Shadow of the Sun (28 page)

A strange, new, and exciting sensation rippled down my spine. Electricity built inside me. It gathered at my core, growing hotter. Andrew pressed his body against mine, pressing me firmly against the glass. His body was hard and sexy as hell. Oh God. And though everyone was here to witness this very intimate moment, I didn’t care. All my worries seemed to vanish. I was melting in his capable hands as his fingers roamed over my cheeks and got lost in my hair. As I reached toward his face, the electricity crackled between my fingers. I quickly put my hands behind me, embarrassed. Andrew’s hands went to my back and grabbed mine. Before I knew what he was doing, he pressed my palms flat against the glass and pushed into me even more with his spectacular body.

Unexpectedly, I fell backward, but I didn’t have the chance to fall far. Andrew seized me, pulling my waist to him as he pressed his lips firmly against mine, becoming more eager. I wrapped my arms around his neck. Someone cleared their throat. We pulled apart as if we were both being yanked back with hooks. His chest was heaving, as was mine. Was I blushing? What did it look like now that my blood was gold? Did I glow? Was I glowing?

“
I’m sorry.” Andrew looked ashamed.

I shook my head. “Don’t be.” Do it again, I wanted to scream. Didn’t he feel what I was feeling? Was it bad for him? Did he not enjoy himself? I hated that I felt so insecure, but I’d never felt a connection like that with anyone before. The electricity, the rushing of my blood through my body as it warmed every inch of my skin. All of a sudden I felt extremely vulnerable. He could really hurt me if he wanted to. In the past, I had never let myself get to this point with another person. I was fully clothed, but I suddenly felt naked, my comfortable layer of protection gone.

Lucia stepped past me, patting me on the shoulder as if she was sympathizing with my thoughts.

“
Can we quit with the theatrics and get the hell out of here before the power comes back on?” Joseph snapped, standing on the other side of the table that had acted as his shield earlier.

Theatrics? Was that what that kiss was? An act? I had forgotten that Joseph was here after that kiss. I didn’t have time to think about it. He was right—we needed to get out of there and fast. I brushed glass off my clothes and started toward the door with the angels and Joseph.

Karen—or should I say Soul Stalker—came running into the lab, her eyes wide with distress. She was a good actress, better than good, really. Instantly, I didn’t trust her look of concern.

She was nicknamed “Soul Stalker” because she was believed to be devoid of a soul. With everything that was going on, I still hadn’t had time to tell the angels exactly what it was I saw in my dream.

“
Are you all right, Gabriella?” asked the Soul Stalker. “I knew I shouldn’t have left.”

“
I’m fine,” I said, trying not to let resentment leak into my tone.

“
Thank gods.”

I gripped Andrew’s hand, letting the electricity flow between us. Before, I was able to communicate through the current, and I was hoping now more than ever that he would be able to hear the thoughts that I was screaming at the top of my mental lungs.
She’s not who she says she is! She has come to kill me. She’s an assassin. The Soul Stalker. We need to get away from her. Please. Andrew, please trust me.

His grip tightened on mine, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of my frightened thoughts or if it was just a reassuring gesture. I hated that he couldn’t talk back to me through that same current.
It was the Ladies of Light. Everything’s their fault, I just know it. Karen’s bad. B-A-D. Do something, anything. Just let me know you hear me.
I gripped his hand with all my strength.

Several images from before, when we were in the Fishbowl together, flooded back to me. My need to take the necklaces off the angels—the necklaces that were actually a symbol of good and not evil—the pull to take them off was intense, strong, and now that I thought about it, it was probably Karen’s doing. Did that mean those necklaces held power, or did she just want to strip them of their titles? I had no time to think.

Andrew looked sideways at me and lifted his hand to my cheek. With his face out of view of the Soul Stalker, he gave me a tiny nod. The breath I didn’t know I was holding came out in a rush. When Andrew moved, I could see Karen walking over to me, as if to assess my wellbeing. It looked more like a lion preparing to pounce on its prey. I didn’t want her anywhere near me. Her acting wasn’t going to work on me anymore. I had believed her this whole time, trusted her, and now I felt sickened.

Anger swelled inside me, burning just beneath the surface of my skin. I put my hand up to tell her to stop, that I was fine. When I did this, electricity shot from my hand and hit her with the strength of a Mack truck. She shook with the voltage, which was more electricity than I had ever felt inside me before. She collapsed to the ground, and everyone turned to look at me in shock. The Soul Stalker: zero. Gabriella: one. The game was on.

“
In my dream, the Ladies of Light were meeting about Zola’s prophecy.” The words tumbled out of my mouth as quickly as I could speak them. “During the meeting they talked about how the assassin had been chosen. She was hired to kill the Illuminator. The assassin was the Soul Stalker,” I finished in a rush.

Andrew stiffened next to me. Joseph looked just as confused as ever, the look of bewilderment scrunching up his forehead. Ehno and Lucia stared at me as if I had just told them I was a mermaid.

As if we didn’t already have a pile of trouble, Darren stumbled into the lab.

Shit,
I shouted in my head.

“
Karen.” He gasped and knelt beside her. “What happened?”

He looked straight at me, and for the first time in my life, I lied so smoothly you would have thought I was a professional fibber. “I don’t know. She just came in here and fainted.”

Darren looked back down at the Soul Stalker with affection. Bile rose in my throat. “Oh Karen, please be okay.” If only he knew.

“
I’ll go get help,” I offered.

“
You can’t. All the doors are locked. If it weren’t for the engineers, I wouldn’t have been able to get this far,” he said, his eyes never leaving Karen’s face. I was grateful for that much because if he even took a second to put things together, he’d understand that we were trying to escape. The room was destroyed, three glass cells were broken, and the angels were out. One of them was even holding my hand. Master of the Oblivious—that was Darren.

“
Then we’ll all go. You can take care of Karen, right?” I asked.

Darren nodded. “Yeah. Go. Hurry!”

He didn’t need to tell us twice. We ran down the hallway as if a fleet of dragons were behind us, lighting our asses on fire. As we turned the first corner, the lights flared to life as electricity was restored. We all froze.

“
That’s not good,” I muttered.

CHAPTER 21: LIBERATION

Mid-stride, frozen in the funniest positions, the deer in headlights, glazed-eyed look just wasn’t accurate enough in describing how we all appeared when the electricity came flaring back to life.

“
Bathroom!” I pushed Andrew as hard as I could through the door that was only feet away from us. In doing this, they all fumbled through the tiny entrance into a one-stall bathroom. I turned the lock and slammed my back against the door.

“
Good thinking.” Joseph nodded in approval. “There are no cameras in here.” Sheesh, I hoped not.

Lucia, looking at the toilet with mild apprehension, raised one eyebrow. “What’s a camera?”

I’d totally forgotten that she didn’t know these things. Because of Andrew and Ehno’s psychic link, I just assumed that Andrew shared the information he had learned with Ehno, but I had not even considered that Lucia would still be in the dark about this modern world. Regardless, she was in control of her emotions and showed no signs of distress. She had more guts than me.

Joseph opened his mouth to answer her.

“
No time,” I interrupted. “If they haven’t realized we’re gone already, it won’t be long until they do. We need to get out of here quickly and quietly.” They all stared at me for the answer, and, for once, it just came to me. “Joseph, you need to leave. If anyone asks what happened—you don’t know. Go above ground and find us a car. Wait for us outside the building we entered. I have a feeling people won’t ask you questions, considering your clearance.”

He nodded.

“
Go,” I ordered. After unlocking the door, Joseph peeled out of the bathroom as if he had wheels attached to the bottom of his shoes.

“
Okay, here’s the plan,” I said while I bolted the door again. “We’re going to walk out of this bathroom like it’s no big deal. You three don’t say a word to anyone. If someone asks what’s going on, I’ll tell them that I’m taking you for testing. Hell.” I rubbed the back of my neck anxiously. “I don’t really know what I’ll tell them. Maybe I’ll tell them it’s none of their business, or maybe I’ll just shock them. We need to keep attention off us.”

“
And what about the cameras?” Andrew asked.

“
Keep your wrists together behind your backs at all times. They’ll think I’ve captured you and will never know the difference.” Or so I hoped. “Once we’re on the surface, I need you to fly Andrew. Just take off into the sky.”

“
Not without you,” he argued resolutely.

“
There’s no time for this. We have seconds before guards show up and start shooting us. We need you in the sky to let Ehno know if anyone is behind or in front of us once we get off this property. Plus, Ehno and Lucia will be with me.” The words were rushed. I had to stop to take a breath. “I’m not even sure how we’re going to get out of here. Please, Andrew, I need your help.”

He closed his eyes as if he were praying for patience. Then he looked at me in defeat. “Let’s go.”

“
Okay.” I turned around and unbolted the lock. “Let me look, first.” Opening the door slowly, I had a moment of déjà vu. This was sort of how I felt when I was opening the bathroom door to my office right before the Shadow attacked me. I peeked out of the crack I made to see two armed men walking down the hall. I shut the door and put my back up against it again. “Crap, crap, crap,” I whispered furiously. I took a deep breath and slid the door open a little bit farther.

“
Dr. Moretti?” A deep voice said.

“
Oh, hi.” I slipped out of the bathroom, trying my best to keep the door shut as much as possible as I closed it behind me and put my back to it. “I’m sorry—”

“
I’m Agent Kowski.” The agent was tall with a full head of gray hair. “We’re just down here checking on all the labs. You good?”

“
Oh yeah—yeah. I’m fine,” I said nervously, hoping he couldn’t hear the unease in my voice as it rose.

Agent Kowski stared at me suspiciously for a few seconds before he gave a curt nod and walked into the bioengineering lab, which was only two feet from the bathroom.

I looked quickly around the corner and noticed that no one was in the supernatural department’s lab yet, before dashing back to the bathroom and flinging the door open. “Let’s go.”

The three angels flooded out into the hallway and sprinted toward the elevator. Their movements were fluid and sinuous, and surprisingly, so were mine. There was no time to think—I slid my keycard across the lock and put my palm against the screen as it read my print. The female voice greeted me, just like it had earlier. After a few seconds the doors opened to admit us.

“
All aboard,” I ordered.

Ehno and Lucia entered, and Andrew grabbed me around my waist to push me forward with him. Warmth spread through me at his gentle touch. The doors shut, and I let out a breath of relief. Then the doors opened on the next floor. Superb. There was a man in a suit, roughly six-two with dark brown hair. He was facing away from us but turned around when he heard the ding of the elevator.

I breathed out a high sigh of relief when I recognized the dark brown eyes. The tension in Joseph’s shoulders deflated when he saw me. “Oh, thank God,” I exclaimed. “What are you still doing underground?”

“
I thought I’d never get away from that guy.” He shook his head back and forth. “I ran into one of the scientists on the elevator, and he asked for my help.”

“
Wait. That means you haven’t been on the surface yet.”