Courage (Mark of Nexus) (29 page)

My heels clacked noisily against the tile as I moved down the hall, fisting a screwdriver in one hand and clutching the vial that hung around my neck with the other. Trash bin finds. A tool and some powder.
So much for stealth…

It was pretty dark, but I could make out the shape of a ladder near the exit sign—just as Maverick had predicted. Speaking of which, I couldn't help but wonder where he'd holed up during this mission. As the only human in ERA's inner circle, he had to take more precautions than the rest of us.

Assuming, of course, he wasn't lying about the supernatural immunity. That would be a nice way to tidy things up. Have me execute my task, and then let me die in the ventilation shaft.
Uh, no thanks.

I fished around inside my bra and pulled out the facemask I'd stashed earlier. If nothing else, I'd have one barrier of protection against ERA's voodoo powder. The straps fit tight over my ears, and I took my time pinching everything in to place before I set up the ladder.

Sure, my life was probably forfeit, and I was just prolonging the inevitable, but it made me feel better. So, who cared? So, who cared? I kicked my heels off and forced my mind to focus on thoughts of home.
Teddy, my parents…

I hurried up the ladder with the screwdriver. The vent itself was no sweat. I made quick work of the screws, stored them alongside the tool in my cleavage, and set the grate aside in the shaft. Now for the fun part.

Footsteps sounded at the far end of the hall, and I felt my eyes double in size.
Shit.
There was no way to stash the ladder in time. I had to get up there and be on my merry way. I mean, yes, I'd been praying all night for someone to stop me, but it had to be
after
I fulfilled my end of the bargain. Once I ensured Teddy's safety, I didn't care what happened to ERA's virus.

I wasn't stupid. My task was a test of loyalty. If they'd wanted things to go off without a hitch, they would've planted the damn thing instead of leaving it in a garbage bin.

“Almost ready?” a familiar voice called.

Faye.
My heart slammed against my ribs, and I reached up to find a good grip.
Just go.
With all of the upper body strength I could muster, I heaved myself up into the shaft. At least there, she wouldn't be able to deliver any more creepy speeches. “Yeah.”

“Exquisite.” Her voice sounded muffled beneath me. “The others are already in place. Maverick has suspended the security cameras and central air, so don't worry about that. Just complete your task and report back to me at the rendezvous point.”

I shook my head. The shaft was dark and downright claustrophobic. Thank God I'd memorized the dips and turns on the map. “Okay.”

Here we go.
I crept forward, trying to keep my weight evenly distributed so the panels wouldn’t break beneath me. It smelled tinny up here, and the sheet metal felt cool to the touch. Not the most pleasant work conditions.

After a minute or so, I came upon another grate—not that it helped orient me. Another dark end of the hall, a faint red light in the distance.
Okay, I should be coming up on a drop soon
. I felt ahead of myself, crawling until the floor fell away from my grasp.
Here.

I’d read up on this. The key to getting down was to anchor myself against the walls, and then climb down with even pressure. I crammed my back against one side and pushed my feet against the other, thankful I hadn’t attempted this in shoes.

My dress bunched around my panties, a flipped corner scraping my thigh, but I didn’t care. Gone were any thoughts of acting like a lady. I had to concentrate on living through this experience.

Inch by inch, I descended. One heel slid down, and then my back; my other heel, and then my back again. My stomach soured at the void beneath me, but I couldn’t stop. There was nowhere to go but down.

All I could hear was the scratch of my sequins against the metal and faint music in the distance.
Wait.
Was that scampering down there? Were there rats in the bottom of the shaf—

My palm slid down the metal, slick with sweat, and I let out a shriek that echoed up the shaft. “Shit!”

Panic tightened my chest and shrank the passageway. Just a few more feet, probably. I could make it that far. I’d release the virus, find another grate, and jump down. I didn’t care how far the fall was. I had to get out of this darkness.

There are no rats, there are no rats, there are no rats…

When my heel nudged a piece of sheet metal below, I crumpled to my knees.
The basement.
I crawled right with renewed vigor, not caring when my palms scraped the rough places.
Virus, grate, and out. I can do this.

Afterward, I’d make the rendezvous with Faye, earn my dismissal, and tear through the building until I found Wallace or Cole. Even Rena. They’d know how to stop this mess. I just prayed they’d forgive me.

“Hold it,” I yelled, banging the roof door open. The wind barreled across the Student Union and absorbed the sound, but I knew from the woman’s flinch that she’d heard me.

She peered over her shoulder, her corkscrew hair flying every which way. “Yes?”

“What're you doing?” Gritty shards of hail crunched beneath my boots as I stomped toward her. “And save me the story. I know you're working with Faye.”

Her eyes widened. “Don’t tell me you’re Wallace. The strong one?”

“You know me?”

“I know
of
you,” she shouted, and her clothes rustled around her. “Now that Faye's introduced us to your branch of the bloodline, at least. I'm Jackie. Conrad's daughter.”

The one from the roster. What did Cole say her ability was?

“So, you're here to do what, exactly?” She moved toward the ledge. “I mean, I'd love to stand around and chat, but I've got work to do.”

“What kind of work?”

“Kid, you're witnessing it.” She lifted her arms and the wind surged around her, twirling her a few inches above the concrete. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

The storm?
My teeth ground against each other. “You’re manipulating the weather.”

“Oh, you catch on fast.” She winked. “Hunker down over there, will ya? You’re about to get a firsthand demonstration.”

“Why would you…?” I raced through every scenario I could imagine, trying to discern her reasoning. What could be gained from a storm of this magnitude? Drawing this much attention wasn’t Faye’s style, unless she planned on using it as a distraction.

A distraction from what, though?
If Corynn had gotten roped into ERA’s plans again, it had to be the virus. That was the only project significant enough to warrant something like this. But why release it here on campus?
Everyone will be headed home in a week or so, anyway…

…where the infection will spread. Shit.

I charged forward before I could fully process the notion. “Hey, wait!”

“Tut, tut, tut…” Jackie shook a finger in my direction, and the wind blasted me off my feet. “Don’t distract me, or I won’t be able to control him.”

“Him?” I asked, shaking the ice shards from my palms.

“The tornado.”

As if on cue, sirens wailed from the hill behind the radio station, and blood boiled in my veins. Rena had gone into a panic, no doubt at the apocalyptic sky out here, but I couldn’t get back to her. Not until I took care of this.

“Jackie,” I tried in a soothing voice. “Think about this. Think about the people who’ll get hurt…”

Her lips did a weird little twitching thing, half caught between a snarl and a smile. “This is
for
the people—the humans we’re giving a clean slate.”

“You don’t actually believe that, do you? If that thing touches down, there are going to be casualties.”

A falter. Guilt outlining determination. “They’ve had warning.”

“
Enough
warning?” I asked, shielding my eyes as I stood to edge forward. “I don’t think so.”

A sudden gust jerked my shirttails from my pants, and they rustled behind me. Her eyes flashed. “J-Just stay back!”

“Or what?” Cole’s voice demanded from the doorway. “You gonna go X-Men on us?”

I spun to find my brother glaring daggers at our newly discovered cousin, his arms crossed over his chest. “When did you get he—”

“No time.” He didn’t take his eyes off her, his open jacket flapping like a flag caught in the wind. “Corynn already released the virus into the vents. If the power holds and the air kicks on, it’ll go straight into the basement where everyone’s taking shelter.”

“But Rena…” I started past him, but he blurred into my path.

“…isn’t human,” he finished. “It won’t affect her.”

“How do you know?”

“What the hell do you think I did with all of that information I found?”

I held the back of my skull, struggling to think in the midst of chaos. “Okay, but Gabby, Aiden, Rachel…”

“Rachel’s at home. I just checked. I can round the other two up, but we gotta stop this storm first. Otherwise, there will be nowhere safe to leave them.”

“Isn’t the virus more of a priority?”

“Not when they have two release points.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

I opened my mouth to suggest a diversionary tactic when a scream echoed in the alley below—a heart piercing tone I’d know anywhere. A pulse ripped through my neck and exploded in my ears, pounding out a warning. My legs jerked toward the ledge on impulse before I caught myself, inches from a lethal fall. “Rena!”

Cole grabbed the back of my shirt and shoved me toward the door. “Just go. I got this.”

Flickering lights assaulted my vision as I ran headlong down the staircase, my breath abrading my lungs like sandpaper. Something was wrong—beyond the storm and the virus, something had terrified Rena to the core, and I wasn’t there to protect her. She needed me. Now. More than she ever had.

And I can’t get down these damn stairs fast enough!
I gritted my teeth, ripped the railing off, and threw it at the opposing wall. What the hell was going on out there? Her emotions were all over the place.
Disgust, vulnerability, horror, guilt…

“Screw it.” I grasped the ledge with slick hands and threw myself over the side, landing with a
thud
two floors below. My ankle caved, and I grasped at the wall for support.
Shit!
Had Faye found her? Were they trying to take Rena in the midst of this chaos? The second I found my footing, I tore down the deserted hall.
Please be safe, please be safe…

I knocked the exit door back and stumbled into the night. Another gust of hail lashed at my face and weighted my already soaked clothes, but I barely felt it. “Rena?”

The scenery morphed in the darkness, fragments spiraling in every direction. Not even the sirens could bleed through the sickening roar of wind, and it disoriented me. I ran for the corner.

And that’s when it struck me—the pull between us.

Aiden might have gone to ERA willingly, but they’d stolen something from him. From
us
. I didn't care what anyone said. He wasn't the same guy anymore. The way he touched me, the way he spoke to me—he was a shadow of himself.

He jerked me toward the double doors by the wrist, his fingers tightening around the bones Wallace had broken months before. Somehow, in the haze of my memory, that incident seemed less painful than this. Less…intentional.

“Come on.”

Thunder boomed overhead, muffled by the massive structure. Mulch lay strewn across the sidewalk, and I could make out the bent silhouettes of trees. “Shouldn't we stay inside? It's storming.”

“You think I'm afraid of everything, don't you?” He shoved the push bar, and we charged out into the night. “Poor little Aiden. Can't handle a storm.”

“That's not what I said,” I spat, finally wrenching my arm back. The wind howled and rushed under my skirt, lifting the layers. I grabbed the material in a vain attempt at modesty, but it wasn't much use. “Come on. Let's just go back.”

“No, you wanted air.” He gestured around, to the plants lining the small gap between buildings. “Here's your precious air.”

The gusts added a bitter chill I hadn't noticed while Wallace was proposing.
Proposing…his watch!
I twisted the band around and tried to play off the gesture by rubbing my arms.

“You look hot tonight,” Aiden blurted out, staring at me with unnerving intensity. His gaze felt like hands on my body, and I wanted to throw up.

“Thanks.”

“Did you wear that for me?” He took a step closer. “Or him?”

I pursed my lips and looked away. “Let's not go there.”

“Go there?” He laughed, and it echoed between the brick walls. Mad, disbelieving. “Ree, we
live
there. You're always going to be caught between us, especially now that things are even. The sooner you get that, the better.”

Shit's sake. He was making this 'act normal' thing hard. Another few minutes, and I'd probably deck him—Aiden, the former sweetest guy in the world.
I hate this.

He smirked. “What? You don't believe me?”

“I don't even know what you're talking about. Can we go back yet?”

The alley had turned into a wind tunnel, ripping curls from the pins Gabby had oh-so-carefully placed. This storm was going to be a bad one. I looked up just in time to see a bright, bluish-green flash near the hill by The Rec and winced.
Really bad…

“I'm just as strong as him, you know,” Aiden snapped, tears shining under the streetlights. “I am. Watch.”

Before I could move, he grabbed me by the shoulders and slammed my back against the bricks. Three feet. We’d traveled three feet off the sidewalk, through the flowerbed, in the blink of an eye. Breath wheezed from my lungs seconds before the pain registered.

A growl sounded from the south end of campus, and it built in intensity, turning into a dull roar. “Aiden…”

“See? I'm just as good as Wallace. I may not be able to do that empathy shit, but I'm strong and fast. I can see in the dark and hear things a hundred feet away. And this is just the beginning! We're only starting to learn which techniques wor—”

I slapped him.

He was losing it, just like Cole had warned us. This wasn't the same guy I’d stood up for in Freshman English, or even the same guy who curled up in my bed to watch movies. Aiden was a sick parody of himself, and he was getting worse by the minute. “Just stop. Let's go back to the dance.”

His features twisted from shock to anger, and he slammed me into the bricks again. “Not everything revolves around what
you
want, Rena.”

“I didn't say it did,” I ground out, pushing against his chest to no avail. The guy was freakin' solid. Panic crept in as the wind grew so loud, I could barely hear his words.

“—and I'm
someone
now.” He gritted his teeth and looked me over. Desperate, searching. “Someone who can stand by your side, someone who can protect you. There's nothing keeping us from being together. I-I…”

“Please, just stop.” I closed my eyes and prayed the whole thing would morph into a nightmare. Any minute, I'd wake up to Wallace banging at my door.

Aiden's fingers trembled, digging deeper and deeper into my flesh. “No, I won't stop. Ever. I-I love you.”

“You…can’t love me.”

He didn't say anything.

Lightning flashed so close it seared my lids, and my eyes jerked open. “Look, I'm sorry, Aiden. Honestly, I am. But can we talk about this inside?”

Hail bounced in every direction, caught up in the gusts. “No, we cannot talk about this inside. You'll blow me off again. You're trying to get rid of me.”

“I'm scared,” I edged out, hoping my admission would reach him—the old him—enough to give in. “It's getting bad out here.”
In more ways than one.

His hands moved from my shoulders to my neck in jerky grasps, and his lips pulled back in a pained smile. “I-I did this for you, you know…”

“I know you did, and I'm grateful you cared enough about me to be so brave, but you can't expect me to be happy about it. I never wanted you to—”

“I don't think you get it,” he repeated, raising his voice as the wind rustled his dress shirt. “I did this for you. For us.”

“I get it.” I gripped one of his wrists and pulled back my hand, ready to strike. “But it's too late to undo this. We've got to figure something out. Wallace and I will take you back to—”

“Wallace.” The name dripped from his lips like poison, and I saw the change in his eyes. “Why the hell would Wallace be involved?”

Tornado sirens groaned from the hill near the radio station and rent the air with warning.

“Oh, God. Aiden, we have to get inside.”

“No.” His grip tightened around my neck. “Not until you tell me the truth. Why would Wallace be involved? Why would he go with you?”

I coughed. “Let me go.”

“No!”

Screw it.
I held his wrist with one hand, and palm-heeled the back of his elbow with the other. Bones cracked, and his whole arm shifted at an unnatural angle. Broken.

Bile rose up in my throat at the thought of hurting him, but I’d had to. Mother Nature wasn't going to wait until we sorted this out. She was here, in Wilcox, and she was pissed as hell.

Aiden barely flinched.

…And it's likely to block his pain receptors, so he’ll just keep going and going until he's finished the task at hand.
Cole’s words sifted through my mind, unwelcomed, as Aiden's thumbs brushed over my pulse points.

“You hurt me,” he said, in slow declaration. “You seriously tried to hurt me.”

My voice trembled. “I told you to let me go.”

A window broke somewhere down the alley, and I flinched, bringing an elbow up to cover my face.

“That watch…”

Shit.
“I can explain.”

“It
is
him.” He laughed again, but this time, tears spilled down his face. “Isn't it? You're going back to him. You still love him.”

“Aiden…”

“I didn't”—he kept one hand at my throat, pinning me against the wall, and trailed the other down the front of my dress—”really have a chance, did I?”

I shivered and tried to swat his hands away, but he was lost in his own world. We were both going to die. In a tornado. A freakin' tornado, of all things. Damn it. “Wallace!”

Aiden's eyes snapped to sudden focus as if I'd struck him. “What are you doing?”

“Wallace!” I ignored his question and continued to yell, praying someone would hear me over the wind. Everyone was probably in the basement by now, but Wallace wouldn't leave me behind. He'd find me. Sense my panic. My distress. My—

Aiden's hand plunged up my skirt, his skin like ice against mine, and he tore at my panties.

“What the hell are you doing?” I tried to buck him, to kick, to pull away, but he was too strong. So, I lost it.

I punched him in the throat, clawed at his eyes, did everything in my power to get away. Whatever barrier I'd put between my friend and the threat he posed shattered. He was too far gone now. There was no reasoning with him.

My life had become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'd spent years paranoid because of what had happened to my cousin Ari—years guarding myself, convincing myself I was next—and now it was all coming to fruition. Do or die. “Stop!”

“You know I can't let him have you,” he grunted against my attacks, jerking the rolled lace down my thighs. “I can't let him hurt you again.”

“Aiden,
you
are hurting me. Let go now.”

He ripped his hand back to work at his belt. The buckle fell open, and he struggled with the button and zipper. In a rush. He wasn't even listening anymore. “You'll see. I'm not a…a pussy!”

“No!” I yelled.

The wind's roar rose to deafening levels—a freight train, like everyone always said. Tears burned streaks down my face, and I froze. This was it. How it was all going to end. One way or another, I was done. I couldn't take on both forces.

Aiden got his dick out of his pants and hiked my skirt up, while I watched with sickening detachment. I was pulling away, out of my body…

Shrubs uprooted, signs flew past, and windows burst in every direction. The streetlight swayed back and forth, and heavy, metallic groans sounded overhead. I couldn't keep my breath in my body anymore. I was hyperventilating

Help me!

I barely registered what happened after that. A familiar tingle. Blue coursing up my arms. Pushing against Aiden's chest. Him flying across the alley.

The wind.

Aiden crashed against the other building. His head bounced. Power lines whipped, and a transformer blew. Sparks. Light. Fire.

Wallace.

Wait…

He tore around the building with staggering strides and panicked eyes. His shirttails flew around him as he ran toward me, mouthing words I couldn't hear.

I saw the form of something spinning toward me, but I couldn't move. Metal slashed a heated line across my forehead. Blood. All over my eye. I reached up with shaking hands and felt its sticky warmth trail past my fingers.

“—et out of here.” Wallace stood before me now, bigger than I remembered, blocking out the storm. “Rena!”

I couldn't answer. Everything seemed so slow around us. Debris spiraled out of the murky depths of the night. His lips moved, and his eyes pleaded with me…

The next thing I knew, I was over his shoulder. My skirt blew back, over my head, and I struggled to pull my panties up. “Wait!”

He stopped, dodging a piece of the roof that'd flown off, and struggled to find his footing in the hail. “What?”

“A-Aiden. Get Aiden!"

Wallace's torso twisted back and forth until he locked on target, never saying a word. A second later, Aiden fell limp over his other shoulder. Passed out.

We took off, but didn't return to the Union.
Aren’t you supposed to get inside during tornados? Take shelter in a basement, away from windows, and—

“It's that woman,” Wallace yelled over the wind. “She's controlling the storm. I couldn't get near her.”

“A Dynari?”

“Yeah,” he shouted, turning the corner. “Cole’s taking care of it. I gotta find somewhere safe for you guys and go back for Gabby and Corynn.”

“Corynn?” I rasped over his back, watching the fire grow smaller and smaller as we ran away from it.

“She released the virus. Through the vents to…to…” He slowed to a stop as the wind died down, almost all at once, dropping bricks from the sky. “…the basement.”

I twisted around, trying to see past his hip. “What are you…?”

My words fell flat. The Rec—along with everything else on the northwestern end of campus—was gone.