Images flashed by her, of people and places, but she didn’t stop to look. She took tunnel after tunnel, an urgency possessing her. She felt a dimensional shift and she knew that she’d just passed from Second Earth to Third.
On and on she moved.
She reached her destination and the same black border framed the space, indicating the darkening boundary.
She’d landed inside a large, gray-stone prison cell.
Bound by ropes, a barely recognizable Duncan, wearing only his kilt, hung suspended from a central hook. He’d been brutalized, probably tortured. His eyes were swollen shut, blood ran down his face, his chest, his sides.
“Duncan,” she called out. Would he even be able to hear her?
“Vela, is that you? I dreamed about you just now. Are you really there?”
“I’m here. But Duncan, I don’t know what to do for you? I can’t pull you out. I’m in the darkening and this is all new to me. What should I do?”
“Get Samuel. I need him. He…that is, this won’t make sense to you.”
“Try me.”
“Tell him that I’ve seen others with the kind of power he has, the kind that he released when I got him out of that hellhole in Honduras Two, that dark mist of his. He’ll know what I mean. And shit, tell him that I think they’re going to execute me in the next couple of days.”
“I’ll tell him right away and we’ll figure this out.”
“One more thing. You have to tell Rachel. Shit, tell her that I love her and that I’m sorry. I’ve been a real dick, pushing her too hard.”
In the distance, far away, she heard the sound of an explosion. Her instincts fired up and she knew she had to get out of there, had to leave before someone found her.
“I’ll tell her. I will. But I’ll bring Samuel back to you. I promise.”
“Good.” His body slumped in the ropes. He’d passed out.
Vela turned around. Her heart slammed in her chest now. Another distant explosion sounded. She put on her speed, heading back the way she’d come, never once questioning which strange dark tunnel to take.
She heard another explosion, closer.
She moved faster and slipped through the initial entry point in Havily’s office, where the ascender waited for her, eyes wide.
Instinctively, she planted both hands on the entry point and focused on sealing up the opening. Energy released from her in warm waves.
“The wall is glowing,” Havily cried.
Vela felt the seal happen and she stepped back just as another explosion sounded just beyond the darkening boundary.
Then nothing, as though the darkening disappeared.
She leaned her head against the cool glass, breathing hard. She sensed she was safe, at least for now.
“What happened, Vela?”
There was only one answer. “I just found Duncan. He’s on Third Earth.”
Chapter Three
After an hour of working with Jean-Pierre, Samuel almost smiled as he extended his hand, yet again, down to the Frenchman.
Jean-Pierre lay on his back, grimacing. “And these are not energy streams you are hitting me with?”
Samuel shook his head. “Not at all. Trust me.”
“Mon dieu, your energy is immense.”
Samuel smiled. “I warned you.”
Jean-Pierre made a disgusted sound at the back of his throat. He scowled at Samuel’s hand, refused to take it, but this time he struggled to gain his feet instead of hopping back up like he’d been doing. “I confess I am very tired of your power slamming me into these work-out mats. And how you are folding so quickly is beyond what I can comprehend.”
The alarms no longer sounded. Jean-Pierre had long since spoken with security and gotten permission for Samuel to fold as often as needed, because utilizing his dark power, while battling, always included a series of folds.
Jean-Pierre wiped sweat from his brow. Some of his long warrior hair had escaped his cadroen, and clung to his face and neck. He had unusual eyes, dark gray and green or maybe they were blue. He’d been a favorite with the ladies until the breh-hedden brought Fiona, the blood slave, into his life. Now he was all hers.
The breh-hedden.
Jesus.
Jean-Pierre held Samuel’s gaze. “And we truly have not tapped the streaming power?”
Samuel shook his head. “No, not even a little.”
“Merde,” Jean-Pierre muttered.
He turned away from the powerful What-Bee and swiped his sword gently back and forth through the air, watching the blade glimmer beneath the overhead lights. At least he’d come to understand that his power had two separate parts and that this half, which had functioned last night at the Superstitions, now seemed strong and right as he wielded his sword against Jean-Pierre in practice, as he folded, levitated, and worked with his dark mist floating around him.
But the streaming power remained elusive, perhaps even dormant, not a bad thing in his opinion.
With his sword held aloft, a vibration reached him, a single call to his dark power. He turned in a slow circle, listening hard, waiting for what he didn’t know.
“What is it?” Jean-Pierre asked. “What is happening?”
Samuel turned toward him. “Jesus, I can feel that something’s wrong, like a vibration in my head. What the hell is that?”
But Jean-Pierre just shrugged. “Perhaps it is your woman.”
He was about to say no, to reject the idea because he didn’t have a woman, when Jean-Pierre’s phone rang. He plucked it from the deep pocket of his workout kilt, and after glancing a the screen, he thumbed then said, “Allo, Havily? Ca va?”
He nodded. “I see. When you call the landing platforms, have them fold her here. Oui. Ici. Here. Yes, we can do that for now.”
He thumbed his phone, returned it to his pocket, and said, “Your woman is coming.”
“Shit,” Samuel murmured. He’d already planned on finding a way to avoid Vela, and now she’d be here in a few more seconds. Beyond that, he could feel her distress, which made no sense at all.
A moment later, she materialized twenty feet away from him, near the risers.
Unable to prevent himself, he crossed the workout mats on a half-run, folding his sword away at the same time. With his dark power flowing in a mist around him he grabbed her arms, holding her fast. “Are you all right? What’s wrong? I can feel that something’s wrong.” But before she could answer, he pulled her against him.
“Samuel,” she whispered, her voice just a breath of air against his neck.
Realizing what he’d done, he let go of her, then took a step back. “Shit, I’m so sorry, Vela. I didn’t mean to do that. I’m trying. I really am.”
Vela put a hand on his arm, and he grew very still. God, the feel of her fingers alone making contact with his skin sent ripples of desire coursing through him.
“Samuel, we have a situation. I found Duncan.”
“What?”
“I located Duncan. I slipped into the darkening and went straight to him.”
He called to Jean-Pierre, repeating what she’d just told him.
Jean-Pierre hurried to join them, which immediately set a new kind of problem in play. He didn’t want the warrior near Vela. He shifted to stand slightly in front of her, lowered his chin, and glared. A soft warning growl sounded at the back of his throat.
Jean-Pierre raised both hands, and took two steps back but his lips curved.
Damn the breh-hedden.
Perhaps more stiffly than he wanted, Samuel shifted to stand beside Vela and slid an arm around her waist. He met her gaze, then sent, I’m sorry. This thing is almost unbearable, but I can’t let him get any closer. Please understand.
I do. I really do. Her light floral scent, so familiar, began to waft over him and now a second problem surfaced.
Oh, God, the way you smell.
I know. This is crazy. Your touch, your nearness, and right now you smell like heaven.
But at that, he la
ughed and some of the tension eased out of him. He shifted to face her a little bit more. “How is that possible, when I’ve been running drills?”
Her large blue eyes had darkened and the initial charge of the breh-hedden rushed back at him. The only thing that kept him from dragging her into his arms once more was that Jean-Pierre stood nearby.
When the brother called out his name in three distinct syllables, Samuel jerked his gaze from Vela.
“Your woman had a purpose in coming here, remember?”
“Oh, God, yes,” Vela said. “It’s about Duncan.” She shuddered. “I found him in the darkening, in a series of tunnels that crossed the dimensional trough into Third. He’s in a stone-like facility, bound with ropes. He’s been beaten. I almost didn’t recognize him.” She paled, her eyes widening. “He has some kind of execution order on his head. He said he won’t last through the next couple of days.”
She then relayed what Duncan had said, that he believed Samuel would be able to help him, that he’d seen others on Third with his power, others that released a kind of mist when their power emerged.
A series of thoughts raced through his head, that his power possessed Third Earth qualities, just as he had thought, that a Third entity held Duncan captive, and that somehow Vela connected him to the Upper Dimension.
Whatever he’d felt earlier about staying away from Vela, or his reluctance to bring his dark power forward, all seemed to fall away in the face of Duncan’s situation. Maybe if this hadn’t been a time of war, he could make a different choice, one that could allow him to separate from Vela, to keep his unknown, untried powers at bay. But Duncan had saved his life and right now Samuel had only one goal. “We need to get him out.”
And with those words, spoken aloud, he left behind a much simpler life in which he kept to himself and lived out his basic, disconnected warrior life. He didn’t know all that taking this step would mean, but everything in his spirit urged him forward.
“I just don’t know what to do,” Vela said.
“Can you share the location with me in some way? Maybe get me there?” He had no idea if Vela could take him through the tunnel system she’d just described.
“I don’t know.”
* * * * * * * * *
Vela looked into smoky-gray eyes and once again felt the train of her thoughts begin to slide away. She was still too vulnerable to the breh-hedden to do much more than step in his direction and plant a hand on his weapons harness, in the center of his chest. He covered that hand and his expression softened. A falling sensation flowed through her, working the hard exterior of her heart, softening what had been closed off for the last several years.
You’re so beautiful.
But his deep voice in her head woke her up. He shouldn’t be saying something like that, not when they had a job to do, not when Duncan was in danger.
She drew back, shivering as she lost connection with him. She looked at anything but him and decided the black mats were the right place for her gaze to land. Her thoughts slowly pulled back together.
Everything had changed.
That’s what she knew.
From the moment she’d seen Duncan bound by ropes and hanging from a hook, her life had shifted on its axis. She had no idea where this journey would take her, but for whatever bizarre reason, she had a specific power that had located one of their missing warriors. She’d never sought this ability. She didn’t even want it.
But her connection to the darkening had catapulted her into a new world, demanding things of her she’d never imagined doing before. Beyond her emerging power, however, she also let go of her need to keep the war at arm’s length. Yes, she’d lost her husband to that bastard, Greaves, but the war wasn’t over and now it looked like an entity on Third had gotten involved as well.
“Why Duncan?” she asked, glancing between the men.
Jean-Pierre turned toward her. “Duncan has power, more than anyone knows. I have been working with him, exploring that power, for many months. He has visions, but we could not isolate the source of the power and bring them forward. Each time we did, though, he grew physically stronger.”
Samuel frowned. “Did you have a sense that he was somehow connected to Third Earth?”
“No. How could I have? But Duncan knew things, sensed things. There is a connection between the two of you.”
Vela drew in a deep breath and met Samuel’s gaze. “I think we should head back into the darkening. I want to try to take you back to him and I’m pretty sure I can. Maybe if you saw him, saw the situation, you could figure out what we need to do.”
Samuel dipped his chin. “Are you sure?”
She understood the depth of the question, not just that she would be taking him back into the darkening and on a difficult journey, but because he already knew how she felt about all of this, that she didn’t want to be involved.
She nodded slowly. “I’m sure. My mind’s made up. I’m not especially happy about what’s going on, but I want to help.”
“Then let’s do it.”
But Jean-Pierre intruded. “It might be wise to engage Endelle at this point. Not only does she have darkening ability but it seems to me, mes amis, that we are talking about Third Earth. If an Upper Dimension has begun meddling in our affairs, then Endelle must know.”
Vela nodded briskly. “You’re right. Absolutely.”
Getting a fold to the palace took Jean-Pierre a couple of phone calls to orchestrate, but finally the three of them glided through nether-space.
Endelle met them at her landing platform, hands planted on her leopard covered hips. “What the fuck is all this nonsense about Third Earth, the darkening, and Duncan? What the hell is going on here?”
To Vela’s surprise, Samuel took her hand as she walked beside him down the ramp. She glanced at him and he turned and sent, Is this okay?
She nodded. Absolutely. It’s a comfort because I’m way out of my depth.
He gave her hand a squeeze.
She could get used to this. She’d forgotten the simple pleasures of a man’s company, of holding his much bigger, stronger hand.
Thorne had strengthened the security at the palace over the past couple of years, in part because not so long ago, Greaves had actually attacked the palace during Alison’s rite of ascension. Thorne had also established his Command Center here, prior to the battle over White Lake, which had happened just a month ago. Based on all the P.O.’s she’d processed for Thorne recently, Endelle’s home would be the Command Center for the Allied Ascender Forces indefinitely.
As she followed behind Endelle, she passed through the smaller rotunda to a much larger one. The palace was essentially a series of rotundas that hung off the side of the McDowell Mountains overlooking a vast desert to the west.
Entering one of the massive dome-like rooms, she had expected to see groupings of couches and tables. Instead, the room displayed a dozen large screens and more computers than she’d ever seen in one room except at Militia HQ. The lights were kept low and specific to each desk. The open air balconies at either end were now partially closed off with enormous rolling screens.
Thorne stood next to Colonel Seriffe, who must have just folded in from North Africa. Together they scrolled through an iPad.
“Thorne,” Endelle called out. “I want you and Seriffe in on this. Now.”
Thorne met her gaze and Endelle paused in her steps. They seemed to be communicating telepathically.
Endelle finally shot a hand in the direction of an archway at the north end of the rotunda and called out, “Now.”
Thorne glanced at Seriffe and nodded, then the two of them followed Her Supremeness. Seriffe moved quickly as did Thorne. Vela picked up her pace, matching Samuel’s shift in stride. She glanced around at all the techs and support staff who seemed stunned by what had just happened. Apparently, even Endelle didn’t order Thorne around much these days.
After crossing through two smaller rotundas, and passing through an arched entrance,
she arrived at Endelle’s sitting room, a large space with a white shag rug, glass tables, and purple couches and chairs.
Once inside, Endelle waved Vela and Samuel to the couch. She sat down and Samuel didn’t hesitate to plant himself right next to her and to take hold of her hand again.
“Give us the details.”
Vela relayed in detail her journey through the intricate maze of darkening tunnels, of crossing the dimensional boundary, of the images that whisked by her as she moved, the explosions and of course everything that related to Duncan.
When she was done, Thorne, Seriffe, and Endelle stared at her, unspeaking.
“You’re shitting me,” Endelle finally said. She then dropped into the large purple chair that faced into the room. Her shoulders slumped.
Endelle’s sudden despair stunned Vela and without thinking, she slipped into the woman’s mind. Endelle’s thoughts streamed quickly. Where the hell is Braulio? He’s been gone this month, with not one goddamn word, and now we have a Third Earth intrusion. And the hell if I know what to do. We’re losing Militia Warriors by the hundreds every night because of those three fucking generals and now this? An untried blondie, with darkening powers that exceeds even—
She broke off and whipped her gaze to Vela. “You were in my head?” she shouted.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I was just suddenly there. And I didn’t know.” Vela eased back against the cushions. She felt as though she’d been slapped, not by Endelle’s outrage but by the truths she’d just expressed, one after the other.
Hundreds of Militia Warriors.
Dying every night.
She released Samuel’s hand and covered her face with her hands. She’d avoided hearing news of the war. And all around the world, Militia Warriors, caught in the extended war, were dying.
Hey, what’s wrong? Samuel sent.
But before she could respond, Endelle had levitated to stand on the glass table in front of Vela. She looked up and stared at the outraged Amazon. “You stay the fuck out of my head, ascender, do you hear me?”