Lost Energy (5 page)

Avery sat again, her excitement
dwindling as concern creased her brow. "We have another problem, one that
can't be resolved unless we carry out our past mission."

I knew without her having to tell
me. "Cassondra?"

"Yes."

Panic forced me to stand. "Is
she going after Tarek?"

She rose, too, Nicolette moving
beside her. "She is bent on seeking revenge for her brother's murder."

Farren scooted closer until our
shoulders touched. "Wardens are tough to kill. Have to make them pay,
though, like Protectors."

If the chair were not there to grasp,
I'd have crumbled to the floor. "So, you do think she'll go after
Tarek…through me?"

"Yeah, kid."

I swallowed. "Here we go
again, huh?"

"Looks like."

Avery jumped in, her voice high. "We
can stop her."

"How do we do that?" My
mind already left the conversation and worked on a way to prevent getting my
family and I killed.

"You are the one the Wardens
trust. Believe me, I have tried." She grabbed my forearm, giving a light
shake. "You must find a way to speak with them. It is time to finish what
we started.
We must close the lines between worlds…and bring
Exemplar to its knees."

PLANS

"Y
ou have to go to Arcus, tell Wilma
and Tarek what's going on." We spent the short car ride home figuring out
the next step.

Finish what we started…
Pretty much the question we tried
to sort out. The risks involved, Farren getting some unwanted company for
crossing lines, not to mention having my cycle ending early, were some of many.

"I know." He flicked on
the turning signal and pulled in behind Jake's Range Rover. "Let's go over
our options one more time." He shifted the car in park and turned to lean
against his door, one arm dangling over the steering wheel.

"Well, one, we kill Cassondra."

"Not so easy. She's at least
eight-cycled, if not more. Besides, there's no way we could get close to her."

Rolling my neck, I ditched that
idea and moved on to number two. "We find a way to threaten her; maybe try
to get to the Synod above her."

Farren contemplated that for a
minute, tapping the wheel. "That's not so far-fetched." The tapping
finger moved to his lip. "I'd need Wilma, of course."

"Yeah, okay, option two sounds
promising."

"We'd need to hide you, too,
in case shit doesn't go right. She'd come after you, no doubt in my mind."

Electricity I hadn't felt in five
months shot through my veins, turning my heart into a pulsating orb ready to
break my ribcage. "Ah, well, I know one place she'd never get anywhere
near me."

He raised a red brow. "And
where would that be?"

My face grew warm, and my pounding
heart made my voice too hoarse to sound logical. "She'd never get within a
hundred yards of me in Arcus."

Farren chuckled, giving me a light
punch in the shoulder. "You're so cute when you get all red."

I pushed his hand away. "Wish
I could say the same for you. Anyway…option three."

"Yeah…option three." He
rubbed the stubble on his cheeks.

"We close the lines."

He moved to pull the keys from the
ignition. "I'd rather deal with one Protector set on revenge than a whole
dimension wanting to stay on top of the food chain." I opened my mouth to
argue, but he held up a hand. "At least, right now. If we want to start a
war, we need more than four people willing to come out of hiding to fight."

Well, he did have a point.

I got out, slamming my door with
more force than necessary, Farren following.

"I should talk to
Teenesee," I said. "See what she says about everything. I'm sure Avery's
name came up in our past conversations."

Farren opened the front door,
waving for me to go first. "I like the idea, but let me talk to Wilma and
Tarek first."

"Yeah, sure, whatever."
Trying to sound nonchalant when excitement bounced off my nervous system and
begged my feet to perform a happy dance was tough. I managed, but my cheeks
hurt from smiling.

As soon as I opened the door, Mom
and Jake jumped off the couch. The pale color dulling their cheeks effectively
erased my smile.

Mom hugged me while Jake yelled.
Typical. "Is everything okay? Why can't you answer your phone?" His
weight bounced from foot to foot. "The whole reason I got you the damn
thing is so we can call you."

Untangling myself from Mom's thin
arms, I reached in my back pocket for the dead cell. "Forgot to charge it."

"You
forgot
to charge
it?" That vein pulsing at his temple probably wasn't supposed to stick out
like that.

"What? Farren was with me."

Farren clapped my shoulder. "Thanks
for the confidence, kid, but charge your phone."

I held up my hands, nodding. "Okay,
okay, I'm sorry, but we're fine. Nothing to worry about."

Mom rubbed my shoulder. "It's
fine."

Jake stalked the small living room.
"No, it isn't. You had us scared to death." He stopped right in front
of me, pointing his finger in my face, and then up at Farren's…and back to me. "Keep
the phone charged or I'll lock you in your room, got it?"

Getting mad would make him even
more pissed, but the desire to break off his stumpy finger caused me to clench
my fists. He took over as father long before Dad got thrown out of the picture,
and the protectiveness intensified after he found out the world wasn't as round
as Columbus discovered. His love yelled at me, and I had to remember that.

"Got it." I didn't pull
out my I'm-eighteen-now speech. Pretty certain that would've exacerbated the
situation.

"Good." Jake lowered his
finger and turned to Farren. "Who was it?"

Farren and I talked about what we'd
say once we got home. Scaring them with the blatant truth was out, we'd agreed,
but they were entitled to know the closest information to the truth as
possible.

Buying a few seconds to think, I
went to the couch while Farren headed toward the tiny kitchen. He came back out
with a couple sodas, shaking mine before tossing it to me.

"Thanks, jerk." I tapped
on the top, facing the parents. "It was a Synod Guide and her Protector."

Mom gasped, coming over to the
couch and giving my hand a death grip. "Did they try to hurt you?"

"No, they wanted to talk."
I glanced at Farren, hoping he'd jump in, give a plausible explanation that
didn't sound too deceitful.

Ginger took a long pull of his
soda, taking a longer time to swallow. "They were curious after everything
that went down in the spring. The Guide knew Lena before, wanted to make sure
she was all right."

That possessive look Mom had developed
after she found out I'd lived a few times before brightened her green eyes and
twisted her lips. "Well, next time she comes tell her you belong here with
us now. No need for them to go lurking around the trailer park and theater,
scaring everyone."

"Will do. Ah…Farren's gonna go
talk to Wilma, let her know what's going on, though." When the worry
shaded Mom's eyes again and Jake resumed his pacing, scowling at the
soda-slurping Protector and me every few seconds, I rushed to put them at ease.
"It's no big deal."

"If you say so." Her eyes
made contact with Jake's and some secret message traveled between them. "Just…don't
hide anything from us this time, Lena."

Shit. She knew exactly where to aim
the guilt. With a quick glance at Farren's passive face–he obviously had no
qualms about lying–I gave her a bright smile and some truth. "If there is anything
we need to worry about, I promise, I'll tell you." I grabbed Jake's hand,
forcing him to stop. "Both of you."

"You better, young lady."
Jake's color returned to a more normal shade.

Farren gulping down his Dr. Pepper
helped make the sudden awkward silence settling in the room not so transparent.
Mom and Jake still weren't comfortable with the way Protectors were able to
cross dimension lines. But they wouldn't ask him to go somewhere else.

Always the perfect houseguest,
Farren's empty soda can hit the recyclable container in the kitchen. He then
stood in the middle of the living room, looking a little lost. "You want
me to go in the bedroom or…?" His hand waved around the room.

I shrugged as Mom and Jake made an
effort to seem inconspicuous as they headed into her room.

"Here's fine, but listen,
Tarek's not staying at the castle."

Farren rolled his eyes, groaning. "Ugh."
He gave me a droll stare. "Where'd he build his shack?"

I laughed. "How'd you know?"

"If the guy will build a cabin
and live like a savage in the most technologically advanced dimension known,
why wouldn't he do the same in a place where the castle is the
only
modern
amenity?"

"That predictable, huh?"

"That demented. Where?"

As if I could wipe the smile off my
face, my busy hands rubbed the corners of my mouth. "Ah, he said by the
riverbank."

Farren threw a hand in the air,
opening his fingers. As the tear ripped open, he shook his head. "He
better hope the squid play nice." When the last word spit out, the tear
sucked him upward, closing as soon as his big body disappeared.

∞
∞ ∞

After Farren left, I knocked on Mom's
door, let them know it was okay to come out, and went straight to my room.
First thing I did was plug in my cell. After about three minutes, the thing
dinged on and at least twenty texts came through. Most were from Mom and Jake,
nice at first, but getting angrier with big caps and lots of exclamation marks.
A few were from Belva, whose worry was as apparent. Sighing, I texted her a
We're
okay
message and started getting ready for bed.

11:45.

Fifteen more minutes until Tarek
found his way into my head. It'd take Farren a little while to find the cabin,
and so the rich voice I craved would be mine until Tarek and Wilma felt Ginger's
energy. He'd have to walk along the fluorescent river until they did. No big
deal, unless the dimension decided to mess with him. That place was like the
insecure bully on the playground.

Before I could sink into the memory
foam, my phone dinged. Belva's frantic message met my irritation.
Thank God!
I really screwed up this time, right?:(

My thumbs got busy appeasing her.
No
ur fine. Talk tomorrow. Going to bed.

Thirty seconds later, her reply
screamed through.
I'm freaking out!

My response was to shut off the
cell and crawl between the sheets. Not even my best friend had enough power to
keep me from my blond giant. Another glance at the clock–11:59
–
and I
closed my eyes, waiting with my arms tight around Tarek's shirt-pillow.

He didn't make me wait long.

Hey, love.

His voice dripped with honey,
melting my bones. He called me that every so often, not that I minded. In a few
more days, he'd be able to do more than call me cute names.

Wilma didn't like the sleeping
arrangements. I haven't heard the end of it all day. She's coming back to you
soon, thankfully. But it's nice having someone to talk to, or someone to bitch
at me, rather. Don't tell her. No need to swell her head.

Wilma and Tarek had a love/hate
relationship. They loved to act like they hated each other.

Anyway, the cabin is comfortable,
makes me remember ours. It's not as nice, but I'm working on it. It took fifty
years to get our place right, but it shouldn't take as long here when there's
not much else to do.
Pause.
Did I ever tell you about the fireplace?

About fifteen times, but I loved
hearing the story–loved to hear anything he had to say. Except when he brought
up his love for my former self and how amazingly perfect she was.

The stone had to be right; you took
a piece from every dimension we went. Hard to mortar, make it fit, but I managed.
You cried when it was finished. That day…you finally showed…something. I'll
never forget it.

For the past two months, Tarek had
been giving me tidbits of our past. I tried to keep the jealousy locked tight,
remembering all the details Tarek gave about his life and trying to ignore…
her
.
Wasn't easy, though. I curled deeper into the covers. In a few days, I'd make
him think of
me
. We'd make new memories.

You–what the hell? Why don't you
two ever listen?

And
silence. Damn. It didn't
take Farren that long to find the shack, after all.