A Midsummer Night's Scream (The Dulcie O'Neil Series Book 7) (14 page)

“So what?”

“So, that’s where the true power lies,” he explained. “One of the largest sources of revenue for the Netherworld is in its imports and exports to and from Earth. Not just contraband, but also automobiles, food, travel, you name it. If we control the ports, we control everything. Think of the profit! And that’s without even including the proceeds gained from exporting street potions.”

I swallowed hard because his plan made sense. It was well thought out. And it scared me to death. “And you think you can actually accomplish that? Controlling every Earthly port?”

“You’ve asked me a ton of questions,” he announced flatly. “It’s my turn again.”

“Fine.”

“Have you ever been with a woman?”

“No,” I answered immediately, thinking I’d gotten off relatively easy on that one. “So you think you can accomplish taking over all of the ports on Earth?” I repeated my previous question before he could ask me another ridiculous one.

“I told you it was only a matter of numbers. And the gangs already have those numbers. Granted, we probably don’t have the manpower yet, but that’s just a matter of time.”

“Until you can take over every portal from Earth?”

“Yes! And once that happens, we can work back retrospectively, returning to the Netherworld. Once we control all of the commerce to and from the Netherworld, we can determine what comes in and what goes out.”

“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out,” I said glumly as I worried about everyone in the ANC in Splendor, and then everyone in the ANC in the Netherworld.

“Another big benefit in taking all the ANC offices at each port is that it provides us with plenty of weapons to use against anyone who tries to resist or come against us.”

“I still can’t figure out where I fit into this,” I replied, frustrated. “If you intended to take Headquarters in Splendor, why not just take it? You had your chance way back when.”

“Because that wasn’t my mission at the time,” he replied immediately. “My mission was to get you out of there before it was overtaken.”

“Does that mean your people are in the process of taking it over now?” I asked. My voice cracked when I thought about Sam, Elsie, and Wally. The clouds overhead suddenly exploded with cold, hard drops of rain. They seemed to be reflecting the storm that raged inside me.

“I don’t know,” Jax answered in a softer tone. “All I do know is that I’ve got to get you out of here.” As if to prove his point, he sped up his pace. “And I’ve got to get myself the hell out of this rain,” he added. “I hate the freaking rain!”

When he said he had to get me
out of here
, I could only look around myself again. All I could see were the endless trunks of pine trees. Clearly, we were deeply ensconced in a forest somewhere. “Are you ready to tell me where we are now?” I asked, sounding hopeful.

“No,” he answered. He didn’t bother looking over his shoulder at me this time, but instead, increased his pace even faster.

“You do realize, don’t you, that I’m not going to keep following you all night?” I asked. Throwing my hands on my hips, I made a point of staying right where I was. I’d already followed him far enough. And who knew where he was going?

“Suit yourself,” he responded without bothering to slow down. “But you have no idea where you are, and the storm’s coming. You also have no idea what’s lurking inside this forest, because you don’t know if we’re still on the Earthly plane, or inside the Netherworld. Not to mention, you’re also unarmed.”

“So what?”

I could call his bluff on the Netherworld part since I was fairly sure I
was
still on the Earthly plane, or my magic would never have worked. The idea did cross my mind that maybe my magic could work in some locations of the Netherworld. Maybe it was like cell phone reception …

“So your chances of surviving are much better if you stick with me,” he answered with a shrug.

“I’m a survivor by nature,” I replied while shaking my head. “And I’d rather take my own chances.”

Of course, if I went my own way, that also meant that I would lose track of Jax, my prisoner. Not that he really was my prisoner any longer, considering he wasn’t behind bars, and his compatriots were probably gaining control of Splendor Headquarters right now. That, and he was right, I was unarmed. It was probably truthful to say that I was more his prisoner than he was mine …

EIGHT

It was at this point that I had a critical decision to make: either attempt to keep track of Jax, operating under the probably misguided notion that he was still my prisoner; or head back to Splendor to do whatever I could to keep Sam and everyone else I cared about safe.

It wasn’t a difficult decision to make. I didn’t know where Jax was going, much less to whom he was answering and, what was more, I didn’t intend to find out. I knew enough about his mission, as well as that of Crossbones in general, to take that information and make good use of it. My only priority at the moment was to protect Splendor Headquarters.

Whether or not Jax would simply allow me to go off on my own, however, was another story. It was fairly obvious that he wouldn’t. Especially since his express orders were to remove me from Headquarters and ensure my safety. Well, providing I believed him on that point anyway. And to make a long story short, I didn’t. I figured the truth was more along the lines of Jax absconding with me in order to demand a ransom from the ANC. Why? Because there was no way that anyone in a street potions ring would want to keep me safe. Dead maybe, but safe? No.

I took a few more steps forward, in Jax’s direction, even though I was still bringing up the rear. Luckily for me, the trees were so densely packed, the only way we could travel was in single file. At least it wouldn’t strike Jax as strange that I was following him, rather than walking beside him. The last thing I needed was for Jax to suspect my intention to escape, or that I was now finalizing my plan on just how I could successfully do so.

The rain relentlessly pounded us with plump and very cold drops, but nothing appeared to slow Jax down. Ambling steadily forward, he proceeded despite the uneven forest floor, which was strewn with dead logs, sharp rocks, and piles of pine needles. Some of the piles were so deep, they reached my ankles. So, yes, I did lose my footing on more than one occasion, although I did manage to keep myself upright and moving ever forward.

Even though the going was tough, I was grateful for the density of the trees. They provided some level of shelter from the rain. Not a whole heck of a lot, but definitely better than nothing …

Yes, I briefly considered magicking myself some shelter from the incessant rain but I wanted to conserve my energy and my magic since my escape attempt was going to take a huge toll on my magical reserves.

“I believe we are close to a road,” Jax commented over his shoulder. He slowed down to a more moderate walk before stopping altogether. Glancing up at the sky for the nth time, he studied it for a few seconds, cocking his head to one side and appearing to be in pensive thought.

“Good, because it’s cold and miserable out here,” I replied with a nervous glance to my right and then to my left.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I hoped to find, or what I hoped
not
to find, but all I could see were trees. The tall pines deluged the landscape all around us, with no break or reprieve. But if Jax thought we were approaching a road, I had to believe him, seeing as how I didn’t know any better. Besides, a road going anywhere was very good news for me. Because I wasn’t the star navigator that Jax was, the street would serve me well. I was hopeful that I could eventually reach a town and then figure out where I was. And, more importantly, how to get back to Splendor.

Every way I looked at it, the time for stalling was over. I knew what I had to do, and now the time had arrived to accomplish it. However, running away wasn’t that simple. If I tried to beeline it in the opposite direction, Jax would run me down in no time at all. Although I was pretty fast on my feet for a woman, Jax would be faster. Of that I was convinced. But luckily for me, I had a little thing called fairy magic at my disposal.

Jax started whistling and then humming, the melody of the song something I vaguely recognized although I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

“…I want to feel you from the inside,” he started singing and I immediately recognized the song as “Closer” by
Nine Inch Nails
. “You let me desecrate you, you let me penetrate you,” he continued and I was more than sure his choice of song was by no means a coincidence.

I just shook my head, hoping and praying that I’d be taking my leave of him soon enough. I was even more hopeful that I’d never see him again.

“I’ve got no soul to sell,” he continued, his pitch completely off.

Looking over at him, I noticed he’d already resumed his quick pace. The back of his head was now fading fast in front of me, so I immediately began following him again. I didn’t want to give him any reason at all to turn around and check on me. And reprimanding me for not moving faster would definitely be a good reason. After he took another five steps without looking back at me, I figured he assumed I was directly behind him.

There’s no time like the present, Dulcie,
I thought to myself.

Fisting my right hand as inconspicuously as I could, I shook it once. Maybe my attempt was a little too weak, or too hasty, because I couldn’t feel my magical dust taking form. Keeping one eye on Jax all the while, I shook my fist again; this time, with a little more gusto.

I had to resist smiling as soon as I felt the telltale sensation of ethereal dust filling my palm. A half second later, Jax began to slow down while looking up at the sky again. My breath caught as my heart climbed up and lodged in my throat and I wondered why we were slowing down. He paused several more seconds before turning right and resuming his quick stride. Like a dutiful dog, I obediently trailed him.

I allowed another few seconds to tick by, if only to make sure he wouldn’t check on me. Then, with my eyes riveted on his back, I held my hand out in front of me. Rotating my palm, I released the glittery particles, sprinkling them over my feet. Then I closed my eyes briefly and imagined my shoes taking on supersonic speed.

When I opened my eyes again, I double-checked and saw Jax still forging ahead. Time was the only factor now, especially since I could feel the soles of my feet heating up as my magic took its desired effect. Taking a deep breath, I stepped out with my right foot, pivoted on my toes, so I was facing east, and broke into a full gallop.

Well, “gallop” was an understatement. I was moving so quickly, it felt like I was flying. Cold air rushed against my face, blowing my hair out behind me in a horizontal plane. I traveled so swiftly, I couldn’t even feel the rain, although the smell of wet ozone tickled my nostrils, the scent natural yet clean. When I glanced down at my feet, they appeared as a blur, and the ground was no more than flashing splotches of green and brown.

After nearly slamming headlong into a tree, I reminded myself to face forward, lest I knock myself out and, thus, forfeit any chance I had of escaping. With renewed vigor, I raced forward, slipping between live trees and dodging the hulled out carcasses of long dead ones. After another few seconds, my feet began to slow down and I figured my magic was starting to wear off. Or maybe it was my body that was wearing out. Either way, moving at such a rapid speed was no treat for my legs, my heart, or my lungs.

The blurring colors on the forest floor started to delineate themselves as bushes and rocks. Pretty soon, I was moving at a comfortable jog. After my magic dissolved completely, I slowed down to a walk; but even that took too much of my energy, which was now beyond depleted. I had to stop and lean against a nearby tree as I strained to catch my breath. I suddenly worried that maybe I wasn’t alone and glanced behind me to ensure that Jax was nowhere in sight. He wasn’t.

Heaving a sigh of relief, I could only smile with amusement as I pictured Jax’s expression of shock and surprise as soon as he turned around and discovered I was gone. Yep, I guessed it would be right about now that he was probably cursing and berating himself for not keeping a closer watch on me. Poor Jax …

Yeah, not so much.

Knowing that Jax was no longer my concern was very liberating. But I couldn’t celebrate it for long. Instead, my primary focus was figuring out where I was in relation to the road. An unfortunate side effect of my escape attempt was that I now had no clue if I’d put more distance between myself and the road or less. Hopefully the latter …

Thankfully, my magic could also help me out of this predicament. After inhaling deeply, my heartbeat slowed down again to its regular pace. I stood up and took a few steps forward, craning my neck to study the canopy of tree branches overhead. I needed an open area, or a break in the trees, somewhere that I could observe the sky. I proceeded forward, but kept my eyes on the night sky as I tried to avoid tripping over all the forest litter confounding my path.

Taking another few steps, I noticed a small clearing in the trees that suited my needs perfectly. Once I reached it, I stood still and shook my palm until I felt my dust inside my hand. Throwing the particles in an arc above me, I closed my eyes and imagined myself floating upwards. Almost immediately, I felt a lightness in my feet, which could only mean I was levitating. I opened my eyes to ascertain my position and saw my feet floating about a yard above the ground. I had to smile at my own resourcefulness.

Impressed with my abilities or not, I needed to go higher. So, closing my eyes, I imagined my body soaring up as if I were on an invisible elevator. Immediately, the air rushed past me and I opened my eyes. I was now about halfway as high as the pine tree behind me, maybe twenty or thirty feet. A good start, but it still wouldn’t do. I closed my eyes again, wishing to go higher, and my body complied. When I opened my eyes again, I was exactly where I needed to be—at the very top of the tree. Good thing I wasn’t afraid of heights because I was floating in midair at least fifty feet above the ground.

It was exactly as I’d intended—I had a bird’s-eye view of the forest below me. Now I’d be able to locate the nearest road. Of course, having nothing more than the moon for illumination, that task wasn’t exactly easy. The rain could now beat down on me fully too, and my vision soon grew bleary.

I wiped the heavy drops from my eyes and face as I beheld all the pointy treetops of the endless pines. They looked like a sea of green, with no break or hint of a road. Turning to my right and then my left, neither direction offered a different view. It seemed like the trees went on for miles. As to the street Jax had referred to? There wasn’t any indication of a road anywhere nearby.

Maybe Jax wasn’t quite the star navigator he believed he was …

Twirling around, I still saw nothing besides the ceaseless treetops of thousands of pines. Could I have projected myself beyond the road during my escape? I shook my head, trying to figure out what went wrong. I mean, yes, I’d definitely run at least a few miles after I’d left Jax. Maybe I’d even managed to go ten or so miles in the minutes it took me to ditch Jax. But even if I
had
covered that much distance, I still should have been able to see a road from my current elevation.

Just as I was about to give up hope and turn to Plan B, which I hadn’t even devised prior to this moment, I thought I detected the faint glow of lights in the far distance. Narrowing my eyes, I attempted to focus on the lights, which continued to grow in intensity.

“Headlights,” I whispered as my heart started to swell with renewed hope. I watched the lights turning to the left and then the right as the car sped along the road, and a winding one at that. Several times, the lights were eclipsed by the trees, but only seconds later, they reappeared. I continued to follow the light with my eyes, needing to figure out which direction the car, as well as the road, ran.

Turning slowly around, I watched the headlights weaving in a northeasterly direction. At approximately “three” on a clock, the headlights vanished completely. I had the answer I needed.

Closing my eyes, I extended my arms out on either side of my body. I waved them upwards and imagined myself floating down to the ground. When a rush of cold air blew from beneath me, I knew my magic had dutifully complied with my wishes. Upon my descent, the sting of a tree branch snapping against my face captured my attention, and I immediately opened my eyes and pushed the offending limb out of the way. Looking down, I realized I was heading for more jutting branches. In response, I swam through the air, trying to reach the original clearing I’d found, which was maybe three air laps away. Once I was freed of the tree’s sharp branches, I closed my eyes again and coaxed myself back down.

When my toes touched the ground, I opened my eyes, and heaved an audible sigh of relief. The rain continued to pelt me relentlessly, owing to the absence of any cover inside the clearing. I took a few long strides to my right, seeking shelter from the forest canopy again.

Then I tried to figure out what to do next. Jax had to be headed for the same road as I was, and the last thing I wanted was to run into him. My best option was to try to hit the road at a different point than Jax would. Granted, I didn’t know where Jax was located at present, but based on how far I’d come when I escaped, I figured traveling northeast was my best bet. And of course I’d have to stay hidden beside the trees, hugging the road’s perimeter, rather than just walking down the road, itself.

My next consideration? Timing. Factoring in the location where Jax and I had been when I split, I figured we were pretty close to the road. Maybe only a mile or so away. If Jax had continued on in the same direction, after discovering I was MIA, he could have already reached the road by now. I briefly wondered if he had a car waiting there for him, or if he intended to walk, just like I had to do. Then another grave thought crossed my mind. For all I knew, those headlights I’d spotted could have belonged to a vehicle currently in Jax’s possession.