Collide (Entangled Teen) (The Taking Book 3) (15 page)

He charges again, and I block hit after hit after hit, on the defensive, unable to regain control. He’s been trained well. Too well. And I wonder how long he’s been in with Zeus. Maybe since the beginning. But he underestimates me. I flip forward, connecting with his stomach, throwing him across from me.

“Ari!” Jackson calls again, but I’m too out of breath to respond. He’s close. He could help.

Kelvin is back in motion quickly, pinning me to the wall. I kick against him, fumbling for the knife strapped against my right leg. If I can just reach it. Stars pierce my vision and my head becomes light. I draw all the strength I have, readying myself that this might be it, when I hear a shot and see Kelvin’s eyes round out, and then he’s slumping to the floor. I draw a quick breath, then another, my hands on my knees as I take in Jackson, my heart swelling. He races for me and pulls me against him. “What were you thinking, facing him alone?”

“I had it,” I say with a smile.

He presses his lips to my temple, then my lips. “Never do that again. Understand?”

I nod. “Promise.” Then I glance down at Kelvin’s dead body, and a new horror hits in my mind. “He was our only way to Zeus.”

Jackson curses. “Well, I guess now would be a bad time to tell you that the war is about to begin.”

I glance down at my watch just as the second hand reaches the twelve. “Not about. It just began.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

I take a step forward, and suddenly everything goes fuzzy. My hearing becomes muffled, my vision blurs. I try to move again, but my legs are heavy, the effort great. My eyes blink, and then I’m no longer in the base, but back in the blueroom on Loge, waiting for Lydian to torture me. But this time, it isn’t Lydian behind the glass—it’s Zeus. He points to the right, and I peer over to see roots sprouting up from the tiled floor, crawling toward me like fingers. There’s a flash, and then the right-hand wall is gone, replaced by a forest and in its center, the Unity tree.

I feel a jerk in my stomach, something pulling me to the tree, but then I hear my name floating in from far away. I’m torn between the call of the Unity tree, what it has to show me, and the voice calling my name.

“Ari, talk to me. Ari!”

Jackson.

I blink, and I’m on the ground outside the base, Jackson and the others all around me, the sky above so dark it looks as though it’s been painted black.

“Ari?” Jackson leans over me. “Are you hurt? Did something happen with Kelvin? We couldn’t find a wound. You passed out.”

I swallow and peer around, trying to bring myself back to center. To reality.

“What happened?” Dad asks, and I can hear the fear in his voice. He can’t handle losing me. I hear it in his tone, feel it in the thoughts he refuses to say.

I draw a shaky breath. “I think you’re right. I think Zeus is toying with my mind. He just…I don’t know. I was walking, and then suddenly I was back on Loge, staring at him, and then it was like he wanted to tell me how to find him. Like he wants us to find him.”

“What did he say?” Jackson asks.

My gaze falls on his. “He didn’t say anything. He showed me. He wants me to enter the Unity tree.”

Everyone starts talking at once—some asking about the tree, others trying to form a plan, but it’s Jackson who finally cuts through the chaos.

“You’re going to do it, aren’t you?”

I focus on his face, on his strong jaw, his full lips, before returning to the eyes that seem to penetrate my soul. “I have to. This will never end until he’s gone. You know that.”

His lips crush mine, everything around us disappearing for a moment as we breathe in each other, overwhelmed by the last free moment we have.

“Then I’m going with you.”

…

I wait until the light-headedness subsides to stand, though I know my nerves won’t settle until I see Zeus’s body on the ground. The realization that the others were right, that Zeus is sending me messages in my mind, is enough to make me wish I could get to him right now and end this thing. I don’t want him in my head another second.

I glance around, seeing we’ve obtained three new members—whether by force or not, I’m not sure.

“Who are they?”

“Recruits,” Myers says, nodding toward the Ops.

“And what about the other Ops inside?”

“Dead,” he replies.

My gaze cuts to Dad, worried the word will hurt after losing Mom, but he only focuses on the ground, refusing to meet my gaze. My heart aches for him, for myself, and I have to swallow hard to keep the sorrow from rising up and taking me under.

“All right then. Virginia?” Myers asks.

“No, we have to go to the Unity tree,” I say, peering through the forest, wondering how far it is from here.

“Ari.” I turn to see Jackson staring at me, his expression thoughtful. “I don’t think the tree is going to be there. I think Zeus will show us how to find it from Virginia. He wants us to go there.”

“How do you know?”

Jackson straightens, a new determination in his face. “Because he trained me, and despite my efforts to not be a Castello, I am one. I know him. He wants us to go there. That’s where we’ll find him.”

Dad looks at me. “We’ll take a hovercraft.” He pauses, then turns to the group, the commander before us. “Be brave. Be strong. And remember, you’re fighting for our survival.”

Silence falls over the group as we settle into the hovercraft, and for the first time, I allow what we’re about to face to wash over me. The craft starts up and we fasten in, everyone tense, and then we’re in the air, en route to Virginia.

En route to the war.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The first thing I notice as we land is the sound. The quiet in the trees, the stillness of the air. Everything is far too quiet. I think for a moment that maybe the fighting has already ended. Maybe they’ve already won. Or maybe by some intergalactic miracle, we won.

Dad lands us in an open area hidden by the forest just outside what would have been Virginia’s state line, but even from here, we should have heard gunfire as soon as we landed. We should have heard fighting. But there’s nothing.

I eye Jackson as we step out onto the damp grass and leaves. When did it rain? And then I glance down to see that it isn’t water that’s dampened the forest bed.

It’s blood.

My insides recoil at the thought of what must have happened to spill this much blood. Jackson reaches out to stop me from continuing. “It’s a trail,” he says, pointing to the red stream through the forest. “The blood. It’s a trail.”

Sure enough, the blood leads from where we stand into the forest, then forks off to the left. Someone placed it here, like he knew exactly what we would do and when we would arrive. I know that this isn’t the work of just any someone.

“Zeus.”

Cybil and the others step around the blood. “But why use blood? And why lead us anywhere at all? Why not keep us in the dark?”

I study the bloody path. “Because it isn’t a win to Zeus if he simply kills us. He enjoys entertainment too much to just allow us to die. He wants to watch us walk the path he’s created, which means he’s somewhere close.”

Jackson scans the open area and then out into the woods. “Where is everyone, though? Our people? The other Ops? Surely, they knew to come here.”

“Kelvin could have redirected them,” Dad says, “which would mean—”

“It’s only us.” And then I notice movement in the trees, and I know that we’ve been baited. Kelvin at Zeus’s hand. All I can hope is that someone will answer our distress call. That maybe they’re late—instead of dead.

Law steps up beside me. “The forest is filled with Ancients, isn’t it?”

I swallow and stare forward, watching as they detach from the trees, too many to count. Too many to fight.

“Dad, does the hovercraft have missile capability?”

“Yes, but—”

I turned to look at him. “Do you know how to operate it?”

“Yes, but I’m not—”

“Dad, please.”

His mouth sets into a thin line, and I know he’s struggling with what he wants to do versus what he needs to do. He doesn’t want to leave me out here without him.

“We can hold them off, then at your mark, back away, and you can fire. That’s the only way we’ll beat them.”

“They’ll just send more,” Jackson says. “Their numbers are too great. We have to—”

“No.” I pull him toward me, forcing him to look at me and nothing else. “We won’t give up. Not now. Not ever. We won’t run.”

Jackson takes a step toward me, his eyes never leaving mine, and then, ignoring everything around us, he presses his lips to mine, the kiss urgent, saying everything we don’t have the time to say. Saying what we don’t have the nerve to breathe aloud.

“I love you,” he whispers.

“I love you.”

Dad pulls me into a hug after I separate from Jackson and brushes my hair from my face. “Promise me you’ll be smart. If it gets too intense, run away. Hide. There’s no honor in dying here today.”

“Don’t worry, Dad. I had a good teacher.”

His eyes fill with tears, and he blinks them away. “Okay. Ten minutes, then. At the two, you back away. Understand?”

I program my watch and nod. “At the two.”

Dad leaves, and instantly, I feel colder, as though I’m losing Mom all over again. I want to yell for him to come back, for us to stay together, but I can’t. This was never about survival for the people I love. It’s about survival of the masses, and that can’t happen if we run.

A part of me wants to surrender to my fear, to the shiver trying to crawl up my back, but if I give in to it, even for a second, how will I ever get through this day? How will I continue to fight?

I won’t.

I focus on the forest, on the Ancients that have yet to breach the clearing. They’re waiting for us to make the first move.
Fine. Have it your way.
Before anyone can stop me, I pull the new weapon we stole from the Ancients at the airport and start forward, firing before logic can give me pause.

“Ari!” I hear calls from behind me, but I’m no longer listening.

The first blast hits the Ancient directly in front of me, and he disappears into ash, cremated on the spot. A smile stretches across my face as his ashes fly away in the wind. Yes! And then I’m hitting another and another, before they grow smart to my tactic and disappear back into the trees, then emerge again in another spot, a sort of hide-and-seek.

Finally the weapon dies out, its power source used up, and I toss it to the ground. I pull another weapon from my boot, not realizing how close I’ve gotten to the forest edge, when one leaps out from an oak closest to me, grabbing me before I can respond, his thick hands encircling my neck, preventing me from breathing. I fight against him, just as he freezes, and I stumble back, gasping for breath. My gaze darts around to see Emmy to our right, her eyes trained on my attacker. And then the hands he used to choke me are around his own neck, his eyes wide, and then his body falls to the ground. Dead by his own hand, thanks to Emmy’s control.

I nod a thank-you to her, and then Jackson is beside me, securing me to him. “Don’t you dare do that again. We go together. You can’t sacrifice yourself, understand? I need you too much.” His voice is thick with emotion, and I start to apologize when the Ancients reemerge from the trees, a thick blanket of trained killers in front of us. I suck in a breath. There are ten of them to our one. My phone buzzes, alerting me that it’s been ten minutes, but the hovercraft is nowhere in sight. Worry courses through me. We were so stupid to send Dad alone, and now he’s…I can’t even think it.

The same call we heard before screams out into the night air, and I ready myself for what’s about to happen. I notice others stepping out into the clearing from behind us. My breath hitches as I take them in. More Ancients, but they aren’t dressed in all black like the Ancients in front of us. Myers smiles wide at the sight of them and calls over to me, “Our backup.”

I smile at the numbers, nowhere near that of the Ancients, but better than the eight of us alone. They start in, weapons already drawn, and I focus on the group in front of us, sure there are others right behind them. But that’s okay. We’ll take them one group at a time if we have to. I say a silent prayer that Dad’s still out there, just delayed, and then the Ancients are leaping from the trees, one after the other, and a switch flips inside of me and I’m no longer Ari Alexander, daughter, friend, lover. I’m Ari, the fighter, and I’m ready to kill.

“Stand together,” I call, and then all thought is replaced by the sound of gunfire.

I start forward, shooting at one Ancient then the next, firing again and again until my weapon is empty, then I pull back to reload just as an Ancient hits me from behind. I fall forward, flipping over and kicking even before I’ve figured out who hit me. I sense the body, the person’s mind—there’s something familiar about the Ancient. This is someone I know. I focus my eyes and gasp to see Kenzie in front of me, her expression lethal.

“I’ve been waiting a long time to do this.” And then she punches me in the face, the shock of seeing her throwing me off my game.

I flip backward, once then twice, needing distance, but she’s following me like a predator to prey. I can’t be on the defensive; I have to stay ahead of her. I try to freeze her moves with my mind, but she doesn’t waver.

“Oh, now, half-breed, that trick won’t work on me. Or any other Op that’s been taught against it. You’re not the only one with healers as allies.” I try to process this new piece of information, and then she says, “Zeus will never let you live. And he’ll never let Jackson go. He’s one of us. He will never be one of you.”

I grit my teeth and ready my body, focusing my energy on my wounds, helping xylem to heal me faster. “Well, you’ll never know, will you?”

She cocks her head in question. “And why is that?”

“Because I’m going to kill you.” And then I sprint forward, diving into her so fast all she can do is fall. I throw punch after punch, but Kenzie’s well trained, and she pushes back, elbowing me in the face. We scramble up at the same time, guns drawn, squaring off. She fires, but she’s too quick to the draw, forgetting that while I can’t freeze her, I can freeze that bullet. I focus on the flying bullet, slowing it down, but it isn’t enough. I have only enough time to fire before I have to duck to keep the bullet from hitting me square in the chest.

With a quick roll, I pop up, spinning around, and then my chest lifts as I see her body on the ground. I start for her, prepared to shoot again to be sure that she’s dead, when I reach her, and suddenly her face looks so young, her body so small. Kenzie, like me, is only eighteen. How have we been thrown into this war so young? How have we been taught to hate for so long?

Blood and xylem bubble out through her mouth. I pull out my gun to fire again when her eyes meet mine, slow tears leaking out from the corners. “I’ve always loved him, you know? I only ever wanted him to love me back. Tell him that, okay? Tell him that I love him.” And then her eyes turn glassy and her head droops, and I know that she’s gone.

I wish I could take a moment to think about what just happened, what I just did, the life I took, but another Ancient is on me too quickly and I turn, raising my gun, leaving Kenzie dead after only eighteen short years. I wonder if my body will be lying somewhere soon, when I hear the sound of the hovercraft above us.

“No!” I shout, knowing Dad can’t hear. We’re all mixed into the forest, the fighting everywhere. If he shoots now, he’ll destroy them and us. I rush out to the clearing and wave my arms frantically, when I notice the craft pulling in closer, and then it fires—
bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
—a series of shots into the clearing. Another round goes off, and I wave again for Dad to stop, but then the hovercraft zeroes in on me and my eyes widen as I realize Dad isn’t the pilot. Where he is? Fear jolts through me, and then I’m darting for the forest edge as the hovercraft fires again, shooting randomly.

I spot Myers several yards away and rush for him. “Myers! Do you have the Ancients’ weapon?”

He shoots two Ancients rushing him and then starts for me. “Yeah, why?”

“Give it to me.”

He passes it over, and I dart back into the clearing. I take a shot at the craft but miss. Come on! Shooting again and again, I fire until the weapon is dead, then finally the craft bursts into flames. I fall to the ground, exhaustion taking over, and then I realize, too late, that the hovercraft has to crash somewhere.

“Run!” I shout, waving my hands frantically. “Run!”

The craft soars toward the clearing. Fire from its gas sends a blaze rippling through the crowd, and I watch in horror as Ancients and half-breeds alike erupt into flames so quickly their skin melts off even before they’ve had a chance to scream.

I start for the flames when someone pulls me back. “Ari, stop!” Law calls over my ear. And then my gaze lands on the figure just inside the flames, on her full profile. On her hands, reaching out, even as the fire chars away her life. I see her skin melt away, leaving only skeletal remains standing there surrounded by flames and then dropping away to the ground. And then all I can hear is the wind around us, the movement of the leaves, the feel of her gone, her spirit now released, and I can’t take it. Everything becomes distant, the memories pushed to the surface. Her hand in mine. Her smile. Her pushing her ability into me, giving me a piece of herself, a trust so intense I didn’t recognize it until that moment.
No, please no…

“Emmy!” I break free from Law, pushing him roughly back, but then Jackson is in front of me, shaking his head.

“We can’t save her now,” he says, and I can hear the pain in his voice.

“But…she’s…we…” A sob erupts from my lips, and he lifts me up and walks us back into the forest’s edge, giving us a moment of safety. A moment to mourn her. He cradles my face. “Ari, I need you to put it away. Forget what you saw and put it away. We don’t have time to break down right now. Zeus is still out there, and I think he put that path in place for us. Me and you.”

“She can’t be gone. It’s too soon after Mom and Gretchen. I…can’t…do this anymore,” I say, tears rushing down my face.

He forces me to look at him, and I see tears in his eyes. First Mami, now Emmy. His entire family is gone. Only Vill remains, and who knows if he’s okay. Jackson blinks hard. “If I can, you can. You’re stronger than this, and she would want you to push on.”

I suck in a shallow breath, trying to calm my heart and mind. “Emmy…” She was like a grandmother to me and now she’s gone.

“I know. But we have to go.” Jackson releases my face. “It’s time, Ari. We have to go. We have to get to Zeus.”

I draw a breath, my mind racing. Where is Dad? Where is Vill? Does he know yet that Emmy’s gone? But then I see the fighting in front of me, and I know there isn’t time to find them. We have to get to Zeus. My only hope is that once Zeus is gone, the Ancients will listen to Jackson, their rightful leader, and the war will be over.