Awaken (20 page)

The man from the hospital gestured toward the
window. The repairman turned.

I froze. It was one of the behemoths that
Kirzan had ordered to watch me.

This couldn’t be good.

“Him,” I whispered to Niall. “He’s one of
them.”

Niall nodded and then looked to the guards.
They spread out, still watching the Sylphaen.

For a moment, the Sylphaen studied the repair
work, looking for all the world like a contractor evaluating a
project. Nodding a bit, he said something to the man from the
hospital, who nodded in return. The Sylphaen shook the other man’s
hand and then turned, walking toward the side of the house and
carefully scrutinizing the windows as he went.

Until he passed beyond the view of the
driveway. Like an actor leaving a stage, he dropped any pretense of
caring about the mansion and strode straight for the steps at the
rear of the yard.

We ducked back through the bushes and hurried
after him.

The Sylphaen jogged down the staircase,
getting all the way to the beach before we reached the steps.

And then he heard us.

He looked back, catching sight of us at the
top of the stairs, and alarm shot across his face. Without
hesitation, he raced toward the ocean.

Guards rose from the water, cutting him off.
The others ran down the stairs ahead of me and grabbed the man as
he attempted to bolt. With ruthless efficiency, they yanked his
arms behind his back and took his legs from under him, sending him
face-first down to the sand. Another guard hauled him partially up
again, wrapping an arm around the man’s throat. The Sylphaen
struggled in their grip, snarling curses, and then he spotted Niall
and me behind the guards.

Fury suffused his expression. “You
treacherous little–”

“Save it,” I told him. “Where’s Chloe? Have
your people found her yet?”

He sneered.

“Answer the question, scum,” Niall ordered,
and I glanced back to see him jerk his chin at the guards.

Spikes emerged from the forearm of the guard
holding the Sylphaen’s neck, the barbs pressing into the man’s skin
and coming perilously close to breaking it.

Hatred joined the anger on the Sylphaen’s
face. “Foul spawn of–”

“Do you have Chloe?” I snapped.

The Sylphaen was silent for a moment, and
then his sneer returned. “All is according to our plan, and no
creature will stop us now.”

“What the hell does that mean?” I
demanded.

The hatred in the man’s eyes grew stronger as
he glared up at me. “We have prepared for this day for generations.
Our resources are vast beyond what your petty mind can imagine. And
they have delivered us the creature’s location. Simple cell phone
tracing is not out of our reach, and these foolish animals have
given no question to the equipment we brought along.” His lips
curled back in disgust. “All who stand against us are fools, but we
will rid the world of you. The abomination will be ours within the
hour. Nothing you can do will stop that.”

“
Damn
, you babble,” Niall
commented.

“Where is she?” I said, still watching the
Sylphaen. “Where are your people headed?”

His sneer deepened.

I glanced to the guard. The man pushed the
spikes into the Sylphaen’s skin, bringing droplets of blood to the
surface.

The Sylphaen’s face tightened and his gaze
went from me to Niall and back. “Nothing can stop us,” he said
contemptuously. “Long live the Wisdom.”

He thrust his throat onto the guard’s
spikes.

“What the hell?” Niall cried.

The guard stumbled back, staring at the
Sylphaen. Blood poured from the wounds on the man’s neck, even as
contempt still tried to twist his face. His eyes widened as he
choked, and then went still.

I stared.

“That… what…” Niall tried. He drew a sharp
breath and looked to the guards. “Get… get that out of here.”

The guards bent to gather the body.

I turned away, blinking in shock. The guy had
just…

“Zeke,” Niall said, still sounding
shaken.

Air entered my lungs. I looked back at
him.

“We’re not going to be able to find her
without…” He shook his head. “We should head back to the water.
Have the guards watch–”

“No. No, we can’t just…”

My gaze went to the top of the bluffs. That
guy. The one from the hospital. If we could talk to him, maybe we
could warn her before they got too close.

I ran back up the stairs.

“Zeke?” Niall called.

He chased after me.

Reaching the yard, I kept moving, not
bothering to hide anymore. Racing around the corner of the house, I
took in the missing truck and the absent workers, and then caught
sight of the man pulling out from the far end of the driveway in
his car.

“Hey!” I called, running after him.

He was already taking off down the
street.

I stopped at the end of the drive, watching
him disappear around the next turn. Snarling a curse, I looked back
as Niall came jogging up behind me.

“He could have warned her,” I said.

Niall’s expression mirrored my own. “They
still have to bring her back to the ocean,” he pointed out.

I grimaced, my skin crawling at the idea of
them getting their hands on her at all.

“We should fan out,” Niall continued. “Leave
one guy here, and then head north with half the rest and send the
others south. Try to cover as much of the coast as possible, so no
matter where they–”

“This is where they’ve been, though. They’re
all here.”

“Doesn’t mean they’ll come back this way,
especially since this is where people know her and will be looking
for her if they learn she’s been kidnapped.” He paused. “The
Sylphaen can get her in the water anywhere. Trying here is probably
their worst choice.”

I looked away. He might be right. But I
couldn’t shake the feeling that they would come back to Santa
Lucina again. The dead one on the beach had been here, along with
potentially more, and they must have stuck around for a reason.

“Send the guards in either direction along
the coast,” I said. “But I’m staying.”

“Zeke–”

“That guy on the beach was here for a
reason.”

“Maybe to make sure none of her friends
rushed off to help.”

“Or to be a lookout.” I exhaled, trying to
calm down. “Come on, Niall. I’m not saying you’re wrong, I just
want to keep an eye out around here.”

His mouth tightened. “Okay, then I’m staying
too.”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

He echoed the motion. We walked back to the
stairs.

On the beach, the guards were waiting, though
the Sylphaen’s body was gone. I looked out at the water, knowing
one of them must have dragged him out there to be lost in the
currents.

“You three,” Niall called, jerking his chin
at several of the guards as he reached the bottom of the steps.
“You stay with us. The rest, I want you to split up. Half to the
north, half south, and cover as much space as possible. You feel
this electricity-in-the-water thing Zeke talked about, you
signal.”

They gave a nod and headed for the waves.

Niall glanced back at me. “We should stay
oceanwise. Better view of more shoreline that way.”

I made a noise of agreement, and then
followed him into the tide.

If the Sylphaen brought her into the water
anywhere near us, I’d feel it. And if they tried it anywhere else,
one of the guards along the coast would be able to tell. It was
hard to miss, that strange thing she did when she touched the
water.

I just hoped we caught them, because I didn’t
want to imagine what those bastards had planned.

Chapter Seventeen

“But then my dad comes home, and Maddox just
takes off! Leaves me standing there, in a bathroom covered in mud
and holding this sopping wet puppy, like it was all my idea to take
the poor thing in!”

I laughed and Noah grinned. Pushing a branch
out of our way, he waited for me to pass him.

“So what’d you do then?” I asked as we
continued down the trail toward the cabin.

“Well… panic. I dropped the puppy into the
bathwater and tried to grab a towel, but the little guy just jumped
out of the tub and bolted through the door. Next thing I know, I
hear my dad yelling because this wet dog is racing around the
living room.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, I ended up grounded for about a week
over that one.”

“And Maddox?”

Humor showed in Noah’s eyes. “Two weeks,
mostly for running off on me.”

I laughed again. “How old were you guys?”

He thought for a moment. “Eight, maybe? So
Maddox would’ve been eleven. Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“What happened to the dog?”

“Oh, turns out he wasn’t a stray after all.
Some neighbors down the street had been looking for him all
afternoon.” He grinned. “And they were really grateful we’d given
him a bath so they didn’t have to.”

I shook my head, still smiling. We walked
around the turn of the trail, and the rear of the cabin came into
view.

Gunshots rang out from the far side of the
house.

I froze, my mind trying to catch up with my
ears. Screams rose on the heels of more gunfire, along with the
sound of shattering glass and Daisy barking.

Noah ran for the cabin.

I gasped and took off after him.

A man in a black ski mask darted around the
side of the house. At the sight of Noah racing toward him, he
skidded, his eyes going wide.

His arm raised.

I screamed.

And the gun fired.

Noah stopped as the bullet hit him. His hand
clutched at his chest and his body jerked, as though he was choking
around the pain. Doubling over, he staggered a step, and then
crashed to the ground.

I stared. This couldn’t be happening. This
wasn’t–

The man charged at me faster than anyone had
the right to move.

Tearing my gaze from Noah, I stumbled away
and ran.

The man’s fingers snagged my hair and yanked
me backward, sending pain shrieking through my scalp. I screamed
and clawed at his grip as he dragged me to the ground.

“Get the hell away from her!”

At the cry, the man suddenly stumbled and his
fist vanished from my hair. Twisting on the ground, I scrambled
back and looked up.

My mom had jumped on him. Like a wild woman,
she had her arm wrapped around his throat as she desperately tried
to choke him. Her other hand tore at his ski mask, blinding him
momentarily and making him cry out with rage.

Grabbing at her, he caught her shirt and arm,
and then ripped her from him and hurled her to the ground.

She hit the dirt path hard and rolled. Her
hands landed on a rock and with a cry, she flung it at his
head.

He dodged the stone.

And pulled out his gun.

“No!” I shouted.

The man paused. His head turned and his eyes
met mine while Mom scrambled to the side.

His gun tracked her.

“Don’t,” I pled.

Beneath the torn ski mask, his mouth twitched
toward a snarl.

“What do you want?” I continued desperately.
“Me? I’ll go with you. Just please don’t.”

His expression became disgusted. Beyond him,
I could see Mom, still in the line of his handgun.

I trembled. He’d shoot her. I knew he would.
He’d shot Noah and no one else had come around the side of the
house this entire time. It was just us and him and…

My forearms stung as the spikes grew.

“Chloe, no…” Mom begged.

“I’m not a landwalker,” I tried, ignoring
her. “See? I don’t know why you’re doing this, but I’m not–”

“We know exactly what you are.”

I hesitated. “O-okay. But please, you don’t
have to do this.”

“Yes we do.”

There was nothing in his voice. Just cold
certainty and it left me shaking. He looked back at Mom, taking aim
again.

Something slammed into him, knocking his shot
wide and propelling him from the path. The man screamed, flying
through the air and then crashing into a tree trunk. He tumbled to
the ground and didn’t move again.

I stared.

It was Noah. But not. Alive and well, he
stood with his back to me, regarding the crumpled man he’d just
thrown into the tree. Smoke rose from his fists and cracks like
fissures in stone ran up his arms, with fiery light like molten
lava coming from inside them.

He turned, looking at me. His eyes glowed red
like coals, and more cracks surrounded them, radiating outward like
jagged tattoos of light. Blood stained his shirt, the wetness
centered on a hole torn near the middle of his chest, and beneath
the fabric, his skin shone.

Motionless, he watched me, and nothing human
was in his gaze.

And then he drew a breath, tensing briefly as
the fissures began to fade.

“Are you alright?” he asked as his eyes
darkened back to their normal green.

A gasp of air entered my lungs. On the path
behind him, Mom pushed to her feet, not taking her eyes from him.
He glanced over at her, and then back at me.

I couldn’t stop staring.

“We have to go,” he said.

My head nodded on its own. Reaching out, he
extended a hand to me. My gaze dropped to his palm, and after a
moment’s hesitation, I took it.

He felt the same. Warm, with skin no
different than a short time ago.

His fingers wrapped around mine and he drew
me up from the ground.

“What are you?” I whispered as the spikes
retreated from my arms.

Noah paused. “It’s complicated. Come on.”

Bringing me with him, he headed for the
cabin.

“Keep pressure on it!”

Diane’s cry carried past the house as we came
closer. Noah leaned his head around the corner, and then pulled me
after him as he ran into the front yard.

The porch steps were a wreck, and two
ski-masked men had been shoved into the debris. Several yards away,
Dad lay on the grass with Diane crouched over him, pressing a
bundle of towels to his shoulder. With Daisy at her feet, Baylie
huddled nearby, clasping her upper arm while blood dripped past her
fingers.