Unaltered #2_A Diamond in my Heart (26 page)

Again, my facial expressions revealed
my inner thoughts. She tried to console me. “Calli, the other
option is we end Freedom’s life, releasing his hold on the diamond,
and then your shard will merge flawlessly with the
diamond.”

“But how do you kill a Diamond Bearer,
Maetha?”

Her only reply was, “How indeed? It’s
never happened before. The need has never existed.”

My world was upended once again.
Maetha always knew the answer to everything, she’d seen so much in
her long life, she knew it was impossible to remove a diamond from
a bearer; the bearer had to do it himself. Gustave removed this
stone from his own body ending his life all for the purpose of
bringing down the Death Clan. Now the diamond was in a splintered
state with two Unaltereds laying claim to it, which apparently had
never happened before, and the weaker of the two being
myself.

Things didn’t look too good for
me.

Maetha added, “I’m going in search of
the female Repeater as she possesses the skills necessary to break
into a government facility. Our other repeaters are less than
qualified to try to rescue Brand. Calli, you will need Brand to
protect you from Freedom until we can figure out a way to get the
upper hand on him. You will need to use the pocket watch to travel
undetected with Chris.”

Chris jumped up in defense. “You’re
saying we purposefully dismiss our powers?”

“It’s the only way to hide from
Freedom; it’s the only way to save her life, Chris.”

I looked at Chris and his gaze met
mine. “Chris, where does your uncle live?”

“Miami. I’ll get us airline
tickets.”

Maetha interrupted with more dismal
news. “No, you cannot use any form of public transportation.
Freedom will have Homeland Security searching for you. You do not
want your face captured on any camera, no cell phones or anything
the government can track. In fact, I’d be surprised if your faces
don’t end up on the FBI’s most wanted list which will put state and
local law enforcement after you as well. I have a vehicle here that
you can use for as long as it will take you. I cannot see the
future concerning how far that will be; the use of Freedom's stone
prevents it.”

Chris moved closer to me and put his
arm around my shoulder. “No problem. We have a lot of friends who
can help us out. We’ll just keep our noses clean and not rob any
banks.” He squeezed my shoulder to try to lighten the
mood.

“You won’t be able to contact any
friends or family either. The clans are up in arms because their
amulet wearers—their leaders—were kidnapped and then murdered. They
think Calli has their individual amulets in her possession and they
want them back, and they want justice to be served.”

“You mean they want me dead as well,”
I said quietly.

Chris said, “But I can testify that
Calli wasn’t behind it. She wasn’t working with Justin.”

Maetha said with finality, “You must
stay by Calli’s side for this very reason. You are the only one who
can speak reason to the clans as you yourself were kidnapped.
Freedom’s pocket watch is your cloaking device and with your
cleverly designed Demon devices you’ll be able to travel at night
giving you the advantage over the Hunters.”

“Why don’t we have my uncle come to us
instead?” Chris asked.

“No, you two need to stay on the move
or you risk being found. Also, when you meet with your uncle, be on
your guard. Now, it is time for you to leave.”

Maetha led us out to the parking lot
to her car. She had a small bag of supplies for us including extra
Demon devices, Mrs. Winter’s granola bars, juice, and an
exceptionally large amount of cash—and a gun.

“What do we do once we find my
uncle?”

“After he identifies the stone, close
the pocket watch and I’ll find you.”

###

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