by Allie Burton
Goon One zipped open Xander’s backpack and handed over one of the oils.
X opened the vessel and sniffed like a taster smelling fine wine. Just like Xander had done to each of the oils when we’d found them. Then, X poured the first oil on top of the sand in the cup. “Mixing the seven essential oils with sand from Egypt is the base to achieve full power and to save you from the burnout.”
Yay. My needs came first.
“Didn’t Xander tell you?” X’s merry voice hit the bull’s-eye on my heart. “Oh, that’s right, he deceived you.”
My cheek muscles twitched.
“The Society thought they had everything planned. Use the host’s power to take control of the world and then let the poor sap burnout. Once they controlled the world they didn’t care.” He took another vessel and poured it into the cup looking like a sorcerer creating a magical potion. “They didn’t count on me.”
Keep him talking, get as much information as possible. “What happened to all the other guys, the other Xanders, they wanted to use over time? Where did they go?”
X shrugged his shoulders. “The chant was read on the night of their summer solstices. Without the eclipse, each of them ceased to exist.” He opened another vessel and poured. “The poor suckers.”
Obviously, X didn’t really care about the other Xanders. If my Xander had been with me on the bridge, the goons probably would’ve tossed him off. My heart stuttered at the image of Fitch going over the rail.
I hadn’t loved him like a daughter, and I hadn’t been his employee, either. We’d had a complicated and confusing relationship. Now that he was gone, I didn’t know what to feel.
So I didn’t. I needed to focus on what was happening at this moment. “If you cared about the future host now or in the past, why are you trying to control me?”
“That was a side benefit.” X poured another oil into the chalice. “While researching how to stop the burnout I discovered a method to physically control whoever did host the soul.” He hummed between words. “And I thought if I stopped the host from burning out, they might turn on me with their power. Like the Society.”
So X had figured out a way to stop the burnout so the host didn’t die while keeping the power. And he’d discovered a way to control the host so he controlled the power.
“How did you plan to get Xander away from the Society?”
“I didn’t.” A one-sided smile appeared on X’s face. “I bought my own sixteen-year-old.”
Anger blazed through my bloodstream, but no flames shot out. I fisted my hands at my sides wishing I could use them on his face. X’s motives had started out pure, to save the host of Tut. Somewhere along the way he’d grown bitter and controlling. I focused on the movement of his hands to calm my increasing fury. He’d already poured three of the oils.
A shock wave surged through me. “I don’t have all seven oils.”
“I’ve got the Fo-ti-tieng.” X removed the small round vessel from his jacket pocket.
“How did you know that one was missing?” The only person I’d told was Fitch. He must’ve told X. This small betrayal cut deeper.
“As a former member of the Society, I knew where some of the oils were located. I wanted to experiment with this particular one.” He held up a vessel I had never seen before and smelled before pouring it into the cup. “Part of my research.”
Goon One handed over another vessel.
“That’s all it takes to stop me from the burnout? The oils and sand?” Even though Xander had told me the oils were important, I didn’t realize they’d literally meant my life or death. I would’ve been the one slugging around the backpack if I’d known. I wouldn’t have let them out of my sight.
X poured the fifth oil. “Tut’s soul is transferred and held in the special chalice. When combined with the essential oils and sand from the Nile, and then heated with the sun, the power is sucked and held inside a glass orb that will form.”
If X was right, then I wouldn’t burnout. A flame of hope sparked. He acted so sure of himself. His confidence was like that of an experienced pickpocket. No dawdling, no tentative moves.
“What are the other steps?” I leaned forward.
Once all the steps were completed, the burnout would stop. Then, I’d run. Surveying the nearby objects, I decided what could be used as a weapon.
“You’ll see.” Pouring the sixth oil, his voice held an edge.
I didn’t like the way he sounded. Didn’t like what he wasn’t saying. It couldn’t be this simple. “What’s in it for you?”
“The same things that are needed to stop the burnout are needed to create the master controller.” He poured the seventh and final oil into the cup.
My nerves stood on the edge of a cliff. My stomach wavered as if I was about to be pushed off the edge. “What exactly does this master controller do?”
“The Sol Control will be like a remote for the TV.” X’s monster smile was a claw in my back. “It will control you and your power.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Olivia
Air whooshed out of my lungs like I was falling into my own personal disaster.
“No!” The scream tore out of me and my knees gave way.
The goons pulled my arms tighter and dragged me closer to the cup. The mesh of their gloves dug into my skin.
I barely felt the outer pain. My insides ripped apart and lay torn and tattered in the pit of my stomach. Dark shadows tromped over my future. Seconds earlier I’d had high hopes that the burnout would end, and I’d somehow be free. That I’d find a way to escape. But now?
“Control me how?” My voice shook, but I held my head high.
Proud until your final moment.
Final moment? I gulped.
I had to change my destiny. I would not end up a slave to my own powers.
“Once the Sol Control is created, I will control you and your power.” X swirled the alabaster cup around. “I will tell you when to make the sun shine, when to dehydrate the San Francisco Bay, when to provide an example of how I could destroy the world.”
Horror leached into my skin. “No.” I would never allow X to control me. I didn’t want to ruin the environment, the natural balance of things. “Why would you want to do that?”
“For the same reason the Society did.” X held the cup above his head. “Money. Respect. Power.”
“People won’t respect you. They’ll be scared of you.”
“They’ll listen to me.”
I tried to cross my arms, but the goons yanked them back down. “I won’t let you.”
Anger at the goons, at X, at my situation burned inside. My internal fire flared. Each of their actions was like a stick of dynamite in my soul. I wanted to scream and rant and rave.
“You don’t have a choice.”
I wanted to explode. None of that would help. I needed to stay calm, to listen, to continue to search for a way out.
“Spit into the cup,” X ordered.
“Why?” I smushed my lips together tight. No way would I comply with his request. He couldn’t make me spit.
“Since you now host King Tut’s soul, I need his essence for this to work.” X sounded like a teacher talking to a dumb student. “His essence provides the heat, the power, for the glass to form.”
I shook my head and tried to back up. He couldn’t make me. He might have me trapped, but I still had control over my bodily functions. My spit might end the burnout, but it would give him control over me. “No.”
The goons shoved me forward.
“You don’t want to burnout and die, do you?” He sounded so logical. “If you don’t create the Sol Control you will die a slow and painful death.”
And if I did help create the controller, I’d put the world into X’s hands and destroy the environment in the process. I didn’t want to die, but I didn’t want to be the cause of massive destruction either. My tummy gnawed back and forth. Agreeing, I’d be under X’s control forever. Refusing I’d be a hero,
albeit an unknown, dead one. “No.”
“If you don’t provide your saliva, I can always cut your arm and take drops of your blood.” He sounded like a vampire from a bad scary movie.
My stomach turned, folded in on itself. Blood made me squeamish. Cutting me would make me weaker. I needed my strength to escape. Moistening my lips, I gathered the saliva in my mouth. I glowered at the cup debating. Lifting my head, I spit.
I spit straight across the cup at X.
The lugie hit him square in the chest. I smirked. Having a guy’s soul inside had taught me how to do that.
Nice shot. Tut cheered me on, letting me know I wasn’t alone.
X’s expression hardened and his eyes held a scary glint. He dropped his chin to examine my saliva sliding down his leather jacket. Grabbing the lid of the last vessel, he sent me a disgusted look. Then, he scraped the lugie off the leather and dropped it in the cup.
My spot of defiance hadn’t stopped him. My elation plummeted like my spit. He now had the final ingredient.
Smoke rose from the cup. Colors swirled, mixing and combining like a wacky rainbow. My gaze followed the motion unwillingly entranced. I couldn’t take my gaze off this creation. The contents glowed with a strange aura.
A light flashed sending a bolt of lightning through the room. I flinched from the heat.
The goons’ hold loosened. X watched with an awed expression on his face.
A sphere formed in the cup. Colors of red and blue and yellow shaped the orb. The colors flamed and burned into a bright yellow. The shiny ball rose on a layer of smoke like the sun on a cloudy day.
I held my breath as the orb rose above the alabaster cup and floated like a balloon.
“Did you know glass was first developed around the time of King Tut’s reign?” X angled his head examining the glass globe of sun. “The golden glass will be the controller.”
“You can’t control a king.” Or a pharaoh. Or me.
“While I was promised to host King Tut, the conditions weren’t right the year I turned sixteen.” X’s voice grew bitter. His eyebrows came together in a straight line mourning the loss of his own power. “The Society didn’t even read the chant that time, already knowing through advances in science that an eclipse would not happen on the summer solstice of that year. I became a regular person, just another man in the Society.”
Having the power had been cool, but not if I couldn’t control it. Not if I couldn’t touch the people I loved. Xander’s name whispered through my chest.
“I was promised the soul and the power but never told about the burnout until later.” X’s voice rose higher, angrier. “The Society betrayed me, betrayed every Xander throughout the centuries.”
X acted no better than the Society. If he had any sympathy for the host, he’d stop now.
Heat and cold collided. I was surprised I could be cold with the heat of the sun inside me. “Then why are you doing this to me?”
“I deserve the power because I paid the price. Did the research. Discovered the final answer.”
The burning, yellowish globe rose higher gathering strength. The sphere spun around and stopped. The object didn’t have eyes, but I felt as if it stared at me, burned for me.
I wiggled beneath the goons’ hands. Perspiration poured down my back. So, this would be my life. Locked away by X, used to destroy parts of the environment, blackmailing world leaders. There had to be a way to stop him, to stop the destruction.
A door banged open. The goons’ hands tightened around my arms. X jerked his head. His gaze widened in shock.
A figure stood silhouetted in the doorway. The early morning light from the skylight glared behind, while the light from the globe burned in front. I recognized him. His strong stance. His broad shoulders and trim waist. His head held at a proud angle.
“Xander.” My breath tumbled in my lungs. He’d come back to save me. Somehow, he’d found me.
“Olivia.” My name left his lips and floated across the room, acting like a balm to my bruised feelings. “Are you all right?”
If this was an old movie, this would be the part where the heroine swooned. I felt swoon-ish. My head dizzy, my palms wet.
Xander—my rescuer, my hero, my soulmate.
He’d come to save me. To take me away from X and his evil intentions. He hadn’t tricked me, played me like a finely tuned giant lyre. Relief, like the Nile washing onshore crashed through me. Xander was here to help.
Only three bad guys and the curse stood in his way.
In our way. I wasn’t a helpless heroine. I’d take part in my own rescue. Still, that was two against three.
Additional shadows filled in behind Xander. Their silhouettes weren’t defined.
Because they wore robes.
My heart dropped with a sonic boom. I stumbled back except I couldn’t go anywhere. The goons held me in a vise grip and the exhibit wall blocked me from behind.
The Society.
My now-slow mind calculated the odds.
Xander had brought the Society with him. He wasn’t here to help. At least not me.
My heart severed in two.
Xander was my betrayer.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Olivia
The little hope I held fled like a sacred ibis. I’d clung to the belief that Xander cared for me. That if I could end this, I’d find him, and we’d be together now that Fitch was gone. Even after X said Xander had known all along how to end the curse, I’d believed X was lying.
Believed in Xander. Believed in us.
His deception sliced deeper than any mortal wound X could cut. My heart shredded into pieces like ragged ribbons. The dupe Xander had pulled was worse than any of Fitch’s con games. Because Xander had pulled a con on my heart.
Jeb, who must’ve survived the big wave, pushed Xander deeper into the room toward the pedestal with the chalice. The rest of the robed Society members stepped in behind, his own personal protection squad. Everything X had said about Xander was true.
“The orb. It is real,” Jeb whispered as if at communion.
“I told you.” X’s tone was cocky and defiant. “If you’d believed in me, believed in my research, the Society would now be in control.”
“I should’ve known you’d be behind all of this.” Jeb took a step closer to the chalice.
X had said he’d belonged to the Society at one time. “The Society didn’t trust my research. Why wouldn’t I complete it on my own?”
“Tut’s soul belongs to the Society.” Jeb’s hands reached out.
Xander stepped with him, in tune with him.
The inferno reignited inside. I was done listening to my heart. My heart yearned and hoped for what couldn’t be. My soul was deceived.
“Not anymore.” X waved his hands like a magician.
The sphere of glass flared with flames. It spun faster on its invisible axis.
Everyone stared at the blazing globe, mesmerized by the floating, now-gaseous ball.
Glaring at Xander, I shot daggers across the room. His deception hurt worse than Fitch’s. “How could you?”
“I had no choice.” His raw voice scratched with authenticity. His eyes pleaded across the expanse of exhibit space. There weren’t many yards between us, but the chasm was deeper than the Nile or the San Francisco Bay. “When I saw X take you on the bridge—”
“You watched?” Like rubbing Nile sand in my open wounds, the sharp pain increased. Xander had seen the kidnapping and done nothing.
He took a shaky step forward. “By the time I ran back to the spot they were shoving you in the car and driving away.”
My heart flipped for a second until I realized he was still playing a part, acting like he cared. I couldn’t fall for his con game again.
“Yeah, help me right into the Society’s hands.” I wouldn’t be fooled by his excuses or his charm. Even though his green gaze seemed to be telling the truth. Even though his pale face showed his worry.
“I told her you
knew how to end the burnout.” X signaled to his goons. “You’ve been tricking her all along.”
“No. Olivia you have to believe me.” Xander reached out with his hands toward me as if he believed his touch might change my mind. Except we couldn’t touch. “I knew there was a possible way to end the burnout, but I wasn’t sure. There was a cryptic message on the instruction page I ripped in half. Once we had the oils, I hoped to bargain with the Society to find a way to save you.”
“The instructions I found in Jeb’s computer.” I struggled against the goons still holding me in place, not sure why they bothered when X had the Sol Control. “You said you didn’t believe X knew how to save me.”
“I didn’t know who X was at the time and I didn’t want to get your hopes up.” Xander’s arms dropped to his sides. “That’s the reason I tore off the bottom of the page. I figured we’d find the oils first.”
With a bent arm, I pointed at the men behind Xander. “Then, why tell the Society?”
“The Society isn’t as bad as X.” Xander’s eyes narrowed across the distance as if trying to kill X with his gaze. “X will treat you like a prisoner.”
Xander had made a deal with the Society about me. Without my consent. My muscles tightened with my anger. I wasn’t a pawn.
“And the Society won’t?” My throat clogged blocking any rational thought. I didn’t want to think about my future. Now that I knew I had one, I knew it would be bleak.
Unless, I used the Society’s interference as a distraction.
Right now, X and the Society members stood at a standstill. Like they were watching a soap opera unfold. When physical attacks began and chaos reigned, I could get away.
“I only went back to them because I didn’t know where else to go.” Xander dropped his hands. “I care what happens to you.”
My knees weakened at his words. But just for a second. Then, I locked my legs straight and narrowed my eyes. “Sure, you do.”
“It took me a few minutes to realize what really happened on the Golden Gate Bridge. Why you pushed me away. Olivia,” he stuttered, “I love you.”