In Embers (The Ember Series Book 3) (3 page)

~ Beautiful Disaster: 311 ~

“Asia Michaels,” his voice greeted me.

“Avery Wahlberg,” I said, with a mouth full of anger. Just seeing him reminded me of much lonelier days. He looked so much like his younger brother, Devon. They both shared similar physiques, frosty blond hair, and devious gray eyes. Avery’s brother, Devon, had changed my life forever when he almost killed Max in a fit of jealousy over Samantha. In a blinding rage I took my revenge on Devon, killing him with a giant arc of lightning. The rest of the world never knew what really happened to him, most people believed he was on the run after shooting Max through the chest. Avery on the other hand, never believed that. He knew his little brother was never coming home, and he knew I had something to do with it.

“Well, this is a bit of a surprise, Ms. Michaels. I figured you had your hands full getting your talented boyfriend free from his prison cell,” Avery tried to joke. I was in no mood. He was right though, my lawyers were the best money could buy, and they were doing everything they could to get Max free. Though, he was completely wrong about one thing…Max didn’t belong to me anymore. He belonged to Sam.

“Where is she?” I asked, in a huff, trying to ignore my racing thoughts of Max and his warm embrace.

“Who?” Avery smiled, wryly.

“Stop screwing around, Avery! Where’s Sam?” I spit out, and the lights darkened as my surrounding storms rolled heavy outside. He winced at my emotional response. His two security guards paced at my sides with growing uneasiness. He nodded to them to calm their fears. Both guards stepped backward toward the only door in the room. Avery placed his hands in his pockets and continued.

“Ahh, you mean Samantha Summers. The young woman who disappeared a few weeks ago. The proud mother of a beautiful baby girl that your boyfriend just so happened to father.”

His words stung me to my core. Thunder rumbled louder and I wanted to punch him in the throat.

“Yes,” I grumbled.

“That little girl is special,” he said, softly. I just stood still. “And by special, I mean, she has a gift, doesn’t she.” Again, I just held his gaze. He laughed, heartily, “Like father, like daughter!”

“I’m special too…” I seethed, trying to get his attention on my abilities and not Madison’s special gifts. She was so much like her father, Max. With only her touch she could heal any wound. A young and innocent healer. The world would never leave her alone. Someone would always want to take advantage of her. The thought shouldn’t have bothered me so much, but like her hotheaded father, Madison had grown on me. Samantha had trusted me with Madi’s well-being just before she disappeared, and I think I already had the strongest feelings for her.

Avery leaned into me, making sure I heard his next statement. “I know.”

Ignoring him,
I murmured, “I want Sam. This will be your only warning,” I said, as fact. Electricity began swimming through my clothes, dancing upon the tiny hairs along my body. His eyes pulled together, excitedly.

“I have a proposition for you, Ms. Michaels…”

“What?”

“How about a trade,” he smiled. I stood silent and determined. He shuffled his stance and reached over to the nearest desk. “I let Samantha go home, and you stay in her place.” With a quick flip of a switch a large HD screen attached to the wall flashed with a new image. It was Samantha.

“Sam,” I whispered, staring intensely at the screen. Sam was alive and well. She looked stressed and possibly a little dehydrated.

“I assure you that she is doing just fine. She isn’t sleeping very well, but she is quite the conversation
alist,” Avery laughed to himself. I didn’t find his smugness funny in the least.

“A trade…” I drifted off. Thoughts of Max and little Madison flooded my mind. This was my chance to save Sam. This was my chance to do the right thing.

“Yes. You, for her. What do you say?”

Letting the thunder speak for me, I nodded yes. Avery’s grin grew wildly. He quickly swiped the controls at his desk and the television monitor went black. His henchmen walked up to me, preparing for a fight. They nervously began to secure my hands as rain pounded at the wall of the facility. Avery shook his head, and waved the guards off.

“Leave her be. Ms. Michaels is now officially a guest of ours.” His cold eyes watched mine. “She will not be any trouble.”

I stepped forward. “Let Sam go. Now.”

With a soft laugh he led me out of the room and down a long steel corridor. At the end of it was the first of three checkpoints that held Sam hostage. Each checkpoint with more security. Minutes later I found myself outside a room made of super thick glass. Inside was Samantha, scared and tired. She sat atop her bed with her hair hanging in front of her face.

Without even looking up, she said, “Is Madison safe?”

“Of course,” I said, surprised we could hear each other through the glass prison. There must be some kind of audio system.

“Thank you, Asia,” Sam said, finally looking up at me. Her eyes were highlighted by dark circles. “I knew I made the right decision.”

“I’m getting you out of here, Sam. You’ll be with Madi soon,” I said, calmly.

“And Max?” she asked, standing up.

I just watched her hard. Avery motioned for the invisible cell door to be opened. Without a sound the glass wall in front of us opened up quickly.

“Samantha, you are free to go,” Avery said. Sam looked as if she might spit on him.

“What’s going on? What are you doing, Asia?” she snapped.

“Saving you.
” I smiled, and the storm outside growled.

Quickly interrupting us, Avery reached for Sam, “Come on. This is your only opportunity.”

Sam stuttered forward, stopping just before me. With a small hug she whispered in my ear. “You can’t trust him. This is a trap.”

I handed her my cell phone with a new picture of Madison across the screen, taken just hours before. “Go. Now. When you make it out front, call the first number listed and don’t look back. Understand?”

She stepped past me with a nod and got in the face of Avery. Sam angrily said, “You’re just letting me go? After all the fuss of kidnapping me, you’re giving me up…”

He smiled, “I got what I needed from you.”

“And what’s that?” Sam snapped.

Avery pointed toward me.
“Her.”

“What?” Sam asked, shocked.

“Samantha, this was never about you. This was never about some silly revenge plot like you see in those ridiculous soap operas.” Avery waved his hand and the glass panel slid back down in place, locking me within its walls. I pressed my hands against the cold glass, concentrating on Sam. Avery continued with his finger pointed my way. “This was about her.”

“I don’t understand,” Sam said.

“Well, it’s obvious Max didn’t care enough to come for you. Even locked up in prison, I’d find a way out to get to the woman I love,” he spoke, lethally. “That’s the only reason I took you in the first place, Sam, to get to him. That means I don’t need you. You’re dead weight.” He leaned down placing his cruel eyes just before Sam’s. “Maybe he’ll come for Asia. Maybe she’s the one he really loves.”

“Screw you!” Sam cursed.

“No offense, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, it’s just the way it is. I’m in the business of weapons and bad things. Your precious Max will make the most magnificent bad weapon,” he said, and then continued, “This was never about punishing you for what you three did to my younger brother Devon. Avenging his death was just an added bonus.”

“You’re a monster,” Sam whispered.

“Yep. I always was. So was Devon, but he thought spending his time chasing you around was the most important thing to the Wahlberg family. He was so wrong,” Avery winked.

“He was?” she sighed.

“The most important thing to this family is money. Wealth and power is where it’s at, my girl.”

“But you’re already rich, Avery. Your family is beyond rich,” Sam accused.

I watched her from my box with my elemental energy building everywhere.

“True, but sometimes that’s just not enough,” he laughed, and quickly ordered the guards to remove her from the room. Sam screamed as they yanked her by her arms, forcing her into the hallway.

“Asia! Be strong! I’ll get help,” Sam called to me.

“Get out of here, Sam. I’ll be fine,” I called back to her. Avery slammed the outside door closed and spun around to face me.

“No you won’t, Ms. Michaels. Max isn’t the only one with extraordinary gifts that we’d like to experiment with,” he assured me.

I slammed my hands against the thick glass.

“Your time here will be short…and painful.” Suddenly, he turned to the other guard still in the room and ordered him to follow Sam. “Keep an eye on Ms. Summers. We’ll still need her…well, we will still need her daughter.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. A double-cross. Sam was right. I couldn’t trust him at all. My blood started racing and my breath pushed against the barrier in front of me. “Avery…”

Annoyed and excited at the same time, he barked, “What?”

“We had a deal.”

“Yeah, and I had a brother once. That is, until you threw him over the edge of a cliff, murdering him brutally. Now, it’s your turn. Your death will be excruciating. Your pretty face will be broken. Your heart will be shattered. And when I’m done with you…I’ll suck every spark, every ember from your one true love. Your handsome fire-starter will suffer most of all. He will die by my hands, I guarantee you that, Ms. Michaels. Max Valentine will curse the day he wronged my family.”

I couldn’t breathe. “No.”

“Now, relax. We have a long night ahead of us,” he smirked, tapping on the glass with his middle finger. I bit down hard and sent a bolt of lightning into the thick glass. It vibrated ferociously filling the glass with brilliant colored light before sending a sharp shock into Avery’s fingertip. He jumped backwards angry, but impressed.

“You really think this glass bubble will hold me for long?” I asked, through tight teeth. He shook his head slightly.

“I guess we’re going to find out, aren’t we, Ms. Michaels.”

I smiled, “Count on it.”

~ Help I’m Alive: Metric ~

Sam:

Why did she do this? Why, Asia, why
?
Only yards from the facilities front doors and my freedom, and I couldn’t stop thinking about her sacrifice. Why would Asia sacrifice herself? Why wasn’t she in Max’s arms? Why come for me? Why didn’t Max come? I tried to question her motives but as it turned out, I didn’t have time to worry about it for too long.

“Don’t move!” a large guard shouted. I turned to find Avery’s thugs approaching. Thunder shook the main lobby of the building and I tightened my stance
.
Don’t freak out
.
You’re almost out. Just push forward, make the phone call on Asia’s cell phone, and get out of this nightmare. Get back to Madison.

“Get her!” another security guard ordered.

“Crap.” I ran forward as fast as I could. My legs were still weak from not eating much all this time in captivity. I pushed my body toward the front doors. Just as I reached them a hand found its way along my shoulder. I screamed and stabbed at it with my fingernails. “Leave me alone!”

“You’re coming with us!” another guard said. His grip tightened on me, and I lunged forward, falling to the ground. As my body hit the floor I pulled out Asia’s phone from my pocket and quickly swiped at it surface. I clicked on the first contact number and pushed send.

“Grab her!” another jerk hollered. The phone slipped from my hand and spun wildly along the floor. It smacked up against the facilities doors and began to flash intensely. I watched it as they began to pull me backwards. Further and further I was jerked away from the entrance. The screen of the cell phone kept flashing with flickering colors, growing faster by the second. What was going on? The phone wasn’t calling out at all.

“Let me go!” I screamed, before biting down on one of the hands that had me locked within its grasp. Blood filled my mouth as my teeth dug in deeper. The guard wailed in pain and struck me in the back with his other hand. It stunned me for a moment.

“Hold her, damn it! Mr. Wahlberg doesn’t want her hurt,” someone ordered. From the doorway Asia’s phone began to hum with intensity. One of my captors finally focused on it. “Oh, no…”

With a kick, and another, and another, I found myself free. If only I could have taken a moment to enjoy the freedom. From the floor the phone began to vibrate and shake violently.

“Oh shit! I think it’s a bomb!” someone yelled. I whipped around, catching the flashing numbers on the phone screen counting down to zero.

3…2…1…

“Oh, no…” I gasped. 1… 0…

BOOM!

The air in the room disappeared instantly as the front walls exploded outward. Dust and debris covered everything in front of me. My ears filled with a constant ringing, making the room spin a little. Dizzy, I stood up, trying to settle myself. Confusion filled the air as I stumbled through the fresh wreckage to my freedom.

“Nice trick…Asia…” I coughed. Looking behind me as I exited, there was no more movement from any of the guards. The blast had sent them flying everywhere, unconscious…or worse. The emergency sirens rang out and the fire-sprinklers washed over everything. It seemed like a waste of water as one of Asia’s epic storms unleashed from the dark clouds above me. Raindrops the size of melons fell upon the damaged facility, punishing it immediately.

All right, no more screwing around…run! My legs found their balance once again, even though my head was still ringing from the explosion. My feet dug into the dirt as I pushed them up the nearby hill. The rain was thick but comforting in a way
.
Maybe Asia had grown on me?

Just over the hill I found a dark SUV full of gear and a map of the area. Asia’s escape plan. Swiftly, I jumped behind the wheel and looked around for the keys. I found them in the middle compartment of the vehicle. As I pulled them up to my eyes to inspect them, I found a tiny silver charm winking at me from my palm. It was a small sun. A circular carved piece of metal with flames dancing around its edges. In the center was two words stenciled beautifully…BURN ON. As I stared at the words I could feel something else on the other side of the sun. With a furrowed brow I turned the trinket over, the dangling keys jingled from my fingers. I let my thumb rub over the etchings carved along the charms backside, and whispered them into existence.

“Max & Asia.”

Lightning echoed along the dusty valley and I pulled my eyes from the keychain and stuck the key in the ignition and started the SUV’s engine with a roar. No time to worry about silly love triangles right now. I had to get out of here. I had to get back home to Madison and my family.

As I drove away, I cranked the knob to the stereo and rolled down the windows, letting the desert air rush in and the music slither out. The musty smell of rain on dirt filled my nose, and all of a sudden I missed Max completely. Tears slid from my eyes and I wiped them away in a fit. I needed to get home safe, not dwell on the past. I pressed my foot down harder on the gas pedal and swallowed down my sadness.

I was free.

I was tired.

I was thankful.

With a slight adjustment of the trucks rearview mirror, I whispered, “Thank you, Asia.”