Dusk (16 page)

“She is a true Sentry,” Greyson murmured, standing with his hands
around Eva. They touched the pillar together.

Solomon stared at Lucy, his silver-shot brown eyes still as warm
and kind as ever.

“Do it, Solomon,” she told him.

He pursed his lips and pressed the command key. “Five seconds,” he
said, placing both hands on the stone.

Lucy leaned into him.
I hope to God I don’t bite my tongue off,
was her last coherent thought.

****

Energy flared through Solomon, hot as a star. He couldn’t move.
Couldn’t see, and still the energy flowed through him and back into the
Stronghold net. This was a last ditch attempt to reboot their power, something
he hoped he’d never have to try. They only had one chance at it: the Stronghold
net was specifically powered by the Sentries themselves. The stored charge he’d
released was meant to be used only in a dire emergency.

And is this situation not dire?
he asked himself. His bones felt as though they’d turned to
molten lava, but still the energy surged. Abruptly, with no warning, his
empathy flickered and flared strongly across his tower and into the land
beyond. His knees buckled, but he leaned into the stone to stay upright. Before
he could catch her, Lucy fell to the floor. Lightning arced from him to her,
and then to Isaac who’d stepped back, eyes wide and glowing. The energy flashed
to Bruno who went to his knees, and from him to Greyson and Eva. They staggered
back together, falling into a heap near Bruno.

Solomon lifted his hands and crouched, touching Lucy. She stared
up at him with silver eyes as the energy continued to build up. He’d torn away
their safeguards and they were burning up power like a star going supernova. He
had to hurry or they’d all die.

“Outside,” he croaked, turning to the windows. He felt their pain
as if it was his own, and he knew they felt his, but they had to push it aside.
Focus
.

The swarm was here.

“Solomon,” Lucy gasped, rolling over. “It’s back.” She got to her
knees, then stopped. He glanced at her, agonized. He wanted to help, but he had
to stop the infection. She glanced past him and flinched as darkness swept over
the room.

He turned. The glass was covered with Spiders. It wouldn’t hold
for long.

“Focus,” he said aloud, holding up both hands. They were out of
options. From the corner of his eye, he saw Lucy hold her hands up and out. He
loved her more in that moment than he ever imagined could be possible. She was
his true mate. The other half of his soul. When her energy touched his, he
closed his eyes, overcome with a wave of longing so intense, it swept aside any
lingering doubts. He wanted to live.

“We need to do this together,” Bruno said roughly, no longer
sounding like an urbane politician. The pain had swept away the surface of all
of them, showing each of their true selves to the others. Bruno had been a
warrior before he became the Sentries’ spokesperson. He lifted his hands, not
bothering to stand up.

Isaac groaned and stepped forward, in front of all of them. He
would be the focus, as he so often had been before. He was the Sentry who
channeled energy the most in his role of pilot.

Eva and Greyson lifted their arms together. Greyson was like the
rock beneath them. His strength lay in his ability to endure. Eva was his
perfect match.

Solomon nodded, feeling reassured despite their grim situation. He
glanced at Lucy, wishing he’d had more time with her.
If we survive this, I
will never let her go again,
he vowed. “On my mark,” he said out loud, and
then he counted. “Three, two, one. Mark!”

As one, the six of them released the energy still flowing through
them, channeling it through Isaac. He gasped, hands turning to claws, but he
held steady. A crack snaked across the glass as the Spiders piled on it, but it
was too late. The Sentries poured everything they had into creating a shield of
energy. It swept through the glass like a wave, shattering all of the windows.
Cold air swept in, but outside, the Spiders who’d come down from the stars
exploded so violently, a vortex of silicate dust spun out from the tower like a
tornado.

Solomon grunted with effort, dimly sensing Lucy’s exhaustion. She
wasn’t giving up, though, and neither were his brothers. He poured more energy
towards Isaac who threw it out, catching the first wave’s tail. More Spiders
vaporized up over the northern mountains. Their dust swirled briefly, then
vanished in a sparkling net.

“Time to cleanse the camouflage shield,” Solomon said, gathering
more force.

Isaac swayed. Greyson stood and took his place with Eva at his
back. “Rest, Isaac,” he said, hand on Isaac’s shoulder.

Isaac shook his head. “No. I will help.” He sat on the floor near
Bruno and clenched his fists. “Let’s get this done.”

Solomon grimaced, but they had no time to waste. They reserves he’d
painstakingly stored were almost gone. “All at once,” he said, letting go of
the energy.

Greyson’s shoulders hunched as the power hit him, but then he
extended his arms and concentrated. Energy spiraled out from him in silver
threads, almost invisible to their senses.

“Good,” Solomon murmured encouragingly.

Greyson frowned at his brother. “I know what I’m doing,” he
growled.

Eva sent Solomon an apologetic look. Solomon didn’t have the
energy to take offense. He was gathering more force from Bruno, Isaac, and
Lucy, and funneling it to his brother and his mate. “This is the last of it,”
he said, shoving it out from him. Bruno slumped to the floor against Isaac.
Lucy lay her head down and simply breathed. Solomon watched Greyson deftly take
the power and spin it out of his tower and into the skies above the planet.
When he finally let his arms drop, he swayed. Eva leaned against him as they
both slid to the floor.

Solomon sent his empathy out, searching for more danger, but found
no more Spiders. The new camouflage shield stretched across the sky, as if it
had never been damaged. He let his hands drop to his knees. They trembled.

“It’s over?” Lucy asked.

He nodded, then reached down to cup her cheek. He leaned down and
kissed her. “It is.”

Chapter Twelve

“I still don’t understand how the Spiders could have acted so
intelligently,” Lucy murmured the next morning. Her empathy buzzed with
everyone’s energy, but it was muted. They were all still tired. With Greyson’s
help, the brothers had managed to fix Solomon’s windows, but after that, all of
the Sentries had been too exhausted to do anything except sleep. Lucy had
shared the bed with Solomon while the rest of them had rolled into blankets on
the floor. All of them had slept the rest of the day and through the night.

Her parents had called her that morning, worried about her note,
but as soon as she’d told them she was with Solomon, they’d been happy. Lucy
was just grateful that her nightmares seemed to have stopped. She didn’t know
if she was just too exhausted for her brain to manufacture terrible scenarios
or if her pairing with Solomon had healed her in some fundamental way. She
wasn’t sure she cared, as long as they didn’t come back.

“It is a mystery,” Solomon said, sliding his fingers across the
screen. It split into four displays and he tapped each of them in turn, running
simultaneous diagnostics. Lucy had hidden the silver wand he used with the
interface. She couldn’t face the other Sentries with that device in his hand.
She flushed every time she thought about what he’d done with it.

“I will find out,” Isaac said, stepping up behind them. He held a
cup of steaming coffee in his hand.

Solomon glanced at his brother, frowning. “How?”

Isaac shrugged, then looked out the windows. “The best way to
track a mystery is to pull the thread.” He glanced back at his brother. “I will
follow the thread we have and see where it leads.”

“What thread?” Lucy asked him, sipping her own coffee. Despite
sleeping all night and most of yesterday, she still felt drained.
Hopefully
the caffeine will help perk me up.

Isaac set down his cup and pointed to one of Solomon’s diagnostic
screens. “This one.”

Greyson wandered over. “That is a copy of the energy signature of
the virus that attacked our Stronghold net.”

Isaac nodded. “It is.”

“There is no thread to follow. This is only a recording,” Solomon
said, enlarging the display.

“Send me the information. I may be able to find out more. I need
to set up more sensors around the solar system, too. It may be that I can
discover more from the sensors I collect for recycling.”

Bruno strolled over. “Give him the information. We need everyone
looking for our mole.”

Solomon shrugged. “So be it.”

Lucy turned to Eva who sat near the windows and lifted her
eyebrows. Eva smiled. Lucy walked over and sat down next to her best friend.
Eva’s affection for her washed through her and Lucy leaned against her briefly.
She was lucky to have her as a best friend. “Do you think Isaac will be able to
figure out what happened?”

Eva nodded. “I would be very surprised if he couldn’t.” She sipped
her cider, then frowned. “He has skills Greyson won’t explain.”

Lucy chewed on her lip. “Solomon said the same thing to me. That
Isaac knows things the others don’t.”

“They all do,” Eva said quietly. “In a sense, so do we. You
understand how the Stronghold net works in a way I never will.”

Lucy lifted a shoulder. “Only because I could follow Solomon
inside.”

“It doesn’t matter. You have the knowledge now. I will never be
able to do that.”

Lucy thought about it. “But you can do things I can’t. You can
heal better than anyone else. You and your Sentry.” She glanced over at the
brothers. The four of them stared at Solomon’s display intently.

Eva grinned. “True. I am awesome. More awesome than Greyson.”

“And totally full of yourself,” Lucy teased.

Eva laughed and finished her cider. “It’s time for us to get
going. I’m still exhausted. I want to go home and sleep in a bed instead of on
your floor.” She yawned.

It took all of Lucy’s will to not yawn with her. She wanted
nothing more than to crawl back into bed with Solomon and sleep for another day
or two.

Greyson walked over to them. “Are you ready?” he asked Eva.

She nodded and stood up. “Yeah.”

Lucy stood and gave her hug. “Don’t be a stranger.”

“You too,” Eva said, pulling back. “Now that you’ll be living up
on a mountain as Solomon’s mate, don’t forget to come visit.”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “I’m not moving to Paris, Eva. And I still
haven’t told my parents I’m moving out yet.” She glanced at Solomon. “He hasn’t
actually asked me to move in with him, you know.”

Eva snorted. “He will. You’re paired.” She shrugged. “That’s how
it works.”

Lucy’s heart tripped. “I have to tell my parents that I basically
got married over the weekend.” Her eyes widened as she worked through the idea
in her mind. “Holy crap, I eloped! I wasn’t planning on eloping! They’re going
to kill me.” She glanced at Solomon. “They’re going to kill Solomon.”

“Don’t freak out now. Your mom will freak out enough for both of
you when she finds out what happened.” Eva grinned wider. “And I’m going to
have a front row seat.”

“Shut up.” Lucy made a face. “She’s going to kill me. I have to
quit my job, too.”

“I know you made friends at the office, but you hated that job.
Admit it.”

Lucy wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, true.”

Eva poked her. “And your mom won’t kill you, silly. She
might
make you say vows in front of a minister, though.” Eva winked and walked off
before Lucy could reply, joining Greyson at the pillar.

Lucy followed her more slowly, stretching the kinks out of her
neck as she tried not to think about her parents’ reaction to her and Solomon.
She didn’t have enough energy to worry about them right now. Even her hair felt
tired.

“Keep in touch,” Greyson was saying to Isaac when Lucy walked up
to them. “We need to know what you find out.”

Isaac nodded. “No worries. It might be a while, though.”

“It will take as long as it takes,” Solomon said, shutting down
his displays. “We all have learned patience.”

“At least we don’t have to have another press conference. This all
happened out of the eyes of the public, thankfully,” Bruno said, rubbing his
face. “I will contact the President and let him know what has happened.” He
turned to Lucy, much to her surprise. “Be vigilant, mate of my brother.” He
bowed slightly and touched the corner of his eye.

Lucy hurriedly did the same. “I will,” she murmured, not quite
understanding what he meant.
Not that I can ask him,
she mused, watching
as he stepped into the pillar and dematerialized without saying goodbye to
anyone else.

“What did he mean by that?” she asked Solomon. “Be vigilant?”