The Turncoats (The Thirteenth Series #2) (31 page)

Val turned to look at him. Zac wore an expression of total confusion. “I don’t understand.” He shook his head.

“Ah yes, you’re not exactly the best catch are you, but you know that when a guard connects with his dellatrax at birth they are sorted. That those who are gifted may be trained for upper levels.”

Zac’s expression started to change, as if a very slow light bulb was starting to glow in his brain.

“So, my little hunter, Wendy here has all the makings of a Judge and you know it!” Excariot said seeming particularly pleased with himself.

“She can’t be a Judge! She’s not from Alchany,” Val called.

“Irrelevant. It’s never about where you’re from; it’s about who you are. She has spent her life perfecting her craft. She has focus and has studied the books, and she has the gift of future sight. With a little help from me and your friends here, Wendy has been able to make a connection with a completely unique dellatrax, which she will now use to rip a doorway through time and get Lailah. How does that sound?” Satisfaction written all over his face, he walked away from them.

Zac’s mouth was open like a goldfish on freeze frame. Everyone could see that Excariot was right. Wendy had spent her whole life dedicated to her people and her mission. They knew she had spent more time than anyone else studying and connecting with the dellatrax and all in theory to help Val. But it wasn’t, it had been to empower Wendy.

“Val, I could have collected up your twelve witches plus you in one night. I never needed them or you. I just needed our little friend to have enough time. And here we all are, so now the light show will begin,” he said as he reached Wendy. Eva pulled her to her feet.

“Before you do whatever it is you think you’re going to do to me, can I ask one question?” Wendy’s frail voice echoed. “Why Daniel?” The tears had now dried and mixed with dirt; she resembled one of those aborigine warriors before a battle.

“Who?” Excariot looked at her with a blank expression. All of a sudden Val realised Daniel wasn’t there. Had they done away with him?

“Why make me fall in love with a guard? Well, I’m guessing he’s a guard or a hunter because he teleported right in front of my face. So why make me fall in love? How does that help you?” Her voice was growing in strength and pain at the same time.

“What is she talking about?” Excariot looked around for Eva.

“I don’t know.” She looked just as foxed as him.

“Are you trying to mess with us?” Excariot reached down for Wendy’s thin arm and pulled her in close.

“He was at the bookshop. A red spark flashed and he was gone, just like Val.”

“What?” Excariot looked at Eva.

Zac pulled in a deep breath and grabbed Val’s arm tightly. “What’s going on?” Val whispered. “You’re hurting me.” Zac seemed uninterested in her complaints.

“That child, the one you took to the past and left with Delta, do you know who it belonged to?” Zac’s face had gone pale.

“Yes, he was Excariot’s and Eva’s child. Oh my God! Daniel is Excariot’s child. But how?” Val couldn’t feel the pain any more. Her head was starting to spin. “How could this have happened?”

“You told me he would die!” Excariot dragged Wendy over to Eva. “You said that there was no chance he would survive back then. You lied to me!”

“I saw it in my premonition, I swear to you,” Eva was visibly cowering now.

“I wanted that child dead and now he’s here, and he is the reason why Delta has all this power. You will pay for this, you worthless witch.” His hands struck out and Eva fell to the ground. “Now you.” He shook Wendy. “Open the time portal, before I kill your mother.” He pointed at Belinda who was on the floor. “I will deal with you later,” he spat at Eva.

Wendy looked at the others inside the cage; her eyes filling with tears once again as she picked up one of the volumes. She turned over the top cover and placed her hand on it. The holograms instantly started to skip and dance around her body. Excariot watched with great satisfaction.

Val noticed Eva was still on the ground, looking over at her. She wanted to hate her, but looking at her life, and the fact that Excariot saw her as a possession, made Val feel pity. Eva started to lift herself up and Val saw that she was chanting something. Val understood that Excariot’s outburst was going to work in their favour, that this was the straw that had broken the camel’s back. Excariot had taken it one step too far this time.

Eva’s eyes started to darken. Val tapped Shane with her foot. “I think we might just have got us a ticket out.” The same way Wendy’s eyes went white, Eva’s were now completely black. Her hand rose, moving in the direction of the lock, and then lowered again, and Val knew they were free.

Wendy was in the centre of the hanger. The book she had been holding was starting to levitate under her hands, each hologram growing in size and ferocity. They spun around her increasing in speed and velocity until Wendy was almost invisible.

Excariot watched from the sidelines, holding Belinda at bay with his foot. He looked extremely pleased with himself and Val was going to take great pleasure in removing that look.

“Can she really do this?” Val whispered to Zac. To her dismay he nodded. “Then we need to move now.” She reached out for the door of the cage, and pushed. To her delight and relief it opened with ease. “Come on,” she signalled to the others.

When Max came to exit she grabbed his arm. “Listen Max, these guys are exhausted; it’s going to get messy. I need you to take care of the others and head out. We will find you later.”

He nodded in agreement. “Will do. Come on,” he signalled to the others and they moved off towards the exit.

Luckily for them, all the people left in the hanger were completely mesmerized by Wendy. Val, Fran, Jason, Shane and Zac made their way along the wall to a large pile of crates, probably filled with old books, Val thought, and perfect to hide behind. Val peeked over the top. “What do we need to do now?” she asked Zac.

“We need to break the connection between Wendy and the dellatrax, and I have to say I told you so. I knew there was a Judge on Earth.”

Val gave him a quick pat. “Yeah, well done you. Now let’s save her.” She stood up and walked towards Wendy.

“Does she ever think about what she’s doing?” Zac asked Shane.

“Nope,” he smiled back.

Val could only think of one way of stopping Excariot and making sure Wendy survived. “Hey, you know, you should have guessed I would get free.” She turned to look for Eva, but there was no sign of her. “Damn, your witch didn’t want to stop around to watch me beat you again.” Val pulled out her sword.

Excariot looked away from Wendy. Realising the cage was now empty he pulled Belinda off the ground. “How many times should we dance this dance? The sword thing is becoming tedious.” He turned, lifting his hand to throw her, but Val was ready and she counteracted with a massive gush of wind. She was nearly close enough to shock Wendy.

“Well, well, we have learnt a lesson or two since we last met,” he mocked.

“Does annoying come naturally or do you have to practise in the mirror,” she asked, lifting her hand into the air and creating a flame on her fingers.

Excariot laughed. “Did someone want a light?” He looked around as his followers and laughed.

“No, I don’t like smokers!” she said as her body combusted into flames. Excariot stood back, overwhelmed with the intense heat. Belinda screamed, trying desperately to pull free, yet Excariot seemed unaffected by her attempts.

Val had what she wanted; he stepped away from her. The doorway to Wendy had opened slightly; however what she hadn’t spotted was what had been happening to Wendy.

“Val, get her!” Shane called from the boxes. She turned to see Jason vaulting over the top. Then she looked towards Wendy, who had become completely consumed by the holograms. She started to run to her when something hard struck her from the side. It was Excariot, wielding a hefty length of wood. She stumbled, reaching out, but there was nothing to balance her. The flames diminished and she landed hard on the floor.

“No!”

Val heard a scream from behind her. Looking up she saw that Fran was running as well now. She felt the hairs on her body stand on end; as she looked up to see what resembled a tear in the atmosphere opening above Wendy’s head.

Belinda had decided to do the opposite; instead of trying to escape Excariot she was attacking him by jumping on him from behind. He was now spinning around with her on his back. Val pulled herself up, just as Zac came flying past. He was also heading for Wendy. Shane came over the box following Jason, and a group of Hench men were heading for them. The fight was on to get to Wendy, and Zac was in the lead.

“Get them!” Excariot called as he threw Belinda to the floor. He also strode towards Wendy, his face set with determination..

The tear was getting bigger by the second, and flashes of light were darting in and out of it. Val was on the move again. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Shane scrum a man to the ground, as Zac leapt through the air towards what was still visible of Wendy.

She held her breath, but it was too late. Zac was thrown back by the holograms. Wendy’s body was pulled into the tear and she was gone. They went from chaos to instant silence. The only sound was the book hitting the ground.

Val stood perfectly still only feet away from Excariot. His arms dropping to his side; he was clearly dazed by what had just transpired.

Val heard Belinda weeping behind her.

Excariot looked at Val. “You, why couldn’t you just die? Why did you have to survive?” He looked ready to explode. Val reached out to grab his arm.

“Don’t touch me, reject!” Excariot pulled his arm away from Val. “Someone grab them...” He didn’t get to finish as Jason struck him from behind with the length of wood he had used on Val and Shane piled on him, pulling him to the ground. Val pulled her sleeve up to pull off her bracelet. She flicked it out and wrapped it around Excariot’s wrist. He kicked out. She didn’t quite know how to cope with him.

“I will kill you,” he screamed before his face was shoved into the ground by Shane.

“Have you nothing more original to say,” Val whispered into his ear.

The followers realising that maybe they weren’t going to win had started to run in various different directions. In a matter of a few moments they were alone, somewhere in a hidden hanger, fingers crossed, somewhere in the UK! The question now was where was Wendy?

All of a sudden out of nowhere a red spark appeared about two feet away from Val. She knew what it was, but having never seen herself teleport it was mesmerising to watch. As the rip opened, in her heart Val wanted Wendy to fall through it, but it wasn’t her. She watched quietly as Daniel appeared, landing perfectly.

He looked at them and then faced Val. “Where’s Wendy?” he demanded.

“Gone, no thanks to you.” Val wanted to blow him up. She didn’t know if she had the power, but she was about to find out. Her hands came together and a sparking ball of energy, like nothing she had created before, began to form.

“Save your parlour tricks for the side show.” Daniel looked at Shane and the others who were sitting on Excariot. “I asked you a question. Where’s Wendy?”

“She’s gone,” Zac responded dryly. “And you should not exist. Your mother and father are evil and, as such, the Alchany prison rules state that you must hand yourself over to us now.”

Even Val had to admit that what Zac had just said was embarrassing.

“This is your last chance to tell me, or I will have to take this into my own hands.”

“Ask your daddy.” Val lowered her hands. Her priorities were changing; she needed to be cautious; she didn’t know what Daniel was capable of. However, she had a good idea that he didn’t know which volume of the dellatrax Wendy had been using when she had been taken. She took a step towards the books.

“You and that thing will pay for what you did to me and my mother!” He pointed at them both, venom in his words. Val felt a pang of guilt. Seeing him in front of her made it hard not to want to say she was sorry.

“How did you know Eva was your mother?” she asked.

Anger spread across his face. “Delta is my mother and don’t let her name cross your lips, freak, or I’ll wipe them off your face.”

Val took another step towards the book, “Look Daniel, we have all lost Wendy, but together we can find her I’m sure.”

“Enough! You left me and my mother, and now you have lost the one person I cared about. I will now have my revenge.” Daniel raised his hand and what resembled a bolt of light appeared in his palm. Val would have been more impressed if it hadn’t been aimed at her.

She leapt to one side as the bolt came down. It still just managed to catch her side and she was knocked several feet along the floor. The pain was incredible. She looked up to find him instantly standing over her with another bolt ready to drop at close quarters.

“Daniel please, I promise together...” Val pleaded.

He had no time for her promises; the bolt was released. Val instinctively put her hands over her face. This was the best she could muster as the first strike had left her weakened. What she hadn’t managed to see yet was the amount of blood spilling out her side.

Then there was a sound as if lighting had struck at close quarters. Val lifted her head and just got a glimpse of Sam. The funny part was he had his sword with him in one hand and in his other was what looked like a crystal ball floating in mid-air. Through her pain she marvelled at what that man could make. The noise had been so ear-splitting that she had been left slightly deaf, so the yelling of the others seemed muffled.

Val looked around her. There it was. She reached out for Wendy’s book, pulling it close into her chest. Somehow she knew that the dellatrax would keep her safe. She felt a hand on her arm; it was Sam. He was lifting her off the ground into his arms. She was feeling light-headed, but saw Fran’s face come close to hers, and she noticed instantly how shocked Fran looked.

“Are you ok?” she was mouthing at her.

“No, it hurts. Where are we going?” Val asked as Sam strode confidently. She felt herself slipping.