We sat waiting for our daily call. For the last five days, at three p.m., exactly, Keith had radioed in. I had to give Glen credit. He’d rigged up a communication system between the habitats that actually seemed to be working. In our first life, Glen would have been some kind of engineer. Now, he killed monsters and loved Tia despite her small bouts of crazy.
They had a beautiful son who looked just like him.
The deal Keith had made with Patrick was he would contact us every day. If we didn’t hear from them for two straight days, we should assume something had gone wrong and come looking. One day could indicate some kind of technical trouble and we had to give Glen at least twenty-four hours to fix it.
We’d also started to do things to bother Icahn. Patrick had spent the morning pretending to try to contact other habitats. Of course, we didn’t know if they really existed or if they’d all been wiped out. But Patrick took to the horn and tried to see what he could do to draw Icahn out.
It would certainly get his attention.
The speaker dinged and Keith’s voice came over. “Hello. Can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear.” Patrick grinned at us and, at the sound of his voice, a collective sigh could be heard through the room.
“You guys are good? Haven’t burned down the place in my absence, have you? I don’t need to come back there and do damage control?”
Patrick sighed dramatically. “You know I can hardly keep it up without you, buddy.”
“Right. I’m so fooled.” I could hear the laughter in Keith’s voice and it warmed me inside. Everything must be okay there. I bit my tongue to keep from complaining about his freak-out comment. I didn’t want to be annoyed at him but, really, what was his problem? I tried to focus on the conversation.
“How is it there?” We didn’t think Icahn would be able to monitor this channel but I noted how, just in case, Patrick did not name where Keith currently hid.
“All well. We did have an incident yesterday with two of the toddlers temporarily escaping their parents. But we found them in half an hour and the problem has been fixed. So many secret passageways.”
Patrick drummed his fingers on the table. “Were they spotted?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“I don’t want to lecture you but you understand—”
“I know the severity. It won’t happen again. I give you credit, Patrick. I never understood how monitoring people, non-Warriors, could really take a toll.”
“Tell my wife and daughter to help you more. All will be well, my friend. I believe in you.”
And just like that, the conversation ended. Patrick disconnected and we all stood in silence.
“Well, he sounds good,” Chad said and the other Warriors murmured their agreement.
I smiled. So nice to hear his voice. Now if we could simply manage to get Icahn to attack us, all would be well.
***
“Four days and nothing.” Chad paced between our bed and the window. I yawned, watching him. “It’s driving me crazy.”
“He’s probably putting together an army. Don’t worry. You’ll get your fight. Blood will be shed.”
He shook his head, staring at me. “You think I’m acting like some kind of caged animal.”
“Yes.” I patted the bed next to me. “Come lie down. It’s late.”
“I’m a little worked up.”
I’d noticed. “Then just come here.”
He stopped moving and grinned at me. “Well, if you insist.”
A loud buzzing filled the room and I jolted upward. “What the hell?”
Chad covered his ears and shouted over the sound. “I have no idea.”
From the ceiling, a video screen lowered. I hadn’t seen one of them for years. When we’d been younger, Icahn had shown us black-and-white movies on Friday nights. But I hadn’t seen one since we’d taken back Genesis. I’d assumed the television screens had somehow gone away in the rework of the habitat.
Apparently, they were still here. At first, all I could see was streaming lines that didn’t turn into anything but, seconds later, a face appeared. It was one I’d know anywhere: Isaac Icahn. In full color. Not as good a picture as the televisions we’d had in our house Before, but good enough to make out what I saw clearly.
He smiled at the camera. “Hello, Genesis.”
Chad breathed heavily. “What is this shit?”
“I’m afraid this is a one-way conversation.” Icahn sneered. “I’m sure I’ve woken a lot of you up and yet a great number of you are probably still Upward, fighting or standing around, wondering why you are not fighting. I’ll expect you to fill those individuals in on what I’m about to say.”
“He’s such a smug jerk.” I took Chad’s hand. This couldn’t be good. I wanted his contact. He kissed my hand.
The camera panned wider and I could see who stood with him. He had his daughter, Ruby—or at least she called herself Ruby now; every time she cloned she changed it—his sons, Liam and Noah, the Turtle, whom I hadn’t even known still lived but who must have somehow ended up with Icahn. He’d been the leader of the non-Warriors in Genesis. My encounters with him had always given me the heebie-jeebies. He looked at me like he knew what I looked like without my clothes on.
Also with him were two people who made my heart turn over. Deacon, surrounded by his family. I had helped rescue them the year before from the Vampire feeding tunnels. And Darren, my companion when I’d lived in Redemption. He’d taken care of me while I was in cryogenic sleep.
Other faces stared out at us, but I didn’t know them. Icahn must have wanted to show off what a crowd he had with him. A display of strength. Kind of sad, actually.
“Please, pan the camera down now.”
The person holding it did as he or she had been asked. At first, I couldn’t believe what I saw. I rubbed at my eyes. It had to be wrong.
On his knees, with his hands tied behind him, was Keith, his face swollen. One of his eyes could barely open as he stared forward.
“No. No. No.” I stood up, dropping Chad’s hand. They couldn’t have Keith. That meant they’d gotten our people. They’d found them.
“Please tell them what I asked you to say, Mr. Endover.” Icahn smiled when he spoke. I wanted to punch him in the face until I broke his nose, until I shattered his skull. I wanted his blood on my hands. How dare they harm Keith?
My former teacher remained silent, his one open eye rising to stare at the camera. He blinked rapidly and my heart broke. This had to be destroying him. Icahn would pay for this, probably at Keith’s own hands.
“Say what I told you to say or the child goes outside and meets the Vampire.”
Chad darted to his feet. “He’s threatening his kid? The man is a monster.”
We all knew this but Icahn found new and interesting ways to remind us about it all the time.
Keith swallowed. “He’s found us here. They came in like a swarm of bees. We never stood a chance. Not really.” A bead of sweat traveled down Keith’s forehead until it hit the ground. “You need to turn yourselves in to him here at Redemption. Right now, everyone is alive but they are not likely to remain okay for very long. He will kill one of our citizens each hour, starting tomorrow at nine a.m., until every last Warrior is here under his command or all the hostages are dead.”
Chad ran from the room. As he called over his shoulder to me, his voice sounded strained. “I have to get to Dad. Find out what we’re going to do.”
“Go.”
My heart rate picked up. Keith had delivered his message and yet Icahn still smiled at the camera like a man who had just won a golf game.
He stepped forward. “Very good, Mr. Endover. And now, to show I mean what I say and the days of me treating all of you with kid gloves are over, I’m going to prove I’m a man of my word.”
With one swift movement, he grabbed Keith by the back of the head, exposing his neck. The other hand held an object. It took me a second to identify what I looked at but then I realized. It was some kind of knife.
Life seemed to slow down while I watched what happened next. My vision tunneled and I might as well have been in the room with them. Icahn raised the knife. Suddenly I could see every detail of it: how long and sharp the blade appeared, the black-as-coal handle. The way Icahn’s hands never shook.
He ripped through Keith’s skin like it was nothing to do so, slitting his throat so completely the man I had looked up to every second since I’d opened my eyes in this new world died without uttering a sound.
Blood poured from his neck and, much as it shamed me, I had to look away. Tears fell from my eyes. Shouts and screams filled the air outside my rooms. My knees gave out and I sank to the floor.
No. I shook my head. That hadn’t just happened. It couldn’t have. Not possible.
Yet, I’d never been a girl for denial. That was a gift I hadn’t been given. I looked up at the screen. Icahn uttered some more words but I didn’t care what they were. He’d just taken Keith from me, from Keith’s wife and child, from all of us who loved and counted on him. I’d never be able to tell him his letter had touched me and pissed me off at the same time, much less tease him for writing such a thing. The letter had really been what he’d said it was, a good-bye, but not a temporary one.
Instead, it was the kind that meant forever.
I stared at the screen. Soon, Icahn would be done with his bloody display and I wanted to memorize every movement he made so I could play it over and over in my head when I watched him die.
I fisted my hands like I could do the job right then and there. My gaze shifted and I stared instead at Deacon. His mouth hung open while he looked down at Keith. In that split second, I knew he hadn’t been told ahead of time what was to happen. Darren, either. His usually jovial expression had fallen and, in its place, genuine horror remained.
The screen went black.
Keith is dead.
Keith is dead.
Keith is dead.
I started to scream. I’m not sure how long I did before Chad burst through the door. “Rachel.”
His arms wrapped around me and I tried to push him away. The last thing I wanted right now was to be touched. Still, he wouldn’t let go. I struggled and he held on until finally I ceased.
“I’m sorry.” He kissed me all over my face. “I shouldn’t have left you alone. I didn’t think he’d kill Keith. I didn’t think.”
I nodded. “Chad. This isn’t your fault. You can’t take it on. He would have died if you’d been here with me or hadn’t.”
When I pulled back this time, he let me. I wiped at my eyes. “What’s the plan?”
“It’s chaos out there. Dad is trying to get everyone cooled down to make one. Your mom is on her way over here.”
“Right.” My mind turned back to the scene I’d just witnessed. Keith is dead. I had to push the thought away. At least, for now. Or I’d never be able to get through the night. Still, I could see the blood. And Deacon and Darren’s faces.
I looked up at Chad. “I think he’s made a terrible, terrible tactical error.”
“What do you mean?”
My instinct was to run. To turn from the room and go to Redemption alone. I could face Icahn. I could get done what had to be done. But I’d promised not to. I had people here, smart, capable, tough people who could only make things better if I could get them on my side.
I wasn’t sixteen years old anymore, with a father who was considered a traitor. I’d become Rachel Clancy, eighteen, a woman and a full-fledged Warrior. They were going to listen to me because I wasn’t going to give them any choice.
“He’ll take your mother next. Or Tia. Something to slam at your father.”
Chad’s eyes hooded. He nodded. “I know.”
“We have to be over there before then. I need your dad. Now.”
***
We’d planned into the early morning light. It would take an hour to get to Redemption if we walked fast so, at six a.m., Patrick sent us all home with instructions to take an hour nap and get back to him by seven-thirty.
I didn’t expect to sleep but when I lay down next to Chad, with Keith’s last expression haunting me, oblivion did overtake me.
But it wasn’t blackness from life I got. No, instead I dreamed.
I stood on a cliff. Behind me, beautiful snow-capped trees blew gently in the wind. I should be cold, as I wore only a black evening gown. But it was a dream so I didn’t feel the frigid air.
“Hey, pixie-girl.”
I hadn’t heard Jason’s voice in six months. I’d never expected to hear it again—like Keith’s—yet he sounded exactly as I remembered him.
Dressed in the tuxedo he’d worn to the prom. His shirt was untucked. His hair had long since stopped appearing neat. He reached forward and handed me a rose.
“You look gorgeous.”
I remembered my gown. I’d worn it to Jason’s dance. I had looked good that night. Spaghetti straps, long, and backless.
“Thanks. I always liked this look on you. Not quite put together but still gorgeous.”
“Really?” He grinned. “I didn’t know. I’d have worn it all the time.”
“Right.” I walked to the edge and looked down at the valley below. At best I was talking to my ex-boyfriend in a dream. At worst, I’d somehow conjured a ghost. Either way, I didn’t feel scared.
“What would happen if I jumped down there?”
“It’s not your time to know yet.”
“But it’s coming.” I said aloud to Jason what I wouldn’t let myself utter in real life. The one thing about my dead Werewolf boyfriend was he didn’t argue. If something sucked, he let me say it and didn’t try to tell me all would be well.
“Those answers are above my pay grade.”
“Right.” I turned to stare at him. “So why tonight? I haven’t seen, dreamed, or envisioned you in six months. Why tonight? Keith’s death bring you out of the woodwork to come visit me?”
“This is your dream, babe.” He sat down, his legs dangling over the edge, and I moved next to him. “Why did you need me tonight?”
“Keith is dead.” The snow drifted down on our heads. “We’re going to war. They listened to me, and I think my plan might work. A lot of variables, but maybe.”
“You’re really smart. Your ideas are as likely to be good as anyone’s.”
“Thanks.”
This was the Jason I had loved. The quiet moments, the way he made me feel safe. None of it had been real. I’d not been safe in the world—I knew that now—and I’d not been safe with him. But even so, I’d liked how this felt.
“You’re welcome. So why me, then? Sounds like you have it all under control.”
“No idea.” The wind blew at me again. I’d been with Jason on a night like this one. We’d gone together through the woods, making our way to his pack, escaping the Vampires. His father had….
I stared at him. “It’s not you I need.”
Jason’s smile was sad. “I know, pixie-girl. But thanks for the visit anyway.”
***
I sat up in the bed. Next to me, Chad shifted, his eyes opening. “Is it time already?”
I looked at the clock. “No. We’ve only slept half an hour.”
“Go back to sleep. You need the full hour.”
“Can’t.” I got out of bed. “There’s an element to this we forgot. Something very important.”
Chad rubbed at his eyes. Normally, I loved it when he did. I wanted to crawl back into bed and snuggle for a while until he woke up. Right now, however, I needed him alert and with me in the moment.
“Andon Kenwood.”
This made him sit up straight. “Wolf-boy’s father?”
Jason and Chad had never been friends. They’d both desired me. So had Deacon but, somehow, Chad had gotten past it with him and they’d since managed to be civil. Maybe because he’d known I never had those feelings for Deacon. Not for very long, anyway.
Sometime, I’d ask him.
“Yes.”
“What does he have to do with any of this? Are you delirious?”
“He’s been Icahn’s captive for six months. He does not want to be there. They are forcing him to work on formulas, or something. I don’t know or care about the science. He’ll help us.”
“He’s just as likely to tear your throat out. His son died saving you.” Chad stood up before gathering his weapons together.
“Yes. He might.” There was a distinct possibility Andon might take off my head. “First, however, I’m going to convince him he wants Icahn dead.”
“You’d have to get to him.”
“I know. And that’s where you’re going to come in.”
Chad stopped moving and stared at me. “You’re serious about this? We have a whole plan set up—you designed it, and it’s ready to go—and you want to change everything.”
I took him in my arms. “No. I want to do this and the original plan, at the same time.”
“Should I be grateful you’re not running off to do this alone?”
“No.” I kissed him, drawing in his scent. It might be the last time I got to. “I’m not leaving anymore. You’re my family. I stay with you.”
“I want you to really be mine.”
“Honey, I’m as much yours as I could ever be.” If he didn’t remember, something had gone wrong with his head.
“I want it legal.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “When we get back, I’ll marry you.”
Chad fell silent. The eruption of glee I expected didn’t happen. “You really think we’re all going to die.”
He knew me so well.