Indebted: The Premonition Series (16 page)

“What if you are the price?” he asks.

“I’m evolving new tricks every day. I bet that soon there won’t be any cage that can hold me,” I say in all seriousness. “If I can survive, then I can get away. You have seen what I can do and there are other things that I can do that you haven’t seen yet.”

“Other things? Like what?” he asks, narrowing his eyes at me.

“You have to turn around,” I say to Phaedrus.

His black eyes widen. “I have to—”

“Just do it,” I sigh.

When Phaedrus’ back is to me, I remove my clothes. I move a few paces to a moss-covered boulder nearby, and then I press myself against it. Closing my eyes, I imagine Brennus walking towards me from the trees nearby, causing overwhelming fear to course through me. In the back of my mind I whisper the word
hide
. “Okay, turn around—” Instantly, rigidity overtakes my limbs while my body resembles the gray mass of stone speckled with moss and bracken.

“You are a nymph, a sprite…” he exhales in shock, while his hand traces my silhouette. It takes a couple moments for me to lose some of the rigidity so that I can answer him.

“A chameleon is how Reed described me. I’m evolving to survive. Let me help you, it’s my mission,” I plead.

Phaedrus turns his back on me again as I begin to change into my original form. Quickly, I collect my clothes and put them back on. When I’m done, I walk to face Phaedrus in order to gauge his reaction.

He stares at me for a few moments before he puts his hand through his hair in agitation. “Here is what I am willing to do. I will take you to Buns and Preben. We will contact Reed and Zephyr from there, but I am not taking you with me. Too much can happen.”

I nod grimly to his new plan. It gets me most of the way there. I can find them on my own when we get close. If I have to slip away to accomplish that, I’ll do it. Something tells me that my enemy, the Ifrit, will find me. Brennus said he had to block the Ifrit’s magic from getting to me. There will be no blocking it now. He will find me and I will save my friends. I try hard to block my thoughts from Phaedrus, because if he listens to what I’m thinking, then he will never let me come with him.

As Phaedrus and I travel through China, we are mostly on foot but sometimes we fly, and not on a comfortable airline either, but with our wings. I thought it would be mad cool when I finally gained the ability to fly, but it’s hard work and it makes every muscle in my back, neck, and shoulders ache. I can only fly for an hour or so at a time before I need to stop and rest. Phaedrus is encouraging, trying to show me ways to streamline my technique. I’m grateful that he is here, not only for the advice, but because he had to catch me a couple of times early on when my wings just gave out on me and sent me plummeting towards the ground.

Phaedrus has access to money, too, which helps tremendously. We are able to rent a car. I like to say we “rented it,” because we left them money to purchase a new one before we took it out of the rental garage near an airport in Russia. We were considering trying to fly, but I have no papers and the risks are too high that we will be spotted by an “unfriendly,” which can be anything from Gancanagh, to Fallen, or even an unenlightened divine angel.

We only stop in small towns on the way, where I buy us food, gas, and a change of clothes. Well, I don’t buy Phaedrus clothes because he explains that he has “special clothes” not bought off the rack. His clothes look the same to me, but it’s definitely not from around here because humans can’t see it. Humans can’t see Phaedrus either. He’s a Virtue, so I have to do all the negotiating for whatever we need. I rely on him to translate whatever anyone is saying to me because there is quite a language barrier for me in this part of the world. Phaedrus does most of the driving while I sleep. I haven’t been this tired since the last time I fled from the Gancanagh and it’s beginning to show.

Every time Phaedrus’ phone rings, he just looks at the display and then puts it back in his pocket. We both know that it’s one of our inner circle trying to get an update from him to see if he knows where I am. We haven’t talked about it, but it’s kind of an unspoken agreement that it’s better for them to think that Brennus has me. We both know that our chances of some kind of survival seem better with Brennus, so we decide not to tell the other angels the truth about going to confront the Ifrit.

Phaedrus keeps watching me with a pained expression on his face, like he is reconsidering his decision to bring me along with him. Hiding my thoughts from him is becoming almost impossible because I can hardly keep my eyes open, let alone stop my mind from wandering where it will. Maybe he is having trouble reading me because I’m so scattered or maybe it’s easier to read me because I am, I don’t know.

Unfortunately, Phaedrus is not my only companion on this trip. Not long after we leave Russia, the Ifrit invades my mind while I’m sleeping. His raspy voice comes to me when I’m in the twilight between sleep and wakefulness. He keeps asking me to show him where I am, but I’ve been able to stop him from seeing our location. He is frustrated. He oscillates between threats and the seductive promises of pleasure beyond my wildest dreams. At this point, the wildest pleasure I can think of is sleeping for a couple of days straight in a soft bed–with Reed.

It is growing dark by the time we leave Kiev where we had stopped to use the bathroom and to get something to eat; Phaedrus and I drive south, out of the city. “We’re close now,” I say in a low tone. The city lights are gone and the scenery has become more of a rural landscape. Enormous fields stretch out near the road, dotted with the kind of small windmills that I recognize from visions the Ifrit has been sending me.

“Yes, we are very close now,” Phaedrus agrees.

“You know that I have to go to him,” I say, looking out the window at the scenery speeding by me.

Phaedrus is silent for a while. Then he says, “I know that is your plan. You have been saying that since we left China—over and over and over. I know all of your reasons—all of your arguments. It’s your conversations with the Ifrit that are the most painful to me.” He looks directly at me and I cringe.

I close my eyes, knowing that I haven’t spoken any of this out loud. It’s all been playing in my mind. He was listening to my thoughts the entire time. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that you were listening,” I reply with a sad expression. I wet my lips, knowing that I have to convince him to let me do this alone. The Ifrit wants me, not him. He will crush Phaedrus. I can’t have that. I will already be negotiating to save two members of my family. I don’t want to add to it. “I have to go alone,” I say, looking at him.

“This is all wrong,” Phaedrus says, gripping the steering wheel tight and clenching his teeth. “I don’t understand it at all. I feel…”

“What?” I ask in surprise that he looks so frustrated and angry—bleak. He is usually so calm, like nothing can rattle him.

“The closer we get to the Ifrit, the colder I feel,” he says, looking at me with fear and dread. It takes a second for me to understand what he is saying. When he nears a target, he feels heat—it gets warmer for him. The fact that he is getting colder means he is moving away from his true target.

“I’m not your target anymore,” I murmur, looking at him to see fear on his face. “Russell and Brownie aren’t either. This is not your mission.”

“No, you are not my mission any longer and I feel as if I am delivering you to your execution,” Phaedrus admits, not looking at me. “I know I’m supposed to let you go, I just cannot. Let me take you to Preben. He will have a plan—he can help.”

“No, he can’t help,” I say quickly. “The Ifrit wants me. You have been listening to it speak to me. You know that if I bring Preben, the Ifrit will kill him. I have to go alone.”

“Maybe Preben will keep you from going there altogether,” Phaedrus says soberly, trying to find a way to keep me away from the Ifrit.

“Then they’re dead,” I say, feeling bleak, too.

“Maybe they already are, have you considered that?” he asks.

“
No!
” I retort angrily. “Do you have a new target?” I ask, fighting not to show him the dread I feel.

“Yes,” he says with reluctance.

“Do I know your target?” I ask, and see him nod grimly. “Who?” I whisper.

“Reed,” he says and I close my eyes.

“Stop the car,” I rasp, my head is spinning and I feel nauseous. I press my forehead against the cool pane of the glass, waiting for the car to slow down. When Phaedrus pulls to the side of the road, I say, “I’ll get out here. You have to go to him.”

I open the door and climb out of the car, hugging my arms to me as a cold breeze hits me, pushing my hair back from my face. Phaedrus opens his door, too, following me as I begin walking on the side of the road. “Evie,” he says in fear.

“Where is he?” I ask, turning to him, feeling panicked. We both know that I’m asking about Reed.

“He’s near where I found you. He and Zephyr located the Gancanagh nest where Brennus had taken you, but no one is there now. He is distraught, but in no real danger that I can see,” he says.

“If he’s not in danger, then why are you being sent to him?” I ask in confusion.

“Sometime Virtues are sent not just to help with miracles—sometimes we are sent to console others,” he says and his words bring tears to my eyes.

“I see,” I say, trying to hold back my tears. “Thank you for all of your help, Phaedrus. I couldn’t have done this without you and I have to do this—alone. I love you. Take care of Reed—make sure he knows I love him, too.”

“Wait!” Phaedrus says in desperation, rushing to my side. He strips off his jacket, wrapping it around my shoulders as he pulls me to him, hugging me.

“It will be okay, Phaedrus,” I whisper. “I’m tougher than I look.”

“No, you are not,” he says in a low tone.

“How far is it, do you think?” I ask.

“A mile, maybe a little more. There is a church—I believe they are in there,” he says against my hair.

“Keep him away, if you can,” I say. He knows that I mean for him to keep Reed away from the Ifrit, and possibly me, too, if that monster decides to keep me and not kill me. “If I can get away, I’ll let you know.”

He nods. I pull away from him and turn to walk down the rural road that leads to the church. I don’t look back when I hear the car door close. He doesn’t start the engine for a long time, but watches me walk away, out of the pool of his head-lights and into the darkening night. Finally, the engine whines as Phaedrus wheels the car around, heading in the direction of his new target.

I hang my head in sorrow for just a moment when I know I am truly alone. I feel like I’m going to my execution, just as he had said. Then I move forward again. I hop a fence of fieldstone and cross a field dotted with Queen Anne’s lace. Goose bumps rise on my arms as I pass the cluster of windmills that I have seen in a dream. The scent is sweet in the field though, not the scent of heat, like it had been when it was forced upon me in visions. I gaze down the hill, beyond the small, whitewashed house that I knew would be there. The church looms dark and grim with its rough-hewn, timber façade, capped by tall, oblong spires reaching to the sky. Black, ominous clouds have collected above the roofline, as if Heaven is showing me the way.

Russell

CHAPTER 10

Survival

“Russell…Russ…” Brownie’s quiverin’ voice cuts through the hazy darkness. I try to open my eyes, but only one will cooperate with me. The other one is swollen shut.

“Yeah?” I croak, liftin’ my head an inch or two off the dirt floor. The corners of my mouth are achin’ where crusts of blood have dried and cracked.

“I…just wanted to make sure,” she whispers. I hear the clankin’ of the thick, metal chains that bind her to the wall movin’ as she shifts somewhere across the room from me.

My body is shakin’ so bad that I’m surprised she had to check to make sure that I’m alive. It doesn’t really hurt that bad right now. My head hurts, but that’s the only part I can really feel at the moment. He broke a couple of my vertebrae high up on my back. I can’t feel my arms or anythin’ below them at the moment ‘til my spine heals, but when it does, I’m gonna be in a world of hurt. He cut pieces off of me and stood right in front of me, eatin’ them. When he first did that, I couldn’t stop screamin’, horrified by what he was doin’. Now, I know that I can regenerate tissue, bone, flesh…so I try just to block out his image as he stands over me, hammerin’ my bones.

But, the longer this stretches on, the more I’m gettin’ to welcome the pain. The pain isn’t the worst of this, although, it’s pretty freakin’ bad. The worst part is the fear…wonderin’ what that freak is gonna do next and when. Waitin’ for it to come is almost worse than it comin’ and when he comes and he doesn’t take me, but takes Brownie instead, I can hardly deal with that fear…and when he brings her back all broken and torn, I just ‘bout go insane. I figure I get another chance—maybe a shot at the Paradise that everyone keeps talkin’ ‘bout, ‘cuz of my soul. That’s not the case for Brownie. If it kills her, she’s just dead.

It’s hard to even think now. I have no concept of how long we’ve been here. There’s no light wherever we are—some kind of cellar of a church. I know it’s a church ‘cuz he drags us up past the pews to the altar surrounded by religious idols. He tortures Brownie and me on that altar and all I can see is the archin’ spires of the ceilin’ high above my head while I’m lyin’ there in a pool of my own puke and guts.

The Ifrit keeps tryin’ to turn my head inside out, to see what I’m made of, to gauge what I am. It seems confused by me and extremely pissed off. The only thing I know for sure is that it wants her. It wants Evie with a need and an urgency that I can taste, and I don’t know how much longer I’m gonna be able to keep it from her.

“I’m so sorry, Russell,” Brownie whispers to me across the room. “I never saw him coming…I should’ve seen him coming.” I can just make out her platinum blond hair. In the absence of light in the basement, it looks white. She’s sittin’ on the floor with her back against the wall and her long, sleek legs are pulled up to her chest.