The Waking (The Upturned Hourglass) (36 page)

“Not after what I will show them.” Isaac turned in his seat to face Valie, a new eagerness to his words. “Valentine, you’re like no other being of any kind. I’m going to show them that we can use your bred-in power to the Lycanthrope advantage. We can magnify that power and try to harness it.”

Valie paled. “You mean you don’t want to kill me?”

Isaac looked appalled.
“Of course not! The Council would be the only ones to wish you harm, but that’s due to their ignorance. They don’t realize the potential you possess. I will show them, I will join them and eventually, together, we will dominate.”

Realization struck.

“You want to change me,” Valie whispered. She couldn’t manage more volume. “But the law. . .what about the Lycan law? It forbids you from trying to change someone like me.”

Isaac dismissed her words. “Times have changed. The time of the Prophecy has arrived. I will bring the events that were foretold centuries ago to fruition by utilizing the forbidden power of Abomination.
You
. You are the key to the Lycanthrope rise to primacy. And once we create others like you, an army of super-beings will be at our disposal to rid ourselves of the Vampyre horde. Not even the Fey will be able to stand against us should they dare to slither out of hiding.”

Valie didn’t know what to say. Isaac wasn’t going to kill her. The Council surely would, but not before he tried to make her into a monster. Her heart began to beat faster. She had accepted her death; she had
not
accepted the contortion of her being that would follow a bite from a Fated like her father. She refused to be a soldier, to be used for the sole purpose of hunting down the Lycanthropes’ enemies.

Isaac left Valie to her thoughts. He did not demand she meet his level of enthusiasm in his maniacal plan.

A pang of grief struck her as she thought of Jack and the others. She’d come to think of them as her family, for they were more of a family to her by bond than any of her blood relatives had proved to be. Though the three deserters had dragged her from her home, her definition of the term had altered. ‘Home’ followed her feelings of safety. She only felt safe in the company of her friends. Not here. Not sitting behind the man who could not see past his own ambition, no matter the harm it might cause to his own daughter. No wonder Jack had warned Valie of Isaac without letting her confront him. The man had a presence that overwhelmed the senses, made you think that you had no chance against him, and at times even convinced you that he was auspicious. Jack held some of that presence, but his was forced, put on. Isaac’s seemed innate. He manipulated people naturally.

Valie began fiddling with her mother’s bracelet hanging from her wrist. She wished Jack were there to help her discern the truth of things, to help her fight the odds. She couldn’t help but feel as if she was fighting Fate itself.

But perhaps that was her fate, she realized, to fight it.

She felt the slow invigoration of renewed purpose. The others would find a way to track her. She just needed a plan to
help them find her. . . She would make her own fate. Contrary to the plans of her father, she would fight.

And she would win.

NEW DESIGN

Jack pushed
Jericho aside. He shoved his helmet onto his throbbing head and mounted the yellow motorcycle.

“Jack, you might have a concussion or worse,”
Jericho tried to reason. It seemed an impossible task when all of Jack’s thoughts rested on Valie. He couldn’t believe he’d allowed her to go with Isaac. His attempt at linking with Noah with his mind hadn’t been enough. They just couldn’t move fast enough.

Jack growled.

If he hadn’t been knocked out for so long, the others wouldn’t have tended to him before trying to pick up Valie’s trail. Because of him, the trail had gone cold.

“Jack!”
Jericho grabbed his attention, standing in front of the bike as if immovable. He ran his hand through his graying hair in frustration. “You’re already unable to focus. Please. I realize you have to go, but at least drive with the others. It won’t help the situation for you to crash and die on the side of the road.”

Jericho
’s stern gaze frustrated Jack, but he knew the doctor was right.

Jack took off his helmet and strode quickly to the idling BMW. Shane and Noah waited inside.

“How’s your arm?” Jericho inquired quickly as Jack entered the vehicle.

“Never better,” Jack replied.

Jericho frowned but moved so Jack could close the door. “Bring her back.”

Jack paused, meeting the man’s grave, coffee-colored eyes. He nodded solemnly before shutting the door.

Shane spun the gravel beneath the tires with her foot on the accelerator. The only thoughts in the three werewolves’ minds were of Valie. She had become an intrinsic part of their survival; she gave them a purpose worthwhile. She had to stay alive.

They didn’t breathe easier when they hit the road.

“How will we find her?” Shane asked.

“I don’t know, Shane!” Jack snapped. “They’re obviously covering their trail and I have no idea what she’s thinking.” Though, he could imagine. She was probably terrified. Jack wondered if she was even alive. He’d secretly believed that he would somehow know if she died, as if some part of
himself would die, too, but his hope was waning.

“And here I thought you two were connected.” The appalled look on Jack’s face made Shane regret her words. “Sorry. I tend to vomit verbally when I’m stressed. I didn’t mean. . .”

Jack cut her off with an exclamation of his own. “Why didn’t I think of it before? Noah! Can you somehow
sense
them?” Jack leaned forward against the back of Noah’s seat. He hadn’t thought to use Noah’s ability previously, because tracking was so much more effective. That was not the case now.

The sandy-haired boy’s brow furrowed. “I’m not sure. I can
try. . .Let me concentrate. Maybe I can sense further out than I usually can.”

“Try it,” Jack ordered.

Noah nodded.

“Just keep driving straight,” Jack instructed Shane. “We’ll reach the main road soon. We can figure out where to go from there if Noah can get a read on them.”

This is all assuming she’s still alive
, he thought. He willed his pessimism away, but it clung to his soul like liquid tar, dragging him into its depths.

After a few minutes of tense silence, Shane became impatient.

“What’s going on?” she asked. She continued to speed down the road. “Do we know where we’re going?”

Jack shushed the girl. “Let him concentrate.”

“It’s okay. I got her.” Noah’s words were softly spoken, as if exhaustion was pulling at his mind and body.

“Where?”
Jack’s thoughts began to rush to all scenarios, preparing itself for anything.

“I lost them a few miles ahead, but they were moving
slow, I think on foot. I’m too tired, Jack. I can’t hold that kind of extension for this long.”

Jack fought the urge to lash out. He knew Noah was doing all he could. Frustration wasn’t going to help at this point.

“It’s alright. Did you learn anything when you could sense them?”

“I’ll show you where I think they turned off.” He described the direction of the back road they would soon come across. Shane signaled her understanding once she understood the description. “I don’t know what to do once we get there, though. I’m not sure I can pick them up from that far away again.”

Jack patted Noah on the back with a smile. “That’s alright, cub. Then,
we
take over and do it the old-fashioned way—we track. The car should stay near the road anyway. The element of surprise is about the only element we have in our favor.”

“Speaking of elements—here
comes water.” Jack followed Shane’s upward look just as the sky began to empty. Fattened drops of rain splattered the windshield. It looked to be the beginning of a deluge.

“Great,” Jack muttered. Tracking would be difficult in the rain. Near impossible, if the others abandoned the car to reach their destination on foot.

When the three reached the opening to the quickly darkening path, Shane parked the car far enough off the road to avoid drawing unwanted attention, but close enough that, should the need arise, they could make a quick escape to the road despite the deepening mud.

A large drop of water fell from its point of accumulation on a high branch.

Shane flinched, making Jack give her a disparaging look.

“Just be happy we have some cover with these trees,” he chided, speaking forcefully through the rain. “Otherwise we’d already be soaked through to the bone.”

“Yeah, well. At this rate, we’ll be swimming before we get to where we’re going.” Her final statement was muttered for Jack not to hear, but he did. The werewolf’s thoughts turned to Valie. She would be shivering from the cold by now, her clothes wet from the rain. Jack’s heart seemed to spasm with the need for urgency. He couldn’t stand the uncertainty of their separation for much longer, as poisonous doubt continued to pervade his every thought, his every decision.

“Jack?”

Jack blinked, having just noticed Shane trying to get his attention. “I’m sorry. What?”

Shane’s blue eyes appeared shadowed with worry. For the first time that morning, Jack noticed the dark circles ringing her eyes. Along with the stitched up gash along her hairline, she was a sore sight for the caring eye.

“Jericho was right. You’re off. Do you feel okay?” Her tone was that of a worried mother.

“Yes. Yes, I’m fine, just distracted. Honestly, other than a bit of a headache, I feel as well as ever.” Jack changed the subject. “Those are their tire tracks.” He walked over to the lightly indented rut, criss-crossed with the pattern of a deep-treaded tire. “Hopefully, they won’t have taken to walking until farther on. Cars are much easier to follow in the rain.” And with that, the three companions took to the path, clutching their jackets around them and wiping the raindrops from their brows.

Jack was the most experienced of the three in the art of tracking, but he was nothing compared to Eliza. Terrence could shadow any living soul, but Eliza was the master of erasing all evidence of passage. This thought weighed heavy on Jack’s mind as he thought of when the tire trail would end and a foot-chase would begin. He dreaded the event, which came all too quickly.

“Where do we go now? I can’t feel them anywhere nearby.” Noah asked when they found the abandoned SUV parked on a rock-lined stream. The boy had remained silent throughout their trek, presumably regaining his strength.

Jack looked around. The storm began to worsen as the light began to fade. The sun was beginning to decline behind the bleak clouds. They were losing time following on foot and they would lose more as they tread more carefully.

“I’m not sure,” Jack murmured to himself. He couldn’t discern any tracks through the muddied terrain. The rain was washing away any marks or scent they might have been able to pick up.

They had come too far to give up. There had to be some clue as to the others’ trajectory, something they could follow. Jack refused to lose all hope now.

“What is that?” Shane asked, calling over the hammering rain. The blonde she-wolf pointed to a tiny object out of place on the forest floor near the base of a tree. Human eyes would never have detected it.

It was a silver link. After some scouring, Jack discovered that about ten yards east, lay another.

The girl had left a trail of breadcrumbs to follow, leading them straight to her. There was a hope after all—and that hope was Valie.

THE ROCK AND THE HARD PLACE