A Hidden Element (25 page)

"You couldn't save Leah but you saved me," she pleaded with him. "If it weren't for you I'd be a lost soul, too. I wouldn't belong. But because of you I have your dad and you and now Benny."

I killed my dad.

No. Your dad's alive. Waiting for us.

Not true.

Yes.

Caleb placed a hand on her shoulder. "We need to go. Others could find us here. I'll carry him."

"No, he's coming back to us. I hear him." Then she whispered. "Be brave, Charlie."

Being big doesn't mean you're brave, Mom.

Being big of heart does.

I have no heart.

You do. The biggest of all.

I'm a freak.

No. I thought I was, too, once. But your father showed me I have all the good from both worlds. To him I was the most human person he knew.

No good.
I'm evil, Mom. Like Adrian. Like your brother.

Lots of good, Charlie. There is nothing you've done I can't forgive. My brother chose dark. You are stronger than him.

"Choose life, Charlie. Open your eyes and meet your brother."

And he did.

His eyes moved to Benny. He reached up a hand and touched his brother's fingers. "He's so tiny. He's so…Adrian." He looked in shock at Laura.

"He's your brother."

"Big Brave Blue," Charlie whispered.

"Like you." Laura squeezed his hand.

Caleb helped Charlie stand. He swayed and looked away. "I'm a Destroyer."

"We all can be. Human or Elyon," Caleb said. "But it's not who we have to be."

A door slammed somewhere. Voices carried to them. "Let's go," Caleb said.

Charlie grabbed Caleb's arm. "Leah, you've got to save her."

Caleb picked Leah up and placed her gently under the altar's curtains, hiding her. "I'll come back for her. I promise."

"You can bring the dead back to life?" Laura stared at him, not believing.

"Yes. It's how I saved Ben."

"Promise?" Charlie looked back at Leah.

"Promise."

"If we let her die we are no different than Destroyers."

Caleb nodded and pulled Charlie away. They left the sanctuary and darted down dark hallways through the giant maze. The community was coming to life in the early dawn hours. Her murder would be discovered soon. Twice they stopped and hid in shadows as people went about their daily business.

Laura gripped Charlie's hand as they ran. And he let her. She didn't want to ever let go.

They came to the end of a corridor.

Caleb looked behind them then slipped into a door that seemed invisible in the dim light.

"It's an old storage room not used anymore. They shelve things here we've outgrown but we may have future use for."

Charlie and Laura moved into the room. Light from a small window bathed them in gray. Daylight grew. Snow blew hard at the glass, scratching to get in. Caleb pulled a door up from a hidden latch on the floor.

"Someone's been here," Caleb said. "The shelves have been moved."

"Adrian," Laura said.

"The Elders locked him up. Maybe he was here earlier…" But it bothered him anyway.

"Let's hope."

Caleb nodded. "The tunnel is down here. And this is where I leave you."

"No, Caleb, come with us," Laura said.

"I can't. I have to save Leah. And I need to be with my sons."

"But you aren't with them now," Charlie said.

"I have faith I will be soon. Someday we will be together."

He put his hand on Laura's. Her tiny hand held such strength. The vision of them pressed naked together again flashed before him. He bent and kissed Benny's cheek, his breath warm on Laura's breast, as it had been once. She shivered and he knew she felt their time together, too.

"He will grow into a fine man, like Charlie." Then he straightened up. "Give me the map."

A door shut somewhere. They all tensed. Listening. Silence held them captive, and the snow that blew against the pane with little ticking sounds was the only thing they could hear. Laura unfolded the map. They spoke in softer whispers.

"Follow the tunnel until here. See the whipping shack? There's a door in the tunnel wall. It leads to a cellar under the shack." He looked at Laura and then Charlie. "This is where Ben is."

"For real?" Charlie grabbed the map scanning it.

"Yes. Adrian had him killed and buried. I went back and dug him up and brought him there to heal him. He suffered greatly, though and is not all well yet. It will take time."

Laura placed a hand on Caleb's arm. "That was difficult for you."

"Yes," was all he said. "Then continue on through the tunnel. It will end more than a quarter mile past the whipping shack. Beyond the fence perimeter. There is a vehicle there, fully fueled. It's not hard to figure out how to use. Adrian hid it for his escape. It's now yours."

"Then where do we go?" Charlie looked out the window. "It's a blizzard out there."

"Head east. It's six miles to the road that leads into Benevolence."

"Six miles?" Laura said louder, then whispered, "We'll die in the storm."

Caleb pulled out a bin. He handed them two thick hooded robes lined with fur. "I hid these here long ago in case I needed them to escape in the winter."

"There's an extra one there," Charlie said.

"For my other son. I planned to leave with them."

Laura took the robe, clasped Caleb's fingers for the two brief seconds they touched. "Thank you."

He nodded and she looked into his eyes for the longest of moments. Then he pulled out a glow stick and snapped it. It lit up green, much brighter than a Halloween one.

Charlie grabbed it. "Thanks."

"You'll need it down there."

Charlie put his robe on over his old one, but Caleb motioned to Laura to wait. He pulled down a cloth bag hanging on a peg, ripped a large piece off. Laura understood. A sling for Benny. Caleb wrapped it around her and crisscrossed her chest. She folded the sleeping baby into his new cocoon. Then she put her new robe on. It was bulky but warm. Benny fit snug inside.

"Hurry now," Caleb said.

Charlie hesitated then hugged him. "Thanks…for…not being like Adrian."

Laura touched Caleb's face.
You will get the chance to be a father to Jeremiah and Josiah.

He smiled down at her.
I hope.

The snow beat at the window urging them on.
And someone will love you back deeply someday, Caleb.

He wanted to believe it.
Someday.

"Come on, Mom," Charlie eased his tall frame down the trap door. Laura followed him, nimbly stepping down with Benny strapped to her.

She looked up at Caleb before she disappeared into the earth. "I won't forget you."

"Good luck. I'll pray for you." He wondered if he'd ever see her again.

"I'll pray for you, too."

Then she dropped into the darkness.

They were on their own.

Ben tried to move his feet. They were down there somewhere but he couldn't feel them. The snow packed tight in every opening. He tried to move his stiff fingers then shoved them back under his armpits. He thought he was heading back to the compound but he was disoriented.

He would die if he didn't get shelter soon. But he could die at the hands of the Elyons, too. Laura had called to him. He had no choice.

Laura, where are you? Talk to me. I'm here. I'm coming back
for you.

Trees caught him as he stumbled. A raging world of white tore at him. Another time appeared before him. He, Charlie, and Laura had been housebound in a blizzard. They had no power and no heat. Darkness descended as the storm beat at their door. The snow piled up four feet high. The storm of a century. Charlie had been ten.

They wrapped themselves in blankets and played board games by the fire, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. He recalled his son's laughter. It burst out all night and he felt comforted knowing his son thought he was funny. Laura lit candles and they winked in the windows as snowflakes flew at them trying to get in.

When it came time for bed Charlie hugged him and told him it was the best night ever and could they do it again? But they never did. That world of white had been warm and content. A world he hadn't wanted to end. Or his time with his son. In the morning their disconnect had returned, cold as the bright winter sky that hung over the blowing sea of snow drifts.

Ben blinked. Charlie and Laura were gone. He fell to his knees and struggled to get up. Each breath like a fist slamming into his chest. Tears streamed down his face from the frozen wind.

"Laura," he yelled into the storm. A yellow haze grew overhead, blurred by the artic onslaught. The wind slammed into him and he grabbed onto a tree. A rescue helicopter? Could they fly in this weather?

He peered up as the yellow grew larger. The wind knocked him to the ground

It was no helicopter.

Adrian moved stealthily in the dark. And Laura's voice carried to him. Charlie was with her. Then he heard a cry. She had her baby as well. How could they have known about the tunnel and escaped? And if they knew, who else did? It had to be Caleb. It did not matter. She was here and coming to him with her sons. Manta had sent them to him.

He flexed his hands willing power back into his drugged body but it was useless. He had never been drugged before, never been at the mercy of others. Tollen would pay for this like his brothers, Brahm and Feo, had paid for their betrayals. Perhaps not now but someday. After he had taken Laura and their family and built a new life, she would see she belonged with him, not a weak human.

Charlie would help him. Adrian had been there for him all these years from afar and now with him in the flesh. He had turned the boy on to his true nature. He could not turn back now that his wings had unfolded. Charlie wanted to fly with him.

Laura's voice floated toward him like ghostly echoes, haunting and fleeting. He stopped and waited for her. And as she came to him Adrian saw her naked before him in his mind, chestnut hair gleaming in candlelight. Her nipples rose pink and luscious and he nipped and sucked them, rolling them on his tongue. She quivered beneath him and he delighted in her trembling limbs seeking release. Her smooth skin moved into his and he licked the sheen glistening on her from their tangled meshing. She opened her deep, brown eyes then and gasped as pleasure spiraled through her, and he pushed deeper into her.

He grew hard thinking of her moaning with lust and longing beneath him. And when he had shot his Destroyer seed into her womb a new child would grow. They were a powerful pair, each a twin who had survived. Together, they doubled their strength. Those in their way would die.

She must accept the Destroyer side of herself. It hibernated in their genes since the beginning of time. And as humans were once primitive cave people, so were Elyon Destroyers. They had once ruled their planet with fire and fist. Survival of the fittest reigned for them, too, long ago when their civilization began. And it would be so again.

Laura's voice grew closer, wafting over him. He waited for her to come to him.

He had waited seven years for this. He could wait a little longer.

Charlie led the way through the dank tunnel. Sickly verdant shadows rose and fell on the packed mud walls as the glow stick lit the way to freedom. The stagnant air smelled old and unused. Charlie's head brushed the ceiling and dirt fell. Bits caught in Laura's mouth and musty grit rolled around her tongue. She spit it out, leaving a metallic tang behind, and adjusted Benny who slept soundly.

Her eldest son charged through this black hole seeking out what he sought to save. She sensed his guilt and sorrow and his need to right his wrongs. She struggled to keep up with him as Benny weighed heavier across her chest with each step. She held out her hand to steady herself, running her fingers along the knobby edges of their safe passage. In some spots her hands came away wet from slimy water that ran down.

Memories took her to another tunnel where she and Ben had run for their lives years ago. The men she loved, and her tormented twin she wanted to love, were crushed to death that night. She left them behind then. She would not leave behind her men today.

"Charlie, slow down," she whispered. His shoulders jerked as if she had startled him. His steps slowed and he fell in beside her. The tunnel was barely wide enough for both of them.

"Got to get to Dad…if what Caleb said is true."

"I believe him." Laura put a hand on his arm. He squeezed her fingers for a brief moment as if making a pact for it to be true.

"It's all my fault he's here underground. All alone and hurt, if he's not dead. Like Leah."

"He's not dead. I feel his spirit."

Charlie stopped and turned to her. "Do you?"

She nodded.

"Why don't I?"

"I don't know. Perhaps you aren't as in tune to him as I am." She smiled at him to quell his worry. "You shut him out quite a bit after all. When we get out of here—and we will get out of here—you can make it up to him."

"I want to." And he took off walking fast again.

They half jogged in silence for a bit. She had no idea how far down they were but they would be found missing soon.

"Charlie, maybe Leah isn't dead. Caleb said he could revive her."

"But how will I ever know?"

"She meant something to you."

"I never had a girl like me. Crazy in this place, right?" He slowed and looked at her, biting his bottom lip.

"Did you…do anything with her?"

"Mom."

"Please."

He looked away and shook his head. "We kissed. We were supposed to be…like shooting stars. Dumb."

She took his hand. "Not dumb. Special."

"Yeah." She stopped pressing him.

They jogged in silence then Charlie spoke again. "I wanted to be a Seeker, like Adrian."

"To see into the future?"

"Yeah, but now I'm not so sure I want to know the future—the world's or mine. I think it may be better to just to let the future happen, you know?"

Laura's heart swelled with love. "I do know."

She was going to say more, when a dark haze filled the tunnel before her, darker than the earth clutches that held them. Shadows and light blended in a twisting kaleidoscope. She pulled Charlie back. Evil hung in the damp air like a poisonous spider waiting to ensnare them with its vile venom.

"What is it?" Charlie bent down to her.

"How much further?" she whispered back, dread filling her throat like water rushing in a drowning boat.

"It doesn't look far on the map."

She took the glow stick from Charlie and inched forward, motioning him to be quiet and still. The dim light lit the few feet in front of them then faded to the black beyond. Water dripped from the ceiling. It fell on her forehead, cold and lifeless. The kaleidoscope cleared. A draft blew across her as if someone had moved. Someone waiting in stillness. A predator poised to catch its prey.

A rusty smell snaked up her nose.

Blood. Death waited for them ahead. She fought the urge to turn back and flee.

Scrape. Scrape.

It was so faint yet struck her ears like a cannon shooting off. Charlie flinched. He'd heard it, too.

She stepped back as Charlie lunged forward.