Everyone’s eyes switched to Rufus as he groaned, coming back to his senses. He was still in a haze but managed to pull a limp hand to the back of his head where he’d taken the hit. It felt sore and bumpy but there was no blood. Jasper found himself assessing every angle: if he froze Rufus again, Etienne could just as well unfreeze him. If he took another hit to the head, it could result in something serious and Etienne was just giving them a detailed confession. Pondering consequences felt like caressing the wires connected to a detonator.
“By the time I altered you, Zoey, we had figured out what worked with human DNA. There was no risk when we took you in.”
Lies…She knew she’d been altered way before Rufus.
“And now Beck knows how to alter humans without your help.” Jasper’s words just added to Zoey’s impotence. It felt like having a professional punching your guts till all the air in your body was sent flying through your mouth.
Rufus groaned again, picking his body up in a standing position.
“Minor setback, Rufus. We’ll be on our way soon.” Etienne nodded his way.
Everything accelerated. Zoey felt it in her gut and soon her arms were covered in goosebumps under her sweater. She looked at the face she knew so well and had kissed so many times, never knowing what he was capable of. It was as if someone, something, had paralyzed her senses and rendered her brain dumb. Inhale, exhale—Emma’s recipe for success was not enough to keep her feet strong on the ground.
“Fight me!” Jasper’s invitation was met by laughter despite his stern tone.
“You crack me up, Ambassador!” Etienne shot a mocking look his way, raising an eyebrow in contemplation. “I must respectfully decline, though.” If ever there was a sand-escaping-the-hourglass moment, this was it, and he felt the growing intensity. “Let’s go, Zoey.” Etienne’s eyes pleaded with the only truth he held, but she stood there, torn between two options that would most likely turn against the people she loved either way. She wondered for a second if she could implode, if all that energy she wielded could be used against herself to get this over with—but she swallowed hard at the sight of the man she’d loved in so many ways, conflicted at how every living cell in her body pulled for his innocence.
“I—I can’t.” The words escaped her mouth and it was like setting her whole self on fire.
She kept repeating it like a mantra in her head. Over forty-two casualties, kidnapping Sam. Mia. Rufus. No. It sounded like the works of a different person. He was a different person—but somehow she still needed to make herself believe it despite the harsh evidence.
Lilou nodded her way in a sign of relief but Jasper was still stuck on Zoey’s puzzled face.
“Get behind me, Zoey!” Jasper demanded, and she didn’t obey.
It took Lilou a fraction of a second to fiddle with her belt, allowing Aline and Gerard to come through. They came, pacing fast, leaving behind the imposing monument on the other end of Paseo Sarasate and making their way toward them. Aline’s platinum ponytail swung like a pendulum bob on her way. An incredulous look washed over her and Gerard’s features with every step closer.
Gerard’s massive frame moved to Jasper’s left side as Aline aligned her shoulders with Lilou on the right. Both of them had heard the conversation between Etienne and the rest loud and clear through their earpieces, and stood now in front of the undeniable evidence that he was alive.
“Four against two, just like I expected.” Etienne smiled, looking at Aline. “I see you two have finally made it official,” he said, acknowledging the matching signs adorning their thumbs. “I must say congratulations are in order, then.”
Gerard spoke, tilting his head at the sight of him, “I saw you die! You were terminated before my eyes.” He took a deep breath, scanning Etienne’s features as if he was a ghost in the flesh. “We saw your ashes!” Those words sent a chill through Zoey’s bones. Surreal failed to define the madness happening between their worlds.
Etienne turned on his heels and took a few steps in the opposite direction, followed by Rufus like a quiet shadow.
“Eyes do play tricks on us, don’t they?” he spoke as he made his way closer to the small fountain at the end of the Paseo, spun around with a grin, and eyed Lilou. “It is now when I’m giving you a choice, Lilou. If you join me, you’ll finally be free to return to Mezin.” Once again he watched her cheeks get a little whiter.
Bastard, it was not his truth to tell.
He looked straight through her, knowing she ached with questions too compromising to ever ask aloud.
“I don’t respond well to petty attempts of manipulation.” She was not going to let him win.
“Very well.” In an instant her small frame was twitching and contorting, eyes rolling backwards. The aching need to breathe sent her hands to her throat, all her muscles tensing. She was being suffocated.
Panic unraveled in kaleidoscopic nuances, triggering raw anxiety in Zoey’s chest. Everything accelerated.
What happened next was comparable to nothing. Jasper’s fingers tensed, beaming as the cobblestones detached like puzzle pieces from the ground, flying towards Rufus at a staggering speed. A deaf scream escaped her throat, too many feelings flooding her system, too many red flags ahead.
The stones turned to dust just before reaching their target, disintegrating before her eyes into black dust. Only before Zoey’s eyes, the dust also radiated electricity.
Lilou sighed, finally released from his hold.
Molecular dispersion. That was Etienne’s Earth-acquired skill that was now progressing before their eyes, poofing away the very fabric of matter. If he could do to flesh what he’d done to cobblestone, the outcome presented itself devastating.
Of course he’s given himself the power to play the Almighty. Lilou’s thoughts screamed at the evidence.
The pavement under Zoey’s feet trembled. Pressure shifted. Aline swiftly threw herself midair, aiming for Etienne’s head. He was able to multitask, knocking her violently against one of the statues framing the place and dissipating the incoming stones without a flinch. Aline came crumbling down like dead weight along with the statue’s giant torso, her motionless body stuck to the pavement.
Zoey gasped, her eyes moving from Jasper to Lilou as they seemed to be communicating without words.
Gerard was quick to snatch Aline and push her to the side before a giant chunk from the statue collapsed against the pavement, landing on his calf.
There was a sharp grunt as Gerard pulled his leg free and slammed a hand against the cobblestone, resurfacing beneath Rufus and pulling him under enough to give Jasper time to act. He watched petrified Zoey with a corner of his eye. He had to portal her out of there as soon as possible.
Aline was down, Gerard was hurt, and now Lilou convulsed again, her body spread like a wet cloth at his feet, thanks to Rufus. She was still breathing.
“Zoey, no!” Jasper saw her making a run for Rufus, launching herself at him with both hands. Alarm rose in his body seeing how Gerard took advantage of Zoey’s proximity to send a cobblestone straight to Rufus’s head. He couldn’t see the forest because of the trees, too focused on removing Zoey from his sight to shield himself from Gerard, who was now helping Zoey to her feet.
Rufus was out again.
Jasper heard Alex’s voice through his earpiece. “Help is coming! Stall!”
“I allowed that, by the way. This is actually training for Rufus here. Still excited to fight me, Ambassador?” Etienne’s words provoked as his fingers twitched midair, collapsing a tree that would have dispatched Lilou to the other side.
Jasper grabbed her small body, bolting up in what Zoey’s incredulous eyes calculated as a supernatural jump.
Adrenaline ran high as time ran low. Jasper held on to Lilou as he felt his body being pulled down, surrendering to the gravity he no longer controlled. Rufus was up again, fully focused on Jasper, making him drop like a cannonball.
Jasper knew. He closed his eyes and tightened his arms around
Lilou, shielding her with his body. If he was not going to make it in the fall, maybe she would. He heard Zoey’s terrified scream right before his body crumpled to the ground.
“James! Stop this! For fuck’s sake, stop!” Unhinged agony ripped through her lungs along with frantic screams. How could she possibly concentrate to access her inner whatever and do things she was untrained to? Her whole body tensed as Jasper dropped. He never let go of Lilou, but she was sent rolling to one side in his fall, his hair coming undone and spreading in blonde waves on the wet ground.
Zoey found herself running to Jasper, not even feeling the tears running down her cheeks in streams. She threw herself to the pavement next to him, cupped his head with a hand, and checked for a pulse.
You fucking alien bastard! she cussed, running her fingers over his face.
“Jasper, wake up! Wake up! Please!” Her lips trembled as she spoke, entirely out of breath. He’d fallen from a supernatural leap, maybe the equivalent of a four-story building. Any human would be in a pool of blood by now. She couldn’t find a pulse, she was not even sure how to look for one in her desperate attempts.
A flickering movement ran under his eyelids and she knew. He opened his eyes a second later and her heart could barely fit in her chest despite struggling with trust issues at this point.
He was out breath but needed to get Zoey to safety. “I can’t portal you out of here!” His eyes suddenly looked desperate as he searched the cobblestone with his left hand. He couldn’t. Dammit! “Zoey, you have to get out of here. Listen to me, please! I know how this looks, but it doesn’t change the way I feel about you and I don’t care who knows it. The whole conversation is probably being broadcasted live to my superiors anyway.” His voice came on strong despite the fruitless attempts at engaging his portalling skills.
“No, it’s not…” Alex’s voice broke through Jasper’s earpiece. “But your leadership abilities feel highly questionable right now.” Jasper steadied his earpiece. “Alex! Alex, can you hear me? I need you to portal here and get Zoey and the team to safety!”
“I can’t! They’ve overcharged the magnetic field so none of us can portal anywhere. The Alliance want us here to finish the job.” Alex’s voice came as perplexed as Jasper’s thoughts. Eavesdropping was not high on Zoey’s list, but she couldn’t help overhearing.
“But…they’re not safe!” Jasper swallowed his thoughts in front of Zoey. They’re going to die—that’s what he wanted to say, and Alex knew it well enough.
Alexandre’s voice came equally strained. “It also means Etienne can’t portal anywhere, presuming he still runs on the same genetic material as us.” The worst possible timing. This was it.
“Zoey, I need you to hide.” Jasper heard Etienne’s footsteps as he rose to his feet, grabbing her hand to pull her up and shield her as much as he could in spite of the many bruises and bleeding head. He also knew Zoey enough to realize she would do anything but hide.
Less than ten feet separated them when Etienne finally spoke.
“Zoey, everyone’s alive. A bit ruffled, but very much alive. I don’t want to do this, but there’s no other way to talk sense into you. Time’s up, luv. We need to leave. Now!” One look at him was all it took to know he meant every word, and threat lived between the lines.
She looked at him, no longer trying to connect the dots between his actions, without trying to justify or find a parallel between who he was now and who he had been. She saw the forest and saw the trees enough to know that Jasper was in more danger than she’d ever be and made a run for Etienne.
“Why should I trust you? Why should I come with you?” She stopped short in front of him. Etienne found defiance in her eyes and she found the sharp knife Sam had slid into the front pocket of her parka. “What if I chose to break up with you?” Of all the moments it could have started to rain, this was possibly one of the worst she’d ever come to see. It was cold and grey in Pamplona, and Paseo Sarasate looked nothing like it did before they set foot on it. The cobblestone had been shattered and thrown everywhere, one of the statues lay severed on what used to be an enchanting promenade, a once-beautiful tree rested, defeated, on the shattered cobblestone.
Lilou unconscious behind her, Aline’s bruised body crumpled to one side, and Gerard was nowhere in sight. She could see Rufus approaching from behind Etienne but he was not the Rufus she’d met. Not the goofy, adorable dude on a rescue mission to get the love of his life back. This was not the way life should look for anyone.
“You can break up with me once you’re safe. Now is not the moment, Zoey!”
And it was at that very moment, when she felt the knife’s blade getting warm between her fingers, that she realized she needed to put an end to his infatuation. Too many people had been killed, altered. Lifelines had been changed. Optans had been hurt.
Jasper. She sighed and moved faster than any of them could have anticipated, swift enough for them not to realize she was not pulling at her scarf but slitting her own throat with the only real weapon she had.
Jasper launched himself at her before she even hit the ground, but Rufus caught him in his own body, unable to blink—yet fully aware. He fell hard but, thankfully, his eyes were on her.
“Oh, luv” Etienne shook his head and placed two fingers on her bleeding wound. It was like watching the wound rewind and restore to perfection as if it never happened. “You really are the most tenacious human I’ve ever met.” He caressed her forehead as she came back to her senses feeling the taste of blood sting her tongue and stain her teeth. Etienne pushed her to the side and rose, rubbing his chin at the sight of her.
She coughed and spat blood, holding herself on all fours.
“Maybe that’s why I fell for you—because you challenge me… And you proved yourself capable.” There was admiration behind that smile and he shook his head again, baffled at her attempt.
His eyes narrowed on Jasper. “Release him, Rufus.” Etienne tilted his head, mildly disturbed. Zoey wiped her mouth and traced her fingers on her throat. It didn’t even hurt anymore. It was then when she realized Rufus had Jasper on his knees, obvious pain flaring across his features.
“Stop it!” Her screams hit agonizing octaves as she forced herself to her feet, dizzy and struck by the feeling of utter impotence. There was just a fraction, an exchange of glances, which made Etienne aware there was more going on than met the eye.
Atomic dissociation—an enhancement which held a scientific ambition on Etienne’s end—had been the one reason behind his departure to Earth, away from prying eyes. He had accomplished what many merely dreamed of—to take apart the very fabric of matter, dissociating atomic bonds, tearing apart the tethers of molecules holding all matter in place.
He could turn into dust and restore himself one particle at a time, he could disintegrate a skyscraper to fit a dustpan in under a second.
Jasper was bound on his knees, held in place with his hands behind his back by Rufus, unable to access his enhancements nor move from the neck down.
And today of all days, under the uncertain rain Pamplona had to offer, Etienne fixed his gaze and worked his fingers until fragments of Jasper’s waistcoat were turned into dust, working its way up to his shirt and then his torso. Until millimeter by millimeter, his jaw turned to ashes.
“Nooooo!” A scream exploded from her chest as she took off with all her being toward him. Jasper! With every foot she set in front of the other, he was vanishing before her eyes. Vanishing. Despair took over her senses, agony in its raw form invaded every speck of self.
γ
“No!” She opened her eyes in a scream, panting. What?! She recognized the ceiling of her living room.
Cold sweat.
Palpitations.
Sam’s head hovering over, discomposed with worry as she grabbed her hand.
“Jasper! Where’s Jasper?” Zoey’s voice broke as she frantically pushed herself into a sitting position, hyperventilating. She was on the couch, Emma working her way aroun
d the kettle and meeting her eyes with a relieved sigh.
“Zoey, it’s ok!” Emma insisted. “You took a hit to the head, my friend. Lucky you forgot your scarf in my car and I came back for you. That’s what you get for taking the darn stairs in a historical building at night. We found you legs-up on the second floor.”
No. No, no, no. No. No! This is not happening.
Sam squeezed her wrist. “Lucky Miss Whitehouse here examined your head—mild concussion, she swears.”
“Where’s Jasper?” Zoey took a hand to her throbbing head. Her throat was dry. Everything was spinning.
Sam’s eyes went from Emma to Zoey. “Who’s Jasper? The butcher?” Her eyes widened.
Emma approached the coffee table with a steaming mug and placed it on a napkin. She proceeded to scan Zoey’s face and take her temperature. “I don’t want you to freak, hon, but we called an ambulance. You need to get yourself a head scan, you can’t be too careful with these things.”
“Holy crap! You don’t remember, do you?” Zoey stiffened, draping a hand over her mouth in complete shock. “You don’t remember anything! They wiped you out and I can’t forget—holy shit! What day is today?” It took a moment like this one to push all the clouds away from her brain. Her kalenium bracelet was also gone.
She saw the look the girls exchanged. It read worry, shock, and ‘why is the ambulance not here yet?’
Emma pulled on the most comforting smile she could, crouching by her side. “Sweetheart, it’s Friday. We went speed dating this evening. Sam dropped you home first and then she was going to drop me home as well because my car wouldn’t start.” She glanced at Sam. “I suppose that ex-con biker dude has something to do with it. Tell me, what’s the last thing you remember?”
Lost in Amber Page 27