Surfacing the Rim (Piercing The Fold) (23 page)

Chapter 36

Jesca

I’m hell-bent on staying right where I am to see if my killer—my mother’s killer—will come back through that wall. It takes about thirty minutes for Nate, Xander, and Ezra to get me to leave the spot on my bed.

Xander holds me to him protectively as all four of us descend the staircase and walk into the living room. Everyone is standing and talking to one another when we enter. I scan the room, still concerned that my attacker might appear.

Nate puts his hand on my shoulder. He leans in to whisper, “He is not coming back, Jes. Not while you are awake, and we are here.”

Like it always does, his touch relaxes me, and I breathe in deeply through my nose.

I see Nick walk in from the kitchen with his arm around Elisha. She is crying and wiping her eyes. When she sees me, she pulls away from him and nearly knocks me over with her embrace. I wrap my arms around her and bury my face in her shoulder.

My voice quivers a little, but I try to keep it together for both of us. “Hey, I’m alright. I’m here, Elisha.”

She tries to make her voice strong, but it comes out broken. “Damn it, Jes. You scared the hell out of us. With the way Nate, Xander, and Ezra ran up there after you, and then the way they made us stay out of the room…I thought you were…”

She starts sobbing again, and she doesn’t finish her thought. She just hugs me again. I smooth her hair to try to calm her trembling body.

They thought that I died. In a way, they’re right. I think a part of me did die tonight with my mother and my assassin. The naïve and fundamental part of me has been hanging on since the moment I left Marietta, Georgia with Ezra.
Tonight, seeing my real mother’s soul before my very eyes and discovering that the man who has been trying to kill me isn’t who we thought he was, forced the last of my naivety to vanish.

I see with distinct clarity that reality is an evolving illusion that I need to surface from before I drown.

I pull back and hold Elisha by the shoulders. She is wiping her tear-streaked face again. I brush her hair back and force her to look at me.

I swallow the lump in my throat. “I’m here, and I’m not planning on dying anytime soon. Got it?”

Elisha puts her hands on my arms. She is afraid. I have never seen my best friend afraid of anything.

Elisha says, “But, we are about to—”

I interrupt her, “Listen. I will not die without a fight. I can’t let this conquer me, and I know you won’t let it conquer you either.”

Elisha breathes in raggedly to calm herself. When she looks up at me, I see that familiar fiery spark return to her eyes.

Her voice is hoarse. “Sure as hell, I will put up a fight!”

Nick walks up behind Elisha, puts his hand on her shoulders, and pulls her into him. Her body continues to shake as he leans his head on her shoulder. She closes her eyes and rests her head on his. Nick turns Elisha away from me, and he walks her over to the other sofa. Nick turns to look at me. I take the opportunity to mouth to him, “Thank you.”

Nate leaves my side and heads toward the kitchen. “Jes, I’m going to get you some water.”

Xander leads me to the sofa and sits down next to me. Ezra takes a seat on the other side of me and covers me with a blanket.

Sebastian reclines into a chair across from us and asks cautiously, “What happened up there, Jes?”

Balthazar and the others find a place to sit nearby to hear what happened. Nate hands me a water bottle and sits on the other sofa.

I start from the beginning. “My mother came to me.” Ezra’s body tenses next to mine, but I continue, “I mean, her soul came to me. She told me that she came because she knew I needed her. She knew that I needed to know that I am strong enough to fight and surface above all of this. She said I am stronger than she could have ever been.”

I briefly look down at my hands and notice I’m absently picking at the skin around my cuticle. I fold my hands together and steady my gaze a few inches in front of me at nothing in particular. “I admitted that I wasn’t strong enough to quickly call to my father to save her the night she died.”

I look to Ezra. “She told me that I was strong enough and that I did reach you in time. She said she refused you. Is that true?”

Ezra breathes in deeply, but part way through it, he chokes on his overflow of emotions. Ezra covers his face as his words make their way around his cupped hands. “Yes, it is true. God, she wouldn’t let me save her. She said it was her time.”
His cry reveals the feelings of overwhelming loss and sorrow for the woman he still loves.

A tear falls from my own eye, but I quickly wipe it away. I blink instinctively to pull back the lingering tears.

I look back at Sebastian. “Then, he came.”

Sebastian asks, “Sam?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know who it was. At first, it looked like Sam. He threw Anna against the wall, and then he grabbed hold of my neck and tossed me to the bed. I tried to find Anna, but she had already disappeared. This man quickly straddled me and began choking me.”

I don’t realize that I’m shaking again until Xander put his hands on mine, squeezing tightly.

I hear him think, It’s okay, Jes. Nothing is going to happen now.

I squeeze his hand back. I clear my throat before I start again. “His face changed. It shifted from what looked like Sam to someone else.”

Nate leans his elbows on his knees. “Do you know who it was?”

I shake my head. “No. He had dark brown eyes and pale white skin.”

Balthazar abruptly stands and rushes over to a stack of files by the computer. He walks back with a file and opens it. “Would you be able to identify him in a picture?”

Without hesitation, I answer, “Yes, of course. I will never forget his face.”

Balthazar takes papers from the file, and then he hands the file to Sebastian to hold. He walks over and splays three sheets on the coffee table in front of Xander and me. I lean forward to look at the images of men and women displayed on each page.

Xander asks, “Who are these people?”

Balthazar has his hands on his hips. “These are Sondian executive board members along with high-ranking guardians.”

I see Sam’s picture among the men on the first page. I look at the second page. No one looks familiar. Then, when I scan the third page, my mouth goes dry, and I feel my anxiety shift to anger.

I point to the image on the paper, which matches the face that is etched in my brain. “That’s him!”

I pick up the paper and hand it to Balthazar.

He slaps the paper with his free hand and passes it to Sebastian. “It’s Michael Sanderson.”

Ezra stands up and yells, “Now, Sanderson is after her?”

Sebastian ignores Ezra’s growing anger. “It doesn’t surprise me. Now that Sam has been sidetracked by…” Sebastian stops himself, and then he clears his throat. “It just makes sense that he would take over and finish what Sam started.”

I chime in. “Okay! Hold on!” I point to Sebastian. “Sam has been sidetracked? By what?”

Ezra sits back down next to me. He leans back, interlocking his hands behind his neck. He growls loudly before he speaks. “Corinna and Sam are linked, and Sam has…taken to her!”

Nick snorts. “Taken to her? Yeah, he has taken to her, alright.”

Ang hits Nick upside the back of the head, and Elisha elbows him while narrowing her eyes, clearly telling him to shut up.

Nick rubs his head with one hand and his side with the other. “Ouch, ladies.”

Great! This just keeps getting more and more complicated.

Exasperated, I look at Balthazar and Sebastian. Still in shock, I stutter, “H…How did you all find out about this?”

Balthazar looks at Xander, and then he puts his head down.

My head snaps to Xander, and then I look to Nate. “You two—the dream with Sam.”

I remember we never got to finish that discussion earlier because Claiborne called in and interrupted.

Xander and Nate tell me about when Sam visited Xander in a dream during the airplane ride here to New York.

Ten minutes later, I am fully alert, pacing the floor, and thinking about too many things at once.

I ask Balthazar, “How can Sam and Corinna be linked?”

Balthazar answers, “It’s the same as you and Nate and Xander being linked.”

“So, Sanderson implanted Corinna with a Copula to purposefully link her with Sam. Why?”

Sebastian responds, “He did it for the same reason the Dobrians have done it—to protect them and make them less vulnerable. Paired together, they are stronger.”

I remember my conversations with Nate about this in the facility in Miami. I look up at Nate, and his eyes meet mine.

Nate is the first to break contact. He looks down, and then he looks at Xander. My eyes follow his gaze to Xander, who is looking back at him. Then, Xander’s eyes turn to rest on mine.

Did Nate and Xander just use their link? They did. They just shared some private thought.

I walk over to Xander. “Okay. Sam asked you to come to the Sondian safe house to go on this mission. And, you agreed? Why the hell would you do something like that? You have no protection, Xander!”

Nate interrupts, “We have the coordinates. I’m linked to him. He’ll be fine.”

My frustration and confusion overcome me. “What in the hell happened to you two while I was upstairs?”

Nate glances at Xander, and then he looks back to me. “There’s no point in fighting what’s going on between us any longer, Jes.” His eyes hold mine. “We all know where we stand now.”

Then, Nate bows his head. I feel my chest tighten at the sound of his confession. It’s something that I have not been brave or sure enough to admit. Now that it has been said aloud, I don’t want it to be true.

Ezra’s voice snaps me out of my trance. “Sebastian, Balthazar, and I are working on strategy before we go into the forest. We will be prepared. Believe it or not, Nate and Xander got us a huge amount of information by doing this.”

Nick, Elisha, and Ang waltz in from the kitchen. They must have slipped out at some point.

Elisha says, “Alright, it’s been a long night. Nick and I have made up some sandwiches.”

Nick puts his arm around Elisha’s shoulder. “Hoagies, babe. They’re called hoagies.”

Elisha rolls her eyes and smiles. “Hoagies are ready!”

Everybody heads toward the kitchen to grab dinner, except Sebastian, Ezra, and me.

Sebastian looks from Ezra to me. “You know what you experienced tonight with your mother was real.”

I slowly nod my head. “It felt very real.”

Sebastian asks, “Would you consider the possibility that your mother’s soul is in a tangible realm? One that we might be able to access someday?”

I remember talking to my adopted mother, Delilah, about this. “You mean like Heaven being a real place?”

Ezra says, “Yes, that’s exactly what he’s saying.”

I look at my father now. “Do you think it’s a real place, Ezra?”

Ezra puts a hand in his pocket and lowers his head. He cups his other hand over his mouth briefly. Clearing his throat, he looks up at me. “Your mother came to me once after she passed.” Ezra’s voice begins to crack. “She told me that I would find her again one day. I believe that I will. Do you think it’s a real place?”

I answer, “After tonight and seeing my mother’s soul coming to me in a dream, yes, I do.”

Ezra puts his arm around me and pulls me along, heading toward the kitchen. He puts his lips on my head and says, “C’mon, let’s go get a hoagie.”

Chapter 37

Jesca

We decide it is best to leave tonight. Sam has told Xander that the mission is in seventy-two hours. We’re only killing time by just sitting around here for another night.

Chartering a private jet is more difficult this time around. It’s more complicated because we are flying internationally. Also, it’s not easy to fly in the climate that has shifted dramatically over the past twelve hours.

We all try to rest on the flight, knowing that we need it desperately for what is awaiting us in Japan.

During most of the flight, Ezra, Sebastian, and Balthazar discuss maps and strategies for the mission. Ezra says that the briefing will be thorough when we got to Tokyo.

* * *

The landing is rough, and it jolts me upright in my seat. I guess I dozed off. Thank you, God, for that little bit of rest.

Ezra is sitting next to me. He stirs and yawns. He blinks his eyes and looks at me. “Did you sleep?”

“Yes.”

Ezra rubs his eyes. “Sanderson?”

“No. I guess he figures he missed his chance to get me in my sleep before we get to Japan.”

Ezra nods and stares down at his hands that are folded in his lap. He’s thinking about something, but he is blocking me once again.

The plane comes to a stop. Everyone begins to move, stretch, and stand.

Balthazar warns all of us, “Keep your block up and be ready. Last time we landed, we weren’t welcome.”

We all file out after Balthazar and Sebastian. There are two black Ford Expeditions waiting for us. Four Japanese men are standing guard at the cars.

Balthazar and Sebastian walk over to them and greet them in Japanese. Balthazar calls for Nick, Elisha, Jake, and Luke to ride with him. The rest of us ride with Sebastian.

When I get into the car, I notice we have a driver this time.

I tap Sebastian on the shoulder. “Are these men guardians?”

Sebastian nods. “Yes, they are.” He pats my hand, still resting on his shoulder, to assure me that everything is fine.

Everyone is quiet in the car. Looking out the side window, I don’t know what’s scarier at the moment. The arc lightning that surges across the sky every few seconds or the madness on the streets of Tokyo. Police are everywhere, and soldiers are on every corner armed with machine guns. I wonder how many of them are Sondians and how many are Dobrians. Civilians are running along the sidewalks with the same confused look that possessed the civilians back home in the U.S.

We come to a stop because of traffic, and I notice a man running down an intersecting street toward our truck. He is yelling and screaming in Japanese. Before he reaches our truck, one of the police officers stops him. The man continues to yell belligerently at the police officer, and then the man strikes the officer in the face.

Within seconds, I see two soldiers come up on both sides of the man, grab hold of his arms, and hold him in place while the police officer points a gun to the civilian’s head. The civilian is yelling and kicking his legs at the police officer.

I close my eyes before a shot rings out. I feel our truck jerk forward with force, and I open my eyes to see we are detouring through an alley, leaving the bloodcurdling screams of terrified civilians behind us.

I mumble, “Those soldiers and the cop…they were Sondians, weren’t they?”

Sebastian responds, “Yes.”

* * *

We are deep in the city on a street lined with businesses and shops. I see the driver pass his cell phone to Sebastian.

Sebastian dials a number, and then he puts the phone to his ear. He speaks briefly in English. “We are coming up on you.”

He hangs up and gives the driver his phone. The truck carrying the rest of the team is in front of us. It pulls up to a large brick building with dark green ivy growing on the walls, enveloping the structure. A bay garage door at the front of the building rolls open, and our trucks usher in. After we pull through, the garage door closes down behind us.

The inside of the building is gutted and vacant. We get out of the trucks and wait as Sebastian and Balthazar talk to the drivers.

I look around the large, empty building. The windows lining the top part of the wall all the way around the building are darkened with an amber-colored stain. It doesn’t block out the patterned lightning. I hear a metal door swing open somewhere in the building.

I hear Siobhan’s voice before I see her. She sounds like she is half joking and half serious.

Siobhan says, “Well, it’s about time!”

Ang attacks Siobhan with a huge hug. “S!”

Siobhan smiles and pats Ang on the back.

Ang releases her, and Siobhan runs toward Jake.

Jake picks her up in his arms and kisses her. Then, he inches back and tells her, “God, I missed you, S.”

She doesn’t say anything. She just pulls him into her and eagerly kisses him.

Nick sings, “Reunited, and it feels so good!”

He whistles a catcall and teases, “Hey, S, where’s mine, baby?”

Siobhan slowly leans away from Jake, narrowing her eyes at Nick. She saunters over to Nick slowly and seductively.

Jake mumbles under his breath
, “You asked for it, Nick.”

Siobhan stands in front of Nick. She runs one hand down his chest and leans in close. Nick is smiling the whole time, getting a kick out of her seductive game.

I look at Elisha, who is standing next to Jake. He’s obviously told her what Siobhan is going to do because she’s covering her growing smile with her hand.

Within a millisecond, Siobhan has Nick in a sleeper hold, and he’s out like a light. Completely passed out, he drops like a sack of potatoes on the concrete.

Elisha walks over to him, and Ang comes to her aid. It will take at least both of them to get him off the ground.

Siobhan saunters over to Jake and kisses him tenderly. Jake pulls back and whispers something to her. Siobhan leans in again and kisses him more deeply.

Sebastian teases, “Alright, Siobhan, don’t suffocate the poor man.”

I feel my heart rate increase and my face get warm from eyeing Siobhan’s and Jake’s exchange. I walk to the back of the truck and grab a couple of the bags that the drivers have unloaded to distract myself from their moment. I take the bags back over to the gathering group.

I hear the metal door squeak open again. I tense when I see the girl we saw a day and half ago on Skype. She looks more like Corinna in person.

Nate comes up behind me, putting his hand on my shoulder. He thinks,
You alright?

I haven’t talked to him since he dropped the ball on me, confessing that he realizes where he, Xander, and I stand with each other.

I nod, put my hand on top of his, and squeeze it, so he knows I’m alright. But, I don’t say anything. He doesn’t give me time to talk. Instead, he walks toward the team that’s already greeting Siobhan and Isabel.

I hang back and put my hand in my coat pocket. I gently squeeze the cold metal that has settled at the bottom.

Xander comes to stands next to me with a bag slung over his shoulder. He leans in and says, “Hey.”

I look at him sideways. “Hey.”

He has that coy smile on his lips, the same one he had the day I met him. He glances at Isabel, and then he looks back at me. “You nervous?”

I nod and lower my head. “Yeah.”

He breathes out deeply, “Yeah, me, too.”

I lean over to him. “Xander, it wasn’t your fault.”

He nods his head, but he says nothing for a minute. I look over at Xander. He is deep in thought. I nudge him and put my arm out for him to accept it. He looks at my arm, and a smile spreads across that beautiful face.

I ask, “Would you allow me the honor of introducing you?”

He wraps his arm around mine and looks into my eyes. “I would be honored.”

I introduce him to Siobhan first. Siobhan looks at Xander, shakes his hand, and then she briefly glances at Nate standing next to her.

Nate interjects, “Xander is my cousin.”

Siobhan looks at me. “Really? Interesting.”

I don’t want to get the third degree from Siobhan right now, and by the way she’s looking at me, I can tell it’s going to hit any second.

I get away while I can. “Excuse us, Siobhan.”

I pull Xander toward Isabel.

Xander whispers to me, “That was subtle, Jes.”

I ignore his comment when I see Isabel walking toward us.

She stands in front of me and smiles softly. “Hi, Jesca.”

“Hi, Isabel.” I quickly introduce Xander, “Isabel, this is Alexander Sera.”

I see her smile disappear, and I try to quickly explain. “Xander is a Dobrian guardian. When Corinna—”

Isabel reaches out her hand to Xander. Her eyes are locked on his. “I know who he is. Hi, Xander.”

Xander shakes her hand and says, “I’m very sorry for what happened, Isabel. If I had known—”

Isabel interrupts, “I don’t blame you, Xander. I don’t blame anyone. All I want is to get my sister back.”

Xander nods at her and puts his hands back in his pockets.

I reach into my pocket and pull out Corinna’s bracelet, the one I have held onto since the night she was abducted. “I have something that you should have.”

Isabel looks at me with furrowed brows. “What is it?”

I gently pull one of her hands to me, palm up, and I lay Corinna’s delicate bracelet in her hand. “I found it, and I knew I had to hold on to it until I could give it to you.” I feel a tear fall from my eye. I didn’t realize that I’d started crying.

Isabel closes her hand around it and hugs me.

As I hug her back, I whisper, “We will get her back, Isabel.”

Isabel whispers, “Thank you, Jesca.”

* * *

Like the New York safe house, everything is underground, and there are multiple levels. I’m coming to realize that our life as guardians appears to be safer underground—for now, anyway. Who knows what will be safe in the future?

Siobhan gives us a quick tour of the house, and we each claim our spot for the short amount of time we will be here.

Sebastian says, “Don’t get too comfortable. We are thirty-six hours away from the apex of the intersection after the Sondians open the wormhole.”

Sebastian tells us to meet in the living room in three hours to be briefed on the mission. Before he climbs the stairs to the upper level of the safe house, he yells out, “Xander, be ready in two hours.”

Sebastian doesn’t have to tell us why. It’s the one thing that I have been dreading for the past twenty-four hours. My hands tighten, and my chest contracts just from thinking about Xander going undercover like this.

Elisha interrupts my thoughts when she taps me on my shoulder. “I’m going to bed.”

Nick walks up behind her and nuzzles her neck. “Me, too.”

Elisha playfully rolls her eyes, and then she looks at me. “We really are going to sleep.”

I put up my hands, not wanting to know anything more and not fully believing her words.

Elisha pulls Nick to the room she has chosen, and they close the door behind them.

Everyone else disappears into the rooms they have chosen, leaving me as I turn in a brief circle in the hallway.
I lean against the doorway to my room and look down the hall. Xander is standing in his doorway. His blue-green eyes are fixed on me. I close my eyes, thinking about him leaving for the Sondian safe house soon. I don’t want to let him go. It’s too dangerous. He needs to be with us—with me.

Xander interrupts my thoughts. “Tired?”

I open my eyes and look at him. I don’t want him to worry about my thoughts. “No, not at all. You?”

His smile is soft. “No.”

He runs his hand through his hair, pushes off of his door, and slowly walks toward me. My heart picks up its pace, and I hear myself pant a little when my eyes move to his lips, remembering how they felt on mine. I pinch my lips together, push off from the door, and stand up straight. I look everywhere except directly at Xander. I try to pull myself together. It helps—right up until Xander stands a mere step away from me. He runs his fingers along my arm and down to my hand. He gently locks his fingers with mine. Then, Xander leans in, brushing his lips against my cheek.

I feel my stomach tighten with excitement. I’m anticipating the feel of his lips on mine. I run my free hand up his strong, broad chest. Xander pulls back just enough so that I feel his hot breath scorching my lips, teasing me to lean in just enough to touch my lips against his.

I open my eyes and look into his. I whisper, “Do you want to come in?”

Xander nods slowly. Drawing out his answer slowly, he whispers on my lips, “Yes.”

I turn my face away from his and lead Xander into my room.

I hear Xander close the door behind him. Before we step any farther into my room, Xander spins me around, pulls me toward him, and leans me against the door. His lips are still hovering over mine, not touching, but they are so close. His strong hands are resting on my hips.