The Reckoning (9 page)

Clamping down on my emotions, I reached out to the box, running my thoughts over it. Warmth filled me, coming from whatever was inside. I lifted the lid, opening it as if it had hinges on the back, though there were no seams.

Instead of the short, thin, snakelike thread that I’d imprisoned inside two weeks earlier, Delia’s construct had doubled in width and now coiled in on itself, around and around, filling up all the space in the box and squishing into the corners. Ava gasped, or I did. It was hard to tell where her thoughts ended and mine began.

The black snake started writhing as we watched. An end slipped over the edge of the container.

Panicking, I pushed my thoughts along one of the blue lights that seemed to be more solid now. Was Delia connected at the end somewhere, or was it just a gateway she could enter later? I’d find whatever it was and sever it right now.

No!
Ava told me, even as Dimitri’s hand squeezed mine.

“Whatever you’re doing, you really should stop,” Dimitri said. “You’re losing strength. Very fast.”

He was right. As I pushed out my thoughts, using my ability, my energy burned like gasoline on fire.

Look at it.
Ava’s voice forced me back to awareness of the snake, which now spilled over the top of the box on three sides, multiplying at a tremendous rate. Aloud, Ava said, “It’s growing as Erin uses her ability. The box stemmed it before but now it’s spilling out, and—”

We’ll never get it back inside,
I finished her thought.

Not as the box is now,
she agreed,
but you can make the box a little bigger and a lot stronger. It’s made of your thoughts so you can change it. I’ll help. Show me what you did.

I touched the smooth sides of the container, stretching it taller. Ava followed my actions, pulling it wider and reinforcing it with her own thoughts. Now to replace the spilled parts of the snake.

“Whatever you do, don’t touch it,” Ritter said.

A chill spread through me. He’d closed his barrier, but somehow I’d sent him a glimpse of what was going on. Had I sent it to Dimitri as well?

“Use the sai to put it back in,” Ritter ordered.

I followed Ritter’s instinct, and a mental version of the sai he’d given me in New York appeared even as he finished speaking, one in each hand. The pair roughly resembled a trident without the long handles. The foot-long middle blades were smooth and blunt while the two four-inch side blades were much shorter and curved outward, serving as a hand guard. Sai were usually meant for striking and blocking but were the right weapon for this job. Carefully, I hooked the shiny coils and dumped them back into the box. As if becoming aware of its danger, an end of the snake launched toward me, but I blocked it with a sai, twisting and pushing it down into the writhing mass.

Ava slammed down the lid. Coils pressed against the cracks until I smoothed more shiny construct over them, sealing the box so there were no gaps. Ava went behind me, reinforcing my work, leaving a silver sheen of her own thoughts over my silky black ones. At last we stood back to observe our efforts.

The blue lights were dimmer now but still active.
That’s it feeding on you,
Ava said.
The box stops it almost completely.

Not completely enough. Or it wouldn’t have grown so much.
I opened my eyes at the same time she did.

For a moment no one spoke, and then Ritter put a hand on my shoulder. “Well?”

I swiveled my chair to face him, and as I let go of Dimitri’s hand, a weakness crashed down on me with a weight that I fought to hide. As Ritter stared at me anxiously, I began pulling in nutrients, absorbing through all my pores. I caught a hint of omelet on my tongue. After a few seconds, I began to feel new strength, but the blue lights didn’t go out.

Ava stood and paced a few steps, a worried frown on her face. Her chin-length blonde hair had a bit of natural upward curl at the ends, and the light seemed to make the strands move like the snake in my head. I blinked away the image. “We made the containment box bigger,” she explained to the others, “but that thing has definitely grown since New York.”

“It feels like a parasite,” Dimitri commented. His healing ability didn’t allow him to connect mind-to-mind, but he was aware of everything that affected the body, and he could even stave off death for days in mortals who were fatally wounded. “I pushed back, but it didn’t seem to have any effect.” He frowned, shaking his head slowly. “It’s not something I can cure or remove.” There was an unspoken apology in his voice.

“It’s not your fault,” I said.

“It’s draining you.” Ava walked a few more steps, her clenching fists betraying her level of concern. “Even as we were building the box, it fed on your effort.”

Ritter sank into Ava’s abandoned chair. “She can’t go to Venezuela then, not if it endangers her.”

“The box is holding for now,” I protested. “I admit I was worried about going on this op, but a few days shouldn’t make a difference. The box will last that long. I might not have the endurance I used to, but I’m still—” I broke off, feeling abruptly self-conscious.

A grin broke through Ava’s concern. “Still better than I am.” Her gaze transferred to Ritter. “She
is
better. Without her, we wouldn’t be able to send Mari in because she’s not the fighter or the strategist Erin is. Even if I went with you myself, we might not be able to uncover the exact location of the plutonium without Erin’s ability to break through shields.”

“We’ll make do,” Ritter growled. “We can’t risk her.”

“I’m going,” I said, standing and moving away from my chair for a show of strength.

Easy,
Ava warned in my head.

I didn’t look her way but remained staring down at Ritter, whose scowls didn’t hide the fear and anger inside him—not from me, not with his shield down. No wonder that blue light didn’t vanish. Even when I didn’t try, I used my ability.

“We’re talking eight million people,” I whispered. “I can do this, Ritter. I have to. I just won’t use my ability unless we really need it.”

Ritter’s jaw worked. “What if during the op, that box ruptures? Ava won’t be around to help you put it back together.”
I can’t lose you.
This last thought from his mind sent fear rolling through me. It was a possibility. I’d seen the coils, and while they had more space now to grow inside the larger box, one day it wouldn’t be enough. Briefly, I caught an image from his mind—a sword coming down on a dark-haired woman in a blue dress. Blood spilling across the wood floor. I knew she had been Ritter’s fiancée hundreds of years ago, but thoughts of her and guilt over her death hadn’t tortured him for months until this fear for me.

“After this op, we’ll get it out,” I said. “We don’t have another choice.”
If
we could even get it out. That possibility I kept to myself. Ultimately, I worried that it would be just me and Delia in a fight to the death—and that meant I had to learn to control that thing inside me. Either that or go so far from the Fortress that my friends and family would never be in danger.

Ritter was about to speak when the door behind us burst open. Jeane stood in the doorway, looking sexy and in control, her red blouse unbuttoned far enough to show that she wasn’t wearing a bra, and her gray pants at least two sizes too small to be comfortable. Oddly enough, they looked great on her curvy figure.

Ritter was already at the door, a pistol in hand pointed directly at her head. “Don’t move,” he snarled.

Cort appeared behind the woman, an apologetic smile on his face. “Sorry about the interruption. Jeane insists on seeing you, Ava.” To Ritter, he added, “She’s not armed. You can put that down.”

Ritter took a step back but didn’t put away his weapon. I also stood ready, though I couldn’t help noticing that Dimitri was still sitting calmly in his chair.

“I just want to know how long you’re going to hold me here like a prisoner,” Jeane said in a high, breathy voice as she moved into the room with a swaying walk. Her eyes didn’t meet Ava’s but caught on Ritter’s and held. “I’m really no danger to you.”

Ritter ignored her. “We’ll need to find another option for Erin,” he said to Ava. “Cort might have some ideas he can share with you while I return Jeane to her room.”

“You mean the one with the lock on the outside?” Jeane asked, her tone sharpening only slightly. “No, I don’t think so. I’m finished being locked up. It’s obvious you don’t want to kill me or you would have already.” She pushed back a mass of dark hair that already reached her shoulders as a result of the curequick and her Unbounded metabolism. The rest of her body slowly and seductively shifted with the movement. “You guys just put a blindfold on me and drop me somewhere if you aren’t going to believe that I want to work with you.”

Ritter crossed the space between them, his hand clamping down on her arm. “At this point there are many more reasons to keep you than to let you go. Are you coming nicely, or do I have to carry you?”

That almost made me laugh. He
had
carried me the first day I tried to run away.

Jeane attempted to pull her arm from his grasp, and when that didn’t work, she glared at Ava. “What do I have to do to prove that I hate Delia Vesey as much as anyone here? After what she’s done to me, I swear to you that I fully intend to see her dead.”

“I’d like to believe you,” Ava said, “but for now we’ll need to detain you a while longer. However, you’re right that we don’t intend you harm.”

“Unless you determine I’m an enemy.” The breathiness hadn’t quite disappeared, and her voice was still high, but I had the feeling we were closer to seeing the real woman now.

Ava inclined her head. “Yes. You are correct.” If we made that determination, it would mean sending Jeane to our prison compound in Mexico for rehabilitation or eventual execution.

“Look, we’ll talk about this later,” Cort said. “I’ll walk you back, Jeane. There’s too much going on to discuss this right now.” He offered her his arm. “If you’ll come with me?”

She hesitated only briefly before taking his arm with a delicate hand and then turned to stare at Ritter until he released her. “Thank you,” she said, her voice full of mockery.

They’d almost reached the door when Ava barked, “Wait.”

Cort stopped immediately, nearly tripping Jeane. “Yes?” he asked.

Ava’s touch was in my mind.
Look,
she told me.
The blue lights. They’re gone.
Sure enough, nothing glowed from my box, which meant, as I understood it, that my snake was no longer feeding.

“Ava?” Dimitri asked.

Ritter had raised his gun again, waiting for Ava’s command. She gestured for him to lower it.

“Please sit down, Jeane. I would like to ask you what you know of bindings. And especially how to get rid of them.”

Jeane’s eyes met Ava’s, one side of her mouth twitching upward with an expression that was half smile, half smirk. “Bindings don’t work on me, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Sit.” This time it wasn’t a request. Ava motioned to Cort. “That chair by Dimitri—help her find the way.”

Cort walked Jeane to her chair before going around the table to sit across from us. Ava sat at the head of the table, and I settled into the first seat on her left next to Jeane. Ritter remained in front of the door, the weapon back inside the folds of his clothing but his feet apart in readiness. Everyone was tense and alert—everyone except Jeane, who I couldn’t read at all.

“Why do you hate Delia so much?” Ava asked in a deceptively calm voice. Underneath I sensed the same excitement that I felt. If being near Jeane stopped the snake from feeding, perhaps she was the key to eliminating it completely.

Jeane gave Ava an open-mouthed smile and tossed her head as though she were in front of the cameras. “She imprisoned me and let me rot almost to death. Do I need another reason?”

“Why did she do it?” Ava asked. “What did you do to merit such attention? She made it clear to Erin before your rescue that she occasionally let you regenerate partially to prevent a complete death. Obviously, she had some idea of future plans involving you. Which, unfortunately, makes you suspicious to us.”

Jeane sighed and leaned back in her chair. “I’m a null. She used me when she wanted to make sure someone else couldn’t use their ability against her. She also tried to breed me.” Her nostrils flared and her jaw clenched. “But it turns out that nulls are infertile.”

We all stared at her in surprise. Copious fertility was a huge problem for people who could live two thousand years, but not having any progeny at all meant no growth, which was death for us as a race. No one to bestow your amassed wealth on, no family businesses to pass on to children through many centuries. No descendants to look after and protect. Or mourn. I’d never heard of such a thing.

“It’s true,” Jeane said. “Not something we advertise. Of course that didn’t stop Delia from trying.”

I felt the pity emanating from Ava, even if Jeane wasn’t aware of it. “What do you know about bindings?” I asked.

Jeane shrugged. “Delia uses them all the time. She creates them by using a piece of her own thoughts. Or maybe it’s more than just her thoughts because it gives her greater control over the person than she had before. Anyway, the bindings prevent people from revealing certain secrets. All her closest associates have them. She tried to do one on me, but it didn’t take, of course.”

“Do you know how to remove them?”

Jeane’s blue eyes glittered with an emotion I couldn’t name. “I’m assuming you have a binding you need to get rid of, but all I can say is that I don’t know how. Most of Delia’s assistants either died or remained faithful. Those seemed to be the only choices available.” Again the mocking tone. “Except for me, apparently.”

Ava was silent for a long while, studying Jeane. Finally, she came to a decision, which I silently agreed to. “Delia placed a binding in my granddaughter’s head.”

Jeane leaned suddenly forward. “Let me guess—the representation is a snake.”

“That’s right.”

“She always uses snakes.” Jeane rolled her eyes. “Little imagination, that one.”

Ava nodded and continued. “This is definitely not a typical binding because it isn’t there to prevent Erin from spilling any secrets, but it
is
growing, and neither of us have been successful in removing it. However, we have been able to contain it somewhat by using a similar binding made from Erin’s thoughts.”