Genesis (33 page)

I shook my head and ran to Aunt Grace.
“Come on. We have to get you all out of here.”

She stared at me in apparent wonder
until I tugged on her arm. I didn’t give Frick a backward glance.
He had put me through a living nightmare and enjoyed every second
of it. Later, I would deal with killing him. Right now, I had more
important things to worry about.

We raced down the hall, avoiding as
many waves of people as we could. And to think I had been the one
to start this stampede. If I had to do it over again, I might have
picked a different part of the compound to blow up. Next time I
would know better.

Grace screamed for us to follow her
into a different hallway. This one was even more loaded with
bodies. Several times I thought about drifting to Uncle John, but
even if I could manage to find his signal in this tangle of people
I couldn’t risk being disoriented for even a second.

We got several glares from those who
were trying to get out of the building, but Alex moved ahead of us
and started shoving people aside. His strength shouldn’t have been
all that surprising considering he had been juiced up just like
Roger, but I found myself stunned every time he picked someone up
and set them aside as if they weighed ten pounds.

He had grown since the last time I had
seen him, no longer the awkward almost man I had met back at
school. I had been right about him. He was handsome in a boy-band
sort of way, not too bulky with just the right amount of muscle.
He’d cut his lanky hair into a spiky mess that worked better on
him.

After turning one last corner we came
to a dead end. Chains secured the double steel doors ahead of us in
place. Alex grabbed one end and yanked the metal free then flung
the door aside. Pretty impressive, even using Hulk standards. I
followed him in.

Uncle John’s body lay in a heap in the
corner. Blood crusted the floor around him, and he panted like a
sick dog. When Aunt Grace screamed his name, he looked up, his
overgrown hair covering half his face in a stringy mess. His brown
eyes flashed anger and hatred until recognition seemed to hit
him.

He stumbled to his feet, swaying as he
came toward her. She ran to him and flung her arms around his neck,
sobbing. He made mewling noises for a few seconds then cleared his
throat and looked over at me as if he didn’t know me.

“
Uncle John?” I said. “We’re
getting you out of here.”

He glanced away from me and whispered
something to Aunt Grace.

She shook her head then whispered
something back.

I gritted my teeth and moved closer.
They both shut up.

“
Why are you acting like I’m
not even here? Don’t you want to leave?”

Uncle John grunted. “We never asked to
be rescued.”

Of all the replies he could have given
me that was the worst I could imagine. Anger built in my chest
before exploding. “Fine!” I whirled around and marched to the door.
“I’ll leave you here then. Better hurry though, or there will be no
helicopters left. Come on Jenny!”

Jenny stood by Aunt Grace, her eyes
clouded with uncertainty. Aunt Grace pushed her shoulder. “Go with
Rayla, Jen. Find Sarah. We’ll catch up with you later.”

That was it? This was what I had risked
everything for? I just shook my head and grabbed Jenny’s hand.
Again. So much for gratitude.

Alex followed Jenny and me down the
hall, not saying a word. At least someone around here had some
sense.

We found Creed clutching a screaming
Sarah who pummeled his chest like a real champ. For a second I
worried she could see the monster underneath his glamour, but Sarah
would have been way more upset than this if that were the case.
Either way, it didn’t seem to bother him; in fact, his expression
was more amused than anything.

I took her from him and she nearly
caught me in the face before she stopped herself.

“
Rayla!” She sobbed into my
shoulder as I carried her away from the hanger. “Where’s Mommy and
Daddy?”

“
They’re coming, baby. Don’t
worry. You’re safe now, okay?”

She planted a good hit against my
shoulder. “You didn’t come home!”

I sighed. I still owed her a present,
too. “I’m sorry. I wanted to.”

She pulled away from me and studied my
face, wrapping her legs tighter around my waist as if they could
keep her with me forever. “Did the bad men get you too?”

I still didn’t know the answer to that
question. “Kind of.” I was so glad Creed was undercover, I could
just imagine what she’d be saying if she knew what he really looked
like.

She hugged me, squeezing my neck until
I thought I couldn’t breathe. She sniffed once. “It’s okay
then.”

Just like that, I was
forgiven.

If only we could all be as loving as
little kids.

I’d expected some kind of fight from
the Order, but none came. Other than encountering Frick, no one
even cared we were going the opposite direction as everyone
else.

Alex showed some true skill and managed
to get a copter for us. That notwithstanding, something about this
situation reeked of too easy…like we were being allowed to leave as
planned. I eyed him as he climbed into the cockpit wondering if
this was a mistake. Was Alex even someone we could trust? There was
really no way to know for sure, but I was watching him
now.

Creed had bowed out once we found
everyone. Although I could feel him and the rest of my army
watching from a distance, they didn’t move to interfere. More than
ever I was sure these creatures had gotten a bad rap from people
who wanted to control them. I just hoped he was still watching me
in case something bad happened. In case Mr. Lambert came strolling
around the corner with Ainessa on his arm again.

Aunt Grace finally stumbled out of the
building with Uncle John clinging to her shoulder.

“
Daddy!” Sarah
cried.

Tears streamed down my cheeks. So many
emotions flooded into me, but the only one I was ashamed of was
jealousy.

I would probably never know who my
father was. Uncle John had been a great substitute. I loved him
like a father, yet, seeing Sarah reach for him like this set my
teeth on edge. I would never know that kind of belonging. I wasn’t
sure I wanted to know at this point. My real father could be on the
wrong side of things and where would knowing that leave me other
than unhappy?

Once we were all on board, Alex lifted
us above the sea of green marshland. The mist of the morning still
clung to the trails of water snaking everywhere, creating wisps of
clouds over the velvet canopy below. Who knew a swamp could be so
beautiful? Soon we were in flight, leaving the Order behind us,
hopefully for good.

When we’d gone what seemed a safe
distance, I unbuckled my belt and sat next to Alex in the cockpit.
I had to make sure he wasn’t merely taking us to another Order
facility.

“
Hey,” I said with a
sigh.

“
Hey yourself.” He gave me a
once over. “I’ve got one good thing to say about the
faeries.”

I chuckled at the derogative tone he’d
used. “Yeah, what’s that?”

“
They sure know how to pick
women.”

My brows hit my hairline. “Was that
supposed to be a compliment?”

He smiled. “Of the highest
fashion.”

I smirked at him. “Well, then, thanks,
I guess.”

He stared at me again. “Seriously,
though, are you okay?”

I was tempted to punch him in the face.
“No thanks to you.”

He bit his bottom lip. “I do kind of
feel bad about not helping you, but you saw who I would have had to
plow through to get you out of the tunnels.”

“
Considering who you just
plowed through back there, it shouldn’t have been a
problem.”

“
Look.” He grunted. “I told
you to stay away from us, but you had to dig in deeper.”

“
I did no such
thing!”

After a dismissive flick of the wrist,
he scratched his nose. “Whatever.”

I shook my head at the lost cause
sitting next to me. “Where are you taking us?”

He glanced at the back seat. “Need to
know only.”

I cocked my head and inched closer to
him. “Yeah, and I need to know.”

Aunt Grace touched my shoulder. “It’s
better for everyone involved if you don’t. In fact, I need you to
do something for me.”

I turned in my seat and frowned at her.
“What?”

“
Inhale deep.” She sprayed
my face with something minty.

Then the world went black.

When I woke up I could have sworn Aunt
Grace had two heads. I blinked a couple of times and they
thankfully merged into one. The first thing I noticed besides her
blurry figure was the bleep-bleep of a monitor. It took me a minute
to realize I was the one attached to it.

I ripped the oxygen tube away from my
face and sat up with my fists clenched.

“
Settle down, girl,” said
Grace in a casual tone. “We’re almost done here.”

“
Oh, no—” I jumped to my
feet, fighting the woozy sway of the room. I stumbled, but caught
myself on the edge of the bed. “You’re done already.”

She tsked me. “Always rushing to action
without bothering to think first.”

“
What did you do to
me?”

She licked her lips and her brown eyes
found mine. “We just needed to make sure you couldn’t be traced
here.”

I glanced around the room, taking in
the beat-up equipment that was probably Order rejects. “What else
did you do to me?” I felt funny; and unfortunately, I knew the
feeling rather well. My hands found my way to my abdomen. “You
too?”

She didn’t even have the decency to
blanch. “Rayla, we just need to figure a few things out. With your
help, we are one step closer to understanding how the bond is
created.”

My help? What was wrong with these
people? I stumbled over to the cabinets lining the walls and yanked
open the first door, scrambling to find what she’d taken from me.
“Where are they?” It took me a few seconds to realize they wouldn’t
keep my eggs in a cupboard. I whirled around. “You’re as bad as
Lambert.”

Aunt Grace grabbed my shoulders and
squeezed. “Don’t you ever say that to me! I raised you for heaven’s
sake.”

I looked straight at her. “You could
have asked me.”

Her eyes found the floor. “I couldn’t
take the chance of you saying no. Not with something this
important.” Her warm fingers curled around mine. “Don’t you
understand? We are this close to being able to break the bond for
good.”

My eyes snapped to hers again. “Are you
serious?”

She gave a slight shrug, and that’s
when I knew she had been more than exaggerating. “Well, we’ve come
closer than I ever thought possible in my lifetime.”

“
Explain.”

She released my hand and paced the
room. “Your blood is different than any other Elemental we have
been lucky enough to examine.”

“
What does that have to do
with my eggs, Grace?”

“
You have a different DNA
chain than we have seen. It is very likely you are part
fae.”

I shook my head. No wonder Mom had had
her memory erased. Funny that a troll could see what seemed to
evade the fae. “Gibbit told me that months ago.”

Aunt Grace made a face. “Who in the
world is Gibbit?”

“
The troll I met at St.
Mary’s.”

She shrugged. “Smart troll. What else
did he happen to tell you?”

“
He warned me about going to
Altasia.”

She gave me a speculative glance.
“We’ve been briefed on the basics, but what exactly happened
between you and the lord of water?”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to go there yet.
Besides, she was evading. “I’m not telling you anything until you
explain what’s going on. I’ve been dealing with way too many
secrets these days, and I won’t stand any from you.”

Grace smiled like a proud mother.
“That’s my girl.” She continued to grin at me.

I sighed. Yes I was an adult now.
Whooptido. “Well?”

“
I’m just so glad you’re
here.” She gave me a side hug. “The real reason is I couldn’t
chance the Order getting ahead of us again. We’ve come so far, but
without some way to gain the upper hand we will fail and they will
have total control. I can’t let that happen. I love you, and I’m
sorry; but with everything we’ve learned about you already, we had
to act when we had the opportunity. I’ll explain everything else
over dinner.”

Seems I missed lunch. My stomach
growled. And breakfast. “Sounds good.”

We sat at a rickety table staring at
each other for a few minutes before Aunt Grace began her story.
“I’ve done things I’m ashamed of, Rayla, and not coming for you
when I had the chance is one of them.”

I shrugged. “I understand. You had a
lot of people counting on you.”