Haelo Rising, page 26
Massáude stepped through the gap in the wall, followed by Hector and two human mercenaries. I should have been shocked, but I wasn’t. Massáude looked at the corpse of Maria, barely a glance, then shifted his attention back to me. A fire ignited in my soul. My senses amped up, primed with anger. I sat up and set my jaw, stoking the fire within.
He grinned. “You’re alive, I see.”
“I’m a tricky one to kill. I thought you knew that.”
“Stand up, Miriam.”
“I’d rather not.”
His eyes deadened with hatred. I knew the feeling.
“Shall I ask Hector to finish the job?”
I flashed a grin, my eyelids lowering with cheeky exhaustion. “Maybe you should try one of these other guys.” I tipped my head to the humans. “Hector here seems to be a bit off his game.”
Hector pounced forward, but Massáude pulled him back.
My smile widened. “Going soft around the middle too. A little advice: less carbs, less muffin top.”
Massáude laughed. Hector did not.
“I don’t understand what that means,” Hector spat, his aura raging.
I shifted, stretching my leg out. “You wouldn’t.”
He lunged. Massáude didn’t stop him this time. Hector slapped me across the face. When I fell back to the floor, his boot hit my stomach with a force that blackened my vision.
“Enough,” Massáude said, whipping back his cape. Hector backed away.
I tasted blood, fighting to find my breath. The new fire in my veins burned hotter. I put my hands to the floor and pushed myself upright. “What’s with the humans, Massáude?” I ground out. “Ran out of candeons willing to give you the time of day?”
“Your wit astounds me,” he deadpanned, but I felt the defensive flare in his aura and it gave me dangerous courage.
Slowly, Massáude walked in front of me, eyes roaming up and down my body as if looking for the weakest point. “You are nothing, Miriam. And you will die nothing.”
A thought came to me. It would ruin me. It might even break me. He might even sense me inside his mind and retaliate with violent rage. But I didn’t care.
I relaxed, dropped my head back to the cold cement floor, and exaggerated my exhaustion. I gave everything up. I melted every ounce of my senses across the room to encircle his cold, rancid aura. Massáude swayed, a movement so subtle I wasn’t sure if I’d really felt it.
And then I let go.
Completely.
And in the four seconds of time that passed between that moment and the next, I saw things, felt things, and understood things. Conversations he’d had, memories of his childhood, moments of livid rage, planning sessions, his daughter Ana, his human contact, his secrets. I saw it all.
I knew him better than anyone else ever could.
And I knew how to bring him down.
“Leave her,” Massáude spat. “Let her recover just enough to start again.” He, Hector, and the two humans moved for the exit.
“Massáude,” I called after him, my voice weak and garbled. “I had a thought.”
He stopped to listen.
“Maybe those humans aren’t your new henchmen. Maybe they’re your babysitters.”
Massáude’s aura sizzled. With a glance to Hector, he left, taking the humans with him.
Hector stayed.
At some point, I blacked out.
Later, Raul came into the dungeons. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but enough time for me to wake up and nurse my electric shock wounds. My senses were now on hyperdrive. The same vibrating energy I'd felt earlier still flowed through me, though it had intensified now. Harsh, biting, excessive. It was thieving my vitality and feeding my fury; too much for my weakened body to handle. Raul and a pair of Forçadores pulled back the stone, then came in to retrieve the body of Maria. They took her away, leaving the wide exit open.
Battered and bruised, I inched closer. But two other mercenaries waited outside, and I was in no shape to fight them.
After a while, Raul came back alone and sent away the guards. He was holding a thick wooden staff.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
I tucked my face into my folded arms that rested across my knees.
He waited, then said, “I didn’t think it would ever go this far.”
“Is Hyacinth okay?” I raised my face to look at him.
He looked down at his shoes, twisting the staff into the concrete. “She’s alive. She’s still in your old room.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
His throat bobbed. He set the staff against the torture table. “She won’t speak. She won’t eat much either. I don’t think she’ll live long this way.”
“Did you know who she was?”
He came closer. “I swear, I did not!”
In unleashed anger, I pushed my senses into him. I didn’t necessarily mean to. Something inside me just snapped. Raul stumbled then righted himself, a confused look on his face. Had I not known better, I could have sworn my senses had actually physically pushed him. That I made him move.
Raul shook his head, brushing off his stumble as a trip. “I didn’t know who she was. I met her in Athens. At a coffee shop. She spilled her coffee on my shoe.”
I felt the truth in his aura; Raul believed what he said. I narrowed my eyes. “But she still hates you.”
He stood frozen for a while, then nodded. “I don’t blame her.” He took a step forward and tossed a leather pouch onto the floor in front of me. I smelled bread and sardines.
“Massáude has your emperor and his young daughter at gunpoint at a secret location on the continent. They’ve been the hostages of Ben Ames for two weeks now. One move on Pankyra, and both of them are dead. General Stratos already tried and it didn’t end well for him.”
These were all things I’d discovered inside Massáude’s mind.
“Your military is decimated,” he continued. “You’re being tortured in the palace dungeons. Your entire empire has all but lost. Once Massáude finds your empress and your husband, he’ll have everything he needs to end it all.”
I looked away.
“Did you know the water in Pankyra is rising? Massáude crushed all but one of the turbines that flush water out from the cave. To keep the power on in the city, he’s been running the other turbines at top speed. More water is coming in than going out.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Just outside this room, the old Krypteia quarters are filling with water.”
I glanced at the small puddle of water Maria and I had been using to stay hydrated. It was bigger than it used to be.
“It rises a few inches every day. You’ll be sitting in water in a few hours.” Something metallic tinkled on the floor. I heard it spiral like a top, then come to a rest. “You’ll be in seawater.”
In the dancing light of the torches, I saw my golden pola ring resting on the concrete just feet from me.
“Massáude doesn’t know about that ring.”
“Again, why are you telling me this?”
“You’re the only one who can save Hyacinth.”
“Why not you?”
“She won’t ever trust me again.”
“You’re willing to betray Massáude to save her?”
He didn’t answer, but I saw the Yes in his eyes.
I jerked my chin at the pola ring on the floor. “What am I supposed to tell them?”
“That every other day, at three in the morning, Massáude makes a phone call from the top of the island. You can see him through the white mansion’s windows.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“What other choice do you have?” He walked toward the exit, then looked back. “Tomorrow is a three-in-the-morning kind of day. Save her. Please.”
Before he left, he pulled a walkie talkie radio from his suit coat. He said something in Portuguese, then tucked it back into the inside breast pocket.
“Why are you doing this? Really?” I asked him.
He swallowed, refusing to turn and face me. “The monarchy has fallen. I have done my part.” It was a mantra I’d heard before from Massáude’s followers. Raul swallowed again. “I wish I hadn’t.” He stepped out of the dungeon, and soon, men arrived to help him move the stone back in place.
When they’d all left, I pulled Mortimer out from behind my back. I scratched his head. “Did you get all that?”
He meowed.
I grabbed the pouch of food and began stuffing my face, offering a sardine to the cat. He refused and nuzzled the fish back to me. “It’s true.” I told him. “Ames has Alcaeus and Penelope hostage. I saw it in Massáude’s mind.”
Mortimer nodded his head.
“What about the Lóchos reserves? Are they alive?”
His head went left to right, slowly, somberly. I swallowed back the ache in my throat.
“Is Cora alive?”
He didn’t move either way.
I exhaled, gathering my worries into a box to be dealt with later. “Is Griffin safe?”
A nod.
My eyes widened. “Is he with you?”
A nod.
“And Neo? Zeta?”
A wonky nod.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He stared at me like I was an idiot.
I swallowed. “What about Dagger? Do you know where he is?”
Mortimer didn’t move. My gut tightened.
“I hate that you can’t answer me back, you know that right?”
Another nod.
“Why didn’t I ask you questions like this before?”
I kid you not, the cat rolled his eyes.
“Thank you,” I whispered into his fur. “Thank you for staying here with me.” I held him, embracing his warmth, until I remembered the ring on the floor. I reached for it and slid it on my finger. “No offense, Mortimer, but I’m going crazy without real answers, if you know what I mean.”
Hours passed. I contemplated everything from what Jade’s crew might be planning, to what pola messages I’d send, to the turbines on the western end of the island, to the pola lava pool. I thought of Hyacinth, and what I could possibly do to save her. Eventually, seawater spilled in beneath the prison stone and blanketed most of the floor. The relief that came to my whole body when my skin finally touched the seawater was indescribable. I lay on my back, soaking up the elixir through my filthy clothes. My skin tightened; my wounds immediately felt less pain. The water soaked my matted hair. And that new, unwelcome energy that zipped and flowed through my body no longer felt so unwelcome.
“We’re almost there, Mort.”
The water continued to rise. I paced back and forth between the first two cells in the room. “Come on, come on, come on,” I chanted, eager for water deep enough to send a pola.
At two inches of water, I dropped my fist into the seawater. Griffin, I thought, conjuring up a memory of his aura. I’m here! Tell me everything. A bright light emanated from my fist, then burst into nothing, splashing my face with water.
“Not deep enough, apparently.”
I paced some more, then sat in the water, relishing what it did for my pain. Time passed, though I wasn’t sure how long. At some point, I felt the encroaching shadow of an aura slip under the stone. Then another. And another. They kept coming. I dropped both hands into the water just as the first invisible ball, cloaked in Zeta’s aura, burst into an ethereal orb of fire completely unaffected by the water. It melted into the palms of my hands and the warmth traveled up my arms and into my chest. My vision glazed over in red.
I’ve found your brother and father. Her accent soothed my nerves. I hope you get this. I’ve pola’d Dagger—he’s out there, alive, somewhere—but we haven’t heard back. The Lóchos are gone, Haelo. Yesterday, they were hit by bisecting torpedos. Most of the people we rescued out of Pankyra had fled the island immediately, but a handful went straight for the Homeguard and suffered the same end.
We’ll get you out of there, Haelo. Somehow, some way. Watch for us.
She must have sent the message two weeks ago, just after the attack. How many more polas were waiting for me? My vision didn’t have time to clear of the red haze before the next pola—shrouded in Griffin’s aura, with veins of darkness as if its glow was cracking—hit my chest.
My love! Tell me you . . . safe. Zeta told . . . and Hyacinth did not . . . of the island . . . I am . . . insane with worry. Some of his words were too faded to understand; the message was clipped and spotty, probably because of the less than ideal repair job of his medallion. I cannot think but for . . . thought of revenge. . . . haven’t been able to reach . . . on the satellite comm. We . . . news of . . . either.
An enemy stealth ship . . . stationed . . . north of Pankyra. We’re gathering . . . get you.
You once said Massáude will not . . . . He hasn’t, Haelo. Our people . . . safe. I won’t let him win. . . .
There was one last line, but it was completely garbled.
Another Griffin pola orb hit me immediately following his first. Our efforts to take back Pankyra are . . . I had hoped . . . safely away from the palace, but . . . haven’t responded. . . . assume Massáude has either you or your ring.
Look for . . . feline friend. Hold on, Haelo.
I gave Mortimer a grateful glance through my red vision just as the next pola hit me.
Tell me you’re safe. Please. Please let this pola work.
It was Dagger.
His aura, still dark but still blessedly whole, vibrated with worry. His request was the same as Griffin’s—Tell me you’re safe—but it felt different. Griffin’s had been chaotic, panicked, and backed by fierce loyalty, as if the answer to that request was the biggest worry out of hundreds of the many things that plagued a man pulled in every direction. Griffin had the weight of the empire on his shoulders.
Dagger’s simple request had been quiet, intimate, scared. There was a delicate humility in his thought; a humility far from the aggressive fuel burning inside the Colonel Stravins that had killed so many on his warpath. For Dagger, the request seemed to be the only thing on his mind.
My vision cleared, no longer red. The two torches flickering in the room seemed less bright than they once were. One was almost out. The water around me was deeper now, rising faster and faster with each passing moment.
I looked to where the last two polas waited. The first brightened the room with its cracked, Griffin-cloaked glow.
Your father . . . told me of the . . . of a Forçadoro named Hector. I do not . . . how you have survived. I am sick with rage. He will pay, my love. He will pay with his life.
The last pola came to life with its mesmerizing, magical fire. This one was also from Griffin.
Jade tells us that . . . given you your pola ring. I don’t know whether this is . . . or a miracle, but . . . need to hear your voice.
Jade also . . . your cousin Ana. Zeta and . . . to find her.
Ben Ames has my . . . and sister. The compound is protected by . . . we must be careful. But we are coming for you. At three in the morning. I promise on my life, I will . . . safely out of Massáude’s hands.
Hold on, my love. We’re almost there.
When it was over, I fell into the water, overcome with emotions, every emotion. I felt the joy of feeling like I wasn’t alone anymore. I felt a twisted sense of accomplishment, like I’d crossed one of the marked barriers of hardship that only propelled me closer and closer to the end. I felt the guilt of my promise to Maria that I would never drag Ana and Lucas into Massáude’s reach. What were they planning? Maria had died believing her son had finally escaped Massáude’s family; what if my father ruined that? Would Zeta understand the need to keep Ana and Lucas as far away from Massáude as possible? Or would Massáude be dead before Zeta found them? I hadn’t even met them and yet my desire to protect them was powerful.
I felt the terror of the unknown. What was Griffin planning? What if it failed? What if he died? What if so many others died? At the same time, I felt a dampering toward the thought of death. I’d seen so much. The thought of more somehow only seemed inevitable.
Death couldn’t shock me anymore.
I felt the impatience of needing to know. Where were Dagger and Cora? What else had I missed?
On top of it all, I felt the sting of Griffin’s words: Hold on, my love. Why? Why did those words sting? I loved him, didn’t I? I sighed something that sounded awfully close to a sob.
And then I rallied.
I collected every ounce of strength the seawater around me proffered. I pulled myself up onto my knees and tucked my fist under the water. I enveloped myself with the memory of Griffin’s aura and let my pola erupt into the water. Your messages saved me, Griffin. I’m less alone now. I can sense you. I can finally see a light in this darkness. I’m still beside you.
My ball of pola fire wasn’t even out of the room before I was preparing my next pola. As I remembered the feel of the man who had shown me what my world was really like, a vision flashed in my mind. At this very moment, Dagger was diving through the sea. I had a vague impression that someone was beside him, but his focus was ahead, fighting back the second-guessing thoughts of some mighty decision.
My fist radiated with light. I’m okay, Dagger. I thought of the wounds I’d seen on him as he recovered in the small underwater hovel I’d seen in the visions. Wherever you are, be safe. The message burst from my hand, fading from its fiery glow into invisibility just before it slipped through whatever tiny crack existed in the blocked exit.
I kneeled in the water as it continued to rise, my strength increasing. The wounds inflicted by Hector slowly morphed from painful handicaps to the refining battle scars that gave one purpose. The new power in my body adapted, calmed, waited.
Mortimer hissed from his perch on one of the dry concrete half walls between the cells and then trotted along the ledges until he could jump from one over to the top of the vile table that Hector had tortured me with.
The generator was still there. He’d left it. I had to get out of here. But how?
Mortimer hissed again. With a swat, he sent Raul’s staff tumbling into the water, where it slapped the surface and then floated to the middle of the room. I’d completely forgotten about it.
