Jennifer L. Armentrout 23 страница

hopeful.

I lifted my lashes and our eyes held. The green hue of his burned

extraordinarily bright and then turned white as I rose to my knees,

cupped his face, and kissed him-really kissed him like he was the very

air I was thirsting for.

“What was that for?” he asked when I sat back. “Not that I’m

complaining.”

I shrugged. “Just because. And to answer your question, I think we

should definitely skip and play truant for the day.”

Daemon moved so fast that one second he was sitting and the next

he was over me, his arms like bands of steel on either side of my head

and I was on my back, staring up at him.

“Did I tell you I have a soft spot for bad girls?” he murmured.

His form blurred at the edges, a soft white as if someone had taken a

paintbrush and smudged an outline around him. A lock of hair fell

forward, into those astonishing diamond-like eyes.

I couldn’t find my breath. “Truancy does it for you?”

When he lowered his body, it thrummed with a low charge and where

our bodies met, sparks flew. “ You do it for me.”

“Always?” I whispered.

His lips grazed mine. “Always.”

…

Daemon left sometime later to meet up with Matthew and Dawson. The

three of them wanted to run through things again, and Matthew, being

the anal-retentive planner at heart, wanted to take a few more shots

at the onyx.

I stayed back, hovering around my mom like a small child as she

got ready. Feeling exceptionally needy, I even followed her outside

and watched her back out of the driveway in her Prius.

Alone, my gaze went to the flowerbed skirting the porch. The faded

mulch needed replacing and it could use a good weeding.

Stepping off the porch, I went to the small rose bushes and

started pulling off the dead petals. I’d heard once that it could help

the flowers bloom again. Wasn’t sure if that was correct or not, but

the monotony of carefully picking out the leaves eased my nerves.

Tomorrow, Daemon and I would skip out at lunch.

Next weekend, I would convince my mom I needed to do an overhaul

on the flowerbed.

At the beginning of June, I would graduate.

Sometime that month, I would get serious about filling out the

paperwork for University of Colorado and I would drop that bomb on my

mom.

In July, I would spend every day with Daemon swimming in the lake

and getting a Jersey Shore tan.

By the end of summer, things would be normal between Dee and me.

And come fall, I’d move on from all of this. Things wouldn’t ever

be mundane. I wasn’t fully human anymore. My boyfriend-the guy I

loved-was an alien. And there may become a point where, like Dawson

and Blake, Daemon and I would have to disappear.

But there was going to be a tomorrow, a next week, month, summer,

and fall.

“Only you would be out gardening right now.”

I whipped around at the sound of Blake’s voice. He leaned against

my car, dressed in all black, ready for tonight.

This was the first time since our confrontation that Blake had

come around me while I was alone, and the alien part of me responded.

That roller-coaster feeling was swelling inside me. Static pricked

along my skin.

I held my ground. “What do you want, Blake?”

He laughed softly as his gaze fell to the ground. “We’re leaving

soon, right? I’m just a little early.”

And I was just a little bit of a book nerd. Yeah, right.

Brushing the dirt off my fingers, I watched him wryly. “How did

you get here?”

“Parked at the end of the road at the empty house.” He gestured

with his chin. “The last time I parked here, I’m pretty sure someone

melted the paint on the hood of my truck.”

Sounded like Dee and her microwave hands. I crossed my arms. “Dee

and Andrew are next door,” I felt the need to point out.

“I know.” He pulled a hand out, ran it through his spikey hair.

“You looked really good at prom.”

Unease unfurled in my belly. “Yeah, I saw you. Did you come

alone?”

He nodded. “I was there only for a few minutes. Never did the high

school dance thing. Kind of disappointing.”

I said nothing.

Blake dropped his hand. “You worried about tonight?”

“Who wouldn’t be?”

“Smart girl,” he said, and smiled a little. It was more of a

grimace than anything. “No one that I know of has infiltrated one of

their facilities before or even gotten as far as we did last time. No

Luxen or hybrid, and we can’t be the first to attempt it. I bet

there’re a dozen Dawsons and Beths, Blakes and Chrises.”

Muscles tightened in my neck and shoulders. “If this is supposed

to be a pep talk, you completely fail at it.”

Blake laughed.

“I don’t mean it that way. Just that if we do this, we’re the

strongest, you know. The best out of their hybrids and out of the

Luxen.”

Funny or maybe just ironic, I thought, that what Daedalus wanted

so badly was the only ones who could go up against them.

I reached into my pocket, feeling the warm, smooth edges of the

opal. “Then we’re just awesome, I guess.”

Another pained smile and then Blake said, “That’s what I’m

counting on.”

…

We were all dressed like a ragtag group of reject ninjas. My skin

sweated under the long-sleeved black thermal. The idea was that the

less skin exposed, the less the onyx impacted us.

Didn’t really pan out that way last time, but we weren’t taking

any chances tonight.

The opal was burning a hole in my pocket.

Driving to the mountains of Virginia was a quiet affair. This time

around, even Blake was silent. Dawson was a ball of energy beside him.

Once, luckily not when cars surrounded us, he slipped into his true

form, nearly blinding all of us.

Blake’s words lingered in my head. That’s what I’m counting on. I

was probably being paranoid, but they settled like sour milk. Of

course he was counting on us to pull off the near impossible. He had

just as much as us to gain.

And then I thought of Luc’s warning: never trust those who have

anything to gain or lose. But that meant we couldn’t trust either him

or our friends. All of us had something to gain or lose.

Daemon reached over the center console and squeezed my fidgeting

hand.

Thinking these things right then wasn’t the best route to travel.

I was getting myself all worked up and spazzy.

I smiled at Daemon and decided to focus on our afternoon. We

didn’t really do anything. Just cuddled together, both of us wide

awake, and somehow that was more intimate than anything else. Last

night or early this morning had been a different story.

Daemon was a creative fellow.

My cheeks were stained red the rest of the trip.

The two SUVs arrived at the little farm at the bottom of the

pitch-black access road with five minutes to spare. As we climbed out,

Blake got his confirmation text from Luc.

Things were a go.

Instead of limbering up, we all stayed still, conserving our

energy. Ash, Andrew, and Dee remained in their SUV. The rest of us

moved to the edge of the overgrown field.

I hoped I didn’t get infested with ticks.

With one last look at the Luxen in the vehicle, it was time to go.

Letting the Source flow through my blood and bones and ripple over my

skin, we took off into the darkness, without the light of the moon on

the cloudy night. Like last time, Daemon stayed beside me. The last

thing anyone needed was my tripping over something and rolling back

down the hill.

Things were quiet and tense when we reached the edge of the woods,

waited to see that only one guard manned the fence.

It was Daemon who took him out this time. Then we were at the

fence, keying in the first code.

Icarus.

Taking off across the stretch of field, the five of us moved like

ghosts. Visible in one’s peripheral vision, but gone when looked at

head-on.

At the set of three doors, Dawson entered in the second password.

Labyrinth.

And now it was do or die time. All these months had led up to

this. Did our onyx training mean a damn thing? Daemon glanced at me.

I slipped my hand into my pocket, wrapping my fingers around the

opal.

Going through the onyx spray would still hurt like the fiery

bowels of hell for the others, but it should be manageable if Blake

had been right.

The door slid open with an airlock sound and Daemon was the first

through.

Air puffed and he flinched, but one leg moved in front of the

other and then he was through, on the other side. He stopped, glancing

over his shoulder, and smiled that half smile.

All of us let out a collective breath.

We filed through the onyx-shielded door. Each of the guys took the

spray with a wince and grimace of pain. I barely felt a thing.

Inside Mount Weather for the first time, we fell behind Blake, who

knew most of the way. The tunnel was shadowed, with small lamps placed

every twenty feet or so on the orange walls. I searched for those

murderous emergency doors but it was too dark to see them.

Tipping my head up, I noticed something terrifying about the

ceiling. It was shiny-like it was wet or something, but it wasn’t

liquid.

“Onyx,” Blake whispered. “The whole place is covered in onyx.”

Unless they did a massive remodel recently, that couldn’t be

something new to Blake. Feeling the opal against my skin, I pulled on

the Source and waited for the extreme rush of energy as we flew down

the tunnel.

There was a tiny spark of extra energy, but nothing like it had

been when Daemon and I had tested it out. My heart sunk as we neared

the end of the long tunnel. It had to be all the onyx, somehow

weakening the opal.

At the end of the tunnel, it split into a crossroad. Elevators

were in the middle. Matthew edged toward the opening, checking the

space first.

“Clear,” he said, then faded out, moving so fast that when he hit

the elevator button, my eyes couldn’t track him until he was beside us

again.

When the doors slid open, we moved at once, filling the steel

elevator. Apparently the stairwells were under password and I wondered

what the heck people did to get out in case of emergency.

I looked around the elevator, noting a few blackish-red shiny

parts in the flickering overhead light. I half expected to be doused

with onyx while we waited, but it didn’t happen.

Daemon’s hand brushed mine, and I looked up.

He winked.

Shaking my head, I shifted my weight restlessly. This seemed like

the slowest-moving elevator in the world. I could figure out a trig

formula faster.

Daemon squeezed my hand, as if he could sense my nervousness.

I stretched up on the tips of my toes and cupped Daemon’s cheek,

guiding his head down to mine. I kissed him deeply and without

reservation.

“For good luck,” I said after I pulled back, a bit breathless.

His emerald eyes glinted with a wealth of promises that sent a

very different kind of chills over me. When we got home, we were so

getting some one-on-one time.

Because we would get home, all of us. There could be no other

outcome

Finally, the elevator doors popped open, revealing a small waiting

room. White walls. White ceilings. White floors.

We’d stepped into an insane asylum.

“Lovely decorative colors,” Matthew said.

Daemon smirked.

His brother moved ahead, stopping at the door. There was no way,

no idea of seeing what waited for us on the other side. With this

code, we were going in blind.

But we’d come this far. Excitement hummed through me.

“Careful, brother,” Daemon said. “We take this slow.”

He nodded. “I’ve never been here. Blake?”

Blake moved to his side. “Should be another tunnel, shorter and

wider, and there’ll be doors on the right side. Cells, really,

outfitted with a bed, a TV, and a bathroom. There’ll be about twenty

rooms. I don’t know if the others are occupied or not.”

Others? I hadn’t thought about others. I looked at Daemon. “We

can’t just leave them.”

Before he could answer, Blake intervened. “We don’t have time,

Katy. Taking too many will slow us down, and we don’t know what kind

of condition they are in.”

“But-”

“For once, I agree with Blake.” Daemon met my shocked stare. “We

can’t, Kitten. Not now.”

I wasn’t okay with this, but I couldn’t run down the hall, letting

people free. We didn’t plan for that and we only had a set amount of

time. It sucked-sucked worse than people who pirated books, sucked

more than waiting a year for the next book in a beloved series, and

sucked more than a brutal cliffhanger ending. Leaving here, knowing we

could possibly be leaving innocent people behind, would haunt me

forever.

Blake took a deep breath and keyed in the last code.

Daedalus.

The sound of several locks sucking back into place broke the

silence and a light at the top of the door, on the right, flashed

green.

As Blake inched the door open, Daemon moved to stand in front of

me. Matthew was suddenly behind me and I was shielded. What the…?

“We’re clear,” Blake said, sounding relieved.

We went through the door, discovering another onyx shield. Now we

had two more to get the others through. This wasn’t going to be easy.

The tunnel was like the one above, but all white and like Blake

had informed us, it was shorter and wider. Everyone was moving but me.

We’d made it-we were here. My stomach lurched and my skin tingled.

I almost couldn’t believe it.

Happy and anxious all at once, I felt the rush of responding

Source, but it peaked and then quickly sputtered out. The amount of

onyx in this building was insane.

“The third cell is hers,” Blake said, rushing down the hall,

toward the last cluster of doors.

Spinning back around, I held my breath as Dawson reached for the

onyx-coated door handle and turned. It met no resistance.

Dawson stepped into the room, his legs shaking, his entire body

trembling, and his voice cracked when he spoke. “Beth?”

That one word, that one sound was pulled from the depths of Dawson

and we all stopped, our breaths holding again.

Over his shoulder, I saw a slender form on a narrow bed sit up. As

she came into view, I almost cheered-I wanted to, because it was her,

it was Beth…but she looked nothing like she had when I’d last seen

her.

Her brown hair wasn’t stringy or greasy but pulled back in a

smooth ponytail. A few strands had slipped free, framing a pale but

elfin face. A huge part of me feared that she wouldn’t recognize

Dawson, that she’d be that cracked shell of a girl I’d met. I’d been

planning for the worse. That she might even attack Dawson.

But when I saw Beth’s dark eyes, they weren’t empty like they’d

been at Vaughn’s house. They also looked nothing like Carissa’s

frighteningly blank stare.

Recognition flared in Beth’s eyes.

Time stopped for those two and then sped up. Dawson stumbled

forward, and I thought he was going to drop to his knees. His hands

opened and closed at his sides as if he had no control over them.

All he could say was, “Beth.”

The girl scrambled off the bed, her eyes bouncing over us and then

they settled and stayed on him. “Dawson? Is that… I don’t understand.”

They both moved as one, rushing forward, crossing the distance at

the same moment. Their arms went around each other and Dawson lifted

her up, burying his face in her neck. Words were traded, but their

voices were thick with emotion, too low and too fast for my ears to

track. They were holding onto each other in a way I knew they were

never going to let go.

Dawson lifted his head and said something in his language and it

sounded just as beautiful as it did when Daemon spoke it. Then he

kissed her, and I felt like an interloper watching them, but I

couldn’t look away. There was so much beauty in their reunion, in the

way he showered her upturned face with tiny kisses and the wetness

that gathered on her cheeks.

Tears crept up my throat, burning the back of my eyes. Happy tears

blurred my vision. I felt Matthew place his hand on my shoulder and

squeeze. Sniffling, I nodded.

“Dawson.” Urgency filled Daemon’s tone, reminding all of us that

we were running out of time.

Pulling apart, Dawson grabbed her hand and turned around as a

whole boatload of questions came streaming out of Beth’s mouth.

“What are you guys doing? How did you all get in here? Do they

know?” And on and on she went as Dawson, who was grinning like an

idiot, tried to keep her quieted down.

“Later,” he said. “But we have to go through two doors and it’s

going to hurt-”

“Onyx shields, I know,” she said.

Well, that solved that problem.

I turned as Blake came back, carrying the prone body of a

dark-haired Luxen boy. A reddish stain bloomed across the teenager’s

jaw. “Is he okay?”

Blake nodded. The skin around his lips was drawn tight and pale.

“I… He didn’t recognize me. I had to keep him quiet.”

A tiny crack fissured my heart. The look in Blake’s eyes was so

hopeless and bleak, especially when they flickered toward Dawson and

Beth. Everything he had done: lied, cheated, and murdered had all been

for the guy in his arms. Someone he considered a brother. Again, I

hated that I felt sympathy for Blake.

But I did.

Beth looked up and her onslaught of questions faded off. “You

can’t-”

“We need to go.” Blake cut her off and stalked past us. “We’re

almost out of time.”

And we were. The reminder whipped through me and I gave the other

girl what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “We have to leave. Now.

Everything else can wait.”

Beth was shaking her head vigorously. “But-”

“We need to go, Beth. We know.” And she nodded at Dawson’s words,

but panic was building in her eyes.

Urgency kicked adrenaline into high gear and without any more

delay, the five of us took off down the hall. Daemon punched the code

into panel on the wall, and the door opened.

The all-white waiting room wasn’t empty.

Simon Cutters stood there-missing, presumed dead Simon Cutters-as

big and burly as ever. All of us were caught off guard. Daemon took a

step back. Matthew came to a halt. I couldn’t wrap my head around how

he was alive, why he was standing there, as if he were waiting for us.

The tiny hairs on my arms started to rise.

“Oh shit,” Daemon said.

Simon smiled. “Missed me? I missed you guys.”

Then he raised an arm. Light reflected off a metal cuff he wore. A

piece of opal glittered, nearly identical to the one I wore around my

neck. Everything happened so fast. Simon opened his hand, and it was

like being hit with gale force winds. I was lifted off my feet and

thrown back through the air. I crashed into the nearest door, my hip

hitting the metal door handle. Pain exploded, knocking the air out of

my lungs as I hit the floor.

Oh, my God… Simon was…

My brain raced to keep up with what was happening. If Simon had a

piece of opal, then that meant he had to have been mutated. He

probably wouldn’t have gotten us if we hadn’t been so unprepared to

see him. It was like with Carissa. He was the last person I expected.

Daemon was picking himself up several feet back down the hall, as

was Matthew. Dawson had Beth pressed back against the wall. Blake was

closer, using his body to shield Chris’s.

I pushed myself up, wincing as pain arced down my leg. I tried to

stand, but my leg gave out. Blake was there, catching me before I hit

the floor for the second time.

Simon stepped into the room and smiled.

Daemon staggered to his feet. “Oh, you are so dead.”

“Ah, I think that’s my line,” Simon responded. A burst of energy

flew from his hand, and I yelled Daemon’s name. He narrowly avoided a

direct hit.

Daemon’s pupils were starting to glow white. He reared back.

Energy arced across the room, a whitish-red light. Simon dodged it,

laughing.

“You’re going to wear yourself out, Luxen.” Simon sneered.

“Not before you.”

Simon winked and then spun toward us, throwing his hand out again.

Blake and I skidded back. I started to fall and Blake grabbed me.

Somehow his arm ended up around my neck. There was a tugging feeling

and then Daemon was beside me, shoving me behind him.

“This is so not good,” Blake said, edging closer to Simon. “We’re

running out of time.”

“No shit,” Daemon spat.

Dawson shot toward Simon, but he threw him back, laughing. He was

like a hybrid suped up on steroids. Another blast of energy flew at

Blake and then toward Matthew. Both of them dive-bombed the floor to

avoid taking a hit. Simon kept advancing, still smiling. I looked up

and our eyes locked. His were devoid of all human emotion. Unreal.

Inhuman.

And they were so very cold.

How had he been mutated? How was it successful? And how had it

turned him into this unfeeling monster. There were so many questions,

and none of them mattered right now. The breath-stealing pain made it

difficult to concentrate, to even keep standing.

Simon’s smile spread, and a shudder rolled through me as I pulled

on the Source, feeling it spark deep inside me. Before I could release

it, he opened his mouth. “Want to play, Kitty Kat?”

“Oh, screw this,” Daemon growled.

Daemon was just so much faster than me. He shot past Blake and

Matthew, beyond Dawson and Beth. Moving so fast had to have affected

him with all the onyx, but he was like lightning. Half a heartbeat

later, he was in front of Simon, his hands on either side of Simon’s

head.

A sickening crack echoed down the hall.

Simon hit the floor.

Daemon stepped back, breathing deeply. “I never liked that punk in

the first place.”

I stumbled to the side, heart racing as the Source stirred

restlessly inside of me. Eyes wide, I swallowed hard. “He’s… He was…”

“We don’t have time.” Dawson pulled Beth down the hall, into the

waiting room. “They have to know we’re here.”

Blake scooped Chris up, casting a look at Simon as he passed the

prone body. He said nothing, but what was there to say?

My stomach dipped as panic threatened to take hold. Forcing myself

forward, I ignored the jagged pain racing up and down my leg.

“Are you okay?” Daemon asked, his fingers threading through mine.

“You took a nasty hit.”

“I’m okay.” I was alive and I could walk, so that had to mean I

was okay. “You?”

He nodded as we entered the waiting room. Taking the elevator

filled me with so much dread I thought I’d hurl, but there were no

doors to stairwells. Nothing. We had no other choice.

“Come on.” Matthew slipped into the elevator, his face pale. “We

need to prepare for anything once these doors are open.”

Daemon nodded. “How is everyone?”

“Not feeling very good,” Dawson answered, his free hand open and

closing. “It’s the damn onyx. I don’t know how much is left in me.”

“What the hell was up with Simon?” Daemon turned on Blake as the

elevator pitched into motion. “He barely seemed affected by the onyx.”

Blake shook his head. “I don’t know, man. I don’t know.”

Beth was babbling on about something, but I couldn’t pay

attention. The ball of dread was building in my stomach, spreading

into my limbs. How could Blake not know? I felt Daemon shift beside

me, and then his lips brushed my forehead.

“It’s going to be okay. We’re almost out of here. We got this,”

Daemon whispered into my ear, and more tension seeped out of him, out

of me. Then he smiled. It was a real one, so wide and beautiful that

my own lips curved to meet his. “I promise, Kitten.”

I closed my eyes briefly, soaking in his words and hanging onto

them. I needed to believe in them because I was seconds away from

freaking out. I had to hold it together. We were a tunnel away from

freedom.

“Time?” Blake asked.

Matthew checked his watch. “Two minutes.”

The doors released with a suction-cup sound and the long narrow

tunnel appeared, thankfully, beautifully empty and devoid of anymore

freak-me-out surprises. Blake and his bundle were the first out, his

strides long and quick. Daemon and I took up the flank with Matthew in

front of Dawson and Beth, just in case something happened.

“Stay behind me,” Daemon said.

Nodding, I kept my eyes peeled. The tunnel was a blur, we were

moving that fast. The pain in my leg increased with each step. As

Blake reached the middle door, he shifted Chris to over his shoulder

and entered in the key. The door rattled and then slid open.

Blake stood there, swathed in the darkness of the encroaching

night. In his arms, the motionless Luxen was pale and seemed barely

alive, but he’d be free in seconds. Blake had finally gotten what he

wanted. Our eyes met from across the distance. There was something

churning in those green flecks.

A great sense of foreboding took root and spread rapidly.

Immediately, I reached for the opal around my neck and all I felt was

the chain the piece of obsidian hung from.

Blake’s lips slowly curved up at the corners.

My heart stuttered and then my stomach fell so fast I thought I’d

be sick. That smile… That smile felt like a big gotcha. A surge of

unbridled terror turned my skin icy cold. But it couldn’t be. No. No.

No. It couldn’t be …

Blake cocked his head to the side as he stepped back. He opened

his free hand. The thin, white string unraveled, slipping through his

fingers. The piece of opal dangled there, in his grasp. “Sorry,” he

said, and he truly sounded sorry. It was unbelievable. “It had to be

this way.”

“Son of a bitch!” roared Daemon, breaking free from me. He

launched forward, going after Blake in a way I knew would end in

bloody violence.

Heat flared between my breasts, unexpected and just as terrifying

as an army of DOD soldiers. I reached down, yanking the obsidian from

my shirt. It glowed red.

Daemon drew up short, snarling.

The darkness behind Blake thickened and stretched out, creeping

into the entrance of the tunnel. The blackness seeped over the walls.

Lamps sparked and went out. The shadows dropped onto the floor, rising

up all around Blake. Not touching him. Not stopping him. The smoke

formed pillars at first and then human forms. Their skin was like

midnight oil, slick and shiny.

Arum formed all around Blake-seven of them. All dressed the same.

Dark pants. Dark shirts. Eyes shielded behind sunglasses. One by one,

they smiled.

They ignored Blake.

They let him go.

Blake disappeared into the night as the Arum flew forward.

Daemon met the first one head on, his human form flickering out as

he slammed the Arum back into the wall. Dawson shoved Beth to the side

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