Tainted Energy (The Energy Series Book 1) (26 page)

Tarek

A
s soon as they were off the landing
pad, Tarek held out the cuffs for Farren's thumbprint. "Take them off."

Farren
shook his head as he maneuvered the shuttle toward the exit. "Not until we
leave the compound, man. Won't get through the main gate with you all free and
shit."

"Not
even a second after, I want your thumb unlocking these things." The sweat
pouring out of his face had nothing to do with the taser's leftover effects. All
it would take was one Protector close enough to get suspicious and his brain would
turn to mush.

"My
thumb's all yours as soon as these idiots give us a pass."

The
shuttle hovered near the ground when they glided up to the exit. Farren closed
his eyes, took a deep breath, and touched the control pad on the steering
column. "Farren Anders transporting a Tainted to execution dock, 5-7TY8."

A reedy
voice came through, filling up the small compartment. "Slide your window,
Protector."

Farren
smiled through clenched teeth as he did exactly what the woman said. "Time
to act like a ghost, brother."

Kind of
hard when his body was so tight it rang, but he gave it a shot. Lolling his
head to rest on the door, he focused on the dash and let his mouth go slack.

The
woman made it to Farren's side of the shuttle. "Who authorized the
transport?"

"Mateusz
Fuchs, authority commander."

The
woman's eyes drilled the side of Tarek's head as if daring him to come out of
his drooling stupor. Finally, she stopped making dents in his cranium as she
looked under the shuttle, in the back seat, and lifted the side storage unit. "You
have the decree?"

Farren's
voice was way too chipper. The pleasant tone grating on Tarek's already frayed
nerves. "Right here." He pushed another button on the steering column,
and the hologram of Tarek's false Tainted reading jumped out and into her
hands.

She
scanned the mirage of pages, flipping and enlarging while Farren tapped on the
wheel and whistled. Tarek dug his nails into his palms to keep from punching
him in the temple.

After
what felt like hours, she cleared her throat. "Looks good. Proceed on my
signal."

Farren
slid the window in place and moved through the gate, giving Tarek a thumbs-up.

A rough
laugh that had nothing to do with being happy escaped as Tarek pressed the
cuffs to Farren's thumb. Once the print registered and the things slipped off
his wrists, he stuffed them in his pocket, careful to make sure they didn't
touch his skin. "Tell me what she's up to."

Farren
made a right while lifting the shuttle into the buzzing traffic, chuckling
under his breath. To the drone of the vapor engine, he said, "Yeah, I
think I'll let her tell you. I kind of like the way my shuttle looks."

∞ ∞ ∞

"What
the hell are we doing here?"

If
Exemplar had a ghetto in the small dimension, this would be it. Houses were
ancient by dimensional standards, with obvious solar paneling covering roofs
and non-hovering vehicles that still ran on algae parked in garages.

This was
the place where tired Guides and Protectors went when waiting for their cycle
to end. They sat in these houses and refused any medic help to slow down the
aging process. Kind of like the hospice for drained Exemplians. Most of these
people wouldn't come back–a lot of them using the few years they had left to
spend time with someone they'd never see again.

The worst
part about living in Exemplar was knowledge, knowing the way the universe
worked. Exemplians knew they'd live again somewhere and everyone they ever
loved or cared about wouldn't be coming along–unless the choice was made to
come back here and live life for everyone else.

Farren
set the shuttle down at a house near the end of a cul-de-sac then touched the
communicator on his ear. "Yeah, it's us. Throw down your blocks; we can't
even open our doors. Ah,
hell no
, I didn't tell him." He pulled the
thing out of his ear and looked over. "What? You never been to Wilma's
place?"

"Not
this place." As soon as his door slid open, Tarek peeled himself out of
the seat and went straight for the front door. "Wilma?"

"Over
here." She sat at a small, round table in the kitchen holding a stack of
papers. The place was as barren as the one she had on Earth. Complete opposite
of her other home in the middle of Exemplar. She gave a slight smile. "So…surprise."

"What–how
long were you…"

"I
was ready to blow this place twenty years before you called, begging me to take
on Lena." She gave a tight laugh. "Didn't think I'd fall in love with
her, too, but the girl got to my soft spot. Like my own damn daughter now."

"I
never knew you were so close to..." For the life of him, a full sentence
refused to form.

She stood,
stretching. "Well, no shit." She waved a hand as soon as Farren came
in, securing the blocks. Even the shuttle received special treatment, becoming
invisible. "Time to start talking."

Tarek
took up Wilma's vacant seat. Blurting out the important stuff seemed like the
best way to break the bad news. "Casimir wants you."

"Who
told you that?" Wind began to swirl in the small space, causing him to
hold the edge of the table.

What he
had to say next would probably have him flying through the room. "Zander.
I was right. He's the so-called rogue Mateusz warned me about."

Okay, he
didn't go flying, but about everything else in the room crashed against the
walls. Farren had to duck as a chair narrowly missed his head and slammed into
the front door. "That little shit. I knew it! Appearing out of nowhere,
sniffing around her."

Fighting
the urge to hide under the table, Tarek reached out to grab her flailing hands.
"Calm down. There's more, and we don't have time for a tantrum–especially
one of yours."

Her
hands lowered, but the deep patches of red marring her cheeks stayed put. "You
better make it quick because I'm ready to blow some shit up."

No more
time was wasted. He spewed out the details, careful to keep clear of Wilma's
twitching fingers. By the time he finished, Farren was shaking his head and
cursing under his breath, while Wilma's face transformed to stone.

"All
right. Your turn. Tell me what you've been doing." Tarek shot a thumb
toward Farren. "He didn't have the balls."

She gave
him a dull stare and found the pieces of paper she'd been holding on the floor.
"This is all that's left."

Confused,
he grabbed the notes that Lena had tucked inside the Arcus book. "Left of
what?"

"Your
house."

Red.
Everything went red as his fingers shook around the paper. "What're you
talking about?"

"Now,
sit down and–"

He didn't
even remember standing. "What happened to my house?"

"It,
ah, caught on fire."

"It
ca–what?"

She
flailed her arms in the air, looking at Farren who held out his hands. "Don't
get me involved," he said, inching closer to the door.

"Wilma?
My house?"

"Once
Farren told me what went down," she pointed to the now crumpled papers in
his hands, "and what that symbol meant, I knew we were in trouble. So, I
took the evidence and torched the place. Created a distraction, you might say."

Shit. "My
house, though?"

"Mateusz
has been out there with his army for days scouring through the rubble. Word is
you blew up your place and went AWOL. You finally cracked. That's the rumor he's
fueling."

Too much
to process. Too much. "Days? How long have I been out?"

She ran
a hand through her hair. "Almost three days."

His ass
fell back into the chair.

"I
know it's tough, and it gets worse." She picked up a chair missing its
back, placed it right in front of him, and took a seat. "Casimir having
Kendal's energy is bad. Real bad. And Farren recognized some of those names on
the list–most are rogues. No one knows where the hell they are."

"It's
true, brother. They've been on our tracking list for years," Farren said.

"Which
means one of two things: they're helping Casimir, or he has their energies. If
not, the Warden probably knows where they are." She took the papers from
his hands. "And now he's bleeding the lines?"

He
rested his elbows on his knees, not at all feeling what she began to hint at. "All
right, listen. My plan is to get Lena, take her to Empyrean, maybe kill Mateusz
when the opportunity comes up. Don't want to do anything else."

"Too
bad."

"No,
Wilma."

"Casimir
needs to die."

Farren's
sharp intake of breath matched his sentiments exactly. "That's crazy."

Resignation
settled on her round face. "He's looking for Protectors like me, Tarek. He's
not messing around. If we turn our backs, he'll infiltrate any dimension he
wants, cherry-picking humans, using these idiots on the list. Kendal believed
his lies, one of the smartest Protectors I'd ever met." She pointed to the
list again. "These people are probably just as convinced Casimir can give
them what they want next cycle."

He laced
his fingers together to hide the shaking. "She dreamed about me."

"Lena?
No way."

"I
believe her. Maybe there is a way…maybe these people are right. Why shouldn't
we get to live how we want? We've sacrificed…hundreds of years…multiple lives
for everyone else."

"But
with Casimir? You understand how dangerous that is–people trying to live in
Arcus? And he wants my energy. He might be promising them a slice of truth, but
he has more on his mind. He's not looking to be the benevolent leader and give
Exemplians a choice. He's looking to be the next Exemplar. He's looking to
control the entire universe." She slammed a fist on the table as her
bottom lip shook. "I'll do it."

The
sinking feeling in his gut made his voice come out in a whisper. "Maybe
Cassondra could talk to him. He listens to her."

Farren
cleared his throat, not moving from his spot. "Cassondra is still at her
Pairing. And she…I don't think she'll try to stop him. She's been pleading for
Arcus to be given good energy, asking the Synod to let some Tainted Exemplians
live out the remainder of their cycles in his dimension instead of sending them
to other places. She wants to speed up the world's evolution."

Tarek
stared at his hands, his eyes filling as he swallowed the reality. "You
can't do it, Wilma."

"The
hell I can't." She stood, pulling at her hair, and went to stare out the
window.

A groan
hid the sob lurking at the back of his throat. This wasn't how he pictured it
ending.

Not. At.
All.

On legs
that felt like water, he went to stand behind her. "She'll need you. Once
Casimir is dead, Cassondra might come after her. She'll have to worry about
everyone else who threw in with the Warden, too. I can't protect her like you
can."

"Fucking
Cassondra… Fucking Casimir." Pain filled her curse. "Lena's in that
place because of me."

Never in
his lives had he witnessed this woman bawl like an infant. Guess there was a
first time for everything. He had to squeeze his eyes shut and bite his lips
not to join her.

He was
right, and she knew it.

His
voice weak, he said, "She's there because of Mateusz."

"Lena
will never forgive you…she'll never forgive me."

With a
few swipes at his eyes, and a hell of a lot more throat clearing, he said, "We
were made for each other. More now than ever, I believe it. This is just
another hurdle."

Was
that…? Yes. Farren had his head bent and his fist slammed up against his mouth.