Barcode: Cavern of Youth (45 page)

“Kode.”

“We play around like this every once and awhile. You don’t really plan to kill me. I know you. But today’s different for me. You really hurt Angie.”

“If she wants you over me, she deserves to die,” he mumbles while walking to Carmen.

I concentrate my energy and cause the crystal below us to rumble. I don’t want to break into their world, but I’m supplying the daughters with energy, the same way I would with Shiva. Eventually, the floor sucks us in.

Tears stream down Carmen’s face. I see her concern for Angie. She wants to come to the rescue, but can’t. She hardly moves her lips when speaking; praying that the daughters will heal us again. Then, she breathes steadily and activates her codes.

Sadly, the water isn’t healing us. It only pulls us down further into darkness. Angie smiles while holding her neck. She reaches for me. Before I can connect my fingers with hers, her nails glow.

My bandages shine along with the light in her hand. As it fades away, my bandages and clothes merge with my flesh. They disappear all together and I see my own body for the first time in months.

Angie looks down at my family jewels and grins from ear to ear.

The issues I had with my cells are eradicated and I feel a power surging through my blood. I accidentally bite my cheek as my fangs sharpen. My other bones stretch also, causing my body to return to its regular size.

Once the process is complete, Angie nods her head in approval. Yet, the look in her eyes shows concern. Monte’s an average fighter when he’s wearing a chest plate, but I doubt he’ll keep it on for me. The gladiator princess tries smiling, but she watches me the same way she did before Spencer died.

Though the daughters aren’t healing Angie, they’re also preventing her from dying. I decide to leave her. I need air.

The crystal closes the surface of the water the second I emerge. Monte’s only a few feet away from Carmen. He unstraps his chest plate. The dense material crushes the floor beneath him. Carmen’s face turns a pale white when she notices all of his tattoos.

He ignites the codes on his back. Monte doesn’t plan to toy around with her. At this level, she’s as good as dead.

“Hey!”

Monte slowly peers over his shoulder.

Covering his eyes, he yells, “Dude. Come on. You’re naked.”

“But it looks good, papi!” A familiar energy expands in Carmen’s chest. Seconds later, she releases a force that pushes Monte back to me.

Shiva shines brightly before forming my mechanical gloves. This time she continues covering me until I’m completely clothed in a tight armored jumpsuit with black Kevlar pads covering my limbs. Glowing computer components appear over the pads. The parts radiate with my favorite color.

As Monte rolls near me, I mumble, “Shiva, he collects air when he fights. If you expel wind from the gloves, it’ll only aide him.” My weapon spits an explosive fire from my fists. “That’s my girl.”

Shiva completes her transformation by covering my mouth with a mask like she did Jamie’s.

Monte stands and dusts himself off. He pats his Afro and snarls, “You always had this swagger that said you could beat me whenever you wanted. I hate it. You think you’re the only one that holds back strength?”

My brother tears off his pants, revealing armored shorts. His tattoos stretch and cover his legs entirely. The air he collects is amazing. Once his barcodes possess his entire body, he activates different sections at a time. Eventually, they all light with an eerie blue. He sucks in air and the mist from the room.

Though I try gaining my composure, my legs tremble. I’ve sparred with Monte several times when we were much younger. How long was he holding back this power?

I vanish into the darkness and Monte spins around to counter me. Yet, I don’t appear behind him. I punch him in the ribcage with a left and elbow him in the neck with my other arm. Shiva releases two bursts of flames that slightly burn him, but he expels air from his codes to counter the effects.

Monte manages to strike me with a chambered punch. His fist moved nearly as fast as I do in the darkness. As I cringe from the pain, he trips me and kicks me in the stomach.

Doing my best to compose myself, I pretend as though I felt nothing and counter with a knee to his chest. He flies backwards and lands against a rock, but he absorbs a lot more air. Damn. He took the hit on purpose.

Keeping my hands to my side, I ease towards him. My relaxed demeanor further upsets him.

I blow flames from my fists. Monte charges me at a horrific speed, much like a tornado. He pounds his palm into my chin—the strike knocks me off my feet—and he follows through by tackling me to the ground.

As I fall, Monte wraps his right arm under my own and his left arm around my neck. Then, he proceeds to strangle me to death.

I listened as Helios killed Yang in this same manner.

My heart ticks with a strange sound. It’s as though there are two or three hearts inside of me beating at once. A rush of adrenaline courses through my body. There’s no way Monte would stoop low enough to train with Helios. He wouldn’t.

“Where’d you learn this hold?” I grunt, hardly able to breathe. He doesn’t respond. “Where?”

Monte’s finally able to reach his left hand over to hold his right arm. There’s no way I can muscle my way out of this now.

Instead of panicking or allowing my anger to fester any more, I press both of my fists on his arms. Shiva slowly heats up and I begin burning his wrists. She increases the intensity and nearly torches me.

Relax Shiva
.

My weapon controls her force and burns Monte’s arms for half a minute before he releases me. He grunts and pats them roughly once he flips onto his feet. He now has third degree burns on both of his arms.

I roll as far away as I can. Though I try seeming cool, I’m extremely happy to have air in my lungs. I’m fortunate he wasn’t able to snap my neck.

Monte holds his hands up like a boxer. “It’s okay. I can just dip them in the water when we’re done.”

Shiva heats up to a new degree. She begins glowing with a soft red hue.

From a distance Carmen shouts, “Get him!”

Monte collects more air. He slaps his chest and a thunderous sound echoes through the dungeon. “Don’t let her confuse you. You’re not going to beat me!”

I turn my head and try fighting the disgusting taste forming in my mouth. Simply thinking about how ignorant he is to help Eve is pitiful. She may pretend to love him, but even Monte knows that she’s a manipulator that only wants him for power. All his life she convinced my brother that he was the son of The Writer. If I believed in that fable, I’d tell him what Takashi informed me.

I charge my eyes with everything I have, feeding data through every ounce of my blood.

I close the gap between us within seconds. Monte connects a hook on my left cheek while releasing a devastating amount of wind. I hear Shiva crumbling under the pressure. I lower my center of gravity and quickly punch him in the gut. The strike isn’t enough to phase him, but I release Shiva’s fire into his abdomen. I supply so much of my energy into my weapon, I lose my breath. My heart even stops for three seconds.

Monte and I back away from each other. I hold onto my cheek. I try standing up straight, but my knees buckle and I fall. Monte spews blood from his mouth and tries covering his stomach, but it’s missing.

I crawl towards the shore, hardly able to see straight. Though I can hear every area of the cave, my vision is blurry. Everything is blending together. Carmen chases me down. I focus my data to analyze the water. I can hardly hear Angie, but she’s still alive.

Once I stand, Carmen tackles me with a hug. It’s nice to actually be taller than her again.

She sternly fixes her face on mine. “You’re gorgeous with the bandages off, but I don’t like that you’re able to block your thoughts again.”

“Nice.”

Cheating, she jumps to kiss my forehead. She forces tons of data into her lips and hacks her way into my mind once more.

“You can see her now. She’s almost at the bottom of this ocean where the daughters boil their water.”

“Stop crying.”

“Kode. Look at her skin. It’s pitch black. The wound is healed, but she’s burning to death. You can’t get to her!”

I move a misplaced hair from Carmen’s face and affirm, “You know I have to go.”

She cries, “Because you love her more.”

“Not by choice.”

“Why not me?”

“If I were thrown from a plane and there was no logical way to save me, what would you do?”

“That’s not fair!”

“In the time it took you to think about it, she already jumped.”

Grabbing my arm she yells, “I love you. I don’t care if you choose her. I just don’t want you to die.”

“Want to know why I never kiss you back?”

“No.” She laughs and wipes her tears. “Not at all.”

“It felt wrong. I tried convincing myself she was just a friend, but she’s the only person crazy enough to be more.”

Carmen punches me in the chest and it actually hurts.

“That was romantic, punk.”

I press my lips firmly against her forehead and she melts in my arms. “Oh, papi,” I mock.

She holds my bicep and laughs. The more she giggles, the deeper she digs her nails. Eventually, she draws blood. Carmen looks up at me with swollen eyes. “I can’t let you go. I won’t let you die or get stuck down there.”

“Carmen...”

“You! You want me to be stronger. Angie wouldn’t let you come after me, so I’m not letting you go. I don’t care if I die protecting you. I know what you’d do to save her.”

She’s finally strong enough to stand for what she believes in, and it seems that the Daughters of Danus are with her. More of the water crystallizes under my feet. I’m now on a time limit.

Carmen tries throwing me onto shore. When she swings me around, I use her momentum to smack her on the hardened surface. Her nails pull off three large chunks of flesh from my arm.

She doesn’t sulk in agony for long. Ms. Love flips on her feet and strikes me in the stomach with her staff. She pushes me back to the shore with it, and uses the lengthened weapon to keep me at bay.

Even when I disappear into the shadows, she senses me and throws me back. Monte watches in amazement and chuckles. She’s actually putting up a better fight than he did.

The water hardens even more. Once Carmen sees the determination cross my brow, she forms a spear at the end of the staff. I dodge a strike and sprint towards her. She withdraws and expands it again, assuming I’d run back to avoid being hit. The spear slices my left arm and cuts through a rib. I spin around as she gasps and cries.

Once I’m behind her I whisper, “Stop with the submissive woman bull. You did a great job and I’m proud of you.” I explode a venomous force that plunges her head first into a wall. She bleeds excessively, but instantly works on healing herself.

Carmen uses all of her energy to close the wound on her forehead. She tries crawling back to me, but it’s too late. We’re both pretty bad and I need Angie.

I don’t plan on asking the daughters to let me in again. Most of them are screaming at me for betraying them.

I use the power flowing through my barcodes to exert an energy on the ground once more. The walls of the cave shake and the women scream outwardly. Even Carmen and my dying brother can hear them. They both do their best to cover their ears.

The first large crack splits between my feet. More pieces break apart little by little. Damn these women are persistent.

“What the hell, I probably won’t be a big boy for long.” I release all the pressure stored within my chest and the entire lake divides in half. I fall between it and land in freezing cold water.

Using my force and the fire from Shiva, I propel my body through the water, down to a very toasted Angie. The daughters are still upset. They throw crystals and change the temperature of the water. I zip past the obstacles as the skin on my face begins boiling.

The flames at the bottom of this lake are huge.

She’s only a few yards away, but the intensity of the fire holds me back. I’m running out of energy and tired of pushing myself, but I’m not the type to stop for a little pain.

After my short break, I rush to the bottom. I laugh knowing that I’ll have to tell Hayley I swam in fire.

I grab Angie’s hand, turn around, and zoom out of the heat. Once we’re nearly at the top, I stop and gently touch Angie’s charred skin. Her tattoos are still intact—she’s not completely dead. I guess it is physically impossible to die here.

The same way I command my blood to create barcodes, I concentrate on healing her wounds as though the water were a part of me. I think of it as my blood surrounding her and force it to heal her blisters and repair her skin. It only takes a moment, but we both fully recover.

I push through the top layer of crystal and drag her to the shore.

Carmen’s a safe distance from Monte and she’s giving Angie and I our space. Her skin is pale and she looks as though she lost five pounds. I didn’t know how taxing healing could be on her body. I can’t use her to wake Angie up. I also can’t remember how to perform the Heimlich.

After a bit of thinking, I charge a small energy in my fist and punch the gladiator princess in the stomach. The electric shock that Shiva releases rumbles in Angie’s gut and she spits up the fluid. Without hesitation, she starts yelling, “You just closed your eyes. I bet they were open a second ago.”

Angie wraps me in her arms and pulls against Shiva’s mask until it falls off. Then, she rolls the both of us around until I’m on top of her. I lean in and breathe gently on her face.

“Kiss me,” she aggressively requests.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It would be romantic and I hate that.”

“Kode!”

Finally, I open my eyes. I wait for her to turn away or for some muscle to twitch like everyone else, but I get distracted. I had no clue that her eyes glimmered with a faint blue when they weren’t possessed by Sekhmet. Naturally, they’re gray but that blue in the distance makes them a bit more spectacular.

“Do they scare you?”