John's breath sucked in.
Our eyes met.
"He's the guy, Caleb."
My guts roiled. The lunch I had threatening to make a reappearance.
A bunch of small pieces of the puzzle came together.
Buddy ran into the dojo, took one look at the Graysheets and said, "Don't do it. She wasn't going to say anything. Call it off," he said, his eyes frantic.
Archer turned to him. "Okay, I give up. Who are you?"
Buddy ignored Lewis.
"Stay out of this. You've been compromised. You never get emotionally involved with the target. I told Parker you were the wrong fit, Buddy."
I looked over at who I'd thought was Buddy. Taking in his stature, as a guy. It was so obvious now that he was older. If I'd been paying attention, I would've seen it right away.
Of course, someone had.
Gramps. He'd had his eye on him from the very beginning. And I'd fought him, finding him a worthy opponent.
Too worthy.
Now they were going to kill the girls.
I looked at the car again, Jade sleeping safely inside.
Then I looked at Sensei.
The connection came like a jagged avalanche of glass, tearing my guts up.
Sleeping safely inside my locked car, Sensei was the attacker. He was behind locked bars.
Asleep.
My memory burned with the image of Sophie collapsed on the asphalt outside the dojo, then paused over the bundle that was Jade. In my car, the blackness of her hair covering her face except for the tip of her nose.
Sensei Anderson was the Astral Projection attacker. He was currently protected by six armed Graysheets, I didn't have any dead at my disposal and they had a Telekinetic on board.
Anguish pierced me like a sword finding its home, bile burning a brutal pathway up my throat.
*
Jade
Jade burrowed under the scratchy blanket that was in the back of the car, the seat's tight configuration a perfect embrace for the cocoon of rest she felt hovering at the edge of her consciousness. She heard the door locks snap into place and gave a small smile at Caleb's over protectiveness. She made a show for him but it secretly pleased her that he cared about her so much. She just didn't want him to feel like he had to. He was an awesome boyfriend. Except for the zombie thing. She was with Sophie, they were kinda scary. Their eyes especially.
Jade's breathing became heavy and even, the misery of her memories slipping away, her body using the deep slumber to finesse the last little bit of the healing session she'd just come from. Her body knitting into perfection once again.
Jade awoke in space filled with whiteness and looked around. She had never felt more awake but knew she was somewhere strange, the perimeter of where she was cloud-like, the walls a soft, billowy material. She was in a cotton ball world. What a weird dream.
Then she noticed what she was wearing. A long dress draped her, in the deepest emerald. The deep vee of the bodice had a glittering fine webbing of jet black stones that sparkled like diamonds, making the dress look like it had a black wash covering it, sparkling above a green sea. It reminded her of her dream catcher at home. Her hand flew to her neck automatically, to find only her collarbone, bare of the gift from Caleb. Her only jewelry was a bracelet in a shimmering jeweled rainbow from the softest black to a deep onyx that rode her small wrist, slipping coldly along the bone on the left. It slid back and forth over the bump as she looked at what she was wearing, the fabric felt like satin but hung like silk, a high heeled shoe peeking out from beneath it, raven's wing black.
Her pulse sped up. Something was wrong. The quality of the dream was entirely too real. The things she wore, bizarre. She reached out to touch the wall and an emotional torrent crashed into her, stealing her breath.
This was not a dream.
This was realm. Jade became instantly afraid. She had no right to be in realm. That was for Astral Projectionists. Not Empaths.
Unless... Jade looked around frantically, her hair coming loose from its elaborate binding, a black strand falling against the skin of her back, tickling her.
Her eyes locked on a form coming through the wall, slowly revealed to her as if hidden by mist.
Sophie came through the wall, the whiteness of her gown in direct contrast to the coffee kissed color of her skin. Jade's eyes locked with hers and she knew that Sophie realized instantly that something was wrong. She grabbed a handful of her white gown and ran to Jade, her silver spiked heels making no noise in realm, absorbed like she'd never been.
"What are you doing here?" Sophie asked breathlessly, clutching Jade's arm.
"I don't know, I was gonna ask you. I fell asleep in Caleb's car and woke up here." Jade spread her hands away from her body, Sophie's hand falling away from her.
"Why am I in realm? I mean, that is where I'm at... " Jade asked, trying to still the trembling in her hands, finally giving up and clenching them together.
Sophie shook her head, her fluffy hair tightly contained in an elaborate up do, a few tendrils clinging tenaciously to the back of her neck. Jade watched Sophie think about it. Then slowly, she turned her forearm over and an angry puncture became visible.
Jade and Sophie looked at each other. "The depressant," Sophie began slowly. Jade shrugged, she'd missed her dose on Wednesday because of the healing session. "I was given the three month dose like everyone but it should only allow realm at night... " Sophie's eyes met hers.
"Unless they gave you a different dose," Jade said.
"A different kind," Sophie emphasized.
Then it dawned on Jade. "What if they gave you something specifically that was different than the normal dose? That would make you sleep and allow realm at the same time?"
Sophie looked at Jade. "That would mean that the attacker guy was working with the government. That Amanda as a victim was a decoy."
"She was never the one they wanted to get. Buddy interrupted him trying to get you," Jade said, realization dawning within her in an ugly spiral.
Sophie's aqua eyes searched Jade's green ones. "Why am I here though Soph? I'm not AP!" Jade said, grabbing Sophie's hands.
From behind them they heard a male's voice say, "It's a twofer, that's why."
They turned and Jade was stunned beyond words, her mouth dropping open.
Caleb's judo instructor stood there in an absurd looking white tuxedo. The bow tie and cummerbund were a deep scarlet.
Like splashes of blood on his clothes.
Sophie and Jade backed away, the fingers of their hands entwined together like two fragile insects caught in a web.
The spider came.
*
Caleb
Sensei Anderson had to die. The bars of the closet locked from the outside and six Graysheets guarding him didn't negate that necessity.
So he would kill Jade and Sophie. Because Sophie had seen a foreign leader murdered, then sign a forged document as a zombie. She was witness. Okay.
Jade because... why?
I pressed my chest against the barrel and through gritted teeth asked, "Why Jade?"
He smiled, clicking the hammer back. "To cripple you, of course."
What?
He looked into my face and said, "We take away the thing you care about and there's no reason why you won't join us. We have much you need to accomplish."
Suddenly I understood what my advantage was. They needed me.
Alive.
My eyes swept my friends, John, Alex and the new guy, Archer.
"Archer!" I bellowed at him.
"I got you!" Archer said from a pace behind me.
Using my body as a shield he slid behind me and wrapped a hand around the barrel of the gun. I heard the hammer click and knew he'd locked the gun up. Skinny-Smoker got a surprised look on his face and I slammed the barrel, stock first back into his chest in a smooth jab, my palm shrieking with the force of the move. Archer ducked and rolled and I felt my body lifted off my feet and I flew backward, slamming into the only wall without mirrors.
The Telekinetic had used his power to heave me like a rag doll.
My teeth snapped together on impact and I bit my tongue, blood welling into my mouth like a copper river.
John grunted and the Telekinetic faced off with him, another Graysheet breaking away with the Telekinetic.
I figured that turd was a Null.
I gathered everything that was my power in a tight fist as I slid down the wall, my bell rung, my head spinning and had a singular thought:
Clyde! my mind shouted, the call shattering the boundaries like glass brick, the shards flying in a radius even I didn't know how far it reached.
I heard Tiff yell and collapse to her knees outside, her hands covering her ears and knew I'd hurt her somehow and I was sorry.
I didn't know where Clyde was but that was my last coherent thought before I gave Alex the look.
Lewis was more than a Lock-Manipulator and rolled on the ground as a fully automatic weapon made its way toward him.
Buddy dropped to the ground in a dead faint and I knew he was going in to help the girls.
Maybe.
As my dull brain understood it, somehow... he was a Graysheet.
Alex grabbed the barrel of the gun that was pointed at Archer's forehead and flung it away before a bullet was driven into Lewis' face.
Skinny-Smoker recovered and screamed, "Shoot the Body!"
The sound of a bullet hitting home sounded in the echoing space, the impact spinning Alex around and making him topple like a mighty tree, his arm sailing backward to try to soften the impact.
Archer tried to grab the barrel of the other Graysheets's gun but it was sizzling hot from the discharge and he howled in response, the second gun trained on him.
The door swung open so hard it shattered the glass of the dojo window that sat beside it.
It was Clyde and Company.
I swear I was so stunned my heart hiccuped while my bowels clenched.
Gramps had arrived with the puppy.
I fought fainting for the first time in my life, my head a spinning thing atop my neck.
I forced my head between my knees and then stood up, throwing my palm behind me in an effort to stay upright.
Gramps was engaged with the two Graysheets who had caused John to pant and sweat to run down his face, a fine trembling causing his arms to shake.
"Why don't you gents disarm before I have to blow a couple holes in ya?" Gramps said conversationally, the puppy pointed at the men.
Clyde clenched his hands and hissed.
Gramps eyes flicked to Clyde then landed back on the Graysheets.
"Shut up old man, we know what you were about back in the day, but it's this boy's turn to meet his maker and I aim to make it happen," the Graysheet said, Archer's face a shade of pale that shouldn't be a skin color.
Gramps gave a grim smile and responded, "A follow-through guy? Well... me too." And with that, he blew off the agent's hand at the wrist, with a whole lot of peripheral shot pelting him for good measure. That KEL-TEC KSG bullpup shotgun would put a ton of shot-love into a person.
Yes indeedy.
The agent screamed, grabbing the stump of his arm while blood geysered out of it like a fire hydrant. He began staggering around, his follow-through long forgotten.
The other agents woke up as if from a dream, seeming to notice the Threat that was Gramps too late.
He raised the shotgun to the two that were working John over while I ran to Alex. "Are ya okay?"
He nodded, his lips blue.
Definitely not okay.
"You two stay like that, I got plenty of shot for the both of ya. Move and I make you holy." Gramps laughed at his own pun.
Cripes.
Skinny-Smoker began working his way toward the bars that held Sensei Anderson and I just knew that he meant to keep us from him. If we could get to Sensei, we could save the girls.
"Gramps!" I yelled.
"Yup," he yelled back, the shotgun steady on the two Graysheets.
"My judo teacher is trying to kill Sophie and Jade!"
"Bastard," Gramps said, the puppy unwavering.
Right.
I turned to Clyde and saw that somehow, in the midst of the chaos, Onyx had come.
CHAPTER 26
The Dog had heard the desperate call from his boy and broken the directive about letting the liquid go and to return to the cave immediately. Instead, he had escaped the prison that was attached to the boy's cave, heading toward the call. He could feel one of the dead creatures coming as well.
They converged together and the Dead One made the Dog understand that there was a feral pack of great strength with many alphas that threatened the Master.
Who, of course, was his Boy.
He ran. The Dog ran until his lungs burned, and the pads of his feet ached. When he thought he could run no more he used that energy that the Boy's call had given him. It ran on a current into his body, allowing speed, dexterity and a momentum that the Dog did not usually possess.
He did not tire again.
Instead, his nose had found the scent of the call. The scenery as he ran the back roads rushing by him in a colorful blur of grays and blacks.