“Thank you, sisters,” Cassie said, taking a deep breath without pain.
The four women rose, walking out into the baking afternoon sun. The witches’ robes fluttered around them as a light breeze blew down the desolate city sidewalk. A bird of prey screeched overhead, and Cassie watched it circle in the distance.
“The car is this way,” Circe said, pointing in the direction of the hawk. Cassie searched with her mind, feeling what lay ahead. Something crawled in her brain, something unnatural, dark, and evil. She thought it must be the zombies she sensed.
Cassie and the witches hiked quickly through the city and turned down a narrow alley that led out onto a wide street in a business district. Cassie could see movement at the end of the alley, down an incline, behind large concrete planters.
Sunlight blinded her. She couldn’t make out what moved beyond her vision, in the shade of the towering building. Her mind itched with wrongness. Something was terribly off.
“Wait, sisters. There is something ahead. I feel it is… wrong. Wait here.” Cassie drew her guns and slowly sidestepped along the wall to the mouth of the alley. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, her mouth dropped open in horror.
A Pyramid Corporation Hummer, surrounded by half a dozen soldiers, sat parked on the sidewalk. The soldiers were shoveling something into the building’s entrance. A mass of zombies writhed out from the blasted walls of the building, scooping up what the soldiers had brought them: misshapen human bodies. Some were tiny, as though unborn. Some were fully grown adults.
She turned away in disgust, covering her mouth with her hand. Bile rose from her stomach, and she nearly retched. As she held back her sickness, anger rose to a fever pitch in her brain. She screamed, running toward the building, guns blazing.
With six quick shots, she took down the soldiers. They fell to the ground, shocked looks still plastered on their faces. From a deep, hidden well, Cassie drew up her power. It connected at her center from above and below. She holstered her guns, brought her hands out to her sides, then clapped.
With the thundering strike, energy reverberated from her hands and her core, moving in fatal waves over the zombie horde. They blew apart one by one as the wave crested over them. In a few seconds, it was over. The horde lay dead on the cement patio, their green blood mixing with the red of the Pyramid Corp. soldiers.
A bitter cry escaped her throat, and she fell to her knees. The sickness of their plans filtered through her consciousness. She couldn’t accept it. She couldn’t look at the mangled, misshapen bodies the soldiers had been feeding the zombies who terrorized every living being still on Earth.
The witches came and gathered her up in their embrace. The pale skin of their hands caressed her face and back, trying to calm her.
“No!” Cassie wailed.
“Shh, sister. You did well. You found the inner source of power. You did better than could be expected.”
“What are they doing?” Fatigue and anger numbed her legs, and she slumped toward the ground.
“Hecate, help me carry her.” The witches slung Cassie’s arms across their shoulders so they could help her walk in her confused, exhausted state.
Chapter 53
In the morning, Rafe broke a window in the Mazda and hotwired it while Selina and Clark gathered food from the empty houses. Once they were done, they packed everything into the car.
The motor purred as Rafe pulled out of the driveway of the suburban home. Suddenly, he wished he had some driving music. Some Beastie Boys would be nice right about now. On a whim, he turned on the radio. He spun the dial, not expecting to find anything but static.
The static cleared into the sound of a female voice speaking longitude and latitude coordinates. Rafe was so surprised that he slammed on the brakes.
“Selina! Write this down!” Selina sat shocked, her mouth open for several seconds before she started digging through the car to find something to write on.
“What do you think it is?” asked Clark.
“I don’t know,” Rafe said.
Selina furiously scribbled on an ancient yellow napkin with a half-melted crayon, her eyes wide. “Maybe it’s other wolves? Or humans?”
“Maybe it’s an Anu trap,” said Clark, leaning back in the backseat.
“We can always count on you for your special brand of cynicism, Clark,” Selina said, rolling her eyes, her Hispanic accent thick with sarcasm.
“It could be anything,” said Rafe.
“Do you want to check it out?” asked Selina.
“Later.”
“Later? After what?”
“After we find Cassie.”
“Should have known we were going to find her.”
“Clark,” Rafe said twisting around to look him dead in the eye. “If you don’t want to go find my mate, you can get the hell out of the car and fend for yourself.”
Clark raised his hands in the air as if in defense. “Hey, I’m not complaining. Who said I was complaining?”
“Sounded like a complaint to me,” Selina said.
“As long as we’re all clear here. We’re going north to Circe’s cave. We should be there in just a few hours. Now, unless one of you has a CD with “Sabotage” on it, just shut the hell up while I drive.”
Selina chuckled and Clark grunted, but neither of them said anything as Rafe pulled onto the highway. The feeling of having a machine under his control was exhilarating. He felt alive again. The sound of the motor washed his worries away as they drove into the rising light of morning.
After a few stops to siphon gas, they made it to the turnoff to Highway 40 headed east in just over six hours. With every mile they drove, Rafe’s anticipation to see Cassie grew in the fluttering pit of his stomach.
The loss of her in his life had been like a giant, gaping hole. Nothing had been quite right without her. Nothing felt settled or in place.
He finally turned onto the dirt road that led up to the witches’ stone circle. His palms sweated with anticipation, and a lump grew in his throat. He’d have to control himself enough to not devour her on sight, in front of his pack and the witches.
A slow smile crept over his lips as he crested the mesa and the stone circle came into view. The sun cast long shadows from the standing stones. He parked the car and got out. Wind ruffled his hair. The place was bathed in silence save for the wind whistling against the stones.
They hurried past the circle and down the other side of the mesa. He remembered the way to the cave from the times he’d been there before. Nearly stumbling on loose stones, he trotted down the narrow path that led down to the river.
He came to the entrance, pulling out the flashlight he’d tucked in his pocket. He flipped it on, calling her name. He expected to smell the cooking fire and maybe roasting rabbit, but he smelled nothing but the pungent scent of dried herbs and dry dust.
Clark and Selina followed him down the narrow cave that continued for several yards until it opened into the witches’ chamber. When he emerged in their room, furnished with four fur-covered beds, a fire pit, and a long counter at the back for their herbs and potions, his heart sank.
“There’s no one here.”
Selina put her hand on his shoulder and moved past him to sit on one of the big fluffy pillows that surrounded the fire pit. “Looks like we’re waiting,” she said, kicking back. Her dreadlocks spread out behind her as she made herself comfortable.
Clark grunted and sat across from her. That kid might be smart, but he definitely can be a pain in the ass. Rafe crossed to the counter at the back, where the witches stored most of their supplies. He grabbed a bucket and started toward the door.
“I’ll go get some water. You two make yourselves comfortable.” He’d meant to be sarcastic, but apparently it was lost on the two of them. They didn’t budge. At eighteen and twenty-two, respectively, Clark and Selina definitely showed their ages sometimes.
The old man now at thirty, Rafe accepted his responsibility for them. Plus he wanted to be
alone. His anticipation of seeing Cassie had him overanxious. The disappointment of not finding her here had left too much adrenaline swimming in his veins. He wouldn’t be able to relax even if he wanted to.
He trudged down the long, narrow entrance and emerged in the light by the river. Descending through the chaparral and young willows, he made it to the river, where he dunked the bucket in the cool, fresh water.
“Rafe!” he heard a familiar voice yell from above him.
“Cassandra!” He hurried toward her as she bounded down the hillside, her arms out. Her long, dusty blond hair flew around her shoulders, and a broad smile curved her lips. If not for the guns at her sides and the sword on her hip, she would have looked like the classic picture of a beautiful young woman. With them, though, she was the new classic for a new time.
They met not far up the hillside, the witches behind her, their pale faces unreadable.
She jumped into Rafe’s arms, wrapping her legs around his waist as he twirled her around. He let her down and looked at her, cupping her face in his hands. Dirt stained her face. She’d been sweating, and blood streaked her T-shirt and jeans.
“Where were you?”
“Cassandra ran the gauntlet,” Circe called down the hillside. “She was victorious. What are you doing here, wolf? You are early.”
“It’s a long story.”
“Circe. Be nice.” Cassie hugged Rafe again, kissing him hard on the lips. “I’m so disgusting right now. I really need a bath. I have so much to tell you. And oh, my God, Rafe, you won’t believe what happened.”
“I have much to tell you too,” he said, squinting in the fading sun. “My people are in the cave, Circe. What’s left of them.”
“What’s left of them?” Cassie asked, concern in her eyes.
“I’ll tell you everything soon. But first let’s take a bath.”
Chapter 54
Cassie followed Rafe along the riverbank to where the cliff opening led into the witches’ cave. He lit his flashlight as they entered, and Cassie could smell a mesquite fire and catfish.
They stepped out of the narrow confines of the entrance hall into the chamber where she’d lived for the past month, expecting to find the entire pack crowded inside. She’d spent so much of the last hour detailing her trials during the gauntlet that she’d neglected to ask Rafe about the pack.
“Where is everyone?” she asked.
Selina looked up at her, darkness in her eyes. Clark stared at the wall.
“An Anu craft found our shelter and bombed us. The bunkroom collapsed while most of the pack was sleeping.”
“Everyone is dead,” Clark blurted, his expression dark and brooding. “And we came here to find you.”
Cassie took a step backward from the shock of Clark’s coldness. They’d never been friends, but she wouldn’t have expected him to blame her for such a thing at a time like this. She hadn’t even been there.
“But why? How did they find you?” she asked.
“We don’t know. There is no way of knowing.”
Cassie sank down by the fire with Circe, who patted her back. Hecate and Vesta tended the fire and roasted enough fish and prickly pear for the group. Cassie wanted to cry or shout. Anger flooded her vision, and the rocks around the fire began to rumble.
“Cassie, sister, quiet your mind,” Circe soothed.
Rafe sat next to her and put his hand on her knee. She turned to him and dove into his arms, a tear trickling down her cheek. “I’m so sorry, Rafe.”
“We must go on. There is no changing what’s past. Now is the time to plan for what’s next.”
She drew away and looked him in the eye through the haze of her tears. “We fight back,” she said with a hard edge in her voice.
Rafe nodded once and cupped her damp face in his hands, kissing her cheek. “Tell us about what you saw in your vision of the L.A. dome.”
Turning to face the rest of the group, she looked at each person around the fire. Hecate handed Selina a plate of roasted catfish with prickly pear on the side and handed the same to Clark. The way to a werewolf’s heart was through the stomach. Vesta served the rest of the food, and Cassie told the story of what she’d seen.
The first time she had gone into the fourth dimension without the help of a terminal and serum, Cassie had flown to Los Angeles and had seen the dome there. In that same vision, she’d somehow accessed intricate details about how to disarm the security system, which would allow the children inside to escape.
“Essentially, we have to get into the mainframe. If a bolt of energy is sent down the right pipe, it will disrupt the entire system. To get to that pipe is the tough part.”
“Do we have to get inside?” asked Selina.
“Yes, and that will be the difficult part. There is no way to open the doors from the outside.”
“What if someone opened the door from inside?” Clark asked, suddenly interested.
“It could work, but how could we get someone to open the door?” Cassie asked.
“The Program,” Rafe mused.
“But how do we get access to them within The Program?” Cassie asked.
“We could get you into The Program, using the same protocols as the dome terminals. Perhaps then you could talk to someone. Get them to help,” said Rafe.
“Even if we had a terminal, I don’t like going in that way. It’s harsh on my system unless you have top-quality technology. Last time I went in with Rafe’s terminal at the shelter, the effects were not pleasant.”
“It isn’t that bad, is it?” asked Rafe.
“I guess I could do it. But I still don’t see where we will get the equipment. Why not go in manually?”
“Going into the fourth dimension manually may not put you on exactly the same frequency as the children inside The Program,” said Circe.
“With terminal entry, you would be sure you could interact. Plus we can program the exact location. You’d have no way of knowing if you can communicate or even locate, with manual entry.”
“I guess you have a point.” Cassie crossed her arms. She hated terminal entry since she’d learned to get inside by herself.
“Unless we come across a blown-up dome or a downed Anu vessel between here and L.A., there is no way of finding the technology we need to build another terminal,” said Clark.
“We’ll have to go back to Colorado. I could build a new terminal from the parts I left there,” said Rafe.
“If we go back to Colorado, we’ll have to deal with the cougars and dragons, and Pyramid Corp. probably already searched our compound. I don’t know if that’s the best option,” Selina added. She’d finished her fish and set the plate down beside her pillow.
“Do you have any better ideas?” Rafe asked her.
“We find an Uzi and blow up one of their ships.”
“I’m on board with that,” said Cassie.
“We’re highly unlikely to take down one of their ships with our weapons. They jump across the sky at velocities our aircraft are centuries away from achieving. An Uzi isn’t going to do it,” said Clark.
“Too bad we can’t get the nukes going again,” said Selina.
“I don’t think those would be an option, either. We don’t need more radiation in our environment than there already is,” said Rafe. “Right now, we need to decide how we will proceed. I scavenged the terminal parts from a bombed-out dome four years ago. Since we can’t exactly count on finding another one, our only option is to go back to Colorado.”
“I’m still not sold on us needing a terminal, anyway. Maybe I could sense the right frequency and location,” said Cassie.
“With the terminal, you can be sure,” said Rafe.
“How are you even going to find the right program, anyway? Do you have insight into the inner workings of the domes?” Cassie asked.
“No, but there are ways to find out. Especially if we are within physical proximity,” said Rafe.
“Maybe those people transmitting the coordinates know
how,” said Selina, looking bored. As a hunter, Selina had little patience for technical planning.
“What people transmitting what?” Cassie asked.
“We heard a radio transmission giving longitude and latitude coordinates. It could be anything. It could be a trap. It could be a shifter settlement, or even humans. We can’t really know unless we go there,” said Rafe.
“But where is it?” Cassie asked. The new development intrigued her. Every bit of information might be helpful and bring her closer to her ultimate goal—liberating all the children inside all the domes and freeing the Earth from bondage.
“Actually, it’s close to L.A. Maybe around San Diego.”
“Huh. We should check it out. I think we should go first thing.”
“I’m with Cassie,” said Selina, sinking down into the pillow and kicking off her shoes. “No sense in going backward. Let’s move forward.”
“Well, if we all get eaten by zombies because you two don’t like thinking things through, don’t cry to me,” said Clark.
“They have a point, Clark. Still. It’s a major risk.”
“Why doesn’t Cassie go into the fourth dimension and try to see what it is?” asked Circe.
Chapter 55
Cassie followed Rafe down to the river, through the willows to the bank where they had first made love. Her excitement and relief at seeing him crowded out all other concerns from her mind. All she wanted was to be with him, to touch him, and to feel his firm body next to hers. She’d missed him more than she’d let herself admit.
He started by peeling off her bloody T-shirt, throwing it to the sand, and gazing down at her breasts. He grunted and started to remove his own clothes as quickly as he could.
“Let’s get in. Wash off all the grime.” He gave her a big, eager smile—part dorky, part aggressive predator. She giggled and shimmied out of her clothes.
Rafe slipped out of his pants and underwear right before he dove into the river, shouting. Cassie bounced after him, unable to stop giggling. He splashed her with big handfuls of water, wetting her hair into long tendrils down her back.