Collide (Entangled Teen) (The Taking Book 3) (17 page)

And then I’m in motion, faster, stronger than the Mami illusion can hope to be.

This isn’t real
, I tell myself.

I flip forward and kick, squarely connecting with her jaw and fighting the urge to cry at the sound of her gasping from the blow.

This isn’t real.

I punch again and again and grit my teeth together as I hear her cry, then beg for me to stop.

This isn’t real.

I grip her head, knowing what I’m about to do, knowing I have no choice, yet still I can’t stop tears from streaming down my face and a sob from erupting in my throat. I flick my wrists, snapping her neck in one fluid motion, and then drop her body and step back, my chest heaving, every thought and feeling I have shaken to the core. I blink to clear my watery eyes, and when I look again she’s gone.

“Mami!” I scream, and then I drop to my knees, unable to handle what I’ve just done. My hands shake and bile climbs my throat.

This isn’t real, Ari.

I stop cold and tilt my head, listening. I thought it was me before, some inner voice coaching me through this horror, but it wasn’t me.

It was Jackson.

I jump up and spin in a circle, searching for a viewing window, something, but there’s only metal, only long silver lines and doors that go nowhere.

“What do I do?” I scream out. “Tell me what to do!”

RUN!

The doors fly open again, and fire bursts out, clawing its way toward me. I spin on my heel and take off down the hallway, expecting to hit a wall, but it’s somehow opened up, the hall going on forever into the unknown.

I continue down the corridor as the walls disappear and water appears on both sides of me, like I’m walking down a narrow island through the middle of the ocean. I consider going back, but when I turn, the fire has trapped me in. Fire behind me, water on both sides. There’s no going back, only forward. Gingerly, I edge down the strip and then gasp as water laps over the path, waves crashing again and again to their own current.

I stare up, expecting to find a ceiling and instead stare into the dark night sky, two moons shining down on me like cat eyes, watching my every move. I peer back at the path, my mind racing for what to do, how to get myself out of this, and then the path disappears from below my feet, and I’m sucked underwater. I tell myself again and again that I can breathe, I can breathe, but water rushes into my mouth and nose and my body takes over, closing down, trying to protect what little oxygen I have left. My legs and arms kick in the water, pushing and swimming with everything I have in search of the surface, but it doesn’t come.

Fear sweeps over me, and again, I hear Zeus’s words about dying in the blueroom. But I won’t let him kill me in this mind game, him safely away, watching. When he dies, it will be in a one-on-one fight, him against me. Or him against Jackson.

I realize that I no longer hear Jackson’s voice and worry claws at me at what that might mean, but I can’t think about that now, I can only think about surviving.

I close my eyes and tell myself to breathe, to take a slow steady breath. My body tells me that icy water is filling my mouth, but my mind knows better. I ignore the coldness, the salty taste of the ocean on my tongue, the sting as it fills my nose, the sureness that I could die any minute, and focus on my breathing.

Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.
I continue to breathe, ignoring everything else, and my body sinks through the water.
I’m not dying, I’m not dying, I’m not dying.
And then my feet make contact, and the sound of a gun firing causes my eyes to snap open. I suck in a breath and stumble back. I’m no longer in the ocean, but back in the clearing in Virginia, in the middle of the fight.

Vill rushes over to me. “Where did you go? Where’s Jackson?”

I shake my head, disoriented. “What? Vill, are you—is this real?”

“What are you talking about?” he says, then a pair of Ancients start for us, and I try to calm my mind enough to run. “Ari, your gun!” Vill shouts.

“No, it—” I start to tell him that I lost it in the Unity tree, but then I feel my harness on my back, the weight of the two guns I stored there back at Sydia’s base. What’s happening? Is this reality? I pull one of the weapons and fire just as the Ancients are almost to us.

“Ari, what happened?” Vill asks, shaking my shoulders, but I can only stare at him, my head twitching, my eyes blinking too quickly to be normal.

I see Dad in the distance, fighting, and a surge of relief moves through me for the first time in what feels like forever. “Dad!” I call, and then he looks up just as a bullet hits him in the head. “No!” I scream. I start running toward him, but once again, I’m stuck in place, and then I’m no longer in the clearing, but back in the hallway, doors on all sides.

I grip my head, desperately trying to hold it together, keep my sanity intact, and then there’s a flash in the hallway, and my eyes zero in on the figure standing in front of me.

On Zeus.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

A growl erupts from my mouth, every bit of anger I’ve ever felt for him rushing to the surface. I pull one of the guns from my harness, still on my back, and point it at him, firing just as he slips into the middle door on the right. All thought leaves me as I track him, visions of all the people I’ve lost flashing through my head. Mami. Gretchen. Mom. Emmy. Dad. He’s to blame for all of them, all of it.

I jerk open the door and step inside without thought, and I’m surrounded by trees with huge leaves and the sounds of jungle animals and insects all around me. A rain forest, I think, just as a giant tiger jumps out from a patch of greenery in front of me, its claws drawn for the kill. I scream to myself that this isn’t real, this isn’t real, but I can’t slow my heart rate down. The tiger breathes its hot breath down on me just as it bares its teeth to take a chunk out of my skull. I scream and shoot, sending the tiger flying back. I scramble to my feet, but the tiger’s no longer there. I peer around and spot Zeus stepping through the forest green, disappearing once again. I race after him, afraid of what I might find next, and then I stop just short of falling off a cliff. I peer around and the scene has completely changed. I’m in the mountains, no sounds except the wind around me, and no sign of Zeus.

I draw a breath and close my eyes, trying to search out reality. I’m not really in the mountains, so where am I? I open my eyes to the deafening sound of a scream, chaos all around me. I’m back in the clearing, in the thick of the war, Zeus standing still in the center, as though nothing and no one can touch him.

He starts for me and I him, me firing again and again, but none of the bullets hit him. He laughs darkly and then points behind me. I spin around and instantly, I’m hit in the arm. I grit my teeth to push away the pain and when I glance back I’m in the hallway again, Zeus at the end, his laughter echoing all around. I dart after him, running despite the exhaustion that has taken over my body and mind.

He disappears into another doorway and I follow, shooting, ignoring the risk of running out of bullets, my brain no longer caring about anything but killing him. He dips into another doorway, and then another, each a maze of doors, all black and white, circling me, rotating, rotating, rotating. I try to clear my head, to fight the dizziness that’s overcoming me, to stay focused on Zeus.

I follow him into another doorway, shooting again and again and again, everything in me gone but this moment, this kill. I won’t let him escape. He slips through a final doorway, and I can feel it. The time is here. Every day, every minute drawing to this singular place in time.

I open the door to an empty room. Nothing but a floor and a ceiling and four walls. And my enemy. He sits in a chair in front of me, an evil grin on his face. I raise my gun. I see his lips moving, but I can’t hear the words. They no longer matter.

“I’m going to enjoy watching you die,” I say. I raise my gun and hear two voices—one in my head, the other in the room, one taunting, one screaming. I can’t make out what’s happening, what’s real. It all feels in front of me and yet somehow far away. Instead, I focus on the faces of those I’ve lost—the ones I might be losing right now—and fire.

I prep for Zeus’s attack, but instead, the room around me disappears, and I shake my head, trying to gain focus, trying to find my reality. I blink, watching as the bullet zooms through the air, everything in slow motion. And then it’s me screaming as I watch the bullet hit its target—watch as it hits Jackson in the gut, watch as blood spills out from his center, his eyes going wide.

“No!”

I’m standing in Zeus and Mami’s house, Jackson tied to a chair in front of me, his shirt now completely drenched in blood. I’m to him in one step, tears raining down my face. A rain that will never subside. “This isn’t real,” I say, my voice rattling. “This isn’t real. This isn’t real.”

Jackson’s face turns pale and he reaches out for me. “Ari…listen to me.”

“This isn’t real.”

“He’s back at the clearing,” he chokes out. “Remember how to get to the Unity tree from here? You have to go.” His eyes flutter closed, and I grip his hand, pressing it to my cheek.

“No, this isn’t real. Please,” I cry. “Tell me. Tell me it isn’t real!” Jackson’s breathing slows, and I drag my hands over my eyes, urgency taking over. “I won’t let you die.”

“The bullet,” he breathes.

“The bullet? It’s still inside you. You can’t heal. It’s still inside you.”

I grab a knife from my boot and cut his ties, then use all my remaining strength to pull him onto the floor. My hands shake so badly I wonder how I can do anything at all, but I can feel him leaving me, feel his warmth disappearing. Feel his death near.

I cut open his shirt and peer down at the wound. There’s so much blood it’s hard to see where the bullet went in. I run my hand over his stomach, finding the entry point, then press my palm to the spot, focusing on healing from the inside, but with the bullet still lodged inside, I can’t heal the wound before more blood spills out.

A sob works its way up my throat, and I force it back down, but all I can think about is us in the forest behind my house, our hands intertwined. His lips on mine for the first time. The moment I realized that I loved him. Him carrying me from the execution site. Me cradling him close after Zeus hurt Mami. Water pouring over us as I healed his back, then his naked body flush against mine as we surrendered to our love for each other. How can all of that be gone? How can I lose him now? How will I live through this?
Please don’t leave me.

I grit my teeth, but tears continue down my face. I blink hard, fighting for clarity, and look at him. His eyes are closed, no longer fluttering, his breath barely there.

I pull my shirt to my face and wipe away my tears and focus, knowing what I have to do, and a new sob bursts from my lips at the thought of the pain I’m about to inflict on him. “I have to get the bullet out before you can heal. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” And then I focus on the metal bullet, on pulling it toward me.

Jackson screams out, writhing around in pain as the bullet tears through his insides, creating more damage on its way back out. My body trembles, everything in me breaking into pieces as I watch his reactions, the agony I’m causing. The only hope I have is that I can heal him faster than the injuries kill him. But with the bullet inside, he’s…I trail off, unwilling to think the word “dead.”

I sense the bullet close and tug harder at it with my mind, speeding up its course to the original entry point. Jackson writhes again then passes out, and fear tears through me. What if I’ve killed him? What if…?
Please. Please!
I pray to everyone and no one. All I can do is focus on the bullet. Silver appears at the wound, and I pull it out and toss it to the ground, switching my attention to his injuries, healing one at a time. Xylem begins its work as well and the wound closes up before my eyes. A minute passes, then two, but he’s still not awake, his breathing so low I can barely hear it. Can barely feel his heart beating.

“Please…don’t die. I’ll do anything. Just stay strong.”

It takes another five minutes of waiting and healing for the color to return to his face and his breathing to relax. His eyes are still closed, but for the first time, I allow myself to hope.

I pull his head into my lap and sit as still as I can, taking my time raking my fingers through his hair, humming a tune that’s words I’ve long since forgotten. I know what’s happening back home. I know Zeus must be there now, doing whatever he had planned to do, but I can’t bring myself to move. Not an inch. I don’t want to miss him waking up.

My teeth chatter from the cold and fear and exhaustion as my mind drifts in and out, trying to figure out how Zeus succeeded in breaking me so completely. I lost everyone that matters to me. How can I find my will to fight when there is no one fighting beside me?

I press my forehead to Jackson’s and gently kiss his lips, deciding that this is my death, here, Jackson in my arms. For a moment, I almost feel content. A lifetime of fighting, and now it’s over. I tried…and I failed.

“You…can’t…fail.”

I jerk back, my eyes going wide. Was it my imagination? “Jackson?”

I press my palm to his chest, feeling his heartbeat. It’s stronger. Hope rises in my own heart. “Wake up,” I say. He doesn’t move, doesn’t respond, and I almost melt all over again. But I know I heard him. He spoke to me, he’s here. “Wake up,” I repeat. Then gripping his face, I lean in and shout, “Wake up! You’re not dying today. You are my other half. You. I can’t live this life without you. I won’t. So you wake up, you hear me? Wake up!”

“I’m right here,” he says, his eyes still closed, but his mouth is moving, his breathing growing stronger, his heartbeat speeding up. “No need to shout.”

A laugh bursts free before I can stop it, and I pull him to me, hugging him close, then lean away so I can see him.

His beautiful blue-green eyes stare back at me, alive and bright. “I told you. I go where you go. I will never leave you.”

“I thought…” I say, crying into his chest.

“Shh, we’re okay.”

I kiss his lips and eyes and cheeks. “I love you. So much. I just…I love you.”

He kisses me again, then pushes to standing, despite the pain I know he must be feeling. “I love you too, Ari Alexander. Always. Now, it’s time to end this thing. Zeus dies today.”