Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy (87 page)

We were in a giant white auditorium of some kind. Exactly
like the room where we’d met the Saviors before, except there were no Saviors there to greet us with their ugly faces.

Not yet…

“Solus!” Alice strained to get the name out of her mouth.

My chest hurt. We weren’t going to last long in this atmosphere. Too little oxygen. Every breath stung like needles sticking my insides.

“Cowards!” Alice cried, toppling to her knees. All of her weight against me made me stumble.

I knelt beside her and wrapped an arm around her
shoulders.

“Please… Alice,” I said, my voice raspy. “Save your breath
. We’ll… find him.”

She whimpered and looked up at me with dismay on her face. Frightened, deep black pupils shimmered in her sky-blue eyes.

“We will,” I mouthed and squeezed her reassuringly.

She was too scared to respond, but nodded a little, and I saw gratitude in her watery eyes.

I had to protect her. For Brian’s and for Solus’ sake. Alice
was an innocent bystander—a necessary soldier in a war she’d
never chosen to fight. The very same war I, too, had never chosen to be a part of.

She came to her feet and we walked together through endless white. Nothing in front or behind. Nothing to the sides. Just white and more white. It was disorientating after a few minutes.

Bright light.

Hard floor beneath our feet.

White in every direction.

Everything looked the same and we couldn’t tell if we were covering any distance or walking in circles.

She stayed close to me, too weak and afraid to let go. The place was making me drowsy, though I tried to hide it
from her. Every step was like walking through three feet of
mud. Every breath was like my lungs taking in water. I kept calm, willing myself to stay quiet and move slowly so my heartbeat
wouldn’t quicken, causing more oxygen to be used.

We kept walking.

And walking.

And walking…

Endless white. More endless white.

Alice’s fingers loosened around my arm and she slid down
my side to the ground, collapsing onto her hands and knees.

“Alice,” I whispered hoarsely. “You have to… stay strong…
for Solus.” Every word pierced my ribs with sharp pain.

“I… can’t.”

The weight got to me, and I gave in, dropping down to sit beside her on the glossy white floor. I put my hands in my lap and hung my head down.

“I’m… sorry,” I said, glancing over at her as she resituated
herself and pulled her knees up to her chest. Tears
drizzled down her face.

She turned her face toward me. Her damp cheeks were red and her eyes were barely able to stay open.

“I’m… so…” She sighed. “Tired.”

I was, too.

We were suffocating…

I wanted to close my eyes and lay myself down on the ice-
cold floor right then and there.

And go to sleep.

And never wake up.

Chapter 28

“
I
’m… sorry I was such an asshole in the beginning,” I wheezed.

“It’s okay,” Alice whispered. “You were protecting… your daughter. Brian would have done the same.”

I swallowed. My mouth was so dry.

All I could think about was how Alice had attacked me back when we had first met and I was fighting with Brian. She latched onto my neck and wouldn’t let go. Her fluorescence burned into me like wild lightning, bringing me to my knees even though she was just a petite young girl. I never
would have thought that a tiny frame could pack such a punch.

They had taught me a lot of things. Like how two people can love each other even while their entire world crumbles around them. How when things aren’t going your way and you feel powerless, you can still find the strength to care for someone other than yourself.

I stared off into the endless white.

Were all of the Saviors dead or had they isolated us as punishment?

A deep sense of dread sunk in. We were going to die.

The reality crept through my bones, a riveting, painful revelation that my next few breaths would be my last.

Alice leaned on my arm and exhaled slowly, her bodyweight pressing into me as she let go.

“Alice.” I caught her as she fell against me. Her eyes
closed. “Alice.” I shook her gently, but she didn’t respond. Panic set in and my heart began to race. The thumping in my chest made me gasp for air, but each inhalation did nothing
to satisfy the need for oxygen. An invisible force pushed against me, making my body heavy and difficult to move. Just supporting Alice in my lap was laborious.

No.

Lucy…

I dropped my head back and sucked in a breath, staring up into the infinite white. Breathing didn’t soothe the pain in my lungs. Invisible hands choked the air from me and I couldn’t stop them.

I exhaled and fell. My mind drifted into the abyss.

. . .

“David. David, wake up!” Someone’s hands were on my shoulders.

I opened my eyes and squinted. Soft blue light radiated from nearby.

“David. Are you okay?” Brian leaned over me. “Come on, man. Get up.”

“Ugh.” My stomach churned. I rolled onto my side and
tried to swallow, but couldn’t. So much acid burned my throat
. Spots in my vision.

Lightheadedness. Things spinning in and out of focus.

A stomach spasm and…

I threw up.

Pain shot through me as I retched.

Oddly enough, I was thankful. Throwing up was better than being dead.

Brian kept me from toppling over as I regained my composure and scooted away from the vomit.

“You’re alright now,” he comforted, patting my back. “You’ll be okay.” He spoke in a much friendlier voice than I had grown accustomed to.

I coughed a few times. Hard. And then took in some deep
breaths. My face was on fire. Sweat dripped into my eyes and I wiped my brow with the back of my hand.

“Thanks.” I looked around. Alice was sitting, too, cheeks flush and an uneasy look on her face like she’d start heaving any second now. “Is… she okay?” I asked.

“Yeah. She should be.”

“What happened?” I came to my feet beside Brian and rubbed my neck. A headache throbbed in the back of my skull.

“Judas screwed with your bracelet—altered it so it couldn’t
block out an abduction attempt.”

“Shit.”

Why hadn’t I thought about that?

“But we got you two back.” He reached into the small backpack slung over his shoulder, dug out a bottle of water, and handed it to me. “The Prism had to create an even more powerful portal so we could go through and rescue you. They couldn’t disable the changes made to your bracelets, but by crossing back through the light, we were able to cloak ourselves again temporarily. Now, if the Saviors want to start something, they’re going to have to do it on our turf.”

I dumped water onto my palm and splashed it at my face first, and then I opened my mouth toward the sky and poured
some in.

My face came back down. “Solus?”

“He’s with me,” Kareena said, her voice coming from behind. I craned my neck to look at her. “The Prism got him back.”

“And Lu—”

“Yes. I have her, too.”

I caught a glimpse of Lucy standing beside Solus.

I heaved
a breath of relief and swallowed again,
still tasting acid and remnants of an upset stomach. I grimaced and took another swig of water to wash it down.

“Thanks,” I said, capping the half-empty bottle before handing it back. “Where are we?”

“I don’t know,” Brian replied. “We haven’t had time to look around.”

We were on a rooftop—the highest one in the area, by the look of
it. I staggered toward the edge, where a large satellite dish stood erect, and gazed out over the unfamiliar city.

“Be careful,” Kareena warned. “Lucy!”

I jerked my head toward the sound of tiny feet nearing
and flung out my arms to catch my daughter before she passed
, nearly falling to her death. She barreled into me and I lifted her off her feet and into my arms.

“Be careful, Lucy,” I scolded. “You could fall.” I took a step away and watched the horizon. Brilliant hues of dusk stretched upward, tainting the sky with shades of violet, magenta, and fiery orange.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” There were no discerning landmarks in the distance and the buildings surrounding us looked like any other skyscrapers. California? Chicago, maybe?
From way up high, everything looked the same. Cars. People.

People…

But the streets below were empty. In big cities, especially, evenings were typically plagued by rush hour at the very least. Let alone early bar-hoppers and dinner dates out i
n force. Something was too peaceful about the place. Deserted
. Silent. Only whispers of the breeze and muffled coos of pigeons filtered by.

“
Don’t let Solus out of sight,” I warned. The hairs on my skin perked and a wave of static energy flitted over me.
“Heads up!” The sky above us split open and a scorching white light shone down. A hazy, warped barrier manifested around the perimeter of the rooftop, boxing us in so we couldn’t escape.

Not that we had that choice to begin with.

I lifted a hand to my brow to shield my eyes from the light.
A figure appeared in the distance.

Judas?

“Give us back the child,” he said, the lights on his mask flickering fervently. “It is for your own good that we confiscate him.”

“
You screwed us!” I growled. “You messed with our
bracelets so you could abduct us again, you bastard.”

“It was
necessary
,” he replied flatly. “I did not harm you.”

“We almost died! Alice and I were going to die up there and you were going to let us!” I adjusted my grasp on Lucy.

Judas tipped his head to the side. “A minor casualty.”

“Minor?” Brian pushed past me. “You call murdering the
mother of your last chance at survival
minor?
”

“We had the child in our possession at the time.”

“Was that your plan all along then? To get back Solus once you found out what he could do and then exterminate the rest of us?”

“It was not…
my
plan,” Judas said.

“Now that’s a load of crap,” I interrupted, releasing Lucy to the ground so she could stand beside me. I took up her hand instead. “You already told us about how you all think as one. That’s why when one of your kind passes, you all feel it. Or was that all bullshit, too?”

“I am only the communicator,” Judas defended. “I do as I am told to do and speak what is requested of me.”

“So you’re a drone.” I sneered. “A mindless, insignificant drone.”

“I suggest you give the child over now,” Judas pressed, his voice stern and his gaze piercing. “We will not tolerate hesitation.”

“There has to be another way!” Alice cut in, bringing Solus close to
her side. “You can’t just take our child away from us. Not again! Isn’t there some way we can work together?
Some kind of compromise? Please?”

Brian stepped up. “Alice, no! There’s no compromising with them. They don’t care about us. They only care about themselves.”

“But they’re dying, too, Brian. If we can help them—”

“They infected your mom, for God’s sake, Alice! They kept our child a secret and then nearly got you and David killed. Why would you want to do anything to help them?”

“Because we’re not like them,” she said. “Right?”

“He’s right, Alice,” I said, glancing down at Lucy and then
across at Solus. “They don’t care about us. They don’t even understand what it is to be alive. The Prism tried to help, but they could only do so much and now… this is our fight.
I’ll do whatever it takes to protect my daughter and your son.”
I looked at Judas and took in a deep breath. “Judas, you’re not taking that kid.”

Yellow light heated my chest and I let Lucy’s fingers slip from mine so I could clench my fists and focus.

“You cannot resist,” Judas said. “We created you. The light cannot be turned against us.”

“We’ll see about that.” I flexed my fingers and willed golden
forks of energy through my body, down my arms. My hands. My fingers. Powerful sparks leached up through my skin, radiating warmth.

Judas
robotically
raised a hand and fanned out his fingers.
“You are strong, Tracker,” he said. “But only as strong as your
Healer keeps you.”

A wisp of chemical green light pulsed beneath his skin.

My body began to shake and my arm raised involuntarily. My fingers pried apart against my will, fanning out in front of me. “No! No! No!”

Amber light exuded from every pore and fluorescence consumed me, enveloping me in a blast of heat and color.

“David, stop!” Kareena screeched.

“I can’t! Shit! Something’s wrong! It’s… burning. I can’t control it! Get away from me! All of you! Hurry!”

I gritted my teeth and arched back, convulsing as tiny
threads of light painfully ripped across my flesh. Wild lightning
arced around me and an explosion of vivid yellow fireworks stung my retinas.

Chapter 29

T
he searing sensation ebbed. I regained control of my
body and doubled over to rest my hands on my knees and let
out an exhausted breath.

“Guys?”

I looked up. Things came into focus and my eyes grazed over a dark blur down in front of me. I blinked a few more times.

It was Brian, sprawled out on the ground, face down.

Motionless.

“Brian?” I took a step closer. “Brian!”

Not even his fingers twitched.

“Lucy! Where are you?” I
swerved
around. She was behind
me, standing close to Solus.