The Almost Girl – ebook edition (39 page)

“Happy to oblige.” Caden’s hands slip around my waist to the small of my back, pulling me close. He has that smile on his lips again… the one that makes me breathless. He raises an eyebrow.

“Oh, get over it,” I snap, watching as his smile turns into a full-fledged knowing grin. “Really, Cade? We’re on a mission, remember?”

“I know, but we’re dancing, so let’s at least try to enjoy it.”

“Why do you do that?” I ask. “Play around when you’re supposed to be serious?”

“Because life’s too short. Even if one of those guys” – he gestures to the Vector watching us – “wants to kill me, I’d rather die with a smile in my heart. Life is for the living, and death is for the dead.”

That shuts me up.

We make a few showy turns, not realizing that others on the dance floor have given us a wide berth. Apparently, hardcore martial arts and weapons training give a person an edge in the dancing arena. I feel as if there’s wind beneath my soles, and although I know that most of it is probably due to Caden’s expert partnering, I have no trouble keeping up.

“You’re a good dancer,” I tell him.

“Fencing,” he says. “Half dancing, half fighting. Oh, and Shae made me take ballroom. Don’t laugh,” he says at my incredulous expression, twirling me around him. “It was either ballroom or singing, and since I can’t hold a tune, well, I didn’t have much choice.”

“Did she say why?” I ask, mirth in my eyes.

He shrugs. “Something to do with being well-rounded. Honestly, I was seven at the time, so it was just something interesting to do. All old-school, too, like waltzes and the foxtrot.” As if to demonstrate his point, Caden twirls us into several complicated loops, my toes barely grazing the floor.

“Well, you do it very well,” I say.

Caden’s grin is wicked as he spins me outward and pulls me back toward him so quickly that my body snaps into his like a rubber band. “Constantly surprising you, aren’t I?”

I am breathless.

Being this close to him in front of so many people is sweet torture, flashes of two days before tormenting me. His dancing is as masterful as his… kissing. I realize that I’m staring at his finely-shaped lips and drop my eyes hastily.

“I want to, too,” he whispers in my ear, lowering me into a graceful dip.

“Want to what?”

“Kiss you right now.”

I almost lose my grasp on his shoulders, but Caden slips his free hand around my back and brings me back up. My cheeks are flaming and my heart is bursting. The music stops and Caden bows with a flourish to the loud sound of cheering. I sink into a dazed half-curtsy, and we move off the dance floor.

“The Vector’s gone,” Caden says, handing me a thin, fluted glass of something misty.

“What?” Again, he has caught me unawares. I flush dully. I’m still thinking of him kissing me. “Oh, right.”

The ice-cold vapor in the glass helps to slow the burn in my chest, bringing me back to reality and some semblance of self-control. If I don’t get it together, this is going to be an extraction gone horribly wrong. I shove any thoughts of Caden and kissing out of my head.

Moving along the edge of the crowd, we walk to the stone terrace that branches off into the castle’s lush rose gardens. I don’t know why I never noticed it before: so many people without water in Neospes, and here it’s indulgently wasted on roses. My time in the Otherworld has changed me, made me appreciate the little that we do have. We walk casually into the garden.

“Anyone see us?” I ask.

“No,” Caden says. “And even if they did, they’ll just think we came in here to finish what we started out there on the dance floor.”

“You’re disgusting,” I say, but my cells are firing at the very thought.

Gritting my teeth and ignoring Caden, I locate the duffel bag that Sauer has managed to stash under a bench in a shadowed corner of the gardens. The sky is a deep bluish purple, and the faded moonlight barely illuminates the small square.

“Turn the other way,” I say primly to Caden, who of course grins even more widely but complies. Stripping off the offending white gown, I pull on the black Vector suit I retrieved from my house. I don’t link the neck connector to my nervous system just yet. Instead, I clip some weapons onto the suit’s belt and throw my star-shaped sheath over my shoulder to fasten it over my suit, flush against my back. My ninjata blades scissor into the bottom of it, and the long sword Shae gave me slides in down the middle from the top. Finally, my pack goes over everything.

“OK, your turn,” I say to Caden. “I’ll keep watch.”

“You can watch.”

“You’re so annoying. I said
keep
watch. Just hurry up!”

But Caden is already slipping off his shirt just as I’m finishing my last words, and my breath slams against my lips. Every curve is as chiseled as I remembered and looks even better in the moonlight. I drag my eyes away and stare at a point on the castle wall so hard that my eyes ache. He’s a distraction… and one that could get us killed, get me killed.

I slow my mind and focus on the task at hand, each breath hardening my resolve. Caden fades into the background as my body readies itself for action, my brain sharp and thoughts fluid. An icy sensation slips through my veins, and for the first time I recognize it for what it is – the android side of me, readying itself for battle, too.

“Time to go,” I say, my voice rigid. “You good?”

“Yes.”

It’s as if Caden, too, has flicked a switch inside of him. Now the teasing smile is gone. In its place is a look of grim determination. He’s also dressed in black gear similar to Aurela’s and has stuffed the duffel out of sight. I pinch the collar of the suit against my skin and feel a small jolt as the suit powers up.

“Radio silence,” I say to Sauer, pressing my earpiece. “On my mark.”

“Clear.”

And Sauer is gone.

There are guards patrolling, but security doesn’t seem any tighter than usual. Like shadows, we cross the rest of the garden, keeping ourselves pressed against the bushes until we reach the far wall. There’s a little-used passage in the back. All of the servants will be on full duty tonight, so we shouldn’t encounter anyone.

Caden and I split up, approaching the entrance from opposite sides. There’s a guard to the right of Caden. He takes the guard out effortlessly with two jabs to the temple. We’ve all agreed to minimal casualties, so the guard is only unconscious.

The crumbling stone staircase is narrow and smells musty with disuse, but we’re still careful not to step on anything that could draw unwanted attention to us. Noises and voices filter through as we pass a part of the kitchens, continuing upward until I’ve counted four floors and stopping at the back of a heavy wooden slab.

“Where exactly are we?” Caden asks softly.

“East wing, fourth floor. It’s the library.”

“How do you know for sure that no one’s on the other side of this door?”

“Cale and I used to sneak out without anyone knowing, using this passage,” I whisper to him. “I don’t think anyone knows that it exists anymore. Come on.”

The slab cracks open, and as expected, there’s no one in the room. We slip out and the other side of the door – an actual bookcase – slides back into place with a low click.

“This way,” I say.

Aurela was right that everyone would be outside during the ball. We haven’t encountered a single person, not even a guard. As soon as the thought crosses my mind, a shiver flutters across my neck.
Why
aren’t there any guards? Where is everyone?

Signaling to Caden to stop, I creep around a tall pillar and peer down into a section of the hall on the floor below. Not a body in sight.

“Something’s wrong,” I whisper. “Something’s not right. We have to find Cale now.”

Moving with urgent purpose toward the west wing with Caden close behind, I slip into Cale’s old room. I’m unprepared for the onslaught of memories, especially of the last day I saw Cale… sick and weak. He begged me to find Caden so that I could save him.

“Cale?”

“Riven, no,” Caden warns in a low voice behind me, but I’m already moving toward the canopied bed. There’s someone sitting behind the curtains – I can just see his outline.

“Cale? Is that you?”

The figure turns moving into the light. “No, but it is good to see you again, General.” It’s the Vector Commander, the one with the terrible voice. “Your father said you had returned.”

“My father?” I blurt out.

“Of course,” the Vector said. “Your mother told him.”

“You lie!” I spit, but then compose myself in the next breath. “My mother is dead. If you had your facts correct, you’d know that.” The Vector stands, and I hear Caden’s short hiss of indrawn breath behind me. I forgot how big the giant was, but I ignore the thrum of panic in my abdomen. “Where’s Cale? Where’s the
Lord King
?”

“Indisposed.”

“What did Murek do with him?” But even as I ask the question, I know I’m not going to get any answers. That thing is there for a sole purpose – for me. I shift into a battle stance, but the creature just watches me, its milky gaze fluttering to land on something just beyond my shoulder. In the next instant, I realize that I’m dead wrong.

That thing is there for Caden.

“Looks like they fixed you up good after the last time we met,” I taunt, knowing it won’t elicit any kind of response. It’s what makes them the perfect killing machines – they don’t feel, they just obey. “There won’t be much left of you this time, that I can promise you.”

My ninjatas are in my hand and I’m springing toward the Vector with lethal precision before the last word leaves my lips. It meets me with a swift sidestep and an elbow to the back of the head that has me reeling. It moves fast, faster than the last time I’d seen it. I’m operating on old data – this thing has been recalibrated.

Caden circles around the back to jab with his sword, but the Vector deflects the strike easily with its armored forearm. We attack it full-on from either side, slashing and weaving between offensive and defensive moves, but despite the double attack, we don’t land any lethal blows. Frowning, I see that the Vector has been programmed to protect its vulnerable spots… or maybe it had somehow
learned
our tactics from our last fight.

As if reading my mind, the thing speaks. “Let me have the boy.”

“The boy’s right here if you want him,” Caden says defiantly, and I shoot him a glare. This is no time to be flippant. We could be stuck here in a never-ending fight with this thing preempting our every move while Cale inches closer to dying. The insidious way the Vector said “indisposed” makes my skin crawl.

We need backup.

“Reptile,” I say urgently touching my ear. “Reptile!”

But there’s no response. We’re on our own.

Without wasting time, I tuck my body into a spin crouch, slashing at the Vector’s sides. I connect, but the damage once more is just minor. The giant dances away, light on its feet. Its face slashes open in a grimace, baring broken, stained teeth. I can only imagine it’s some kind of macabre grin. It’s toying with us.

“Don’t make this harder than you have to, General. You don’t have a choice.”

“What’s it doing?” Caden mouths, confused as I am by the Vector’s cavalier attitude toward us. “Why isn’t it attacking?”

“I don’t know. Orders. I think it’s waiting.”

I don’t bother to hide what I’m saying. We’re probably already surrounded. Pressing a button on my arm, I engage the suit’s internal armor. Time to piss the big brute off while we still have a fighting chance. Caden and I attack simultaneously, slamming into the Vector from both sides. It only has two arms and we have four between us. Caden bears the brunt of the defense – slamming into the side of a bedpost like he’s fluff – but it gives me the opening I need.

Propelling my body toward the creature, I leap, my foot pressing off of the Vector’s thigh, and I twist my torso in midair, slamming my blades forward. A row of spikes on the outside of my leg rips into its arms just as my ninjata blade sinks itself hilt-deep into the back of the Vector’s thick neck. I wrench with all my might, ripping upward through the corded muscle. It grunts loudly, trying to shrug me off, but I’m hanging on to the hilt protruding from its neck with everything I have left.

My second blade, as sharp as it is, won’t penetrate the Vector’s uniform in armor mode. Instead, I swipe at its arms as they claw at me, trying to get me off its back. My strike is true as three of the creature’s fingers fall like stones to the floor. Blue fluid sprays me in the face.

I spare a glance to Caden, who is still lying on the floor. He’s alive but dazed from the blow. He won’t survive another hit like that, even if the Vector wants to keep him alive. Time to end this. Swinging my legs up, I literally crawl up the Vector’s back and throw myself around and over its neck so that my thighs are straddling its head.

And then I twist, throwing us both to the ground and hearing the sick crunch of bone as its neck dislocates. My attack won’t kill it. It will only disorient it for a minute, if that. I land hard on my shoulder and the pain rockets through my bones, but I lurch to my knees, conscious not to waste the precious little advantage I have. The nanobes do what they’re supposed to, assuaging the painful areas immediately and repairing any internal damage, so only seconds pass before I grab Shae’s sword and swing it with both hands… right at its head.

Our eyes meet in the nanosecond it takes for its android brain to recognize its imminent destruction. The Vector’s hands still crunch into my sides and grasp at my neck. But it’s already over – the blade slides through tendons and wiring like they’re nothing but paper. Its body crashes to the ground.

“Try fixing that, asshole,” I growl.

Very carefully, I remove the ninjata that was spiked into its neck and jam it into the base of its cerebral cortex, where any thought processing function would likely be. Cutting open a flap of skin and ignoring the blue foul-smelling fluid oozing out, I dig my fingers in until I find the small square.