Eternal Hope (The Hope Series) (14 page)

“Fun though this is, we’re going to stream some television off the internet.” She looked at Farley. “You wanna join?”

“Thanks, but no.” Tess’ taste in television was hideous- way too many reality shows.

“Actually, I’m gonna go for a run,” Oliver announced, shaking his hand free from Tess’. “My fitness levels took a nose dive when I started hanging around you guys. And seeing as how I’m not allowed to do any martial arts training, I might as well go do some cardio.”

Tess pouted. “Please, baby?”

“No.” Oliver laughed, but his expression was firm. “It’ll do me some good to…get out for a minute.”

“Maybe you should stay,” Grayson said. “Daniel-”

“Isn’t here. I’m only going to be gone half an hour. I’ll come straight back. Sheesh, you guys are worse than overbearing parents.”

Tess looked wounded by the comment, and probably wounded that her boyfriend would rather run up and down a mountain than watch Jersey Shore with her. “Okay, fine. But don’t be long?”

“Yes, ma’am.” There was something strange about Oliver’s tone, but the smile on his face seemed real enough as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. He jogged out of the room and Tess sulked over to the computers by herself.

As soon as they were gone, Kayden threw himself down on the couch beside Farley. He shot her a beatific grin. “Heard you landed yourself in some trouble earlier. Adding grand theft auto to your rap sheet?”

“Don’t you have something to be doing, Kayden?” Grayson sighed. He shunted himself a little more upright in his chair, fidgeting when Kayden turned a hostile glare on him.

“Nope. Got any suggestions?”

“How about you go groom your feathers?”

Kayden rocked his head back against the back of the leather sofa and let out an open-mouthed laugh that sounded beyond forced. When he let his head fall forward, there was no humour in his eyes. His face was deadpan, his voice flat. “And how about you go floss your teeth some more?”

When was this going to end? Farley ground her teeth together until they made a grating sound inside her head. “Can you guys quit it?” She turned on Kayden. “If it’s not Daniel, it’s someone else. Is there anyone in this house you haven’t pissed off?”

An indecent glint blazed in his eye. “Yes. There’s you.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a fluke.”

“Oh, come on, I shared my breakfast with you.”

“Just ‘cause you’ve done one nice thing does
not
mean it outweighs the ever-increasing number of other incredibly annoying things you seem to do without even trying.”

Kayden gasped. “How dare you. I try very hard, thank you very much.”

Farley rolled her eyes, realising that Grayson was watching their exchange like it was a baffling tennis match.

“Just… play nice,” she warned him. “I bought something for you while I was out.”

Kayden raised an eyebrow at her, the playfulness vanishing like smoke. “I found my clothes, y’know.”

“It’s not clothes. It’s paint.”

His expression remained neutral. She panicked for a moment, wondering if it had been a weird thing to do. She barely knew the guy, after all, and he was kind of Daniel’s arch-nemesis.

“I think that’s the single nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me,” he said.

Grayson made a strangled noise, which he tried to cover up with a cough. He shook his head. “I need to go to the bathroom but I really don’t think I should.”

It was Farley’s turn to shoot him an evil stare. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well,” he winced, “I don’t think Daniel’s going to like the fact that you’ve been buying gifts for his ex-best friend.”

“Just shut up and go to the bathroom,” Kayden snapped. He switched back to look at Farley, but she remained locked on Grayson. Would Daniel be upset with her for giving Kayden a gift? This whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing was still so new, and in all honesty she had no frame of reference to go off. When she looked at it sensibly, though… Girl dates guy. Girl pisses off guy, and then goes and buys his loathed enemy a pretty personal gift, which his loathed enemy is apparently extremely happy about. Yes. Yes, Daniel was going to be angry. She shut her eyes, suddenly feeling remarkably stupid. Kayden was studying her- she could feel his eyes on her. When she recovered from feeling like a total moron, it was to discover that Grayson was gone.

“You worry too much,” Kayden whispered. She slouched down into the sofa and let the leather form around her arched back, knowing the position was going to get really uncomfortable really soon.

“How’s that?”

“Because a few words from Grayson can make you look like if a huge crack suddenly rent the ground open, exposing a fiery hell below, you’d jump in just to avoid upsetting anybody.”

“Well, I
don’t
want to upset anybody. Especially Daniel.”

Kayden rubbed his face with his hands, groaning loud enough for Tess to look up and send over a peeved look. He scooted down even further in his seat, pretending to be scared.

“Look, I think you’re awesome. But I know you love Daniel. And, loathe as I am to admit it, I know I’ve not exactly been subtle over my feelings for Cassie. I’m sure Daniel knows both of those things, too. So, please… give me my damn paint.”

A startled laugh burst out of Farley. At least Kayden knew she wasn’t coming onto him, and he was right: Daniel would be pissed, but he wasn’t going to get the wrong idea.

It was easier allowing herself to slide off the leather than it was to stand from where she was sprawled. Kayden laughed at her bizarre dismount of the sofa and took the hand she offered out to him. She heaved him up, chuckling when he flapped his arms to get his balance. By looking at him, you’d think it would impossible for him to be ungainly. But there it was.

They were halfway out of the library when she heard the crash behind her. She spun on the spot to see Kayden gripping hold of the bookcase he’d been running his finger on only ten minutes earlier. There was a pile of books at his feet. He was bent double, his body shuddering.

“Kayden?”

He looked up at her, his hair falling into his face. There was a pain in his eyes, but worse, there was fear. His legs buckled from underneath him and he fell to his knees, pulling more books down off the shelf as he collapsed.

“Kayden! What’s going on?” She rushed to his side, but he thrust out his palm towards her. She stopped in her tracks.

“Don’t move,” he whispered, “They’re calling me back.”

There was no time to ask questions. Kayden’s spine suddenly bent back, unnaturally far, and the tattoo beneath his t-shirt ignited into pale, golden light. The white material smouldered until it disintegrated to leave perfectly formed glyph-shaped holes. His eyes went wide; he managed a startled gasp and then, quicker than a snap of fingers, light exploded out of his back.

It was a raw kind of jagged light that fanned around him, the color of the early morning sun. It was different to Daniel’s light: his was like forks or sparks, Kayden’s was like rays bursting out from his shoulders. Farley’s head spun with a mixture of shock and terror. She staggered sideways, fumbling until she found a shelf to grab onto. Across the room, Tess jumped to her feet, her mouth hanging wide open. Farley knew from the look on her face that Tess saw what she did- that for all the world it looked like Kayden had wings.

His body tremored, like a surge of power ran through him, making his muscles spasm. He looked straight into Farley’s eyes. “Don’t worry,” he gasped. He gave her a bleak kind of smile.

And then he was gone.

It took fifteen minutes for Kayden to find the energy to move, and when he did all he could manage was a body-wide shiver. His muscles wouldn’t quit trembling. This was what it had felt like the very first time he’d come to serve the Quorum. The sensation wasn’t something you ever forgot, especially when you’d been hoping for something a little more…well, pleasant. Instead, you got a sick nausea that tightened in your belly and the pain of a thousand burning knives in your back. The agony of a clean slate wasn’t something to be borne lightly, and apparently Kayden had been in need of yet another fresh start.

“Gahhh,” he groaned, grinding his teeth together as he drew the strength together to raise his arms. Palms flat at either side of his head, he pushed up and rocked his body back, pausing for a second until the spinning sensation subsided. Four deep breaths were enough to push down the rising blankness, but when he dragged himself up to sit on his heels, it was too much. He fell forwards onto all fours again, vomiting violently onto the cold stone slabs.

“Was he this bad the last time?” a male voice asked, echoing off the walls. The room sounded small, tight. Kayden analysed the information he had close at hand. Tactics. He had to think tactics.

Somewhere small, somewhere…underground? Hardly any light. Smells stale. Old. Freezing, freezing cold.

His breath plumed like smoke when he huffed out a breath. No. He didn’t think he’d ever been to this place before. In the blackness, another voice responded to the question.

“Last time he was crying. This is an improvement.”

Kayden flinched, dragging the back of his hand across his mouth. He knew that voice, would know it anywhere, but what the hell was she doing with them? What could she possibly be doing getting herself involved with the Quorum?

His strength returned enough for him to sit up without retching again, and when he slumped back against the cold, wet stonewall behind him, she was standing right in front of him. With the Interrogator.

There were only a few things left in this world that Kayden was scared and that man was one of them. It was his eyes. They were so hard. Cold. Completely devoid of any expression.

Kayden swallowed. “Agatha.”

She smiled down at him, taller for the very first time since they’d known one another. “Kayden. So good to see you.” She held out her hand, offering to help him stand.

Kayden surveyed her from head to foot, searching out her injuries. She had to be a prisoner, although what she could possibly have done wrong was beyond him. But there wasn’t anything wrong with her. Nothing at all. Her hair was different, pulled back into a tight bun, and her expression seemed sharper, her eyes too dark. But other than that she was just…Agatha. She let her hand drop to her side, twisting her mouth into a wry smile.

“Maybe you’ll need a few more moments yet.”

“That’d be good,” he agreed. He shifted himself, pushing back against the wall with his foot. The move lifted him so he was sitting straighter, but also had the added bonus of putting a few precious inches between him and the Interrogator.

“Aggie, the others… they’ve been so worried,” he rasped. It felt like his throat was bee-stung and swelling shut. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“Everywhere?” She cocked an eyebrow at the Interrogator. “I don’t think they looked here. Did you see them looking here?”

“I did not,” the Interrogator replied. His hand shifted to the back of his pants where he pulled out a Pax blade and held it silently at his side. It wasn’t a threatening gesture. It was precise- the sort of move a person might make if they were going through the steps of a well-practiced routine. Feeling like this, it would take all of five seconds to bury that blade in Kayden’s heart. He would
barely have the time to blink. Agatha stepped forward and crouched so she was at his side. She laced her fingers together in front of her, resting her elbows on her knees.

“Tell me,” she said quietly, “have you enjoyed being off your leash the past few days?”

Something in the way she spoke wasn’t normal. The fear in Kayden’s stomach tumbled, but now it wasn’t fear for Agatha’s safety. Some inert sense of danger gave him enough common sense to know that it was
he
who was in danger, not her.

“What have they done to you?”

“Oh, nothing I didn’t willingly sign up for,” she said, smiling. It was a broad smile, and there was something so reassuring about seeing her freckled nose crinkle like that, the way it did when she was happy. But again, a warning bell went off in Kayden’s head. She wasn’t the same. His whole body recognized that. Worse still, the power they had stripped from him- the power that had returned and made itself very much at home inside him again- recognized it, recognized
her
. That could only mean one thing.

“How…how are you the…where’s Nevoi?” he stammered.

Agatha tipped her head back and laughed, the clear sound of her amusement bouncing around the room. “Nevoi is no longer. I think they buried what was left of her, but by the time these guys were through… let’s just say I don’t think they needed to dig a very big hole.”

Nevoi was gone. The Emissary was gone. A tide of confusion, despair and complete dejection washed through him. “So you’re the new emissary? That’s the reason why you disappeared? You’re the reason
he
didn’t kill me?” He pointed over her shoulder at the tall man pacing stealthily along the length the back wall. His curly hair fell into his face, which only made it more intimidating when he lifted his eyes to pierce through Kayden. He might as well have been impaled him through his chest to the wall. Kayden let his eyes drop. Agatha looked bemused as she glanced over at the Interrogator and then back at Kayden.