Catch Me When I Fall (29 page)

“If he is in league with this warlock, then we’re in deeper shit than we thought,” I replied. “Giovanni’s clever. He could convince thousands of Protectors to follow him under false pretense. Seth, do you have access to his office when he’s not there?”

He shook his head. “No, Giovanni’s the only one with access. He also turns on an alarm system that freaks out at the slightest movement. As soon as we go corporeal to touch something, the thing will go off.”

“Then you need to think of a way to distract him so he doesn’t turn it on. Samantha and I can break in and search through his things. Until then, pay close attention to what he’s doing, where he’s going, who he’s speaking to. If he is a traitor, we need to figure out who else in these walls is working with him.”

The Magus in that house in Kansas said we had no idea who was loyal to this warlock. If he got under the skin of Giovanni, there was no telling who else was involved. Until then, I needed to be on guard. We couldn’t afford to have our walls destroyed from within.

Seth nodded. “I’ll do what I can.”

I plucked the USB drive out of my trouser pocket and handed it to him. “Also, see if you can find someone who can decrypt these files. And don’t tell Giovanni you have this.”

“I’ll let you know as soon as I got somethin’.”

Four hours later, there was a knock on my door. Kayla slept on the bed next to me, having passed out halfway through
Gladiator
, and I got off the bed as gently as I could to avoid waking her. Seth and Irene stood on the other side of the door.

“Man, you need to see this,” Seth said, pushing his way into the room.

“Keep it down, mate,” I whispered. “What do you need to show me?”

“What I found on the USB drive Seth asked me to hack.” Irene pulled it out of her pocket and slipped the small piece of plastic into my laptop. Seth and I stood behind her and watched as she decrypted the files. I paid close attention to what keys she pressed.

“I couldn’t decrypt much, but I was able to get into a couple files,” Irene said. “This is from a week ago.”

Irene brought up security footage from a small warehouse or storage unit. Someone parked a black B.M.W. in front of the building, and the passenger door opened. Giovanni stepped out of the car. I gripped the back of the desk chair. He
was
in league with this bastard. Bugger. Seth had been right.

A man stepped out of the building and shook hands with Giovanni. He had dark hair and wore black clothing, but from this angle I couldn’t make out his face. Giovanni’s smile, though, told me they’d known each other for a while—a smile you’d reserve not for a business partnership but for a friend. Then, the man turned to lead Giovanni into the building, and I got a good look at his face. I’d seen him before, the first night I’d watched over Kayla in the asylum. With a gasp, I stepped back from the desk.

The warlock was Richard Bartlett—Kayla’s father.

“You know who that is?” Seth asked.

No, this couldn’t be happening. My palms sweat.

Right then, screams filled the halls. Loud
booms
rang out and a bell alarm sounded. Seth and I stared at each other, our eyes wide. Irene ran out the door without another glance at either of us.

“Daniel, what’s going on?” Kayla asked, having been woken by the noise.

Snapping into action, I shoved the USB drive into my pocket before she could see the screen. “I don’t know.” I grabbed my weapon belt out of my closet and wrapped it around my waist. “Seth, get her to the rendezvous point. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”

“No!” Kayla yelled. “I’m not leaving without you.”

I grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “I will be right behind you. I promise.”

She nodded, though her face paled. I kissed her forehead then ran out the door.

The halls were already filled with corpses of Catchers and Weavers. My heart stopped. We were being ambushed. With weak legs, I evaporated to the artillery, filled my belt with as many weapons as I could carry and ran up the narrow stairs to the lobby.

Everywhere, Catchers battled Nightmares—and we were severely outnumbered. Right and left, Catchers fell as claws ripped through their bodies. Soon they began to evaporate, leaving more and more Catchers to fight on their own. I looked around the room until my eye caught the person I was looking for.

A man dressed in a long, black cape marched up the stairs. Richard.

Sprinting through the lobby, I dodged the swipes of the Nightmares all around me. Then halfway across the room, a Nightmare blocked my way, swinging at my face. The beast’s scaly, humanoid body was much bigger than the one that had attacked Hendrik in Kayla’s psychiatric room. I ducked just in time and sliced at its gut. Black blood oozed out of the hellion onto the floor, but it didn’t fall. The Nightmare swung at me again, and I dodged its attack as quickly as I could. The monster’s claws found my arm. I swore as my flesh tore and blood soaked through my sleeve.

Again, it swung. I sliced off the Nightmare’s hand before claws could make contact with my body. Then, as the beast leaned back to roar in pain, I leapt and stabbed my blade clear through its neck. The creature fell to the ground without another sound.

I sprinted again for the staircase, determined to reach the warlock, and threw a blade between the eyes of the last Nightmare in my way. For only a second, I stopped to pull the knife out of the beast’s head—Catchers’ blades were priceless—and then, finally, I reached the stairs. Up eight flights I ran, glancing right and left for any sign of Richard. When I was on the eighth floor, a scream caught my attention—Kayla.

No
! She wasn’t supposed to be here.

I turned right and ran down the hall. Across the hall from Kayla’s door was Seth, lying unconscious on the ground.

No, no, no!
When I kicked open Kayla’s door, Richard stood across from me, one of his hands wrapped around her wrist. She struggled to get free, but he was too strong.

“Daniel!” Kayla screamed as an invisible force grabbed me and threw me across the room. My head smacked the corner of her bookshelf, and I crashed to the floor.

ill he wake soon?” a feminine voice asked, sounding far away. Was I dreaming?

“I don’t know. He split his head open, Samantha. Given the amount of blood on her floor, we’re lucky he didn’t crack his skull,” a woman responded with a German accent.

Hearing about hitting my head, the memory of it smacking on Kayla’s bookshelf came back—as did the pain.
Nope. Not dreaming.
And then I remembered being tossed like a rag doll.
Kayla.

Opening my eyes, I sat up, nearly smacking Lizzie in the face. “Kayla—where is she?” I groaned at the nauseating pain in my head and fell backward.

Samantha placed her hands on my chest, keeping me from sitting up again. “Daniel, don’t move. You hit your head.”

“Kayla—”

“Would you lay still? I’m not done stitching your head,” Lizzie replied. Her blonde hair was splotched with black blood.

“Somebody answer me! Where the hell is she?”

“Daniel.” Seth’s voice caught me off guard. Thank god he was okay. “She’s gone. The warlock has her.”

Someone may as well have dropped a bowling ball on my chest from ten stories up. I swallowed the lump in my throat and ground my teeth until they hurt.

“Why was she still there, Seth? I told you to get her out!”

“She was insistent on goin’ back for something and wouldn’t take my hand unless I promised to take her to her room first. I’m sorry, Daniel.”

My hands gripped the edges of the wooden table until my knuckles whitened. I had to get up, to find her, to bring her home. As soon as the bell rang, I should’ve taken her from the mansion.

“Are you done yet?” I yelled at Lizzie.

“Just one more stitch! Be patient.”

I felt the tugging and stitching of Lizzie’s handiwork, but there was no pain. They must’ve numbed me.

“There. You can get up now,” Lizzie said.

I smacked Samantha’s hands off my chest, then teetered sideways when I stood. Someone was hitting me over the head again and again with a sledgehammer, and I blinked a few times until my eyes focused.

We were in some sort of classroom inside a church. A very old church with stone walls. Bibles filled a small bookcase near an old, wooden door, and above the door was a crucifix. A poster hung on the left side of the chalkboard, and on closer examination I noticed all the words were in Spanish. We were in
Las Lajas—
our rendezvous point.

I stormed down a long, stone hallway. Large, gothic windows provided light from the outside, and from where I stood, we were high above the
cascada
flowing through the deep canyon where
Las Lajas
sat. A short flight of stone stairs took me to the main floor were Tabbi stood amongst the other remaining members of my team—Lian, Ivan, Vasin, and Hakan.

This is all?

“Daniel!” Tabbi yelled. At her voice the others turned to stare. She ran up and hugged me. “I was so worried.”

I patted her back and stepped out of her grasp to address the others. “Brian and Irene?” When Lian shook her head, I frowned. “Well, I’m glad you all are safe.”

“Yeah. Though why you picked this hellhole of a place to meet up, I’ll never know,” Ivan said.

I ignored him, too scared and angry right now to deal with his shit. One of us would end up killing the other.

“The warlock has all three Magus?” I asked.

Seth nodded, and his eyes met the floor. “Sorry, man. There were just too many of them.”

Balling my hands into fists, I sucked in a deep breath. “You all still willing to fight?” There were not enough people for war, but there were enough to scout. I knew who the warlock was now and could track him. He should’ve made sure he killed me when he had the chance.

They all nodded.

“Then wait here. I’m going to go find this bloke, see where he’s hiding out.”

“Do you know who he is?” Samantha asked.

I grimaced. My stomach ached thinking about how Kayla must be feeling right now. “His name is Richard Bartlett. He’s Kayla’s father.”

The room was so quiet; I could hear the river flowing three hundred feet below. Only Tabbi managed to speak. “Then go find out where he took her. We’ll wait here.”