Madly & the Jackal (19 page)

I looked around for something to use.  Anything at all.  That’s when I spotted the conduit that snaked its way along the walls on either side of the door.  I could use that.  I could definitely use that.

Scrambling up the steps, I ran through the door and closed it behind me, immediately focusing on my bracelet and the small amount of water it contained.  As though my power had been on standby, waiting, I felt it course through me as if anxious to do my bidding.

I pictured the lengths of metal conduit, pictured it breaking free of the restraints that held it against the wall, and then I imagined it crossing in front of the door, through the handle and winding around the rail on the other side.  Back and forth I had it stretch until there was a nearly impenetrable barrier covering the door, one even super strong Sentinels couldn’t get through in time to stop me.

I whispered through the door, “I’m sorry,” and then I fled, hurrying to catch up to Dustin and Nadia.  As I turned the corner in search of their footsteps, I thought I could hear voices calling from the storage room.

Clary and Gere.

Jackson might not be too happy with them, but at least they’d be safe.  That was the main thing.

Leaving them behind both physically and mentally, I focused all my energy on the two people in front of me.  At a distance, I followed them through the building and out, exiting one building only to enter another.  They darted into the adjacent building and down some stairs into the boiler room. 

I’d been there before, but on that occasion, I’d been with trusted friends in the middle of the afternoon.  It was quite different to enter it by myself on the heels of some of the world’s most treacherous fugitives when the rest of the campus still slept.  But enter it I did.  All I had to do was picture Jackson and his foreboding expression and I was as motivated as I ever needed to be.

I could easily track their movements.  Their feet made clanging sounds on the series of catwalks that wove their way around the piping and equipment.  I waited until the door at the top of the steps had closed before I followed.

They made their way down a short hallway and out another door that led to the football field.  There was a long narrow pane of glass in the door.  I eased slightly forward so I could watch them covertly while I figured out what I should do.

If only I could hear them…

If only I knew for sure they were the ones…

If only…a lot of things.

I was pretty sure about Dustin.  There were just too many coincidences as far as he was concerned.  But Nadia, I wasn’t nearly so convinced.  In some ways it made sense, but in others…not so much.  But why else would they be together?  I mean, it couldn’t possibly be romantic.  She had Jackson’s attention.  She had no need of any other guy.  At all.  Ever.

Maybe it was scholastic.  But if that were the case, why sneak around?  

As I chewed my lip, wishing for Jackson’s keenly strategic and discerning mind, Dustin reached forward and cupped Nadia’s face.  It was far from a simply friendly gesture. It was even more than romantic.  The way that he cupped her face and leaned in, it was intimate.  He was used to touching her thusly and she was used to letting him.

I grimaced as he kissed her.  It was bizarre to behold.  Nadia was stunning, even though I hated to admit it.  And Dustin…well, he was not quite her type.  Nadia looked like she belonged with someone like Jackson, whereas Dustin looked like he belonged with someone a little more…intelligent.

She seemed not to mind his braces or his acne as she dove headlong into the kiss.  It was only when Dustin moved his mouth to her neck that she seemed uncomfortable. 

Nadia flinched and my heart skipped a beat.  In my mind, I could imagine what Dustin had inadvertently uncovered beneath the heavy veil of her hair.  A sore.  I was sure of it.

I held my breath as I waited for him to move her hair and reveal to me the only other proof I needed to make my move.

And then he did.  Carefully, caringly, Dustin brushed the thick tangle of Nadia’s red hair away from her neck, the left side of her neck which was facing me.  An angry, raw red sore was there beneath her ear.  It was long and jagged, as if caused by fingernails, by scratching just like Jersey’s book suggested.

Silently, I thanked my crazy friend.  She’d be thrilled to find out she was instrumental in the positive identification of the Jackal.

Now, what to do?

Before I could answer that question, the two joined hands and moved out of the corridor in which they’d been standing.  I had no idea where they were going or what they planned to do there, but I knew there would likely never be a better chance for me to make my move.  I needed them together to ensure the safety of my loved ones.  And they were.  All I needed to do was get Jackson cured and then I could focus on getting the two escapees back to Atlas.

When they disappeared down and out of sight, descending the steps to the field itself, I took a deep breath and opened the door.  I didn’t have a plan per se, but I had a mission and that was enough for me.

I scurried to the top of the steps and peeked down them to see where Dustin and Nadia were. They were making their way onto the field.  I looked out past the bleachers on the other side, wondering where they might be headed.  Apart from some low office buildings, the only structure on the other side was the Slumber Water Treatment Plant.  But what would they want with that?

Like the shutter of a camera, my mind clicked quickly through ideas and scenarios.  Although I didn’t have any specifics, knowing that the Jackal and Hyde were both incredible scientific minds alarmed me.  Add to that the Jackal’s magical origins as well as its evil bent and I saw a definite reason for concern.  The two of them had obviously developed some sort of…potion or something to dramatically change Jackson.  What else could they come up with?  Something on a massive scale, something that could go into the water and effect everyone in the entire town?

Urgency slapped me in the face like a bucket of cold water.  What if I couldn’t get them to tell me how to fix Jackson?  I couldn’t very well let them go and put an entire population at risk, could I?

My inner selfish girl spoke up, loud and clear. 
Yes! Yes, you can!  It’s Jackson we’re talking about here.  He’s not just anybody!

No, he wasn’t, but how could I live with myself if I betrayed an entire town full of people who unwittingly trusted me to do the right thing, at all costs?  And for such a selfish reason?  Jackson wasn’t hurting anyone, only me.  He was safe and that was far more important than him not being in love with me anymore, even though sometimes I wondered if anything could hurt worse.

My heart constricted, curling up into the fetal position. I knew what I had to do.  And it was killing me.

I’d taken too long.  The time to think and debate and plot was gone.  Dustin and Nadia had nearly crossed the field and were headed right for the water plant.  I had to act now or run the risk of never having another opportunity.  The Lore were not to be toyed with.  I might never catch them being so sloppy again.

Running down the steps as fast as I could, I made my way onto the field, just close enough to feel the tension of the water in the irrigation pipes buried far beneath the soil.  I could sense it at each sprinkler head, at the ready.  I closed my eyes and called to it, summoning it to my will.

Like the hiss of a thousand snakes, water began to spray from each nozzle. I felt it sprinkle my face.  I felt it nourish my skin.  I felt it permeate every cell in my body.  But mostly, I felt it in the swell of power that surged through me.

I pulled the water out, faster, harder.  I heard the metal
pop
of sprinkler heads leaving sprinkler bodies, giving way to the force of the water that poured from them. 

I opened my eyes to find Dustin and Nadia.  They had both stopped to stare at me, gape-mouthed but not afraid.  They were convinced they had this all sewn up.  They thought they had me on the run, scared.  Trapped.

But they were wrong.  I was born into a line of royalty and leaders.  My blood coursed with strength the likes of which I couldn’t fathom.  All I needed was a small portion of that.  Today. Right now. 

“You don’t have the nerve,” Nadia said. Although she didn’t speak loudly, I heard her as plainly as though she had screamed.  “And risk your precious Jackson?  Never.”

Her words chilled me.  Was I risking Jackson?  Couldn’t I have both—victory in battle and victory in love? 

Nadia’s lip curled up into a smug smile and she turned on her heel and started to walk away.  Playing a hunch, praying it was the right one, I cupped my hands, imagining I was cradling water, creating a capsule of sorts. 

As I watched, all the water gushing from the sprinkler heads diverted toward one central spot in the air.  Every drop collected in the middle of the field, hovering in an enormous liquid ball mere inches from the grass.  I pushed with my mind, willing the orb toward Nadia.

She turned just in time to see it upon her.  I couldn’t help but note that the expression on her face was no longer smug.  It was terrified.

The globe of water overtook her, swallowing her up until she floated at its core, helpless to escape and without air to breathe.  The Jackal had only minutes before Nadia’s body would die.

 When Dustin saw her, he cried, “No!”

“You can save her, Dustin.  All you have to do is tell me how to save Jackson, how to put back what you stole.”

He turned vicious eyes on me, eyes not of a teenager, but of a deranged madman.  He was no longer Dustin.  He was Hyde.  Even his speech declared it.  “I’ll die first.”

“No, but I can arrange for you to die second if that’s what you’d like.”

Dustin tried ineffectively to reach inside the liquid mass and extricate his mate, but the water moved and shifted as she did, not allowing him to drag her outside its grasp.

“You can’t save her.  Only I can.  Now tell me before she dies.”

“You can’t kill her, only the body she inhabits.  You think I won’t just find her another? One you’ll never be able to identify?”

“I’d love to see you accomplish that from Atlas.”

It was Dustin’s turn to look smug.  “You think you can capture me while you’re trying to contain her?  You’d better think again, Princess.  If I lose something today, you will lose twice as much.  Best not forget what a precarious position you’re in.”

His barb struck its mark.  I had so much to lose.  There was so much at stake.  I had to persevere.  I had to call his bluff.

“But I have you both. Who will carry out your plan now?  Who will exact your revenge?  No one, that’s who.  I hold all the cards, Hyde.”

Dustin growled.  Whether in anger over my bravado or in pleasure over my use of his real identity, I couldn’t be sure.

“You think we weren’t smart enough to put in a failsafe?  Do you really think that you—a girl, a simple princess—could best two of the greatest minds in the history of mankind?  Surely you cannot be that arrogant.  Or that stupid.”

At his words, I felt myself blanch.  “Failsafe?”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Dustin threw back his head and laughed.  “Of course.  Do you think this is the worst we can do to Jackson?  To you?  My sweet, innocent child, this is only the beginning.  You haven’t even begun to realize the world of pain we have in store for you.  And you are the only one who can stop it, who can make things better for yourself.”

We both glanced at Nadia, who was visibly struggling for air.  What was I to do?  He wasn’t cooperating and I couldn’t actually kill Nadia.  It was the spirit inside her I was after.

“I know you don’t want to kill her. She’s just a human girl.  You couldn’t live with yourself.  Let her catch her breath and we’ll talk.  Let’s see what we can work out.”

I looked at Nadia.  She was went limp inside the transparent ball.  Panic caused my mind to flutter about uselessly.  It flailed and floundered.  I was out of time.  I didn’t want to kill Nadia, and if I put off releasing her any longer, she’d be dead.

Holding back a sob, I let the water fall away from Nadia.  She landed in the grass and flopped about like a fish for a few minutes as she caught her breath.  Dustin rushed to her side. 

With a flick of my wrist, I raised a wall of water between them.  “Not so fast.  She’s fine.  You don’t need to be any closer to her.”

Although he smiled and nodded, there was a tightness about Dustin’s mouth that belied his otherwise casual expression.  He was furious.

“Let her go and I’ll set Jackson free.  Simple as that.”

“I don’t believe you.  Tell me how to reverse it and I’ll
consider
letting her go.”  Even though it would probably be considered an act of treason, I realized there was little I wouldn’t do to have Jackson back, including purposely leaving one of the Lore free for a little while longer.

“Of course you won’t,” he snapped.

“Just let her take me,” came a weak croak from Nadia.  Dustin looked as surprised as I to hear those words.

“No, my love.  You can’t.  We’ve worked too hard for your freedom. If anyone must go, it shall be me.”

“I couldn’t bear to watch it.”

Looking at Nadia through the liquid barrier, Dustin  moved forward.  He flattened his palm against the wall of water.  Nadia raised her hand high, as if she were pressing her palm against his. They remained like that for nearly a minute, looking longingly, desperately at one another. 

I was the slightest bit lulled by the scene.  For that reason, when Dustin lunged toward Nadia, my reflexes were slower than they should’ve been.  Slower than they needed to be.  Their hands were joined before I could react.

I was too late.

The magic hit me square in the center of the chest.  It knocked me off my feet and sent me sliding across the wet grass on my back.  I hurt as though I’d been hit by a Mac truck.

I struggled to get up, but they were already upon me, standing at my feet, holding me down with something I couldn’t see. 

“You foolish, foolish girl.  Did you think we were completely helpless against you?  Completely without power?”  Nadia snickered.  “Like you, our power is amplified tenfold when we are together, touching.”

They held me so tightly to the ground, I felt as though I was sinking into the dirt.  I could barely speak, but I managed to eke out the most pressing thing.

“Let me have Jackson back,” I breathed.  “Please.”

“I think not, dear girl.  We’re going to kill you both, but not before you know the full extent of what you’ve done.  At this very moment, Jackson is learning to hate you.  Not just ignore you.  Not just feel irritated by your presence, but to hate you.  Abhor you.  Despise you.  You will wish to have yesterday back.  Every minute of your life, which won’t be many, you will wish for yesterday or for death.  But death won’t come quickly.  No, there is a failsafe eating away at
your
insides, too.  After you’ve suffered, you will be slowly incapacitated, every muscle deteriorating in agony until you suffocate.  No one will be able to stop it. No one will be able to ease your pain.  You will die a horrible death, my dear.”

At that moment, death sounded the better option to living without Jackson.  I could think of nothing worse.  Until Nadia continued.

“Not only will you know your lover, your husband died hating the ground upon which you walk, you must also take his death with you to the grave.  It won’t be a death like yours. Poor, poor Jackson will take his own life.  Day by day, he will drift steadily toward insanity until he can’t bear his own reflection any longer.  Then he will end his life and move on to an afterlife far from you.  You will never see him again.  Do you understand me, Princess?  You will
never see him again.”

She looked at Dustin and smiled.  “Let’s ‘flip the switch’ as they say, shall we?”

Dustin brought Nadia’s hand to his lips and smiled into her eyes.  It was like watching two cobras smile at each other.  If I’d been capable of shuddering at their cool, evil visages, I would’ve.

They both closed their eyes and began chanting—age old words that I didn’t understand but didn’t need to in order to know what they were doing. They were cursing my life, as well as that of the person I loved most in the world.  And I was lying mere inches from their feet, unable to even help myself up off the ground, much less stop them.

As they mumbled, images of my time with Jackson flitted behind my eyes in a bittersweet slideshow—Jackson airplaning Jersey, Jackson laughing at something she said, Jackson kissing me for the first time, Jackson telling me he’d die thinking of me, Jackson standing on the beach with the weight of Atlas on his shoulders, Jackson swimming alongside me, Jackson diving into the Pool of Neptune, Jackson calling me his wife, Jackson making love to me for the first time, and again and again after that.

Those images shifted through my mind on a loop.  I couldn’t abandon the man I loved to these monsters.  I couldn’t let them take his happiness and his life from him, to steal them away with a few sips and a few words.  They could have my life. I’d gladly give it over to save his, to know that he’d been spared another moment of pain and heartache.

I looked at Dustin.  He stared straight ahead with eyes glazed over by his evil intent.  In that moment, I knew a rage I’d never experienced before.  It filled my heart, my lungs, my blood vessels, my mind and every cell in between.  It washed away everything else in a haze of red fury. 

My mind, my will took over in a way that felt separate from my consciousness.  I was vaguely aware of the water from the sprinklers parting from around the Jackal and Hyde.  The haphazard spray came into obedience and formed a wall of water that towered above them like a skyscraper of sparkling diamonds.

Next, my hair went up in flames, flames that came from within me.  They burned my scalp and crackled in my ears.  Like a freight train passing, I couldn’t hear past the dull roar.  I felt it rumbling in the ground beneath me.  All the while, I let my anger feed it, nourish it into rich, hot, all-consuming life.

Dustin started to pant just before sweat popped out on his brow. I kept my eyes trained on him, my hatred of him like black death in my soul.  From the corner of my eye, I saw Nadia drop his hand as if burned.  I felt pleasure at what they must be feeling, at what I knew they would soon feel.  They wouldn’t take Jackson’s life, his future. I wouldn’t let them.  I’d die a murderer before I’d let them win.  They would not take anything else from me, from my husband, from my people.  I would not allow it.

Fury built within me and Dustin began to moan.  I saw smoke rise from the collar of his t-shirt and I felt heat emanating from him where I lay at his feet.  The smell of hot, sweaty flesh teased my nostrils, adding fuel to the rage that burned in my belly.

Dustin’s face began to blister and his knees buckled, bringing him down closer to my level.  Despite his determination, it wasn’t long before a scream was torn from his lips.  I heard it with someone else’s ears, felt a small amount of pity for him with someone else’s heart.  But I didn’t listen to either.  All I could think of was saving Jackson.

Nadia’s pleas and threats barely penetrated the blinding haze of anger that held me in its grips.  I wanted to laugh at her, to tell her I knew how it felt to be forced to stand by and watch someone toy with the person you loved.  But that didn’t scratch the surface of my focus either.  Nothing did.

Until I heard Jackson’s voice.  It rang inside my head with crystalline clarity.

Don’t hurt them, Madly; capture them.  Use your bracelet.

Whether like a splash of cold water in my face or a splash of kerosene to the flames of my wrath, it was hard to tell.  It almost had a sobering effect, but that was quickly followed by a worsening effect.  At first, it brought me back to the reality of what I was doing, long enough for me to see Dustin’s braces as he cried and to see Nadia’s mascara running with her tears.  These were humans I was torturing.

…
even if I were actually able to set fire to someone, I could never do that.  Burn someone.  Never
.

My words taunted me, triggering the guilt and the reluctance to harm that I should’ve been feeling. 

I heard Jackson’s voice again.

Use your bracelet.

His voice was angry and it only served to remind me of all I had lost, which only fueled the dark magic at work inside me. 

When I heard his voice a third time, I really heard it.  With my ears.  It washed over me like a calming flood, releasing me from the grips of something…malevolent.

“Madly, stop!  Don’t kill them! Use your bracelet!”

Instantly, Dustin collapsed, his breathing, though labored, returning to a more normal rhythm.  Nadia knelt at his side, whispering soothing words from another language into his ear.

I sat up and looked around.  Jackson was running toward us.  Oddly, the first thing I noticed was that he wasn’t wearing his sunglasses.  The second thing I noticed was that he carried a rose.  A single, blood red rose, like the ones I’d seen at my door a couple times.  Although confused, more than anything I was relieved to see Jackson alive and well and running
toward
me, not
away
from me.

“Capture them now!” he yelled, coming ever closer to our trio.

I wanted to argue, to explain to him that I had only wanted to make them put him back to rights, make them put
us
back to rights.  But rational thought reminded me they were far too dangerous to reason or bargain with.  They could do much more damage than just making Jackson not love me anymore.  And they very nearly had.  I only hoped that they hadn’t succeeded in triggering their fail safes.

Scrambling to my knees, I sat back on my haunches and met the eyes of my nemeses.  Dustin looked more subdued, but not Nadia.  She looked less smug, yes, but she looked furiously determined, too.  But why?  What card could she possibly have to play at this point? 

“You are poisoned,
Princess. 
Toxic.  You don’t know what you’re capable of.  You will be death to those you love and to those who love you
,”
she spat.

Although her words jarred me to my core, I closed my eyes against her beautiful, sneering face.  It didn’t matter what she meant.  I had but one choice, one option.  I had to capture them and return them to Atlas. It was the only way.

Abandoning all else, my concentration settled on the bracelet at my wrist.  I opened myself to it, let the power of my people and my birth flow through me, connecting me to the tiny pearl at its center.

I felt Jackson when he moved in behind me.  I felt his strength.  I felt his power.  And, once more, I felt his love.  It radiated from him like a nuclear power source, scorching in its intensity.  Despite my focus, I sagged a little, tears stinging the backs of my eyes.  This was all I had wanted.  And I’d nearly killed a boy to get it.

Pushing the thought aside, I opened my eyes to the black stains in front of me.  Like Wolfhardt, I could see them arise from the humans, like ebony smoke emanating from their pores.  They formed two separated entities, two writhing masses of darkness. 

They hovered like ominous clouds above the heads of Dustin and Nadia.  I could see their hollow eyes. I could feel their menace.  Within their diaphanous bodies, they held all manner of maliciousness, viciousness, evil, and rage.  Like hemlock with fangs, it chewed its way up my arm.  It climbed inside me with needles and knives.

Necrosis filled my body for one brief moment, eating away at something.  Smothering it. It silenced a tiny voice, leaving me a little colder than I’d been before coming into contact with it.  But then my mind went blank as my bracelet leeched the spirits from my tissues and trapped them inside the burning, stinging, pulsing pearl at my wrist.

Sorrow filled me, inexplicably.  I listed to one side and felt Jackson’s arms come around me.  The tears that had been waiting for release began to fall, leaving warm tracks on my cool cheeks.  Jackson’s chest was hot against my back and shoulder.  I felt his lips move in my hair as he whispered things I couldn’t understand.  I smelled the sweet scent of the rose he carried.  And I mourned, deeply.  For what I didn’t know, but I felt the loss of…something.

Tenderly, Jackson picked me up, cradling me against his chest.  I wrapped my arms loosely about his neck, happy to be in his care once again, praying I’d never be without it.