Sky Ghosts: All for One (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1) (35 page)

She was sure of her plan, but at that moment something caught in her chest, making her stop and look back, get the last glimpse of the place she called home. Somewhere down there were Peter and Marco and Ryan, all hurt or even dying. She could feel them now, all of them, as if some invisible strings connected them with her. And one more, the strongest one, pulling her back, telling her,
Come on, don’t be stupid. You have to stay with her. This isn’t the right way to fix things
. But she wasn’t going to fix anything, just to put an end to it, and do some justice in the process if she got lucky.

She took off abruptly, darting through the black gape of the window before the bitterness and the finality of the idea overwhelmed her. Because one more second, and she just wouldn’t be able to do it.

Jane dragged herself across the hall, heading to her room. It was quiet on the floor. Everybody was still downstairs, helping to clear the wreckage or just slouching about, not knowing what to do next. She hoped to find Pain in their room, because her sister didn’t seem to be going upstairs to drag heavy stuff around. More likely, she wanted to be alone.

She rounded the corner right when someone burst through the hallway window, landing with a stomp and startling her. Immediately, her body shifted into a defensive posture, and her hand went to her belt, but then the man before her raised his head.

“Gosh, Skull! You scared me to death!” she exclaimed resentfully.

“Sorry,” he boomed, straightening his shoulders, which blocked almost the whole corridor. “Peter has called for Pain, is she here?” he asked.

“Must be,” she shrugged, turning the knob and opening the door.

And stopping right there.

The lights inside were on, the room’s floor strewn with papers and clothes, some pills spilled near the bathroom, and Pain was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh my God…” she whispered, stepping inside.
Wait, don’t panic, she can be in the bathroom.
Jane dashed there, already knowing that her sister wouldn’t leave the door open as she showered. She grabbed the handle, swinging herself inside – empty, of course.

“She’s gone…” She looked back at Skull, and he frowned, shifting uneasily at the threshold.

“Where?”

“Oh God, she’s gone for him!”

“Who?”

“Eugene! She’s after Eugene! Because he took Chad and Dave!”

“What??” For the first time, she saw astonishment on his face. “Alone? No, she’s not that crazy.”

“I know it, I know
her!
” Jane’s hands began to tremble. “She’s exactly that crazy. I knew she would do it!” she exclaimed and darted to the wardrobe, snatching daggers and knives mechanically out of the drawer and stuffing them into her belt. “I’m gonna go after her. Don’t tell Peter anything. Tell him you couldn’t find her.”

“You’re not going anywhere. Are you nuts?” he enquired in disbelief.

Jane was rummaging in her pockets now, shaking out the cash Peter had given them and some other things that she didn’t need. Skull only watched her dubiously, as if he couldn’t believe she was going to follow her sister right to their enemies’ headquarters.

She turned to the exit, facing him.

“I’ll do what I can, just don’t tell Peter about it. He will worry,” she said, intending to leave, but he blocked her path.

“Listen, don’t be stupid! Wait a little until we gather everybody, and we’ll all go after her,” he suggested, shrugging his heavy shoulders.

“No, I can’t wait. I gotta go, you gather the others if you want.” She pushed him in the chest, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“You’ll get yourself killed, Jane,” he hissed, his face just a few inches away from her now. And even this close up his eyes looked completely black, she thought.

“She’s my sister, Skull.”

He pulled away, exhaling.

“Imagine it was your sister.”

“I never had one,” his accent got heavier, and she wondered if he was nervous. Skull and nerves were two things existing in separate universes.

“You have us.” She placed her hand on his chest again, and this time it was steady. “Let me go if you want her back,” she almost whispered.

He blew out an angry breath. She was right about it, he knew it, and he was never able to argue, so he just stared into her eyes from above. Pain could be reckless sometimes, and without a backup, she was in extreme danger, that much was obvious. But still, letting Jane go seemed like the stupidest thing to do. She raised her eyebrows and shifted on her spot nervously, waiting for his reply. He could gather her into his bosom if he wanted to.
So small and so determined,
he thought, feeling the muscles in his jaw work as he fought with himself.

“Fine,” he snapped at last. “Go. I’ll try to help you two desperados.” He sighed and swore in Spanish. He was so going to regret this.

Jane beamed, springing to peck a light kiss on his scarred cheek.

“You’re the best!”

His eyebrows shot upward, and his look turned incredulous as he watched her hurry to the window. How could she be so carefree, was there no fear in that girl at all??

She took off, leaving two words to hang in the air after her: “See ya!” And then she was swallowed up by the darkness outside.

Skull shook his head, coming outside and closing the door behind him.
So small and so annoying
.

*

Pain landed on the roof softly, keeping away from the lights that shone there. It was just a reflex: up here the night was too quiet, too deserted for anyone to see her. The sun would rise in a couple of hours, she thought, looking at the fallen guard wistfully. He was still alive, and blood was pouring from his pierced throat.
Bad, bad throw,
she scolded herself, stepping over the other Beast who was already dead.

She had avoided approaching the roof so that the two guards wouldn’t notice her. She had assessed the wind and hovered in the air, staying far enough so she would mingle with the sky. Then she had thrown two daggers that flew like bullets, making the guards startle and clutch at their necks. And now she headed straight to the vent shaft.

It was closed with a heavy grid, which was welded to the frame, so she examined it for a minute, deciding about the best way to open it. If Marco was with her, he would just rip it off, she thought absently and headed to a superstructure, spotting a suitable bar. She had to wrench it off the side of some pole, but that was easy. Then she went back to the shaft and drove it between the grid and its frame. She pushed down on it, her face creasing with tension, but the grid didn’t move at all, and she let go, cursing.

“Can’t get in without my help, just like I thought,” a laughing voice sounded from behind her.

She jumped back, startled.

“Dammit! What the hell are you doing here??” she snapped, and surprise pierced her voice before she could hold it back.

Jane came up to the shaft, peering down curiously.

“Saving your butt. If we push on it together, it might break,” she said, shrugging.

“No, you don’t understand.
Why
the hell are you here? You’re supposed to be home! Now go back there, or I’ll drag you across the city myself,” Pain threatened, flashing her eyes at her sister.

Jane turned on her then, disbelief flooding her face, making her cheeks redden. She stepped forward, and Pain took a step back involuntarily.

“No,
you
don’t understand. I’m not gonna sit at home, letting you go alone and die here because of your recklessness and self-involvement. You had no right to leave without telling me. You owe me that much after all we’ve been through. You should have had some faith in me!” she hissed, stabbing her index finger into her sister’s chest.

Pain stiffened, not blinking. Jane never fought with her like this. They argued, they even yelled at each other sometimes, but she never sounded so genuinely mad. They never had a real reason for it, because they always had the same opinions about important things. They worked together their whole lives, but it was the first time Pain wasn’t going to win.

She swallowed a lump in her throat.

“It was my decision, not yours. I’m not stupid, I ain’t going to get out of here alive. But I’ll do everything I can to kill the bastard. And I want a good reason for doing this, so
please
go home, there’s no reason for you to be here,” she responded calmly, but it was hard to keep her voice from shaking.

“Go home??” Jane exclaimed. “Go home? How can I go home, knowing what you’re about to do? Did you think about me when you planned this, how I would live with this? Guess what, you didn’t! Because it’s not about me or Eugene, it’s about Chad now! And I understand, I understand it all, and I want to save them, too! So please, just admit it and let me help you! We did it so many times! Maybe this one will turn out alright, too,” she said desperately, and Pain sucked in a sharp breath, stiffening all over.

“That’s not true,” she said defensively, trying to zip up her jacket with a trembling hand. “I’m just sick of Eugene messing up with our lives all the time, that’s all.”

“So sick that you’re ready to get yourself killed? Don’t try to fool me. You’ve never made rash decisions, your head is always cool with stuff like this! You’re just upset you haven’t saved Chad, so upset that you don’t want to live with it. And it’s totally okay, so let’s go and try to save him before it’s too late,” she said with finality.

Pain clenched her fists, glaring at her with nothing else to say. Jane was right, they were wasting precious time, and Pain had no choice. Of course, she could try to knock her out, but not in this situation. She couldn’t leave her unconscious on their enemies’ roof. Besides, the fight could go on for hours, since she was the one who trained Jane.

She sighed with resignation.

“Fine,” she snapped and went to the shaft, picking up the bar again. “Let’s try to wrench this thing off.”

They broke through the grid in a minute and got into the shaft, Pain first. They were only one floor away from the one where Eugene’s office was, and when she reached it, she paused. Jane’s feet landed on her shoulders, making her curse in a harsh whisper, ducking away.

“Jeez, what’s wrong?” Jane hissed nervously.

“Nothing, this is the floor. Stay here, I want to take a look at the situation first,” Pain responded. Then she disappeared inside another duct.

She slid along it until she found a brightly-lit grid – Eugene’s office – and there she paused, peering down with a frown. She could hear Eugene’s deep voice, but it was difficult to make out his words. Finally, she saw the familiar black jacket, Dave’s shoulder and arm. She couldn’t see anything else from her spot, so she backed out, returning to her sister. Jane stared down at her with anticipation.

“Are they here??”

“Yes, they’re still here. At least Dave is. Okay, come down here slowly, we need to discuss the plan,” Pain said in a whisper. She pressed into the duct, making more space for Jane, who lowered herself between the other side and her sister.

“Okay, what’s the plan?” she whispered.

“No plan! I haven’t decided yet!” Pain snapped irritably.

“What?? You always have a plan!”

“Well, not this time, because someone interfered and didn’t leave me the time to think!” Pain hissed back.

Jane rolled her eyes.

“Okay, okay, let’s think about our options, then. Is there an electricity panel in the hall? We could turn off the lights for help,” Jane suggested.

“And then what? I’m not sure the Beasts are so afraid of the dark,” Pain made a face.

“No, let me finish. Then they’ll open the door to look what’s going on, and we could slip inside.”

“They can notice. They can use flashlights. They can freak out and kill the guys in the commotion. It’s too much risk,” Pain shook her head. “The grid in the office is too small, we can’t get in through it.”

“Alright, what else can we do? Are there any guards outside Eugene’s office?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t been there. Let’s find an empty office and peek outside. No, they can see the door open. Let’s get there through the lower floor, then we’ll just have to peek around the corner,” Pain said.

“Okay.”

They chose one of the dark rooms on the next floor and got out of the ventilation system. Luckily, the door wasn’t locked, so they left the office without any noise.

The hall was empty, lit faintly by a number of yellow lamps. The sisters headed to the staircase with their weapons at the ready. It was very quiet, and even though there wasn’t anybody, they stepped cautiously, without a sound. They reached a wooden door to the staircase, and Jane threw it open – behind it a Beast froze, coming down the stairs. In the next moment he drew a knife from his belt and swung his arm, aiming it at the startled Jane—

And then a blade swished through the air and sank deep in the skin. Jane yelped when the Beast tumbled to her feet – it was Pain’s knife that had hit him in the chest. She hovered in the air behind her, another knife already in her right hand, the katana in the left one, but there was nobody else on the stairs.

She shook her head, landing softly on her feet and coming around Jane to peer upward at the staircase.

“We’ve lost our vigilance. We should have looked outside first,” she said.

Jane was still staring at her, wide-eyed.

“Thanks,” she exhaled, relaxing. It was the thousandth time Pain had saved her life, and she knew what her sister was thinking:
This is why I didn’t want you here
. She was surprised she didn’t say it, though, because she always said what was on her mind.

They mounted the stairs soundlessly and opened the door, peeking into the hall – there was nobody there. Pain stepped forward, still holding the knife in her hand, her katana behind her back already. There were two corners before them, each on every side, and behind the right one Eugene’s office was.