Redemption (8 page)

“Do you think we’re safe out here?”

“Are you worried about someone or
something
sneaking up on us?”

She looked up, worry in her eyes. “Do you think they will?”

“At first, I was concerned, but I’ve since changed my mind. I think your father will wait until the end. Raphael is too chickenshit to do anything. And the last we saw, Alex was back on the campaign trail for his father.”

“And Marcus?”

Will tensed. He’d been asking himself the same question since Marcus had disappeared at the top of the cliff. “Marcus is a wild card.”

“You think he’ll find us.”

“I’m sure of it. The question is when.”

Emma’s back stiffened.

“Even if he shows up, I don’t think we’ll have anything to worry about.” For Emma’s sake, he hoped to God that was true. “You don’t need to worry, Emma. I’ll protect you.”

“No, we’ll protect each other.”

He smiled and kissed the top of her head, pulling her closer. “Come on. Let’s go inside and get some sleep.” She would need all of her strength tomorrow.

Chapter Six

Jake lay in bed, watching the shadows in fascination. They had grown bolder, moving closer to him, crawling across his covers. He tickled one with his fingers and it vibrated then reached for his hand.

“I’d be careful with those, if I were you.”

Jerking his head up, Jake found Water sitting in the chair in the corner. “You weren’t there a minute ago.”

Water grinned. “Are you sure about that?”

Jake hesitated. He was sure no one had been there when he went to bed. While he’d played with the shadows, he was positive the door hadn’t opened.

“You’re right. I didn’t come through the hall door.”

Jake shoved his thought into the deeper part of his head. He didn’t like that Water had read his thoughts.

“I saw your mother.”

Jake’s jaw dropped and he sucked in a breath.

“She was with Will.”

Jake knew that, but it still hurt to hear. And he shouldn’t be surprised Water had seen her. “You tricked me.”

Water tilted his head, confusion covering his face. “How so?”

“You didn’t tell me you were Will’s dad.”

Water laughed. “So Aiden’s told you.”

“
You
should have told me.”

“I couldn’t. Aiden’s rules. If you want to get upset with someone, get mad at him. This could all be over if it weren’t for Aiden.”

“Your name is Marcus.”

Water grinned. “What else did Aiden tell you?”

“That Will tricked Mommy.”

With a chuckle, Marcus shook his head. “So that’s how he sees it.”

Jake looked away. A burning lump filled his throat.

“Do you remember when I told you that you were the king in our game of chess?”

Jake nodded reluctantly.

“I’ll give you a hint. Part of it has to do with the shadows.”

The shadows on Jake’s bed darted to the edges of the mattress and over the sides, as though they were hiding.

“They like you, you know. That’s very unusual. But they sense how important you are, and they need you.”

“Need me for what?”

Water smiled and leaned over his knees. “I can’t tell you that part yet, but play with them. Let them trust you. You’ll want them to help you at some point.”

“How do you know? And why didn’t Aiden tell me?”

“Aiden is threatened by you. You’re stronger than he expected you to be. I doubt he thought out the results of the child of two elementals.” Water pursed his lips, then grinned. “Then again, maybe he did. Aiden rarely lets details slip by.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“Aiden and I are old acquaintances. Ask him about the shadows if you like. I’m sure he’ll fill you in to some extent. But he won’t tell you everything. Not the important parts.”

“Why do I need them?”

Water held up his index fingers and waved them back and forth. “Not yet. Just know they will help you when you need them.” His grin fell. “And that time is coming sooner than you think.”

Jake watched him, dread creeping up his back. “Can you have visions too?”

“No, not like you. But the proverbial handwriting is on the wall. I know that Raphael told Aiden about your mother and Will.”

“How—”

“I have my ways.”

Jake narrowed his eyes and focused on Water’s thoughts. The man wasn’t prepared for Jake’s intrusion.

“You followed Raphael here.”

“Very good, Jake. But stay out of my head.”

“I will if you stay out of mine.”

Water smirked. “Fair enough. And yes, I followed Raphael here. Once he realized what your mother and Will had done, I wondered what his move would be. The way I saw it, he had two options. One, go to Alex. Two, he came to Aiden. Frankly, I didn’t think he had the guts.”

“Why do you care?”

“Because I’ve put too much planning into this to let anything take me by surprise.”

“Did you know Raphael was going to hurt my mom?”

Marcus’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Yes, and I warned Will. Even when Will didn’t know who she was, he still protected her.”

Will loved Mommy. Of course he would protect her.

“Will didn’t know her when they captured him. He’d lost all of his memories of her, so don’t presume he would have protected her. She meant nothing to him then. Kramer’s men questioned him to find out where she was. He had no reason to keep her safe, but I convinced him to.”

“How?”

“By talking to him in his head.”

“Why would you do that?”

Marcus gave him a soft smile. “I care about you and your mother, Jake. I’ve tried my best to protect you both.”

Jake thought of the years he and Mommy had spent running. All the bad things that had happened. “You didn’t try hard enough.”

“I did the best I could.” Marcus sighed. “There are things I would do differently, but I can’t change the past. We need to focus on the immediately important things. Namely, the fact that Raphael and Aiden aren’t happy that Will joined with your mother.”

“So?” That was no surprise to Jake. He wasn’t happy about it either.

Water shook his head. “No, you don’t understand. Aiden knows that Will has power now and that he’s joined with your mother. He will do anything to try to split them and to keep them from becoming stronger.”

“How? What will Aiden do?”

“He won’t want them to learn to work as a team. He’ll probably try to distract them. And I suspect he’ll use you to do it.”

Jake’s stomach tightened. “I won’t do what he wants.”

“I doubt you’ll have a choice.” Marcus’s eyes narrowed. “Have you been hiding things from Aiden? Has it worked?”

Pursing his lips, Jake gave him a mean scowl. He wasn’t going to give him any more information than he had to. He didn’t trust Marcus.

Marcus chuckled, looking toward the window. “Keep practicing. You can’t tell Aiden that I visited you, and you can’t let him see it in your head.”

Jake lifted his chin in defiance. “I could go tell him everything.”

“You could, but you won’t. You’re curious enough to keep me around and frightened enough to not tell Aiden this is our second meeting. Aiden doesn’t like secrets.”

Jake did his best to turn his irritation into a glare.

“Continue to play with the shadows. Gain their trust, but be careful. Many men have thought they could harness the energy of the shadows. All were deadly wrong. But if the shadows accept you, they’ll show you what to do.” Marcus stood. “I will return in a few days.”

“I don’t want to see you again.”

“I’ll tell you about your mother.”

Jake froze.

Chuckling, Marcus moved toward the window. “Maybe I’ll even bring back a message.”

And then he was gone.

***

Even though Jake knew he was in a dream, it felt so real. Like the dream when he had Will save Mommy.

The air was cool and crisp, and he smelled the musty earth. He was in a valley surrounded by mountains and his bare feet sunk into sand. The sky was dark on one side with more stars than he had ever seen filling the sky, but a hint of pink lined the other side. The sun was getting ready to come up.

Spinning around, Jake found himself alone and a hum of fear filled his chest. He knew something bad was coming.

Two big overlapping circles outlined in black covered the hard ground, forming a sort of oval with an almond shape in the middle. His sight blurred, the image in front of him shifted, like when the cable went out and the picture stopped and jolted in a new place. The circles had been empty and then there were people in them. But not just people—Jake saw Aiden, Raphael and Alex in a circle on one end and Water, Will and Mommy were on the other. Jake’s breath caught.
Mommy
.

Without moving on his own, Jake now stood in the middle, where the circles overlapped, his feet firmly rooted even though he wanted to run to his mother.

“
It has begun
.” A voice echoed around him, bouncing off the mountains and vibrating through his body. “
Four shall fight, two shall remain
. This is the rule set by Fire, but the rules are not complete.”

Jake looked around at the others. Aiden was furious. Alex and Raphael seemed nervous. Water smiled, but Will and Mommy looked worried.

“Each element must be represented in the fight. The words of transfer are in effect.”

What were the words of transfer? Jake wasn’t sure but Aiden’s grin widened.

Raphael looked like he was about to throw up.

“
All
will fight. Two will survive.”

Mommy released a small cry.

“The book contains the rules. The end will occur within two weeks’ time, but Fire may determine the place and the time.”

Tears streamed down Mommy’s face. Anger filled Will’s eyes as he stared at Jake.

Jake sucked in a breath. Why was Will angry with him?

The image shifted. Mommy was there and then she wasn’t, then she was back again. She reached for him, her mouth forming his name, but no sound came out.

Everyone disappeared and Jake stood alone in the almond shape, the sky still dark on one side, but getting pinker on the other. And then everything went black.

***

Will woke to Emma bolting upright in bed, morning sunlight streaming through the blinds.

“Emma?”

“Oh, God. I had a terrible dream.” She looked down at him. Tears wet her pale face. “We were in a desert and all of us were there—Aiden, Marcus, Raphael and Alex. And Jake. A voice from nowhere gave us new rules.”

Will’s eyes sank closed in horror. “I had the same dream.”

She jerked away from him. “
What
?”

He sat up. “I had the same dream, Emma. It was real.”

“No! No, it can’t be real!” She jumped out of bed and began to pace. “Oh, God.”

Will followed her and tried to pull her into his arms, but she shrugged him off.

Her chest rose and fell, and she brought her hand to her forehead, closing her eyes. “Think, Emma. Think.”

“You don’t have to do this alone anymore, Emma. I’m here now. We’ll figure this out together.”

Her hand dropped, her eyes full of terror. “Then what are we going to do, Will?”

He didn’t have a clue, but he suspected that was the last thing she wanted to hear. He also knew that while she was afraid for herself and for him, her real horror was over what would happen to Jake. “First we’re going get dressed and eat something. We’ll practice this morning then head somewhere else this afternoon. Now that the others know how important the book is, they’ll all come after it. Once we practice and get to a new place, we’re going to scour that thing front to back until we figure a way out of this.” Will ran a hand through his hair. “It’s going to be tricky to practice unless we can figure out a way to mask our power while we’re using it. Otherwise, we’ll be a beacon, practically inviting them all to find us. So we’ll do what we did when you were training before we joined. We’ll drive somewhere and sleep then practice and leave.”

She nodded. “Will, the voice said only two would survive.”

“I don’t give a fuck what some voice in a dream said.” He pulled her to his chest, thankful she didn’t pull away this time. “I won’t let anything happen to you or Jake. I’ll make sure you two survive.”

She looked up at him, biting her lip. “What about you, Will? Do you think I’ll just let you die?”

“We’ll find something in the book. It will all work out. Now let’s get dressed and get started.”

She refused to meet his gaze, confirming that she didn’t believe him, but she accepted his answer instead of arguing.

A month ago, the fact that he and Emma had shared the same dream would have freaked him out. Now a shared dream was the least disturbing aspect of their situation. All of the players had been present, so they must have all had the same dream.

What bothered Will the most was Jake’s position. He was in the center, between the two groups. Did that mean he was the
one that was overcome by that which had no price
? Was Jake the key player in this game? And what the hell did
overcome by that which had no price
mean? Whatever it was, it didn’t sound good.