The Bloom Series Box Set: Bloom & Fade (63 page)

“
Because she knows I can
read it,” said Roku. Everyone looked at him. “She must have known I
was with you.”

Haven almost asked how they knew each
other, then she saw the pained look on Roku’s face and thought
better of it. She handed him the piece of paper.

He studied it carefully. “These are
coordinates. Longitude and latitude.”

“
Coordinates for
what?”

“
The rest of the message
might reveal the answer.”

“
Well, come on!” said
Bastian. “Out with it!”

Roku looked at Haven. “Kamiko wants
you to know that she has Colton and will keep him as her own until
the day you feel strong enough to challenge her. The coordinates on
this note are the location where he is being held.”

“
What are they?” asked
Dormer. He kicked away some of the rubble and found a stack of
papers strewn across the floor. He flipped through the pages and
pulled out a map. Roku read off some numbers and Dormer made a
small black X with a pencil, not too far from the Dome’s location.
“That can’t be right,” he said.

“
What’s wrong?”

“
Those coordinates are in
the exact same spot as Bernam’s old headquarters. You remember the
black building connected to the medical facility?”

“
The one I blew up,” said
Haven. “Yeah, I remember. The whole place melted into the
ground.”

“
It would seem that is
where Kamiko is waiting.”

The doors opened and June and Marius
walked into the room. The blackish, poisoned tint was already
fading from Marius’s skin. His eyes were bright and
alert.

“
Corva is alive,” he said.
His voice caught in his throat as he turned to Dormer and said,
“Marius is sorry about your brother. To do such a thing, to make
this cure, he is a hero.”

Dormer nodded.

“
So,” said Marius. He
turned to Haven. “What will you do?”

“
I’m going to bring Colton
back. And I’m going to make sure Kamiko never hurts anyone else
ever again.”

“
I’ll take a piece of that
action,” said Bastian.

“
Me too,” said
Roku.

“
I feel I owe it to my
brother to pay her a little visit,” said Dormer.

“
What about you, Marius?”
asked Haven.

He shook his head, somewhat sadly. “I
am not leaving Corva again. I will stay.”

“
So will I,” said June.
“I’ll watch out for Noah and the others while you four take care of
business.”

“
Thank you,” said Haven.
She turned to Roku, Bastian, and Dormer. “Well boys, let’s go
finish what Kamiko started.”

39

C
olton looked out a window in the helicopter as the Jeep drive
up to the Dome and stopped next to the hole in the ground. The
helicopter rose higher into the air until the Jeep became a speck,
then disappeared far below. He imagined Haven stepping up next to
the hole and looking in; he could picture her face when she saw the
ruin within—her second home to be attacked by people who wanted her
dead or as a lab specimen.

Colton turned away from the window and
settled back in his seat. Kamiko sat across the cabin, staring at
him. The passenger area of the chopper looked like the inside of a
luxury van, which struck Colton as odd for many reasons, the
biggest being the twin machine guns sticking out from the
aircraft’s nose. Each seat was made from molded leather and
swiveled freely. Kamiko turned hers slowly back and forth and
chewed on some of her hair.

“
Do you love her?” she
asked suddenly.

Colton said, “Who?” even though he
knew exactly who she meant.

Kamiko tilted her head to the side and
smiled. “True love doesn’t exist, you know.”

“
Is that what Alistair
told you?”

She laughed; a soft, feminine sound.
“He didn’t have to tell me. I already knew.”

“
Who broke your
heart?”

Her smile faded and her eyes
darkened.

“
Whoever he is,” said
Colton, “or
was
,
I hope he didn’t learn the hard way that it’s a bad idea to make
you angry.”

She smiled again and looked up at the
ceiling. Colton thought he saw tears welling up in her eyes. There
was a faint flash of blue from her pupils and her eyes were dry
again.

“
Most men are intimidated
by me,” she said.

“
No kidding.”

“
But you are
not.”

“
I’ve been around plenty
of crazy.”

A thin strand of lightning cracked out
from her hand like a whip and slashed him across the face, then
disappeared just as quickly. His skin sizzled where it struck his
cheek.

“
Perhaps you want another
scar to match the one I already gave you,” said Kamiko. Her breath
hissed out through her clenched teeth and she shook with anger. A
moment later, the anger vanished, and she was turning her chair
slowly from side to side as if nothing had happened.

Colton touched the crescent scar on
the side of his face. “Where are we going?” he asked.

“
My home.”

“
And how
is
the underworld this
time of year?”

Another lightning whip snapped out,
but Colton was ready. He absorbed the blow easily and felt renewed
by the powerful energy that filled his veins. The whip crackled
across his skin as Kamiko tried to hurt him, then she gave up and
the lightning dissipated into the air as if blown away by a calm
wind.

“
You learn quickly,” she
said. Colton thought he heard a hint of appreciation in her
voice.

He looked out the window and tried to
force himself to think about other things. Kamiko closed her eyes
and appeared to be sleeping. Colton looked toward the front of the
helicopter. The cockpit was closed off from the rest of the
chopper—the only way to take out the pilot would be to go outside
and back in through one of the doors up front. As if Kamiko were
reading his mind, she opened her eyes and shook her head ever so
slightly.

The helicopter slowly descended. The
ground below turned from a light beige to a darker clay color, with
less plant life and more hulking boulders dotting the landscape.
Colton had a sinking feeling that he recognized the area—as much as
anyone could recognize a generic patch of nowhere in the middle of
Montana—and as the helicopter touched down, he was certain he knew
where they were going.

“
But it was destroyed,” he
said.

Kamiko stood and gently touched his
scar. She smiled and pulled the door open. Wind from the blades
blasted into the cabin and Colton held his head down as he followed
Kamiko outside.

A tall building stood over the ruins
of Bernam’s old headquarters. The mirrored, modern architecture of
his square office had been replaced with a palatial spire of
twisting black metal that reached up toward the sky like the turret
of a futuristic castle. The sides of the building were lined with
solar panels that hugged and encircled the building every few feet
up its length like enormous belts.

“
What do you think?”
shouted Kamiko over the helicopter noise.

Colton couldn’t answer. His voice had
died in his throat as he looked up at the powerful building.
Something about it made him feel that it would be pointless to
resist any organization that could construct such a
thing.

The helicopter lifted off
and flew away as Kamiko led Colton to the base of the building. A
flat black door rested in a deep groove. Three security cameras
looked down at them as they stood outside, waiting. She looked
right into one of the cameras and a small light below the lens
flashed green. There was a deep metal
clank
and the door swung inward.
Colton followed Kamiko into the darkness of a cool hallway, dark
except for a dim red light glowing somewhere far above. It felt
more like the entrance to a nightclub than to a villain’s
lair.

She walked down the long hallway,
Colton following closely behind. He looked up and saw the ceiling
was a hundred feet from the narrow floor. Cameras hidden behind
black domes dotted the ceiling every few feet, just barely visible
in the dim red light—and something else was up there as well. Small
objects with holes in the center. Colton realized they were sentry
guns. They were aimed down at the floor at different angles so any
unwanted guests would have to cross through a sheet of bullets to
get past the hallway.

The door at the end of the hall opened
automatically as Kamiko approached. Colton stepped through the
doorway, expecting a maze of claustrophobic tunnels that led to
countless rooms. Instead, the inside of the building was mostly
hollow.

Like an ancient cathedral,
the floor was open to the peak of the spire far above. Supporting
arches ringed the massive floor and helped to support the walls,
but higher up, the building tapered inward and supported itself.
Colton imagined it was like being inside the shell of a skyscraper
shaped like a giant rocket. The polished floor was multi-tiered,
with steps leading up and down between different levels. There was
a lounge area up a small flight of stairs to his left and a command
center with rows of tables topped with sleek black computers to his
right. The highest level was against the far wall up a steep flight
of steps—a bedroom with a dozen
byōbu
folding screens used as walls.
The
byōbu
were
painted with vibrant colors and depicted forest scenes filled with
animals. One of them showed a large feathered bird rising up into
the air, its bright feathers burning with blue fire.

“
Where is everyone?” asked
Colton. He was expecting his voice to echo throughout the empty
chamber, but instead it seemed to die inches from his face. The
room was soundproofed.

“
You killed them at the
Dome,” she said without anger. She walked up the set of steps to
her left and Colton followed. The wide, circular lounge area was
lined with black, overstuffed couches, black end tables, and even
blacker coffee tables.

“
I think I know your
favorite color,” said Colton.

Kamiko looked at him demurely and sat
on a couch. Her slender frame barely made a dent in its plush
fabric.

“
Who’s going to push all
those buttons?” he asked, pointing over to the command center. Red
lights flashed across racks filled with various
equipment.

“
Alistair will send
someone. He always does.” She ran her finger in small circles on
the seat next to her. “But now I have you to keep me company,
haven’t I?”

“
Why do you work for him
in the first place?”

She looked at him knowingly. “Are you
trying to appeal to my reasonable side?”

“
Maybe.”

“
I can assure you, I have
none.”

Blood rushed to Colton’s face. “You
must want something! Who teams up with a guy like Alistair? You
think he cares about you or anyone else who does his bidding? He
would toss you aside like garbage if he thought he couldn’t use
you. He probably will anyway, once he’s finished.”

“
Then he is no different
from anyone else in this world,” said Kamiko. “You think people
care about
you
,
Colton? They don’t. They only care about what you can do for them.
I was lucky enough to realize that truth before it was too
late.”

“
So now you just get what
you can, while you can. Is that about it?”

“
It’s the perfect
relationship,” she said. “He gets what he wants, and I get what I
want.”

“
So you
do
want
something.”

She smiled again and turned away
slightly. Colton couldn’t tell if she was trying to flirt with him
or if she was just plain crazy. “Every girl does,” she
said.

“
Well?”

“
You’re going to make me
say it?”

“
Yeah.”

“
I want you to stay with
me.”

Colton looked at her for a long time,
pretending to think it over. She waited with a hopeful gleam in her
eyes. He let her wait a little bit longer. “Why do you want Haven
so badly, anyway?” he asked.

Kamiko grinned wickedly. “You’re smart
enough to figure it out.”

“
Maybe I’m
not.”

She sighed. “Why would any
girl with blue flame want to be the
only
girl with blue flame in the
world?”

Colton’s eyes widened with
understanding. “So the Phoenix power would be forced to go to
you.”

She nodded. “I simply want to
eliminate my competition.”

“
But I thought you
already—” and then he stopped. Dormer and everyone else at the Dome
thought Kamiko had already received the Phoenix power instead of
Haven. She was so strong that it was an easy assumption to make.
But if she didn’t have it, and neither did Haven, then who did? Was
it possible that no one had received the ability?