Lost Energy (29 page)

As we walked through the deserted
town, the once quaint and pretty shops now burnt warned us to stop and turn
around. The screams died down, but crying echoed within the recesses of the
buildings. These people lost everything and now had to suffer by watching the
mounds of sheet-covered bodies burning right there on the sidewalks. The stench
coming from the charred remains became too much, and I couldn't make it to a more
discreet place before my stomach gave up. I fell to my knees. Dry heaves
attacking after nothing else came.

Wilma scooped me up and didn't let
go until I could stand. "Keep it together, damn it."

All I could do was nod as I wiped
the leftover vomit from my cheek. She continued forward, and I let Avery and
Nicolette go ahead of me. Farren still took up the rear, prodding me if I
slowed down.

Just… Damn.

All that talk, all that shit I said
to the Protectors and Teenesee, all the confidence I faked… I couldn't fake it
here. Not with dead bodies reminding me of how totally scared I was for their
surviving families.
My
family.

Then Cara pushed through the fear.

Please, please, please, let her be
alive
.

I covered my nose as we kept to the
shadows. When we got closer, I recognized where we were. The same area Farren
opened the portal. Which meant one of the lookalike homes lining the streets in
Empyrean's main village was Cara's. I searched my brain, trying to remember
exactly which house she lived in, but didn't have to wonder long. Farren took
the lead, running in a direct path to her doorstep.

I jogged up behind him, shirking
Wilma's hand when she reached out to stop me. She wasn't that serious to hold
me back, though. One flick of her hand and I'd have been a pissed off statue.

Farren used his sleeve to wipe the
dirt from the window. When I looked through the spot he cleared, my heart raced.
There she was, reading a hologram book on that bright orange couch, smiling.

"She's okay!"

Farren shook his head.

"Of course, she is. Look."
I tapped on the window, but she didn't look up. After the second tap, I noticed
her body flicker–like a hologram. A man walked in from the kitchen, holding two
steaming mugs. His body flickered, too.

"The window blockers are still
up," Farren said.

As fast as the elation came, it
flew away, forcing me to hold onto the sill before my knees gave out.

Farren stalked to the door to find
it unlocked. He disappeared through the entryway, and in seconds, his face met
mine through the glass. When he shook his head, face drawn, I stumbled backward
until I tripped over the burned heap in front of her house. The mounds on this
street were not complete ash. Careless Protectors didn't stick around to make
sure fires took. But the pile grew larger. Kneeling, I lifted the half-burned
sheet.

"No, Lena, don't." Wilma's
hand covered mine.

I lifted my chin, pleading with her.
"I have to."

She stared at me for a while before
pulling her hand away. As Farren came over and hunched beside me, I lifted the fabric,
sobs choking me. What I found brought me closer to the ground as I fell to the
cobblestone slicked with ash. Charred bones and skulls with melted strings of
hair. Tarnished jewelry wrapped around cindered wrists and blackened rings melted
around fingers whose skin had not quite disintegrated. One ring I recognized,
the delicate design not yet burned away.

"Oh, God." On the inside,
I screamed, but my voice remained a whisper. I tore my blurred gaze from the
ring to what Cara held clutched in her arms. The screams inside echoed out,
filling the quiet streets, matching the heartache in the distance. Her little
girl wrapped in cloth, and by some miracle not touched by the fire, lay on Cara's
concaved chest.

I covered my ears and shut my eyes.
"No, no, no, no, no…"

Someone clamped a hand over my
mouth and dragged me against a solid chest. Hot breath smacked against the hand
over my ear. "Quiet, Lena. Please. I'm sorry…please."

Farren's plea cut through the
torment wreaking havoc on my brain. I wished the shock would come back.
Please
come back!
His hand didn't leave my mouth until I stopped whaling.

I hated it, the influx of pain,
misery, defeat. "We should've never went in there. We killed them…We
killed them…We killed them."

"No." His voice hitched,
cracking.

I searched the faces in front of me.
All had despair radiating from their eyes. I found Wilma and reached for her. She
rushed to me, picking me off the ground, and keeping me wrapped in her arms.
She whispered unintelligible words until the first waves subsided.

Wilma pulled away, her face an
angry mask. "Do you feel it?" She flattened a hand against my
stomach. "In here, can you feel it bubbling?"

Ripples of pure rage, the need for
revenge, circulated through me. I nodded, my tears drying, my eyes gritty. I
felt it. Hate. So raw, so potent, I could live off it, be sustained by it.

"Use it. Own it. And let's go
get those bastards."

The hatred took over, sealing off
my heart, making me stronger. I didn't care anymore about black and white and
the gray area in between. Farren was wrong. Black and white…there was nothing
else. I now understood who I used to be and why. No doubts remained. I knew
her, and I wanted what she wanted.

Tarek once told me living the same
life over and over again turned most Exemplians hard, immune to feelings. Past
Lena's apathy prevented her from doing what I knew in my heart she wished she
would've done.

I didn't have that problem.

I would kill every single one of
them.

EVERYTHING

A
very felt it before I did. Static
didn't cloud my brain until we were almost on top of the nest, which happened
to be the only building not charred or ransacked.

Nest.

Right.

I didn't know what I expected, but
a building wasn't it. A building that took up an entire block. From the statue
of Teenesee–broken and crumbling–gracing the tiny yard, I assumed it to be the
equivalent of the courthouse. A few Protectors patrolled the outside, some
sitting on the stone steps leading up to the main doors. Others took their job
a bit more seriously, walking the perimeter.

We hid a block down, inside what used
to be a tavern with upturned tables and chairs, whiskey bottles broken on the
floor, the shelf behind the bar empty. Funny how the bastards didn't burn this
place, only trashed it, taking what they wanted.

All
I
wanted was to set the courthouse
on fire. Torch it and listen for the screams. I stared out the window, waiting.
The one thing keeping me sane was the image of them paying for killing Cara and
her baby.

The. One. Thing.

We had to wait for Winston to come
back from destroying the nest in the woods, since he had to help Tarek keep the
lines open. The nest we found was too big for us to handle, another hiccup in
the plan. It had to be destroyed before the lines opened, though. For that,
we'd need Winston and the Protectors with him, as well. The static was almost
enough to send me into a coma.

Almost.

The lines bleeding had revenge
salivating in my mouth. Desire to see their fear, feel it when they saw Arcus
coming to get them, actually had a laugh escaping. Wilma looked over, her brow
scrunched.

I shrugged. "What?"

She pursed her lips, crossing her
arms. "You gonna make it?"

"I'm fine." I returned my
attention to the window. "Fine…fine…fine."

"You don't sound fine."

I tapped my fingers against the
glass. "Leave it alone."

She stayed quiet–for about thirty
seconds. "When Winston gets here, you and the rest of the Guides stay
behind."

That got my attention. I pushed
away from the window and stormed to where she stood, not giving two shits about
repercussions as I stared down at her. I pressed all my hate through my voice. "I'm
not staying here."

Wilma's eyes flickered. "Zander
and Avery might have to collect energies; their bodies need protection."

I bit my lip to keep from screaming–or
laughing. Whatever swirled inside my head grew dark, thick, and heavy. "Don't
do that. Don't act like you're giving me a job when all you want to do is lock
me away. Give the babysitting duty to a couple Protectors. I can fight, damn
it."

Her eyes narrowed as her finger
jammed into my chest. "You will stay–along with some Protectors. If
anything happens, they're to cart your ass outta here. That's non-negotiable. Understand,
girl?" She jabbed my chest again with a little more force, propelling me
backward. "
You
don't give orders to me." Another jab. "
You
do what I say." And another. "And if I hear one more stupid thing
come out of
your
mouth, I'll take
your
ass far away from here
myself."

For the first time in my life, I
wanted to hurt her. She made me powerless, impotent.

No, she reminded me of how
powerless and impotent I really was.

I staggered back to the window,
shaking my head. "You're not my mother, and you're not my ruler." My
attention returned to the distant guards, picturing their bodies in flames. "You're
not my anything."

Her breath hissed in the silence.
Through the reflection of the glass, I saw Farren's big body stalk toward me. "Stay
away from me." My eyes met his in the window. "Both of you."

He froze, his mouth forming a thin
line. Farren turned to whisper with Wilma, and to be honest, I didn't care what
they conspired together. I'd do what I wanted. They couldn't keep me in here.

Avery spoke, cutting through the
thick tension. "I must use the facilities." When no one answered her,
she added, "I believe I noticed a restroom upstairs."

Still, no one even gave her a
glance. Farren and Wilma were undoubtedly too busy lamenting about my attitude.
Me? Well, those guards weren't gonna imagine their deaths themselves, were
they?

Time crawled as if in a repeating
loop, never moving forward. The more I stared at the walking corpses down the
block, the stronger the urge became to run outside and test my aim. Cara's
melted flesh and her little girl bundled in her arms fought through the
hardening shell surrounding my heart, further solidifying my desire for blood.

Wilma and Farren's whispering
continued. Their voices like sandpaper against my brain. No doubt, they planned
a way to keep me in here, but that would only happen if someone stayed with me.
Or maybe they planned to take me away before the party started. If they tried,
I'd never forgive them. Never. I'd–

Oh, shit.

Static, thick and potent, rushed
past me, leaving me breathless before the feeling faded. One thing I'd come to
realize after spending time with Exemplians was each Guide I came across had a
unique effect on me. Once I felt it and met the source, I couldn't forget.

I knew exactly to whom that energy
belonged.

I ripped up the stairs, taking two
at a time, not getting to the room fast enough. "You bitch!"

Stomping feet followed me up. I
tried to force the door open with no luck. Wilma thrust me aside, and waved her
hand, the door exploding from the hinges. There was Nicolette, gun drawn,
guarding Avery's body.

"What have you done?"
Wilma's face paled and her hand twitched right before she waved it, picking
Nicolette off the ground, and tossing her against the brick wall.

Nicolette struggled to stand, her
gun wavering as her pointer finger reached for the trigger. Before she could shoot,
I kicked the weapon from her hand. She swept my feet from under me, flipping me
into a chokehold, backing up against the wall. Her grip was tight, but I could
still breathe.

Nicolette's entire body trembled. "Don't
make me hurt her."

Wilma stepped forward, and
Nicolette's grip stiffened. I held up a hand as Wilma waved hers. When Wilma
lowered it, I swallowed. "You know you won't win this fight."

Nicolette sobbed, though her hold
remained. "I asked her not to, begged her, but…" She hid her face in
my neck, her tears soaking through my suit. "She swears there are innocent
people in there. She had to give them a chance."

"Fuck this." Wilma
flashed her deadly hand, ripping Nicolette's grasp from my neck and pulling me
to her side. "You know what you two assholes managed to do? We no longer
have the element of surprise. In seconds, that whole goddamn building will know
we're here."

Nicolette stumbled over to Avery
and draped herself over the Guide's body. "I tried to tell her. Don't kill
her, Wilma. Please don't kill her."

Wilma's hands shook, and there wasn't
a doubt in my mind she wanted to do exactly that.

I wanted her to. The bitch betrayed
us.

They both did.

But Wilma closed her eyes and
lowered her hands. Farren glanced over her head at me, and I shrugged, about to
whip out my gun and do it myself. Then Wilma's eyes opened. "Winston's
here."

She left the room, turning her back
on the crying Protector and her traitor Guide.

No. Not good enough. I reached for
my gun.

Farren grabbed my hand. He pulled
me from the room as Wilma flung a hand behind her, shutting the bathroom door.
Well, lifting the door off the ground and slamming it against the entry.

Winston barged into the tavern,
Zander, Oren, and our group of Protectors behind them. Grace nowhere in sight. He
didn't waste any time with chitchat. "They know we're here."

Wilma moved to the window. "No
shit. Avery went in, blew our cover."

For the first time since I'd met
him, Winston flipped, whipping tables and chairs around the room. No one, not
even Wilma, tried to intervene. When the room lay in even bigger shambles, he
seemed better, breathing slow with his eyes closed. "Okay, change of plans."

"Well, you better make it fast
because there's a light show over there." Wilma pointed to the window with
the courthouse view as the sky burst with a firework display of red, blue,
green, and white orbs while Protectors stormed from the building waving their
soul-stealers.

Winston clapped his hands and
rubbed them together. "Imma open the lines in here. Let Pit know it's time
to bring the fire."

Wilma nodded, and as soon as she
closed her eyes, the roofs came to life with Empyrean soldiers. Pit's army
swarmed the streets, firing their weapons, killing the Protectors like flies.
Unfortunately, the orbs swooped in every time a Protector fell, absorbing their
energy, which meant Teenesee didn't get an ounce of it. Empyrean soldiers fell,
too. Soul-stealers hit their marks while orbs swooped down to steal more
energy.

Still, Winston concentrated as if
nothing went on outside. He raised his hands toward the bar, sweat beading on
his forehead. The fight came closer to our sanctuary, but he didn't move. We
all stood tense, and I knew every single person in the room itched to join the
fight as we watched Empyreans fall. Some even tried to leave the bar, but Wilma
froze them. "Don't give our position away. He needs to get the damn lines
open."

Winston struggled, his arms
straining as he yelled.

The enemy drew closer. Orbs
infiltrated the bar, paralyzing me. Their beautiful light swirled around Zander
and I, suffocating us.

"They're coming." A
Protector pointed, the soccer mom, who now looked like a warrior, deadly and
fierce.

I wanted to lift my gun with the
rest of them, but the lights… I needed their heat, their touch. Farren swooped
in, taking Zander and me under an arm and ramming us into a darkened corner,
his grip tight. Lights continued to swirl around us, diving into our opened
mouths. The heat they produced made my lungs burn, and by Zander's screams,
they did the same to him. Still, I didn't care. I craved it, needed it.

"Hurry up, Winston!"
Farren's booming voice cut through the heat, and I managed to smile at him even
as I screamed.

I wanted to reassure him, let him
know I was fine dying this way, but the heat wouldn't let me. Nothing mattered.
Death. Not so bad. Not so–

I'm here, love. Open your eyes.

Tarek.

I concentrated on the power his
words always had, struggling to lift my lids. The heat eased as I opened my
eyes to find the bar transformed. Boards and bricks broke off, flying into
Arcus's vibrant forest. No longer were there empty shelves and broken glass. My
giant stood with Belva next to him, her squid an intimidating army taking
commands from their mistress. Like a vacuum, the orbs swept across the lines,
releasing Zander and me from their hold.

I bent forward and Farren caught
me, the excitement on his face palpable. "Ready to kick some ass?"

Oh, hell yeah.

When Farren released us, Winston
yelled again as he blew the front of the building away, meeting the surprised
enemy head-on. Most back peddled when their eyes landed on what waited for them
inside.

Tarek remained deadly calm, his circling
palms forming a clump of blue, green, red, and white light. Whatever he did,
the Guides weren't able to escape his hands.

Farren took off into the fight, a
war cry escaping his lips. Wilma, already in the fray, threw Protectors toward Belva's
squid, and at my friend's command, thick pink tentacles reached for the flying
Exemplians, curling them into their bodies and silencing their cries. Winston
stayed, his muscles straining, but he managed to drag Protectors toward Belva's
cephalopod army while maintaining the open lines. Tarek sucked up every Guide
who dared to come near, the mass of light he held hostage growing larger.