Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) (79 page)

“NAW!” Rus
sell shouts in anger
, while his wings spread out
behind him and his hands ball
into fists. “You’
re
not breakin’ us up!”

“You’
ll see her
again when this mission is complete
, but for now, you’
ll
leave here for your own protection. Brennus has shown that he can control you at will. That makes you a dangero
us liability, Russell,” Tau says
in a reasonable tone.

“I’m no
t leavin’ her,” Russell retorts
, pointing at me.

“You have the potential to hurt her, Russell. You demonstrated that this evening, therefore, you’ll leave here within the hour with Zephy
r and the Reapers,” he responds
with his mask of calm firmly back in place.

“You’
re
m
akin’ a mistake!” Russell argues as he prowls
back and forth. “Y’all need me to stop him a
nd get Reed back. I can cure Reed
, too.”

“My decision is made. We will contact you when the Gancanagh ha
ve been eliminated,” Tau replies emotionlessly.

With
all
the confusion and rage of a wild tiger being caged for the first time, Russell probably would’ve lunged at Tau, but Zephyr read
s
his body language and stops
him by putting his hands on Russell’s chest.

“Russell,” Zephyr says
, looking in his eyes. “We must go.”

Russell, with hi
s face reddening in anger, tries
to
shrug Zephyr off him. Zephyr grips him tighter
, making Russell
look at him. “Listen to me,” Zee
says
adamantly, “we have our orders. There is nothing we can do now.”

Russell must see
something in Z
ephyr’s eyes, because he stops struggling and stares
at him.

“This is
wrong
, Zee,
and you
know it!” Russell argues
, while looking around at the Powe
rs closing in on him. He growls
at them, making them hesitate.

“It is
less than ideal,” Zephyr agrees in a grim tone, adding, “b
ut I can think of several ways we can occupy our time waiting to see Evie again.”

“Zee! You can’t g
o!” I plead
with
renewed panic. I need his help
. He’s
like a big brother to me.

“You will see
me again, Evie,” Zephyr promises
,
letting go of Russell as I break
into sobs.

“I need you. Reed need
s you!
” I cry
, clinging to Zephyr
while he hugs
me. “You can’t just walk away from us.”

He squeezes
me hard, “Hide the cracks i
n your armor, Evie,” Zephyr says
softly in my ear. “Show them no emotion and look for us w
here you found Buns.” He presses
something cold into my han
d, which I immediately conceal
in my sleeve.

In the
next moment, I’
m
snatched out of Zephyr’s arms
and engulfed in Russell’s. I cli
ng to him in quiet desperation, trying hard to stop crying.

“I’m n
ot goin’ far,” Russell whispers
in
my ear and my throat constricts to the point that I can
barely speak.

My breath hitches again as I squeeze
him tighter. “I
know,” I reply
.

When Russell let
s me go, he points
at the Seraphim in the room saying, “Anythin’ happens to her, and I’m comin’ for all y’all.”

Xavier’s wings seem
to grow even bigger than before. “Say goodbye,” Xavier gro
wls
at Russell.

Russell’s eyes narrow as he says
, “I’ll see you
soon, Red.”

I just nod
to him, unable to speak. Finding it hard to breath
e
as Russell and Zephyr leave
th
e room, I look
around
wildly for a means of escape.

“Phaedrus?” Tau speaks
in a louder tone
with his eyes on me.

Phaedrus enters
the office from the sitt
ing room. His black eyes focus
on me
while a grim expression twists
his lips as he read
s my thoughts. I resist
the urge to run to him and press my wet cheek against his downy, caramel-colored wings.

“I need to know
what Evie is planning,” Tau says
with his eyes never leaving mine.

I stiffen
, and my eyes remain
lock
ed with Phaedrus’ while I wait to see what he’ll
do.

Phaedrus ta
k
es a deep breath before he replies
, “She was trying to devise a means of escape and locate Reed as I entered. Then…she saw me and had
the urge to hug me for comfort—
s
he likes my wings,” he explains
quickly.

“How would she
attempt to escape?” Tau presses
him with a frown.

“She contemplated shape
shifting into butterflies…” he trails off as I h
url insults at him in my mind, “rat”
being foremost among them.

Phaedrus’ frown deepens as he responds
to my mental tira
de. “I’m not a rat!” he insists
with a blush creepin
g to his cheeks. “I have a duty—
”

Tau interrupts
him, saying in a stern tone, “
Evie, should you consider shape
shifting, please know that I have but to capture one of your butterflies and contain it. You would then be unable to shift back until I released it, making you my prisoner.”

“I’m already that,” I ret
ort in fury while my hands ball
into fists.

“What
is she thinking now?” Tau asks
Phaedrus.

I try
t
o stop thinking, so that I can conceal all of my
thoughts, but
I’m so filled with raw emotions
that things keep swirling and tumbling around in my mind.

“She…” Phaedrus hesitates
.

“Yes,” Tau presses him
.

“It has nothing to d
o with escape,” Phaedrus replies
, trying to hedge.

“What is she thinking?” he asks
again sternly.

My eyes plead
with Phaedrus, whose
wings begin
t
o sag when his shoulders round forward. In a low tone, he say
s
, “She’s seeing her dreams…”

“Dreams?” Tau asks
him, confused.

“Pictures of you and her
that
she wanted
to
someday make real—
they were so
alive and vibrant, she wanted
someday
to
call you dad—
to find mercy in
your arms, but now…” he trails
off.

“Now?” Tau’
s tone is grim
.

“They’
re fading,
being replaced by scenarios that will exclude you from ever knowing
her
or her mind,” Phaedrus reluctantly admits.

“You will find m
ercy in my arms, Evie,” Tau says
to me in a gentle voice.

I sha
k
e
my head, feeling crushed by all that has happened. “If you wanted to know what I was thinking, you should’ve asked m
e. I could’ve shown you,” I say
hostilely.

Neari
ng me, his hand twitches
, like he
’
s resisting
the urge to touch me. “I’d like you to show me
what you’re thinking,” Tau says
while his eyes
stare
into mine.

With my eyes narrowing,
I gaze
dangerously at him, knowing that he doesn’t know what he’s asking
for, so I reply
,
“I’m
not
a mess for you to
clean up, Tau
.
”

His
eyes bore into mine. “Then,
make me understand you,” Tau orders
.

Sick with desperation, I say
between my teeth, “This isn’t about you and me. It’s about Reed.”

“I want us t
o see eye-to-eye,” Tau says
solemnly
. “I want you to see that I’m unwilling to risk your life for his.”

“He
is
my life!
” I respond
feverish
ly
, fighting
against
Tau’s
indifference.

Xavier interrupts
us
,
“
He is a malignant obsession
.
”

I feel
myself pale
.
“If you believe that, Xavier, then you’ll never know who I am,
” I reply
without an ounce of insincerity
. “You all have an opportunity to help me now, should you pass it up, there will not be another one.”

“We will save you from the consequences of your
actions, Genevieve,” Tau states
. “I
don’t relish the though
t of entering Sheol to search for
your languished soul! Forget
your daydreams of Hell because anything that you
can imagine will not measure up to
the horror of the reality.”

“
I can suffer for my own sins.
I never
asked you to save me,” I reply
,
unwavering.

“
You’
ll never have to—
y
ou’re my daughter,” he retorts
. “I
’
ll do what I can for Reed and you’ll stay out of it
,
if I have to gag and bind you myself.”

My fingers clench tighter
as the ache in my chest gro
w
s
to an almost unbearable level.
“Yeah, good luck with that,
” I say
with dark sarcasm
,
adopting a defensive posture
and backing away from him toward the balcony door.

Normally I’m in
command of the energy surrounding me,
but now
I have
to
st
r
ain
to collect it. My
chaotic
emotions
are hindering
me, refusing
to hold
onto it. As the energy leaks
haphazardly from me, t
he walls around us
free
ze
with
the crackling
-
creak
of an iceberg. S
parkling-cold
crystals of ice
prowl
up them.

“She will
use her magic to
immobilize
us,” Phaedrus ad
vises
Tau
with his coal-black eyes focusing
solely on me. “She plans to go to Brennus
alone
—
in the Knights Bar—
”

Swinging
an anguis
hed spell at him, Phaedrus leaps
out of its path with the agility of a bird. The chair behind
him shri
nk
s to dollhouse-
size when
the spell mak
e
s
contact with it.

Xavier materializes
in front of me, blowing into
the palm of his open
, gloved
hand. A pixilated
swirl of
dust
colors
the air around me like shiny, silver foil
as it engulfs
me in a super-fine
cloud. Black spots swarm
in my eyes as
my legs
weaken
and
buckle
beneath me.
Xavier
ca
tches
me
in his arms;
his mismatched eyes
swim above me while I try
to clutch
the soft fabric of his shirt.
In a
panic, several of my clones tear
from my skin
, glowing and rushing in
different
directions.