It came together in one horrific realization.
“That’s right. I’ll take you with me. Obsidian ismybaby, and I am King there. The Guild might be able to decide things here, but the moment we are back in my territory, there won’t be a thing they can do.”
“And you think that’ll work?” I tried to tamp down the panic inside of me, that threatened to explode. I couldn’t let it, though, that would render me helpless and I didn’t want to be helpless.
If the Guild had made the decision—and I had no idea why they had—that meant that the threats against the espers wouldn’t hold anymore. If Mr. Yorn was butting heads with those in charge here, he couldn’t expect any favors if he betrayed them.
Which meant I didn’t have to go. He’d lost his footing.
Maybe Kaidan had stepped in? Maybe he’d called in favors I hadn’t realized he’d had?
It didn’t matter, because the last thing I wanted was to end up in Obsidian. It would be like part two of what Corsa had put me through, except I was older, I knew what I would have been missing this time.
I got to my feet and darted for the door. I wasn’t the best runner, but Mr. Yorn hardly appeared like someone who did anything outside a lab. Maybe I could outrun him, and if the Guild had sent him orders, that meant I only needed to find a guard, right?
I yanked the door open to the exam room to find an esper there. “Help me,” I pleaded. “Please, take me to someone in charge—”
The words died on my lips when the esper caught me by the arm and pulled me back into the room, closing the door behind us. He didn’t do it with anger, as though it didn’t matter to him one way or another. “Are you nearly ready, sir?”
Sir?I noticed then that the esper wasn’t one I recognized, not someone from the base that I’d seen.
“He is one of a few I brought with me. I’m not foolish enough to travel alone.” Mr. Yorn went about inserting a USB drive into the computer he’d been working on. He moved quickly, but wasn’t frantic. He didn’t rush, but each step he took had purpose in it.
“You can’t do this.” I pulled against the grip of the hand that held me.
“And why not? Dear, this should feel like going home to you. You’ll be so much more comfortable there instead of trying to pretend as though you’re normal. You won’t have to pretend anything there, able to just exist, to not worry about being thrown away again.”
I allowed the fear inside me to manifest, the power coursing over my skin, but the esper didn’t respond. Instead, the bracelets warmed until they burned.
“You think I would have tried this before I disarmed you? Your little trick will be no good so long as you wear those.” Mr. Yorn gestured at my wrists before dropping the USB into his pocket. “We’re done here.”
“Yes, sir. There is a car waiting for us just outside, then a helicopter twenty minutes north.”
Mr. Yorn nodded, his expression saying he was far too pleased with himself for this entire thing. He thought he’d won, and I had no idea how I could prove him wrong.
The thought of never seeing the men again hurt worse than the idea that they’d betrayed me, that they didn’t want me anymore. I couldn’t stand the thought that I’d end up inObsidian and not see them daily. That seemed worse than whatever Mr. Yorn had planned there.
I pulled with all my strength, but nothing helped, nothing shook the esper’s grip in the slightest. He felt like a handcuff around me, unmovable. It countered the gentleness Carter had always used with me, reminding me of the difference between espers and guides, the power and strength imbalance.
A scream outside the door stilled me, followed by another. They were full of pain, fear—nothing good.
Had another tear occurred? No, I would have felt that. Still, it took a lot for guards or espers to make noises likethat.
The answer came when the door opened—well, not so much opened as burst inward, splintering from the force of the strike.
There stood the only thing that could have caused trained soldiers to make sounds like that—Reject Squad.
Chapter Forty-Four
Carter
I wasn’t the sort of man who pretended that violence didn’t please me. It did. I thoroughly enjoyed tearing through monsters, getting covered in blood, letting myself fall to my base instincts. I knew damn well that I wasn’tsupposedto, but fuck that. It felt amazing, and I savored it all.
Still, I doubted I’d ever enjoyed the process quite as much as I did right now.
Why was that?
Maybe because doing it for a fucking purpose made it all the better.
