In Embers (The Ember Series Book 3)

  “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.”

  FIVE: EXIT

  ~ 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 pre
ssed 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.”

  SIX: KARMA

  ~ Only Happy When It Rains: Garbage ~

  Asia:

  The facilities warning sirens were deafening. The earlier explosion was far enough away to not do much damage to my holding room, but it did exactly what I intended it to; distract Avery and his goons just long enough for me to show them the real me. From the corner of my new glass cage I crossed my arms and smiled. “Nice job, Sam.”

  I imagined her behind the wheel of my hulking SUV, and spinning its wheels all the way to the airport and my waiting private jet. She would be safe soon. She would be on her way home. Back to her daughter, Madi. And finally, Sam would be on her way to…him. I pictured Max’s burning brown eyes in my mind and my hands began to shake with nervous electricity.

  With a growl, Avery stole me away from my daydream. “You won’t get away with this!”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, still chasing after Max’s beautiful smile in my memory.

  “Don’t play stupid with me, Ms. Michaels. You have no idea what you have just set in motion here. What this little invasion will cost you…what it will cost your family!” Avery scolded, as he directed his emergency crews back and forth. Guards scrambled out the door to help with the mess Sam had initiated for me with my booby trapped cell phone.

  “What family? I have no one,” I laughed. In my mind I saw Max reaching for me.

  “You know exactly what I am talking about. You know exactlywho I am talking about!” he shouted. I glared at him intensely. He returned my hate. “Does Max know about…him?”

  “Shut your mouth!” I cursed.

  “Ah, I guess he doesn’t know about your long lost brother…Asher.”

  Oh my God, he knows about my younger brother, but how?No one knows that info. Not a soul. Avery had eyes everywhere though. There was nowhere to hide from someone so powerful.Stay focused, you can handle this new wrinkle later.

  “Avery, I’m warning you. Don’t cross this line,” I closed my eyes, trying with all my might not to let go of my true power. It pushed at my fingertips ready to come alive. “He’s lost for a reason. Leave my family history alone, I’m warning you.”

  “Warning me? Ha! Funny, coming from the girl in the glass cell!” he laughed. “You have no power here, Ms. Michaels. You have no say in what comes next. You did this. You earned this.”

  “Shut up!” I huffed, with tight fists at my sides.

  “What’s that old saying…karma’s a bitch,” he chuckled, and turned from me to walk out the door. I dug my feet into the floor and flexed the muscles along my legs and stomach. My arms began to tremble and sweat beaded all over my body.

  “Huh, karma…” I mumbled.

  “What did you say?” he tried to ask as he turned back toward me, but it was too late. I was alive.

  “Do you believe in God, Avery?” I asked, shaking uncontrollably. His eyes widened at the sight of me. Electric fire rippled along my body, dancing around the floor and walls. My hair pulled into the air like I was floating under water. It swayed with the intense energy escaping my body.

  “What?” he gulped. Thunder hit the building with the force of an earthquake, shaking everything. The facilities power cut off leaving us in the dark for a few seconds just before the emergency lighting kicked on. With another grumble from the sky it too fell away, leaving only the storm and my wrath.

  “God. Do you thinkshe exists?” I called to him as a blinding arc of light ripped open the ceiling of my cell, spinning like a cyclone behind me. I stepped forward and a pulse of energy shredded the roof open even wider. Rain fell inside the room like a tidal wave, covering everything in a matter of seconds.

  With eyes bulging out of his head, Avery fell backwards against the vibrating wall. “This isn’t possible…it’s not…”

  “Yeah, I get that a lot.” I smiled, and let my body go. A moment of silence split the air like a razor just before a surge of power exploded from me. It shattered the thick wall of glass in front of me. It sent glass and fire into the surrounding monitors and computers. Fire erupted everywhere and Avery turned to run down the hallway in a shocked fit.

  “What have I unleashed?” he screamed down the hallway.

  I ran forward catching up with him in an instant. A thick ribbon of white fire danced behind me like a brilliant shadow of death, destroying everything in its path.

  As my hand caught the back of his neck, I said, “You never answered my question. Do you believe inher? Do you believe in God?”

  “I do now!” he screamed in terror.

  I laughed and threw him across the hallway. “Good answer,” I smiled. I waited for his security to try and stop me, but they all seemed to have disappeared. I pushed a wave of wind and rain down the corridors of the facility, trying my best to cleanse this hellhole. Ignoring Avery I made my way out of the building, but just before I did, my eyes caught something written on the door of one of the last remaining rooms that hadn’t been devastated by my touch.

  “Subjects 1 through 7,” I read aloud. I looked down at the wristband that had been tightly strapped to me just before they locked me up and it had the number 5 pasted on it. I reached down and tore it from my flesh. Hate began to choke me as I pushed open the door. I let my power settle a bit, not wanting to startle any of the possible prisoners locked inside. The storm above me followed my lead. Inside the large room were just over a half-dozen glass holding cells with all but three occupied. Suddenly, a small pasty face popped from under a blanket inside the first cell. A little girl with fear and anger painted across her features. She could not have been more than seven or eight years old. Quickly, another head jolted up in the next cell room. And then another, and another, until four small faces were staring at me with wide, terrified stares. All four of the prisoners were girls. All close to the same age. My heart tightened.

  “Don’t be afraid,” I said, trying not to choke on my surprise.

  “Are you here to save us?” the first girl asked. I looked deep in her round sapphire eyes. They were so bright that they gave off a silver sheen. She had flushed cheeks that were cradled by white-blonde curls. “Are you the lady Two told us would come?”

  “Two?” I stepped forward in shock. “I guess so.”

  “She was right,” girl number three said through a tight frown. She had short black hair with a purple tint, and light green eyes, coated in the same silvery sheen.

  “About what?” I asked, and looked away from girl number three. I placed my hand along the glass barrier of the scared little girl in cell number two. Reddish-blonde hair cut just above her shoulders, crowned her oval face and matching silver-blue eyes as girl number one. Those two girls looked so much alike that they could be sisters. She placed her hand against the glass too, and closed her eyes tightly. In my head I could hear her voice, soft and sweet.

  “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” she said, with no words. Her paranormal talent shocked me for a quiet moment. My eyes focused on her serene face and it became clear that she had to be the twin sister of the first girl. Quickly, her eyes opened back up, greeting mine with a new hope.

  “I see you have a gift too,” I whispered. She nodded yes. From behind me the last prisoner chimed in.

  “We all have gifts.”

  Turning to the new face, I said, “Is that so?”

  Brown pigtails dangled along her cheeks, bookending her haunting yellow eyes. And yes, they also shined like diamonds. She looked to be the youngest of the four girls, but calmer than the others. She smiled up at me and I felt connected to them all for some weird reason.

  With a flip of my hair I searched the giant room and found along the back wall a massive control panel and desk. With a wink, a sharp lightning bolt ripped from my hand and
slammed into the panel sending sparks and flashes everywhere. Seconds later the glass doors retreated, leaving only surprised cheers and giggles of joy.

  “She did it!”

  “We’re free!”

  “Thank you!”

  I turned to scoop up as many of their hands as I could, but they had already started to run out of the room. Girl number three snatched up my hand, not afraid of the rippling energy in my palms in the least.

  “Come on!” she said, with freezing hands.

  Raging through the corridors of the damaged building was the wind from my surrounding storm. It pushed all the debris and wreckage from our paths, directing me and four scared little prisoners toward our freedom. As we all rounded the last bend in the hallway I could sense we were almost outside again. I also could tell we were no longer alone. Avery and the last handful of security guards waited for us at the giant hole that had been blown into the frame of the facility from my surprise bomb. Weapons were pointed directly at us and when Avery saw that I had freed his precious experiments, he lost his final thread of sanity.

  “Kill them all!” he screamed, with a long shaking finger scratching our way.

  “But, Sir…if we lose all the specimens…what will we do?” one of the guards asked.

  “We’ll start from scratch. I’ll make more! Now, kill them! Now!”

  Start from scratch? He must have meant Max. He was the key to this. With Max’s fire-starting ability, and healing touch, he was easily the most powerful of us elemental freaks. Mother Nature’s forbidden children. With a quick look around me at the terrified eyes of the girls, I felt something snap inside of me. I was meant to come here. I was meant to save these little miracles. I was meant to end this.

  “No!” I shouted. I slammed a fist into the ground and the pooling water around us exploded upward. The force of the water smashed into the guns just as they began to spit their deadly shards of metal. I pushed again and a wall of wind crushed the men in front of us. They hit the watery floor with such a force that their torsos bounced into the air at least three-feet off the ground. Avery turned and ran, just escaping my barrage of wind and water.