Secret of Betrayal: Book Two of The Destroyer Trilogy (21 page)

Instantly taking offense to him basically
calling me a moron, I jam my finger against his chest. “I am smart enough to
make him give me his Guardian promise before I told him anything. He won’t tell
his Captain about any of this.”

“His Captain?
What
about other people? Did his promise include the rest of the world?” Milo asks.

Doubt flashes in my mind. I was so worried about
his Captain I didn’t even think to ask him to promise that he wouldn’t tell
anyone else. Could he really be playing me? My worry falters when goose bumps
pop up all over my body. He’s here. And judging by the way I can feel his
nervous energy through the door and several walls, our connection isn’t getting
any weaker. I need to move faster.

“Milo, I’m asking you to trust me on this. You
know how careful I am about giving out information,” I say. Lance snorts behind
me, but I ignore him. He thinks I’m a little too tight with what I know after
he found out everything I didn’t tell him before my Inquest. “Braden took a job
as a Cipher hunter because it meant not having to kill people. He honestly
thought he was doing the right thing. After he saw that I unlocked your
talents, he started to doubt that. The more I’ve told him about what is really
going on with the Ciphers the more he wants to help us. He’s not completely
convinced yet, but he’s close. And if we can get a Guardian who has access to
protected information we may actually have a chance at pulling this off.”

“Or walking into the biggest
trap ever.”

Braden is almost to the door. My accusing stance
turns soft and pleading. Pressing my hands against his chest I beg him to open
up and let my sincerity into him. “Please, just give him a chance. I’m begging
you. I know what’s at stake. I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I wasn’t certain
it was worth it. Please, Milo.”

He doesn’t say anything. His slate-grey eyes
stare me down, scouring me inside and out.

The doorbell rings.

“Please, Milo.” I’m absolutely desperate, now.

Stepping away from me, he forces my hands to
fall from his chest. There is a moment when he pauses, clenches his jaw, and
closes his eyes. Without a word, he turns away from me and marches toward the
door.

Chapter 1
6

Not Enough

For a few seconds I’m frozen. I don’t know what
he’s going to do. Habit makes me turn to Lance for help. He’s already on his
feet and heading for the front door. Our mutual worry builds as I shake myself
into action and follow him. Milo’s hand turns the doorknob as I skid around the
corner and stop. My lungs quit working as he begins to pull the door open.
Still an emotional dead zone, I get nothing from Milo, but Braden’s palpable
anxiety makes me tipsy. I have to press my hand against the wall to steady
myself.

The door opens.

Lance takes a small step forward, ready to
intervene if needed.

Milo and Braden stare each other down. Finally,
Milo’s shell begins to crack. Anger so white hot it physically makes me shrink
back, trickles out of him. Lance and I step forward at the same time.

“I know who you are,” Milo says suddenly, making
both Lance and me halt.

Braden’s face is a mask of calmness. He doesn’t
say anything. He waits.

Milo turns to look at me. I don’t know what I
look like right now, but his cold eyes soften very slightly as they meet mine.
Please,
please, please
,
repeats
itself in my mind over and
over again. He turns away from me, facing Braden once again. Braden is holding
his breath.

“I don’t want you here. If I had any other
option, I would never accept your help, but apparently I don’t have a choice in
this.” Milo moves back from the door, though the invitation to enter seems no
less hostile than when he was blocking the door. It’s a step in the right
direction, though, so I can’t complain. I know how hard even that was for Milo
and I love him for it. Braden lets out his held breath slowly. Relief that he
won’t have to defend himself against Milo is exhaled along with his breath.

He steps forward. His eyes sweep toward mine,
but I turn away before they meet. I have my own emotional blocks carefully in
place around Milo right now, but my facial expressions can give me away just as
easily. I sincerely hope Braden realizes that as well. Milo directs everyone
back to the den, waiting until Braden goes in front of him before moving
himself. I wait as well. Milo takes my hand as he passes by. Unfortunately it
doesn’t feel even remotely like a romantic gesture. It’s more like I’ve just
been taken prisoner. I don’t resist, though. It will be a nice reminder for
Braden, even if Milo is cutting off the circulation to my fingertips and
burning me with his carefully restrained anger.

We sit down on the loveseat facing Lance and
Braden. They look oddly comfortable sitting next to one another. Funny how
Lance finding out Braden is my Companion has overridden his dislike of him. Or
it might have been him seeing the scars all over Braden’s chest. He asked me
about them earlier today. No doubt finding out they came from not bringing in Milo
altered his perception of the Guardian a little. I’m curious to know what has
made Braden ease up on his “Lance is a traitor” attitude. Was it having to
leave me in Lance’s care last night, or the fact that Braden himself is on the
edge of becoming what he accused Lance of being, a traitor?

“All right,” Milo says, “I want an explanation.
Now.”

Happy to get this over with as soon as possible,
I open my mouth to start talking. The sound of footsteps on the stairs stops
me. Well, Milo crushing my hand is what really stops me. Controlling the pain
and force of his grip takes a heavy dose of Strength.

“Celia,” Milo says tightly, “
go
back upstairs.”

For a moment, the footsteps stop. They resume
after a few seconds, but not in the direction they were supposed to. Milo jumps
up from the couch and grabs his sister’s arm as she bounces into the room. Her
own shock stops her just as much as Milo’s grip.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Celia demands
when she catches sight of Braden.

“Watch your mouth,” Milo snaps.

She wrinkles her nose at him. “You say it all
the time, so bite me. And answer my question.”

“He’s here to help.
Supposedly.”

Celia stares at him, her mouth open in
disbelief. Instead of arguing or demanding more information she turns on her
heel, no doubt a designer one, and storms over to Braden. He doesn’t resist in
the least when she slaps him across the face. A second later, the sting of her
slap echoes on my own skin through my link to Braden.

“Celia!” Lance and I both exclaim. Milo has no
objection. Lance, though, moves to grab her, but Braden holds up a hand to stop
him. Lance actually listens.

“It’s okay,” Braden says.

“You bet
it’s
okay,”
Celia says. “You tried to take Milo away from me!”

“I know, and I’m sorry for what I put you through,
Celia, for what I put all of you through. It won’t happen again.” His
fingertips touch his Guardian emblem as he says this. I don’t know if Celia has
any idea what that means, but the rest of the room seems to slough off a layer
of fear. Milo visibly relaxes, not much, but a little.

Still glaring at Braden, Celia says, “Well,
good
. Now how about someone explains what’s going on?”

“That’s what we were about to do before you
started slapping people,” Lance drawls.

Celia loses all her anger and beams at Lance,
which makes Milo tense back up. She plops down on the couch next to Lance.
“Well, you know me. I do like to be the center of attention.”

More like the center of Lance’s attention. Celia
is only fifteen, and knows good and well Lance is my ex-boyfriend, and that he
once tried to kill me, but her boy-crazy mind has managed to put all that
aside. She absolutely adores him. It makes Milo sick, but it just makes me want
to laugh. She has no hope with Lance, but someday someone else will catch his eye,
and for the first time since my Inquest, that thought honestly makes me happy
instead of jealous.

“So,” Milo demands, interrupting my thoughts,
“the explanation?”

Right.
Here we go.

“Celia, the part you missed was that I got into
the spirit world last night … with Braden’s help.”

Her eyes light up and her phone snaps out of her
jeans pocket. “That’s so awesome! I can’t wait to tell everyone!”

Lance clamps his hand down around the phone.
It’s almost as if he’s holding her hand—
close
enough
to distract Celia anyway. I shoot Lance a grateful look.

“Celia, you can’t post that. We don’t want the
Guardians finding out.”

Her pouting lip pops out dramatically. “But the
Cipher families have been dying for news!”

“Well, there’s no way you can post that on the
internet, or even email. The Guardians can track that.”

“Then how …?”

Lance palms her phone and says, “I’ve learned a
few things from my dad. I’ll help you get the word out later, through
untraceable means. For now, listen to Libby.”

“Ok,” she says happily, clearly thrilled to have
a reason to see Lance again.

I shake my head and try to recollect my
thoughts. Everyone in the room seems to do the same thing. They’re all ready to
hear my explanation and plan. I take a deep breath and dive in.

Candid, but not too candid, I carefully explain
everything I learned in the spirit world last night. I tell them all about the
Ciphers being picked out one at a time, about them being killed. I tell them
about how my unique mix of powers keeps me hidden from the Spiritualist
watching the Ciphers. Not that they’re central to the plan, but I tell them
about the renegades as well, just so they can be aware. Really, the only thing
I leave out is the bit about Braden being my Companion. Milo is the perfect
example of good behavior right now, but I can only push him so far. It means
lying by omission again, but there’s no doubt in my mind about how
that
revelation would be taken.

“So,” I continue after my quick explanation,
“the basic idea of the plan is this: I go into the spirit world, with Milo if
he’s ready, and we start performing Inquests as fast as possible. I’m not sure
that Milo can help me, but it makes sense that he should be able to. Since we
have no way to find out except do it, we’ll plan on his helping. Once the
Ciphers’ talents are unlocked, they’ll be able to get themselves out of the
spirit world. We’ll have to train them in a few things before we actually do
this so they’re ready to get out when the time comes. Even without them being
able to practice, it shouldn’t be that hard. The difficult part is going to be
getting through that many Inquests before the Spiritualists figure out what
we’re doing.”

“No, the hardest part is going to be getting the
Ciphers out of the Guardian compounds they’re locked up in,” Milo says. “No
matter how fast you free all the Ciphers you’re just sending them into another
prison, one where the Guardians will be free to kill them without any
consequences. These aren’t just Ciphers from here in Albuquerque, right?
They’re from all over the world. Maybe instead of trying to get everyone out at
once, we separate them into groups of where they came from, release them one
compound at a time.”

I’m shaking my head before he finishes. “We
can’t, Milo. The Spiritualists will find a way to stop me, or the Guardians
will speed up their executions if we don’t do this in one shot.”

“How will they stop you?” Milo demands. “You’re
the Destroyer!”

“They’ll find a way, Milo,” Casey says, “believe
me. I’ve been visiting the spirit world for a long time, but I’m still a
novice. Trained Spiritualists who’ve been hired to monitor the spirit world
will figure something out. Give them time and they’ll find a way.”

“But how could it ever work to free them all?
There’s no way they’ll be able to get out of the compounds.”

I turn to Braden for help. Mr. Walters has been
surprisingly quiet so far, but he looks over at Braden as well, quite curious.
Braden nods at me and leans forward as if he feels the need to huddle and
whisper. But maybe he does. He’s about to give away Guardian secrets, an act
traitorous enough to get him a whole lot more than a few lashes.

“Every non-training Guardian compound is exactly
the same,” Braden says. “It helps new recruits and transfers know where things
are no matter what building they’re in. We don’t have to worry about teaching
each group of Ciphers separately how to escape because the path will be the
same for all of them.”

“And there’s actually a path?” Lance asks.

Mr. Walters’ eyes narrow. Whether in disapproval
or interest I can’t tell.

Braden looks over at Lance. “I have some ideas,
but it’s going to take a little more time to be sure.”

“They’ve been lying in chambers since their
Inquests. Will they even be able to move after so long?” I ask. This question has
been bothering me all day.

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Mrs. Hanover
says, surprising everyone in the room by her quiet appearance. “The Ciphers are
taken very good care of through physical exercises, exact nutrition, everything
possible to keep them healthy. They want to keep them alive as long as possible
because of the Sihirs.”

Braden looks at me again, the same question from
last night repeated, but I shake my head. I know he’s heard rumors from other
Guardians, but clearly no one has explained the details of what happens to the
young men and women he captures when their bodies wear out. I don’t have time
to explain right now, either.
Later.

“But that still leaves the problem of them
actually getting out,” Milo argues. “I just don’t see the Guardians helping us
by building the Ciphers an escape hatch. How are they going to escape?”