Cassidy Jones and the Luminous (Cassidy Jones Adventures Book 4) (33 page)

“Joe?” Jane said brightly. “You’re not one of us.” Her voice had lost its thrill.

The aqua people recognize one another
, I deduced, anxious to peek over the tank. Gavin held up a finger to wait, anticipating my impulse.

“Lady Jane, I’m your friend, you know that. I was worried about you, and Doc. That’s why I followed him here.”

“You shouldn’t have done that, Joe,” Tom spoke up.

Are they going to hurt Joe?
I looked at Gavin desperately.

He shook his head and mouthed, “Only on my signal.”

“Joe, as you can see, there was nothing to worry about,” Grimm said in an amiable tone.

“No, sir! That’s not what I see,” Joe responded fiercely. “I see plenty here to worry about. Those are our friends in there, Doc! There’s Mike, Javier, Z—how can you be a party to this?”

“Joe, you don’t know what you’re talking about. We had no life, no purpose—”

“And now y’all are fish hatcheries! But those ain’t fish. What are they? Some kind of aliens from outer space?”

“Clear,” Emery informed.

Gavin peeked over the tank. I scrambled up and followed his lead. All eyes were on Joe, who stood before Grimm, glaring at him, mad as a hornet. Jared watched on, pale, wet, and deadpan, sandwiched between his father and Constance. Sheepish, Ashlyn skulked over to him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to Jared as Joe raged on.

“What do you do when you’re done with these folks? Make
them
into fish food?”

Jared ignored Ashlyn, keeping his angry gaze fixed on Joe. An injured look claimed her face, and she shifted her eyes to Joe, too.

Patrick grinned at Joe. “Old man, you’re full of spit and vinegar.”

Joe regarded him coolly. “Do me the courtesy of answering my questions,
Patrick Grimm
, before killing me, or sticking me in one of them tanks.”

“You were back there spying, Joe. You know full well our brothers and sisters can climb out anytime they want. Just like your friend Doc here did. When he felt it was time to give another the privilege, he climbed right on out, didn’t you, Tom?”

“We have choices, Joe,” Doc said. “Our own free will.”

“That’s right!” Patrick swiped his palms together and pointed at Joe. “Free will. That’s why we’re in Lake Washington, night after night, trying to reason with the Rogue. Jane knows. When she was assimilated, she joined the others to run wild, doing her own thing. And this puts us
all
in danger. Don’t kid yourself. I could eliminate the threat. Hunt down our rebellious brothers and sisters and
force
them to comply. But I don’t, and won’t.

“Our goal is to be obscure, to blend in, to assimilate and return to our old lives, undetected. We hadn’t anticipated what unhappiness and the feeling of being trapped pre-assimilation would result in: Luminous taking to the water and throwing caution to the wind—”

“The missing locals,” Jared spoke his thoughts out loud, which I knew were speeding a million miles a minute behind his poker face.

Patrick turned to him. “Yes, the missing locals who hated their miserable lives so much so that they refused to go back to them. There hasn’t been an issue with the vast majority. Most new Luminous don’t miss a beat in their daily routine, have never roused suspicion, and continue to be upstanding citizens. We have Luminous in very esteemed and powerful positions: doctors, lawyers, politicians, pillars of society—”

Oh my gosh. How many of them are there?

“But you already know about the Rogue, don’t you, Jared?”

Jared forced confusion into his expression. “Know what?”

“
Ah-ah-ah-ah
—” Patrick wagged a finger at him. “Time to come clean, young man. Your dad gave you the chance earlier, and you fibbed.”

Tensing, Jared glanced at his dad. Owen avoided his gaze.

“Jared, we know you took my yacht onto Lake Washington and that you went diving with another male and a female,” Owen said as though he were giving a deposition. “We know you had an encounter with a few Rogues and our search party—”

“Oh, you mean your
peace
party,
Luminous
,” Jared mocked.

I cringed. How I wished he hadn’t done that.

“Good. So we’re beyond denial,” his father continued dispassionately. “We need the names of the two individuals you were with.”

“I told you, I don’t know.”

“You told me you took a girl on my yacht. You said she was named Sheila, and you met her at work. But you failed to mention a second person, and that the three of you went diving and had an altercation in the lake. Their names, Jared.”

“Is this why you were MIA when Vilvary’s goons stuck a gun in my face? Were you being
assimilated
?”

Owen regarded his son neutrally. “I have been a Luminous for most of your life.”

Jared gasped as though his father had kicked him in the gut. His face crumbled into despair. Regret invaded Owen’s veneer. I covered my mouth to close it. I had never seen a more devastated expression on anyone’s face than the one Jared wore.

“I know this is a lot to digest,” Owen said. His eyes pleaded for forgiveness. “I’m deeply sorry you had to find out this way. It wasn’t my intention—”

“You’ve been infecting me with those
things
,” Jared accused through his teeth.

“I have always wanted what’s best for you—”

“Enough!” Constance stormed. “Owen was being humane with you!” she yelled at Jared. “Take my word on it, boy! You want to take assimilation
slowly
. The mortality rate skyrockets otherwise. Your father—yes,
that
is
your
father—didn’t want you to experience the pain he had. The pain alone can kill you.” She got right into Jared’s face. “Stop sniffling and feeling sorry for yourself. Tell me
who
she is—
what
she is.”

I couldn’t see Jared’s face around Constance’s head, but I could hear the reckless smirk in his voice.

“Her name is Sheila.”

“Sheila
what
?”

“I never asked for her last name.”

“I’m done!” Constance announced, throwing her hands up. She stomped a few feet away, whipped around, and pushed her palm toward the parasite-infested pool.

A glowing, serpent-like spiral shot from its center into the air, twisting toward the group as though taking stock, planning an attack. Suddenly, it dove like a striking cobra, straight at Jared.

A primal scream tore from my throat, and I leapt over the tank in a blind rage. I hit the floor in a run, flinging Kiera and launching Dr. Fan with a sharp-kick to the chest. Through my red haze of fury, I saw the column of water swallow Jared whole and swing toward the pool.

Screaming again, I reached for the wet flannel collar of my next obstacle. Doc had rushed in front of me to protect Constance. Gripping his collar, I snarled and brought my knee up. My knee connected, but not with anything solid. The sensation reminded me of crawling across my Aunt Lucy’s waterbed.

Doc smiled around gritted teeth and brought a very solid fist down on my skull, getting a surprise of his own and a few broken bones.

“Oh, God!” he screamed, cradling his broken hand.

A bullet flew past Doc and struck the upper arm that Constance used to control her water serpent. The bullet made a splattering sound upon entry, as though it had hit a bucket of Jell-O, and sailed right out the other side of Constance’s shoulder.

Displaying no pain, she glanced down to where the bullet had entered. Irritation crossed her face as she took notice of the damage done to her tailored dress. She lowered her hand to touch it, and the water serpent holding Jared dropped as though it were an electronic toy and the batteries had just run out. Shimmering water splashed high into the air when Jared hit the pool.

A waterspout shot past Constance like a lightning bolt. I swiveled my head around to see that the water came from Grimm’s palm, targeting Gavin.

Gavin dove to the side, narrowly avoiding being hit. The metal landing shook as armed men garbed in black SWAT armor filed through the door.

Compliments of the Mother Ship
, I thought as General Alton’s face flashed in my mind’s eye.

“Well, what do we have here?” Grimm asked in an amused tone, redirecting his palm to the landing.

The other Luminous attacked, their palms summoning water from the channel and blasting streams toward the SWAT team. The SWAT team responded with gunfire. Within seconds, the room was a blur of water, bullets, shattering glass, and screams. All I could think of were my friends.

My frantic eyes spotted Jared and Joe amid the chaos. Joe was helping Jared out of the pool. Bullets struck the tank in front of them. Joe shielded Jared from raining shards of glass and water as a Luminous jumped to his feet, leaping from his demolished pod, emitting a fierce war cry.

I launched myself toward Jared and Joe, but my foot was lassoed by a powerful vortex, whipping me through the air and flinging me into the center of the channel. I hit the water and was instantly sucked to the bottom, at least fifteen feet down, coming face-to-face with Constance. Her golden eyes ignited, hair moving with the excited water around her face like Medusa’s snakes. Over us, the battle raged.

Die
, she mouthed, raising her arms.

Even in my adrenaline-induced beast state, I understood she had the advantage. The water was her element; she ruled it. I couldn’t drown her, or strike her, not with her ability to reform her flesh into a watery substance. I wasn’t sure how to defeat her, other than to tire her out. Maybe distracted and weakened, she couldn’t employ her rotten tricks. So I shot over her, then under her, and kept her turning in circles as she tried to capture me in her cyclone arms.

After several wild laps, an opportunity presented itself, and a swift kick into her backside proved my theory was spot-on. My foot connected with a solid rump and sent Constance whiplashing through water, her whirlpool arms becoming flesh and bone again.

A lethal grin broke across my face. She was mine.

A body plunged through the water like a torpedo. Ashlyn landed in a squat on the bottom and sprang up, aiming her head at my stomach. I smirked. Silly girl, she was about to knock herself out. Ramming her head into me would be like diving into an empty swimming pool.

Arrogance getting the better of me, I held my arms out, welcoming her to hit her deadly target. The next thing I knew, I was spinning wildly, as though trapped in a washing machine drum—all the while, acutely aware of Ashlyn’s presence nearby. I couldn’t see her; I couldn’t see anything as I turned in endless circles. But I felt her, could sense her all around me, trapped in her unbridled fury.

Faster and faster I turned. My brain felt as though it were sloshing against the sides of my skull, and my stomach was being propelled into my throat. This would certainly result in death if I couldn’t escape Ashlyn’s vortex. There had to be a way. She had to have a weakness. We all did.

But before there was time to explore the chink in her armor, her vortex lifted. It took me several moments to shake off the residual effects of being spun so violently, and to get my bearings. When I did, I discovered I was alone in the water. The battle overhead had quelled.

I swam to the surface and popped my head out of the water, seeing sprawled law enforcement agents, strewn guns, puddles, scattered broken glass, and bullet casings. Unscathed, the Luminous stood amongst them, surveying the damage.

“Look what they’ve done,” Z moaned mournfully, kneeling on one knee while scooping up a handful of water.

I glimpsed Gavin about a hundred feet away, pushing himself off the floor, choking up water. My eyes desperately sought Jared and Joe.

“They murdered them!” Z howled, just as I spotted Jared near the pool, drenched, wet hair hanging around his face, elbows locked, his palms pressing against a still form.

Joe!

I lurched out of the water, leaping over downed men, and ran past Patrick and Constance, who appeared to be consulting telepathically, and skidded up to Jared and Joe. There was so much blood!

“No, no, no, no, no,” I sobbed, pressing my hand on top of Jared’s, over the bullet wound. Blood oozed between my fingers. “Joe, Joe, Joe, can you hear me?”

Gray pallor, eyes shut; he didn’t respond.

“We need help!” I screamed. My dad appeared at my side.

“Don’t talk,” he ordered desperately.

He was worried about someone hearing me? How could he worry about me when Joe was dying before our very eyes?

“We have to help him,” I choked out, glimpsing Emery helping his father up.

“Paramedics will be here soon,” Dad promised. “Jared, keep pressure on the wound.”

“He pulled me from the water, then covered me with his body,” Jared explained in a haunted voice, as though Dad had asked him how Joe had gotten shot. “He sat up, pointed to a place he thought was safe, and a bullet hit him.” His tears fell to the blood-soaked white Seahawks jacket. “Come on, Joe. You can make it.”

He is too far gone
—

No, don’t think that way!

“Joe, fight,” I pleaded. Grimm’s words about the Rogue ran through my head. Unhappy people who had found their escape in the depths of Lake Washington. Would death be Joe’s escape? “For me, Joe, please. Please, fight for me.”

“You have to get out of here,” Emery said, hanging over us, his voice calm and cool. “You, too, Drake—
now
.”

“Can everyone just stop worrying about me for once?” I screeched. “No! I’m not leaving him.”
Joe won’t die alone!

“Think this through—” Emery started to argue, but then the water in the pool began to lift. Emery’s head jerked toward Grimm, whose palm had risen.

Water began to twist into a huge waterspout, producing wind.

“Get down!” Emery shouted, and we threw ourselves over Joe.

I tried to cover them all, protecting them from flying shards of glass, bullets, and forgotten firearms—everything that wasn’t nailed down—pulled into the violent, rotating air. I could feel debris strike my back and bounce off, getting sucked up into the cyclone. Daring to crack open an eye, I watched Grimm direct the swirling water over his head with a slow swooping motion of his arm, and into the channel. The wind abruptly stopped, and I lifted my head. Not a drop of water was left in the pool.