Fae (20 page)

How quickly I went back to
the Ella on
Sho'ful.
Well, not anymore. First I had to deal with my restraints.
Two black bands had my wrists in a tight hold and two sets of black
chains extended out from each of the bands to the ceiling. If I
joined the red lights as far away from my wrists as possible, I
might not feel the heat.

I paused. Did I want to
use fire? I'd sworn never to go there again. I couldn't control it,
no matter how much I tried. It called to a dark side of me I didn't
like.

The monster.

And yet, when I thought
about the strength that flowed through me when I used fire, I
realized I did like it. I liked it far too much. But what had Malik
said?

I let others decide my
fate.

Well, who could judge me
now? If I enjoyed my strength and used it, forget the consequences.
El made me the Destructor and it was time I embraced that
fact.

For the first time in
weeks, the strain of guilt I'd let bring me down fizzled away. My
heart beat in anticipation. I let the drilium flow through my
veins. Let it burn. I moaned in the ecstasy of the moment. The red
points of light danced, eager to obey my orders.

I joined them where the
chains met the ceiling and let the heat build. The black chains
glowed red. Red molecules licked at them, shaping them. Before
long, the chains bent under the heat and dropped to the floor. My
arms dropped with them and I nearly screamed at the pain. It felt
like razor sharp daggers were flowing down my arms to my wrists,
and my neck muscles throbbed with the pressure.

I waited several more
minutes with my teeth gritted against the scream I knew I'd let out
if I relaxed for even a moment. No doubt someone heard the clang
from the chains hitting the metal floor. I looked past the black
wall in front of me and sure enough my two guards had been joined
by three more red, blue, and green two-legged shapes. By the way
the red molecules raced through their veins, I guessed they were a
little stressed. Probably trying to figure out what the noise was
before opening the door. I was positive they didn't figure on me
breaking the chains, but I guessed that if that's where their
thoughts were now, they'd be wary. They knew what I could
do.

I breathed in and out
deeply to help get oxygen through my aching limbs. They needed it,
and quick. I probably didn't have much more time before they
remembered I was practically naked and completely at their weapons'
mercy.

Or was I?

I cocked my head as a new
idea took hold. My gaze went to the black rifle-shaped forms in
their red, blue, and green pulsing hands. Sure enough, my guess was
right. At the heart of the rifles was a writhing red mass. If that
was the energy behind their energy weapons, then I could control
it. If I was fast enough.

I bit my lip. That was a
big if.

"Do it,"
Malik's voice whispered in my skull.

I pressed my palms to the
floor and pushed myself up to my knees. So far so good. I'd done
this before, walking for the first time after an extended period of
starvation. Who knew the Mamood had actually trained me for this
moment? In some ways, they'd made me stronger.

The door slid open and I
was ready. Before their fingers could squeeze the triggers, I'd
expanded the red orbs in their rifles. The weapons exploded in
their hands and red molecules sprayed everywhere. Some landed on my
face, warm and wet.

I rose to my feet and
stumbled forward a few steps before my shaky legs straightened and
adjusted to the sudden weight—weight they hadn't felt in days. The
chains attached to my wrists scraped against the metal floor in a
teeth-jarring screech. I stared at them, weighing my options. If I
tried melting them closer to my arms, I could very likely burn
myself. And if I expanded the blue points of light, they'd
definitely break apart, but the debris would fly like shrapnel and
probably cause more damage than the attempt was worth.

But the explosions had
made a lot of noise and I could already see a huge mass of red
moving toward me. My best option was to transport, but the idea of
doing that, one, after I'd nearly been ripped to pieces the last
time I'd transported on my own and, two, while technically blind
terrified me. In fact, the weight that sunk down to the deep
recesses of my stomach seemed to be the anchor my body had
contrived to keep me on solid ground. And I was all about obeying
my body's wishes.

So I dragged the chains
behind me and ran in the opposite direction of the mass of red.
Navigating the corridors turned out to be fairly simple, but still
awkward. Red, blue, and green molecules were everywhere except the
walls, floor, and ceiling—so they stayed black—but it was a little
like trying to navigate through murky water. Or fog. Bright,
pulsing fog.

I needed to find an empty
room. Once there, I could weld the door shut and take stock of my
situation. Maybe even get some real sleep because, as I dragged the
chains behind me and trudged forward, I realized there was no way I
could get out of there with the way things stood. My shaking legs
felt more and more like jelly with each step and I knew I didn't
have much longer before I'd collapse.

I extended my sight even
though I knew I wouldn't be able to go far, but everywhere I
looked, there was a two-legged, two-armed bunch of compact
molecules. The Block didn't have wasted space. Not when they were
trying to save their civilization.

"Look up,"
Malik said. I did as he suggested, and almost
fell back in shock. If I looked closely, I could see the points of
light trickling up in lines like slats through the black nothing
that was the ceiling. And when I extended my vision, I could see
tunnels running just above the ceiling. The vents. I was an idiot.
I'd probably passed a dozen of them already and now I barely had
enough strength to walk. How was I supposed to reach
that?

"Jump."

Very funny.
I couldn't breathe, let alone find the strength
to jump. But I had to, so I wrapped some of the length of the
chains around my wrists and bent my knees. The black block of what
must have been the ceiling had to be at least eight feet away. At a
little over five feet myself, I had a ways to go.

I was about to make a lot
of noise, that was for sure. Because not only did I have to jump up
to get through the vent with these heavy chains flying around and
hitting the walls and the floor, I had to get the grate off the
vent first. But at least that didn't require jumping. I expanded
the red points of light all around what I could see of the slats.
Before long a thick, glowing piece of something crashed to the
floor.

I cringed and looked
around. The human-shapes of light were huddled just a few corridors
down. From the way their red points of light sped along, I guessed
they were just as wary as the ones outside my door had
been.

A bright square of lights
had formed along the black mass of ceiling. I took a moment to
judge its size and decided I was plenty small enough to squeeze
through. My muscles tensed, ready. I started my
countdown.

One...two...

"Have you lost your
mind?"

I spun around on my heals
as my heart sped at the sound of the voice I'd die for.

"Meir!"

He took a step closer and
wrapped his arms around me. His crinkly beard scratched my cheek.
"What are you doing?" he whispered in my ear.

I pulled away to look into
his eyes and took a step back in shock. I hadn't had a moment to
notice before, but these human forms of lights had one very eerie
characteristic to them. Meir's eyes were utterly black, rimmed in
green. It was like looking into death.

But then I smiled because
those eyes may be
like
death, but I
was
Death.

"I'm escaping," I
said.

"They said you were
blind." His red points of light moved where his mouth should have
been and I saw hints of green and blue. "Your eyes are so
different. They're cloudy now." He ran his hand over my head and
pulled me close again. "But you're doing pretty well for
yourself."

I squared my shoulders and
smiled. "You have no idea."

His black orbs for eyes
moved up toward the ceiling. "You're never going to make it up
there, though."

I bristled at his doubt.
"I might."

"From what I know about
the Auri, those wings don't let you fly." He paused. "And since you
obviously seem to be against transporting—otherwise you'd be gone
already—I'm guessing we need to make a new plan."

When he said "we," I
couldn't help but throw my arms around him again. And then heat
flooded beneath my cheeks when I remembered I was half-naked. I
backed up and slid my arms across my chest as if I could hide what
he'd already seen plenty of.

"Come on." He brushed past
me. A rectangular, black form that ran from the floor to the
ceiling turned out from the wall. "You can hide in here for now. I
need to get you some clothes before we do anything
else."

I stepped inside and
inched my way carefully forward. Whatever was in here, it took up
most of the space because the room was mostly black. But it wasn't
solid black like the walls. There were lots of different black
shapes jutting out from the black wall, only visible because the
points of light hovered around in the empty spaces. I stepped
forward, thinking I had a little more space before hitting one of
the black forms, and something crashed to the floor. That's when I
realized my depth perception was pretty much
non-existent.

I turned and as soon as I
did, I took a step back. Meir's lighted form stood just a foot
away.

"Stay here," he said.
"I'll be right back."

I watched as his lighted
form paused at the doorway, and then turned right down the
corridor. The black door swung closed and latched with a click. I
waited, my body tight with tension, for Lastrini's men to come
storming in. They never did. When I expanded my vision past the
corridor just outside my little room, I could see lighted forms
gathering a few hundred yards away and to the left.

I guessed they didn't know
what to do about me yet. Obviously, they'd been just as surprised
as me that I could still use my ability.

After a few minutes, a
lighted form came running down the corridor toward me. It paused
outside the door and I prepared the green lights for action just in
case it wasn't Meir.

The door opened and I
clenched my jaw, ready.

"Stop!" Meir's voice
hissed through the air. "It's just me."

I relaxed and backed up so
he could come in. He held out his arm toward me. Something soft
brushed my hand.

"Clothes," he said.
"They’re for a child, but they were the smallest I could find. Put
them on."

My meager ego took a hit
at that. I hated being reminded I was diminutive. So much so that I
had to wear kid's clothes. I just had to remind myself I could rip
these giants to pieces with only my mind and a few blue points of
light. Or swell their insides with water until they exploded or
drowned, whichever came first. I struggled to keep from smiling at
that last thought.

I took the shirt first and
felt around, looking for the right end to put my head through.
"What's going on out there?"

"It was pretty quiet the
way I went, so I don't really know, but we need to hurry." He
handed me the pants. "I want to get Ranen out of here."

"Ranen?" I felt my lip
curl into a sneer before I could stop it. "Why?"

"When I was stuck in my
room, recovering, the guards outside my door did a lot of talking.
No one's been in or out of the Royal Wing in weeks. No one except
The Emperor's First. Apparently when someone asked him what was
going on, he said the Emperor didn't trust Lastrini
anymore."

"So? What does that have
to do with us?" Honestly, I just wanted to get out of there. If
Ranen wanted to hole himself up with the Emperor, that was his
problem.

"I heard they'd taken you
prisoner almost a week ago. Because of that little success,
Lastrini's become bold. He's planning to stage a coup. Everyone in
the Royal Wing is going to die."

My capture was his
success
? What? Did they
have a party over it? I wanted to scream in frustration. If I
hadn't had my ability, I'd have been crippled. And now he wanted to
kill a bunch of people just because they didn't agree with
him.

Damn Lastrini and his
plebian minions.

Meir took hold of my
shoulders and shook me lightly. "Calm down, Ella."

I realized with some
surprise that my hands were clenched in fists, but worse than that,
all the blue molecules had started swirling around my body. Several
black objects flew through my own personal red, blue, and green
galaxy of lights. I ordered the molecules to freeze and the objects
fell to the metal floor with a clang.

A puff of blue lights blew
out from Meir's mouth. "So like I said, we need to hurry. I think
he's focusing his soldiers on you right now. From what I heard,
he's been livid and obsessed about you since your army kidnapped a
bunch of people from the city."