Encala (14 page)

Out to the sides of the window were small
ledges. She was pretty sure her feet would fit on them. Further off
to the sides were drains coming from the roof. Emily opened the
window and looked back to make sure no one was coming in the door.
She was able to shimmy out onto the small ledge while leaning up
against the stone building for support. When she got to the
drainpipe, she slid down it to the next floor and repeated until
her feet were firmly on the ground and her heart could quit
pounding. It was by luck alone that she managed that without
falling or being seen.

Emily went in the kitchen door, knowing it
was abandoned during this time of the day. It was also close to the
doorway she needed. She ran down the hallway, pushed the stone, and
impatiently waited the four seconds it took for the prison door to
open. She shut it behind her and ran, out of breath, down into the
prison room.

“
Lady Emily, you can’t be
down here!” one of the guards said, frowning.

“
Shhhhh,” she said to him,
and put her finger to her lips.

He looked around curiously.

“
Where’s Kyle?” she
asked.

“
Ma’am, I’m going to have
to insist that you go back upstairs. Where are your guards,
anyway?” he asked, taking her arm.

“
Guarding an empty room…
you just touched me,” she said, and then grinned, it was
perfect.

He jerked his hand away, “Sorry, I’m so
sorry.”

She watched as he eyed the other door
guard.

“
Chevalier gets pretty mad
when a heku touches me,” she reminded him, watching as his eyes
filled with panic.

“
Just go upstairs. I won’t
mention you came down here, and we’ll keep the touch to ourselves,”
he suggested, almost pleading.

“
Deal... but first… where’s
Kyle?” She crossed her arms.

The guard sighed, “Fourth row, last cell on
the right.”

Emily held out her hand, “His key.”

The guard set his jaw, “No, you aren’t
letting him go.”

“
I know that… I promise not
to let him go. Now give me the key or I’ll tell the Elder you were
both savoring me,” she said, raising her eyebrows.

“
You wouldn’t!”

“
I would.”

He growled and handed her a key. She walked
to the fourth row of cells, ignoring the hisses and growls from the
heku she passed. When she got to Kyle’s cell, he sat up and looked
at her.

“
Em, what are you doing
here?” he asked, shocked as she opened his door and stepped
inside.

She shut the door behind her and turned
around. Kyle was now standing, and his eyes were wide.

“
You have to get out of
here, it’s not safe.”

“
Why did you do it?” she
asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

He growled, “Guards! Get her out of the
prison.”

“
They won’t listen to you.
I don’t believe your lame excuse. You are my friend, why did you
have to do it?” she asked, and watched him sit down.

“
What exactly did I do?” he
asked, looking at her curiously.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
I don’t know why I’m here,
Em. No one will tell me,” he said, looking around the
bars.

She frowned and watched him, “You… wait…
what?”

“
I’m sure it’s pretty bad.
They say I’m in for life, but when I ask why, they just growl and
walk away.”

“
You were at the
trial.”

“
I’m sure I was. Tell me
please. Don’t make me spend an eternity down here without knowing
why.”

“
You… you attacked me,” she
said, watching his face.

“
I wouldn’t do
that!”

“
After the boat crashed.”
She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she didn’t trust
him.

Kyle sighed and laid his head in his hands,
“I don’t remember the boat crashing.”

“
You don’t remember tearing
my clothes off?” she asked, surprised.

He looked up at her, “I wouldn’t do
that.”

“
Or feeding off of me,” she
said, and heard a hiss from across the hallway.

“
Emily, you have to believe
me, I wouldn’t do that. You know I care about you, but I would
never do anything to hurt you and I wouldn’t do anything to anger
Chevalier.”

“
It was you, Kyle. I’m not
lying.”

“
I don’t doubt it… I don’t
know what’s happening. I can’t remember anything since we were out
on the boat. Then… I’m here,” he said, looking around the bare
cell.

“
We need to tell someone
then,” Emily said, concerned.

“
Don’t do it. You shouldn’t
even be down here. Where are your guards?” he asked, looking out
the cell toward the hallway.

“
Upstairs, I’m guessing,”
she said, looking at the floor.

“
You promised to stop
slipping them.”

“
I had to talk to
you.”

“
Why? If I did the things
you said, you shouldn’t be near me.”

“
I can’t leave you down
here, not if you can’t even remember it,” she said, grabbing the
key from her pocket.

He grabbed her wrist, “Don’t, that would
cause more problems than you can imagine. You need to stay away
from me, do you hear me?”

She shook her head, “I have to do
something.”

“
You have to stay with your
guards and forget about me,” he whispered.

Kyle’s eyes grew wide and he stepped back
away from Emily, letting go of her wrist. She turned just as a hand
grabbed the collar of her shirt and she felt the wind as she was
thrown against the stone wall of the prison. The force knocked the
wind out of her, and she slumped down to the cold floor.

“
How dare you touch her,”
Chevalier said to Kyle.

“
I was just stopping her
from letting me out, I swear,” Kyle said.

“
After what you’ve done,
you shouldn’t even be talking to her,” Chevalier
growled.

“
I told her to leave. I was
trying to get her to go back to her guards,” Kyle said,
softly.

“
You’re lucky I don’t tear
you apart right here.”

Emily heard the cell door slam and a hard
hand on her arm hauled her up so she could stand. She winced as
Chevalier roughly pulled her from the prison and up the stairs. Her
arm was aching by the time they got to the bedroom, and she
couldn’t even look at her guards as they passed them. Chevalier
slammed the door shut and threw her against the bed.

“
What were you doing?” he
asked, seething.

Emily tried to rub some feeling back into
her arm, “I had to talk to him.”

“
You had to? You promised
me you would stay with your guards.” Emily was sure she’d never
seen him quite this angry. There was a dark shadow across his face,
and his furious eyes were deep and swirling.

“
I’m sorry, ok? I had to
talk to him.”

“
What did you have to talk
to him about so badly that you’d slip your guards, threaten the
door guards in the prison, and actually go into the cell with him?”
He took a step toward her, and she crawled back further on the
bed.

“
Calm down, please,” she
said, standing up on the other side of the bed.

“
I will not.” He stepped
around the bed to face her.

“
He doesn’t know what he
did.”

“
Of course he doesn’t,” he
said, and took another step closer to her.

“
You have to talk to him,
Chev, listen to him. He doesn’t know why he’s in prison.” She took
another step away from him, but found her back against the
wall.

“
Yes he does. He’s just
playing off of your fragile mortal emotions.” He gritted his
teeth.

“
Fragile mortal
emotions?”

“
He knew you would
eventually feel bad for what he did. He’s planned this entire
thing. I just can’t believe you were stupid enough to fall for
it.”

“
I’m not stupid,” Emily
glared at him, and she could feel her temper flare.

Chevalier was at her in one step and grabbed
her upper arms, picking her up off the floor, “What do I have to do
to get a little bit of obedience from you?”

“
You’re hurting me,” she
said to him, fearfully.

“
Tell me… what I have to do
to get you to stay with your guards?” he snapped at her, and
slammed her roughly against the wall.

Emily screamed when her head hit the wall
and she heard the front door open. Chevalier turned to look at the
four guards, and then let go of her. She fell to the ground and he
blurred out the door.

Mark knelt down and looked into her eyes,
“Are you hurt?”

“
Get away from me,” she
said, trying to stand up, but her knees buckled under her. Mark
lifted her up and sat her on the bed.

“
Get the doctor,” he
ordered.

“
No,” she told him, and the
heku at the door stopped.

“
Emily, something’s wrong,”
Mark said to her.

“
Get back to your post,”
she tried to sound fierce.

“
But…”

“
Now,” she yelled, sitting
up. The guards bowed and returned to their station outside of her
door, and shut it behind them.

Emily leaned her pounding head into her
hands and took some deep breaths. She did a quick check over her
body and other than her headache, a neck pain, and her aching arms,
she wasn’t injured. Thinking quickly, she went back out her window.
This time she didn’t care who saw her, but she needed two minutes
alone with Kyle. The prison guards were shocked when she walked in
and she glared at them as she walked by.

“
Why are you back here?”
Kyle asked, coming to the cell.

“
We’re leaving,” she said,
digging the keys from her pocket.

“
What?”

“
I need to get away,
please, just come.” Her eyes frantically looked toward the
guards.

“
Emily, are you ok? Did he
hurt you?” he asked, looking at the bruises on her arm.

Emily nodded.

“
Tell no one where you’re
going. Go, now,” he said, urgently.

Emily hesitated, and then ran up the stairs.
When her guards saw her, they gasped. She ignored them and ran into
the bedroom.

“
Sam, come here,” she
yelled, and he appeared from Allen’s room.

“
Pack up, we’re getting out
of here,” she told him.

Emily dug deep in her bureau and pulled out
an envelope. She folded it and put it in her back pocket just as
the door opened.

“
Are you leaving?” Maleth
asked, shutting the door.

“
Yes,” she told
him.

“
I’m sorry. I can’t let you
leave.” He was moving toward her.

She looked up at him surprised, “Why
not?”

“
We need you. Since we’ve
seen your abilities, we swore to keep you here under our
protection.” He put a hand on her shoulder.

Emily jerked away from him, “You can’t keep
me here.”

“
I can and I will.” She saw
the same dark shadow cross his face that Chevalier had. Maleth took
her wrist.

“
Let go of me, Maleth. I’m
not one of your heku you can boss around.” She tried to get her
wrist free, but he only held tighter.

“
All we need from you is
some obedience.” He looked down at her ominously.

“
Let go, don’t make me ash
an elder,” she said, angrily.

Maleth brought his hand up quickly, and when
the back of his hand connected with her cheek, she flew back
several feet and landed hard on the wooden floor. As she got her
knees, she could feel the blood trailing down her face.

“
Elder?” Mark asked. They
heard Emily scream and walked in just in time to see the Elder hit
her. The guards weren’t sure what to do, they were her protection,
but he was their elder.

Maleth turned and snarled at the guards,
giving Emily just enough time to get to her feet and run into
Allen’s room.

“
Skip packing, we’re
leaving,” she whispered to Sam, and then picked Allen
up.

Sam grabbed one tiny bag and followed her
out into the bedroom. Emily moved past the Elder, and as he tried
to grab her, she turned on him.

“
Last warning, I can ash
you and you know it,” she hissed, and then took off out of the
room. She heard footsteps behind her, and turned to see the guards
following behind Sam.

“
Go away,” she said,
turning back down the stairs.

“
We’re not leaving you,”
Mark told her, still confused about what was going on.

“
I’m no longer under the
protection of the Equites.” She hit the ground floor and ran,
holding Allen close to her.

“
You can’t just make us
leave,” Mark said from closer to her.

She spun on him, “Mark, I like you, but I
will ash you if you don’t turn around now.”

Mark’s eyes grew wide and he put his hand
out to stop the other three guards. He watched her leave and then
turned back toward the guard house.

Emily opened the door to the massive
underground garage. It didn’t take her long to find the black
Humvee among all of the sleek sports cars. She tucked Allen into
the car seat and slammed it into drive, spinning out and driving
too quickly out of the garage. She didn’t even look back until she
had hit the Interstate and was cruising along at 80 mph.