Dentelle (37 page)

“I’ve taken the liberty of buying you the
perfect dress, which you
will
wear.
Maya will be picking it up later today, along with some other accessories. You
will follow through with your promise to link with me willingly, and you will
look beautiful when you do.”

Fuming, I stared him down. “I don’t think that
is necessary.”

“Yes. It is. And you will do it,” he said
angrily, slamming his fist against the table.

“Of course, I’ll do it,” I seethed. “But I don’t
have to be happy about it.”

“You will improve your attitude before tonight.”

“What about Ava Rose?” I asked. “Will you let
her go home after we are linked?”

His eyebrows came together in the center of his
forehead. “If you cooperate and all goes as planned, and that’s what you really
want, then yes. I said I would.”

I studied his face, but his expression was
unreadable, and his voice was carefully controlled. I couldn’t tell if he was
lying. I had to plan that he was, though. When did he ever do what he said he
was going to? “How can I believe you? Especially when she knows who you are and
that you and I are together in Oklahoma City,” I said, wondering why I hadn’t
given this more thought before.

He laughed. “That is not a problem. One of my
people is experienced with mind control. Ava Rose can be sent home without any
recollections of where she’s been or who she’s seen over the last week.” He
frowned. “Don’t doubt me, Lexi. I have connections, and I can make anything
happen if I want to.”

That’s what scared me most – his connections. My
thoughts wandered back to Ava Rose. If I somehow managed to get her to safety,
I would need Jason’s sister, Hannah, in a big way. She was also a Memory
Manipulator, and no matter how much I’d hate to see her do it, she’d have to
alter Ava’s memories of the last week. There was no way I could send Ava home
like this; I’d probably be the one brought up on kidnapping charges.

I had an obligation to get her home safe, sound,
and oblivious to the fact that Kieran was a horrible monster. If that meant
erasing all her fond memories of Oklahoma City, then so be it. She’d have the
rest of her life to create new and wonderful memories. Hopefully, I’d get her
out of here so she could do that. Me too, because I’d like to be around for the
rest of her life and make some memories with her.

I was relieved when Ava awoke and joined us for
breakfast. Afterwards, Kieran kept a tight leash on us, and the morning passed
quickly. It was like he didn’t want to let us out of his sight. He insisted we
hang out in the game room, so we played ping pong and pool. Ava, of course,
enjoyed every minute of it. I was trying to figure out how we were going to
escape this mess. I thought maybe if I could cozy up with Maya in the kitchen,
I might be able to snoop around for her cell phone and get a call out to Jason
or something. Time was running out. And I was getting nervous. I felt confident
I could take out Kieran during the linking ceremony and Ash could surprise a
couple Ray-pacs and eliminate them, but the odds of us walking away alive were
slim to none.

Then something changed. Kieran put his cue stick
down and walked over to the window. He was nodding his head ever so slightly
and tapping his fingers against the window sill. I decided he must be
communicating with Aria. All at once, he clapped his hands together and said,
“Excellent!” A minute later, he turned around. But it was weird. His expression
was neutral, and he seemed unbelievably composed. Overly so. And that set my
nerves on edge. Even though he was trying really hard to contain his emotions,
I could tell by the way his amber eyes glowed brighter than usual, he was super
stoked about something. I could also tell he was chomping at the bit to make
his exit because he called for James and Vincent and began pacing the room.
Whatever all these restrained emotions were about, I knew it wasn’t a good
thing. Worried, I checked in with Ash, but nothing had changed at his end, and
he hadn’t seen any action outside his small window.

When James and Vincent arrived in the game room,
Kieran told Ava how happy it would make him if she helped Maya make some lunch plans.
I could tell she was disappointed our fun was over, but he sweet-talked her
pretty good, and soon she was eager to be on her way. After she left, Kieran
spoke privately with James before dishing out a set of orders for me. He had
business to attend to, and because I hadn’t earned his trust as of late, I was
to be confined to my room until he returned. To make matters worse, I was
placed on a “no contact order” with Ava Rose while he was gone. That really
upset me, and I let him know it with a few choice words, but he did not waver
in his directives.

I realized right then and there just how
paranoid he was. Now that we were approaching the final hours before our
linking, he was taking every necessary precaution to keep me confined. By
keeping me and Ava Rose separated, he took away that one in a million chance we
might be able to escape. That he knew me so well, only ignited my temper
further. With an abrupt good-bye, he left, and I found myself once again locked
in my bedroom. Only this time James was guarding the outside. Furious, I
launched into full-blown outburst. I even threw a lamp across the room and
enjoyed listening to it shatter against the wall. I tore apart my bed and
tossed the blankets all around. I opened the sliding door to my balcony, but
the iron security gate directly on the other side was locked into place, and I
couldn’t even step outside. I kicked at it and pulled at it, but it was
heavy-duty Guardian-proof, and there was no way I was bringing it down.
Eventually, I closed the slider as the outside heat was unbearable. Resigned, I
sat down on the floor and let Ash know what was going on; it felt good to have
someone to talk to for a change. I apologized for dragging him into this mess.
He assured me I wasn’t to blame – that it was all on Kieran. We talked strategy
for a bit and then sounded off, promising to touch base again in another half
hour.

I was in the bathroom, washing my hands when I
felt the snapshots coming on. Bracing myself against the countertop, I closed
my eyes as the swirling of colors appeared and formed into images:

The parking garage below the condo building

A lifeless body being thrown into the trunk of a black BMW

Izzy’s face on the body in the trunk

The trunk door slamming shut

Ava Rose waving to me from the back of an SUV

That was it. Short, sweet, and completely
baffling. Was Izzy dead? Or still alive? And how was I supposed to get to the
parking garage? And why in the world was Ava waving from a vehicle? The images
dissipated, and my eyes shot open. For the first time ever, I saw myself as I
looked right after a premonition. Glazed over, my big brown eyes were wide and
my pupils were dilated something crazy. Despite having a darker than normal
tan, my skin seemed pasty, and my cheeks flushed cherry red. My blonde hair was
full of body, almost like it had just come down from and electric charge.
Visibly vibrating with fear, I turned away from my reflection, let go of the
counter, and flew out of the room.

How was I going to get to Izzy? I pounded on my
door and called out to James, demanding to see Ava. I only did this to see if
he was still there. Unfortunately, he was. Rudely, he informed me Ava was
swimming and I wasn’t allowed to join her. Then he told me to stop banging on
the door or he’d report me to Kieran. I ran around the room in a frenzy, trying
to figure a way out. That’s when I spotted the big white grill in the ceiling
that covered the air vent. Without another thought, I grabbed the chair I’d
thrown into the corner of the room, slid it over, and placed it under the
grill. I wasn’t quite tall enough, so I grabbed some pillows and stacked them
on the chair. Luckily for me, the grating snapped off easily, but a blast of
cool air almost swept me off my feet. A little air conditioning was a good
thing, but this felt like an arctic breeze. I could see that, although the
space was small, I shouldn’t have any problem wriggling through on my stomach.

Trying to stay on top of things, and figuring
every second was precious, I pulled the chair back to the corner, shoved some
pillows onto the bed, and gathered the strewn blankets from around the room so
I could tuck them around the pillows. I hoped that if James peeked inside, he’d
think I was napping. Now that the vent was open, I had no problem jumping up
that high and latching onto the edge. The tricky part was doing it one-handed,
because I had to replace the grate once I was in the air duct. After doing so,
I intentionally slid due west down the duct because I knew the living room and
kitchen were the other way. While sliding along the tight-closed space, I
contacted Ash and let him know what I was doing. He wasn’t happy about it, but
I told him I had to do it. In order to stay focused on the task at hand, I told
him I couldn’t talk but would keep him updated along the way. After a long
straightaway and a couple twists and turns, I came upon another grate. I had no
idea where I was, but instinct told me to go there.

I dropped from the duct and landed on a velvet
red comforter, atop a massive, unmade California king bed. I shivered. This was
Kieran’s bedroom. Totally grossed out, I scrambled off the bed and was about to
run for the door, when something caught my eye. Gasping, I covered my mouth and
started for the far wall. It was plastered with pictures. Most of the pictures
were of me. There were pictures of me alone, and there were pictures of me with
Ash, Ava, Jessica, Ally, Jason, and others as well. Further down on the wall,
was a smaller section of pictures. I cried out when I spotted my parents and my
brothers. But when my eyes landed on a picture of Ellen Zimmerman, I did a
double-take.

Anger welled inside me, and I felt like
destroying something, but I curled my toes and refrained. I remembered the
nurses being so surprised Ellen had died in her sleep. They’d said she’d been
so spunky and active the week before her death. Everyone had been surprised at
her passing. My heart constricted. Was it possible? I didn’t even want to think
it, but my gut told me it was more than possible Kieran had played a part in Ellen’s
death. The need for revenge festered inside me. But I also knew the best
revenge was saving Izzy and Ava, and I was wasting precious time.

I closed my eyes and thought about my next step.
That’s when I remembered Ava telling me a story about laundry chutes. She’d had
quite a discussion with Maya about it one day, and apparently, Kieran had one
in his room. Of course! Without another moment’s hesitation, I ran into what I
thought was his bathroom. Instead, I found myself in his security room. There were
TV screens showing surveillance detail of the outside balconies as well as
different areas around the grounds. One screen showed the elevator, and I
wondered if it was recording. Assuming I was going to need to take the elevator
to the parking garage, I couldn’t leave evidence I’d been there. Deciding it
would be safer to have a glitch in the video system rather than having it
record me, I shut that one down with plans to turn it back on later.

From there, I proceeded through his closet,
which had a dissociative identity disorder of its own. One side was lined with
black clothes and leather items, and the other side was filled with the casual
khaki and light-colored clothes Kieran had been wearing all week. There were
tons of drawers that I would have opened and snooped through if I’d had time. I
couldn’t get that comment out of my mind about some journals he’d stolen from a
Guardian stronghold – journals that had information on Dentelles. Shoving that
thought aside for the time-being, I hurried into the bathroom and started
opening cupboard doors. To the right of the sink I found it, and to my
surprise, the laundry chute was twice the size of the air ducts. Taking a deep
breath, I plunged inside – feet first, allowing gravity to take me for a ride.
I just hoped there was a basket with a lot of dirty clothes at the bottom to
soften my landing. There was, but I hit with such force, the laundry basket,
which was on wheels, went sliding across the room and banged into the wall.

Jumping out of the basket, I shoved it back into
place and peeked out the door. That’s when I realized my good fortune. I’d come
out right next to the indoor swimming pool. Carefully, I snuck out of the
laundry room, gently closing the door behind me. I dashed over to the pool door
and looked through the window. Ava Rose was splashing around in the water all
by herself, and Vincent, being the total loser that he was, was conked out in a
lawn chair. I grinned, hardly able to contain my excitement. My emotions only
sky-rocketed from there when I spotted his keycard on the table next to him.
What an imbecile! Opportunity was staring me straight in the face, and I had to
take it. While I worried I might not make it to Izzy in time, I had Ava in my
sights and figured I was here for a reason. Premonitions worked in mysterious
ways, and I planned on taking full advantage of my good fortune. Or maybe I was
exactly where my premonitions had directed me to be.

I waved my arms, praying Ava would look my way.
My key card had been confiscated, otherwise I would have been able to access
the pool room. In answer to my prayers, Ava spotted me and started waving
frantically, motioning for me to come inside. Holding one finger to my lips, I
motioned with my other hand for her to come to the door. She giggled and
pointed at Vincent. I smiled, nodded, and kept my finger pressed to my lips. Oh
yeah, we wanted him to sleep all right. Sleep all day.

When she finally opened the door, I said
quietly, “Shh! Wait here while I grab your towel; we’re going to let Vincent sleep.”

She scrunched up her face in delight and nodded.
“Okay, Lexi. I’ll be real quiet. But what are we doing?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute,” I whispered back.

Moving quickly and quietly, I grabbed her towel
and Vincent’s key card before hurrying back to her. We closed the door, and I
bit my lip nervously as it clicked. Looking through the glass, I kept my eyes
glued to Vincent, but he didn’t stir in the slightest. In fact, I think he
started snoring a little louder.

Grabbing Ava’s hand, I rushed us over to the
elevator and inserted his card. “Ava, we’re going on an adventure, and I’m
going to need you to listen to me very carefully and trust me. Can you do
that?” The elevator opened, and I pulled her inside. After I inserted the key
card, I pushed the button for the parking garage, and the light turned green.
I’d been trying to figure out what the snapshots from my premonition were all
about because rarely did they focus on more than one person. And this time Izzy
and Ava had both been depicted. I’d decided maybe my premonitions were pointing
me in a direction that would allow me to save them both. I was still working on
the “how” part but figured the parking garage had something to do with it.
That’s when it hit me, and the perfect plan began taking shape in my mind.

“Okay,” she said tentatively. “Is this a fun
adventure or a scary one?”

“A little bit dangerous. It’s kind of like a
secret mission,” I said, trying not to sound frantic, but my heart was pounding
a hole in my chest. I knew I was playing with fate right now. But damn, it was
my turn to win one. And for some reason, with my premonition and my instincts
working together, I felt like this was the time. The one time I could save Ava
and maybe do it without getting caught. As the elevator rocked a little bit and
we descended, I dried her off with her towel.

Once we reached the ground floor, there was a
loud “ding-ding,” and a man’s pre-recorded elevator voice said, “Parking
Garage.”

Sticking my head out, I looked both ways, and
then pulled Ava out of the elevator. “Okay, sweetie. I need to investigate
something. Can you stand right here by the elevator and wait for me? I might be
gone for a couple minutes, but then I’ll be right back. Do you think you can do
that?”

She shivered in her towel. “It’s kind of cold
down here. But I think I can do it. Are we solving a mystery or something?”