Echo Into Darkness: Book 2 in The Echo Saga (Teen Paranormal Romance) (23 page)

"You don't have to cancel your whole day. I'm perfectly fine." I did a respectable job of keeping my voice level.

"If you need me for anything at all, call, all right?" She kissed me on the forehead and left.

No sooner had she slipped the deadbolt into place than I ran to my closet and pulled out a suitcase. I wrote a note telling her that I'd decided to take the bus to Seattle, would stay with friends for a few days, and would check in with her when I got there.

I packed my suitcase to the brim and zipped it shut. I had everything I needed except for one thing—the portrait. I didn't know how long I'd be gone but I refused to leave it behind.

The painting sat facing the wall, as it had since the day I decided to make a play for Jaxon. I picked it up, wanting to apologize to Connor's likeness for ignoring his warnings. For trusting Jaxon.

I gasped. Someone had ruined it! The red streak near Connor's scar was wide and black. The blue and green smudging on his cheek resembled bruising. Saturated color around his mouth made his lip appear puffy.

Jaxon was the one person who would desecrate the painting, but he would have had to sneak into the house to do it. This didn't seem likely, but now that I understood how much he despised the McCabes, anything was possible. His hatred and desire for revenge ran deep.

Another thought occurred to me, both absurd and surreal. I'd stretched my imagination plenty to adapt to my new, paranormal existence, but even this was a leap: was the portrait energetically connected to my soulmate? Was it channeling physical changes that he experienced one hundred sixty years in the future?

My chest throbbed because if it were true, then something awful was happening to him. I shook this possibility off, deciding there had to be an everyday explanation for the damage.

Tito whined and nuzzled my suitcase. His highly tuned Chihuahua nerves vibrated with anxiety. Like most dogs, he recognized when one of his owners was leaving for an extended time. The next bus to Seattle left in less than an hour. I intended to be on it.

"I won't be gone long," I said, wrapping him in my arms. We both knew this wasn't true.

He licked my ear and then sneezed into it. I laughed even though moisture beaded in the corners of my eyes. His ears perked. He wiggled out of my arms and his bug-eyes centered on the corner of my bedroom. A high growl warbled in his throat.

A cold ball of trepidation filled my chest. "Tito,
quiet
." I listened for sounds of an impending intrusion—a car in the driveway, a knock at the door.

The air had changed. The hairs on my arm rose as the room filled with static electricity. He jumped to the floor and yapped at the corner next to my desk.

There, in the space where the sunlight was broken by shadow, a column of light sparkled.

My heart raced. The form grew to six feet tall and began to take shape.

Chapter 27

I bounded across the room to the materializing body. It was him. It had to be. I forced my hands to stay at my sides. It was torture, waiting for the glistening phantom to become human so that I could throw myself into his arms.

The tall figure coalesced slowly. A hand appeared, and then a leg. They were delicate and gangly and definitely not Connor's. Confusion overtook my elation and I let out a small whimper.

As the sparks solidified, I made out a narrow face and wide, feminine eyes.

"Carina!" I threw my arms around her. She wasn't who I ached to see, but any visit from West Region was a gift. Her showing up in my time meant that portal travel was allowed again!

Carina's hug was fierce. "It's so good to see you." It had been a few months since she had escorted me home after the dance at the Great Hall. She wore her standard lab uniform, a white smock and pants, and her short chestnut hair had grown past her ears. Her big brown eyes darted around my room.

"Are you well? Is everything good?" I caught an almost imperceptible quiver in her high, light voice.

"Omigod. Everything is screwed up! Did Connor send you?" I was sure he would have come himself if he could get out from under his dad's nose long enough.

Her face fell. "Send me? I don't understand."

Impatient, I rushed through the explanation. "Connor was always able to feel when I was in danger, even when we were apart, but then I thought since the portal shut down, he couldn't feel me anymore. But he must be able to. He knows what Jaxon did to me. Right?"

"
Jaxon?
" Carina yelled so loudly, I jumped.

Of course. Nobody in West Region knew he had escaped to Portland.

I exhaled a deep breath. "Mr. McCabe was going to put Jaxon in jail, so he snuck to Portland."

She grimaced. "You're telling me Jaxon is
here
?"

I unloaded the torrent of events, from his arrival to the recent twelve hours. "And last night, he sold me out to the faction."

Carina stared at me wide-mouthed.

"Right? Can you believe he would do that?" I said.

"No, no, no, no." She shook her head slowly.

"I thought I could trust him."

"Oh, no."

"Carina, you have to take me back with you. Connor will know what to—"

Her hand flew up to cut me off. "Please quit talking. I need to think." She held her head as though to keep it from reeling while she paced my room. The minutes ticking by felt like forever.

She spoke carefully, as though connecting pieces of a puzzle she was afraid might fit. "After President McCabe shut down the portal, Jaxon
was
going to jail, but he conveniently left out the real reason why. He was accused of treason for allowing East Region to hack into the portal.
He's
the reason Solomon was able to come here and track you down. We think Jaxon was trying to align with the East and they dumped him once Solomon was killed."

Solomon's name brought back terror-filled memories. He had managed to get a position as a physics teacher at my school. When he found out about my extensive gifts, he attacked me at the mall and tried to take me to East Region. He had planned to use me to torture West Region citizens. Connor had accidentally killed Solomon while fighting to save me.

East Region was run by terrorists that oppressed its people. The fact that Jaxon had worked with them made me sick to my stomach.

Carina's face flashed an emotion I couldn't pin down. "Jaxon hates the McCabes, especially Connor. He hates their privilege and is willing to do anything to gain his own power, even sell his own government's security secrets. But how did he get here?" she muttered to herself.

"Oh, that's easy. He used the backup code."

Her outrage blasted through the room in blistering waves. "I created that code! It's our security login!" She punched the air with her fists. "That traitor! I'm going to kill him when I get my hands on him!"

"Carina, I have to get out of here. I think the faction is going to come after me."

"Oh, sweetheart, they'll definitely come after you. Handing you over to them is Jaxon's sweet revenge. "

"Then let's get out of here! We need to talk to Connor!" I said.

Carina ripped me with a look so full of dread, my heart contracted. She held my gaze like she was trying to communicate something too horrific to say. I realized, then, that I still had no idea why she was here.

"He didn't send you, did he?" I asked.

She stormed through my room in another fit of rage. "Dammit! This is a steaming pile of a situation!" She took three swift steps to add distance between us. "I have to go back," she said, and prepared to leave without me.

I grabbed her arm and she tried to wrench out of my grip. "You have to let go, Echo."

"Why won't you take me with you? Doesn't he want to see me?"

She noticed the suitcase next to the door. "Were you going to leave town?"

"Yes, but if you'll—"

"Then go. Hide somewhere for as long as you can. I can't take you with me, so let go."

"Not until you tell me why you came." I squeezed her arm harder.

There was real fear in her eyes now. "Connor is missing. East Region put a bounty on him after he killed Solomon, so we assumed they had him. But East Region hasn't sent any demands. On a whim, I checked the portal log. Me and Philip were the only ones who had access to that security code, but Connor can be remarkably creative where you're concerned." The corner of her mouth twitched in a tiny smile. "I thought he might have snuck here to see you. Someone time-jumped this morning but I can't tell who, and if Connor isn't with you, then where the hell is he?"

Tito's ears pricked and he galloped down the stairs to the first floor. I barely registered this. The news about my missing soulmate made my entire body buzz.

"Have you checked the Reserve? He liked to hang out there," I offered.

"Of course we have. The entire region is on alert. Nobody's seen him for over twelve hours and the president is frantic."

We stared at each other, our distress mirrored on one another's faces. Concern for my own life was bleached away by the possibility that something bad had happened to Connor.

Downstairs, Tito started barking maniacally. The doorbell rang. "God, now what?" I said.

I went to my bedroom window. A black SUV sat in the driveway. Roth leaned against its hood, and when he saw me looking down at him, he waved. "Omigod." I began to shake uncontrollably. "It's them."

"Son of a—" Carina's eyes cut to the doorway and back at me, indecision pulling her in every direction. "Take my hand," she finally said.

I took hers in both of mine and immediately felt the familiar tingle of the portal as it locked onto us. Tito's barking turned vicious. He scratched at the front door, ready to attack whoever came through it.

"Wait!" I dropped her hand. "I can't leave Tito."

"Echo!"

But I was already launching myself down the stairs. Halfway to the second floor, the Mutila's polluted discharge fouled my lungs.

The doorknob jiggled and something metal rasped against the lock. They were picking their way inside. Tito was in full protection mode, his lips drawn back in a rabid snarl.

Carina stood outside my room. "We have to go
now
. We can't let them see us use the portal!"

"Hold them off! Shoot electric bolts at them or something." I hit the second floor landing.

"I don't have that ability!"

The deadbolt clicked. The door swung open. I slid to a stop.

Jaxon, Roth, and Ivan sauntered into my house as casually as if they owned it. Tito sunk his teeth into Roth's calf.

"Ow! You stinking little rat." Roth gave him a violent shake but the dog charged again and crunched into his ankle. Roth grunted as though the Chihuahua's teeth had chomped bone. Then he kicked out, connecting with Tito's midsection and sent the dog flying. Tito yelped. His soft body landed on the cold tile floor and lay motionless.

"Tito!"

Jaxon stalked toward me. I crept backward up the stairs, splitting my glances between him and the dog, measuring the possibility that I might be able to save Tito and make a run for it.

I stole a glance over my shoulder, and when I didn't see Carina, reality hit hard. She'd had to leave without me.

Jaxon's stride was cautious, but his shoulders were square, and his expression eerily confident. "We're not going to harm you. You're too important to us," he said in an airbrushed voice.

I raised my palm, aimed it at him, and tried to concentrate my life force into a full-on electric blast. My heart thrashed and a numbing fear took over, draining away my ability, just as surely as someone pulling the plug on a tub of water. The bolt sputtered and fizzled at his feet.

His arms shot to shield his face. "You do not want to do that." There was no warning in his tone, just conciliation. "I have a message for you." Slowly, he reached into his back pocket and held his phone for me to see. He tossed it onto the stairs.

"Go ahead, we'll wait," he said.

I picked up the phone. A black blur filled the screen. It shifted. A man's face came into view, angular and hardened. I did not recognize him.

"Are we live?" he asked.

"We are," Jaxon said, loud enough for the man to hear.

The man adjusted his camera so that I could see the form next to him. A person sat in a chair, his broad shoulders hunched forward. A crop of midnight hair reflected the dim overhead light.

"Sit up," the man said. "Look into the camera."

The human form let out a low moan, like an injured animal being prodded out of a deep sleep.

"Say it," he commanded to the figure. "Call her name." The man seized a handful of hair and dragged the person's head upright.

Green eyes stared back at me. My heart dropped out of my chest.

Chapter 28

"Connor?" I whispered to the figure on the screen.

Connor's cheek was bruised yellow-green and a gash cut across his swollen lip. His eyes were fierce.