Muse (Descended From Myth) (12 page)

Daniel didn't even glance at his boss, instead he crossed the room and drew me into a warm hug, brushing a kiss over my cheek. “You okay?” he asked softly, stroking the
side of my face with one hand.

I nodded and leaned into his chest, trying to comfort him, too. “Gabriel's decided that I pa
ssed the test. You were right.”

“I wasn't worried about that. I was only worried about you,” he murmured absently, stroking my hair. Reassured, Daniel turne
d back to Gabriel and business.

The two of them started going over all the details of how many of their men had shown up, where they were, and what they should be doing. I zoned out, thinking about my interview with Gabriel instead. There was one thing he'd mentioned that I really wanted some more information about. I needed to ask Gabriel about it before something else distracted me. My biological parents had been the reason I'd taken a chance on Daniel, but I'd sort of lost focus since then. I still wanted to know as much about them as possible. Apparently, I was now sitting across from someone who'd actually known my mother. That was huge! I was closer than I'd ever been to them before. I waited for a pause in the guys' conversation, and as soon as they took a breath, I jumped in. “Gabriel, before you leave I need to ask you about som
ething else,” I said in a rush.

“Of course, Anna. What can I help you with?” Gabriel asked politely, ignoring the fact that I'd rudely butted in th
e middle of their conversation.

“You mentioned that you'd met my mother. I know so little about her. I was hoping maybe you could tell me some things. I didn't even know what she looked like until Daniel showed me a picture from your files. About the only thing I know about my parents is how they died. That just isn't enough for me anymore.”

“You remind me of her, actually,” Gabriel replied. “She had such a sharp sense of humor, but it was always kind. She really cared about people. She was volunteering in a homeless shelter in Chicago just before you were born. She had a real flair for inspiring people to improve their situation. I was good friends with her Watcher, Lucius, growing up and during our training. We socialized occasionally, so I got to know her through him. Elaine was his second Ward. He'd lost his first when she ascended about two years before Elaine came of age. They had a very paternal relationship. He was so excited when you were born, I remember. He felt like a grandfather. Elaine and Jonathan had become like his surrogate children. I met Jonathan, your father, a few times, but I didn't get to know him as well as your mother. He was more reserved, but I know Lucius thought highly of him. I remember him saying that there weren't many out there who could deserve his Elaine, but that Jonathan came as close as possible,” Gabriel said with a sad smile.

“I was the Grand Master back then, we all suffered when we heard about the accident. It was devastating losing both your parents and Lucius. At first we thought you had been lost too, but then I received a call from a nun who ran the homeless shelter where Elaine volunteered. She told me that she had the baby, you, and that Lucius had given her my number to call if there was a problem. She waited two days before she called, waiting for them to come back for you. Your mother had told her they had an important trip that they had to take, but she was afraid to bring you along. I don't know what they were doing. I sent a team to look into the accident, but they didn't find anything unusual. Your father's Watcher, Sebastian Finn, took it very hard. We offered him help, but he ended up retiring from the Guardians. He runs a private security firm now in Washington.”

“So I could contact him to find out more about my father?” I mused aloud.

“He might cooperate with you,” Gabriel said slowly, “or he might not want to be reminded. It's hard to guess.”

Gabriel shared a few more stories about my mother and about his friend Lucius. He promised to pull the files for my grandparents and the address for the house in Merrillville where my parents were living when I was born. Gabriel had been the one who arranged for me to be placed in the children's home. Apparently he'd felt that I would be safer and happier with a "normal" family than if I'd been placed with another family of Talents. I suppose there weren't many options available either, given what I knew about Talents. He'd researched which home would be the safest and had the highest placement rates before he and the nun had taken me there. Luckily he'd been right. I'd ended up with a fantastic family within days of arriving there. It was nice to know that I'd been loved, that I hadn't been abandoned or neglected in any way. I looked like my Mom, and I had her laugh but my Dad's green eyes. These were things I'd never known about myself, but I'd always missed.

I gave Gabriel a grateful hug, even though I could tell he felt a little awkward about it. Then I left to go work on some homework that I'd been neglecting during all the chaos. I was going back to class tomorrow and we'd see if there really was any danger lurking out there. I couldn't bring myself to worry about it too much, Daniel was doing enough of that for all of us. I just wanted to get back to “normal” life
. Whatever that was for me now.

I walked Anna to her next class, scanning the crowd of students milling all around us. The weather had turned cold and everyone was bundled up in coats and hats, making it harder to see and read their faces. It had been three days since I called in the Guardians to help with security, and I was beginning to question whether I'd over-reacted. I knew for certain that some of the others did. I'd heard about it at every team meeting. Gabriel would be returning to headquarters in a few days. He had other issues that needed his attention and w
e had other Talents to protect.

Yesterday another female student had been attacked in a parking garage by two guys in black. She'd gotten away and reported the incident from one of the panic phones. Campus police had issued an alert to the entire student body to use caution and report all suspicious activity. They were certain that it was linked with Anna's attack. I didn't think so, but it was just as hard t
o believe it was a coincidence.

Anna was trying to stick to her schedule as if nothing was different, but I could tell that the constant surveillance was wearing on her. She wanted to spend time with her friends, but didn't want to have to explain why there were six strangers following her everywhere. Most of them just assumed that she was too involved with her new boyfriend to make time for them. I was willing to take the blame, even though I did want them to like me. I just wished t
hat our lives were that simple.

Class times were the most stressful for me. It wasn't like I could just go into every class and stand guard like a secret service agent without a suit. People would talk. Anna was already well known on campus and rumors could make her more recognizable. So I walked her to class and then loitered nearby, watching the doors. Other Guardians watched the windows and other entrances, as well as the outside of the building. We watched and waited, but NOTHING happene
d. It was making my skin crawl.

After Anna finished her Abnormal Psychology class, she came into the hall carrying her purple backpack. “I have to meet with my Soc prof in his office in thirty minutes. I have some questions about our final project, so I need to get there for his open office hours,” she explaine
d, forcing a tired smile at me.

Maybe it was time to call this off, and go back to just being the two of us. I'd give it a few more days, then we'd see. I called Martin on his cell, since he was the one running point today, and let him know we were headed to North Quad. He'd clear the route and set up the rest of
the guys while I escorted Anna.

We crossed at the scramble light, headed north against the cold wind. Anna's pink, fluffy hat kept catching the gusts and blowing off. I'd catch it out of the air as it would pop off, then she'd cram in back onto her head. By the third time, Anna's hair was crackling with static and we were laughing like idiots. Still chuckling, I pulled up short when I spotted Mike Abernathy outside the North Quad building, loitering near a white campus van. He wasn't supposed to be there, he was supposed to be at the apartment complex. We weren't close enough for me to question him, so I pulled out m
y phone and called Martin back.

“Yeah, we had to swap him out with George 'cause George was having some kind of a
stomach issue,” Martin reassured me when I asked why the rat-face was here. I'd been trying to keep him away from Anna. I wouldn't put it past him to try telling her some pack of lies just to get at me.

Anna's professor's office was tucked into a dark corner of one of the campus's original buildings. It was technically on ground level, but you had to take two sets of stairs to reach it. The old building had been remodeled enough times that it kind of reminded me of a fun house with its oddly shaped rooms, dead-end hal
lways and misplaced staircases.

The professor's door was closed, but through the partially shaded window we could see him sitting at his desk, turned to face his computer. We were a few minutes early, but Anna was eager to get her questions answered so that she could work on the project during her break between classes. She knocked at the door, then stepped inside the small office. I knew that I should give her privacy and wait outside, but something didn't feel right, so after a moment's hesitation, I s
tepped in after her.

The door slammed shut behind me just as my foot cleared the threshold. Pain erupted from the side of my neck as a beefy hand clamped down on my shoulder, fingers tearing into my flesh. Instinctively, I dropped, swinging away and smashing my boot back into a kneecap. My attacker came crashing down, but not before he drilled his elbow into my kidney. I swallowed the hot wash of pain and used it to lash out, jacking him in the knee again on the way to the ground. He landed on top of me, clutching his shredded knee with one hand while he flailed at my back with the other. I lunged backwards, taking his bulk with me and slammed us both against the wall, raining pieces of plaster down around us. I was able to grasp the guy's head and slam it against the woodwork until he fi
nally released his hold on me.

The crack of shattering glass tore my attention to the opposite side of the room. The entire window frame shook and crumbled as it was ripped away from the exterior wall, leaving a jagged, gaping hole in the wall. A familiar face emerged in the dust cloud for just a mo
ment, a smug smirk on his face.

“You son of a bitch,” I screamed, dropping the guy behind me to charge toward the open wall.  A second guy held Anna thrown over his shoulder, where she dangled limply. I launched myself over the desk, pushing the unconscious professor out of my way. He flopped out of the desk chair and onto the floor in a heap. I reached the hole in the wall just as Anna was being handed out into the waiting arms of Mike Abernathy. I grabbed the guy blocking my path through the window with both hands, and slammed him out of my way. Mike tossed Anna into the back of the van, her head bouncing off the metal floor like a broken doll's. “I'm going to kill you,” I snarled, hurling myself through the window at him just as Mike brought up a silenced
handgun and pulled the trigger.

I came to in another unfamiliar room. My head was pounding, my mouth felt and tasted like a pair of gym socks had been stuffed in there. My body ached just as much as it had in the hospital, but something else felt very wrong. When I'd woken up in the hospital, the first thing I'd seen was Daniel's face. It hurt to turn my head, but I forced myself to look around the little room. I knew immediately that Daniel wasn't there. I would have felt his energy or seen the faint golden cords that connected us, but I had to look anyway. The simple motion of turning my head from side to side made me dizzy.

I remembered walking into Professor Niccoli's office and having something clamped over my face. Someone cut off my air, covering my mouth and nose with a rubbery pad that smelled funny. I'd kicked and thrashed and clawed at his gloved hands, but he never loosened his grip. I'd seen Daniel, fighting off another dark figure with a frenzy of jabs and kicks. He'd been winning. I remember thinking that if I could just hold on a little longer, Daniel would help me. I'd tried to summon up the image of my attacker letting me go, to Influence my way loose, but the idea came too late. My vision dimmed to a bla
ck tunnel and then nothingness.

Now I was laying on a tiny bed in an ugly little room with no idea how long I'd been here or even where
here
was. I'd read enough thrillers and spy novels to wonder if I'd been drugged, or if I'd just been suffocated to the point of blacking out. My life had certainly taken a turn for the dramatic in the last month. I was starting to wonder if I'd live to see age twenty. At least Daniel would be looking for me. I didn't even get to finish the thought before a sick feeling welled up in the pit of my stomach. There was a very distinct possibility that Daniel
wouldn't
be looking for me. The only way they could have been able to take me would have been to go through Daniel. He was either hurt or... My stomach twisted and heaved at the thought. I managed to roll my head off the side of the bed before I spewed my guts out.

If anyone was watching me, they didn't react when I lost my lunch all over their floor. Once the retching passed, I lay on the bed with my arm flung over my eyes, trying to ignore the smell. I didn't know how long I'd been in this room, but I assumed that it hadn't been too long. There were no windows, so I couldn't judge whether it was day or night. The only light in the room came from a dimmed wall sconce, the generic bowl kind you'd see in hotel hallways. I could call out, see if anyone answered. But, if there was someone waiting for me to wake up and then melt down, well then I didn't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing me like this. There was the possibility that I was at some Guardian safe house. I was pretty sure that if that was the case there would be someone sitting by my bedside, waiting for me to wake up, though. Plus there was a crusty patch of dried blood in my hair, and the Guardians would have me all cleaned up and bandaged I was sure. At least Gabriel and Daniel would. I tried to force myself not to think about Daniel any more, not to let my mind pursue the hundreds of nightmare “what if” scenarios that kept popping up. If I let myself start thinking too much, then I might
start screaming and never stop.

Instead I concentrated on breathing, keeping my mind blank, a
nd staring at the ceiling. The pounding in my head was getting a little better as long as I didn't move. Eventually I think I drifted off to sleep for a bit, because I startled awake when I thought I heard a voice. I froze, laying perfectly still, my ears straining to hear whatever it was that woke me up. At first, all I heard was the pounding of my own heart, but little noises from outside my room began to filter in. I sat up slowly, testing my head and balance. Whatever had been wrong with me earlier seemed to have worn off.

Slowly, I moved off the bed and inched across the room toward the door. It was a very short distance from the bed to the door, but my heart pounded in my chest as I reached it. Pressing my ear against the cool wooden surface, I listened closely. It sounded as if there were voices and music somewhere nearby, but they were muffled. Maybe a television? I touched the cold doorknob, knowing it had to be locked but needing to try anyway. To my complete amazement, the knob actually turned under my hand. I heard the latch click open, and froze…waiting. There weren't any shouts or pounding footsteps, so I pulled the door open a
crack and then a little wider.

The door opened into an empty hallway. I only heard the sounds of what I was now certain was a television. My room was at the end of the hall, so the only way I could turn was towards the sound. I stepped out slowly, trying not to make any noise. Two closed doors marked the small expanse. When I reached the first, I listened at the door, praying that I might hear some sign of Daniel inside. When I didn't hear anything, I tried the knob. I found another bedroom, much like mine only slightly bigger. But the bed in the corner and the single chair were both empty. I turned to walk back out, and just about wet my pants when there was someone s
tanding in the doorway.

“Hi, I'm Mina. I wondered when you'd wake up,” she said, her voice dry with boredom. “The bathroom's there,” she added, pointing at the door behind her.
“In case you want to freshen up.”

I'm sure I was staring at her like she had three heads, but what the heck was going on? Was this an abduction or a slumber party? “Where am I?” I demanded. “How do I get out of here?”

The girl threw back her head and laughed, like I'd just told the best joke, her long dark hair bouncing. “Oh, honey, if I knew that, I wouldn't be here!” she gasped. “Why don't you freshen up and then join me in the living room? It's just around the corner.” She continued to giggle darkly as she turned on one bare heel and sauntered away, her denim clad legs swaying. I watched her walk around the corner, wondering if she was a lunatic or what. How long had she been here?

I did take her suggestion and use the restroom. I took my time, washing the blood and grime off my face and hair with a washcloth. I couldn't tell how bad the gash on my head was, but it didn't seem to be bleeding anymore. It must not have been too bad. Once I'd washed away what I could,
I went to find the crazy girl.

I found her sprawled across a worn, brown club chair, her legs slung over one arm, as she painted her fingernails bright purple. The living room didn't have any windows either, but it led into a small kitchenette area and beyond that a door with only a metal plate instead of a doorknob. I decided to try that door next, after I found out what I could from the girl. “Mina, right?” I asked as I sat dow
n on the couch across from her.

She smiled and nodded, not looking away from her nails. “Give me just a second here. I don't want to mess these up,” she answered distractedly. There was something odd about her energy; it felt different to me than other people did. Plus, the gold cords that surrounded her were thicker, more opaque, almost like they'd been braided with shimmery silver cords of ener
gy. That had to mean something.

“Are you a Talent?” I asked, figuring either she'd know what I meant or she'd mistake my meaning all together. Either way, it wasn'
t like I was giving up secrets.

“Uh huh, sure am,” she responded, twisting the cap back on the bottle and blowing on her fingernails. “Your Watcher sell you out, too?”

My Watcher would die first, but I wasn't thinking about that. Lalalalala. Not thinking about that. “Is that why you're here?” I asked, trying to avoid the hysteria building inside my brain.

“Yeah, he drags me here whenever we get tight on cash. I have a bit of a gambling problem, and he has a bit of a drinking problem, so he drops me with the facilitators to make some cash and then heads out on a bender. I've been here for about two weeks this time, so Marcus must really be trashed. I've already done four jobs though, so I should have enough money to pay off the sharks. They pay well, shitty digs, though,” she said, waving around at the room.

“First time I've ever had a roommate. Pretty dramatic, the way they drug you in all blacked out. You going to go through withdrawals?” she asked calmly.

“I was attacked, not partying too hard,” I answered indignantly. “Do you even know what city we're in?”

“Seriously? Wow, you must have held out pretty hard. I've never heard of anybody actually getting roughed up, usually they just
imply
that could happen, or snatch up someone important to you.” Mina sounded impressed, which I found just as disturbing as the information she was sharing, even if she wasn't exactly answering my questions. I was beginning to suspect that she was under the influence of something, but who knew if it was willingly or not?

“Who are you talking about? Who doe
s that?” I said in frustration.

“The Facilitators. That's what Marcus calls them anyway, they pretty much deal with him. I just do what Marcus tells me to.” A door slammed som
ewhere beyond the kitchen door.

“How big is this place? Are there more rooms through there?”
I asked, pointing at the door.

Mina shook her head. “No, that's the front door. Well, the door out of this apartment anyway. There are lots of other apartments, too. Sorry,” she mumbled, stifling a yawn. “They gave me a shot just before you woke up and I'm getting pretty fuzzy.”

I
knew
she'd seemed out of it! What is this place? What jobs did they have Mina doing? I shot off the couch as I heard a key turning the lock on the front door.

“It's better if you just let them do it,” Mina slurred. “It doesn't hurt anyway, just keeps you from using your mojo until they want you to.”

Clearly I couldn't expect much help from Mina. I decided to try to use my Influence while I still could. I had no idea how to go about it or what would work. I wasn't even sure how many people would be coming through that door. I tried to imagine a clear, solid wall blocking the kitchen from the living area, when the people entering would run into it they would be unable to move through. I concentrated as hard as I could, forming the image of my own personal force field. As the door opened, I forced the image outward. Two men I'd never seen before strode into the kitchenette. At least they hadn't covered their faces this time so I'd be able to pick them out of a police line-up later. I added the details of their faces to my mental picture and forced it out,
hard
. They walked towards me with blank expressions, until they hit the line I'd drawn in the imaginary sand. Both men stopped short, staring at their feet like they just couldn't process what was happening. The stockier of the two took a step backwards and then tried again, like maybe if he got a running start he could convince his feet to cross that threshold. He couldn't. I admit, it felt darn good. I felt a little thrill of power run over me and started to wonder what else I could do to these guys. Could I make them let me go altogether? The third guy who stepped in the door killed my little celebration as surely as if he'd doused me with a bucket of ice water.

“Hey, you,” he yelled, pointing at me just in case there was any confusion. “Boss says either you come with us or your Watcher is going to be the one punished for it. He's not doing too good anyway. Now knock off whatever you're doing and get your
pretty little butt over here.”

Daniel. The image I'd been holding shattered, replaced with a jumble of horrible visions of Daniel bloodied, battered, broken. I had no proof that they actually had him, but I wasn't taking any chances. If they did, then I needed to find out where and then get us both out. At least I knew that I had a way to defend myself now. I meekly walked to the kitchen area, where Goon #1 roughly grabbed hold of my upper arm. “You better think twice about trying anything like that again,” he growled. “I don't appreciate having my brain messed around in. Makes me want to mess around in yours
.”

The third guy threw a bag over my head, which seemed a little cliché to me, but I guess it served its purpose. I wasn't able to learn a thing about the building I was in. Daniel could have been in the apartment next door and I never would have known. I tried to concentrate on the energy levels I felt coming off of anyone else nearby, but with the three thugs surrounding me, it was really hard to tell if there was anyone else nearby. We rode in an elevator and went up, but there were no tell-tale dings
to let me know how many floors.

“How do I know you have my Watcher?” I asked one of the thugs while they wer
e pushing me down another hall.

“Guess you're just going to have to take my word for it, princess,” he sneered. I could smell his foul breath through the bag over my head. Ugh. Another door opened and I was pulled through it and pushed down onto a soft couch. The bag was ripped off my head, revealing a beautiful sitting room decorated in beige and cream with elaborately carved dark wood furniture. It reminded me of something you'd see in a movie where the main characters wear cravats and petticoats and drink scads of tea. The man who entered from the opposite doorway wasn't dressed in knee breeches and a powdered wig, but in a pair of khaki dress slacks with a light blue sweater over an oxford shirt. He looked, well, he looked normal, respectable even. Fortunately, I have learned that loo
ks can be incredibly deceiving.

He strolled slowly across the room, looking me over intently. He was older, probably somewhere in his sixties but looked fit, like he did a lot of training to stay in shape. His eyes were cold and hard, even though he was smiling at me. “Little Anna Saint, look at you. You've grown up! You were a difficult girl to locate for a time. It's lucky that my former brethren are so predictable. I knew you'd come out in the open once your powers matured. All I had to do was watch and wait. Then, imagine my delight when I saw your pretty little face all over the national news when you took your little tumble. It's fortunate that your Watcher is so dedicated or all my plans would have been ruined. But then, Lyoncourts are always so
dependable
that way. Fortunately, it all worked out and now, here you are.”