Arise (Awakened Fate Book 4) (18 page)

The cops didn’t even question him. Without a word, they climbed back into their cars.

I stared, creeped out by how much authority the elders obviously had.

“What took so long?” Phil continued, ignoring the police while they drove away.

“Oh, give Olivia a break, Phil,” Robin admonished, following after him. I could see her shaking, though she seemed to be doing a bit better than the others. “She was dealing with greliarans. It’d take a bit to convince those creatures to see sense and back down.”

Olivia didn’t contradict the statement. From the corner of my eye, I saw Noah scowl.

“Is everything alright?” Ellie asked. “Did they–” She glanced around. “Where’s Zeke?”

I hesitated.

“His family showed up,” Noah explained. “They’re going to meet us.”

Ellie’s brow rose. “More dehaians?”

“Is he alright?” Baylie asked, watching me.

I nodded.

“You should have brought them here too,” Phil told Olivia. “They could have–”

“How would they fit them in the car?” Robin interrupted. “Honestly, Phil, sometimes you’re just so–”

“I only meant that we could have talked to–”

“Enough,” Olivia cut in before they could continue arguing. She glanced to me. “If you’d come this way?”

Warily, I followed her. Noah stayed close, watching the others as if daring them to try anything. The elders stared while we walked over, and I couldn’t help but notice they weren’t looking at anyone but me.

“So,” Olivia said, seeming unfazed by the silent observation. “Everyone, this is Chloe Kowalski. As you’ve undoubtedly already noticed from Dave and Ellie’s lack of reaction to the ocean, what I described to Robin on the phone is true. Chloe can affect the magic created by our ancestors.”

“Will she help us?” a man in paint-stained overalls asked.

Noah muttered a curse. “I knew it. You’re not using her to–”

“We haven’t discussed the agreement yet,” Olivia interrupted, regarding Noah and the other man equally. She turned to me. “Chloe, as I said, the elders simply wish to speak with you. We still support you continuing with our plan for you to visit Joseph, and we recognize that
choice
may not be involved in whichever side of your heritage you fully become. But we would ask that, should you have the option, you remain on land among our people.”

“What is this?” Dad asked. “Chloe, what are they talking–”

“She’s going to become landwalker or dehaian, Mr. Kowalski,” Olivia said. “Not both.”

His brow rose. My stomach churned at the hope in his eyes.

“But that brings me to the reason we’re here,” Olivia continued. “We would like to make an arrangement.”

Noah scoffed. “Oh, great. Yeah, you’re good at those.”

I glanced to him, silently agreeing.

Olivia appeared unfazed by the comment. “We would like to offer you the opportunity to become an elder.”

I blinked.

Behind me, Mom made a choked noise. “What? Really? Oh, Chloe!”

Her hands grabbed my shoulders. I jumped, barely keeping spikes from coming out of my arms.

“This… oh my gracious,” Mom sputtered. “Chloe, you could–”

“In exchange,” Olivia continued over her. “We would ask that you use what you can do to give the elders freedom from the pain of the ocean.”

“That seems fair,” Mom agreed. “I don’t see why Chloe couldn’t–”

I pulled away from her, taking a step closer to the elders just to put distance between us.

“Chloe?” Mom tried.

I stared between them all. There was no way in hell I was staying a landwalker. Not if I had a choice. And now these crazy elder people wanted me to… to what? Magic them into being able to remain here, when the effects probably wouldn’t even last a day?

“Why?” I asked, incredulous.

“Honey, you can’t question an eld–”

“Yes, I can!” I snapped at Mom.

She stopped, startled.

“
Why
?” I repeated. “It won’t last. It’ll be gone the minute he splits this… this whatever I am. And if the Beast feels it…”

I shook my head at Olivia, unable to wrap my head around what they were thinking.

“Do you
want
that thing to pick up on her?” Noah added in a dangerous tone.

I glanced to him. Looking cautious as hell, he was eyeing the others. From the tension on his face, I could tell he was barely keeping himself from changing.

“No,” Olivia replied. “Of course we don’t. We would merely like the opportunity to study the ocean, our proximity to it, and the differences between our current state and what you can provide. And there is the possibility, however remote, that what you do will remain even after Joseph completes the procedure.” She paused. “Chloe, I realize you’ve had trouble trusting us –
me
– and I understand why. But please, try to trust me now. This is our only chance. As it stands, the medicines they’ve taken to reach this place will hospitalize the elders in not too much longer if you don’t help them. They knew that. They came anyway. That is how important this is to us. There isn’t anyone capable of pushing back the ocean’s pain as you do, and once you become like us or the modern-day dehaians, that ability will almost certainly be gone.”

I looked to the elders. Some of them were back to leaning on their vehicles, their eyes closed and their faces tight, while others had sunk to the ground, trembling. I hated the sight of it. I couldn’t believe they’d put themselves through this. Last chance or not, they seemed like they were dying, and some part of me wanted to go over there right now, just to stop what obviously was agony to them.

And yet…

“Now, to be fair,” Olivia added, “I must warn you that becoming an elder would not necessarily be a guarantee. It would require testing.”

I turned back to her sharply.

“Not like what you’ve experienced, however,” she assured me quickly. “Simply aptitude tests to determine if you are capable of developing our specific skill set. All elder potentiates go through them.”

She glanced to Ellie, an expectant look on her face.

The girl gave a small nod. “It’s fine. Just pictures and mental exercises and stuff.”

I didn’t respond. Ellie sounded edgy, and miserable as well, and she seemed like she wanted to be anywhere but on this road with the elders all around.

Olivia paused, regarding the girl for a moment, and then continued as if attempting to ignore the tone. “With the abilities you’ve shown already,” she said to me, “I have no doubt you will pass. So, Chloe, do we have an agreement?”

I stared at them. Each elder still standing watched me, and they barely seemed to breathe. Hope showed in the eyes of most of them, while in a few others, the expression was mixed with a weird sort of envy.

They wanted this. They wanted this as badly as Ellie had wanted to become dehaian. It wasn’t any different. Not really. They’d given up being dehaian, but they hadn’t stopped wanting to come here.

And I could understand that. Good grief, I could understand that.

My gaze slid to Olivia. But it still didn’t mean they were trustworthy. Not by a long shot. It didn’t mean something else wasn’t going on.

I glanced to Ellie. Her expression hadn’t changed.

“Can I talk to you?” I murmured to her.

She blinked. With a quick glance from me to the elders, she nodded. I retreated toward Baylie’s car. Ellie hurried after me, Baylie coming a step behind.

My parents tried to follow. A warning sound from Noah brought them up short.

“What is it?” I asked softly. “What’s with the look?”

Ellie hesitated, her gaze flicking to the others. Several yards away, my parents hovered as close as they dared to Noah, who had taken up a position as a buffer between us and everyone else on the road. The elders still watched us, though they glanced to their friends with every few heartbeats as if fighting the urge to speak to each other.

I realized they probably knew what Noah was, through Dave telling them if nothing else.

“They’re probably okay,” Ellie said.

I turned back to her.

She looked uncomfortable. “It’s just what that cop claimed. I know Olivia said the ones that ‘sided’ with Grandpa or whatever would be kept out of the loop, but…” She grimaced. “Grandpa has a
lot
of friends, and I… I don’t want to speak badly of the elders. I mean, they’d know about this more than me, and I’m not a–”

“Just say it,” Baylie snapped.

Ellie winced. “What if someone is lying? What if they agree with Grandpa, but they just haven’t said anything to make Olivia think they’re not on her side? I really don’t want the elders to be in pain, but if you give them this ability, it
doesn’t
go away after this procedure thing, and then they’re like him…”

My skin crawled.

“I don’t want anyone hurting people like he did either,” Ellie finished.

“She’s right,” Baylie said quietly. “You can’t risk it. I mean, Harman took a
knife
to Zeke, for pity’s sake. And I saw Zeke’s arms. What that guy did to those spike things of his. If people like that could come here whenever they wanted…”

I nodded tightly. If even
one
of them was the same as Harman and they got their hands on a dehaian…

I shuddered. Ina liked to come inland. Surely other dehaians did too. And then there were kids. Maybe someone Zeke’s little sister’s age, who’d die like Miri had, but with that bastard or one of his friends experimenting on her…

My throat clenched with nausea. Drawing a ragged breath, I shoved the thoughts away. “Yeah,” I agreed.

Baylie glanced to the elders. “So how do we–”

Tires rumbled on the road. I turned. A trio of sedans rolled to a stop, all three of them painted in subdued shades of taupe with the look of undercover police vehicles.

My brow drew down. How many cops did the elders control?

The doors opened. A tiny gasp escaped me, the sound incredulous.

This couldn’t be happening.

“Hey there, folks,” Chief Reynolds called, his voice strained to a fraction of its normal friendliness. From the other cars, the men from Colorado emerged, some of them barely making it to their feet before they had to brace themselves on the sedans for support. Aaron joined them, trembling hard with his gaze twitching between me and the elders like he couldn’t decide who worried him more.

Harman climbed from the passenger seat of Chief Reynolds’ sedan.

I wanted to turn and run.

“There she is,” Harman said, motioning to the men by the cars and then pointing at me. He didn’t even glance at the elders. “The dehaian boy should be somewhere close as well.”

“What are you doing here?” Olivia demanded, moving between us and Harman’s people.

Robin followed her, as did several of the others who could still walk. Keeping his eyes to the men around the taupe cars, Noah closed the distance between us. I could see hair-thin lines of light running through his skin.

“Olivia,” Harman called cheerily, seeming unaffected by the ocean’s proximity. “Everyone. What a pleasure to see you. I’m here to collect the young lady.”

“The hell you are!” Olivia snapped. “How did you know we would–”

“I have friends, of course,” he interrupted as though it was obvious. “They’re just as invested in my research and the girl’s wellbeing as I am.”

Olivia glanced around, incredulity in her eyes. I swallowed hard, doing the same. I could read the implication. Ellie had been right.

“Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski,” Harman continued, spotting Mom and Dad. “How nice to see you as well.”

“You…” Dad snarled, stalking forward. “You
bastard
! Your ‘assistants’ nearly
killed
us! What were you–”

“I promise you,” Harman said as the chief stepped in front of him, bringing Dad’s advance to a halt. “I had no idea they would do that. I had no idea what they
were
. I only pieced the truth together myself a few minutes ago, based on what I heard through the police scanner. I am
terribly
sorry. It was my understanding that my associates were, well, just healthy landwalkers. And only interested in recovering the girl to
help
her.”

Dad didn’t respond.

“I swear,” Harman insisted. “Now, please. Allow us to bring your daughter inland. I believe this much exposure to the ocean air will set us back on treating her condition, so it’s important we leave as soon as possible.”

His gaze turned to me and shivers ran through my skin. It was like he didn’t care how many people were between us. Like he didn’t even see them.

“You’re not going
near
her!” Olivia snapped. “You–”

“We can help your daughter, Mr. Kowalski,” Harman said, ignoring her. “I don’t want to think of the damage more time away from the treatments could–”

“Stop it!”

I blinked at Ellie’s outburst.

Her curly braids trembling, she stared at him. “Stop
lying
, Grandpa! Your ‘treatments’ almost
killed
Chloe! You–”

“Oh, Eleanor,” Harman commented as though just noticing the girl. He looked to Dad. “My granddaughter is correct, in the latter part at least. The treatments
did
almost kill Chloe, but because Eleanor took it upon herself to remove your daughter from our care.”

Ellie gasped. “That’s not–”

“I forgive you, my dear,” Harman continued blithely, “and I’m sure the Kowalskis will too. I realize you didn’t understand that your actions could have cost Chloe her life.”

Hurt and outrage in her eyes, Ellie shook her head. “That is
not true
! You
were
killing her!
And
Zeke! He almost–”

“Nonsense,” Harman countered. “Dehaians don’t feel pain as we do. Everyone knows that, and my experiments proved it. The boy barely cried out. He was fine.”

Spikes pushed out of my arms. I couldn’t stop them. To hear him talk so calmly about
torturing
Zeke…

Harman caught sight of them, and he made a pitying noise. “Don’t worry, dear. Those will be gone soon.”

He motioned for the men around him to move toward us.

Olivia retreated a step, keeping herself between them and us. “You are
not
doing this, Harman. If I have to, I–”