United (The Guardians Book 2) (23 page)

Gable said nothing. The bed she'd had in the penthouse apartment Pablo had bought her had been a hundred times more luxurious. Now it made her sick to think of it.

Sacha breathed in deep, seeming to relish the air in his lungs. “Oh! I remember how to breathe again.”

“That's fortunate.”

“Perhaps.”

She frowned, her smile fading fast. “What's that supposed to mean?”

A long sigh escaped him. “Sometimes I think it would be easier if I just. . .stopped.”

Gable's heart faltered, shattering right there in her chest. She sat up fully and rolled over him on her hands and knees, so very careful not to touch. With her face looming over his, she glared angrily down at him. “Are you implying that you want to
die
? Jesus, Sacha! What kind of stupid dumb shit is that?”

“It's hard, Gable,” he whispered softly, gazing up at her. “It's so damned hard in here.”

Her anger melted away like ice under the blazing sun. “Tell me what they've done to you.”

“I won't.”

“Please tell me.”

“Gable,” he uttered, sweetly yet sadly, and then reached up a hand.

She realized a second too late what he was about to do. “Sacha, don-”

Gable blinked, not surprised to see the canvas of her tent above her. Damn him.

Tomorrow, she vowed to herself. Tomorrow would be the day she got Sacha back.

Jaana knelt on Xahlia's thin mattress, a metal bar held between each of her pale hands as she fondly watched a still sleeping Sacha. Though she was in her late twenties at most, she had a motherly expression on her face. Yet a worried frown creased her forehead. “We wake him, yes?”

Even with her powers muted by the leech on guard, it was easy for a knowing eye to see she was a water elemental. Her ghostly white skin was so fine that her delicate blue veins were clearly visible, like an intricate map drawn over her body. She was a gentle sort, musical even when she wasn't singing, and even the simplest of movements seemed fluid.

Fortune shook his head at her question. “Let him sleep.”

“But it's morning time. He will miss breakfast.”

That was a rather optimistic assumption as far as Fortune was concerned. He didn't remember the last time they'd been given breakfast. “I don't think that'll be a problem,” he told her softly.

On Fortune's other side, Gelasius was leaning his head against the bars, bored. “Why does the boy sleep so much?”

Because he was quickly succumbing to the madness that had taken so many of their other companions, but Fortune wasn't about to admit that out loud. He briefly considered waking Sacha but thought better of it, mostly because he was worried about the direction Sacha's thoughts were heading whenever he was awake. If Sacha tried to hurt himself there wouldn't be much Fortune could do to stop him – he was tall, but he didn't have Sacha's strength or broadness.

“Pretty funny, you calling him a boy,” Xahlia mused with a spiteful edge. She was laying on her back on the cot next to Jaana, her legs in the air resting against the bars, giving Fortune a rather nice view of her arse. It was a bit on the bony side for his liking, but beggars couldn't be choosers. “when he's so much bigger than you.”

Gelasius rolled his eyes, far too used to Xahlia and her moods. “He is younger than me, therefore he is a boy.”

“Do you think it will happen again today?” Jaana piped up, clearly trying to stop a bickering match before it could begin. Fortune was impressed at the way her speech was coming along. When she'd first joined them in the cells she'd spoken no English at all, only Finnish. Surprisingly it had been Xahlia who'd taught her the second language. She'd said it was because she was sick of hearing Jaana's babble, but Fortune was sure it was because she'd felt sorry for Jaana and how confused she'd been upon arrival. There was a heart buried deep down inside Xahlia's chest, he was certain. Deep,
deep
down inside.
 

They didn't need to ask Jaana what she was talking about. It was practically the only thing
any
of them had been talking about ever since it had happened the day before.

The earthquake.

It had only been a small one, not even big enough to throw off the electricity or conveniently knock down any of their cell walls, but they had never experienced anything like it on the island before. It was the most interesting thing that had happened in a long time. In years, for some of the long term inmates like Fortune.

“I hope so,” Moisey answered quietly, absentmindedly running a hand over his head where his dreadlocks had once been. “It has to mean something.”

“Like what, do you suppose?”

“That something is changing,” Gelasius spoke up. “Did you see the way the guards rushed through the halls after the quake? Something is happening out there.”

Fortune raised his brow. “You don't think it was a natural phenomena, then?”

“Possibly,” Gelasius allowed. “Though I find it a highly unlikely idea. Have you experienced anything like this before?”

“No, not since I've been here.” And he would know, having been there longer than most. “Perhaps the island is reacting.”

“Could be. It's hardly a normal island, after all.”

A low groan came from Sacha as he slowly began to stir. He rolled onto his back, though the cot was so narrow he almost fell off. Silence fell as he pulled himself up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He froze, blinking in confusion when he realized they were all staring at him.

“Well that's just weird,” he said, his voice still thick with sleep.

Xahlia sat up and shrugged. “Nothing much else to do here.”

“You okay?” Fortune asked Sacha quietly when the others had broken off into their own conversations in their respective cells.

Sacha threw his legs over the edge of his cot and rested his elbows on his knees, running large hands through his scruffy dark hair. He still looked tired, even after sleeping late. “Not really,” came his muffled voice from where his head hung low.

Uh oh. Fortune thought he knew what was wrong. “Did you dream of her again?” Those dreams weren't healthy for Sacha – they were only making his mental state worse.

“Of course I did.” Sacha shook his head, laughing humorlessly at himself. “Because I love her. That's what I realized when the Gable in my dreams tried asking what had been done to me. I couldn't tell her because I fucking love her.”

“I know you do.”

Bloodshot eyes glanced up at Fortune. “No, I mean I
love
her. I'm
in
love with her.”
 

“I know,” Fortune said again quietly. How could he
not
know? Just because Sacha had never before admitted it out loud, didn't mean it wasn't obvious to everyone else but him. It was the way he spoke about her. He
adored
her.
 

“I'm in love with her,” Sacha repeated, softly this time as if he was talking only to himself. “It's time I finally admit it. I've always been in love with her, from that very first day.”

In the next cell, Xahlia was pretending not to listen, but she kept shooting Sacha dark looks through the bars and her fists were clenched so tightly the blood had left them. As usual, he didn't even notice.

“I should have told her years ago.” Sacha frowned. “Why didn't I tell her years ago?”

“Love is a funny thing,” Fortune answered, though in reality he had no idea. His love affairs never lasted any longer than a couple of weeks at most. He loved women, he really did. They were beautiful, magnificent creatures. He just wanted to love a
lot
of women. He wasn't the settling down type.
 

“You haven't even seen her in a year,” Xahlia scoffed.

“I love her just as fiercely now as I did the last time I saw her.”

Jaana swooned.

“Hold on to that,” Gelasius advised, listening in. He was always listening, always watching, always calculating. “A love like that might be the only thing to keep you sane in the end.”

Fortune silently thought the opposite might be true.

Two guards appeared outside their cell, armed with multiple weapons as always. Sacha inched back in fear, but for once they weren't there for him.

“Fire elemental, up. Now.” One of the guards pointed a Taser at him, though he needn't have bothered with the warning. Fortune had stopped fighting the guards a long time ago. Fighting only led to more pain.

With a heavy heart, he rose.

Gable let out a long, low whistle as she stared up at the towering fence. It practically vibrated as it hummed with electricity. “Ho
ly
shit.”
 

“That about sums it up,” Ward agreed, nodding his head up and down slowly.

The team stood in a row, eyeing the impossibly tall fence with mixed emotions.

Cadby scratched at the blond scruff growing on his usually clean shaven chin. “But. . .this is good though, right? This means we've reached the edge of the compound?”

A slow smile spread across Gable's face. “Yeah, this is good. This is really freakin' good.” She tried to contain the excitement coursing through her veins, but couldn't seem to reign it in. This was
it
!
 

They had only been trekking through the seemingly never ending rainforest for a couple of hours that morning before they'd come across the fence. It felt like a positive sign.

“You think it goes the whole way around the compound?”

She shrugged. “I'd say so. My guess is there's only one way in and one way out, and that's a heavily guarded gate, armed to hell. This is probably our best way through.”

“I don't see anything on the other side but trees,” Zay said, craning his neck. “How far in do you think the prison is?”

“Who knows.”

“It must be a pretty big compound though,” Queenie pointed out. “Otherwise they'd have more guards stationed around the fence.”

Zay nodded. “The guard stations must be pretty far apart.” With a sigh that was nothing close to Gable's elation, he rubbed a hand over the back of his head. “You know what else this means? It means that this is where the electricity starts. On the other side of that fence is where the surveillance equipment begins. They'll see us coming every step of the way.”

Hue slapped him on the back, a determined smile stretching out his lips. “Come on, buddy. One problem at a time. We've made it this far. Now, numero uno, how in the hell are we getting over this fence without getting fried? Anyone know how to fly?”

Ward scratched his head. “I guess I could try to knock the electric fence off with an earthquake. I can try to concentrate it on one area. Risky though, with my instability right now.”

Cadby tilted his head to the side, eyeing the fence warily. There were holes in it, but only small ones. They wouldn't even be able to fit their heads through. “Anybody happen to pack any bolt cutters?”

They all remained silent.

He swallowed. “Over it is then.”

“At least with the earthquake the guards won't question the electric fence shutting off,” Zay mused. “Hopefully they'll just assume it's natural. Can you handle it, Ward?”

He lifted a shoulder uneasily at the prospect. “I can try. . . But like I said, it's risky. I'm in shitty condition.”

“It's pretty much the only plan we've got going for us at this point. But it's up to you, bro.”

He nodded. “It's okay, I can do this.” With a weak smile, he held out a hand to Gable. “Help me?”

She slipped her hand into his without a word and squeezed gently, sharing her strength.

Closing his eyes, Ward took a deep breath and focused. Moments later, the earth began to rumble quietly beneath them. It was gentle, controlled enough that they could remain on their feet.

“You're doing awesome,” Gable spoke quietly so that only Ward could hear. She wrapped her free hand around his arm.

“Just don't let me go,” he murmured without opening his eyes.

Suddenly, a serious amount of sparks showered out of the fence. Zay, standing closest, leaped back out of the way. “Whoa!”

Gable had no idea what kind of fancy earth elemental trick Ward had just pulled, but it seemed to have worked. “Okay,” she told him. “You're done. You can stop now.”

He nodded, squeezed her hand once, and then the quake slowly came to a stop. His eyes blinked open and he sighed in relief.

“Well done.” Gable released his hand to rub his shoulder comfortingly. “You kept control the whole time. Maybe the island is easing up on you. Or you're getting used to it.”

“Yeah.” But his voice sounded shaky.

“Think it worked?” Hue wanted to know, staring up at the fence. It had gone quiet and the sparks had stopped.

Nicky shrugged. “Only one way to find out.” Before anyone could stop him from being a gigantic idiot, he darted forward and grabbed a hold of the fence between his fists.

Gable's heart all but exploded out of her chest, but nothing happened. He was fine. “You stupid bastard!” she yelled, punching him in the arm as hard as she could. She was strong, but his arm was pretty much solid muscle so it didn't seem to faze him. “We could have just thrown something at it!”

He grinned, probably because he could tell how much she cared. “Well, now we know for sure. Win win.”

“You're such a dumb ass.” She punched him again when he laughed, then once more just because. “How long do you think it'll take them to fix it?”

“Not long,” Zay guessed. “Especially if they've got an Outcast whose power stems from electricity. We need to get over quick. Let's grab our weapons and leave our packs behind – we could do without the extra weight and we're not gonna need them anymore, one way or another.”

Queenie paled. “And by that you mean because we're going to find the Outcasts today and take them home, and not because we're all going to die. . .right?”

“Sure,” he answered, a little too brightly.

With quick precision, they withdrew their guns and knives and tucked them safely away and their packs were tossed to the ground. They were done within thirty seconds.