Ablaze (Indestructible Trilogy Book 2) (20 page)

Val shakes her head, her face pale. “What…? Did Murray know
that?”

“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “He kept a lot of things from us, but Jared was behind most of the experiments. Anyway, he says my blood works like the Fiordans’. That’s what the fiends’ leaders are called. I can control the Transcendents. Somehow. But it doesn’t work on Jared…” Or does it? My mind spins. I haven’t had time to process all this, let alone think of a plan.

“You… you can control the fiends?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “The Transcendents, definitely. That’s why one attacked him when we were escaping.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widen. “So you… wow. Leah, this could redefine our whole strategy. You said you saw what’s happening in the lab?”

“Yeah. But I never know
when
the visions are taking place. I can’t see the future, only the present. And memories, sometimes. I have no idea how it works. It’s through Cas, and I saw a Transcendent attack him. That’s the truth. But I don’t know when that was. Or Jared’s plan. He said I was expendable now he has his little army, but he didn’t expect me to be able to control them.” He didn’t expect me to take ownership of my own blood. But now I have, I’m using it. No question.

“Damn.” Val brushes dust-streaked hair from her forehead. Her hands are shaking. “I don’t … it’d be safer to activate the bomb now…” Her gaze passes over the other senior Pyros. “We didn’t plan for this. Our strategy was to get you out, and blow up the place with him and his crazy scientists inside it. Minimal damage. He’s far too close to the divide.”

Yeah. He is. If we use the energy blasts, we could be dooming ourselves… and the rest of the world. Is it worth the risk?

“And the tattoos are another problem,” she adds. “We need to make a decision now, but everyone’s tired from the trek here. We’ve been running flat-out. Barely reached here when I blacked out thanks to that tattoo. But he can’t have known we’re here…”

“He might have. His flying fiends are everywhere,” I say. “And I guess I know how he’s controlling them now. Blood, again. He’s been injecting himself with theirs. Before he decided to
make
himself one of them.”

“Transcendents and the fiends,” Val says quietly. “They’re not the same, though, are they? Fiends can die. Their leaders… you said you killed one?”

“Just about,” I say. “I controlled an energy blast, and…” I shake my head, wishing, not for the first time, that I’d tried to find out more from Jared before I struck back at him and forced him to put his plan into motion. “I don’t think the fiends are our worst problem now, to be honest.”

No sooner do the words leave my mouth than a familiar cry rings out, cutting through the noise of camp.

The sound of fiends on the hunt.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“Oh, God,” says Val. “Who’s idea was it to camp here?”

“Good question.” My heart drops. As if we need to be anyone else’s targets.
Too close to the divide…
but it could just as easily be Jared’s fiends I heard.

“We’re hidden,” says Peter. “Ryan, could you check?” he calls across the campfire. Ryan nods and heads up the cliff again.

“There’s a small town over the rise, though,” says Val. “It’s reinforced, but Jared’s fiends can fly.”

My heart sinks.
Oh, no.
Have we unwittingly put everyone in the area in danger?

“We can’t go around saving everyone,” says Garry, exasperation clear on his face. “You’re telling us our enemy’s got mind-control abilities and has turned himself into a freak-show with a bunch of invincible servants, on top of
the mad fiends he’s already got on his side. We can’t protect every human and our own at the same time.”

Val says, “This is ridiculous. We need to vote on our plan. It would help if we stopped arguing amongst ourselves. We came here to save Leah and we did it, and the logical plan is to rest here. If the fiends attack, we fight. Then we head back to the base as soon as we’re rested up. Tell Murray the latest.”

“It’d help if we had mobile phones,” says Tyler. “How many fiends are there? We only heard the one cry.”

“You’re not going,” Val says. “I only agreed to let you and Poppy come because you’d have followed to get Leah anyway.”

Guilt rises as I look over at them. I’d completely forgotten they’re not fully qualified Pyros yet. Neither should I be, technically, but my training was accelerated thanks to my being Transcendent. They’re kids, thrown into the middle of a war.

“You two should stay put,” I say, standing. “I’m going to look out, see if I can spot where the noise came from.”

“Already taken care of,” says Ryan, appearing at my side. “Val, there are two of them prowling around up there. Not too close to the town, but the way they’re moving… I don’t like it. It’s like they’ve picked a target and are stalking them.”

“Not us?” Val’s on her feet, too.

Ryan shakes his head, the hood of his coat falling forward. “No. They’re too far off. I could barely see them.”

“Damn,” says Val. “Okay. I vote we send a couple of people over there to check it out. Ryan?”

“Leah,” he says. “Does being Transcendent give you enhanced eyesight?”

“Uh… not that I know of. But I’ll come.”

If we’re going to fight, I need to be at the front of the action. Better that than being Jared’s experiment.

“You’re not leaving again?” says Poppy.

“I’m quick,” I say. “I won’t be long.”

“Just don’t get caught again.” Tyler joins Poppy. “Seeing as we came all the way out here to find you.”

“Don’t worry.” I force a smile. “You forget I’m indestructible.”

“Yeah…” Poppy exchanges an anxious look with Tyler. “Were you ever going to tell us you’re Transcendent?”

Oh, crap. “I didn’t know for sure until… a few days ago? Cas and I had to leave in a hurry. We didn’t want to cause a panic. And then, when I went after him… the same.” It’s a lame excuse. I should have trusted them.

“Murray kept us in the dark,” says Tyler. “I always thought he was a bit distant, but I guess it explains why he never talked about his family. His brother’s a giant dick.”

I start to laugh, then stop. “He’s one of the monsters now. Keep an eye out from here, okay? I’ll be back in a minute, but just in case.”

Even if his Transcendents turned on him, it’s been quiet far too long.

As if on cue, another screech sounds, this one closer. I say goodbye to Poppy and Tyler and run to join Ryan.

“They talked about you nonstop all the way here,” he says. “They were worried. Elle was hysterical too.”

“I don’t understand,” I say, in a low voice, as we climb the rise. “Why risk everything to come after me?”

“Why’d you risk everything to go after Cas? It’s human nature, Leah.”

Human. Pyros never thought of themselves as separate, except Cas. But Transcendents? My blood marks me as different. What happens when the last of my humanity is burned out of me?

The burning sky and the noise of fiend screams are a blazing reminder that
normal
as I knew it will never exist again for anyone. But I can at least keep the people I care about safe from the dark shapes becoming clearer by the minute. On the ground, not flying, though their silhouettes are too hazy to make out whether they have wings or not.

I nod to Ryan. I don’t know him, but I’m glad of the company. We walk slowly at first, to get our bearings and figure out where, exactly, the fiends are heading. Not this way, nor towards the distant walled shape of a town. I can’t tell if it’s the one Nolan and I passed by. I’m struck, for the thousandth time, by the alienness of my own planet.

Our planet. Jared’s lost the right to be part of it.

“They aren’t Jared’s,” I say in an undertone to Ryan. “They’re not enhanced.” But they’re definitely moving with purpose. We walk in a curve so we end up behind them, at an angle, a hundred metres away.

And then I see what—
who—
they’re stalking, and the blood freezes in my veins.

People. Wearing red coats, except one, a small figure in the middle of the group. All crossing the burned ground in an uneven formation but perfectly in step. Like robots.

Like they’re under blood control.

“No,” I whisper. “He activated the tattoos.”

How could I forget?
Val’s is deactivated, at least for now—I can’t know for sure that I permanently stopped it. With Jared, there’s no real way of knowing.

Right now, the important thing is driving off those fiends. Whether Jared sent them or not, the marked Pyros are distracted. I don’t know if the tattoos affect their ability to use their powers, but I can’t risk it. I draw my weapon, with another nod to Ryan as we get within range of the fiends.

One of them spins around, ugly face twisted, giant hand already clenching. No claws. These bastards aren’t going to live.

I launch myself forward in a burst of energy that propels me higher than I intended to jump, and I slam down in front of the fiend, fire bursting from my outstretched hands and sending them both staggering back. Slow. They’re too slow.

And they’re not going to hurt my friends.

Ryan runs at them from behind, swinging a short sword. The first fiend recovers, but I easily dodge its clumsy fist and stab the point of my blade into its arm, sending a burst of fire alongside it. The fiend screeches as the limb goes up in flames.

As do I. Fire flares up from my hands, catching the other fiend before it can run. The ground starts to shake under my feet.

I falter.
No. You can’t lose control.
I won’t use the energy blast here.

I don’t need to. The fiend collapses in a halo of flames, and Ryan’s made short work of the second one. I jump over the monster’s crumbled remains and head after the retreating group.

None of them turn around, even though they must be able to hear me. They’re too deep under Jared’s spell.

“Leah!” Ryan calls a warning, but too late. I sprint across the burned ground, realising in horror that we’re closer than I thought to Jared’s place. I recognise the dip in the ground where we left, even though I was half-conscious when climbing the ladder and leaving with Val and the others.

I skid to a halt, a couple of metres in front of them, between the Pyros and Jared’s lair. Not one of them stops walking. They’re so out of it, they might well mow me down.

Yet I can’t help it. “Stop,” I say loudly. “You don’t have to do this.”

My heart’s beating fast, my eyes scanning for an opening. I have to get Elle out first, but she’s right in the middle of the group, and I can’t guarantee the others won’t turn on her afterwards. Damn. I aim for a guy on the right, one I don’t recognise, and grab for his left arm. The one which will bear Jared’s mark.

He snaps into action the instant my fingers brush his hand, drawing his weapon with the other. The others do likewise.

So be it.

I block his strike with the edge of my own blade, wishing I had two. Quickly, I grab the wrist holding the sword with my other hand, drawing on every bit of Transcendent-enhanced tenacity I can, and squeeze as hard as I can possibly manage. His grip falters on his weapon, and in a burst of inspiration, I send a jolt of fire through mine. The flames don’t hurt him, but makes his blade tremble and drop a fraction. I wish I knew more about how to disarm a person. We only really covered how to fight the monsters, not each other, and attacks that would disable a normal person have no effect on a Pyro.

The others have backed away from the fire. That makes no sense, but I have to press my advantage. I set my other hand ablaze, the one gripping his arm, and he flinches. Instinct, I’d guess. He can’t be a new Pyro. Shame the coat’s fireproof, even though I don’t want to do any more damage than I have to. These Pyros don’t heal, and they’re miles from the base here. They must have walked nonstop.

The ground shakes without warning.
I’m not doing that.
No. Something else is brewing, a thickness in the air quite separate from the fire burning around my hands, around me. His weapon drops, and I quickly shift my dagger and slice the skin of his palm. He yelps and lets go, and just like that, he’s disarmed. In fact, his eyes are empty. The others have stopped, too.

Something isn’t right.

Another tremor. Wait. We’re standing directly on top of Jared’s headquarters at the moment.

And something’s happening underneath. Unless it’s coming from the divide.

Blood spurts. I’ve cut his arm blindly, but not too deep. I grab his hand, seeing I’ve nicked the edge of the tattoo, and complete the cut. I do the same to my hand, press it to his…

A quake sends us both flying. He slams into the ground, while I roll over uncontrollably, sudden bursts of pain exploding behind my eyes.

I can’t see. It’s dark. There’s something big moving in the darkness…

Cas. He’s with the fiends.

And I’m back in my own body again, coughing on dust, blinking it from my eyes. I’ve rolled right to the edge of the rise.