Fall (Roam Series, Book Two) (29 page)

“He has to come,” West confirmed, closing the phone
and ending Logan’s call with a soft snap.

This is it.

I held the handle on the Pilot, searching for courage.

Closing my eyes, I followed a single, red ringlet on Eva’s newborn head
in my mind, remembering the silken threads between my fingertips.

“I’m going to take the gag off. “

Before I could turn in my seat, West blocked me.

“I’ll do it-…,”

“I will do it.” The same coldness from the night in the basement resurfaced at just the right moment, giving me the strength that I needed. He pulled away, recognizing the borderline-madness in my eyes.

Turning around in the seat, I reached for Troy. “When I take this off, I want you to remember everything that I said in the basement.”

He blinked once.

My fingers slipped twice as I pulled at his gag, finally yanking the ball of wet tee-shirt material from his mouth. He cleared his throat, moving his face muscles.

“Do they have automatic weapons? Guns?” I asked sharply.

West looked at me, obviously surprised by my question.

Troy nodded once. “Yes. I’ve given them the same resources and knowledge that exists here. In preparation for this day.”

“Fuck,” West growled, slamming his palms on the steering wheel. I knew then he’d wondered the same, and had already tried to get that information from Troy. “I should have let you ask him the questions.”

“He wouldn’t have answered me then. We have an understanding now.” I zipped my heavy coat. “West will have a gun pointed at you. You will have your arm around me the entire time once we’re through. If we are attacked, he will shoot you. And you will die, because you will be mortal. Clear?”

“
Can’t wait.”

In broad daylight, in the middle o
f Johnstown, weapons of various sizes with assorted holders and harnesses were strapped to each of us from inside the Pilot. I looked around nervously, unable to fathom that no one paid any attention to what we were doing. West saw my disbelief, shaking his head.

“No one is looking.”

West removed Troy’s handcuffs, and held the gun pointed at him from inside his coat sleeve. Logan returned and bought out the ride, paying almost three hundred dollars for the round-trip fare. Troy cleared his throat, walking in front of West slowly. “We get on, we hit the halfway point, and we go. You return in the other boxcar.”

I focused on the word
you
, tucking my coat around me.

Troy stopped midway into the car, turning around. “I’m not going in without
holding her.”

Oh my God
. I blinked rapidly, my fingers disjointing beneath my torturous pull. Breathing normally had been a problem for me my entire life, but now, I swayed, over-compensating and beginning to hyperventilate. West caught me, running his hands over and over my face. “Roam,
I’m right here.
I will not let anything happen to you. I will protect you.
I love you.
” I could see his enormous restraint, and I turned frantically to Logan, watching him quietly shove his gun into Troy’s side.

“You’re strong, Cam,” he looked at me evenly. “You can do this.”

Edging into the car, I brushed at a single, petrified tear as it slid down my cheek. Troy held his arms open, and I turned and backed against him.

“You smell like your sister,” he murmured in my ear, and Jason caught Morgan’s
clenched fists before she could swing at Troy.

“Morgan, don’t,” I pleaded,
cringing as his hands slid around my waist, tucking me tightly against him.

“Let’s go,”
Logan snapped, standing as close to me as possible.

Jason, Morgan, Logan, Violet and West surrounded Troy and I, weapons aimed from beneath coats. As we ascended the mountain and the half-way point approached, I began to
sense the same weightless feeling that existed in the snowy fountain.

The moment we crossed the halfway point, the world around us
slowly evaporated, my frantic breath escaping in visible wisps from my open mouth.

Troy’s grip on my waist tightened and left me gasping for air.

“
I am your king;
hold your fire!
”

We came out on an icy platform along an arctic mountainside.
Chaos erupted from every point; even above us, from decks protruding from the rocks, soldiers aimed machine guns, bows and arrows, and swords. I scraped at Troy’s hand, gasping. “I can’t breathe!”

He loosened his g
rip, slightly.

“Your
majesty,” one guard assessed the group of us, aiming a heavy machine gun at West’s face. West lifted his own AK47 to Troy’s head.

“
No
,” I cried, shaking my head against Troy’s chest. “Tell them not to hurt him!”

“Be quiet,” he hissed in my ear, tightening his brutal grip once more. “My soldiers; behold, your queen has returned.” He gripped my shoulders, shoving me forward.

The roar began with a soldier spitting in my direction. I trembled, my ears throbbing at their collective bellows and ugly chants.

“
Whore! Treasonous slut!
”

“
That’s
not nice,” Logan slid the charging handle back on his AK, aiming it at the soldier who spit at me. “Say sorry.”

“Logan, don’t,” I cringed as
the soldier approached me, his face marred with deep, scarred ravines. His long sword pointed at me, his eyes intimidating.

“End this, your
majesty?”

Logan aimed.

“No,” Troy tugged me back against him. “Change of plans. Take them all to the castle; no one is harmed. Leave them their weapons.”

Relief, like rain, drenched me in a sudden sweat. I moved ahead of Troy, careful not to look any of the soldiers in the eye.
I am hated. They would kill me without question.

We walked in silence along a snowy, curving path that wound it
s way around the mountain. I kept stealing sideways glances at West, and he kept his eyes on me at all times, reassuring. I lost my footing as we approached an ominous drawbridge, and Troy caught me before I slipped.

“Walk- or I
’ll drag you.”

I glowered at him, shivering as the frozen air took over my muscles. As we
passed giant, steel gates, my toes began to grow numb.

The inside of the castle
mirrored my dream; icicles that didn’t melt, diamond-like lighting, and elaborate costumes on the members of the court that rushed to welcome Troy and gape at the prisoners.

I observed the people around us, noting the strange differences between the
medieval atmosphere and the inhabitants of the castle.
They wear make-up, have hair products, and modern foot-wear… did Troy do this?

“Take them to the throne room.” Troy’s orders sent people scrambling, but West stopped.

“Before we go further, I want to see that Laurel is alive.”

“And if you don’t?”

“Well, then,” West raised his machine gun, and every weapon pointed in his direction. “It’s over for both of us.”

Troy laughed, the sound
rumbling in a bizarre trail throughout the icy corridors of the castle. “Very well. Bring Laurel to join us.”

Ushered into the throne room from my dancing dream with West,
I took inventory of the guards that assembled around us. Troy shoved me onto the throne, and I struggled for breath as weapons were aimed at West. “You will drop your weapons,” Troy shouted, taking the seat next to me. My jacket bunched under my neck, and I remembered the automatic pistol inside my thick coat.

I tensed
as members of Troy’s army unarmed West and Logan by force, while Jason, Morgan, and Violet handed over their guns.

“My kingdom,” Troy gestured to cold, gray room
around us. “Ravaged by a never-ending winter, cursed by dark magic. The curse will be broken with your queen’s death.”

I tried to scramble from the cold, oversized stone chair, but he grabbed my upper arm, squeezing.

“Your queen, however, has struck up a bargain. Her life, in exchange for our prisoner’s life.” He smiled cruelly as his army began to cheer. “We shall send the rest of them back to where they came from. Their world will exist… for a little longer…,” he turned to me, his eyes darkening with lust, “While I reacquaint myself with my wife.”

I shuddered, shivering convulsively. “I agreed,” I called, my voice breaking and
childlike. “I agreed, so please don’t hurt them.”

“
Your majesty, with all due respect, we wish our sun back. End this curse,” a knight approached, bowing before the throne.

Troy pulled me to stand beside him. I trembled as he turned me to him and tugged the zipper down on my coat, shoving his hand inside. West
growled and started toward us, but guards held him back.

His ice blue eyes locked with mine, and I felt his fingers on the Glock strapped to my side.

In one movement, he pulled the gun from the holster, aimed it at his guard, and pulled the trigger.

Morgan began screaming.
Jason grabbed her, covering her mouth with his hand and turning her into his chest. Small clumps of bloodied matter littered the stone floor around the guard’s head.

“Clean it up, and keep your opinions to yourselves,” Troy shouted, ejecting the magazine and letting it smack the floor. He dropped the pistol to his side as several guards rushed forward to drag the dead man away.

“Well, I guess if you just keep killing your own guys, we’re fine with that,” Logan shouted, and I watched Violet’s eyes as they followed the man being dragged from the room.

“Ah, my young brother,” Troy drew his lips into a grin.
“You’re on the wrong side of the room. Care to join us?”

Logan’
s eyes met mine. I stared at him, watching his mind work as it used to when we’d get into his mother’s cookie jar without her permission. “That depends. I’ll only settle for your seat.”

Troy roared with laughter, tucking me against him. “Some things never change,” he called, sounding genuinely amused.

And that was when I heard her.

The crying, the pitiful wailing that tightened my throat and caught my breath, echoed
from the outer chamber. I tried to run toward it, but Troy caught my arm.

At that moment, the doors opened, and two guards ushered a woman into the room.

Laurel’s white-blonde curls hung well below her waist, spiraling and disappearing into the folds of her pale, silver gown. Her light eyes were frightened as she looked around the room, gripping the wriggling bundle in her arms securely against her chest.

In a fraction of a second, I saw the blankets fall away, revealing the red hair of the infant in her arms.

I knew it was Eva.

“Oh my God,” I yanked my arm with all of my strength, Troy’s brutal grip digging bruises into my skin. “Eva! She’s here! West-…,”

“Roam, stay still,” he shouted, but the moisture in his eyes caught the light from the crystal chandelier.
He knows that it’s her.

The distress in his face was evident; any hope for retaliation, for defending me with arms or violence, was lost.

He would not risk her life.

“Ah, yes. The child that will save the world, end the prophecy… bringer of the sun.” He took a step toward her, my upper arm crushed in his grasp.

Deep within, the fiery madness that stoked my soul exploded into something that I had no time to comprehend. The very thought of Troy’s hands on my child sent flames to my core, and I turned to face him, clenching my fists and blocking his path.

“You will not touch her.”

He raised his eyes, smiling in surprise. “I won’t?”

“Give me a sword. Make this even.” I repeated the words from my nightmare.

He laughed from his throat, scoffing. “Are you sure you don’t want a screwdriver?”

“A sword.”

Chuckling, he shook his head. “Little Roam. Have you ever held a sword in your hands? It weighs more than you do.”

“M
edieval swords were said to weigh more than forty pounds. That has since been disproven. Give me a sword. I
will
defend my daughter’s life.”

“Roam!” West shouted from behind me. I held my
palm flat, not turning to him.

“I’ve had enough of this
, West… all of this. I won’t watch him hurt her.”

Troy
wrenched me against him, his eyes darkening with insanity. “It’s not
you
that ends this, it’s your
child
.
Your bastard.
”

“If you hurt her,
I will die.
Either by the hands of your guards, or by
my own hands.
Either way, I’m gone. How badly do you want me? My obedience? Is it worth the life of a harmless infant?” My persuasive words gave him pause. With all of my strength, I lifted my fingers to his face, lightly tracing his cheekbone. “How badly do you want me?”