Reckoning (28 page)

At the prison sector, I was dragged out and taken to a cell at the far end. Though it was sparse and uncomfortable, compared to the Void, it was a luxury accommodation.

“Get in there.” One of the humans pushed me in and after taking off the handcuffs, left me alone.

RILEY

I entered the warehouse with Stone and turned on the lights. He was quieter than usual.

“We needed her out of the way,” I said. “For her sake and ours.”

Stone nodded. “She thinks Agent Davis was the one who inserted Maisy into the virtual world.” He looked at me. “She’s never going to forgive me.”

“Knowing what she’s capable of, would you rather fight her? Would you prefer to use your power against her? What would happen if you killed her without meaning to? Could you live with yourself then?”

“Could you?” He shot back.

“Juliet is a traitor to the kingdom,” I said. No. I couldn’t live with myself if I caused Juliet any kind of pain. Knowing what I did about her, I hated that I cared, but I couldn’t turn my feelings on and off like a faucet.

“Sure you’re not pissed off because the girl you love didn’t choose you over the humans?”

“This isn’t about love. It’s about saving our people.”

Stone scratched his head. “Juliet is one of our people.”

“She knows about the Night of Grief and what Ide will do if we don’t bring him the president. Still, she chose the humans and she betrays me.” I gritted my teeth, fighting the urge to put my fist through a wall. Had I only been a means to her end? I wanted to scream out loud. Wanted to know if she’d ever loved me the way I loved her, but I kept the emotions locked down.

“Yeah, I can’t figure that one out.” He shook his head and walked to a table where a box of the pellets waited. If anyone would have said Stone and I would someday fight side by side for a common goal, I wouldn’t have believed it.

“You ordered her execution,” Stone said, still angry over the conversation we’d had on the way to the warehouse.

I picked up a box holding the guns the pellets fit into.
Did he think I’d done it with pleasure? That it hadn’t felt as if I’d sentenced myself to the same death?
After I loaded the pellets, I handed it to him.

“I won’t hurt her,” Stone said.

“I didn’t ask you to.”

The warehouse door opened, and dozens of Guards who were loyal to me spilled in. They were silent, tense, ready to fight. Some of them wouldn’t make it through the battle. “You’ll be the first line of defense. Getting through the Supernaturals on the outside of the White House won’t be an issue. Juliet was supposed to guard the president, but she’s in the human prison.”

One of the Guards said, “We heard about her power when she used it to attack the agent hurting her sister.” He looked at his buddies. “What
is
she?”

“She’s the daughter of King Faulk. Her arrival was foretold in the scrolls as the Supernatural of the seven suns destined to save the humans.”

The Guard swallowed, clearly nervous. “But, sir, if that’s true, then the throne is hers. If we fight her, destiny itself will rise up to defend her and slay us.”

Another Guard nodded. “The scrolls are clear we’re not to interfere with destiny.”

“Ide will release the Night of Grief if we don’t bring him the president.”

The Guards gasped in unison.

“Any more questions?” I asked.

They shook their heads. Many of them had witnessed Ide use the NoG.

“Everyone gather in the woods outside the base. When we attack, take down the communication center first. Free the Supernaturals and lock up the humans.”

The Guards turned and marched silently from the warehouse. Stone grabbed my arm. “I need to see her one last time.”

I knew Stone held on to the desperate belief he could get through to Juliet. I wouldn’t be the one to disillusion him.

Chapter 23

JULIET

No matter how much I contorted my body, I couldn’t reach the pellet lodged in my back. I pressed myself against the wall and tried to scrape it out but to no avail. There were no windows I could break to get glass to try and dig out the pellet.

I slammed my hand against the prison bars repeatedly and only ended up with my palm aching. Finally, I gave up and rested my head against the metal bars. That’s when I heard footsteps drawing closer. Not the self assured ones of my keepers, but quiet, furtive ones. Someone sneaking in, not wanting to be heard.

I perked up, hoping I was about to be busted out of here. Stone came into view. I smiled, relief surging through me. “You heard what Agent Davis did?” I turned my back to him. “Hurry up and dig out the pellet. It’s in a little deep so you’ll have to use—”

“Juliet.”

The tone of his voice wasn’t right. I faced him, gripping the bars, sensing, but not wanting to hear it. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not here to set you free. I can’t.”

I looked around, craning to see down the length of the barracks. “Why?” I lowered my voice. “Is someone listening?”

“No, there’s no one around the prison sector.” He bowed his head and stared at his shoes.

“Come on, Stone. Stop playing and help me.”

He raised his head. “I love you and I’m your friend. You know that. But I can’t let you stop Riley.”

I gripped the bars, struggling not to panic, not to blurt out what I wasn’t free to share. “No, no, Stone. Listen to me. I
have
to get to the president.” I stared at him, willing him to nod his head. “I have to.”

He didn’t budge. “Tell me why.”

“I can’t.”

He covered my hands with his. “I swear nothing will happen to Maisy or the other children. I’ll give my life before I’ll let that happen.”

I pulled my fingers out from under his and snaked my hand through the bars to grab his arm. Jerking hard, I pulled his face into the bars. “Don’t do this. I need you to trust me.”

With ease, Stone freed himself from my grasp. “I need you to trust me.”

I searched frantically for a way I could clue Stone in without breaking the silence I was ordered to keep by the Untolds. “Not everything is as it seems. You can’t trust what you think you know to be the truth.”

“You’re here because of me,” he said. “I’m the one who inserted Maisy into the virtual game. I knew you would think the agent did it. I wanted you locked up here for your own protection.” His jaw clenched and he dropped his gaze to the floor.

“Stone.” I smacked the bars. “Take the damn pellet out, now.”

He took two steps back. “Juliet—”

A piercing alarm shrieked across the base.

Voices yelling and gunfire could be heard through the walls of the barracks.

“We must have invaded the base early,” Stone said as he turned to leave.

“Stone! You can’t leave me.” I trembled and gasped for air, on the verge of hyperventilating.

He ran toward the door.

“Get back here!” I clung to the bars, clung to the hope he’d return and help me escape.

He didn’t. I sank to the floor. First Riley and now Stone. I looked up at the ceiling. Now what? Riley hated me. Stone left me locked up. Defenseless. I balled my hands into fists. “You’re a cruel one, destiny. Take, take, take. You’re good at that. When do you
ever
give?” I dropped my head into my hands, hating that all I could do was wait.

The door opened and someone ran toward me. I got up. Stone had changed his mind. He hadn’t left me. I smiled, eager to see him, but my smile quickly disappeared when Agent Davis came into view.

“You finally have the perfect opportunity to kill me while I’m defenseless. Coward.” I turned my back to him. “Go ahead. Shoot me in the back.”

A key turned in the lock, and the cell door swung open. I spun around to face him.

“Make no mistake about it, Juliet. I despise you. But I know what this world needs, what my people need. Turn around so I can take out the pellet.”

When I gaped at him, he took out his gun and handed it to me. “Would I give you this if I was lying?”

I checked it to see if it was loaded. It was.

Something sharp sliced into me. I hissed as my back turned slick with blood.

“Almost got it. There.”

I turned around to see him holding up the pellet. He looked at me over the tip of it. “We may hate each other, but we’re on the same side.”

I smiled at him and when he turned around, I hit him in the back of the head with the butt of the gun. “Same side, huh? Not a chance in hell.” I dragged his body into the cell, dropped the gun into his lap, and locked the cell.

The humans had suspected an attack on the base was coming, but they’d thought it would come at night under the cover of darkness. It’s what I would have done, but not Riley. Like his father, he knew how to win at war.

I ran for the door. I had to grab Nixie and get to the White House.

RILEY

Strategizing about war and the best way to do away with the humans was one thing when seeing it spread out across a hologram battlefield. My father had color-coded the battle scenes with yellow representing the humans. “Yellow for cowardice,” he’d said with a smile. Blue for the royals. He should have added red, the color of the blood humans and Supernaturals alike shed when injured or dying.

I hadn’t started the Great Extinction. Hadn’t wanted to be part of passing out death to humans like it was a party favor. I’d given orders to capture and not to kill. Easier said than done. The humans had no intention of peacefully cooperating.

We needed these humans contained, needed them shut down to prevent them from flanking us as we fought our way into the White House. This was the closest military base, the point where the humans would rally and continue to fight if we didn’t take it down.

The battles my father had fought on Shimea Prime had been small skirmishes. Little uprisings quickly quelled and the instigators publicly executed at the foot of the blue mountain that had risen above the castle on our home planet. Gaining a taste for battle had caused him to spend days plotting out the most ruthless, the most effective method for invoking surrender. I would do the same.

While the majority of the Supernaturals secured the base, Adler and I would take one of the Jeeps to the White House. As if my thoughts had been brought to life, Adler pulled up in the Jeep, grinning from ear to ear.

“The backup team is on the way to the White House to wait for our arrival, sir. I’ve destroyed the remaining transportation.”

“Well done.” I moved around to get into the passenger side when Adler held his hand out toward me, palm side out. For a split second, I thought I’d trusted the wrong Supernatural, and he was trying to kill me, but then he screamed, “Duck!”

I ducked and a volley of Supernatural fire shot harmlessly over my head.
What the hell?
I turned around and came face to face with Juliet.

“Don’t,” she said when she caught me slowly lifting my hand.

Dr. Death moved stealthily forward, her eyes glimmering, her focus on Juliet. A smirk spread across her lips and her eyes turned feverish. Her arms reached out as if in eager anticipation.

“Juliet!” Nixie warned.

Juliet used enough power to blow the woman in half. My body tensed, and I jerked my head back, gaping at the sight of Dr. Death’s intestines flying through the air and splattering on the ground. I glanced at Adler. Nixie shoved a pellet gun into the side of his neck and squeezed the trigger. He let out a yelp and clawed at his neck.

She motioned with the tip of the gun. “Get out and stand beside Riley.”

“Do you know what you’ve done?” Adler asked her.

“Yes,” she said and fired again, this time, hitting him in the chest.

I moved forward and Juliet fired at me, her power hitting me in the arm. Not strong enough to kill or even injure but strong enough to let me know she wasn’t playing. After what I’d seen her do, I wasn’t about to take a chance and end up with my own body inside out.

“Walk backward away from the Jeep,” she ordered.

Nixie pointed the gun at me.

Adler and I exchanged glances.

A Supernatural ran up behind Nixie, his hand out, his meaning clear.

Juliet whipped her hand up and fired at him, blowing off his hand. How cold-blooded. How… I blinked. She ducked her head to hide tears and said gruffly, “Nixie, get in the Jeep.”

The second the Jeep was out of sight, Adler dug the pellets out of his body, and then together, we went to help the Supernatural Juliet had injured.

Chapter 24

JULIET

Nixie was hyperventilating. “I threatened the king. My head is going on the chopping block. What have I done?”

“Calm down and drive. Focus. Tell me where we meet afterward?”