Barcode: Cavern of Youth (44 page)

The abomination falls back to the earth and I slam into the side of the chopper. I can definitely understand what bugs on windshields feel like.

My team opens the door and we slide inside.

Angie’s still in Sekhmet form and raging wildly. She grabs Gardezi by the throat and he freezes solid. I wrap her in a headlock and tell the others to find new seats. Using all the strength I have remaining, I force her next to the window. She’s doing her best to avoid hurting me, but she wants to kill someone. In her ear I whisper, “Are you still mad at me?”

“A little.”

The others watch in amazement as the possession fades away slowly. I rub her forehead and hug her warmly. Her muscles remain tense and she tries catching her breath.

When I gently kiss her neck, the tattoos return to her chest. Angie giggles, “Oh, you cheated! With Tartarus on, it would’ve taken you an hour. I had a lot of blood on me.”

“I’m shocked too.”

Seth crawls out of Richard’s lap, or he’s pushed away. It all happens so fast, I can’t tell. Jamie mutters, “Wow.” And Ms. Love walks over to sit next to us. Her jealousy is evident. She wants me away from Angie, but I don’t let go. Luckily, Angie doesn’t have the strength to tease her.

Jamie and Seth nod at me as Gardezi says, “Congratulations on surviving. When Monte came back, he said the plane took off too fast and you had the phone with you. Still got it?”

That’s right, Monte left the phone with us. If he wanted to get to the cavern, he should have grabbed it. Did he somehow figure out where it is?

Jules removes his glasses. Sneering at us from the corner of his eyes.

Rubbing my head, I answer, “We have it. But Professor Gardezi, could you get us ice packs from that back storage room? It’s been a long day.”

He stands up reluctantly, but forces a smile on his face. “Sure.”

When he makes it inside, Jamie dashes behind him and bolts the door shut. Gardezi bangs against it. The heavy breathing behind him finally catches his attention. He hesitantly turns around to see a creature nearly five times his size. The legs dangling from the monster’s shoulder lead up to reveal a grinning Gonzales.

Jules stands to his feet, but Richard grabs his collar and yanks him back down. “What’s going on?”

Angie hands him the phone as I say, “From the beginning? Well, I was wondering about what made me pass out once you stopped the fight. Carmen showed me a sedative she removed from my skin after finals. It seems that someone hit me with a very small tranquilizer that doubled as a device to draw the creatures’ attention to me. It was one of yours.”

We all cover our faces to avoid the spit flying out of his mouth. I finally made Jules flip his lid. “You worthless runt! Are you accusing me of sabotaging your match?”

I continue as though he said nothing at all, “See, I recently discovered that
Gardezi
is the innovator of invisible sniper suit technology. That’s why I didn’t notice him shoot me, or why you didn’t see him sneaking behind your back to work with Vincent and Monte to manipulate your research.”

“That’s a lie.”

“No it’s not. They needed you to find the Cavern of Youth, but you were clueless. I couldn’t understand why at first, but I did a lot of thinking during my coma. You know all about the dungeons at Colt. That’s why you have so many weapons.”

Jules wipes the sweat from his forehead and tensely utters, “Well...”

“Last year, you sent Angie, Monte, and the brilliant and powerful Kode on missions to steal information. But you didn’t find anything because you were deleting the stolen documents. If people discovered where it was, they’d go to war with the academy. That’s why you gave me a flash drive with a virus. But when we got to the lake, a guy told us the study was already closed. You were fighting for nothing. Well, not really. Gardezi was feeding you bad information about what people wanted to do with our caves. Sadly, he needed to discover what you knew about them and how he could get there.”

Gardezi releases a loud scream as Gonzales’ monster rips his arm off and chews it slowly.

Jules witters, “I don’t understand. How do you know all of this?”

“Simple. I listen. Gardezi was nowhere to be found during finals, and he’s the official that stops fights that have gone to far. I heard the sniper gun fire before I was hit with the tranq, but never saw him. Not to mention, Carmen and I were attacked by an invisible man. I cut his arm, though he tried pretending the wound was given to him by Gonzales.”

Jules flinches when Gardezi screams. The large and powerful man raises his hand and desperately pleads for his life before Gonzales. He’s also missing a leg now.

“Did you really fall from the plane? Does Monte have anything to do with this?”

“I don’t know. He’s attempted to kill three of us so far.” Carmen whips her head to look at me. Even though she’s hacked into my data too much, I did my best to block certain things from her. “I’m not sure if he’s following orders or on his own. I can’t even prove that Vincent has any part in this.” Angie shifts in my arms and continues looking out of the window. “He doesn’t discuss many things openly. He’s really the paranoid type.”

“Vincent?”

“He’s the only person with the motive to have Carmen assassinated—he wanted out of the marriage too. If these three are connected, there’s no way to prove it.” I lower my head and ask, “Vincent only cares about having a boy to continue his legacy, and you refused, didn’t you Carmen?”

She covers her face with both of her hands and sobs into them. Angie instantly sits up. She reaches over and holds Carmen in her arms.

Carmen cries, “I wouldn’t let him touch me. I didn’t want him near me. He threatened me, but I wouldn’t do it.”

Leaning my head against the window, I mumble under my breath, “But trying to kill you...”

Jules clears his throat, “...Is still something you can’t prove. You may be smart, Kay, but don’t make too many assumptions.”

“Yeah.” I lean my head against the window and doze off.

Thirty One

I still hold watch in the dungeon, though I can’t really fight anymore. Angie and I decided that it would be best if I didn’t quit. I’d rather have someone as weak as Stephen kill me before giving up. Plus, I love the fog.

Some of the Daughters of Danaus manage to sneak into the mist occasionally and flirt with me. I haven’t visited them since they last made me big, but I told those in the fog to send my thanks to the others. They giggled for a minute straight. Eventually, their voices faded away, one by one.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve had more unwanted trespassers than ever. I actually created a pretty spectacular shooting range for myself. There are craters with footrests in the shadows overhead and around the room. I travel through the darkness and take targets out that way. I always make sure to find out if the visitors are from Florida before killing them. Fortunately for the scientists, they haven’t had to return.

My Thursday shift is almost over. I’ll probably hang out here for an extra hour to avoid Angie. After Stephanie and Trinity put the date idea in her head, she’s been extremely aggressive.

The gears in the cave’s door tick and clank. Hanging my head, I assume that Angie’s found her way to me. The cave’s classroom door opens and two bodies fall in. Surprisingly, the fog cushions their crash.

Angie and Carmen are unconscious at my feet.

Angie has a black ring around her neck as though she were strangled. She’s not breathing. Carmen’s heartbeat is faint and her armor is torn to shreds. There are several dents and it’s been cracked under some very heavy pressure.

Smoke dances around in their lungs. They were drugged and ambushed. Carmen likely tried healing herself and put up a fight. Angie probably staggered around until she was choked.

Monte falls next. His arm is nearly torn off at his elbow and he’s breathing wildly.

When he notices me, he looks bewildered. He screams and tries to shoot me with a spruce. Jumping into the shadows, I dodge it.

Monte cries and runs away from the girls’ bodies.

“What’s going on?” The sound in my voice stops him in his tracks.

“It’s none of your business.”

“They’re hurt. It’s my business.”

“You think I don’t know you killed my brother? You’re working with the Colt,” he screams while holding his torn arm. “I’m not telling you anything.”

“Stop the games and get to the point. Why are they hurt?”

“Angie and I got into a fight over you; she’s unconscious because of me. She’s not that bad. But Vincent heard the commotion and came in to attack all of us. He gave it to Carmen. I barely managed to get away.”

“What’s your plan?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know.”

With my eyes still focused on him, I bend down to the fog and plead, “Ladies, can I bring them? I really care for these two and need you to heal them.”

I only hear one voice reply,
I don’t know Okodemah. Hades may be upset.

“He says I have rights to access you. Please.”

Umm, okay, I’ll go tell the others, but this may be the first thing we’ve disagreed on for some time. If anything goes wrong, they may turn on you.

Then, I whisper something for only her to hear, “Tell them I already know it will.”

“Who are you talking to?” Monte asks.

Without answering, I supply energy to my closed eyes to see the frequencies in everyone’s bodies. Then, I trap the ladies and Monte in my shadow and take them to the infinite room. I surprise myself. My focus allowed me to cross the golden bridge without stopping.

Grabbing both girls by the arm, I drag them through the room with Monte trailing me. I stop right before reaching the shore and the room changes completely. Monte smiles once he notices that he’s standing on water.

Lying on my stomach, I kiss the hard surface and it turns into water. Monte falls in and his arm heals instantly. As the girls shift around, I drink while apologizing to the daughters.

Monte’s laugh seems to carry on forever. He walks onto the shore screaming, “I knew it. I knew it.”

The girls stand up and rush towards me, crying, “Kode.”

“I already know. Get out of the water so the daughters can cover themselves.”

The girls and I join Monte on the shore. Carmen holds my arm tightly and Angie stares down my brother.

Still smiling, he observes the scenery. “Thank you man. You saved our lives.” He removes his spruce and I disappear in the shadows with the others. I reappear over one hundred yards away. I can see Monte and Angie. She’s still there? Why?

Leaving Carmen, I return to the princess. I reach for her, but fall to my knees. Angie stands in front of my body as Monte aims the spruce at me. He shoots her in the throat and throws her back into the water. The second she lands on the hard surface, she pries the spruce from her neck. Cutting her hand on the wire, she pulls the line with enough force to tear the weapon from Monte’s hands. The spruce slides across the crystal surface and Angie holds her wound.

Standing on the water, she watches the both of us. She tries summoning Sekhmet, but can’t draw enough power.

Monte watches me as I roll on the ground and hold my stomach. “And what’s wrong with you?”

Laughing, I respond, “Drunk the water like Hades told me not to.”

“Hades is here too? I’ll see him after. But you,” Monte squats down and says, “you caused me a lot of trouble. I would’ve found this place if you hadn’t messed up the mission.”

Coughing, I reply, “I would have let you if you didn’t threaten the professors. Jules I’m okay with, but I love me some Gonzales—my favorite teacher yet.”

“It’s funny that you thought you could outsmart me.”

“Who says I haven’t?”

Angie takes a seat on the water and watches her reflection as she bleeds out.

Monte giggles and breaks into more laughter. “Damn, you really are good. How long were you aware that I knew?”

“Since the very moment you caught me. You hardly looked at my face. My eyes were closed and that was a dead giveaway for you. You thought your brother would be blind without Tartarus, so you analyzed the bandages. If that wasn’t enough, hearing the stories from Angie about my blood helped.”

“Wow! You still worked with me, even though you knew I was trying to get Angie to kill you?”

Angie never loses the will to fight. She’s focused on me, and isn’t showing any signs of suffering. Her small pool of blood on the water’s crystallized surface is expanding. The amount of blood she’s losing reminds me of when I found her near Helios.

“I was trying to get her to kill me too.”

Monte grabs my head and throws me next to her. The poison from the daughters is still seeping into my veins, but I fight it off the same way I did with Eve’s toxin, by force.

“I figured you’d want to be with each other in death. You both can share this moment. I’ll go kill Carmen for now. Guess it won’t be easy anymore. You trained her well.”

“There’s one thing I don’t know.”

He smirks and folds his arms. “Really? But you’re such a good detective.”

“I killed two guys not too long ago, Geb and Mel. Did you have anything to do with that?”

“I reported a few things that I heard about gladiators and the cave. It’s something that has to do with Dennis.”

“The arm for mom.” As though he regrets his own decision, Monte grits his teeth and tries walking away. “You’re such a bitch.”

“What?!”

“You ran to her! She destroys everything she touches, and you know that better than me. But you ran to her and now she’s using you to find this place.”

“I had to.”

“Coward.”

“I had to!”

“Where is she?” Monte doesn’t respond, but his eyes turn cold. For the first time in my life, he looks at me with an intense hatred. “Tell me where she is so I can kill her.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Or maybe I do. You can’t do anything without her. It’s always been that way. She locked me up for a year because of that fight
we
had as kids. She let dad give me food that she laced with a poison. Not even my body could fight it off. And all that time, you knew.”