“We eventually ran away together after giving her family as many chances as we dared. But her father would not agree to a marriage that brought him nothing in trade for his daughter’s hand.”
“What a jerk.” The story reminded Allie of Naeemah’s time as Empress of the Mughal Empire of India after her own grandfather married her off to a mortal prince.
“That he was. We fled to Italy where we bonded our lives together and were married. We had four glorious days together before the Coalition came for us. I left her that morning to go find work and when I returned, she was gone. I believe her father preferred handing her over to those monsters to allowing us to live peacefully.”
“You were married to your Complement for four days over six hundred years ago, and you haven’t seen her since?” Allie’s eyes welled with tears; she couldn’t fathom anything sadder than Greyson’s story. But the last thing he would tolerate from her was pity. “You two got screwed, my friend.”
“Yes, we did. It’s been so long. Sometimes, I don’t think I can remember what she looks like. And then other times, I remember her like it was yesterday.”
“You tried making a deal with the Coalition for her back when Emma first met you.” Allie remembered that part of his story from Emma’s memories.
“I’ve tried everything, Allie. I worked for the Coalition for more than a century before I finally realized no amount of betraying my own kind would earn her freedom and if it did, she would never respect me for it. I’ve spent the better part of my life searching for her, but I still don’t even know where she’s held captive. She could be in one of those ancient prisons in some long forgotten cell where her mortal jailers don’t even remember who she once was. I’ve stopped trying at least a dozen times, but every now and then I have to try again. Our bond still lives in here.” He pressed his hand over his heart. “It will not rest until we are together again.”
“I wish there was something I could do. I would totally help you break her out of prison if we could find out where she is.”
“I had to come to terms with it a long time ago, Allie. We may never see each other again. Not until the entire world falls down around us, and the Coalition collapses. Then maybe we will find each other. Until then, I have to find happiness wherever I can. And that is exactly what you need to do, too, Allie.”
“I’m working on it.” She hopped up to refill their coffee mugs.
“I don’t like Brigs for you, kid. He’s kind of an asshole.”
“Not to me.” Allie poured Greyson’s coffee. “And I’m not looking for a commitment or anything serious. We’re just casually dating and I’m cool with that.”
“I just want you to find a way to be happy with yourself.”
“Ding-ding-ding! He finally gets it, ladies and gentlemen.” Allie slow clapped. “That’s what I’m trying to do. Be happy with me, myself, and I. And Darius, of course. I like school. I like hanging out with you and working as your intern. I like Brigs but I don’t need him or any guy to be happy. I am happy. I’m just not the same girl I used to be. But I’ll find her again.”
“Good girl. Now go home and do something fun with the rest of your Saturday.”
“I have a sculpture I need to finish.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do.”
“If it’s the one for my class, it’s not due for a month, so go do something fun.”
“Fine, we’ll go to a movie or something.”
“I was thinking more like a kegger, but I guess a movie is better than nothing.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Aidan
Milan, Italy, February
“All our lives depend on you guys pulling this off,” Aidan said in his most authoritative tone. The one he hated using with his friends and family, but was grateful for now. “Do not let me down.” His power reverberated in his voice.
“You got it, sexy,” Neela said, her shoulders squared, her black uniform pristine. She was the image of a perfect student, until she opened her mouth.
“Just … try not to speak if you don’t have to. You either, Ivy,” he said, before she could offer her two cents.
“We’ve got this, Aidan,” Ezra said. “We promise we won’t screw up.”
“Yeah, we know what’s riding on this,” Wes added.
“All right, when we’re called, we—”
“Run out in an orderly fashion, holding our weapons across our chests like you showed us,” Bennett finished his sentence with an eye roll.
“Don’t roll your eyes, Bennett. Samantha, help me out here.” Aidan turned to face Ben’s Syntrophos. Sam was a quiet, no nonsense kind of girl when it mattered. Aidan could trust her to help keep the others in check.
“He’ll be good, promise.” Sam gave a nervous smile, looking a little green herself.
“And when we’re asked to display our abilities, we’ll show something flashy and impressive, but not our greatest gifts,” Ivy said.
“Pilar, are we ready for this?” Aidan sighed, running his hands through his hair. The kids were taking this too lightly. They had no idea what they were really facing. It gave him a panic attack every time one of them cracked a joke, but he couldn’t let them see how scared he was.
“Look at me, kid.” She turned him toward her, fixing his hair and straightening his uniform like he was four. They rarely wore their training uniforms. They were uncomfortable and itchy, and Cleo never made it a requirement. Unfortunately, that meant their clothes looked far too new.
“They’re ready for us,” Naomi said, as she stepped into the training room with Genevieve.
“How’s it going out there?” Aidan asked.
“I can’t really tell,” was all Naomi would say. She was obviously tense, but he couldn’t get a read on her emotions. “If we can get through this part, we’re home free, at least until they decide to visit again.”
Aidan and his students waited in his training room facing the massive field at the center of the complex. As the garage-style doors opened onto the field, Aidan and his students formed up in pairs.
Pilar and Genevieve led them across the field. Dressed similarly, their uniforms displayed their leadership status. Aidan had refused a promotion to field commander when he’d moved to Milan. He wanted to remain part of the team. His leadership within the group was through loyalty alone.
“Take a deep breath and get your head on straight,” Naomi said. “I’m right beside you.”
“Thank you. I couldn’t do any of this without you.” He gently squeezed her hand before he shifted his sword to rest against his shoulder. His dagger sheathed at his hip.
As a group, they jogged across the field in perfect sync. Naomi and Aidan followed Pilar and Genevieve with Ezra and Wes behind them. Samantha and Bennett brought up the rear with Neela and Ivy.
With a signal from Genevieve, they all stood at ease in front of a raised dais just below Cleo’s office. Again in unison, they all sheathed their weapons, waiting for their orders. Cleo stood beside the Chief Justice, Sarah and Charles Madison on the dais, their armed entourage just behind them in the shade of the building.
“So few?” Sarah Madison frowned, taking a step forward to observe them.
“Our reports have always reflected five Syntrophos pairs live and train here,” Cleo said.
“A special forces team of ten children.” Sarah sighed. “They don’t look like much do they, Charles?
“Not much at all, my dear,” Charles said, like a parrot at his wife’s side.
“With Syntrophos, the numbers aren’t important.” Cleo took a step closer to the Chief Justice. “It’s what they can do together that makes them a force to be reckoned with—or will, once they are older. They are still very young.”
“What are their ages?” Charles asked, like he was inspecting horseflesh.
“Our youngest is just seventeen, and they range up to twenty-nine. Most are in their late teens and still training hard to hone their emerging gifts. Gene
vieve and myself, of course, are much older and oversee their training along with Pilar.”
“It’s curious how so many young pairs are coming out of this latest generation.” Sarah’s eyes swept through the group, like they were a huge disappointment. Disappointment could be good. It meant they still had a lot of work to do. But it was also unpredictable what the Chief Justice would do to remedy this situation. Aidan wouldn’t rest easy until this was all over and the Chief Justice were on their way back to headquarters in Spain.
“They are a talented group, ma’am … and sir,” Cleo hastily added for Charles’s benefit.
“You’ve prepared a demonstration?” Charles asked.
“Yes, Chief Justice, Sir,” Pilar responded.
Aidan held his breath as Samantha and Bennett stepped from the group first. He felt helpless, like a momma bird shoving her babies out of the nest before they had the ability to fly on their own.
“Relax your face. They’re watching.” Naomi gestured at the entourage of Immortals standing behind the Chief Justice.
Aidan schooled his features. Naomi was right, they were all under a microscope and he needed to remain impassive.
“Samantha is twenty-two,” Pilar began. “Her Syntrophos is Bennett, twenty.” She nodded to Bennett to proceed.
A thick, viscous fog began to rise from the ground behind the Chief Justice. It rolled over them, swirling like smoke.
“A weather manipulation? That’s what you’re showing us?” Sarah snapped, waving the fog from her face.
“Pardon, Madame, but Bennett and Samantha are still developing and evolving their own abilities,” Cleo said. “Bennett is a talented young Immortal on his own. The astonishing aspect comes from what Bennett and Samantha can do together.” She nodded for Samantha to step forward.
Sam stood with her hands behind her back, staring at the Chief Justice until Bennett’s fog turned pink and the air smelled of strawberries.
“Ugh, what is this sticky sweet stench?” Charles fanned his face.
“I made a slight change to Ben’s fog, Madame Chief Justice,” Samantha said, her voice steady. “For the purposes of our demonstration, I made it harmless and pink with a sweet candy scent. But I could also make it a deadly toxin or a noxious deterrent.”
“I can manipulate precipitation, Madame, but together we can make it rain acid, pristine, unpolluted water, or anything in between.” Bennett dropped his head, stepping back in line with Samantha.
“Well, that is certainly more like it,” Sarah said. “Please continue.”
“Aidan and Naomi,” Cleo called them forward. “Aidan is twenty and Naomi is twenty-nine.”
Aidan stepped forward and lit a match tossing it into the stone brazier in front of the dais. Using his fire ability to enhance the flame into a raging pillar, he sent a stream of fire dancing around the Chief Justice, confining them within a burning circle. Part of him wished he had the nerve to put an end to this whole thing right here, right now. But assassination wasn’t the pathway that would lead him back to Allie. It would only further alienate him from his normal life.
“What is the meaning of this?” Sarah’s voice hit a high note as the fire raged around her and her husband.
Together, Aidan and Naomi stepped through the flames. Before their connection, Aidan was just as affected by fire as anyone. Now, they both could touch it briefly without harm.
With a sweep of her hand, Naomi sent the flames soaring higher and hotter. A moment later, she suppressed the flames, snuffing them out completely. Over the last year since they’d bonded, Naomi had adapted to his ability. Together, they could do a lot of damage, or a lot of good, depending on who was giving the orders. Aidan liked to think they might have a future putting out fires rather than starting them.
“Impressive.” Sarah nodded. “But is that all? This young man is powerful in the extreme. What else can he do?”
“I am a healer, ma’am.” Aidan gave her a curt nod. “And we are still experimenting with my developing abilities.”
“I draw my strength from the lunar cycle,” Naomi announced, pulling the attention away from Aidan with her rare ability. “Through our bond, my gift allows me to strengthen my Syntrophos as well.”
“With no cost to your own strength?” Charles asked, impressed.
“That is correct, sir.” Aidan and Naomi stepped back in line but he couldn’t relax. Not until each of his students had their moment to share their abilities with the Chief Justice.
He watched as Ezra and Wes stepped forward for their turn. This one needed to go just right. Wes’s most notable abilities needed to remain a secret. Aidan intended to get them all out of this situation some day, and when that opportunity came for them, they would need Wes’s gift for evasion.
“Madame and Sir, Chief Justice,” Wes greeted them with a charming smile. “I’m afraid I am not as talented as my fellow comrades, or my brilliant Syntrophos. I am a simple tracker with an ability to induce a sense of panic in those I pursue. If I may be so bold as to recommend myself as your personal bounty hunter. My Syntrophos, however, has much to offer.” He gestured to Ezra who was holding a bouquet of flowers, looking terrified now that it was his turn.
Ezra shot forward to present Sarah with the flowers. Flowers that wilted and died as Ezra absorbed their vitality to enhance his own. “I never grow tired,” he blurted. “I can keep going for days and days when necessary.”
“I also reap the benefits of Ezra’s gift,” Wes added. “The vitality he takes from plant life bolsters me as well.”
“A syphon? Very nice.” Sarah nodded, looking pleased. “I wonder how he might respond after syphoning from the life source of a living person or beast, rather than taking it from plants?” She turned to Cleo. “You may find a deeper layer to this gift if you push him out of his comfort zone with simple plants.”
Aidan clenched his mouth shut to keep himself in check. The absurd suggestion spoke volumes of what the Chief Justice intended for her Special Forces team. Aidan didn’t care. He wouldn’t force such a thing on Ezra if he could help it.
“I, um. I’m not sure ma’am,” Ezra stuttered, glancing to Pilar for support. “I haven’t made a habit of killing innocent things if I don’t have to.”
“I’d like him to experiment.” Sarah spoke as if Ezra was not standing before her. “This gift has great potential. Be sure to explore its every facet—and don’t be squeamish about it.”
Cleo nodded, looking sick at the thought of her suggestion.
Only Ivy and Neela remained, and they managed to do as they were told for once in their lives. The girls were master thieves among their many skills. They demonstrated how Ivy could create an explosion, and Neela could enhance the range of her Syntrophos’s explosion, but they really got the Chief Justice’s attention as they were told to step back in line.
“Before we go, Chief Justice Charles, here is your wallet back.” Ivy hesitantly approached him.
“And your pearls, Chief Justice Sarah,” Neela added sheepishly.
“You dare to steal from us?” Charles blustered.
“They are skilled thieves?” Sarah asked, her tone one of interest as she accepted her pearls back from Neela.
“We don’t get caught, Madame.” Ivy took a step back.
“Ever,” Neela added. “We’re sorry, Chief Justice, Sir.” Neela turned to Charles. “It was just for the demonstration.” They returned to their place in line.
“Very interesting.” Sarah stood, clutching her pearls.
“You have an excellent pool of talent here, Cleo,” Charles said. “Excellent, indeed.”
“It’s unfortunate they are all so young,” Sarah added. “We had hoped you might have progressed further in the last two years. Enough for them to be useful now, but I’m afraid we aren’t there yet.”
Aidan exhaled the breath he was holding. It was almost over and they’d managed to pull it off. So far, but the visit wasn’t over yet.
“Perhaps in another year
, darling?” Charles suggested. “With some proper motivation.”
Aidan shared a worried glance with Naomi. He didn’t like the sound of that, but he wasn’t naive enough to think they would escape this day entirely unscathed.
“Perhaps.” Sarah turned to one of her entourage waiting behind her and nodded before she turned back to Cleo. “You have created an incredible institution here. You should be proud.”
“Thank you, Madame. We are very proud of our students.” Cleo gave a hesitant smile.
“Ah, students. There you have stumbled onto the problem. Though they may be young, they are not students. Think of them as assets to their government. Their livelihoods depend on the work they do for us here. You are much too gentle with them, Cleo. They are a fine group of Syntrophos, but my husband and I have funneled an enormous amount of money into this private Initiative. These Syntrophos need more discipline. Something to motivate them to the next level.”
“You speak of them as property.” Pilar’s disgust showed on her face. “They are children.”
“My dear, Pilar, you cannot think it prudent to allow these children to live freely among the Immortal population? The very nature of their bond makes them dangerous weapons. It is better their government care for them and train them, so in a sense, they are property,” Sarah said. “They belong to us, dear. And we are not here to raise a horde of happy children. We are here to raise an army. My army. We will expect much more on our next visit.” Sarah snapped her fingers, and her entourage opened a pair of doors behind the dais.
“I anticipated we would need to take it up a notch. Pilar, my dear, you are not the only one who has studied the Syntrophos carefully over the years. They are a curious sort. They not only bond with their partners, but they develop bonds as a group. Like a family. Even now, your more powerful pairs stand in front of the younger and weaker, shielding them from notice. This will not do for our future plans.”
“Very well, how do you suggest we remedy this problem?” Cleo asked, her eyes closed in resignation.
Emerge- The Betrayal Page 21