The Turncoats (The Thirteenth Series #2) (21 page)

“Wendy, I need some help and fast. These women are going to kill us.” She looked anxiously towards Jason and Shane. They wouldn’t stand a chance against these women.

“Ok, it says here that they have the ability to withstand bullets. Wow, that’s cool.”

“Are you serious?” Val yelled.

“Fire!” Sam shouted almost deafening Val. “They are subdued by fire.”

“Fire?” Val looked at Zac. “What about the women who own the bodies? Will I hurt them?”

“No. The human form should be protected until extraction,” Zac answered.

“Should?” Val blurted. She knew she could do it, but would it be enough? Only time would tell and the time was now. She pushed her sword into her back pocket and focused all her energy on the nerves in her stomach. A small flame appeared on the palm of her hand, but it wasn’t big enough or quick enough. The Daymars were on top of them and Val feared the worst. She tensed, expecting pain. Then a hand grabbed her from behind and in an instant she was teleported across the room. Zac did have his uses.

She opened her eyes to see one of the women striking Shane. To her horror he fell to the ground and stayed there, his body seeming limp and lifeless. Jason leapt onto a set of shelves to avoid one of the others. Val ran at the woman closest to Shane, no thought in her mind other than the need to protect him.

“YOU!” she screamed, getting the creature’s instant attention. The anger she felt now, had only been equalled the time she had thought that Delta was dead. Without any effort from her, her body raised off the ground and fire exploded on both her hands. This was power beyond anyone’s imagining, including hers. She threw a massive bolt towards the woman closest to Shane. When it hit, the woman screamed once, then froze. It was as if her chemical compounds were shorted out by the flames. She became completely rigid, cooked in her own armour.

The other two women didn’t fare any better. Flames fired from Val’s hands, causing toys to fly through the air and filling it with the overwhelming smell of singed fur. Finished with them at last, Val came to a standstill only feet away from Shane’s still unconscious body.

She lifted Shane’s wrist and felt for a pulse. He was alive. “Zac, you stay with him, teleport out if necessary,” Val ordered and he knew better than to cross her at this moment. He wasn’t even sure if she knew her hands were still on fire.

“Jason! Me, you, out back. Sam, Wendy - silence.” She pointed towards the large set of swing doors the women had been heading for. They had metal detectors on each side of them and a sign above them. Val now had a good idea where Delta had put Fran. They pushed through together as her flames petered out. Jason closed in. He wasn’t scared, she could sense it. Fran was so lucky.

“Where are we going, mate?” he asked as they walked past a wall full of board games.

“I think she’ll be in the toilets, but don’t expect her to be alone.” The ladies’ toilets lay five feet ahead of them. When they reached the door, Jason nodded at her, and she pulled out her sword and extended it. Whatever was behind that door, this finished here and now. Val moved in front. She kicked the door with her foot, allowing it to swing open once. In the crack she saw a very scared looking Fran, tied and gagged, and guarded by three large men. Where did they all come from? ‘Giants for
hire.com
’? Jason pushed past her, lost in the sight of Fran. It would be no good to even try to stop him.

The first man who came at Jason received a great deal of the anger he had been holding inside. His huge mass fell limp after the exchange of a few blows, then Val tazered the next guy, her bracelet flashing contently in sync with her sword. She smiled grimly as he also fell to the ground where he twitched and writhed. However, the last one wasn’t going to go down so easily. He struck Jason across the face and had him on his knees before Val could get to him.

“Stop!” she yelled. The man was shocked at her reaction and whilst still holding Jason’s hair he came to a halt. “Enough. We want Fran and you’re alone. If you leave now I promise you won’t get hurt.” She was pointing her sword at his face. He looked nervously between the two of them. And then decided to take the offer. Val didn’t care about this man. He was an employee and no wage could match her anger. She had what she wanted. He released Jason who leapt to his feet and ran to Fran, throwing himself on her, kissing her face with his bloodied lips. Finally reminded by Fran’s frantic grunts and expressively rolling eyes, he pulled frantically at her ropes and released her. Val watched the last man starting his dash for freedom.

Jason pulled down Fran’s gag. “I’m so sorry. It won’t ever happen again. I love you. I’ll never leave your side. Tell me if they hurt you. Please talk to me.” Jason had now almost completely covered Fran’s face in kisses.

“Thought you’d decided to keep me tied up!” she managed a small joke. “I’m fine. Are you ok?” Fran rubbed her wrists as Jason finally managed to free her feet. Then she quickly pulled his face in close and kissed him. “I knew you’d find me,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. She tried to stand, but it was all too much and she collapsed back onto the chair. Jason scooped her up into his arms.

As he walked past Val, Fran held out her hand. Val grabbed it and Fran held onto her tightly. Shane was now sitting up rubbing his head while Zac pulled the stone women closer together.

“Fran!” Shane stood when he saw the small group approaching, and embraced her and his son. “Thank goodness you’re safe.”

She gave a weak smile in his direction. “I could do with a hot chocolate.”

Suddenly Val was overwhelmed by the realisation of how close she had come to losing a very good friend. All the bravado and anger of the last few minutes disappeared and her eyes filled with tears. Not wanting the others to see this sudden sign of weakness, she tried to move away. Fran tightened her grip.

“This is not your fault, Val,” she whispered. “There was this girl, blonde thing who needs a good meal if you ask me. She seriously hates you, but we won’t give in to her. She needs a good sorting out and she’s going to get it!”

Val gave a watery smile and nodded, too emotional to trust her voice.

“We can tell you all about her back at the book shop.” Jason winked at Val and pulled Fran in closer. Clearly he wasn’t going to let her go any time soon.

“You only have the bike here, how will you all get back?” Val asked.

“If it’s safe to speak, Sam’s on his way,” Wendy’s voice rang in her ear.

“Sam’s coming. We will just wait till he gets here.” Val winced as she dabbed her painful nose again. Shane came over and took her chin between his fingers, gently turning her face from one side to the other.

“I think you’ve been lucky. It’s doesn’t look broken, just painful. You’re going to look extra specially attractive tomorrow.” He put his arm around her and gave her a gentle squeeze. “You ok?”

“I am now we have Fran back.” She smiled weakly. This was all starting to take its toll on her. Her day seemed to be filled with fighting and stress. She felt at breaking point.“We have another prisoner,” Zac announced.

“Are you serious?” Val’s look of despair was lost on hunter boy.

“Yes, we need to get these Daymars back to the Collector and go.” He was absolutely serious.

“She’s done enough Zac; she’s just a kid.” Shane’s concern was also wasted on Zac.

“Now!” Zac pulled the three stone women close enough for them to be teleported in one go.

Val looked at the others, resignation in her eyes. She was so tired she wondered how she could possibly do anything else today. “See you back at the bookshop.” She placed her hand on Zac and they were off.

Fran glared at Jason. “Put me down.” He lowered her to her unsteady feet. “This is just ridiculous; Val can’t carry on like this. It’s going to kill her. She’s being pulled in a million directions at a hundred miles an hour.” Fran looked between the two men that stood protectively on each side of her.

Shane nodded in agreement. “What can we do?”

“I don’t know, but there has to be another way. Maybe some other guard could take over. Surely there are better qualified people than her?”

“I have to say that when she lost it today, Dad, she was scary. It was as if seeing you on the ground sent her into some sort of power surge. She was awesome! Maybe she is
really
special. Even Zac looked shocked when she threw those massive fire balls.”

Shane looked at his wrist. “So that explains my burns. Well, we need to sit down and think about what we can do, but first, let’s get out of here.”

Jason put his arm around Fran and they made their way back to the exit they had broken in through.

Delta watched them leave. “Well, that was entertaining.” She looked over her shoulder. “The war has started and we have thrown the first stone.”

A voice answered from the darkness. “Yes, but they got her back and now you have lost four of your followers.”

“You have enough money. Anyone will follow you, plus someone has to be a scapegoat for breaking and entering. Call the police and make sure they get here quickly.” She flicked back her hair.

“Yes mother, but...”

“Do I have to tell you again?” Delta raised her hand for silence. “She left us to die; your father left us to die, and I was the only one who loved you. No one came for us and we have made our way back to the future. You’re as powerful as her and don’t you forget it. Our time will come. Plans are in place. I will get them back for what they did to us, do you understand,” her voice tight and agitated.

“Yes Mother.”

“Good, now make the call.”

Val and Zac stood outside the portal with three stone statues. “Can’t we leave these here and just go for the next prisoner, then we can deliver them all at once and the Collector will be so pleased with us.” She wasn’t sure how to tell him she had teleported five times already this evening and that she was more than positive she would be in some serious trouble.

“Ok. Let us find Wendy and see who prisoner…” he looked at his watch, “…103774 is.”

They left the figures behind and hurried to find Wendy who was in the cupboard looking at her mobile phone with a blank expression.

“Hello,” Val whispered trying not to make her jump. She failed; Wendy jolted, almost falling off her chair.

“You’re back!” She stood and hugged Val and smiled at Zac - she knew he wasn’t too keen on the touching thing.

“We need you to do some more of your magic, but first, why are you staring at the phone like that?”

“Daniel, he sent me a text.”

“If he has upset you, I can sort him out,” Val said.

“No,” she laughed. “He wants to see me again tomorrow.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Val was confused by her reaction.

“Yes, if you’re a normal girl, living in a normal world, it’s just peachy. But I’m not, I’m the guardian to the most powerful witch of all time, and I read an alien book, and I’ve never been on a date until tonight, and now I’m looking at number two in less than twenty-four hours.”

“Just take it one day at a time, Wendy. He seems like a nice guy and he has a weird old car just like you, so you’re obviously made for each other. Love doesn’t always come easy; if it’s worth having you will find a way. Say
yes
and we will work the rest out. Now, tell me about prisoner 103774.” Val touched Wendy’s shoulder and gave her the famous Valerie Sheridan Saunders “everything is going to be ok” smile.

Wendy looked down at the dellatrax and out the corner of her eye caught a glimpse of a blue flash as Val and Zac vanished.

Val was surprised when they arrived in the great outdoors. They were on what looked like a coastline and the dark mixed with the cold air made it feel particularly eerie. “Wendy where are we?”

“The screen says Dover. Your prisoners are Valangar. They love water and like to drown people, from the inside out, so my advice would be to stay away from the sea. No joke intended.”

“Thanks.” As Val’s eyesight adjusted to the dark, she realised that staying dry was going to be top of her list. They were about ten feet from the edge of the white cliffs of Dover. Val had visited them once with her parents when she was little and she was just as scared of heights now as she had been then.

“Over there,” Zac pointed. They made their way cautiously, following the edge of the cliff. “It seems very high,” he said.

“You think so?” Val responded holding onto his arm.

“Well hello.” A voice came out of the darkness. Val strained to see figures in the distance. “Not exactly the best time of day to be walking so close to the edge, is it?” another voice said. They came closer; Val wasn’t sure if she was seeing double. She rubbed both eyes together to clear her vision, but no, they were identical twins.

“It’s them,” Zac whispered.

“Are you guys out here camping, because you know it’s not safe to be walking so close to the edge and you look really young?”

“What’s going on?” a man called out.

“Nothing,” one of the twins responded.

“Girls, come on back to the camping ground. It’s not safe out here.” The man jogged up to them and Val recognised him instantly. It was Max, the man she had rescued from the underground caving incident. Of course! He was the high priest; he looked exactly the same. Val remembered he worked for the Navy or something.

“We were lost and the girls were giving us directions,” Val explained as Flo waltzed up between them.

“Oh well, come back to the camp site with us and we will help you out.” Max was still a gentleman. As he turned the twins grabbed him one on each side. “Girls, don’t be silly.” Max pulled at his arm but the girls weren’t letting go and they were extremely strong; far too strong. “Hey, you’re hurting me,” he said looking confused.

“What are you playing at?” Val’s asked angrily.

“You said you would stay away if I helped you, so why are you here?” Flo spoke softly but with an unmistakeable hint of a threat.

“We got information that prisoners had taken human form. We came to investigate,” Val responded.