Hunted (Dark Secrets Book 1) (27 page)

Theron acted on it first. One morning while I was still asleep he packed everything we would need. I woke to a hearty breakfast of meat, fruit and bread. We ate quietly. Much too quietly. There were no jokes or laughter.

I went through my backpack. I'd had it since my mother disappeared. It was fitting that I'd leave it here—possibly for good. It seemed final. I chose my favorite cargo pants, a black T-shirt and a burgundy parka. Theron had already set out our jackets. I pocketed my Swiss Army knife, my iPod and headphones.

"Well, I can't save the world without these!" I teased Theron.

"What are you going to do about that?" He pointed to my chest.

The
Brísingamen
. I didn't know. "If I get captured it's as good as Morag's." I loathed the idea of taking it off, especially since I didn't know if we'd ever be able to get it again. I laid my hand over it. "No one has used it all this time," I reasoned aloud. "We don't know how it works. I should leave it here—hidden."

Theron didn't argue. I unlatched it
—again—and gazed at its luster. "I don't know what it does but I know it contains some power that Morag desperately wants, maybe even needs. I can't risk it." I walked over, took out the beautiful, silky dress Theron bought me in New Orleans and wrapped the necklace safely inside. "If we can get my mother out of there but can't get back to Earth, we'll bring her back here and she can be in charge of it again."

"That was brave. I know it's hard for you to give the necklace up," Theron said.

We then hid our packs in a tight crevice that wouldn't be easily found if someone did happen into our cave.

"How are we going to get there?" I asked.

"Once we clear the caverns we can hitch a ride into the city on a transporter. They're sort of like cars only they don't have wheels—they hover." He added, "The general population doesn't speak English either—so, here." Theron placed a small, circular disc behind each of my ears. "These translators won't come off—not even in water—unless you peel them off." He cascaded my hair across my shoulders. His fingers lingered. "We'll be in the city in a few hours at the most." His voice trailed off a bit. "Are you having second thoughts?" he asked while staring into my hair.

"No," I answered firmly.

"Then let's go."

~

We made it up over the cavernous region, through the forests and into a vast golden valley.

"We need to put on the servant's clothes," Theron said as he pulled them from a small sack he had placed on his waist belt. We put them on over our clothes, which were already layered over our armor.

"We'll get into the city and rest in a vacant building until nightfall."

We looked sort of bumpy with everything under our disguises, but they were big and covered everything well. We came up a hill, and I could see a myriad of hovercrafts zipping across the sky. They were in different shapes
—some were small and compact, others were huge transports like trains. They all flowed together like water. Theron stood straight with his fist in the air but kept his face shrouded by the white hood of the servant's uniform. A second later a craft shaped like a triangle stopped over us and, before I knew what had happened, we were sitting snugly inside the thing and the driver was asking where we were going.

When Theron spoke, it sounded like he said, "Edge of the city." But the way his lips and mouth moved, he could have been saying, "Garbally Gook."

Translators,
I remembered. That would take a little getting used to.

No one made conversation for the duration of the trip. When we reached the outskirts of the city, the driver stopped and we were suddenly standing on the ground. He whizzed over our heads and away.

"How in the…?" I asked.

"Don't talk. Let's just get to safety," Theron instructed.

Soon the sun was creeping toward the edge of the sky and Theron led us into a decrepit shell of a building. We climbed the stairs to the second floor. We reclined against the side of a deteriorating stone wall. Small, ugly animals that resembled mice but had harsh faces and the green skin of a lizard with sparse growing tufts of hair scurried along the edges of the walls and vanished into holes. I tried hard to focus on my breathing and quiet my nerves.

Theron put his arm around me, and my head occupied his shoulder. The room smelled of thick, chalky rock powder that floated every time the wind invaded through the glassless window sills. It stirred up the debris left over from years of war. I wondered how much of the dust was really the ashes of those who had been killed. That didn't help me feel calm. At all. I seriously questioned our plan.

"Maybe we should rethink our strategy?" I questioned, my voice shaky.

"Do you want to go back to the caverns?" Theron asked.

I sighed. "No. And your strategy is excellent—you do kick ass you know."

He smiled at the compliment. "Ever since I met you, you've wanted your mother back. That's what we're going to do
—we're going to get your mother." Theron sounded so sure, like he believed it. But I wasn't sure I hadn't signed our death warrants.

I could see outside that the sun was going down.

"It's the high odds of dying I'm concerned with. Not enough to not do it, though. I guess I'm just thinking about how much life there is left to experience. I probably don't sound very brave," I said.

He laughed lightly. "You are incredibly brave, Freya. I wish you could see yourself the way I see you."

He came away from the wall and sat facing me. Both of us were cross-legged and Theron made it so our knees were touching. I loved when he did that.

"You are not going to die. I won't let that happen." He touched my hair. "I have a gift for you." He reached into the small pouch on his belt and pulled out a folded light blue cloth. "Unwrap it."

I did. Revealed in the palm of his hand in a bed of blue cloth was a small, clear round stone, a little larger than a marble, that was set in a gold band. It was a bracelet.

"It's a zoesphere," Theron said, gazing into the orb. He rested his right hand over the top of it and closed his eyes. "This is part of the Novian betrothal commitment."

"Betrothal commitment," I repeated, trying to make the words make sense.

"In Novia a man gives his life essence to the person he wants to be his companion. He presents it to his soul mate." He opened his eyes and looked at me passionately. "I transferred a small amount of my energy
—my life force—into the orb. Now you will have a tangible part of me with you. It represents my promise—that as long as I have breath in my body I will love you and do everything in my power to make you happy, safe and whole. It signifies the phrase 'until death do us part.'"

Theron lifted his hand. The perfect clear glass marble was now filled with a magical, swirling garnet that soon settled and spread across the inside of the sphere, causing it to look like a solid garnet globe.

He looked up at me, a bit surprised, and smiled. "I always thought my essence would be black. It must have changed because of you." He swallowed. "As long as I am alive the essence will remain in the stone."

"What if
…?" I couldn't finish the thought out loud.

"Then my life force simply evaporates and the globe becomes clear again," he answered as he fastened the precious globe around my wrist.

A passionate seriousness took over us both as shadows covered the room. We stared at each other in a current of emotions.

"Is it glass? What if I break it?" I breathed.

"It's indestructible—like absolute love." His breath touched my face as he leaned in to me.

I leaned in further. "Then I am in absolute love with you, Theron Hawk."

He closed the distance between us. His lips brushed mine as he spoke. "And I am in absolute love with you, Freya Catten." He kissed me, and I never wanted it to end. His hands came up into my hair from the nape of my neck. I loved him. I loved the fire he ignited inside of me. I loved his power and his humor.

He let our lips part and gazed at me with a mixture of love, sadness and longing.

"We have to go." He was right of course, but I didn't want to.

The sun had sunk fully behind the horizon.

"We'll need these." He pulled folded black squares from the small pouch. They were long, lightweight hooded parkas. "These are to get us through the city."

We fled out into the deserted, filthy streets. Platinum moonlight flickered through the skeletal ruins of homes and businesses, abandoned cars that had been stripped for their parts, trash and rubble. The ground beneath our feet was blackened and scorched. I tripped over a toddler's shoe. I had been in some undesirable locations in my life, but this was by far the most terrifying.

I knew that at any moment a gunman could come along and end our lives and our mission. I would have felt panicked if not for Theron's grip on my hand. We wound through the streets and alleys.

"It isn't far now," he said to comfort me. We took a corner and heard shouts and laughter. It sounded like a group of men
—drunken men.

"Down," Theron breathed as he backed us into the darkest shadows against a cold stone wall and pulled my hood completely over my face.

I tried desperately to steady my breathing, but my pulse was slamming out of control. To strengthen myself I replayed a scene of the movie
The Last of the Mohicans
in my head. Hawkeye had been courageous while saving Cora, as he made his way through the line of angry Hurons who beat him ferociously.

I can be brave, I can be brave.

They were just about to pass us when, for just a millisecond, I felt
like I could
see
them. It was like lightning flashed across my eyes and dramatically illuminated everything around me. Just as fast, it was gone. There were three men holding guns. Their laughing transformed to bitter accusations.

"Because you're a stupid, worthless coward," a voice said.

Another man cursed and cocked his weapon. Another flash of lightning streaked in my mind. I shook my head to clear it, but I saw the man push his gun barrel into the other man's face. Involuntarily, I gasped. Instantly, I was yanked roughly to my feet. My hood was ripped back from my head. All three men smiled sinisterly.

"Dessert," the one with the gun said as he lowered it. The other two chortled.

Theron burst up through the middle two of the guys. He slammed one under the chin so hard he flew up over backward. The second one, he disarmed and then knocked him out with the butt of his own gun. Before I could react, the man still clutching my hood folded at my feet in a heap.

"I don't think so," Theron said roughly. "Come on," he added and took my hand.

I peered behind me to assess the damage and smiled.

We traversed several more blocks when Theron stopped us. "Get on my back."

"Okay." I got behind him and hopped up onto his back. I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his shoulders. "What is it?" I whispered into his ear.

"Bio-hazards."

I scanned up ahead. Garbage was strewn, littering the street and sidewalk with debris. Theron cautiously and speedily dodged every piece. He set me down once we reached the other side.

We had crossed the barrier that separated the wealthy from the poor. Several more blocks in, and we saw it
—Sparta rose ominously into the night sky. I prayed that benevolent beings would have our backs.

We ghosted across the manicured combat field and ducked behind a group of storage containers. We slipped off our black parkas, and Theron stashed them under a container. We were ready in our white servant uniforms. Theron produced the ID cards on lances and we hung them around our necks.

I read mine, "Aurora Archer."

"Remember, look no one in the eye. When you go through checkpoints just flash your card and keep your head down," Theron said.

"Got it," I nodded.

"Stay behind me. I am your shield."

He walked us openly to a large black door that had foreign symbols emblazoned on it.

"Kitchen Entrance," Theron answered in anticipation of my question. He swiped his key card and we stole through the open door.

The kitchen was meticulously clean. A small robotic droid, about two-feet tall and shaped like a mini fridge with a control panel and a bunch of lights on the front, paced up and down the white smooth floor, leaving a freshly washed trail behind it. Huge, black earthenware vats sat on top of heating elements. We walked through to an adjacent kitchen where workers were seated, separated by plastic partitions. They chopped and sliced foods I didn't recognize. I figured out that the partitions were there so they couldn't converse with one another. They didn't even look up as we brushed past them and into the hallway. We were in.

Everything was smooth white
—white walls, white floors and white ceilings. It was almost hard to tell where the floor stopped and the wall started. It was disorienting. There was no art on the walls, no decorations anywhere. No windows, no doors. I felt uneasy. The hallway smelled like it was regularly scrubbed with antiseptic. We bounded around two corners when a white wall closed over the path. I obediently stayed huddled behind Theron's back.

Theron waved his ID card through the air. A blue light blinked once and the wall parted in two like a set of elevator doors. We walked through, and the doors closed behind us. It was nothing but a white-walled box. Theron waved his hand again, and a phantom control panel quasi-materialized with a riddle of codes and symbols. Theron did some quick motions with his fingers, and I could feel movement. A moment later new doors split open, this time to the left of us. I couldn't even tell if we had moved up or down or from side-to-side, but now Theron was leading us out through the doors. It looked exactly the same as the place we had just come from. A frightened shiver passed through me
—if anything happened to Theron, I would never find my way out of here.

I focused the fight or flight adrenaline-rush that frenzied through my muscle fibers onto my mother's face and our goal. For too long I had believed my mother had abandoned me, now I understood she was a victim.

I heard footsteps approaching. I kept my head down. In my peripheral vision I could see a man stop Theron. He was in a dark green uniform. Theron picked up his card and kept his head down while the guard checked it over. Satisfied, he handed it back to Theron, regarded me quickly and said, "Pass."

We moved along and my breath returned to normal. We walked down a very long corridor and I started to feel more and more edgy.

We went down and around a few more corners and hallways, then Theron stopped again and typed more codes into the air. My pulse was pounding. My heart felt like a champagne cork under pressure, about to burst from the bottle.

Another door
—another empty room. That's when the floor dematerialized out from under us.

After a seven foot drop we collided with a cold, hard floor. Now everything around us was polished steel or some other metal. I felt closed in
—like I'd be able to touch the ceiling if I jumped.

"Are you hurt?" Theron asked softly.

"No. You?"

"I'm good."

We both stood up. "What is this place?" I breathed.

"I don't know," Theron said, shaking his head.

At that moment a metal panel grew out from the floor between us as another identical panel dropped from the ceiling. It happened so fast that neither of us could react. It closed seamlessly between us.

We were utterly cut off from each other.

I started to scream Theron's name but the sound was captured in my throat. I pressed my palms and forehead against the unbending metal divider and closed my eyes.

Suddenly, I recognized a familiar voice laughing with macabre glee. I jumped to look behind me as my blood curdled.

An image of Morag materialized in the empty space before me as if he were being broadcast on a flat screen monitor. He was keenly good looking—and insane.

"I knew you would come back, and you didn't disappoint! The disguises were stealthy. Might have gotten away with your schemes, but I'll admit I was holding an ace. I've had every square foot of Sparta equipped with DNA scanners. I was alerted the moment you crossed into my home," Morag sneered. "DID YOU REALLY BELIEVE I WOULD LET YOU WALK IN HERE AND JUST TAKE BACK YOUR MOTHER?" he boomed. He paused to regain himself then purred, "You still have something I want."

I thought about offering an exchange, but I knew even if I gave him the
Brísingamen
he would still kill us. "I don't have the stupid necklace!" I said defiantly.

"Oh half-breed girl, the only thing stupid is you for not having figured out the
Brísingamen's
great powers and mysteries," he said. "And, Theron—do you have any idea the severe consequences you have heaped upon yourself for your great treason? You have cost your government millions of dollars. You are a waste and, trust me, your punishment will be so much worse than death. However, if you know where the necklace is, it may be your last chance to negotiate a lesser sentence."

Theron didn't even respond.

"No? Nothing from you, Theron? Such a shame. But your girlfriend still possesses the blood I need to keep the Bifrost stable. Perhaps, boy, I will have you watch me drain her of all of her blood. And there are so many ways I could do it. Should I bring her to the edge of death then snap her back just enough so that she can make me more blood? Or simply drain her until her being is empty and her soul withers?"

At that moment two images lined up, one on top of the other, next to Morag's. At the top was a live broadcast of me, in all my fear and defiance. Under me was an image of Theron. His white uniform was off and he was wearing his regular jeans and T-shirt. He had his Chinook ready. In his right hand, I saw the metallic silver gleam of the closed cylinder sword.