02 Seekers (39 page)

knew I had to come in and be your shining knight,” she said to me.

“And now you’re going to hold us in your debt?” I asked skeptically.

“I would like you to keep in mind that I am the one who rescued you, yes,” she said.

Spider had finally freed Daniel. Daniel’s reaction was immediate. He rushed Serenity, pinning her against the wall, his forearm at her throat. While her eyes betrayed her alarm, her expression remained calm.

“We haven’t been this close in a long time,” she said coyly.

“Shut up!” he growled at her, pressing harder against her throat. “How long did you have this whole charade of rescuing us planned? Before you burned down the hotel or after?” Daniel

asked.

“My, my, you are a clever boy. How did you know?” Serenity asked.

“The fire had your name all over it. It was just like the one in Paris. I would recognize it anywhere.”

I gasped as his words clicked in my brain. The implications hit me hard. “You killed Jackson and Margaret!” I accused her.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” she scoffed. “I killed two Watchers who had no business getting in my way then planted them at the hotel, so you would think your friends were dead. I actually don’t have a clue where Jackson and his scowling lover wandered off to.” Her eyes betrayed the fact that she was holding something back.

“So, they could be alive!” I said.

Daniel didn’t waste his breath with the obvious. “An innocent woman died in that fire! What about her?” he demanded.

“It was an unfortunate accident. I had already thrown the compound into the room when she

came back for some cleaning supplies she had forgotten.”

“An accident! How neatly that takes blame off your shoulders,” he said.

“Don’t you dare,” Serenity warned him, the darkness in her eyes increasing. “Don’t act as if you are better than me because of your little human rescue mission. I, more than you do, know what it takes to win a war. I’ve buried myself in the bodies of my friends…the body of my sister, to escape certain death by the Boches who dared invade my country. I stayed all night in that mass grave as I waited for the Nazis to leave…and that was before I had even turned fifteen. I’ve endured pain and suffering beyond anything you will ever know, Daniel. You have no right to act as if you are the only one to care, the only one to suffer. I do not enjoy the fact that the lady in the hotel had her life taken, but things like this happen. Dwelling on them does not win wars, and I intend to win this war.”

“I thought you were supposed to be ending the war,” I said. “Not fighting in it.”

“To end a war, you must first fight in it,” Serenity said keeping her golden eyes on Daniel.

“But why? Why set my hotel on fire?” I asked.

“I had Mick keeping an eye on you from the moment you set foot in town. I thought when Daniel left you would have more freedom to get out of the hotel, to do what you were meant to do down here. But Jackson proved as protective as Daniel. I had to get you away from him. Setting a fire, and making you think they were dead and vice versa, seemed like a good enough idea. It worked, at any rate.”

“That doesn’t answer why,” I said.

Serenity’s eyes moved to Spider, but she didn’t say anything. Had my meeting the kids been manipulated? Or was she trying to throw me off her real reason? It was hard to tell with her.

“I hate to break this up and everything, but you guys do know we’re in the middle of a rescue mission, and that standing here catching up on old murders is probably a bad idea, right?” Spider pointed out.

“He’s right,” I said.

Daniel didn’t immediately release Serenity. Serenity’s face changed into a seductive smirk. She glanced down at the way Daniel had pressed his body into hers. “Just like old times, huh? Now isn’t the time, I don’t think.”

Daniel dropped his arm and turned away, his face disgusted. I scowled at Serenity, but turned my thoughts to the more important issue. “Spider, the kids are here. Do you think you can help me get them out?”

“Doll…I wouldn’t leave without them or you. Not after…” he coughed, embarrassed about his

betrayal.

“If you’re going to do that, you’ll need a distraction,” Serenity said. “There’s too many rats crawling around, sticking their noses where they shouldn’t be for you to go unnoticed.”

“Do you have a plan?” Daniel asked, unhappy he had to trust in her plans.

“Daniel, darling, I always have a plan.” Serenity pulled out a cellphone. She pushed speed dial and waited. When the person on the other end picked up all she said was, “Now.” Then she hung up again.

“We should…” Daniel’s eyes went distant as a vision overtook the present. They cleared in a moment, and he tensed. “We have company coming.”

“Nguyen?” I asked.

“No. They sent an interviewer,” Daniel said.

“An interviewer?” I asked in confusion.

“Yes, the kind of interview that hurts a lot,” Daniel said.

“Oh.”

“Serenity…” Daniel said with a glance at Spider. She nodded and held her hand out for Spider.

He took it eagerly, not needing words to get what she was doing. They disappeared.

Daniel hurried back to his chains. “Pretend like you’re still bound,” he told me.

I nodded and picked up my chains, so that I looked as if I were helplessly helpless. “I’m still bound,” I said quietly.

He looked down at the silver floor, his eyes a mystery. A minute later our interviewer came to

‘talk’. He was lean, a scar running down one side of his face from chin to temple. I was surprised at the scar, knowing Watchers healed from most injuries. He stood in the doorway for a moment, assessing us both. He inhaled deeply before stepping in; almost as if he smelled our emotions through air then he circled around to Daniel.

“Isra, my friend, I never thought I’d see you in here.”

“Life…” Daniel said with a shrug. “You could let us go,” he added.

“No…no I can’t. You’ve betrayed Marcus. You know I can’t just let you walk away from that, no matter how much I may like you. I will tell you, though, that they wanted me to make your little friend watch everything I am about to do to you. But, because I like you so much, I’ll make your suffering brief. How’s that?” The man circled around to face Daniel again.

Daniel’s eyes had started to swirl with inky dark. “Not nearly good enough,” Daniel said. “I’ll give you another chance. Let me go, and I’ll let you live.”

“Let me live?” The man started laughing. “No, I’m afraid you’ll be doing the dying today, Isra.

No offense.”

“None taken,” Daniel said calmly.

Daniel’s movements were fast and fluid, a dance of violence I had never seen matched before.

He slipped his hand out from the open clasp of the chain and grabbed the man. He spun him

around and maneuvered the chain around the man’s neck in the same graceful movement. The

pop of bone as the chain broke the man’s neck was loud in the space. Daniel lowered him to the floor, the chain still wrapped around the man’s throat.

“I did try and warn him,” Daniel said.

“Yeah, you did,” I agreed.

Daniel glanced at Serenity, who had reappeared. “I’m taking Clare out of here. You take the boy…”

“I’m not a boy…I’m eleven!” Spider protested.

Daniel ignored him. “Take him and help the others escape. Your distraction is coming soon?”

Serenity pointed to her ear. I strained to listen. Around the growls of distant Nightstalkers, the screams of people in agony, and the voices raised in conversation, I heard a much different noise.

It was the sound of fighting, screams, and ultimate chaos. On cue, the lights turned from white to blinking red.

“Mick and your friend Eli are creating a diversion…several diversions…we should probably

hurry,” Serenity said.

“Eli is here?” I asked.

“He came to the roof after you left. It was his idea to go to Serenity,” Spider told me.

“Oh,” I said.

“I’ll help you after Clare is safe,” Daniel added, bending down with his lighter in hand. He touched the flame to the man’s shirt, a small fire starting at the touch. I knew it was to keep the man from reanimating in a lifeless mockery of his former self.

“No,” I said. “I’m not leaving without the kids.”

“Yeah, I thought you’d say that. Alright, follow me. Stay close,” Daniel said.

Daniel poked his head through the door to make sure the hall was empty. He gestured us

forward, and we followed him, the smell of smoke drifting after us.

“Daniel…” I whispered as we hurried down the tunnel.

“Yeah?”

“I forgot to tell you something…” I said.

Daniel put a finger to his lips, pushing me into an empty room. Spider and Serenity disappeared as Serenity heard the danger as well. Running feet passed us in the halls, along with voices raised in alarm; shouting voices which questioned what was happening and why. When it was safe

again, we moved back out in the hall, Serenity and Spider reappearing.

“What did you forget?” Daniel asked, continuing our conversation.

“Alex tried to call Han and Beatrice when everything went down. She said she got a weird

message.”

“A weird message?” he asked carefully. He didn’t say it as if he were trying to keep a secret, more like he feared what I would say next.

“Yes…it was, um…” I strained to remember the words Alex had told me. “…the fox is out of the den, and the dove has taken to the morning.”

He stopped walking to peer around a corner, his eyes focused forward, but I sensed his worry. It didn’t help that a vein throbbed in his temple. “It’s a code…an emergency message in case I tried to contact them,” he explained.

“What’s it mean?” I asked.

He took a deep breath, still focused on moving forward. His multitasking ability was formidable under the circumstances. “It means that Ellen is no longer under their protection…either she took off or was taken. It also means that they are in trouble.”

“Trouble?” I asked.

“Seekers,” he said.

“Oh…”

“But why those two together?” he asked himself. “It’s very disturbing…unless they told Ellen to run, because it was safer…but how would that be safer? Unless…they weren’t after her…Oh!

Oh, no.”

I could tell he wasn’t really talking to me…more like he was figuring out his thoughts aloud.

“Oh, no?” I asked.

His eyes found mine in the flashing red light. They were full of fear. He glanced at Serenity then back to me. It was hint for us to talk about it later; once we were out of danger. I nodded, and we continued walking in silence.

The sounds of chaos increased in volume the closer to the prison cells we got. We had to duck into several alcoves to avoid people running toward Eli and Mick. But with Daniel’s skill at seeing the future and Serenity’s skill of turning invisible, we managed to get to the cells undetected.

“The kids are here,” I said touching a door.

“Clare?” Ethan whispered at my words.

“And Spider,” Spider said.

“Thank goodness,” Ethan said in relief, aware that I wasn’t skilled in picking locks.

“Hey!” I said.

“Sorry,” Ethan apologized.

Spider knelt down in front of the massive door and pulled some tools out of his pocket. He started to try and pick the lock, his face narrowed in concentration.

“Would you like some help?” Daniel asked.

“You know how to pick locks?” Spider asked skeptically.

“Well, yes, but I also know how to do this.” Daniel punched the door over the lock. The lock crumbled and the door opened slightly.

“Neat trick. I could make a fortune with that gift,” Spider said as the others piled out of the door.

Spider gave Twitch a sideways hug, trying to calm the trembling boy. Cora’s eyes were wide were terror. Sprint’s eyes were wide with anger. Ethan was the last one out of the cell his thoughts full of the situation we were in. It was the first time he had been the leader of the kids.

It had made him instantly more serious; it also gave him a greater appreciation of Spider. He was managing well, doing better than he thought he was…he had kept the kids calm, at least.

“I’m going to release the others then you need to lead them out,” Daniel told Spider. “Can you do that?”

“Can a cheat steal?”

“I have a feeling you know firsthand,” Daniel replied. “Serenity…go stir up some mischief or something.”

“My pleasure,” she said.

Her long legs took her down the narrow hall very quickly. Before she turned the corner, she disappeared, using her talent. I stared at the spot she had disappeared for a moment, my stomach uneasy. She may have had her reasons for setting the fire, she may even be validated in those reasons, but there was no way on this earth I was going to trust her. I couldn’t see how Daniel could trust her to ‘stir up mischief’ after what he had learned about her.

Either my thoughts were obvious on my face or he had gotten exceptionally better at reading minds, because his next words were an attempt to alleviate my fears. Not that it helped. “She wants you alive.”

“Yeah?” I asked.

He smiled at my sarcasm and went to the next door to free the person inside. With Spider starting to lead groups of people toward the exit, and the kids doing their best to keep the other prisoners calm, it wasn’t long before the hall was full of confused, desperate people searching for an explanation and a way out. Occasionally, we were too late to rescue the person inside, the person or people not moving from their place on the floor. The rotted stench of death filled the hall along with the sound of the others. Daniel did his best to shield the kids from the bodies, but it didn’t stop them from knowing what our reactions meant.

As we worked, the sounds of chaos surged ever closer, shortening our time for escape. Small explosions rocked the area, sending occasional showers of dust on top of us. I listened to the sounds, aware I could hear further than the others; I knew it was dangerous hanging around waiting to be discovered. Waiting risked everyone’s life.

“Spider’s taking too long with his escape route. We’re going to be found. I’m going to start leading people to the surface, too,” I said.