walker saga 07 - earth (15 page)

He left the control panel, stepping to the side of the vessel. There he began to run his fingers through the air. Kind of like he was miming – although, most probably he was feeling for the barrier.

“It’s going to take a large hit of energy to interfere with the electrical pulses. This barrier has been here for a long time. It’s well established.”

“Can we combine our energy?” I asked.

Lucy reached out and linked her hand with mine. I squeezed it, glad for her comfort.

He didn’t answer straight away, instead continuing to play with the air off the side of the boat.

“It’s different to what I thought. This energy is familiar,” he said, before his hand sort of froze in midair. He swung around to face me. “It feels like your energy, Red.”

He didn’t like that revelation and neither did I. Could this barrier somehow be tied to me?

“What does that mean?” Eva asked, her golden eyes shifting from one to the other.

Brace’s features hardened, his eyes very dark now. “It means that I’m hesitant to destroy it. We can’t be sure that if we interfere with this, there won’t be a negative effect on Abby. It’s a risk I’m not willing to take.”

I steeled myself, straightening my spine. “It’s my risk to take, and we have no choice.”

“Red …” That one word from Brace held a hint of warning. He was not going to be easily swayed on this.

I switched to mental fighting. We were drawing way too much attention.

Brace, you know that we have a responsibility to all of the humans stuck in this hellhole. They’re here because of a war which has nothing to do with them. Probably because Lallielle picked New York City as the place to stash me. I won’t run in fear any longer. I must be strong enough to fight.
Even in our minds my words were rushed.
We have to do this.

I could feel his hesitation, the warring inside which demanded he protect his mate at all costs.

You’re too innately good, Red. I can’t always trust you to put your well-being first. Mine … Lucy’s … basically anyone else on the seven planets, yes, but not your own. You let Chrissie punch you because of some sense of guilt and responsibility which isn’t yours to wear.
He was totally killing me right then with his unwavering devotion.
If you can’t put yourself first, I’m going to do it. Every single day of our very long existence.

I was opening my mouth to argue further, but before I could, some of Brace’s fierceness faded. He lowered his head before reaching up and rubbing at his temples. And then, strangely enough, the fight left him. He dropped his hands, and reached out to lace our fingers together.

My words to Colt are coming back to haunt me. I won’t try and change you, sweetheart, but if at any point I think the danger is too real, I’m pulling the plug and I don’t care how much you complain.

Neanderthal,
I teased him.

Dude was about five seconds from clubbing me and throwing me over his shoulder.

He chuckled.
They were on to something, those cavemen, keeping their women in line.

I groaned.
You did not just say that. Wait until I tell Lucy.

His mirth dried up pretty quickly. Lucy wasn’t just in possession of a sharp mind and smartass mouth, she was also quite devious if she thought you needed a lesson.

“So what do we do to break the barrier? How do we find enough power?” I spoke out loud, knowing it was time to include the others.

Eva and Chrissie looked confused.

“Did we just miss something?” Chrissie asked. “You were disagreeing and then everything went silent for some weird staring contest and now you’ve resolved the argument without any cursing, fighting or growls. Where’s the real Abby?”

I felt the corner of my lips turn up. I might have been a tad hotheaded in my younger years. Although, Lucy always took the prize on that one. Thinking back, it was kind of amazing we had stayed friends for so long. We should have known then that we had something more going on than a normal girl bond. We almost never fought, we had each other’s back; it was everyone else who copped it.

“We can communicate mentally with our mates,” Lucy said.

Chrissie continued to stare at me. She was still barely even acknowledging that Lucy was there.

“Do you have a problem with me, Chrissie?” Lucy looked tiny as she moved into the other female’s personal space.

Everyone here towered over the pixie and I knew she’d be missing her wings.

Brown curls bounced as Chrissie shook her head. “No, Lucy, I don’t have a problem with you or Abby anymore. I just find it hard to remember that time when we were held by … that bitch-face … Olden. You were hurt worse than the rest of us, and seeing you reminds me of that and … Chandra.”

She’d finally said her name and there was so much pain laced through that one word. No one here could ever doubt that it still killed her every day, and probably always would. Eva looked a little surprised. Something told me that none of the vigiladies knew very much about each other. They were secretive. But the half-Walker’s expression was softer when she stared at her former leader, and I sensed a kindred empathy there. Eva had lost people too.

I tried not to think about Chrissie’s words. Lucy’s torture by Olden was something which made me pissed off and cry-baby all in the same breath. Especially since the evil-bitch had been hurting her to try to pry information about me from her. Olden had known that torturing Lucy was the worst thing she could have done to crush me. The unlocking of Lucy’s pixie side had banished the physical scars, but we all knew the mental and emotional ones were much harder to remove.

Words continued to flow from Chrissie, like she’d broken the dam and now that it was out she couldn’t stop it. “They say time heals or at least helps, but to me, Chandra was more than my friend.” She hesitated for a split second. “I loved her.”

I sensed that she wasn’t just talking about the love between best friends. Her entire face softened, right before sorrow stole every bit of color and joy from her features. She had loved Chandra, in a romantic way, and I could tell that the loss ate away at her every day.

I understood why she had hit me now. I’d have probably killed the person who was in any way responsible for hurting Brace. And if he died – well, I wouldn’t even consider the possibility for a second. It would never happen.

Lucy hugged Chrissie. “I’m so sorry … so, so sorry.”

She continued to murmur nonsensical words of comfort, and I could see that our old friend was moments from losing her shit altogether. I had no doubt that she needed to cry and grieve and scream at the Gods for a few days or weeks. But right then we didn’t have time for that.

Thankfully she kept it together and, as Lucy pulled away, Chrissie’s features were back to calm. Pain still laced her dark eyes, though, and I knew it probably always would. But for now we were all good to deal with the current problems.

“I’m really glad that you two have found your soul mates,” Chrissie said as she wiped away a stray tear. “You were always true and good friends, and once I got past my own anger I knew that.”

Aw, that was such a feels moment. It hit me in my chest, the emotions tightening my heart-organ until I found it hard to breathe for a few seconds. This was why I saved the worlds: because there was still so much good. Despite the evil, good still prevailed.

I gave Chrissie a quick hug of my own, my arm brushing against Eva. A spark flared between us, the tethering connection wanting to bond with her. The last time on the docks, I hadn’t heard her voice in my mind, but I knew the next time we connected the tether would be solid.

I had been trying not to pay too much attention to Eva, letting the poor confused female digest the fact that she was a half-Walker. It was a huge thing to wrap your head around: re-examining every single thing which you thought was true about yourself.

I wondered if she had had any idea she was different to the average human. Her gift was spirit. Had that manifested anything on Earth or was the energy dead zone too encompassing?

As I pulled away from Chrissie I noticed the way Eva continued sneaking peaks at her arm, watching the play of light across the marks she wore. I let her have as long as possible, but it was time to close up the necklace; we had to focus on the task at hand. Though I really needed to know her thoughts about this. Was she going to fight me about leaving Earth?

As the yellow light faded away, Eva’s golden eyes lifted and locked in on me. I could sense the disappointment that her marks were gone. She had enjoyed focusing on them. Probably so she didn’t have to focus on the bigger things which were doing her head in. Like the fact that she wasn’t fully human. That the family she most probably thought of as her own were not. Unless, of course, she’d been orphaned at a young age like myself. Then she was probably just confused as heck.

“I’m sure you have a crap-ton of questions, and I’m more than willing to answer anything. But I need to know if you’re going to help me … help us. We need to save the worlds, and we have to act as a team.”

She still didn’t speak, and I wondered for a second if my revelation had struck her mute. Chrissie reached out and placed a hand on her right shoulder, slender fingers squeezing for a moment, offering comfort.

“You can trust them, Eva. I’ve known them for a long time, and they honor their words.”

Eva straightened, shaking off Chrissie’s hand. “I’ll never believe that my father was not my real father. Never.” Her voice shook, as if each word was being torn from the very depth of her soul. “I’m having a very hard time trying to figure out if you’re all freaking crazy, or if I somehow hit my head and lost my mind … because, the marks were real … and I kind of believe what you’re saying. But I can’t accept it.”

Okay, so the chick loved her pretend Earth father, which was going to make it a little difficult, because she did not want to believe in this story. If she believed, that meant her mother had had an affair. It meant the father she loved was not hers by blood.

Brace’s warm hand gently slid onto my lower back. He pulled me closer, toward his heat. “Just because the father you knew is not blood-related, it doesn’t mean he’s not your father.” Brace was wise as always. “Sometimes the bonds of love exceed anything that blood brings. Plenty of biological fathers are assholes. Be grateful that you had an amazing and caring patron. Not everyone is so lucky.”

Brace knew better than most. His father was the very definition of asshole.

Eva sucked in deeply, the air rattling as it passed through her teeth. Her hand rose and pressed against her chest, and I could guess that the pain she felt was so great that it was as if her heart was being squeezed in a vise.

“I’m still not sure how I feel about this. I’m going to need a few minutes to pull myself together; don’t you all have a barrier to destroy?” Golden eyes shifted across us. “Maybe seeing you in action … well, I might be able to understand better. Accept that which you’re telling me.”

She was making excuses. I could tell that she didn’t want to help. She wanted no part in this chaos we were bringing to her world, but I was pretty sure she also knew that she didn’t really have a choice here. If I had to kidnap her like we had been forced to with Sapha, then I would. Still if she wanted to see us in action, well action was what she was going to get.

I focused my energy, opening my senses to try to see the barrier which surrounded us. There was just the faintest shimmer in the air, and the more I focused, the more I could see the crisscrossing of electrical pulses.

We were still drifting in the currents, the sun was rising, and in the light it was more obvious the way we continued to cross the same path over and over. The ocean told many tales, it revealed much if you just took the time to truly watch the beauty beneath. We were stuck and the only way to find out what was on the other side was to destroy this barrier.

Okay, Brace, time to break this bitch down.

He attempted a grin. It wasn’t very successful. The girls around us recoiled, and Colton gave a bark of laughter.

“Brace, man, might be time to tone down the scary. I think half the chicks on here are about to jump overboard.”

Colton and Brace had an epic bromance. They were dudes, but they totally loved each other and had each other’s back. No matter what. They had lost touch for a few years, but like true friends, the time and distance made no difference to the feelings behind their bond. I loved Colton like a brother also. He was a good one, and I had to thank the fates that they had chosen him for Lucy. Now it was time for the four of us to work together. We had a city to free and worlds to save.

And our time was running out.

Chapter 8

Brace was back touching the sparks that ran through the barrier. This time, though, I could see the pulses bouncing off his energy, each streak trying to find a way around his hand. Even his small interference was enough to disrupt some of the electricity that intertwined. I understood what he meant about the shield being easy to disrupt. We just needed enough energy. And I had an idea.

“I can do it,” I said out loud, startling some, but not my mate.

He just turned those velvety, chocolate-colored eyes on me.

“If you, Colt and Luce let me tether to you, and borrow some of your energy – to make up for what Earth has stolen from me – then I’ll blast out at the shield. I can disrupt the pulses and hopefully it will be enough to fracture the barrier.”

I was the only one who could store energy, and I still had a small amount in my filing cabinet. I’d only have to borrow a little from my friends.

“I’m not happy about this, Red.” Brace rubbed a hand across his face; he looked tired. Which was not normal for my powerful Walker. “I have a bad feeling about you interfering in this barrier when I can sense your energy in it.”

“I get your protectiveness. I feel the same way about you, but there’s no other option. On Earth all of us are limited. I’m the only one that can still store and harness energy in the usual Walker manner. It has to be me.”