give up; refuse to fail. I release the scream I had been holding back, forcing throughout the chain connection the one thing I know heals; love.
A white illumination grows beneath my palms. It becomes so bright, my body glows like a radioactive flashlight in a cavern. It doesn’t stop growing. Cries become deafening. I hear my name being called and turn to see Solas running for me. I warn, “No!” The light explodes from my entire being, washing everything in sight in pure white light with the force of a tornado. I perceive my body flying backward and colliding with something hard.
The light fades from the room. It takes a few minutes for my eyes to adjust and my equilibrium to regulate. Once it does, I’m no longer on the ground level of the coliseum, but in the upper tiers of stadium seating above the doors I entered with the others. I struggle to push myself up from the collapsed cement and bent seats, concealing my wings again. I’m drained of energy, barely able to stand without shaking. I’m unsure of when my Darkness receded and wonder what caused it to cower away when I needed it most. I take the flask of healing tonic from my back pocket, then consume the last of its contents.
I spot Solas rising from the rubble of an obliterated doorway and rush to him as Jack, Alice, and Eric enter with Tallulah and her team. They pause in the doorway. I help Solas to his feet, worried I had hurt him with whatever exploded from me. He grasps my face, bringing me near, his fingers entwining in my mess of tangles. The magnitude of his emotions bore through his gaze and touch. Fierce love, pride, and devotion.
I swallow hard, throwing my empathic walls back up before I’m crippled with his sentiments, yet they flood me with his raucous tone, “You scared the shit out of me.”
“Are you alright?” I counter. “I didn’t hurt you?”
Solas shakes his head with a hint of a grin, “Never.” He pulls me into a tight embrace. I wrap my arms around his middle. His heart beats strongly in his chest, thundering against my ear. His chest reverberates as he confounds, “Are you alright? I’ve never seen anything like that. It was like an atomic bomb went off…but it was you.”
I lean away to regard him, “I don’t know. I think I’m alright. I was just worried I had hurt you. I didn’t know what was going to happen or if it would work, but I knew what had to be done.”
He turns me away to face the mass of the coliseum. People are moving around slowly, searching around them with disorientation. There are many who realize they are near someone they loved or knew that I wasn’t able to save. Sorrow travels through the masses.
Jack approaches someone in the crowd. He helps them to their feet, soothing the fear of what they’d been through. Then, he escorts them out of the coliseum. I worry, “What about the helicopters?”
Solas remarks, “The Peace Keepers were able to take them out.”
I catch sight of Alice, tears running down her face. Eric takes her hand and leads her to the first motionless body in their path. Alice nods sadly. She kneels to the body, places a hand on their forehead and another on their chest. A small orb passes through the body, glowing a soft yellow. As it rises, its illumination fades until the orb is gone. The spirit of a young woman appears beside Alice, lost and confused. Alice takes her hand, then escorts her to the Veil.
Eric coaxes the soul of the next body into fruition. It glows a soft purple. The room begins to twinkle with orbs of different colors rising from the ground to various heights of the coliseum. They disappear at their apexes, the spirits of the souls appearing in their places. I realize Tallulah and the other three Reapers of her team are helping Alice and Eric guide the souls to the Veil. It’s a magical—yet tragic—sight to behold. A mass of lead forms in my chest with guilt.
Solas puts an arm around me, pulling me into his side. “You saved as many as you could. If it weren't for you, none of them would be alive.”
I cross my arms over my chest, nodding vehemently with silent tears. I decide to push my feelings aside. I glance up to Solas, “I’m going to help them. Will you call Theodora?”
He kisses the top of my head, then releases me, “I’ll tell them to go back to the Keep. We should be able to return soon.” I agree, then approach the first person standing before me. He smiles kindly. I ask, “Do you know where you are?” He nods. I reach o
ut for his hand, and lead him to the doors, “Come on. Let’s get you some fresh air.”
The cool wind blows gently towards us as we exit. The man raises his face to the rays of the warm setting sun. I ogle at the bliss in his countenance, wondering how someone who had been through so much has the strength to smile.
The man notices me staring and addresses me fully, “Thank you.”
My head tilts to the side. “You have nothing to thank me for.”
He smiles wider. “You gave me hope. I will never forget the angel who saved my life. Thank you.”
The man walks away, leaving me dumbfounded. The lead in my chest disappears, leaving the lightness of joy in my heart. I let the moment sink in. I saved him.
Chapter 14
The manor is silent. Though Tallulah and her team have accompanied us back to the Roe Estate, not a sound travels through the air as the heaviness of the day’s events settles on our shoulders. Without foresight, everyone within the manor seems to discover a place for themselves to reflect on the aftermath. I find myself on my balcony, staring down at Jack as he sits in a deck chair beside the pool.
Tallulah approaches him from behind, “Jack?”
He twists in his chair to see her, “Hey. I wanted to talk to you.”
She sits across from him, “Is everything ok? Do I need to leave with the others?”
He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, “No. Nothing like that.”
Tallulah hesitates, “Ok…”
Jack takes a deep breath, releasing it slowly. “I never apologized to you. We’ve been friends now since you tipped us off about Ivy becoming a Duke. Not once have you brought up the interrogation.”
Interrogation? I wonder.
Tallulah shrugs, avoiding Jack’s eyes. “It’s in the past. You were worried about her. Being bound to someone will always intensify your feelings. After learning about Lucifer posing as me to gain her trust, I realized you had every right to be angry with me. I forgave you.”
Jack excuses, “I was in a bad place. Even being partially bound to Ivy, her Darkness was feeding on my own. I wasn’t controlling my emotions well. I never should have questioned you that way.”
The Helio Trilogy: Volumes 1-3 Page 85