Muse (Descended From Myth) (18 page)

I turned to the two novices, deciding that splitting up would be our best option. “You two, check the nightclub. Everywhere, don't take no for an answer. When you're done, check in with Stefan and we'll tell you where to head next.”

Both nodded, grim faced, and headed for the nightclub entrance. They technically weren't even old enough to enter the club. If there was trouble they'd have to pull one of the Talents into it.

Stefan and I took the stairs from the lobby, ready to charge into anything to find my sister.

I couldn't believe Daniel just ran off without me, but I should have expected it. He was angry and pumped full of adrenaline and pain meds. Surely he was going to do something macho and end up getting hurt in the process. He couldn't keep fighting with a hole through his shoulder, but nobody could get that past the Guardian mindset. If I'd tried to convince him to let the others go in after his sister, I just would have been wasting my breath. I pressed my face against the passenger window, trying to concentrate. Maybe I could find a way to help from here. Was it possible for my Influence to stretch that far? I mean, if the actresses could somehow convey that through film then there had to be a way. I closed my eyes, focusing on my breathing, trying to search inside for an answer. It had worked before. My brain couldn't focus on anything but the glaring fact that Daniel was out of sight and headed straight into danger.

That's when the image burst into my mind, plaster dust and plastic sheeting, a bloody circular saw blade, power tools, and a shattered spotlight. What the hell was that? No people, no explanation, just a messed up construction scene. What was Daniel going to walk into?

There was no way I was sitting in the car, waiting to find out. I jumped out, ignoring Gabriel's protests and tore off after Daniel.

I caught up with them in the stairwell o
n the second floor landing. As I rounded the corner, I almost caught a fist with my throat, but luckily Stefan pulled back just in time.

“You're getting kind of carried away with those things, Stefan,” I panted, out of breath
from my mad dash up the stairs.

“I did not know you were the person who was following us!” he argued, his accen
t much thicker when frustrated.

“What in the hell are you doing here, Anna? I asked you to stay behind!” Danie
l hissed.

“No you didn't, you told me to. There's a big difference. I decided that I'd be more helpful watching your back.”

Daniel mumbled some swear words, while running his good hand through his hair. He couldn't even use both of his arms properly, how did he expect to be able to properly defend himself? I just cocked an eyebrow, pointedly eyeing his bandage.

“Please, please go back to the car?” he asked,
obviously exasperated with me.

“Kaitlyn is somewhere in this building, near a room full of construction equipment. Saws, hammers, drywall dust, that kind of thing. I might know more as we walk around,” I replied, ignoring his request.  Daniel's eyes shot skyward, as if he was praying for the strength to put up with my disobedience. If he wasn't so freaked out for his sister, I'd be offended. Fortunately, I still remembered the despair I'd felt when I thought he was
dead. I couldn't be mad at him.

“I can help you, and I will be careful. You're not in the shape to do this alone, Daniel. I'm staying with you. Now shut up and lets go get your sister already. Sixth floor.” The words popped out of my mouth without me even thinking about them. Could I be remembering from my brief moments when I was joined with the Fates? Was this some new facet of my abilities? “I don't know how, like I said, I just know,” I blu
rted out by way of explanation.

Grim faced, Daniel stepped away from the wall. “Okay, we can always start there and work our way back down. Let's go quickly and quietly,” he ordered, motioning for us to move. Daniel took the lead with me following and Stefan bringing up the rear. By the time we reached the sixth floor, my thighs were aching, but I kept up. The stairway door had a handwritten paper sign on it that read, “Under Construction. Do Not E
nter” taped to it.

“This has to be it!” I whispered, as Daniel slowly inched the metal door open. The hallway was dark, but security lights along the ceiling glowed dimly and a few exit signs left pools of  red light on the tile floor. The guys somehow managed to move silently, even in their big combat boots. I wasn't as stealthy, even in sneakers. Every little squeak I made had me wincing and wondering if I should have tagged along after all. The doors to all the apartments were open, and each one seemed to be in various stages of renovation. We crept quietly down the hall, avoiding overturned buckets and plastic sheeting, checking inside each unit as we went past. All of them had brown paper over the windows, blocking out outside light and keeping the ac
tivities within quiet.

We'd gone through most of the floor when we heard a door shut somewhere on the other leg of the L-shaped hall. We each froze without having to be told to
, holding our breath to listen.

Daniel and Stefan exchanged some kind of hand gestures, as if they were deciding which pitch to throw next,
and then started to move forward again. “Stay behind me,” Stefan whispered against my ear in a barely audible puff of air. Footsteps suddenly approached, making no attempt to be quiet. Daniel grabbed me around the waist with one arm and pulled me into the closest apartment just as the footsteps reached our section of hall. I hadn't held my breath this often since I took swimnastics for my P.E. requirement, but the intensity of the situation just kind of forced me into it.

We listened to a series of clanking sounds echoing down the empty hallway. I knew the noise sounded familiar, and in a light bulb moment, I realized it was the sound of someone buying a can of pop from a vending machine. Only one can. Maybe Kaitlyn was thirsty? But my kidnappers sure hadn't brought me any Mt. Dew. The footsteps started the opposite direction and Stefan dared a quick peek around the threshold to
see what we were dealing with.

“He's big,” he mouthed, looking nervous. Stefan isn't exactly a lightweight, but then I don't know enough about boxing to know if that's accurate. I knew that he towered over me and seemed bulky enough to intimidate anybody. Except maybe Soda Guy, from the looks Stefan and Daniel were exchanging. They glanced around the apartment we'd ducked into, and Daniel's eyes lit up in a sort of lustful way when he spotted something lying on the ground next to a stack of baseboards. He hefted a slim, black iron crowbar in his hand and twirled it like a baton, testing its weight. Stefan only came up with a hammer and he looked pretty envious about it.

Daniel slipped out of the doorway, graceful as a jungle cat, with Stefan on his heels. I followed trailing behind, trying to get a “feel” for whoever was ahead of us. We turned the corner down the hall, moving past the noisy pop machine. The doors here were closed, about six of them from what I could tell. If I hadn't been concentrating so hard, I might have missed it. There was a tiny line of sparkle in the air directly in front of Daniel, stretching away from his core to the wall beside door number 3 like a golden spider silk. The cord grew brighter the closer we came, and I nearly collided with Stefan's broad back trying to get their attention.

I know where she is! I tried to mime, fluttering my hands in a very girly imitation of their covert commando signals. I finally gave up and just pointed, “There!”

Daniel and Stefan flanked the doorway, listening for signs that I might be right. It didn't take long for us to hear a bit of scuffling inside, and at least one murmured male voice. The electronic wail of a cellphone ringing made us all jump. For a second I was terrified that I'd given us away, before I realized that it came from inside the
apartment
and not my pocket.  Besides, my cellphone was probably still in that warehouse somewhere, or destroyed. My parents must have been freaking out as much as Daniel's Mom was.

“Yeah? Hold on. I can't talk in front of the kid,” a deep voice grumbled, and footsteps started towards us. I was preparing to run, when Stefan slammed the door in wit
h a vicious kick and Daniel leapt inside.

I stood in the hallway for a second, my heart trying to escape through my throat. The door had bounced back so that it was partially closed, but I could hear the fight crashing around inside. I pushed open the door enough to slip through, but almost screamed when I did. Stefan was already down, slumped on the floor with a massive knot forming near his temple. Daniel was slowly circling the biggest man I'd ever seen, while swinging the crowbar around in front of him like it was a freaking sword. This guy was huge, both muscular and crazy tall. He stood a good
two heads taller than Daniel, who wasn't what anyone considered short. I clamped down on a shriek when this giant dude lashed a massive, hairy hand out towards Daniel, trying to snatch at the crowbar. Daniel spun just out of his reach and slammed the heavy iron bar back down on Lurch's body. It should have knocked the guy down at least, but he reacted as though Daniel had hit him with a feather pillow. He barely even flinched! They prowled around each other like it had been choreographed, trading blows and swooping around to avoid the next swing. Daniel never took his eyes off of his assailant. I was still pretty sure he knew that I was in the room. I could barely tear my eyes away from him, the fear that he might get hurt pounded through me as I tried to inch my way around the perimeter of the room. I made sure that I stayed behind the unfriendly giant, who hadn't seen me yet. Daniel kept drawing him away from me, refusing to let him turn in my direction. I was trying to get to the closed door on the other side of the room, because the gold cord that started with Daniel shot that direction. I kept trying to influence Hulk into giving up, getting tired, anything! But I just couldn't seem to get through. He didn't want
anything
as much as he wanted to fight a Guardian.

Daniel actuall
y seemed to be enjoying himself, the two of them had started taunting each other.

“Is that the best you can do,” the big guy huffed. “You Guardians are nothing but a bunch of glorified babysitters, not an ounce of real fight in any of you!”

“Oh, you'll get more than enough real fight out of this one!” Daniel taunted back, swinging the crowbar at the side of Foster's head. At least, I was really hoping this guy was Foster. I didn't want to stumble upon anyone else like him if I could help it.

“You Guardians, so proud of everything you do to take care of your Talents, but you barely pay attention to anyone else around you. Look how easy it was for us to take your sister. No one even cared that she was gone!” I winced for Daniel, seeing the flash of guilt that slid over his features for a split second befor
e he got his game face back on.

I hit something with my side and about jumped out of my skin, but quickly realized that I'd made it to the doorway. I'd jammed the door knob into my side as I slid over to it, my attention had been so fixed on Daniel. Stefan was still out cold, but breathing. Slowly, I pulled open the door, but the
creeeaak
from its hinges caught the attention of Big Guy, who whirled on me faster than anybody that size should have the right to move. Daniel used the distraction to his full advantage, swinging the crowbar upside Foster's head with a sickening crunch that dropped all seven feet of bad guy into a heap on the floor.

I stared at Daniel in total shock, taking in his fierce grin and sparkling brown eyes as he loomed over his opponent. “Oh, did I fail to mention that the Guardians still train with broadswords? After that, this thing is practically weightless.”

I turned to find a nearly identical pair of eyes staring at me from a smaller, more feminine version of Daniel's face. “Kaitlyn!” She probably hated me, but all I could feel was relief that Daniel's sister was here and safe. Her mouth was covered in cloth tape, and her hands bound in front of her with some kind of material. I rushed to help her, but her brother beat me there. He pulled two knives from his boots, handing me one to help cut Kaitlyn free while he worked on the tape. He worked it gently, trying not to tear her dry lips, until she groaned her impatience and ripped it away. She gasped in air, coughing and sputtering a little while Daniel wrapped her up in a nearly suffocating hug.

“I knew you'd come!” she laughed, sounding a lot better adjusted than I had during my escape. At least s
he
hadn't melted anyone's brain yet.
“He kept telling me that you weren’t coming, but I knew better. My brother’s a bad ass. I knew you’d find me.”

I flinched a little, knowing that I’d lost faith, but at least that had given me the strength to resc
ue myself. Well, that and Mina.

Daniel still hadn't released his death grip on his little sister, and he hadn't said a word. “Daniel?” Kai
tlyn and I said simultaneously.

“I didn't find you. Anna did, actually,” Daniel told her, but his voice just didn't sound right. Was he hurting?

“Don't you think we should get moving?” I asked quietly, not wanting to interrupt their reunion, but worried that we might be interrupted at any moment, too.

Daniel drew in a deep, shuddery breath, releasing it slowly. “Can you walk, Kat?” He gently helped her to her feet as she tried to ease the tingling in her legs
from being tied up for so long.

“Are you kidding? If it'll get us out of here,
I can waltz. Let's get moving!”

Daniel was focusing on his sister, which left me to try to wake up a six foot tall German. Luckily, Stefan was already coming to, and I was able to work a little of my “mojo” into him to kind of speed up the process. My eyes kept darting to the mountain of unconscious bad guy laying just a few feet away. He was breathing, so he coul
d certainly wake up any minute.