Shattered (Alchemy Series Book #3) (28 page)

"This doesn't feel right," he said as he joined me, "but
I'm trusting you."

I started walking again
and I sensed him behind me. My ragtag group of survivors looked relieved to see us returning. The senator just watched our progression.

Once we made it to the group
, I motioned them to follow us. Cormac walked by my side.

"Where's Sabrina?
" Cormac asked.

"They're bringing her to the wall."

"Why? What did you agree to, that we are just walking out of here? I don't like this," he said grabbing my arm and halting our progress.

"I need you to trust
that I have this worked out." He looked at me and I saw the struggle going on. He was agitated and he knew something was wrong. I knew I had only the tiniest control of the situation.

"Please."

I started walking and he relented again. I think it must have taken everything he had to do it. Continuing with a situation he didn't like was the exact opposite of what Cormac would usually do and I knew he was doing it for me.

It made my heart swell at the same time it was being crushed.

I picked up the pace a bit, hoping to get everyone to the crossing as quickly as I could. It was a strain on the group, but I felt the time bomb that was Cormac ticking loudly.

"It's okay," I yelled out as we approached the place where we had l
eft Dark, Colleen and the rest of them by the tunnel.

They stepped ou
t of their hiding places slowly, and I knew that the senator and his men weren't too far behind us.

I stopped once I reached them and turned to see the senator
, about fifteen feet back. He'd been following us the whole way, but I'd expected that.

Cormac looked around at the group and the senator. "
I don't know what you did, but I'm not leaving here without Sabrina," he said to me, never losing eye contact with the senator. He thought that was the bargain I wasn't telling him about. That Sabrina was staying and that was fine. I just needed to get him past the wall before he knew the real deal.

A
distant howling noise filled the air as small group of men appeared around the corner of a building in the distance. In the center of their group, I saw Sabrina. The howling must have been Gulagh.

We watch
ed as they got closer, until they stopped by the front of the group where the senator stood. And this was as far as I'd worked the plan out.

"What is going on?" Cormac
asked again. "If they are letting her go, why are they letting us leave?"

"I'll tell you as soon as we get on the other side of the wall.
" I was so close. "It's only a few more minutes. I don't want to discuss it here."

He turned his head and the tension was near to bursting from him. He was looking for a fight that he knew should be there
, but couldn't find it.

"The second we cross, not a minute later," he answered.

We watched as Sabrina walked forward, followed by the senator. Everyone else remained behind, as I knew they would.

Sabrina walked
the last ten feet by herself and was welcomed back into our group.

The senator stood back but not idly. I could see him focusing on the wall and an opening appeared through the storms. I just had to get them on the other side.

"Why?" Cormac barked out toward the senator. "You're just going to let us go? What are you getting?"

"Jo has promised to never cross this barrier again," the senator said.

"And that's it?"

"That's all I wanted," he finished.

It was the truth.

"Let's go," I said, tugging at Cormac. He knew something was wrong but he took my hand and went with me anyway.

"The very second," he said.

Dark crossed first and then the humans. Cormac and I were the last to enter the opening. True to the senator's word, nothing happened until after the last
vulnerable human had made their way out and it was only Cormac and I left in the opening.

I
didn't know how long I'd have so as Colleen took her last step out of the opening, I turned to him.

"I'm sorry," I said to him quickly.

"What did you do?"

His eyes narrowed before h
e grabbed my hand, eyed up the distance to the opening, and started to run, pulling me with him.

"I did it for you,"
I tried to scream, but the noise of the storms were getting louder and closer and I didn't think he heard. And then his hand was gone as he was torn from me. "Cormac!" I screamed as the winds kicked up another notch and propelled him to the other side.

I couldn't see anything but sand as a strong wind pushed me back in the direction of the senator. Even as the winds kept my momentum going I still didn't turn, but kept my eyes on the wall of sand, hoping to catch a glimpse of him, just one last time.

Then I heard my name. It was barely there over the roar and I couldn't even imagine how Cormac had managed to shout that loud but he was alive and okay.

I turned to face my fate.

The senator stood there, waiting for me, with his men behind him and the rippers not far in the distance.

"You promised, even if he comes back, he won't be touched. None of them will be," I said as I paused before I closed the last distance.

"Yes," he said.

I heard the truth again in his words. He would honor
the deal we had made.

I dropped my head, feeling defeated but resigned. They would make it. Cormac would be okay. He would understand why I did it. I took a few more steps forward.

When I got within a couple of feet from him, he waved one of his men forward. "You'll understand if I need to take some precautions."

I could have easily taken on the man who approached with the ha
ndcuffs but I'd made the deal. There was no turning back.

The senator looked on as his man finished handcuffing me. "Don't forget the tape."

As I watched the piece of duct tape cover my mouth, I knew why it was done. Without being able to speak and with my hands cuffed behind my back, I was seriously handicapped.

A man in a white lab coat stepped out of the crowd and approached me, a syringe in his hand.

"It's just something to sedate you. Make the whole process go smoother," the senator explained.

He had sworn I wouldn't be tortured. He said he had no intention of killing me. It didn't matter
, because just living with him like this was going to be torture but it was the price I'd been willing to pay. I'd bide my time until I knew I was stronger, then I would kill him; but my plans had rested on being cognizant. If I was doped up all the time, there was no hope.

I felt the cuffs on my wrists but there was nothing I could do. I couldn't speak. I needed my hands
, at the very least. Panic shot through me at the years that rolled ahead in my mind. I didn't know if I'd ever die of natural causes; I could spend an eternity like this.

The man in t
he white coat was next to me, holding the syringe up, removing any air bubbles, when the ground started to shake violently. I fell to my knees as everyone scattered. They all sought cover and squatted down to avoid falling as the vibrations ripped across the ground. Even the senator ran as the earth shook more than it had since the shattering, when the greatest transformation had taken place.

It felt like the shaking was intensifying and
was aimed right for where I was. I sat there, alone for twenty feet in every direction. A familiar buzzing whipped around my head and it took me a minute to realize it was the lightning bugs. "Jo, Jo," they repeated excitedly as the whizzed around me. "He's coming!"

I tried to ask who
, but my voice was muffled by the tape.

"What, Jo?" one of them aske
d. "We can't hear you, Jo!" another chimed in.

"Wait!
Maybe without the tape we can hear her!"

A chorus of "ahhh" followed. T
hey converged on my face and I felt the tape being pried from my skin.

"Owww, I'm stuck! I'm stuck! I'm gonna die!" I heard a little voice scream out.

"You're fine, Lucy!" came another voice. "There."

"Don't yell at me! You didn't get stuck to that yellow paper for a day! I have PTPS!" Lucy yelled back.

"You don't have Post Traumatic Paper Syndrome! Now help us."

I felt the tugging at my mouth again and the tape fell.
I took a deep breath. "Who's coming?"

"Him!" they screamed in chorus. Now that I didn't have to keep my head still
for them, I swiveled around and saw a hill in the ground that was growing before my eyes. It had everyone's attention, which was why no one was paying attention to the fact that a bunch of bugs were trying to save me.

The hill was ab
out seven feet, when all of a sudden everything stopped shaking. The sand slowly started to slide down its sides revealing black hair. Another inch and it looked like there might be tan skin under all that sand clinging to what was starting to look like a human form.

The sand continued to s
lide down what I now could confirm was a man's form. When the sand was down to only a few feet high, the man stepped out of the pile and everyone there instinctively moved back a few more feet.

His whole body
vibrated and the sand flew from his skin. Dark black hair, tanned skin, pale blue eyes, and muscled perfection stood there in the nude. The guy could have been Cormac's brother.

"Excuse the lack of apparel
," he said as he took a few steps out of the small mound of sand still at his feet. "My traveling conditions aren't conducive to clothing."

I was on the fringe o
f screaming and trying to get to my feet to run for cover when the man, or whatever he was, walked over to me. Something about him made me hold my tongue and stay in place. It was the way he cocked his head to the side and the gait of his walk. I didn't know him but my gut told me I did.

"Time to get this mess worked out," he said. Hi
s hand reached down to help me up but I pulled back. "What's wrong, Jo? Don't you trust me?"

My jaw dropped and there was no way to hide the shock I was feeling. It couldn't be. No way. He was supposed to be underground for fifty years.

"Burrom?"

The corners of his mouth lifted and his eyes squinted slightly. The package was perfection and looked nothing like the stout ground Fae I'd
helped send off to hibernation. But it was him. Somehow, underneath all those good looks, I could see him. Staring as I did now, I even thought I noticed a slight green tint in his black hair.

W
ho he was remained a mystery to everyone else there, but his alliance was clear to all as I let him help me to my feet.

"How did you know what was happening
?" I asked.

The bugs came swooping around again. "We told him, Jo! We saved you, Jo!"

"Time to get this show going and get the hell out of here," Burrom said. "I don't like this side of the wall."

My heart sunk at his words. "I appreciate you coming, but it doesn't change
anything."

"
He'll let you leave."

"I made a deal."

"He'll reconsider. Just watch and see." Burrom cleared his throat and spoke loud and clear to the senator, loud enough that everyone could hear. "We'll be leaving now."

"The deal is done." The senator took a step forward, making, his determination clear.
"She stays."

"I
don't think so," Burrom said, not flinching and speaking a bit softer as the senator came closer.

"I don't know who you are
, but I told you, the deal is done. Go back to your side and be glad I let you live."

Burrom closed the distance
to the senator and I followed. I wasn't going to let him go down alone for me.

We got within a foot of him and Burrom dropped his voice
even lower for his next words. "I know. And if you don't let us leave now, everyone here will know as well."

What the hel
l was Burrom talking about? I could see the senator blanch. Whatever he was saying had the senator on the ropes.

Burrom took a step closer to me and rested his hand upon the back of my neck in a menacing manner before he spoke again. "You might not know me, but I've been
here a lot longer than you. I'm not willing to hand everything over that easy."

"You could lose as well. Are you willing to chance that?"

"What do you think?" Burrom asked,
only having eyes for the senator.

I didn't know what was going on, but I was getting the feeling I should
n't be trusting Burrom, either. He pulled me in front of him and placed his other hand on my neck.
What the fuck?