“I appreciate that.” My voice stays calm. “I’m going to ask again. Is Ella inside TimeGem?”
Aura’s mouth tightens. “Yes. She was kidnapped earlier, and we’ve come to get her.”
Fire rushes through me, so I go stone cold. “How do you know she was kidnapped?”
They hesitate. The silence stretches, and I let it.
Finally, Mags shrugs. “We might have cameras placedaround the outskirts of Cinderfalls. We saw her get taken. This was the earliest we could get our gear together.”
“It’s been a while since we’ve broken somebody out of a facility,” Aura adds, dead serious.
I scrub a hand over my jaw. If TimeGem wants a war, they’ve got one. Right now, I need to get Ella out of there while she’s still breathing. She’d better still be alive. “Who are you?”
“I’m her godmother.” Aura straightens bony shoulders.
Okay, then. I have no record of that. For now, at least I know she’s not an obvious threat to Ella. “All right. How about this? I’ll go get her out, and you stay here.”
“Not a chance in hell.” Aura lifts her delicate chin, grip steady on the gun. “We’re going.”
I obviously don’t have a choice. Giving a small nod to Wynd, I go for the gun.
TWENTY-NINE
Ella
The air is definitely disappearing much too quickly. My chest feels tight already, every inhale thinner than the last. I scan the walls, searching for vents, but I don’t see any. They’re probably hidden high up, tucked into the corners where shadows cling.
Wesley moves to the door and runs his hand along the seams, slow and deliberate, looking for a way out that we won’t find. A small panel slides open above the frame and a camera blinks to life, the red light sharp in the gloom.
“Are you ready to charge the citrine?” Sylveria’s voice slices through the speaker, tinny and smug.
Oh, now I’m pissed. “You can’t seriously be considering killing us.”
She chuckles, low and ugly. “I would actually like to work with you. But if you’re not going to help me, I’d rather you were dead.”
“If I do help you, you could still kill me,” I mutter.
“True,” she allows. “But that’s not what I want.” The sound distorts through the camera, metallic and detached.
Now I’m fighting her and my own urges. Everything inside me wants to touch that citrine. Connect to it. I turn toward Wesley. “How much do you know about how we exchange energy with crystals?”
“I know enough,” he says. His voice is steady, but his eyes flick to the ceiling like he’s counting our breaths. “I wouldn’t be able to program Aquarius Social the way I do if I didn’t understand what Alana does. I mean, let me rephrase that. I don’t understand, but I comprehend there’s some sort of energy exchange.”
“Have you ever tried it?” I press. There have to be a lot of people out there who have the gift. It just makes sense. It feels good to finally speak of this, even in a death box. We’ve avoided the subject so far, too secretive, too dangerous, but he can’t be completely in the dark. Not with his job.
He grins despite the air thinning. “Yeah, I’ve tried it. I didn’t charge anything. Maybe it was the wrong crystal.”
“Excuse me,” Sylveria cuts in. “You’ve got about three minutes of oxygen left. Do you really want to have this conversation right now?”
My pulse spikes. Three minutes. I glance at the citrine across the room, the size of a bowling ball, its golden surface glittering under the harsh light. It has to be ten pounds at least.
Wesley catches my gaze. “Do you know most people don’t have any idea that exists?”
“I know.” My lips curve despite everything. “The world thinks the Malaga Citrine is the largest citrine ever mined. Eight point eight pounds. Twenty thousand caratsor so.” The truth is bigger. Much bigger. “The four families have been mining and hiding gems for millennia. People wouldn’t believe some of the sizes we’ve found.”
The sparkling yellow pulls at me. I can’t resist any longer. I walk to it, each step heavy as my lungs ache. My fingers close around the gem, warm and thrumming with power. The minute I connect, energy rushes through me, flooding my hands, racing to my earlobes, surging into my brain. The tingling builds until I gasp, the sound raw and sharp in the thinning air.
I let natural power fill me as I walk to the center of the room and place the citrine where the diamond had been.
