Muse (Descended From Myth) (14 page)

They drug me out of the car and back upstairs without removing the scratchy bag, so I never got a chance to see the area we were being held. I was tossed back into the apartment and uncuffed. To my surprise, I was met at the door by a girl who barely resembled the one I'd met when I first woke up in this apartment. She'd washed her face and pulled her hair back into a simple ponytail. Her eyes were bright and clear and she was
actually
smiling. Not sarcastically or mockingly, but what looked like a genuine smile.

“What did you do?” she squealed excitedly. “I haven't felt this good since before my dad died. It's amazing! It's like I can actually breathe again, like I have my soul back.” She launched herself at me, pulling me into a bone-crushing hug. “You. Are. Amazing!”

I smiled and shrugged, embarrassed by her reaction. “I'm glad it helped.”

“So,” she said with mischievous laughter in her voice. “How are we getting out of here?”

The two of us went into the bathroom and turned on the shower and sink full blast. Mina was worried that the apartment might be rigged with microphones or recorders of some kind and we hoped that the water might block out our voices. “You might want to take a shower while we're in here, too,” she said delicately, wrinkling her nose. “You may be dressed up, but you still smell a bit like blood and vomit.”

So I showered and changed into some of Mina's spare clothes. I didn't want anything to do with the court clothes, so I left them laying in a heap on the bathroom floor. Mina seemed to be wearing the only conservative clothes she'd packed. Everything else was low cut, tight, sequined or a combination of all three. I ended up choosing a pair of black slacks that were practically leggings and a loose but low cut gray shirt. I kept on the medallion. I had no plans of ever taking it off again.

“The guards will be so preoccupied with your cleavage that we won't even have to con our way out of here,” Mina giggled.

“Then maybe you should change since yours is more impressive than mine,” I smirked.

Our plan was fairly simple, the next set of guards who walked through the door were going to get whammied by two Talents who knew
exactly
what they wanted. Mina felt fairly certain that the drugs were flushed out of her system enough to be able to use her strengths. Mina's Influence was mostly over inhibitions and impulse control, ironically enough. She was in high demand in Las Vegas for loosening up the inhibitions of the gamblers, and worked for the casinos, when she wasn't racking up gambling debts and bar tabs. She'd declared that she was done with that lifestyle, and would be finding a new way to put her Influence to use, as well as asking for a new Watcher, as soon as we were away from Finn and his goons.

Whether that would happen remained to be seen, but we had more pressing matters to worry about.  First, I wanted to know how many other people were being held here against their will. I needed to make sure that Daniel wasn't here. I was fairly certain he wasn't, but I wasn't leaving if there was even a slim chance. I also didn't want to leave any other Talents behind if they needed help. Plus, who knew what other nastiness Sebastian Finn was involved in and kept hidden away in this building. Well, I hoped that his henchman knew, because they were the ones we planned to pump for information. All we had to do was wait for one to stroll through that locked door. Unfortunately, they seemed to be taking their dear sweet time doing it. I tried to keep my mind off Daniel and his sister. I could only deal with one crisis at a time. If we could get away, then Mina could help me find out what had really happened t
o Daniel and where Kaitlyn was.

“Somebody should be bringing us food soon,” Mina reassured me as we sat drumming our fingers on the counter top. Eventually, Mina brought out a deck of cards and we played Blackjack to pass the time. “You should really come out to Vegas,” Mina whined after I hi
t 20 for a third time in a row.

I rolled my eyes, struggling not to remind her that she was supposed to be done with gambling. Instead, I scooped up the deck and reshuffled. “How about we swit
ch to Crazy 8s?”

“What, um, what did he make you do?” Mina asked nervously, “Was it really bad?”

“No. It would have been, but something happened. I'll have to do it tomorrow if we don't make it out of here.”

Mina shuffled the deck of cards again, thinking. “Well ,then. We're just going to have to make sure that we get
out of here tonight, won't we?”

Finally, we heard keys jingling outside and voices at the door. “Ready?” I whispered to Mina, who gave an enthusiastic thumbs up. The door opened and two new guards shuffled in carrying food trays. Mina hopped up, posing in front of the counter with her shoulders thrust back, lips pursed in a sexy pout. I smiled like I was posing for a school picture, showing too many teeth. Mina actually looked
less
suspicious than I did. The guys hesitantly stepped into the room, like they were waiting for us to try something. We waited until they'd set down the trays before proceeding to “whammy” them. Mina focused on the guy closest to her, lowering his inhibitions enough that he was getting kind of handsy. I'd focused on planting the idea that my guy could impress us and entice us by telling us inside information. I'd kind of worked on his “James Bond” fantasy. Both of the guys were spilling information faster than they could spell the word.
If
they could spell the word, that is. We learned that we were in a warehouse. The top two floors were turned into living space. There was only one other Talent here, in an apartment two doors down to the left. I also learned that Sebastian kept a stash of weapons and drugs in a storage room on the second level, near his office.

When I asked if there were any Guardians being held here, the Bond wannabe looked confused. “Only one that's been here lately is the one who came with her,” he said nodding towards Mina. “And it 'ain’t like he didn't want to be here.” Reluctantly, I asked if he knew what had happened to my Watcher when I was grabbed. “Don't know that for sure, but I suppose he coul
d have been the one they shot.”

Oh my God. Knife through my heart, twisting... I was losing focus and my guy started to come out from under my Influence. Sucking up my pain, I focused harder, pulling him back in. “The G
uardian they shot, is he here?”

Bond Boy stared at me blankly. “I just heard the whispers, 'ain't seen the guy! Figured he didn't make it.” I never should have asked. Not knowing was better than confirmation, even if this was only a vague confirmation. My knees wanted to crumple under me, I wanted to drop to the ground and just give up. I wanted to, but I wouldn't. I needed
to fight my way out for Daniel.

I sucked in a ragged breath, sharpened my concentration, and asked, “So, if we were going to want to break out of here, what's the best way to do it?” My guy had a pretty active imagination. Unfortunately, his suggestions weren't going to help me a whole lot since I didn't have a waiting SWAT team, flash-bangs, or any ninja moves. I settled for making sure he forgot to lock our door when he left our room and would do the same when he left the other Talent's. We'd thought about using one of their cellphones to call 911 and letting the police rescue us, but neither of them were allowed t
o carry phones while “on duty.”

Once they left, leaving our door closed but unlocked, we compared notes. The only way downstairs to the warehouse portion of the building was by elevator or fire escape. The elevator was noisy, but it got used a lot back and forth. So, it was possible that no one would notice its noise until we were down. Anybody in the warehouse would immediately be tipped off th
at we were coming down, though.

We spent about ten minutes debating on what to do, afraid that our window of opportunity was slipping away. Mina stuffed her things into a shiny leather backpack and bundled up in layers. We were splitting up, figuring that would double our chances of getting out to get help. Neither of us had any idea how to contact the Guardians, so we planned to go the traditional route and call the police. I was pretty sure that the police had been alerted when I was taken, maybe th
ey were already looking for me.

We walked out the door together, surprised to see that there were windows lining one side of the hallway. “At least that might make it easier for me to spot the fire escape in the dark,” Mina muttered.

I admit, I'd been relieved when she'd offered to take the outside route. Crawling down a fire escape in the cold and dark was almost as bad as the possibility of running into Sebastian Finn. We got to the door where the other Talent was supposed to be and tapped at the door before pushing it open. Mina waited at the doorway, watching for thugs, while I crept in.

“Hello?” I called out. “We're here to help. Anyone in here?”   

The sitting area was empty, but a head popped out of a bedroom doorway. The girl attached to it  looked a little younger than me. She wore a neon green hoodie and torn jeans with unlaced combat boots. Her light blonde hair was pulled up into pigtails and streaked with hot pink. She looked like a punk rock Skipper doll. “Weird, I didn't know Finn had any chicks working for him. Other than the ones who don't have a choice, 'course,” she said skeptically while looking me over.

“I'm not working for him. I'm running away from him. I'm a Talent, too. If you want out, then you need to come with us now. Are you coming?” I asked pointedly, eager to keep moving. The girl grabbed a messenger bag off the bed and followed me down the hall. “Hell yeah, I want to come.”

Mina hopped from one foot to the other in the doorway. “Hurry up!” she hissed. “We need to move it!” Then she looked pointedly at Skipper's boots and rolled her eyes. “Looks like she's going with you. I don't see you climbing in those, Sister.”

“My name's actually Claire, and I'd rather take the elevator if that's an option.”

The three of us dashed down the hallway, finally finding the large window that led out onto the fire escape. It took all three of us to push the heavy window open and hold it up so that Mina could slip through. She stood, looking down through the grating to the ground below. “I hope to hell that this thing reaches all the way to the ground,” she gasped. Then, we heard the pounding of feet coming from farther down the hallway.

“Last chance, Claire. Is it the stairs or the elevator? No guarantees either way,” I pointed out, desperate to get moving before those
pounding feet got any closer.

Claire leaned over the windowsill, looking down. “I'll take my chances with you. I'm not good with heights.”

We shut the window, and tore off down the hallway, headed for the elevator. As we reached it, we could hear doors slamming down the hall, like they were checking rooms behind us. Then, the grinding of the moving elevator sounded in front of us.

Claire and I stared at each other. “Now what?” we asked simultaneously. We looked around frantically, trying to find someplace to hide. The only door even close to the elevator entrance was a broom closet, but it was full of old, unused cleaning supplies and bags of trash. There was no room for us to squeeze in and the elevator was w
heezing to a stop at our floor.

“Let’s try the TV method, and hide in plain sight,” Claire whispered while plastering herself against the wall next to the sliding elevator doors. If we were incredibly lucky, whoever was coming out would just run straight ahead and not look at us at all. I didn't have a better idea, but still didn't see that there was even a miniscule chance this would work.
Don't look here, don't look here…
I chanted inside my head, hoping my Influence would somehow seep out and give us an extra dose of luck.

The doors creaked open, and two bulky guys in dark suits dashed out, not even glancing at us. We stayed flat against the wall, unmoving, until they both turned the corner. I released the breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding in a fast puff. “Whoa
! I can't believe that worked!”

We both turned toward the still open elevator doors and froze, standing face to face with Sebastian Finn and the barrel of his handgun. His smirk reeked of confidence, as if he'd never doubted that we'd stay firmly under his thumb. I'd never had a gun in my face before, part of me was all for cowering, screaming, and possibly wetting myself. Fortunately, there was another part of me that wasn't about to let any of that happen. The part of me that had already had too much taken away was getting angry. This man had taken my life away, my education, my family, my friends, my
Daniel
. All ripped away from me because he thought there was a chance that I might be able to make him some money. I'd tunnel-visioned in on the barrel of the gun, but as my anger grew, I started to see everything clearly.

“You vile, pathetic, little worm,” I spit. “You spineless, sniveling coward. Look at you, hiding behind a gun when you're facing two teenage girls?” My hands clenched in tight fists, as I slowly walked towards him. “You can shoot me if you want to, but then you won't get
anything
out of me. You'll never get to find out what I'm capable of.”

I'd crowded him to the back of the elevator, the barrel of his gun grazing my chest. My mind raced with all of the possible scenarios, the dark things I could make this man do to himself or his employees, the ways I could make him pay for hurting the man I love. Strangely, it was thinking about Daniel that made me want to hurt him less. I didn't want to disgrace his memory by doing something that I would regret later, something that would make me a lesser person. I couldn't taint all my good
memories with something so bad.