Secret Worlds (102 page)

She should have given the last commandment first. Until then, my master is at my mercy. No hum to stop me from making a split-second decision.

A thud sounds on the far end of the chamber. I turn to see Eileena tearing out of the door. The world feels surreal. I scan the room. It is just me and Syd separated by Silvia's limp body, with Larry off to the side. He is nursing his arm. I think I broke it.

I reach down and help up Syd. She steps over Silvia, and then falls into my shoulder—and cries. Deep, long sobs, her whole body shuddering. I wrap my arms around her.

God, I've missed her.

I squeeze a little tighter and touch my face to the top of her hair. She reigns in her emotions and breaks free, though my arms are still around her waist.

She looks into my eyes. My hand goes to her face, cupping her jaw. I lean in to kiss her.

She puts her hand over mine and moves it away, shaking her head. 

She steps back. “No, Dim. No, you killed Silvia.”

“I know.” I swallow hard, trying to find my voice. “I know what it means. It was worth it.”

I've never said anything more honest in my life.

She takes another step back, pulling away from me. The lines of her throat are taut. She keeps shaking her head.

I'm hurting her again. I'm killing someone she loves. But this time, it's for the right reason. Maybe I can be redeemed.

“Dimitri,” she says, as if speaking pains her. “Do you know Karl Walker's real name?”

I halt. “What do you mean, real name?”

She runs her hand through her hair, her gaze flicking past me. “His real name is Franklin Ballantyne.” 

“Ballantyne?” I stare at her. “You mean, he's … ”

She nods once. “One of the four brothers. The oldest. That's why my family was looking for the jinn.” Her frown deepens. “The master bond was passed down from the oldest son to the oldest son. The others … wanted a turn. They wanted you.

“That's why Larry killed my father.” She turns to her uncle. He is still huddled on the floor with his arm cradled against his chest. Her expression sparks with rage. “We were supposed to be doing this together! We were supposed to be a family! You drove Grandma away! She couldn't stand it anymore. All anyone talked about was the master bond. All anyone did with their life was study ways they could take it. Mythology, anthropology, sociology. That's all you guys ever cared about!” 

She turns back to me, tears breaking free again. She forces them back. “My father was the second oldest. He would have inherited the master bond if Karl and Silvia died. Silvia didn't know we were related, though. Karl sent you for Zoe, and he told my dad to call Larry off or we would never see Zoe again. I begged for them to do what he asked, but they didn't. They just became more determined.

“Then Phil died when he was away on business. Karl said it was a warning that he would kill us all if he had to. But they still didn't stop, Dim. Larry thought Karl would try to infiltrate his work, so he hid the research books. Then Robbie—Phil's son who interned at the labs—was kidnapped. His body was found by some teens camping in the desert. By that time, the books had been stolen from the lab, before it was blown up . . . sort of. We assumed Karl had taken Robbie for information, then killed him.

“Even the doctor who Phil paid off to get the inside scoop was being terrorized. We knew Karl was using the jinn, but we could never get ahead of him—of you. We couldn't anticipate your targets or how you would execute them.”

She lowers her voice. “I never would have guessed it was you. Not even when I found the book from Larry's lab on your living room shelf. The book just outlined who the master bond is handed off to. I knew it had been with the batch of stolen books, so I realized you were involved with Karl, but … ” 

She shakes her head. “So I started going through your car and found Zoe's stuffed animal. I still didn't put it together. I figured he had sent his personal security for her, instead of sending the jinn.”

She turns back to Larry. “You wanted me to think the jinn had come for my father, but Dimitri was in New Mexico with me when it happened. I never thought—I never thought you would betray us like that.”

Larry grimaces, but says nothing. I have an urge to introduce his face to the back of his skull.

Instead, I turn to Syd. “Where is Zoe?”

She shrugs one shoulder, and her voice quivers. “I don't know. We haven't found her. Oh, god, Dim, if he hurt her … ”

I have no comforting words. Karl's record so far isn't encouraging.

I say, “So, Silvia killed Karl to claim her inheritance. I killed Silvia, which would have killed me except … there are more Walkers, well, Ballantynes. Who has the master bond now?” I scowl, feeling lost. Then my heart plummets. “Oh, shit. It's not—” I point at Larry. “Oh, fuck, it's not you, is it?”

He sneers. 

I am so screwed.

“No, Dim, Larry is the third oldest,” Syd says. “Phil was the fourth.”

I force myself to turn away from Larry, to look back at Syd. I'm not following this game of hot potato. “So, your father is the second oldest?”

She nods.

“But he's dead. And so is Mark. That's your brother, right?”

She nods again, her face turning red with suppressed tears.

“So, the master bond belongs to—” I stop breathing for a moment.

Syd bursts into sobs, nodding and backing away. She can't get much farther without tripping over Silvia. 

“No, no, Syd.” I move toward her to comfort her, but I'm shaking. I think it's with excitement. “This is a good thing.”

She shakes her head. “It's me, Dim. It's … me.”

“Syd, Syd, it's alright.” I want to squeeze her body and kiss her face all over. “You have the master bond. I'm good with this.” 

She's still crying. “I don't want the master bond. Not if it's you.”

“Syd, no. Don't give it away.” My excitement shifts to panic. “Don't do anything rash, please. I don't know how that part works, but if you can give it away, please, oh my god, please, don't.”

“I don't want it,” she whispers, lips trembling.

“Do not give it to Larry. Bad idea. Very bad idea.” I'm waving my hands wildly, unable to portray just how much I do not want her to do anything with that bond. “Just keep it, please.”

“It's wrong,” she says. 

She didn't look this scared even when I chased her through Albuquerque.

“Syd, no, look, I can deal with this. I can so deal with this.”  I try to stroke her uninjured arm, but she pulls away. “I would spend the rest of my life serving you, Syd. That's what I want.”

She shakes her head. “If you do anything for me, it should be because you choose to, not because you had to.”

“Just never use it, then,” I say because I couldn't care less if she does or doesn't. Her wish is my command, regardless. “Please, Syd. It will be okay. I promise. Look, maybe it's not even true. Larry just based everything on stories, right?”

Larry grunts, but I ignore him.

She gives a sad half-frown. “Dimitri?”

I meet her gaze. I'm hers in the most profound way. And yet I don't seem any closer to being allowed indulge in all the things we both want.

She holds out her hand. “Dimitri, give me your phone, please.” 

I tilt my head. “What?”

She takes a deep breath and says in a business-like tone, “This I wish.”

A familiar hum settles in my brain. I'm relieved it's there. The master bond really does belong to Syd. 

I reach in my pocket, pull out my phone, and, grinning, offer it to her.

As soon as her hand wraps around the phone, the hum vanishes.

I cannot convey to her what this means to me. If I could, she would stop crying.

She keeps shaking her head and running her fingers through the top of her hair. She hands me back my phone, looking hopeless. 

Larry says in a warning tone, “Sydney, do not fuck this up.”

I storm across the room and sock him in the face. Hard enough his entire body falls forward. T.K.O.

I turn back to Syd. “I know it has to be weird for you, but trust me, this isn't a bad thing.”

Her gaze travels around the room. Over the artifacts that probably date back to the time of Al-Jamila, and then to Larry's unconscious form, Karl's covered corpse, and Silvia's silent body on the floor next to her.

She looks at me again. “Did you finish watching that movie?”

I raise my eyebrows. “The what?”

“Aladdin. With the genie.” She smirks. “The funny one.” 

“No, but if you want me to … ”

She flinches, and I laugh, as inappropriate of a time as it is. “Too soon?”

Her smirk fades back into a frown. Then she crosses the room in a few paces and stops in front of me. 

Her clothes are torn and dirty. Her hair is a mess. Her black makeup is streaked down her cheeks. The sadness, the hurt in her eyes is vivid.

I know her, finally. And I can't imagine anyone more worthy of the master bond.

My life is going to be pretty damn good here out. I mean, Syd is kind of stuck with me now too. Maybe this is her lost.

She reaches up and touches my cheek. My skin is sore, like it had been singed, but too soon she pulls her hand away.

“Dimitri.” A smile plays on her lips. A sad smile, but a resolute one. “I want you to be free. This I wish.”

The words don't make sense for a moment. Then I realize what she did, and I tense. She gives me an inquisitive look.

I wait, trying to hear or feel something different.

“Nothing.” I force a smile, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “It was a good try.”

We stand in silence. She looks dejected, but I can't bring myself to share her disappointment. I've escaped a slew of horrible fates in the last twelve hours and wound back up with my woman. Despite standing among a scene of carnage, I have never felt a bubble of happiness in my chest like this. 

“Let's go find Zoe and get out of here.” I head for the far door.

Syd calls behind me, “Dimitri?”

I halt and turn to her. “Come on, I'm sure Zoe's around here somewhere.”

I don't add that I'm worried we won't find her before something ignites this bonfire. There's an awful lot of thermite.

Syd stays rooted in place, next to Larry's body. “Dimitri, I want you to get me a glass of wine. This I wish.”

I give her a puzzled look. “Really, Syd? Really? We need to—”

I stop, then I look down and focus on listening. She didn't wish correctly. Learning curve, maybe. Except … she had already tried it out with the phone. And succeeded. 

She comes closer. 

“Nothing, right?” Her expression clears and, for the first time in forever, she has an honest smile. “Tell me!”

I shake my head. There's no way. We're missing something vital. I'm afraid to even think right now.  

“Let's find Zoe.” I glance at the dead guards, then head out the door.

Syd is right behind me. 

Two steps into the foyer, I freeze, dust pluming around my shoes. Thermite covers as far as I can see, like gray snow. Larry had been busy for a while before interrupting the family reunion.

“Uh, yeah,” I say, because words really can't describe standing in a field of thermite.

Syd turns in a half-circle. “Holy shit.”

Okay, maybe words can describe it.

We take off across the mansion, screaming for Zoe. I don't know if she's here, or if she's even alive. All the other bodies have been recovered so far, though. Something tells me Karl would have planted her corpse as a token of endearment if he had killed her.

We scramble down the thermite-filled corridors and work our way across the mansion, scoping out one room after another. If the mansion had never been crossed end to end before, it soon will be. The doors are already open and the explosive powder waits in mounds in each room. A window in one of the guest suites is open, the curtain billowing with a warm breeze that stirs the thermite on the carpet.

No Zoe. No anybody. Karl had been plotting something terrible if he had dismissed all the staff for the day. I imagine it would have involved a lot of blood and screaming.

My stomach churns a little at the thought, and a lot more at the realization Zoe is gone.

Syd keeps it together. I, however, am about to lose it.

I kidnapped Zoe.

I took her from Syd.

As much as I would like to check every corner and closet again, we can't hang around. Thermite is difficult to ignite—I remember that lesson—but it packs a universe-creating bang. 

“We've looked in all the rooms, Syd.” I take her by the arm and direct her toward the front of the mansion. 

She bites her lips, eyes darting around like she expects to find a secret passage. Pretty sure Karl wasn't that cool.

I pull her closer as we trudge through the thermite mounds and out the front door, into the night. I pick up my pace toward the Corolla still parked in the driveway.

“Um, my car is in the back,” Syd says. “The Audi.” 

I make a sharp turn and follow her around the mansion. In the distance looms the ten-car garage. Syd's beast is parked next to it. I clamor into the passenger side, dropping onto the clean leather seats. Syd slides behind the wheel and jams the key from her pocket into the ignition.

She bites her lip and stares up at the mansion, then shakes off her thoughts. She steps on the gas and throws the Audi into reverse. The Audi skids past the gate, onto the road. 

I lull my head against the back of the seat and try to think where Karl hid Zoe. She is definitely not in the mansion. Chances are, he had her evacuated when he realized Syd was prowling around, but where did he send her? He has warehouses and properties across the nation, but they would be staffed by common workers. No way he is keeping a hostage there.

I jerk out of my thoughts as we pass a car parked to the side, in the desert.

“Wait a sec.” I tug on Syd's shirt. “Pull over.”

She slows the Audi. I climb out and hop down from the road to the dirt. Syd remains with her vehicle, shielding her eyes with her hand, as I make my way to the abandoned white car. I press my hands against the roof, ignoring the fact it feels like a just-used cookie sheet, and squint to see into the window.