Worth Dying for (A Dying for a Living Novel Book 5) (25 page)

Rachel

J
essup’s face blanches. Her eyes slide from Caldwell to Ally, but she remains frozen in the middle of the hallway. Gunfire erupts nearby, but she doesn’t even move. Her eyes glazed, fixed on the bodies but not seeing them. I’ve seen this before in the asylum. Some patients would slip into catatonia for months. They wouldn’t move, eat, or speak.

This is a hell of a time to go all stupid, Jessup.

A bullet shatters a window and I duck, shielding my head. Jessup still doesn’t move. She’s in shock. Either because her father is dead, because Ally is dead, or because both deaths happened in such quick succession of one another. Is she going to cry about it? This is hardly the time. Caldwell’s men will be on us in minutes.

I pull myself up. Gloria and Gideon both stir toward consciousness.

If I’m going to take Caldwell’s powers
now
is the time. But it will kill me. So where can I go where they won’t follow?

Before I can think of an answer, two hands grab me and yank me off of my feet. My skin burns at the touch and I wail.

“You killed him!” Georgia screams. Mascara trails down her face in two dark streams. “You killed him you bitch!”

I wrench myself from her grip the same moment that I shove her away from me. She trips over Caldwell’s body and hits her head against the back of the wall. For a heartbeat she’s dazed, her eyes swimming in their sockets. Then her focus sharpens and the black ribbons unfurl from her back.

Another bullet zings down the hall and pierces her shoulder.

She cries out and blood blooms through her clothes. The gunfire intensifies as if a small army is just around the corner. Georgia and I are forced into a truce in order to duck for cover or risk having our brains blown out.

Georgia barks orders. “Help me carry him! Maisie!”

“No!” the girl says. Gideon’s eyes fly open and he pulls his weapon, pointing the barrel at Georgia.

Maisie wails. “No!” She shoves the barrel down and it goes off, putting a bullet in Caldwell’s lifeless body. “That’s my mom!”

The gunfire keeps spilling into this hallway, but there’s no bodies. If the soldiers themselves appeared, I could throw them or stop their hearts. But my powers don’t work on flying bullets.

“Your shield!” I shout to Jessup, as if my voice is going to lift her out of her shock. “Erect your shield, idiot, or we’re going to be shot!”

“You won’t have to worry about that pretty little face of yours,” Georgia sneers. Pretty little face? She dares to taunt me about my scar, the bitch.

I reach out with my mind and seize her heart. Her eyes go wide. Her ribbons arch up, ready to strike.

“No,” Maisie wails. But Gideon pulls her away from us and the immediate battle. And I know exactly what I must do.

Jesse

C
aldwell is dead. Ally is dead. And now my best friend is my enemy.

I can’t move. I can’t breathe.

Rachel killed Ally. Oh my god, Rachel
killed
Ally.

How could you do this to me?

A strange pantomime of emotion consumes me. I feel everything until it crescendos into nothing. A void grows in my mind.

A bullet whizzes past my face, cutting my cheek. Then there’s hot blood. Then the burn of its healing.

Gabriel tries to pull me to the surface of the dark pond I’m drowning in.

If you do not shield yourself, you will be shot in the head.

Nothing.

I don’t care about myself. I never did any of this for me.

He tries again.

If you don’t shield Alice, her head could be shot and then Maisie cannot revive her
.

This brings the world into sharp focus.

Maisie can revive her.

Another stray bullet ricochets off the cinder block wall and straight through the remaining glass window. Another hits my shield the moment after I erect it.

Four soldiers in full combat gear duck into our hallway, glancing at us only once before aiming their guns. The soldier on the left is struck and he goes down, his faceplate busted open from the gunshot.

A man in a suit appears and tries to shoot a second soldier before another soldier whirls and strikes him in the face with the butt of her gun. He crumples and the gunfire stops. I watch them as if what is happening beyond the shield is the most important thing. I should be killing Rachel. Or I could at least kill Georgia, though she sits just beyond the shield. A purple shimmer separating her from Caldwell’s body.

I can’t even look at Ally’s body.

Forgive her. Forgive me,
Brinkley said.

My heart kicks in my chest. What if Brinkley never expected me to save Rachel? What if he knew Ally would die and the whole
forgive her
bit was about not blaming her for what she did to Ally?

Never. I can never forgive her.

With three of the soldiers dead and the gunfire ceased, the last soldier tears off her helmet to reveal stark blond hair and a thick orange streak beneath.

“Sasquatch.” I drop the shield and for once in my life, I’m happy to see her.

Nikki isn’t looking at me. Her eyes are fixed on Ally.

“You killed her,” Nikki says. Her face blanches.

“Rachel—” I begin but I choke on the name.

“You killed her!” Nikki lifts her gun and shoves the barrel against my temple.

Rachel

T
he moment Jesse’s shield erects, knocking Georgia back, I descend on Caldwell. I search my pockets for the small weapon that I used to kill Niv, but it’s gone. On the floor several feet away, there’s a knife that Caldwell used to stab Jessup. I scurry toward it on hands and knees and snatch it up, leaving bloody fingerprints along the linoleum.

I rush back to the body. If I kill Caldwell, maybe I can use his teleportation to jump the moment the blue fire erupts. At least that way, I can be dead somewhere else, far from here. By the time Gloria sketches my location, I’ll be alive and well. Maybe even ready for a second assault.

My whole body quivers with anticipation. The knife trembles in my fist. I’m so excited I could howl.

I grin at Caldwell’s body. The face is placid. Not a wrinkle to worry his brow or tighten his mouth. He looks so peaceful.

I remember Brinkley’s journal entry for how they defeated Chaplain—by stabbing him through the eye.

Yes.

That’s exactly what he deserves.

I slam the knife down, aiming for the left eye when a dark hand seizes mine. The knife stops inches above his eye.

Gideon holds my wrist there. “No.”

“Let go of me!”

“No, love,” he says, his voice softening. “That’s enough.”

Anger seizes me. I ram the knife into Gideon’s chest and he doesn’t even look surprised. He grimaces, but that’s it. No revulsion. No look of betrayal. Only sadness. I try to shove him away from me. But because he won’t let go, we slide together across the floor.

“Cariño,” he says, using my own nickname against me. He crushes me against him so tightly that I can’t move. “You’re better than this. Brinkley knew you were better than this.”

Brinkley.

Brinkley’s rugged and beautiful face.

The moment he leaned over Chaplain’s bed and undid the restraints choking me. The moment he slipped off his jacket and wrapped me up in it, giving me decency for the first time in months. I’d sobbed in his arms for what seemed like forever. His gruff voice reassuring me that I was safe now.

He’s dead,
Brinkley had said.
He’s dead and he’s never going to hurt you again.

I’m looking at Gideon’s face, but it’s Brinkley’s voice I hear.

“We’re a team. We are all you have.”

Part of me wants to kill Caldwell, wants my revenge on Chaplain—but here’s Brinkley, telling me Chaplain is gone, telling me he’ll never hurt me again.

And what would I do? If I have all the powers, if everyone is dead—

I would only be alone.

No Gideon. No Jesse. No one.

I don’t want to be alone in the darkness ever again.

I let go of Gideon’s body and it slumps to the floor.

“What have I done?”

“Are you going to cry about it?” Georgia sneers. “Ruin that pretty little face?”

She taunts me but her eyes are fixed on Jesse. The moment the shield fails, Georgia is going to strike her, kill her, and absorb her power.

I can’t bring Gideon back. I can’t bring Brinkley back. But there is
something
I can do.

Jesse’s purple shield fails.

In that instance, I leap to my feet and place myself between her and the darkness.

Jesse

R
achel collapses the moment Georgia’s black ribbons strike her. Dead. And a heartbeat later, Georgia’s body erupts in blue flame. I stand dumb, frozen as Rachel’s body is incinerated to ash. Every last recognizable feature of my best friend gone.

I crumple to my knees.

Only Maisie is alive in a sea of bodies. Gideon. Ally. Rachel. Georgia. Caldwell. They’re all dead. The kid wipes tears off her face with the heels of her hands.

Nikki presses the muzzle of her gun to my head again.

“I didn’t kill Ally.”

“You may not have done it yourself, but your arrogance, your reckless regard for her life got her killed.”

I can’t even argue. Ally is dead. Rachel is dead. Brinkley is dead. And who can be blamed for that except me?

“It’s not her fault!” Maisie squeals, still cradling her hurt ankle.

“Calm down,” Gloria says, using her negotiator voice. “Take a breath, Tamsin.”

“I can bring her back!” Maisie says, desperation straining her words.

Nikki’s barrel slides along my skull.

I want her to do it. Part of me wants her to blow my brains out all over the linoleum. Only the smallest voice inside me begs for the alternative.
Revive Ally. And take her far, far away from all this.

“Maisie is partis,” Gloria adds in the same steady tone. “She can save Alice.”

Nikki doesn’t lower the gun. “You
will
bring her back.”

“No, I thought I’d leave her dead forever,” I snap. That part of me that welcomes death, that’s
begging
for it, wants to provoke her. “Prop her up around the house and dress her according to the holiday. Reindeer antlers at Christmas, turkey feathers at Thanksgiving.”

“You’re such a smart ass.”

“Wait until you hear my plan for Easter.” I’m spitting the words at her. “She’ll look like a freaking Playboy bunny!”

Nikki lowers her weapon.

“It’s over, Jesse,” Gloria says, turning that frighteningly calm voice on me. Then to Maisie, “Go ahead. Wake them up.”

Maisie leans over Ally’s body, hiding her face from my view. It looks like they are kissing. A hot-cold wave slides down my spine and all the gooseflesh on my arms rise. Then I feel Ally spark to life and all the air is pulled from my chest.

Maisie sits back and sucks in a deep breath.

Is that what it’s like for her? To use her power? It feels like suffocation. Like jumping into an icy lake and the shock of frigid water enveloping my body.

My suspicions are confirmed as I feel the same sensation again, as she revives Gideon.

Maisie sits back and puts a hand to her forehead.

“Are you okay?” Gloria asks, rushing to her.

“I feel a little woozy.” She rubs her forehead. “I’ve never done…two in a row before.”

Ally is breathing. Seeing her chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm changes everything. It’s like I’ve broken the surface of an immense ocean. My chest loosens. My mind clears.

“We need to take care of them before they wake up,” Gloria says.

For a heartbeat, I think she’s talking about Gideon and Ally. Yes, absolutely. Let’s make them comfortable. Have we got any soup, or warm blankets? Comfy pillows?

Then I realize she means Georgia and Caldwell. We need to destroy their brains before either can reboot.

“No!” Maisie wails.

“We have to,” I say. Strength returns to my voice. I still can’t look directly at the ashy smears, all that’s left of Rachel. But she’s everywhere now. She’s floating through the air before my eyes. She’s settling against my skin. She’s under my nails.

I was wrong. When I saw Gloria’s drawing, I thought it was Georgia who killed Ally, leaving her so peaceful as if in sleep. It was my own friend. Rachel was right. How could I be so stupid?

“Hey, are you okay?” Nikki asks.

I’m crying. “I’m…overwhelmed.” I sound so angry.

Because…Rachel is dead? Caldwell is dead? Georgia is dead?

Or is it because I know the time has come?

I have to absorb all their powers—and then what?

I am here,
Gabriel’s voice flits through my head and the usual scent of rain washes over me.
Do not be afraid.

But I am afraid. Afraid I’ll become a monster like them. Afraid I’ll become someone Ally doesn’t even recognize.

I kneel down beside Georgia.

“No,” Maisie begs again. “It’s my mom!”

“Put their bodies somewhere safe.” I barely recognize my own voice. No one moves. I turn and look into Nikki’s eyes. “Please. You have to put her somewhere safe.”

“The control room,” Gloria says without missing a beat.

“No, no, no!” Maisie squeals. She’s near hysterical. She clutches her mother tighter as if we are trying to wrench her away.

We leave her, focused on moving Gideon and Ally away from the scene. It’s a smart, but sobering move. We’re doing this because we have no idea what’s going to happen. Maybe the power will move smoothly from them to us. Maybe Maisie and I will take all their combined powers—eight, if I’m counting right—as easy as one takes a stroll around the block.

Or maybe this will go horribly,
horribly
wrong.

I am here.
Invisible feathers brush my cheeks.
Do not be afraid.

Then Gideon and Ally are tucked away and it’s only the four of us and two bodies—I don’t count Rachel’s ashes.

My heart aches.

I remember the first time I met her. Rachel, this elegant creature draped over a fuchsia sofa reading some entertainment magazine. The way she arched her eyebrow coquettishly at Brinkley when he strode in. How comfortable she seemed in her own skin.

She was beautiful. She was confident.

And she fed me ice cream.

Look where we are now.

“Brinkley would understand,” Gloria says, squeezing my arm hard. I’m forced to look away from the ashes and blink back tears.

“Let’s get this over with,” I say, dropping onto my knees beside Maisie.

“No,” she screams. If my mere whimpering is a 3 on the crying scale, Maisie is sobbing furiously at a solid 9.5. “Jesse, she’s my mom.”

I try to pull her away from Georgia’s body.

“She’s my
mom
!” Snot coats her face and she chokes on her own spit. “Please.
Please
, don’t do this. She’s all I have.”

“She’s not all you have.” Gloria kneels and puts a hand on Maisie’s back.

Nikki watches all this in silence, her brow deeply creased.

Maisie’s eyes search mine. “She’ll work with us. She’ll share the power. I
know
she will. Please, Jesse, please. Please.
Please
.” Every please is more hysterical than the last.

It’s killing me.

“We will start with Caldwell.” It’s the only compromise I see and because I can’t bear to hear her say
please
even one more time.

Maisie can share Caldwell’s four powers with me. And if I’m not totally batshit crazy when that is over, then maybe I can take on all four of Georgia’s powers on my own. I can’t force Maisie to have a hand in her mother’s death. I already have doubts she’s going to be able to help me with all of Caldwell’s juice, given her hysteria.

I can only hope that Georgia’s power doesn’t make me crazy enough that I’d hurt Maisie.

“Okay.” Maisie sniffs and wipes her face on her sleeve. “Okay. Dad first.”

She shuffles over to Caldwell’s body without protest.

I place a knee on either side of Caldwell’s head. Maisie places on hand on my knee and the other on Caldwell’s chest. I am about to ignite when Gloria grabs my wrist.

“Are you sure this won’t hurt her?” Gloria whispers.

The fact that the all-seeing eye has even asked me such a question stuns me. “How the hell am I supposed to know?”

“I didn’t see this,” she says. Concern creases her face.

“That could be a good thing,” I say. “Our ‘winging it’ turned out okay.”

Still Gloria’s face is furrowed with apprehension, but she lets go of my wrist. Her worried expression fixed on Maisie. “Hurry.”

My hand ignites and I lower it toward Caldwell’s face.

For better or worse
, I think, hoping Gabriel hasn’t abandoned me. This would be the worst time.

Caldwell’s face glows blue.

I suck in a breath and thrust my hand into his body.

Only my hand doesn’t move.

It freezes mid-air, suspended like a bizarre ethereal torch above Caldwell’s face. His eyebrows, singed by my fire, start to curl on the ends, and the distinct stench of burnt hair assails me.

Georgia sits up.

She pulls herself to standing and not one of us can stop her. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Gloria quivering, her gun only half raised. As she strains to lift it, her whole body shakes. Out of the other corner of my eye, Nikki isn’t doing any better.

On her feet, Georgia yanks Caldwell’s body away from me. His corpse slides across the floor toward her. Then Maisie is yanked down the hall too.

I’m paralyzed.

“No!” Maisie screams. “Mom,
no
.”

She lunges at her mother and tugs on her arm.

Her hold on us wavers and everything happens at once. Nikki starts shooting at Georgia, driving her back. I lunge for Nikki and knock down her gun.

“That’s my sister you’re shooting at!”

“I have excellent aim!”

“She’s sixteen!” I have no idea why I think this is a logical argument.

Georgia knocks us both back against the wall. For the second time today, I’m sailing through the air. I erect my shield and it buffers my fall. Then I’m up and running.

Gloria is sawing at Caldwell’s head with his own knife. Blood pools over her lap and pours out over the white linoleum. The crimson stream mixes with the black ash.

“No!” Georgia screams. She knocks Gloria back and she sails down the hall. She hits the cinder block wall, her skull cracking against the stone with a sickening sound.

I cast my shield bigger. I can’t cover Maisie or Caldwell, but I do manage to protect Gloria and Nikki from any more attacks.

Georgia pushes against my shield but it doesn’t give. Her telekinesis is definitely stronger than Rachel’s. It’s probably because Georgia now has four powers instead of Rachel’s two. That’s all I need. A vengeful woman twice as strong and crazy as Rachel out to kill my ass.

Georgia lifts Caldwell’s body and the head rolls to the side precariously. Gloria almost succeeded in decapitating it. Too bad she didn’t. We needed only a part of him in order to absorb his power.

Georgia’s black ribbons descend on us. They cloud everything, casting deep shadows. It’s as if night has fallen on the hallway. Nikki raises her gun.

“Drop your shield.”

“That’s death,” I tell her. “If I drop the shield we’re all dead.”

“She’s getting away!”

I know. But what the hell can I do about it? I hear Maisie’s screams, her pleading as it echoes down the hallways. It grows more and more distant with each passing moment.

Until the light returns and the black death smoke is gone.

Maisie, Caldwell, and Georgia are gone.

“I’m going to need you to stay with them!” I rush to Gloria’s side.

“You’re going after them?” Nikki asks, keeping pace with me.

“Georgia is fucked while Caldwell’s dead. She can only escape on foot—”

“—or car,” Nikki interjects.

I groan. “I didn’t mean literally on foot. Why are you such a bitch?”

“Go on,” Nikki says, her face softening. “I’m sure you had a point.”

I press my fingers to Gloria’s throat. Her heart is beating loud and clear. Thank god. “One of two things is going to happen. Georgia is going to absorb Caldwell’s power or she’s going to try to resurrect him. I don’t think she’ll kill him, which means she’s going to try to put his head back on his body and hope he heals.”

“He can’t possibly wake up from that.”

“Wrong.” I lean her forward to inspect the wound on the back of her head. “We didn’t damage his brain. I’ve had my neck vertebrae disintegrated by a shotgun blast and I was almost completely decapitated myself. I’ve probably got two days tops before he wakes up or she’s forced to absorb his power. One or the other is going to happen. So I have to catch them now.”

Fresh blood coats the back of Gloria’s skull. That can’t be good. I keep my hands on her chest but I don’t feel the pull of death—nothing that calls for me to replace her.

Gabriel?

She will live.

I ease Gloria back into her original position as gently as possible. “Can you get people here to help her? She needs medical attention.”