The Detective Inspectors (The Doorknob Society Saga Book 4) (26 page)

Tower was nowhere to be seen and I wished I could grab a hold of Bodie and hug him. His face had gone ash white and he was coughing blood.

“Not too bad huh?” He smiled at me.

“You did great. Now where the hell is your team, they need to get you help?”

“They’re on their way. But we’ve got a problem.”

 “What?”

“In your time those Forget Me Nots still exist, you need to destroy them.”

 He was right. I looked around the room and the shelves were still here and so were the orbs of Forget Me Nots. What Bodie had destroyed was from his time. These were all new and each one contained someone from here and now, someone who the First Kind was controlling just as they had controlled me and Nightshade. Maybe his was in here and if I destroyed it I could set him free and maybe just maybe he’d remember the way things had been.

I looked down at the Looking Glass humming in my hand. The power was all consuming, I knew what that could mean if I couldn’t contain it. It would burn me out.

“I’ll do it,” I said.

“No. It’s too risky, you need to survive and finish off that bastard. I didn’t kill him; he’s still a threat. You know who he is now right?”

“Yes, in my time he’s the head of the Council. His name is Tower.”

“Good then our plan worked. Now you have to let me finish this.”

 “What do you mean?”

“The Looking Glasses are connected, I can direct my power through yours and you can use it to destroy the Forget Me Nots. If you aren’t containing the power, it can’t burn you up.”

“You’re too weak, you can’t do it.” I shook my head and tears began to rim my eyes.

“We both knew this was a one way trip. Let me finish my part of it, my story has already been written. I defeated the Darkwatch, now let me help you, my great-great-grand daughter.” Tears rolled down his cheeks while his mouth tightened with pain.

 “Bodie, please,” I whispered my heart aching.

“You do our name proud, Chloe Masters, I’m glad to have known you were my descendant. You finish what I started; you stop Tower and save the Old Kind. Now please let me save you.” His last words came out in a whisper.

I couldn’t speak, I just nodded and he lifted his Looking Glass as I did the same. I could feel the gap in time and space closing between us as a surge of energy rushed through me and into the mirror. The power was tremendous and I had doubts that I would have been able to control it. I looked down and Bodie’s face was filled with pain and control mixed into one.

“Focus it,” he said,

I turned the Looking Glass out toward the room. White light poured from the surface of the mirror and washed over the room just as it had before destroying everything in Bodie’s time. I aimed it at the shelves and Forget Me Nots and they shattered in all directions. I turned the mirror all around leaving none of the orbs untouched. The power wavered and the Looking Glass shook in my hand and I turned to see Bodie breathing heavily on the ground.

 He smiled at me weakly. “Did it work?”

 “Yes.” I nodded.

“Bodie!” A woman screamed and I heard her racing toward us. The light of the Looking Glass caught her and the image of a young woman wearing pants with riding boots and a man’s shirt rushed forward and dropped to her knees next to Bodie. Her jet black hair was pulled back, but her eyes were what I noticed the most. I had seen them before.

“No, no, you’re going to be fine,” she was saying over and over as she hugged him. “I’m going to get you out of here.”

“It’s too late, you know that,” Bodie whispered. “It had to be done, we won.”

“No, not like this damn it,” she cried.

“Rose.” My breath caught in my throat when he whispered her name. “I want you to meet our great-great granddaughter, Chloe Masters.” Rose looked up from Bodie, tears streaming down her face and I recognized Rosalita’s eyes looking back at me.

“Hi,” I choked out.

“You helped us?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Thank you.” She smiled through her tears.

“Chloe, you have to go and finish this, and I need time with my new wife.” Bodie reached a trembling hand up and cupped her chin. Rose drew her lips in trying not to lose control.

“Okay.” I stood up staring down at the image of them flickering before me. I didn’t want to let them go, but I couldn’t watch someone else I cared about die. Then another thought struck me. “Rose, the Looking Glass you need to give it to me.”

Rose reached out, her fingers tracing over the surface of the Looking Glass. She looked from it to mine. “When?”

“The next time we meet,” I said realizing that she had known this was going to happen all along. No wonder she had been avoiding me, who would want to be reminded of this moment.

“I will,” she promised. “What are you going to do?”

 “I’m going to end this once and for all, even if it kills me.”

“Chloe, don’t.” Rose looked at me with pleading eyes.

  Bodie coughed and a new line of blood dripped from his mouth. The look he gave me told me everything I needed to know.

“I love you too, Bodie.” I nodded and turned off the Looking Glass. “Goodbye.”

Their image flickered and disappeared like a movie drawing to an end. I dropped my head and let the tears roll for just a moment. That was someone else in my family that the First Kind needed to answer for.

“Well, wasn’t that touching.”

Status: Time for some ass kicking.

“Are you going to cry now?”

 Ms. True’s voice grated on me like a million tiny needles pricking my body. “You should run now,” I stated calmly.

“Why, what are you going to do?”

 I didn’t have to look at her to know that she was sneering at me. I slid the Looking Glass back through my hoodie into my pocket dimension and grabbed my Doorknob.

I half turned my head, my eyes catching sight of her from the side. “I’m going to kill you.”

“Right.” She chuckled nervously and backed up a step.

My energy whip uncurled swiftly from my Doorknob and I snapped it out cracking the floor in front of her. Ms. True jumped and ran for the door, I was right behind her. My whip came down in large arcs slicing the floor into kindling on either side of her. She grabbed the handle and yanked the portal open rushing back through to Storm Reach.

I followed through the portal directly behind her. The battle raged, a large hole having been blown in the wall at some point and rain and wind were rushing in. A metal catwalk hung a few feet out of reach in the rain with a thousand foot drop between Storm Reach and it.

Slade was battered and bruised and stood at the end of the hall constructing some type of barricade that folded outward and blocked off access to the hallway. Jess stood behind him fighting Jasper. There was no sign of Nightshade, Darker, or the Gremlin.

Ms. True ran to the far end of the hall and tried frantically to open the door she had originally come out of only to come up against the lock Darker had placed on it. She fumbled with her Skeleton Key and attempted to unlock it.

I walked slowly down the hallway toward her, my energy whip dragging behind me, throwing off electrical charges as it hit the floor.

“Come on, come on,” she cried banging on the door and kicking at it.

“Going somewhere?” I asked and she froze.

“You won’t do this,” she said much too confidently.

“Is that so?” I twisted my whip, cracking it against the wall beside her.

“I won’t let you.” She turned away from the door and ran for the broken wall.

“Stop her!” I yelled but it was too late, she jumped through the jagged opening. The buildup of energy was unmistakable as she opened a portal in midair and disappeared through it. Rain and cold wind whipped at me as I stared into the abyss where she had escaped. “Damn it.”

“Sorry, Cuz,” Jess said as she approached.

 I glanced past her to see that she’d dispatched Jasper with a well-placed punch and Slade was now busy locking him up.

 “Faith?” Jess asked.

“Not sure, I left her behind when I went through the portal. We keep leaving them alive and they keep killing us off, it doesn’t seem fair,” I muttered and Jess slid her hand on my shoulder and squeezed it.

“You okay?”

 What was I supposed to say, that I had just watched my great-great grandfather sacrifice himself to save me. She didn’t want to hear that and I didn’t want to go through it, so I did what I had to do, I lied. “I’m fine. I found out who’s behind everything.”

“Who?” Jess asked.

“Mr. Tower.”

  Jess’ mouth dropped open and she stared at me unable to say a word.

“Seriously?” Slade asked from behind us.

“Yes.” I nodded as if confirming not only for them but for myself that the principal of Paladin Academy was our arch enemy.

“Then the Council is really just a puppet of the First Kind?” Slade ran his hands through his hair, as if trying to digest the news.

 His father was a Council member so I could only imagine the thoughts running through his head right now. I looked around again, and then at the big hole in the wall and was almost afraid to ask, “Where’s Nightshade?”

“Darker blew a hole in the wall a few minutes ago, and Nightshade and his Gremlin gave chase after him,” Jess said pointing to the catwalk hanging a few feet out over the abyss.

“You guys didn’t follow?”

“He told us to finish up and wait for you,” Jess said.

“Well here I am and that catwalk climbs upward, which is where we need to go. So let’s do it.” I didn’t wait for a response. I took a deep breath, took two steps back, and then ran forward and jumped the distance, catching onto the edge of the catwalk. It shook as my weight shifted it to the side, but held firmly.

I waved to Jess and Slade and waited impatiently for them to join me. Once they did I said, “I’ll head up, you two follow behind and keep your eyes open for a way back into the Tower. We need to find Edgar, the Legend, and now Nightshade.” I gripped the railing and pulled myself up along the catwalk. It was slow going with the wind and rain whipping around. Every once in a while lightning would crack and illuminate Storm Reach, but mostly it was just cold and slow going.

The catwalk leveled off after a bit and became more circular as it wrapped around the outside of the Tower. Upon reaching the top, the doors leading back into the Tower spaced evenly around the catwalk and jutting out from each was another catwalk that led further up to a series of lightning rods.

Lightning crashed and the entire structure shook. The collecting rods lit up as electricity flowed through them and back into the building. For a brief moment I thought I saw something in the shimmer of light let off by the storm.

“Get inside and find Edgar.” I pointed toward the doors. “Stick to the plan.”

“What about you?” Jess leaned in so I could hear her over the storm.

“I’m going to try and find Nightshade,” I said and turned to leave.

Jess grabbed my arm and pulled me back, her face searching mine. “Cuz?”

“I have to,” I said softly, my mouth turning down in a frown.

It was all Jess needed to know what I was thinking. She nodded and pushed Slade along in front of her. I could see them talking but couldn’t hear them over the storm. I assumed she was telling him I was once again being a crazy nutter, staying out in a storm to look for a guy who could barely stand me in his good moments.

I moved out quickly, keeping my hoodie pulled up to block out as much of the rain as I could. I worked my way around the catwalk and moved up toward the collecting rods where I had seen movement earlier. There was a small part of me that was hoping when Nightshade saw me that he would recognize me. I’d destroyed so many Forget Me Nots that there had to be some chance that the one they had used on him had been among them. At least I hoped it had been.

The collecting rods were spaced out evenly and soared high into the dark sky illuminated only by flashes of lightning. I held my Doorknob out but didn’t activate it. If Darker was still around that would be like a beacon declaring here I am come kill me. And though I might be crazy; I’m not stupid.

I crouched down and moved along the rods slowly trying to detect any noise in between the thunderclaps. I reached out with my senses attempting to find Nightshade’s energy signature, but he was either not here or pulling back on his powers so no one could find him.

Lighting flashed and directly in front of me, leering, stood Darker. He reacted quicker than I did, shooting a bolt of energy from his Doorknob, catching my shoulder, and flipping me over. I rolled with the blast and tried to scurry back away from him as I hefted my own Doorknob. Unfortunately, his blast had numbed my whole arm and it was like trying to lift a building. It would take a few minutes to regain feeling.

The dimension shifted under me as Darker activated a portal. I focused on my Doorknob trying to block his attack, but I couldn’t push the energy through the numbness and he opened the portal right beside me. The blue glow lit up the space around us for only a second.

“We’ve been here before haven’t we, boy?” Darker yelled into the darkness. “The question is are you up to the task?”

Darker twisted his Doorknob and another portal opened on the other side of me. The pull of the two portals tugged brutally at my insides, yanking me toward them. If he opened another he would literally tear me in half.

“What, no sacrifice this time? You’re going to let the girl die like the first time?” Darker laughed as he spoke.

“Let her go.” Nightshade walked out of the darkness. Rain soaked every bit of him, his torn shirt hung off his shoulder, and his multi colored eyes glowed with crimson energy. His Skeleton Key formed into a curved blade as he approached slowly.

“Coming to the rescue again?” Darker asked.

“No, this time I’m here to kill you.” He ripped the remains of his shirt off, tossing it to the ground.

Nightshade spun his blade around, a stream of crimson light flowing behind it. Darker activated his Doorknob and created an energy sword of his own. He stepped away from me. I tensed, trying to move my arm, but barely a smattering of feeling was returning, which meant that I couldn’t get myself away from these damn portals.