Eternal Starling (Emblem of Eternity Trilogy) (26 page)

Chapter 18

It had been a week since we’d gotten home from the sand dunes and the entire time I’d been playing referee between Alex and Emil. Despite what Alex had said, I trusted Emil—he hadn’t given me a reason not to. Both of them refused to leave me alone. The only reprieve I got was when I went to class. Truthfully, I didn’t know what I wanted. If I was being honest with myself, I probably wasn’t ready for a relationship with either of them. But I cared about them both more than I wanted to admit.

I was walking to my car after class one afternoon, looking forward to watching movies, ordering pizza, and relaxing at the house. I hadn’t invited Alex and Emil along, but I didn’t doubt they’d end up there anyway. As I contemplated their excuses for showing up tonight, I didn’t notice where I was stepping and tripped. I laughed, pushing myself up and leaning back on my knees. My backpack had fallen open when I landed. As I attempted to gather my books and my dignity, I heard a bemused voice. “Have you always been this clumsy?”

I looked up, but sunlight was reflecting off several windows on one of the dorms making it difficult for me to see the person speaking—the voice sounded vaguely familiar though.

I grabbed the rest of my belongings and stood, throwing my bag over my shoulder. From this angle, I could see the guy. Recollection, then surprise flashed through my mind and I almost dropped my bag again. He’d looked a lot younger the day I’d met him in the Black Canyon parking lot—the same day I’d met Alex. He’d asked about my car and been persistent when I said I wouldn’t go on a date with him; other than that, I had no idea who he was. I wasn’t sure if I should pretend I didn’t know him, or admit to remembering him. I decided ignorance was best.

I smiled politely, answering, “Not usually.”

His face was a picture of calm and he spoke in an eerie tone. “You never called me.” So much for acting like I didn’t recognize him. Being direct didn’t work in our previous conversation, but there was no point in lying.

I wrinkled my brow like I was trying to place where I knew him from, and pretended to realize who he was at that very moment. “I thought I recognized you. I met you in the mountains at the beginning of the summer. Do you go to school here?”

“No. I was looking for you,” he said without the slightest hint of teasing in his tone. A chill ran through me like cold fingers had wrapped around the base of my neck. I instinctively wrapped my arms around myself.

I tried to act like it was all a big joke. “That’s funny.”

He lifted his brow. “What’s funny about it?”

“It’s strange you would be looking for someone you barely know.”

He stepped closer and gave a haunting laugh. “Who says I barely know you?”

I was getting worried, but tried not to let it show. I didn’t have my pepper spray with me. “I’ve only spoken with you once. Even that didn’t last longer than a couple of minutes,” I pointed out.

He leered at me and the noise that came out of his mouth could only be described as a cackle. “Evie, Evie, Evie,” it sounded like he was saying tsk, tsk, tsk. “Let me ask you a question. What happened to the paper I gave you in the parking lot that day?”

“Umm, I’m not sure,” I hedged, “I probably threw it out.” I said the words, thinking about the note he’d given me. What had I done with it? I remembered ripping it up and putting the pieces in my pocket.

“Did you read it?” he asked.

I tried to evade him by answering, “I don’t remember.”

His smile became dark. “Oh, Evie, you
really
should have read that note,” he paused as if contemplating something. “Throwing it away was a big mistake.”

I tried my best to look amused instead of afraid. “And why is that?”

His smile was menacing and his dark expression seemed to communicate my ignorance. “With enough initiative, that note might have helped you gain your freedom,” he said.

“I don’t understand.”

His maniacal laugh was the last thing I heard.

When I woke, my head hurt and I was curled in a ball on a cold, stone floor. The air was cool and smelled like a combination of wet dirt and mold. I heard tiny splashes as small trickles of water cascaded down the sides of the room I was in. I sat up, the pounding at the back of my head becoming more painful with each movement. I reached my hand around to rub the aching spot and a sharp pain shot through my skull. When I brought my hand forward again, it had blood on it. Unsure how bad my injury was, I took my jacket off, pressing it against my wound to stop the bleeding.

I tried to control my panic as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I took in my surroundings. I was alone in what seemed to be some sort of room inside . . . a cave? The walls were made of jagged, layered rocks in various shades of blue, grey, and black. The crunch of rocks beneath me echoed off the dense stone in ominous whispers. The room was about ten feet long and twenty feet wide. A distressed wood table sat in the corner of the room, the only light coming from one candle sitting on top of the table. There was one chair next to the table and the candlelight illuminated some sort of door across the room. I knew the door wouldn’t be open, but had to check anyway.

I got up slowly, in case any other part of my body had been injured, and was relieved when my head was the only thing in pain. I took the candle from the table, walking across the room. The door was thick, freezing to the touch, and felt like metal—definitely not something you would find in a cave. There was no handle on the door and I assumed the only way to get in was to open it from the other side. I pushed and rammed my body against the hulk of metal, but the door wouldn’t budge.

I sat down in the chair going over the details of the abduction in my mind. The last thing I remembered was talking to the guy from the Black Canyon parking lot and being scared. Somehow, the guy had knocked me unconscious, but I couldn’t remember him hitting me. It didn’t make any sense, but nothing in my life the last couple of months could be considered normal.

I wasn’t sure what the auburn-haired guy wanted. I remembered him saying I should have read the note he gave me . . . what else had he said that day in the parking lot? Most of it was about my car, then he’d asked me to go out with him. He hadn’t seemed to like Alex, but Alex hadn’t been concerned.

I didn’t know what he could possibly want from me. Furthermore, I didn’t know where Alex had been earlier, or why he hadn’t stopped the guy from taking me. I realized I had come to rely on Alex’s protection far more than I thought, and obviously, to my detriment. Thinking Alex could always see me and would be able to stop someone from hurting me had not helped my situation. I knew Alex would be searching for me, but I also knew there was a chance he wouldn’t find me. I couldn’t count on anyone else to get me out of this mess. Somehow, I had to figure out a way to save myself.

There were no openings in the room other than the door, which I couldn’t get out of unless someone came in. I knew enough about defending myself that I might be able to escape the room successfully, but not knowing what I would encounter once I left was the problem. I would fight, if it was the last thing I did, I would make sure this wasn’t easy for the people holding me captive. Now I needed to figure out why they had taken me.

As if on cue, I heard someone on the other side of the door. The door opened and the guy with auburn hair sauntered in. He was wearing black pants, a long-sleeved red shirt, and a black tie. “Evie, it’s nice to see you awake,” the guy said with mocking concern.

I tried to remain as calm as I could, even though I was seething. “My head hurts. What did you do me?”

He leaned against the wall a few feet in front of me, smiling darkly. “You didn’t like that? The skill took quite some time for us to acquire.”

My eyes felt like they were throwing daggers. “It isn’t that hard to knock someone out. Come over here. I’ll demonstrate.”

The guy tilted his head like he was humoring me. “There’s no reason to be flippant. I’m being very civilized considering what I’m capable of. As for knocking a person unconscious, it’s not difficult if you use your hands. Assaulting someone with your mind is significantly more complicated,” the guy said smugly, the corner of his mouth rising in an abnormal grin.

I stared at him. “That’s not possible.”

He laughed. “By now, I thought you would be an expert on the impossible.”

I furrowed my brow. “Why would you think that?”

“Considering the company you keep, this shouldn’t seem strange at all.”

I narrowed my eyes at him in suspicion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He smiled slyly. “Come now, Evie. You were intimately involved with an Amaranthine Protector, and you recently dated a member of the Daevos.”

Clearly, this guy had more information than I thought. I turned away, not wanting to admit anything about Alex and Emil. Ignoring him didn’t seem to help though because he kept talking, “People like to explain things they don’t understand by calling them odd occurrences or impossibilities; really the rationalizations are coping mechanisms people use when they can’t deal with the truth. You seem to have adapted well, which is one of the reasons we thought you’d be a helpful addition to our group. We’ve been watching you for a long time.”

I rubbed my hands over my arms in a self-soothing gesture, stunned and disgusted that he’d been spying on me. I also wasn’t sure how he knew about the Amaranthine Society and Daevos Resistance. “What do you want?” I spat the words out through my teeth.

“I think you can be of assistance to me and my group,” he answered matter-of-factly. “Before we found out who you really are, we intended to abduct you as a way to force your Protector, Alex, out of hiding. But when Alex appeared to you, it made drawing him out unnecessary. We were trying to decide how to infiltrate Alex’s mind right around the same time you and Alex touched. Your connection was much stronger than we anticipated. Alex’s bond with you was useful in finding out some of the information we needed, but not all of it. Between your bonds with him and the time you’ve spent together, you should be able to act as the vessel to help us get into his head and find the information we need.”

I furrowed my brow, confused. Alex had told me he couldn’t be hurt by the Daevos. “Alex’s mind is shielded,” I said. “You can’t hurt him, and you can’t affect his mind.”

He gave me a slow, patronizing smile. “His mind is shielded to Daevos members, but not the woman he loves. We can use your connection, to access his memories.”

Panic started to race through me. I didn’t want Alex hurt because of me. I stepped away from the guy, wanting to run, but I had nowhere to go. I took a deep breath and held my ground, looking him straight in the eyes. “I won’t let you kill him,” I said.

He shook his head, chuckling. “We don’t want to kill him. We want to use him to find out what he knows. We’ve been watching your schedule and were pleased to find you alone today.” He moved with a lethal grace, stepping behind me. I shifted my head to look at him over my shoulder as I felt a tug on the shirt shrug I was wearing and heard the snick of a switchblade. I held my breath, wondering if my throat would be slit, or if I’d be stabbed. Before I could figure out an escape plan, I heard a ripping sound and felt threads fraying from my shrug. The damp cold of the cave hit the warmer flesh of my back causing instant goose bumps. I was grateful he’d only ripped the shrug and not my pale pink camisole. The guy walked to my left side where he could see my back, as well as my face. “We have many plans for you, my little Tracker.”

I shivered when I heard the name. I had no idea how they knew I was a Tracker, especially since I’d only recently found out. I also couldn’t figure out why these people would want to provoke Alex since he seemed more powerful and indestructible than anyone I’d ever met. “Who is your group?”

The guy looked at me, mystified. “You don’t know?” I stared back, unanswering. “We’re one of the Daevos Clans.”

Of course they were, and Alex had been right all along. Emil’s Clan had found me and now they were going to do what they’d been threatening for two hundred and fifty years. But what were they waiting for? And what information did they want from Alex? “I don’t know what you think you can learn from Alex. Taking me will only make him angrier when he finds you.”

“
If
he finds me,” the dark smile was back as he continued, “And the anger is what we’re counting on. Alex is quite the historian. He knows a great deal more about the Amaranthine and Daevos than most. You do know how the Daevos came to be?” he asked. I gave a slight nod of my head. “There are secrets the Protectors have about their powers, things I want to know. We’re going to learn as much as we can from him, through you.”