Destiny: The Girl in the Box #9 (26 page)

Sierra pulled with all her fury, all her strength, and ripped his leg from the ground. Weissman tottered, one leg left to stand on, and Sierra struck out with her hand. She could hear his ankle snap from the perfect placement of her strike, years of training funneled into this moment.

He landed hard upon his back and let out a cry. She could hear the grinding of the plane’s gears as the propellers spun up in the front. She didn’t waste time looking to see if the ramp was closed; she had no time to spare. Sierra pulled herself along Weissman’s fallen body as he struggled. She punched him hard enough in the groin for his ancestors to feel it then did it again for good measure. The sound of popping tissue and his screams were all the encouragement she needed to keep going.

She crawled along the length of him while he struggled and stopped at his throat. He was struggling against her weight, against the way she had him pinned. She saw his hand break free from behind his back, brandishing the knife he’d been carrying in his back waistband.

If she were some new trainee, facing down a man in a knife while she was bleeding out, she might have panicked. Especially given the stakes. But she was Sierra Nealon, by God, and she’d known this was going to happen. She’d trained her whole adult life to fight like this, to do the things no one else was willing to do in order to be the best. Discipline was everything. She was iron.

And Weissman was a cream puff.

She caught his hand before he even got it around. He was so slow. His face was thick with fear, like he couldn’t believe this was happening to him. She cracked his wrist—something so basic a novice student of Aikido would have known how to escape it—and he dropped the knife. She snatched it up.

“Looks like … you’re out of time …” she whispered, voice guttural, as she ran it across his throat.

If she’d been in his place, she could have stopped it. But he was weak, this Weissman. Fat. Undisciplined. She could see the rage that drove him as she opened his neck. Rage was good, but it couldn’t win every battle for you.

Cold discipline beat hot rage every time.

She watched the light fade from his eyes even as hers grew heavy. She rolled off of him after nearly sawing his head off and stopped when she saw the feet standing in front of her. Did they come from the plane?

No.

She stared up at the man above her, and she knew him. She’d seen him before. “Shin’ichi Akiyama,” she breathed. She knew she didn’t have many breaths remaining.

“Sierra Nealon, I presume?” Akiyama stooped, squatting low to speak to her. “I am surprised that you know me.”

“We’ve met before,” Sierra said. “Last time we spoke, some fourteen years ago, you told me, ‘The next time we meet will be on the day you die. But your death will save your daughter’s life.’”

“It would appear I have further to travel back,” Akiyama said, slow and pensive. Why was he so pensive? She’d just told him everything he needed to know, hadn’t she? “And here I had thought my debt was paid in full.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. All the luster had gone out of the world and darkness was seeping in from outside the hangar. The plane was gone, and she wondered for how long. “Sienna …?”

“I have an appointment with her in a few years,” Akiyama said with a light smile. “On that occasion, she will remember me, but I will have no memory of her.” He inclined his head slightly. “It sounds as though you and I have a similar appointment.”

“Can you …” The thoughts were coming slower now, and so were the breaths. “… Can you … is there anything … you can do for me …?”

“I am afraid I cannot,” Akiyama said. “I am limited in my power to affect the events of this—my past. I could only do what I have done because it was already destined to happen. As is our next meeting, it would appear, the one in which you will meet me for the very first time.”

“I … can’t … don’t want to leave … Sienna …” Sierra’s emotions broke loose, and the fear, oh God, the fear, it drowned everything else out.

“Be at peace, Sierra Nealon,” Akiyama said, and his hand brushed her cheek. She could feel wetness there. “Your fight is over now.”

She could feel the slow hiss of that last breath, and the dimness sunk in. She couldn’t speak to say her last, couldn’t get the words out. She could still hear him, though, the last thing he said before she felt the world fade away.

“But your daughter’s fight … I am afraid it is just beginning …”

SIENNA

I had watched Weissman close the door to the front of the box numbly, my mother dead on the ground somewhere behind him. I had watched him take her life with a mixture of paralysis and rage, and words had failed me.

Now I felt only the darkness close in on me as the box thumped up the ramp of the plane, each hit it took like another nail being driven into my coffin.

My mother was dead.

My freedom was lost.

Weissman was going to kill everyone I cared about.

Then he was going to wipe out the remainder of my species and enslave all mankind.

If I was honest with myself—really honest—the first three of those felt far more immediate and horrible than the last one, if only because I could personally taste the consequences of my failure. And they were the bitterest tonic I could remember since the day I’d held Zack in my arms after he died. That last consequence was a creature of the future.

And right now I didn’t have a future.

I sobbed openly as I felt the box locked into place, held upright by chains or a cargo net to keep me from toppling over.

“Awww,” came the mocking voice of Grihm just outside. “Listen to her cry. Can you believe she killed Wolfe?”

“Yeah,” Frederick said. “He always was a weakling, physically and intellectually. The runt of our litter—metaphorically speaking.”

Somewhere outside, I could hear their low guffaws over the engines of the aircraft throttling up. Everything broke loose inside me, a torrent of emotions—rage, frustration, sadness—that allowed a voice to escape the back of my mind.

Little Doll … the Wolfe has changed his mind. The Wolfe will help you kill them all. Just for fun. Them and Sovereign and Weissman and—

“Do you know how to make my body use your powers?” I asked, choking back a sob.

There was a long pause.
Not … really,
Wolfe finally said.
But—

I could feel my eyes, sticky, puckering shut. “Then what the hell is the point?” I didn’t even bother to slam the door on him; he just wandered out of my view. All of them wandered around back there, free from their cages, not saying anything. They were probably happy.

Not all of us,
Zack said.

I sobbed again, helpless against the fear. My life was over. My destiny was to be tortured for fun until Sovereign “rescued” me, whenever that would be. I was caged like I had been as a child. Stuck in place, in a box, just like …

A memory tumbled loose. Something stirred by my thoughts of myself—a girl, trapped in stasis.

… just like Andromeda.

Andromeda …? I hadn’t really thought of her in forever, but something she said floated to the top of my mind unbidden and gave me a chill.

I had watched the blood spread over her chest, and she spoke:
“Remember me when you are cast back into the darkness, and I will light your way—I will show you the way.”

I took a desperate, hopeful breath of the metallic air. The blood on my face and in my mouth had dried, leaving a crust behind. I scratched at it with my fingers, took another breath, and listened. All I could hear outside was the plane’s engines. If we hadn’t taken off yet, we were about to.

“Andromeda?” I whispered the name uncertainly, afraid I’d be heard. “Please. Help me. Andromeda …”

I waited, and heard …

Nothing.

I slumped against the hard metal wall and felt a tear drip down my cheek. My face crumpled, and I hated myself as I sat there in the dark, isolated, cut off. Fated to this darkness, to the cage, like the prisoner I was. Brought to this purpose so I could be nothing more than a sacrifice to a powerful man, to be disposed of at his whim, just like—

I raised my head and another thought occurred to me. The chill came back.

Just like Andromeda?

No …

Not Andromeda. Just like …

“Adelaide.” I said her name aloud. Remembered seeing her die at the hands of Wolfe … and then heard a voice deep within.

No, Little Doll,
Wolfe said.
Not die. Close … but not dead.

“Adelaide,” I said, whispering the name again.

I felt another stir inside. Something barely moving deep within.

A shadow. The barest fragment of a soul passed to me by a touch over a year ago.

“Andromeda … wasn’t your real name,” I said, the cold breath of hope stirring me. “Adelaide. Your name was Adelaide before … before whatever Omega did to you.”

I could feel it, the barest breath, and then the answer came back to me in the form of a voice I hadn’t heard in over a year. A shadow, sliding out of the darkness of my past … exactly like she had promised me she would before she died.

Hello, Sienna Nealon … I have been waiting for this moment …

… I have been waiting here in the darkness …

… for you.

Thanks for reading
Destiny: The Girl in the Box, Book 9
. I hope you enjoyed it!

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This was the ninth book in the Girl in the Box Series. Here's a list of all the books in the series, in order:

Alone: The Girl in the Box, Book One

Untouched: The Girl in the Box, Book Two

Soulless: The Girl in the Box, Book Three

Family: The Girl in the Box, Book Four

Omega: The Girl in the Box, Book Five

Broken: The Girl in the Box, Book Six

Enemies: The Girl in the Box, Book Seven

Legacy: The Girl in the Box, Book Eight

Power: The Girl in the Box, Book Ten* (Coming Summer 2014!)

Limitless: Out of the Box, Book One* (Coming Late 2014/Early 2015!)

Yes, there is going to be a sequel series.
The main storyline with Sovereign is going to wrap up in book 10, but the series has a very big world, and there are a lot of things I want to delve deeper into. For example, there's obviously a story with Akiyama, and it's not something I can fit into the Girl in the Box series by the end. But I will deal with it in Out of the Box (#6, in case you're curious).

Reviews help other readers find books. If you enjoyed the book and could take a moment to post a short review on the website you brought it from, tell a friend, tweet about it or mention it on your Facebook page, I'd greatly appreciate it. If you did all four I'd be super-duper-extra grateful.

The Sanctuary Series

Epic Fantasy

Defender: The Sanctuary Series, Volume One

Avenger: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Two

Champion: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Three

Crusader: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Four

Sanctuary Tales, Volume One - A Short Story Collection

Thy Father's Shadow: (Sanctuary 4.5)* (Coming Summer 2014!)

Master: The Sanctuary Series, Volume Five* (Coming 2014)

Southern Watch

Contemporary Urban Fantasy

Called: Southern Watch, Book 1

Depths: Southern Watch, Book 2

Corrupted: Southern Watch, Book 3* (Coming Summer 2014!)

* Forthcoming

Karri Klawiter once again worked magic with a cover, and with so little to work on she might as well be a meta herself. An art-creating meta. Hmm, I think I just had a book idea...

Sarah Barbour once more worked diligently to minimize the ass I make of myself with my words. It's a hard job, but she really does well with it.

Jo Evans, Erin Kane and Jessica Kelishes gave the manuscript an added level of polish and helped me iron out those last creeping errors.

Thanks also to my wife and kids, who make it all possible and worthwhile.

Lastly, thanks to my parents, who were present for the last week of the writing this book and helped immensely. We had a baby born on Monday and I finished writing the book with a marathon session on Saturday. That wouldn't have happened without their help.