A Touch of Truth Read online

  Hold on, Maura. Keep holding on. You’re doing a good job. Her hands and arms must have been aching by now. I wished that I could call out to her, that Orlando could—that we could both try to comfort her, assure her somehow—but she was on her own.

  I watched with bated breath as Orlando navigated the wheel over the trees. “You’re doing well, Orlando,” I whispered. “You’re doing well…”

  “I’m worried about the fence,” he croaked.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I just had a thought,” he replied. “What if it sends some kind of… energy upward? Some kind of forcefield?”

  I frowned. Unless a witch had done something to the fence, I figured that Orlando was just overthinking things because of his nerves. It struck me as just a normal electric fence—like the one I had escaped over back in IBSI’s base on the other side of the river.

  “Just keep going,” I encouraged him. “She’s almost there…”

  My voice drained away as a bloodcurdling screech lit up the night. A potential forcefield above the fence had suddenly become the very least of our worries.

  I didn’t often swear—it wasn’t something my parents had ever approved of. But on catching sight of a giant figure zooming through the sky from our right, a slew of curses escaped my lips.

  A mutant. I had been so preoccupied by all the other damn obstacles we were surrounded by—the IBSI, inmates and Bloodless—that I had forgotten all about the hunters’ mutants. Besides, I hadn’t seen a single one since I’d been in this part of the city. It hadn’t even occurred to me that the IBSI could have them patrolling the night skies.

  Everything that happened next was a blur of panic and confusion. Even though we’d both heard the screeching at the same time, Orlando had spotted it later than I had—being forced to keep his concentration on Maura. But now that he stole a glance at the monster, he cursed louder than I had.

  I wasn’t sure what he tried to do next as he began moving the remote’s dials frantically. Pull Maura back toward us? Urge her onward, crossing the final stretch before the lake? I would never find out. The mutant was too quick. With supernatural speed it slammed into Maura, deftly avoiding the blades, and scooped her up in its talons. Letting go of the wheel, Maura shrieked and flailed, but there was nothing she could do. There was nothing any of us could do as the mutant beat its wings ferociously, turning in the sky, and launched toward the opposite direction—back toward the densely populated IBSI area.

  Orlando couldn’t send the blade wheel after the creature in case he ended up injuring Maura. And even if he only managed to damage the mutant with the knives, he still risked Maura’s demise—if the thing dropped her from this height, I doubted she had any chance of surviving.

  The two of us gaped as the mutant soared off with the girl. But then Orlando snapped out of his stupor. He called the wheel back to us—it was ten times faster now that it no longer carried Maura’s weight—and grabbed it as it came flying through the window. Then, without a backward glance, he darted out of the bathroom and into the corridor. I sprinted after him as he raced to the staircase and we both rushed down the stairs. It was a small mercy that no Bloodless slowed our journey to the ground level. We leapt the last of the stairs leading to the lobby and dashed to the exit. Orlando, in his panic and blind desperation, barely even looked around the street to check that it was empty before lurching out. I could only be a little more cautious in my attempt to keep up with him—I donned my gas-mask helmet before hurtling onto the sidewalk.

  Orlando’s eyes were on the sky. We could still see the mutant in the distance.

  “Where do you think it could be taking her?” I gasped. It looked like it was heading toward… the crematorium.

  Orlando did not answer. He was in too much of a daze. His focus remained fixed on the sky as we roamed through the streets, getting dangerously closer to the hubbub of hunter activity. Crap. I could hardly ask Orlando to slow down and think when his sister was in such mortal danger. But heck, this wasn’t a good idea. If we got in trouble too, there would be no chance of helping her. Besides, if the mutant had wanted to kill Maura, eat or rip into her, surely it would’ve just done that already in the sky? It seemed to be taking her somewhere, which indicated that it meant to keep her alive, at least for the time being.

  As much as it killed me to do it, I reached out and grabbed Orlando’s arm. “Wait,” I gasped, struggling to pull him to a stop. “Wait,” I repeated. “We need to think this through. Just running ahead blindly isn’t going to help get your sister back!”

  He shoved me aside, ignoring my words as if I had not spoken, and continued in his race. And again, I had no choice but to follow him.

  He only slowed down as we reached the end of the road because he was forced to. We found ourselves face to face with a group of men turning a corner—a gang of criminals with shaven heads, tattered clothes and weapons. Lots of weapons. Knives and guns stuck out from their belts and protruded beneath their garments. I could only assume, on hearing the commotion—Maura’s screaming and then Orlando’s and my yelling—they had come running.

  I thanked God that I’d had the sense to put my gas mask on before venturing out here. At least they couldn’t recognize me instantly.

  Orlando, on the other hand, was not wearing his, but he wasn’t a wanted person around here.

  Orlando moved to dodge them, slip by the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road, but they quickly hurried toward him. They pulled out guns and pointed them at Orlando, forcing him to a stop, while I found myself backing away from four intimidating men moving toward me. At the lead was Paul Stokes. I could make out his features more clearly now that he was so close. He was a muscled man with cropped hair—like everyone in this place seemed to have, be they men or women—and a wide scar that stretched from his right eye down to his jawline.

  Since I was dressed pretty bulkily—wearing not only my helmet but also my waterproof overalls—and since my long hair was tucked away, it was possible that he couldn’t even tell my gender yet. And I had to keep it that way.

  The mutant had flown out of sight by now, Maura’s screams fading into the distance. But all Orlando and I had to think about now was getting away from these men. Far away.

  “Reveal yourself!” Paul demanded of me.

  I looked anxiously toward Orlando. My instinct was to bolt right now, but I couldn’t just leave him. I was also torn as to how, exactly, I ought to defend myself. The easiest way would’ve been to make use of my fire powers, but that would be a dead giveaway. The IBSI knew about my powers by now—they had witnessed them enough back in their base. They had probably already described me to this gang.

  They would instantly know who I was, and any onlookers who arrived at all the noise and disruption a battle would cause would also know.

  Orlando’s finger twitched over the wheel’s remote. Fear gripped me for him. One wrong move, and they’d shoot him.

  “Put the wheel down,” one of the men shouted at him, “along with every other weapon you’re carrying.”

  Oh, God. Where are those damn Bloodless when you need them? Some of those nasty creatures causing a distraction here would really be useful about now.

  Orlando didn’t budge. He stared back at them defiantly, his jaw twitching. “Let me pass.” He spoke up in a voice that was surprisingly level. “I’m of no interest to you.”

  The men glanced at me, me and my hidden face.

  Paul cocked his gun and raised it to me. “Remove your mask,” he commanded me again. “I will not ask you a third time.”

  In the split second that every one of the criminals looked at me, Orlando made his move. He dropped the wheel and pressed down hard on his controls. The rotor roared to life and went slashing toward the men.

  Then came a gunshot. The men hadn’t been distracted by me long enough.

  The blade wheel stopped spinning and crashed to the waterlogged ground. Orlando staggered back, dropping the remote.


  I couldn’t stop myself from yelling out to him—which instantly gave away my gender.

  I hadn’t seen exactly through this gloom where one of them had shot him, or which one exactly, but Orlando clutched his shoulder with one hand. He let out a deep groan, his face contorting in agony.

  No. No!

  Paul lurched for me while the other men crowded around Orlando.

  There was no time for games anymore.

  Pulling the lighter from my pocket, I sparked it and blazed a fire in my palms. Paul leapt back. The IBSI should have warned him of my powers, but he still looked alarmed. Never met a fae before, huh? I made the flames billow toward him, forcing him to dart backward to avoid being scorched to a crisp.

  The men who’d been closing in on Orlando whirled around, their focus on me, Orlando momentarily forgotten.

  Gripping my mask, I pulled it from my head and threw it to the ground, revealing my face. My loose hair flailed wildly in the breeze as I glowered at each of them.

  My only objective right now was to distract them from Orlando. I was already foreseeing them ending him. Kicking him to the ground and lodging bullets into him until he released his final breath. These people saw no value in other people’s lives.

  Except mine.

  They did value mine.

  They would not shoot at me now that they had seen who I was—I was sure of that. The IBSI didn’t want me dead yet, at least not until they had reclaimed and interrogated me. I knew that much from my previous experience of being their prisoner.

  I was the key to these inmates’ freedom. They needed me alive.

  “As my friend said,” I called to the men, “he is of no interest to you. I, however, am…” My fingers cradled my lighter as I narrowed my eyes on them. Dropping my voice to a menacing tone, I dared, “Come and get me.”

  Grace

  My confident tone did not mirror my inner state of being. My gut was churning with nerves as I dashed off down the street in the opposite direction from Orlando. The men’s footsteps hammered against the road as they raced after me.

  I had to get as far away as I possibly could, and hopefully Orlando would have the strength to keep going alone. Though going where, exactly, I had no clue. How would he ever reclaim his sister? How would any of us ever escape from here now? Maura had become our only hope of crossing to the other side of the fence. Of reaching a phone.

  But I no longer had time to think as I accidentally turned into a narrow alleyway that, to my horror, turned out to be a dead end.

  The criminals came rushing after me and I quickly hurried to a narrow staircase that wound up the side of one building’s wall. I scaled it as fast as my legs could carry me.

  Bloodless, oh, Bloodless… Where are you?

  I needed to find a crowd of them. With my fire, it would be much easier for me to evade the monsters than for these criminals—especially since the Bloodless should be more drawn to their blood than to a half-fae’s.

  I would have smiled bitterly at the sheer irony if I hadn’t been in such a frenzy to escape. I’d spent practically every waking moment since I arrived in this city fearing bumping into the nightmarish creatures, and now that I needed them, I couldn’t find them anywhere. Typical. Just typical.

  I had to keep moving. Reaching the top of the roof, I lunged for a door that led back down through the interior building. Forcing the stiff door open, I hurried into the building and down the internal staircase. I blazed back fire over my shoulder every so often to keep them at a safe distance until I arrived on the ground floor. Here I could continue running and searching for Bloodless. I had to find the monsters before the IBSI came to assist the criminals in the chase. Once they did that, things would escalate to a whole new level.

  My heart was in my throat as my feet pounded against the concrete, splashing through deep puddles. I barely had time to look where I was going as I darted through the streets.

  And then, I saw it. A sight both beautiful and terrifying. A group of Bloodless hulking at the end of the road I’d just turned into.

  “Hey, you guys!” I bellowed toward them. I was sure that they had never been addressed as such in the whole of their Bloodless lives. They stopped in their tracks and spun around. Then, as hard as my pulse raced, I went darting toward them. The Bloodless welcomed my advance eagerly.

  I cast a glance over my shoulder to see the men had already turned around and started darting in the opposite direction on spotting the crowd of Bloodless. I blazed up a fire just in time to prevent the Bloodless from diving straight into me, and manipulated the flames to encourage them in the direction of the criminals. The monsters were not slow to take the cue—they immediately ran after the men.

  I watched as they fled and breathed a sigh of relief. Relief that didn’t last long as I thought of Orlando. If they were heading in his direction, with his injury, I didn’t know how quick he’d be to defend himself. I had to get back to him. The thought of losing him now in this time of deepest desperation sent despair rippling through my chest.

  I took a right down a side alley that appeared to run exactly parallel to the main road. There had to be an opening here… somewhere I could turn left to rejoin it and…

  I yelped as I turned the alley’s corner and collided with three men. The collision was so forceful, I was knocked from my feet and fell forward into a puddle. I barely had time to swivel around and verify who I had just collided with before hands pinned my legs down. A heavy weight dropped against my back, flattening me against the wet concrete. Another pair of hands closed around my wrists, forcing my palms to the ground and into the deep puddle I had tripped into.

  I screamed, managing to twist my head round just enough to realize who was on top of me. Paul. He and the two other men must’ve taken a detour the moment they saw the Bloodless and wound their way here through the back alleys.

  No!

  I tried to free my hands, raise them from the puddle, but two heavy booted feet ran in front of me and pressed down hard against them, keeping them firmly where they were, deep in the water. I had lost the spark in my hands and now I couldn’t reignite it. Even if I manipulated the water to leave the puddle, I needed to reach my lighter.

  Another pair of hands pressed down over my wrists before Paul’s hands slipped away. Instead he slid them down my body. One by one, he removed the weapons from my person—a gun and my stash of lighters. I heard what sounded like the drawing of a blade from its sheath, and then the slicing of fabric. My backpack came loose. He lifted it off me and threw it aside before continuing to roam my body with his hands—far more intrusively than was required.

  “Get off me!” I wheezed.

  Paul slammed my head down into the puddle, causing me to choke on the muddy water. His hands continued their unnecessary wandering until even one of his companions remarked, “Come on, man. That’s enough.”

  Paul’s weight remained on me, but at least his hands stopped moving.

  “We need to get her to Martin,” he muttered to the other two. “He’s got the sedatives. Should have ripped some off him before we parted, dammit.”

  “What about the others?” one of the men asked.

  “What do you mean, Tim?” Paul responded.

  “We need to wait for them,” Tim said. “Obviously. So we all get out together.”

  “No. We’re not going to wait around,” Paul replied. “If they find us on the way back, that’s all well and good. They can join the group and we can tell the IBSI that they assisted. But if not, then it’s tough.”

  “Wait a second, Stokes.” The other man spoke—the man who was standing on my hands. “Jade is with the others. I can’t leave her behind.”

  “Then go look for her,” Paul replied coldly. “You know the route I’ll take. Go find her and reach us in time so you can join us. I doubt I’ll be moving that fast, anyway, with this little lady flailing about…Though I suggest she doesn’t.” He gripped the back of my neck threateningly.

  “You’re g
oing to screw over a lot of people, you know that,” the third man said. “We all came—”

  “You know that you guys have just been lied to anyway.” I spoke up suddenly, interrupting their quickly heating conversation. “There isn’t actually any treatment or freedom planned for you. It’s all a lie.”

  “Shut your mouth unless you’re asked to open it,” Paul snapped, tugging painfully at my hair.

  “You’re just being used, Paul,” I went on, gritting my teeth against the pain. “You’re being used like a pawn. You’re just too dumb to see it.”

  He craned my neck back again painfully and hissed, “I told you to shut it.”

  “The truth hurts,” I managed, “I know.”

  “What truth?” Tim asked.

  “Don’t start encouraging her!” Paul snarled.

  “I wanna hear what she has to say,” Tim replied.

  I wasn’t sure why Tim was so eager to have me speak, honestly. Perhaps because he too was having doubts about the IBSI’s promises.

  Paul growled impatiently, but released my neck, allowing me to breathe normally. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure what I was doing or even saying. I had to wrangle some way to keep them distracted, because once they got hold of sedatives, it would be the beginning of the end for me. I would find myself waking up back in the IBSI’s headquarters, and this time I would never see the light of day again.

  “What is it that we are ignorant of, then?” Paul snapped.

  As I stumbled for words, something occurred to me. The IBSI should have no reason to know about my ability to manipulate water. As far as we knew, they still knew very little about fae. Indeed, many of them had been surprised when I had blazed fire in my palms back in their headquarters. I was almost positive that these criminals wouldn’t know about my water powers either. If Tim would just stop clamping down my wrists with his boots, and if I could just sit at the right angle… I was surrounded by wide, deep puddles that filled the dips in the dilapidated road. More like mini-paddling pools.