Lost Energy (24 page)

I found Avery in the crowd. "Care
to explain?"

She fidgeted, her tiny hands
combing through her hair and fussing with the front of her robe. "I-I made
a deal…with Oren, eighteen years ago."

"You're full of deals, aren't
you? What'd you promise him?"

She opened her mouth, but Oren beat
her to it. "She promised to help me find my Guide in exchange for my
promise to not find you."

"
What?
"

Avery rushed forward, grabbing my
hands, her eyes pleading. "Grace chose retirement and was living another
cycle in Earth. She was his Guide through three cycles in Exemplar, and he
needed…um, in order for him not to seek you out, I told him where to find her."

I shrugged my hands from her grasp,
my whole body shaking and ready to explode. "So, what's Earth? Your
dumping ground? How many Exemplians have retired there?" I narrowed my
eyes, so wanting to hit her. "Better yet, how many recycled Exemplians are
you
hiding
there?"

She blinked a few times. "Umm…I–"

"That many, huh? Why would you
do that? Earth's, what? A hotbed of unassuming recycled Exemplians? All that
energy–all that power–easy pickings for those bastards! And we don't have magic
rocks there to help us! They'll… Christ, they'll burn it to the ground!"

She cried. "No, the dimension
is too large, the largest. They'd be insane to attempt–"

"A takeover? Didn't you tell
me Earth was the next target?" I stepped closer. "Guess they're
pretty fucking insane, huh?"

Nicolette came to wrap her arm
around Avery, but she stayed silent. Maybe she thought the idea as stupid,
regardless of how much she cared about her Guide.

"I never thought… I assumed we'd
have a plan in place. A way to defeat them before they found out! I needed,"
Avery grabbed my hands again, "
we
needed to make sure there was
enough concentrated energy in one place. Please…our intentions were good. They–"

"No. No more. Your voice makes
my ears bleed." I moved away before I gave in to the temptation to
practice my right hook. "Everyone, please, who she's talking about, who I
used to be, I'm not that person. Not anymore. I want what you want. Peace. A
chance to live my life without Exemplian interference."

When a few grumbled, I held up a
hand. "Wait, I get it, trust me. What happened to you, I'm sorry, truly.
But who I was… Damn." I looked at my hands. "Who I was wanted
Exemplian control to stop." After a deep breath, I met every gaze. "And
I agree with her."

A collective roar resounded, and
some of the soccer moms rushed me. Surprisingly, before Wilma had to throw
anyone else in the air, Oren spoke up. "I agree with her, just not with
her methods. Prove you're different."

"How?" Anything. I'd do
anything to prove it.

"We fight if, and only if, we
do it together. No secrets. No blackmail. If someone wants out, we let them
out."

I couldn't nod fast enough. "Yes,
yes, definitely. I agree."

His baby blues shifted solely on
me. "And if those we fight want to join us, we let them."

Almost anything.

"Are you insane? We're gonna trust
a bunch of murdering bastards to help us? Besides, we need their energy to
repair this dimension. No way."

"We'll kill plenty to help
Empyrean." He folded his arms across his chest. "Those are my
conditions. Accept them, or Grace and I are gone."

Avery jumped in as I opened my
mouth, more than prepared for him to leave. "He's right, Lena. Many Exemplians
do not wish to be here. There is no choice for them, either fight or be marked
Tainted. What would you do?"

No answer for that so I kept my
trap shut and listened.

"We can figure out a way–there
has to be
some
way–to reach those tired of Exemplian control,"
Avery said.

I looked from her to everyone in
the room. "Does everyone agree to these terms?"

Most nodded, some did nothing.

"Fine." I bit the inside
of my cheek to prevent spewing any more reservations. They could save all they
wanted, but whoever turned on us would become squid food. "If you don't,
you're free to leave, though I wouldn't go back to Earth."

A woman, the librarian look-a-like,
stepped forward. "Some of us have families there. People who have no clue
how the world truly is. We can't leave them to suffer for our decisions."
She looked around. "And you know they will all be made to suffer because
of us."

Well, finally a situation we could
fix. "We can get them to Arcus. They'll be safe there."

Librarian pinned me with a glare. "Arcus?
So they can die of starvation? Or maybe shock? Did you not hear me when I said
most do not know of us?"

Stomach acid churned. Any more
confrontations and I might run away crying. "We have an Arcus ancient on
our side. Her presence makes the environment safer. My family's been staying
there and is doing fine. So has Winston's." Time for the dig, I'd think
about my diplomacy skills later. "And maybe it's time you're honest with
people you claim to love, huh? Let them know who you are?"

Her face reddened. "I'm
leaving. If you all choose to stay, so be it." She waded through the small
crowd to the doors. Before storming out, she turned to me. "I have no
trouble with the truth, Tainted. It's you who had the problem, and I'd never
ever
trust you."

"
Had
." I shrugged,
but her words had the intended effect. They cut. Deep. I cleared my throat and
addressed our small army one more time. "If you choose to stay, we will
help collect your families and bring them to safety once the battle is over. Anyone
else wants to leave, now's the time to do it."

I hadn't expected anyone else to
go, but two others left. A guy who could be an accountant and the gorgeous
girl. Shit. That left ten newbies. I glanced over at Winston, a grin curving
the left side of his mouth. "Don't worry about it."

Yeah, sure, whatever.

I went to Grace and hugged her. She
looked like she needed it. "I'm sorry, and believe me when I say I
understand if you want to stay away from the fight."

She patted my back and pulled away.
"I'd do anything for Ore." She gave him an adoring look, which turned
his bad attitude to mush.

His face softened as he squeezed
her hand. "I don't need you to put yourself in danger."

Her dark brown eyes, so young in a
wrinkled, aged face, brightened. "I will do whatever I please, and you'll
be fine with it." She turned to me, keeping her hand in his. "Of
course, I'll help. But I warn you, the only time I've ever felt the static he
always spoke about is when I met her." She pointed to Avery. "Now I
can't seem to shut it off."

I smiled, loving her immediately,
and gestured to Oren. "We'll help you."

"Good." She yawned,
hiding it behind a hand. "I do need some rest, however."

I jumped, ready to do whatever she
wanted. "Absolutely! Um…"
Okay, forgot this wasn't my place.

Teenesee strode to the door,
showing no signs of weakness. If the people in the room knew her, they'd wonder
about her silence during the whole conversation. Her secret was safe, though. No
way would we mention how frail she'd become. "Come, everyone. My home is
your home. Rest tonight. In two days' time we will begin to take back my world."

Everyone filed out, some with a
shell-shocked expression. Hopefully, no one would have a change of heart once
sleep helped clear their mind.

Before Avery left, I called to her.
"I expect you'll have an answer to how we're supposed to find the
sympathizers soon? If not, I don't see any other option but killing them all."

Her face paled, and it looked as
though a small breeze could carry her away. "I will come up with
something."

Nicolette glowered at me before the
two escaped through the doors.

Oren spoke up when Wilma, Farren,
Winston, and I remained in the room. "So, we start the nest search in a
couple days?"

I kept my eyes on the door, not
bothering to look at him. "If everything goes right."

"We'll all probably die before
finding it. Not a doubt in my mind they're watching our every move."

My gut dropped to the floor. The
way he said it, as if the outcome were inevitable, scared the living shit out
of me. "You always a pessimist?"

Oren sauntered toward the door. "No,
but I'm always a realist." He looked behind him. "We aren't the first
to go against Exemplar, and we won't be the last." He disappeared up the
stairs, taking a huge chunk of my confidence with him.

I turned to Wilma with a snort. "You
believe that guy?" I made my voice deep and curved my arms like a gorilla.
"
We aren't the first and won't be the last…
Prick."

She didn't give the reaction I
wanted. No, "screw him," or "he's a dumbass." Instead, she hugged
me until I could barely breathe. "I love you more than anything or anyone,
Lena. Always remember that. Whatever happens, as long as I'm breathing, no one
will touch you." She hurried to the door, letting it slam shut.

Shocked, I stood there with my
hands out staring after her. "Winston? We're gonna be fine, right?"

He hopped off the edge of the
couch. "Nothing's ever guaranteed. But what you're doing…how you handled
those people…I'd be proud to die beside you. Have a little faith. We got pretty
good odds." He kissed my cheek, his lips warm on my cold skin, and left after
a wave to Farren.

The pain in my chest squeezed and
ripped until I swore my heart would explode. The way Wilma reacted… So not the
confidence she'd been feeding me lately. My complete gullibility up until that
moment surprised me. I could die, and I'd never see my family again.

Oh. God.

If I only had a couple nights to
live, I wanted to spend at least one feeling alive, remind myself I had
something worth living for–and worth dying for.

As if he could hear my thoughts
worlds away, Tarek's voice penetrated my brain.
Come to me. Please.

Yes, yes I would.

"Let's get some rest." Farren
grabbed my elbow and led me to the door.

All the color drained from his
face, his fingers cold and shaky on my elbow. I stopped, refusing to take one
more step. "Wait. Just wait for a second."

He bent his head, rubbing the
bridge of his nose.

I moved his hand away from his face
and made him look at me. "We can leave. Right now. Go to them."

He tilted his head. "But
everything you said…now you want to run?"

"No, not run. Escape for the
night. One night. I can't… If I die… Please, Farren. Don't you want to see
Belva? One more time?"

A little bit of color came back to
his cheeks and his eyes brightened. "Wilma won't let that happen."

"We won't tell her. Anyway,
she'll know I'm gone as soon as I go through the portal."

He shook his head. "She'll be
pissed."

"She'll understand." I
ran to a large map in the corner of the room sitting on a marble pedestal. Our
light came from the raging fireplace. Thick iron shutters blockaded the bay
window. The soft glow was enough.

"Look, right here." Dimension
coordinates appeared where my finger touched the thick paper.

I enlarged the area. "We'll
open a portal in the field beyond the drawbridge, where no one is, and return
at this spot here. I'll have Tarek tell Wilma when we're coming back, and she'll
make sure nothing happens when we return." I tried hard not to start
sobbing, my desperation bubbling up and threatening to consume me. "Please,
we–"

Farren silenced my hysteria with a
finger to my lips. "I'm convinced."

Tears blinded me. One last time. If
I had this one time, I'd take it. "Thank you."

"Guess we deserve a day."
His serious tone didn't quite pull off the flippant remark.

I grabbed his hand, pulling him to
the door. "We're taking one, even if we don't."

We raced through the manse, trying
to be as quiet as possible. Farren struggled a little, but his leg didn't seem
to bother him much. More than likely thanks to some magic Empyrean meds, the
same that Wilma used to mend my hand. In our rush, I ran into a bronze bust
sitting on yet another marble pedestal. The head of some obviously important
guy would've toppled if not for Farren's quick hands.

Stupid.
Bronze clanging on marble floors
would boom like cannon fire.

"Sorry." My thin whisper
echoed through the empty hall, bouncing all the way down to the opposite end.

Farren shook his head, motioning
for me to keep my mouth zipped.

I nodded, feeling like an ass, and
kept moving. All it'd take would be for someone to scream or accuse us of going
AWOL and alarm bells would start ringing. Well, not so much alarm bells as
Wilma yelling while she dragged us to our rooms.