Dead End Read online

I have to protect Echo. I must keep her loved ones safe.

  I can feel the invader’s frustration as he eases up on his probing. “Just as insufferable as the other one. Just as stubborn,” he mutters to himself. “Only a matter of time, though,” he says, louder this time. “You’ve given me a taste. You are loyal to her. You … care for her.”

  “Yes.”

  “Why? She was the reason for your entrapment here. She was the cause of your isolation.”

  “It wasn’t her fault. She had nothing to do with it.”

  There is silence in my mind, heavy and thoughtful. “You’ve been useful, Hunter. You’ve allowed me to find what I need to survive. I have no quarrel with you. You and I … we’re the same. Prisoners. But I will do what the others failed to do for you. I will let you go.”

  What is he playing at?

  “I’ve spent too long here already. It seems I miscalculated. Logic is not a driving force for these people, and I believe I’m being stalled. I warned them what would happen if they didn’t accept my truce. Now I must deliver.”

  The bindings are suddenly gone, and then the gray parts, and I am falling through it, out from the gloom and into crisp reality, back into my body. I hold up my shadow arms and turn them over.

  I’m free, and Genesis … Oh, shit.

  I rush the walls, banging on them with my fists. “Hey, hey. He’s gone. He’s going to kill them. He’s going to kill them all.”

  Chapter 18

  A mile out from the hydropower plant and under cover of trees, land dwellers and sea dwellers waited for the Draconi the Keep had sent to pick up and deliver the rest of our army.

  Thirty humans, who weren’t technically human, agreed to join us along with Jules, of course. You could see the otherness in their eyes, in the powerful lines of their bodies and the bulk of their muscles. These humans had Draconi and Shedim genes; calling them human felt wrong, but there wasn’t a name for what they were.

  Lyrian had argued with his mother again, begging for troops, but she’d shot him down. Part of me wanted to hate her, but the other logical part understood that what we were about to do, despite our planning, was a huge risk.

  Deacon stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I stiffened in surprise before allowing my body to melt back against him.

  I turned my head slightly to speak to him. “You’re not usually prone to overt displays of affection, not unless we’re about to eat stew.”

  His chuckle was warm honey. “Oh, Echo, there is so much you still have to learn about me once this is over.”

  Moths spawned to life in my stomach. “Yes, once this is over.”

  He sighed. “We will end him today.”

  “Yes.”

  If I believed it—if we all believed it—then the power of that belief would give us the edge we needed. I looked to my left to see Rhydian crouched by a tree trunk. Lyrian was with him, his attention on the sky. Micha was a few feet away with Emory, and Finn and his Lupinata hung back in the shadows, eyes glowing like reflective gems.

  Had Genesis figured out what we were doing? Probably, yes. He was most likely ready for us. He would use my loved ones as leverage if given the chance.

  What then?

  No, don’t think about it.

  What if Jules’s people had changed their minds?

  Wings beat the air, and then the sky darkened as the sun was blocked by the Draconi. They landed in twos, and humans climbed off the huge beasts’ backs and ran for cover. I spotted Jules. She’d switched from camo gear to Protectorate black. She led her group of humans toward the tree line, and I waved her over.

  The Draconi took off as she joined us.

  “We’re good to go,” she said. “We have weapons to slow down the scuttlers and eaters.”

  “There could be other machines inside the plant,” Deacon replied. “We have no idea what he has guarding him. Once we get in, the goal is to distract and occupy while Echo and Emory get the explosive to the brain.”

  We’d been through the plan over and over. It seemed flimsy because we had no idea what the layout was or whereabouts in the building the brain was housed. But it was all we had, and we clung to it like the lifeline it was.

  Everyone huddled around. We were over a hundred strong now. This could work, and all eyes were on me.

  Shit.

  “We stick to the forest. It will get us as close to the plant as we’re going to get without breaking cover, and then we move in fast. Three groups. Rhydian, you lead your people. Jules, you lead yours, and Finn, you lead the Hive lot. Deacon, Emory, Micha, Lyrian, and I are going to make a beeline for the brain. He has to be in the center of the plant somewhere.”

  There were a few wary glances.

  “Look, I know it isn’t the most perfect of plans, but it’s all we have. Your job is to keep fighting. Draw out the scuttlers and eaters, draw them away from Genesis, and leave the rest to us.”

  “We got this,” Micha said.

  It was time to move out.

  The hydropower plant was a sprawling structure that hugged a river at the base of a mountain. We huddled in the sparse brush and scanned the building. There were no visible entrances from our vantage point.

  “I’ll go down and check it out,” Micha said. “I can go stealth mode.”

  I nodded, and he strode off, his body vanishing when he exited cover. We waited long minutes.

  Where was he?

  “He’ll be fine,” Lyrian said. “Stealth is Micha’s forte.”

  “The place looks impenetrable.”

  “There’ll be exits. It used to be a manned station,” Deacon said.

  “How do you know?”

  “When Genesis first did its job and abolished the pockets of Arcana, allowing supernaturals and humans to cohabit regions again, I made it my business to know the layout of my new home. My House came to Arcana City because it was considered a capital because it had been the one to create Genesis. Little did we know that Genesis would be our downfall.”

  “Did it begin feeding on arcana straight away?”

  “No, not straight away, a year or so passed before they realized what was happening. They left it running, you see, wanting to adjust its use to city maintenance and other things. It had been a timely and expensive endeavor, and by the time they realized what was happening and tried to shut it off, Genesis was already too strong.”

  “I’d always thought they’d tried to shut it off and then it had begun feeding on arcana.”

  “That’s what the general knowledge tells you, but I knew people on the inside. Arcana who worked for the project. Genesis was savvy, Genesis knew what it was doing, almost as if it knew that its creators would try and shut it down.”

  Micha materialized a meter away from us and jogged over. “Two entrances, one on either side out of view. Locked and require security access, though. We’ll need dragon fire and brute force to get in.”

  “I can bring the fire,” Lyrian said.

  “I’ll bring the force,” Gideon said.

  I nodded. “Get into your groups. We hit the south side exit first. Finn’s group will enter that way. Jules, you and Rhydian take your people in via the north entrance.”

  Jules met my gaze with a nod.

  “What about your team?” Rhydian asked.

  “We’ll go in with Finn and then split from there. Remember, the aim is to draw Genesis’s forces out and leave him vulnerable.”

  Jules’s grin was all sharp edges. “Oh, don’t worry, my people know how to dance with the devil.”

  I didn’t know what I expected as we rushed down the rise to the valley where the power plant was nestled, but it wasn’t the absence of attack, it wasn’t silence. The south door came down easy, and once again, nothing but silence greeted us. No surge of metal beasts to bar our path, no laser beams. Lyrian headed north to open the exit for Rhydian and his people. Wait for it … that would be the guarded entrance.

  Nothing.

  What the fuck wa
s going on? I looked to Emory. “Do you think we got it wrong?”

  “Not unless the information we were given is wrong.”

  “My dad wouldn’t lie to us.”

  Emory’s eyes widened. “If that was your dad who sent the message.”

  I scrubbed a hand over my face. “No, this has to be it. It has to be where he’s holding everyone.”

  “There’s no sign of any disturbance, the doors were sealed, so how would they have gotten anyone in and out?” Micha added.

  They were right. I scanned our surroundings, looking for a sign, any sign. This wasn’t the place. This was all wrong.

  Lyrian appeared around the corner. “Rhydian’s spotted something, a trail into the mountains.”

  The mountains. “Show us.”

  We trooped around the building, the rush of water from the river loud in our ears. The mountains rose in front of us, brown and gray and secretive, and the trail came into view, battered, worn, and used and totally wide enough to allow scuttlers and eaters to traverse it.

  “Look.” Finn crouched and touched the ground. “Check out these depressions, these are scuttler tracks.”

  My pulse began to pound in my throat. This was it, this was the way. My brother, Verona, and my father were here somewhere.

  I strode up the trail, senses wide open for any sound or sight of the metallic monsters, but once again silence reigned, except here it was pregnant with expectation.

  Yes. We were on the right track now. The trail wound upward at a gentle incline, and Finn followed the tracks, leading us until the ground leveled out into a platform, and our destination was finally revealed.

  “Motherfucker.” Finn walked forward and stood at the mouth of the cave. It was twice as high as him and three times as wide. Large enough for our enemy to get in and out. But we’d come prepared for a building, not a cave. How easy would it be to get turned around in there, to get lost?

  “I brought flashlights,” Jules said.

  That was something.” Change of plan. We stick together for now. If we split up, we leave a marker of some kind. I don’t want anyone getting lost in there.”

  Emory and Lyrian led the way, and I followed with the others behind me. My arcana switched on my night vision as soon as it got too dark for my normal eyes to make out my surroundings. The cave was vast, a huge chamber, and my breath caught at the sight of the metal tossed to one side. It was a scuttler, dead, unmoving, and broken. Any doubts that we were in the right place vanished, and we forged ahead.

  Three tunnels led off from the main chamber.

  “I think we should split up here,” Jules said. “We can head in, find Genesis’s minions, and lead them outside.”

  It was a solid idea. “Jules, you take tunnel number one. Rhydian, you take your people and head down number two. Finn and I will take the Hive lot down three. Everyone’s got your radios?”

  There was a series of checks.

  “Let’s do this.”

  The tunnel was wide enough for three of us to walk side by side, and the walls were way too uniform and smooth to be natural. This was a manmade or, in this case, a machine-made hideout, and the walls glowed softly with what looked like moss.

  “Ten meters,” Finn said.

  He was tracking how far we walked.

  “Fifteen meters.”

  The blood was thumping in my ears because this was it. Soon we’d—

  The radio at Finn’s hip cracked, and then Jules’s voice echoed around the tunnel. “Contact. We have contact.”

  Gunfire ricocheted, and the scream of metal filled the tunnel, and then the radio cut out. I turned and walked straight into Emory. He gripped my shoulders, his face tense.

  “Jules has got this. We keep moving.”

  That was his sister, and if he wasn’t rushing to her aid then … Fine.

  “Faster.” I pushed past Finn and began to jog. We needed to find out if this was a dud tunnel. If it was, then we had to go help Jules. What if she stumbled on the nest? What if she had found Genesis’s hiding place?

  The tunnel opened out, and the world filled with light. It clung to the walls in bulbs suspended between thick cables, and in the center of it all was a huge wire cage filled with bodies.

  Unconscious, breathing bodies.

  Oh, God. Oh, fucking hell. I rushed forward, scanning the people inside. Faces I recognized. People I recognized. Micha and Lyrian tugged at the bars.

  Finn prodded a couple of people through the mesh, but no one stirred, and then I saw him … Bry. Curled up in Verona’s arms in a far corner. Their eyes were closed, their chests moving evenly in sleep.

  “They’re drugged. We have to get them out of here.”

  “We’ll have to make runs carrying them,” Finn said. “I can take two at a time.”

  “Me too,” one of his Lupinata said.

  “We need to get into the damn cage first.” Emory reached into his pack and pulled out bolt cutters. “I thought we might need this to get past locks in the plant. But they’ll work here just as well.”

  They were a tiny pair of cutters, but they did the job of cutting a hole in the cage. We were almost there.

  A soft whirr whispered across the chamber, and everyone froze. It came again, smooth and filled with intent from above. I met Emory’s eyes, and we lifted our head to look up at the same time. Metal covered the cavern ceiling. Moving, writhing metal. These weren’t scuttlers, these weren’t eaters, these were something else. Their limbs were metal but moved sinuously like tentacles, like snakes, and then they lashed down at us like whips.

  Someone screamed and then another and another, the tentacles slashed at us, and while the humans were protected by the metal cage surrounding them, we weren’t.

  There was only one thing to do. “Get in the cage.” I dove in first, and the others climbed in after me. Metal scraped against metal as the tentacles attempted to protect their cargo.

  “Wake them up,” Emory said. “We need to get out of here. If we can use our collective force to move the cage to the tunnel, we can get out unscathed.”

  It was a solid plan, aside from the fact that none of them were waking up. I wove my way to Verona and Bry and tugged him into my arms. He was so small, so vulnerable.

  “Bry. Hey, wake up.” I smoothed back his hair. “Baby boy, come on.” Nothing.

  I shook him gently, but he continued to sleep. Laying him back with Verona, I turned my attention to the man beside them. He was large and strong. Looked like he could handle a slap, so I slapped him. He didn’t even groan, just carried on sleeping. What the heck had Genesis done to them? He had to be near. He’d keep this cargo close to him, surely.

  The radio burst to life again; this time it was Rhydian. “We’re outside. Scuttlers and eaters on the mountain pass.”

  I grabbed Finn’s hand to speak into the radio. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. We’re fine. But the two tunnels ended in dead end chambers. No other access. Echo. It has to be your tunnel.” Screams and yells filtered down the connection. “Ech—”

  The connection died.

  “Rhydian!”

  My heart slammed into my ribs. He was hurt. I had to get to him, I had to—

  Finn lifted me off the ground and against his chest. “Breathe. Focus, dammit.”

  I blinked, and the instinctive urge to go to Rhydian’s aid loosened its grip. I guess that was the bond he’d been speaking of. The one he’d said would grow over time.

  I nodded to let Finn know I was okay, and he released me. The tentacles lashed at us, eager to rip us to threads. Where was the other exit?

  There.

  Genesis’s home had to be through the neatly hewn arch on the opposite side of the chamber from us. We had to make our way to it.

  I grabbed Emory’s bicep. “Micha, Lyrian, I’m going to use arcana to clear a path. I’ll blast them while you make a break for that tunnel, and I’ll follow.”

  “There are too many of them,” Micha said. “It’
s too risky.”

  “You heard what Rhydian said. Genesis must be through that tunnel. It’s why it’s so effectively guarded. We have no choice.”

  “And what if there are other things there?” Finn said. “You can’t fight them all by yourself.”

  Awareness skittered over my scalp. “Wait. Don’t move. Everyone remain super still.”

  The tentacles had stopped lashing and were retracting up into the ceiling. Suddenly, the unconscious humans made perfect sense. Genesis had drugged them somehow to prevent them from moving about because …

  “The tentacles are activated by motion.”

  Emory grinned. “Of course.” His smile turned into a frown. “Motion detectors need a certain level of motion to activate. Theoretically, if we move super slow, then they might not activate.”

  “Theoretically?” Deacon asked.

  And if we were wrong, we’d be fucked. “I’ll go first. I have my arcana. If it goes wrong, I can blast my way to safety. Once I get there, I can watch over you guys as you make the trip.”

  Emory nodded, but Lyrian and Micha didn’t look too happy. Heck, I wasn’t too happy about the plan either. The tentacles had barbs and razors and all kinds of nasty protrusions created to rip and shred, but it was the only option.

  “Okay, here goes nothing.” Inch by inch, move by move, I made my way to the exit of the cage. I was moving literally in super slow motion. It was frustrating and put my teeth on edge, but it was working, and then I was out of the cage.

  “Slow,” Micha warned. “Nobody else move.”

  I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, and damn it, I must have looked ridiculous.

  Someone chuckled.

  “Whoever that is, I swear I’m going to kick your ass later.”

  “Shut up, Brunner,” Finn snapped.

  One of the Lupinata then. Asshole.

  But yeah, I felt ridiculous as I slow motioned my way across the chamber, pulse fluttering with every step toward the tunnel. It was getting closer and closer, and then I tripped. I stumbled forward, arms flailing, and the whirr of the tentacles cut through my yelp. A bellow ripped through the air, and then I was flattened to the ground, and Gideon’s unmistakable scent filled my head; his body jerked, and then we were in motion with me trapped in his powerful arms, shielded from the lashing tentacles by his huge body. How was he carrying me like that? So easily, as if I weighed nothing. His grunts and hisses of pain told me the tentacles were hitting their marks, and then we were in the tunnel beyond. He lowered me to the ground, and I turned to him.