My belly flutters, but not with good butterflies. It’s my gut, or intuition, telling me that something is about to go horribly, horribly wrong soon.
“Is there anything we can do to help, Captain?” the one with dreadlocks inquires.
He is very serious – there is no humor in his voice whatsoever.
“No, Kevin,” Captain Arensmeier says, his tone suggests he is completely uninterested in the topic at hand. “Keep everyone distracted while I get everything set up. You will know when I am ready for you.”
“Yes, sir,” they say in unison.
They seem to disappear from Arensmeier’s sides. I recognize it this time as the same shadow step that Degory uses frequently.
The one they called Captain continues to drag me through the streets that seem strangely empty. I wonder how they are so barren under the current circumstances.
“Where are you taking me?” I demand, my voice cracking a little.
He still doesn’t acknowledge me. I try to scream, but I don’t get any sound out. I hear him chant something, then nothing comes out of my mouth. I try screaming, talking, and coughing, but nothing can be heard from me.
I have to wipe a bit of blood from my lip when I decide to give up trying to make noise, my throat is far from healed from previous screams. I scratch at my neck as if it will cancel out whatever the man has done to take my voice away but it doesn’t help.
After a few moments, I stop completely not wanting to see more blood. If I injure myself more, I might lose my voice completely and my throat will never heal.
We walk for several minutes towards the center of Eden. He seems so calm for someone who has more people wanting his head than mine. He, either, has a lot of confidence, or he isn’t aware of how much shit he is in.
He drags me up the staircase that circles around the large hill in the middle of Eden. I just hope to everything that is holy he isn’t going to show me what those two poles are used for that stretch higher than I can see.
Finally, we reach the top, after what seems like forever. Being out of shape has its disadvantages, but the Captain wouldn’t slow down for even a moment. He continues dragging me up the stairs whether I’m moving my feet or not. Either way, it didn’t affect his stride. My heels are scratched to hell from it.
I’m breathing heavily, but he seems completely unaffected by the climb and I’m not really surprised. He approaches a large structure that’s nothing more than two huge wooden poles connected together by another one approximately two hundred feet from the ground.
This is the first time I’ve been able to see the third pole. This angle allows me to see almost to the top of the strange contraption. He sits me down on the dirt, and chants some more lingo under his breath that I can’t hear. This time, chains reach up from the ground and attach to my ankles, rendering me helpless and immobile.
He turns away from me and continues chanting. A doorway appears, similar to the one we took to get to Eden, but it seems less stable somehow. The outline of it is faded and cloudy. I watch in awe.
If this really is the guy that’s trying to get to the King’s Castle, then I have to do something. I have to stop whatever it is that he’s planning. I have to at least try. Definitely not for Reapers like Captain King, but for all those that are kind, like Degory.
I think about the last time I used my powers and actually controlled them myself. I was curious and used imagery to draw them out. I’m not angry this time, but determined and driven. I think about the fire that continuously flows through me, and imagine it concentrated within my hands.
Lifting my hands so they are out in front of me, I focus my gaze and concentration to where I want the fire to be. I feel the flames in my veins gathering from all over my body and relocating itself within my palms.
With a flicker, fire appears from within my hands and floats just above my palms.
Chapter 23
I gather more of the fire so that there are two large balls, one in each hand. I throw the flames in my right hand directly at the Captain’s back, hitting him in the center just below his shoulder blades. I would have been stunned if I had missed. He’s only standing three feet in front of me.
The flames expand across his back and push him forward from the force. The ball disperses on contact. The white jacket and black robe are burned through. I can see his bare skin from a hole in the back where the fire destroyed it, which is unscathed.
He groans but doesn’t cry out in pain. I didn’t think that my fireballs would do too much damage to him, I just want to stop him and I succeed. His chanting has stopped and the door fades away. He turns to look at me, grinning.
“Well, well,” he chuckles, amused.
Except his laugh is more sinister than King’s.
“They were supposed to have bound your powers by now,” he muses. “Do you honestly think you can stop me with those measly abilities?”
I know I can’t, and I’m more afraid than I’ve ever been before. All I can do is try to distract him until someone comes to help.
Without trying this time, the flame disappears in my left hand and reappears in my right, taking the place of the ball I had thrown at Arensmeier. Being right-handed, I wouldn’t really want to throw anything from my left hand anyway.
“Well, then,” he challenges. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
With a wave of his hand, the chains attached to my ankles disappear. I stand quickly, making sure my back is never turned to him so I know where he is at all times. I back up a few feet so that he isn’t able to unsheathe his sword and use it against me.
I quickly throw another fireball at him, and he extinguishes it with a wave of his hand before it even gets within two feet of him. This isn’t going to go over well. I’m kind of regretting my decision.
Recalling the fire onto my palm again, I ready myself for another throw. I won’t be any match against him, especially if he decides to use his shadow step, but I can’t just sit here and let him get away.
I let loose another fireball, but it hits air. He used his shadow step and reappears four feet to my side.
“I’m surprised you’re still standing,” he coos.
His honeyed voice adds a malefic quality that sends a shiver down my spine.
“What are you –”
I can’t even finish my question. I can feel a sharp pain in my belly and blood shoots out from a hole in my stomach that wasn’t there a second ago. Arensmeier laughs more maniacally than I ever heard from King.
I fall to my knees, trying to figure out where all the blood is coming from and what he did to cause such a wound. I didn’t even see him take out his sword.
Calling upon the fire inside me again, this time I cauterize the wound. I lift up the shirt drenched in blood to find a round hole just above my belly button where it looks like a hand had pierced my stomach like a spear.
He can’t be that strong though, can he?
I quickly cauterize the area as best I can before I pass out from blood loss. The bleeding stops outside my body, but I have no idea how my insides are holding up from the damage.
“Clever girl,” he taunts, still amused. “This time, I’ll sever your Chain of Fate so that you won’t have the strength to cauterize your wounds.”
Before he has the chance to use another shadow step, several people appear somewhere behind me. I can hear the whooshing of the shadow step that lets me know at least six other individuals have shown up.
I look up at Arensmeier to see him glaring at his fellow Reapers with more indignation than I’ve ever seen anyone possess. His two comrades appear next to him.
I’m not sure if they are Captains who have arrived behind me, or some of the same soldiers in black outfits that brought me here from Degory’s family cabin. I don’t want to take the chance at peeking back at them when this man can kill me at any time. I don’t want to take my eyes off of him if I can help it.
“Sorry about that, Captain Arensmeier,” Grayson states to the trai
tor’s right, humor always present in his tone. “We were on our way to warn you when a few of the Lieutenants tried to cut us off.”
“It’s all right, Grayson,” he replies coolly. “We are done here. Kevin, create the portal.”
“Yes, sir,” the other Captain answers.
He turns his back on the Reapers that are behind me, and steps away a few feet. He starts chanting the same way Arensmeier had just a few minutes before.
I growl and pound the ground with both fists, creating a circle of flames around the three traitors. I ignore the tearing I hear in my throat. Their leader chuckles again.
“SUNNY!”
I hear Degory’s voice behind me. There are more whooshing sounds. Several more Reapers have appeared behind me. I want to look back at him, but I can’t afford to lose my concentration or I won’t be able to keep up the circle.
The one called Kevin continues to chant. I close my eyes, lower my head so it is just above the ground, and push the fire up so that it’s right in front of him. He still keeps on with the chant.
Arensmeier steps toward me, but I don’t see it with my eyes closed. I hear his feet upon the dirt but I don’t know that he is coming towards me until he pulls me up off the ground, spins me around, and wraps his arm around my neck.
He’s now using me as a distraction, so my planned failed miserably. I’m not sure how well it will work, since Eden is against my existence, but he would know better than I would how it will go over with the others.
All the Reapers that present are Captains and Lieutenants. I don’t see Mary anywhere, but I understand. She cares deeply for her Captain and probably tried to defend him to the other Reapers. I won’t be surprised if she has lost a little of her sanity.
I remind myself to ask Degory later how she’s doing, if I make it out of this alive. He’s being held back by his Lieutenant and another Captain that I don’t recognize. They are at the front of the group, while the rest of them are spread out behind them.
Degory is looking at Arensmeier with more hatred and venom than I have ever seen.
No one speaks while Kevin creates the doorway again. Within a few moments, it’s not only visible, but stable. It doesn’t look like the one Arensmeier had created, though. This one must lead to a different place than the one Arensmeier was trying to get to.
Grayson enters the doorway first, followed by Kevin.
“This has been fun, but it seems I have to take care of some things,” Arensmeier announces to his fellow Reapers.
He seems genuinely amused by this outcome. He lowers his face so that he whispers his last statement in my ear as a warning.
“Rest assured: we will all be seeing each other again in the near future.”
He, then, takes his free hand and reopens the wound in my belly. I hear Degory cry out, but I’m too focused on scratching at the arm tightening around my neck. My lungs gasp for air, I can’t even think about cauterizing the wound again.
Arensmeier backs up as blood gushes from my freshly opened wound, and my vision starts to blur. My arms fall limply to my sides, and the last thing I see is the ground getting closer to my face.
The last thought that enters my mind is how ironic it is that I will be dying in Eden.
When I regain consciousness, I hesitate to open my eyes. I know I won’t be home in my bed, but I don’t want to find myself back on the platform in the Research and Development building. I have no reason to think they won’t bring me straight back there to await the next experiment.
I take the chance and open my eyes slowly. I’m in a dimly lit room that’s rather bare besides the full-sized bed I’m lying on, and a wardrobe is situated in the opposite corner of the room from where I lay.
Trying to sit up so I can attempt to figure out where I am, the pain in my stomach is too great. I wince and lay back down with a groan. I look at the door on the wall across from the bed and notice that Degory’s subordinate, Lieutenant Martin, is standing there.
I’m not sure if she’s keeping guard so I won’t try to leave, or so that no one will get in to harm me. Either way, this is better than being stuck on that platform. I’ll take this over that ridiculously uncomfortable cot any day. I’m about to roll over and pretend I’m still asleep, but my guard spots my eyes open before I can.
“Oh, good, you’re finally awake!” she cries.
She’s much more cheerful than I expect of Degory’s Lieutenant, and a little more enthusiastic than I can currently handle. Especially how grim she seemed during our first meeting.
Her voice is really bouncy and bubbly. Not something I expected from a busty brunette, but I welcome it compared to the way everyone else has treated me thus far.
“The Captain wanted to be here,” she says, “but another Captain’s meeting has been called, so he asked me to look after you until he could get back here.”
“What’s going on?” I ask, trying to hide my concern it’s about whether they’ll keep me alive or just sentence me to death.
My voice still hasn’t recovered from the experiments, so I can’t have been out for that long. I cough, and taste blood on my tongue.
“Well, I would tell you, but Captain Alden asked me to wait until he came back so he could tell you. Here, let me get you some water!”
She opens the door and yells down the hallway for one of the Division members to get some water for us. She shuts the door and faces me again with a big smile.
“So, you’re the one who’s stolen the Captain’s heart, huh?” she inquires. “I’ve worked under him for a long time and I’ve never seen him be so protective over someone before, let alone disregard his responsibilities. Not even with Mary.”
I just look at her as she speaks to me. I don’t really know what to say. Her cleavage is really distracting. With every breath she takes, it looks like her boobs are going to pop out of her robe.
Cringing every time that she bounces when she’s particularly excited about what she’s saying, I’m waiting for the nip-slip. I’m afraid for her, since she doesn’t seem bothered by her attire. It’s almost like they want to pop out.
“It’s a relief actually,” she continues. “Maybe now that he’s got a girlfriend, he’ll start to be a little more laid back!”
She laughs as if she told the world’s biggest joke.
“You know, he hasn’t left your side this whole time,” she comments.
Her voice has a serious tone to it now that seems dreamy, but that cheerfulness doesn’t go away completely.
“It’s funny that you wake up when he’s forced to go to a Captain’s meeting.”
There’s a soft knock at the door and the Lieutenant opens it, taking a tray from someone on the other side. She thanks them and shuts the door again, bringing over the tray and holding it in front of me to grab the singular glass situated on it.
I sit up, lean on my elbow, and take the cup carefully. The cool water soothes the ache and dryness of my throat and mouth, but there’s an iron tinge to it from the blood.
She sits on the edge of the bed and continues to talk to me. Well, more at me since I’m distracted by her boobs still. She’s extremely bubbly and not shy about her choice in topic.
At one point she tries to get me to tell her if Degory and I have had sex yet. Somehow, I’m able to get her to change the subject. It is nice listening to her talk, though. It is so much better than the silence I’m used to on the platform.
We sit there for over an hour before Degory arrives. He knocks on the door, and Martin walks over to the door to see who it is.
“Oh, Captain, welcome back!” she announces, opening the door all the way.
“Rachel,” he acknowledges, respectfully and formally. “Thank you for keeping Miss Siebel company while I was away. You are excused.”
“Aww, gee, I was enjoying our conversation, too.”
She pouts but leaves the room after giving me a wink, shutting the door behind her.
Chapter 24
I do my best to sit u
p and greet him, even with the pain.
“Degory!” I call, as enthusiastically as possible, but my throat causes me to croak.
He rushes to the side of the bed, and puts his hands on my shoulders.
“Please lay down, don’t over exert yourself,” he requests, concern contorting his features.
I would have disregarded his comment, but I can see him begging with his eyes and I can’t resist. Not after being away from him for so long. I obey, and lay back down on the bed. He sits on the edge like his Lieutenant had, but closer to me.
His side rests up against mine, and he lays his arm over my stomach careful not to put pressure on the wound. For the first time, I notice cuts on his face.
“Are you alright?” I ask.
I reach up to touch a deep looking cut on his forehead, just above his left eye. He grabs my hand in his before I can reach it, though, holding it tenderly between them.
“I’m perfectly alright,” he says. “I’m just glad to have you back with me.”
“What happened?” I inquire.
Pieces of my memory are missing from being unconscious, and that doesn’t sit well with me.
“How long have I been out?”
“Arensmeier escaped,” he informs me. “He used your injuries to keep us from trying to follow him. We have no idea where he went.”
Degory looks extremely annoyed by that fact.
“If he had continued constricting your airway even a second longer,” he hesitates slightly, as if he can’t handle the thought. “He would have taken you from me…”
He pauses, choking back tears, before clearing his throat and continuing.
“You have been unconscious for five days while your body has been trying to heal,” he clarifies. “The Captain of Division Four, our healing regiment, has done all she can to help you, but your wounds were bad. She said if you hadn’t cauterized the original wound initially, you would have died.”
He plays with my fingers, while he runs his fingertips gently over the scabs around my wrists. The touch is just gentle enough to help the itchy feeling calm down a bit without any irritation or reopening them.
Waiting a Lifetime (The Waiting Series Book 1) Page 22