Second Chance Doom: a paranormal romance adventure (Second Chance Academy Book 5) Read online

  Now I wasn’t sure if I could trust them to do the right thing. Was it a male thing, this need for a command structure? Did all guys crave somebody to tell them what to do? Why didn’t they listen to me, then?

  I straightened and took a deep breath. Time was of the essence. But maybe, if I could talk to Julian and Macha and explain the situation to them, they might convince the other two idiots.

  3

  KIERNAN

  My mom’s voice from behind me pulled me up short. After all these years, there was still a hint of the old country. I would have recognized her soft vowels and intonation anywhere.

  I waited until she caught up with me. I’d never seen her at work, but I definitely preferred her usual blouses and jeans to the ill-fitting suit she’d squeezed her round body into. I grinned as I thought of her reaction if I ever told her. A clip around the ears would be the least she’d do to me.

  There was a glint in her eye as she approached that made me groan and lift my hands to ward her off. “Ma, stop that.”

  But I didn’t really mean it. Despite being taller than her, she’d never stopped thinking of me as her baby. She threw her arms around me, hugging me tightly to her chest. As her soft, mousy hair tickled my cheek, I inhaled the comforting scent that had accompanied me since I was a kid. Her light, floral perfume was so familiar, so evocative of my childhood in Ireland, I clung to her and allowed myself to be transported to an easier time.

  Yet underneath, there was a new scent. Something that smelled chemical. It was barely there. But it itched my nose. Before I could figure out what it was, my mother stepped back.

  Holding on to my hands, she said, “I’m so glad to see you. I was worried sick when you disappeared from the Academy.”

  “It wasn’t exactly my choice.” I prepared myself for her having another go at Amber.

  “I know it was that terrible Farkas woman who duped us all. Thank God, you managed to get rid of her.”

  “It was a team effort,” I said, relief bleeding through my voice.

  She continued smiling. But there was a tightness around her eyes. She didn’t agree with my assessment.

  I stopped before we entered the cafeteria. “Seriously, Ma. I couldn’t have beaten her by myself. It was all of us, but mainly Amber. Without her, we wouldn’t have known about the Soul Weave ritual.”

  My mother walked through the door I held open. The room was sterile and could have been a waiting room at a doctor’s surgery or a lab area. Plastic chairs stood against small tables. Nobody had bothered to put out flowers or brighten up the ubiquitous military gray on the walls.

  The only sign that actual people went in and out was a shelf near the entrance, full of used Tom Clancy and John le Carré paperbacks. On the top was a piece of paper taped down. “Take one, leave one,” it said.

  “I was going to talk to you about this ritual.”

  I ignored the question. What was I going to tell her? That it had involved sex between every member of the Quint? That one of them had been a cat at the time? And another one a disembodied ghost? It sounded ludicrous even thinking it.

  Ma approached the counter. “Wait til you try the food here. I’m telling you, they’re not feeding us like that at the Justice in Ireland.”

  The chef cut a slice off a piece of roast meat. It was perfectly cooked, slightly pink in the middle, and glistening with juices. The smell of rosemary and garlic made my mouth water. There were roast potatoes and bowls of fresh vegetables and salad.

  My mother held out her tray to receive a plate with all the trimmings. I followed her example, nodding when the man asked if I wanted gravy.

  At the checkout, Ma scanned her employee’s pass, and soon, we were seated in the far corner, away from the handful of agents occupying the center tables.

  All conversation ceased while I dug in. The meat was tender, the potatoes crispy, and the salad fresh and dressed with a spicy mix of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. After I finished my last bite, I leaned back and rubbed my stomach.

  “It’s lovely watching you enjoy your food.”

  “I don’t think I’ve had anything that good for months.”

  My mother had her “gotcha” expression on her face. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to finish my meal. Steeling myself, I waited while she put her fork down.

  She fixed me with a penetrating gaze. “Back to the ritual. I need to know what that entailed.”

  Oh, shit. She wasn’t going to drop it. “Well,” I began slowly, playing for time while I thought frantically. “We had to go through certain motions to bundle our powers and create the Soul Weave.”

  “What kind of motions?”

  Jesus. I wasn’t going to tell me Ma, it involved an orgy. I didn’t like lying to her, but no way in hell would I admit to that.

  “We had to draw a pentagram. And put crystals on each tip. Amber chanted something from an old book. And we did as well. That’s it.”

  Ma’s eyebrows pulled together. “That’s it. You’re telling me it was that simple.”

  “Pretty much.” I forced a relaxed smile on my face and held her gaze as calmly as I could. My mother stared at me for another long minute before nodding and picking up her fork again.

  I pushed ahead before she could come up with another awkward line of questioning. “So. I wasn’t aware you run this branch of the FBMA. Do you want to fill me in what’s been happening with Farkas and the trafficking ring?

  It was my mom’s turn to look uncomfortable. She finished chewing before answering. “You probably know more about Farkas than we do. I spoke to Callahan this morning. We agreed we need to do follow-up debrief with all of you.”

  “That’s fine. Although we already told you everything.”

  She obviously didn’t believe me. I held her gaze until she dropped it and shoved another piece of salad into her mouth. She hadn’t answered my question, though.

  “What about the boss behind Farkas? Cause I don’t think she ran the scheme.”

  Ma choked and coughed bits of green lettuce over her plate. She picked up her glass full of water and took a sip while her face lost the alarming puce color. “How do you mean?”

  “When we were in Faerie, Farkas was told what to do. She wasn’t the one giving orders. Somebody else did.”

  My mother regarded me steadily without answering. She’d given birth to me, and I’d lived with her all my life, but I couldn’t read her emotions anymore. It was as if opposite me sat a stranger.

  “You’re right,” she finally admitted. “Farkas was in charge of procuring the victims. But she wasn’t the linchpin of the operation.”

  I leaned forward. “So who is?”

  My mother’s face shut down. “I’m sorry, that’s classified.”

  I stared at her, aghast, while I digested her words. “We nearly died. And we took out Farkas and saved your agents’ lives, when you couldn’t. Don’t you think we deserve some information?”

  Ma had caught me once bringing a girlie magazine to school. That had been the last time she’d looked at me like that. I fought back the instinctive, “I’m sorry, Ma. I won’t do it again,” while I waited for her answer.

  “To be honest—and I want to be totally honest with you—I don’t know if I can trust you. You’ve changed. You’re keeping secrets from your own mother.”

  My spine stiffened. The back of my eyes grew hot, the fever spreading until my head swam with anger. I ground my teeth until I was able to answer without shouting. “Are you serious? Don’t you think you owe us? We nearly died.”

  She reached across the table and took my hand. “I know. Believe me, it’s eating me alive. But you got to see my side. You’ve changed since you met that girl. I’m not comfortable entrusting you with secret information.”

  I was stunned. I knew she didn’t like Amber, but apparently my contact with her had tainted me in my mother’s eyes.

  Maybe she was right. Maybe I had changed. All my life, my mother had decided for me which friends we
re suitable, which courses to study. She’d mapped out my entire future path.

  And I’d been happy to go along. Until I met Amber. A whole new world had opened up to me, one that was more exciting and more dangerous, all at the same time.

  I wasn’t the same kid anymore, and the sooner my mother understood that, the better..

  I pulled my hand out of hers. “As you wish, Mother.”

  She reared back as if I’d slapped her in the face. But I wasn’t sorry. She’d literally told me she didn’t trust me.

  I got up. “Thanks for the lunch. You know where to find me if you change your mind.”

  I walked away, leaving her behind at the table, looking stunned. My heart ached, knowing our relationship might never be the same again. But strangely, I was also relieved that for the first time, I’d stood up to the woman who’d run my life.

  4

  JULIAN

  Sometimes, I missed floating beneath the ceiling, above everybody else. It had been so much easier to stay out of people’s way and observe silently instead.

  I kept my head down and pretended to walk purposefully so none of the agents in the hallway would challenge me.

  A beefy security guard in an ill-fitting suit and an earpiece asked me, “Sir, where are you going?”

  I looked him square in the face. “I’m seeing Agent Callahan in five minutes, and I’m late.”

  Then I strode off, half expecting him to put a hand on my shoulder and stop me. But he didn’t. Callaghan’s name carried a lot of weight.

  The compound consisted of various interconnected buildings. There was barely any signage on the walls. Even after several days, I still had trouble orienting myself.

  There were no windows. The humming neon strips overhead didn’t so much illuminate than confuse me. My strategy was to veer off the busy hallways and find somewhere quiet where I could practice my powers. Following my instincts, I turned left yet again and found myself facing a door, heavier and more scuffed than the others.

  Behind it was a staircase with steps leading down. I hadn’t seen another human being for a while, but what I was planning would require as much secrecy as I could find. There were no cameras in this hallway, nobody to watch my every move.

  Carefully, I picked my way down the stairs. After the door had snapped shut behind me, only the faint green glow of an emergency exit light provided respite from the dark. I reached what I thought was the last step and felt for a light switch. Idiot. Next time, turn it on at the top of the stairs.

  When my fingers connected with a square plastic box, I heaved a sigh of relief. Like most mages, I could conjure small flames. But I didn’t want to waste any energy before my experiment. After flipping the switch, an old-fashioned bulb flickered on, casting orange light on my surroundings.

  I closed my eyes and listened. Up ahead, there was a scratching sound. Perfect. Down here, there had to be rodents and other pests. Just what I was looking for.

  Ten yards down the dimly lit hallway, another heavy metal door beckoned. I pushed against it and found myself in a boiler room. Nobody had any reason to be down here, other than to service the machinery.

  I turned on the light, which didn’t reach all the corners. Up ahead, red and blue lights blinked on a modern switchboard. But the rest of the area had an abandoned air with a layer of dust and oily residue covering the walls and the floor, other than where shoes had scuffed a clear path.

  The place was perfect for what I had in mind. I found a piece of metal on the ground and used it to jam the fire safety door open. Then I turned off the light and sat against the wall. All I had to do now was wait. The illumination from the hallway was barely enough to reach a couple of feet into the room. I closed my eyes and allowed them to adjust. Deprived of my visual sense, the darkness came alive. There was the smell of oil and warm water. The intermittent humming of the system turning itself on and off automatically.

  I didn’t know how long I sat there. Long enough to wake the curiosity of the denizens of the underground. The scuttling of tiny claws on the concrete floor approached and receded. I gazed from underneath my eyelashes, so I wouldn’t scare them off. A couple of feet away, a shape moved. It came into closer view, its nose twitching. I waited.

  The rat advanced, gaining more courage. When I didn’t move, it touched my leg and jumped back. I forced myself to stay relaxed, to not twitch in disgust. Again, it came closer. I didn’t think I’d be able to catch it with my hands.

  But if I guessed right, the animal only had to make contact with my body to engage my powers. The rodent found its courage, putting its paws on my denim-clad leg, lifting its head, and sniffing the air. If it hadn’t been for its naked tail, it might have been cute.

  The rat remained in its position, long enough to allow me to focus on the constant black swirl in the center of my body. Carefully, I teased out the strands of my magic and channeled them into the vermin.

  Then I struck without moving a muscle, sending my death power into the animal. I opened my eyes wide, just in time to witness the rat squeaking weakly. Then it stiffened and fell sideways, its whiskers twitching before even that slight movement ceased.

  I’d done it. I’d killed a living being on purpose. Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself for what was coming next. Ugh. A shudder rolled from my head to my shoulders. I bit my lip to hold in a noise of revulsion as I forced myself to pick up the tiny corpse. It was still warm but cooling fast.

  Gazing intently at its black eyes, I focused on the power inside of me that was able to give life. I didn’t know exactly how it worked. But I suspected the source of my magic lay in the regenerative effect of the earth element.

  So I concentrated on where my body touched the concrete floor and imagined roots growing through the barrier to the soft earth below. When I felt the crumbly soil, I pulled the power into my center.

  Wasn’t it ironic I could take life by using what was inside of me? But to give life, I had to pull on Mother Earth. What did that say about me?

  I pushed those thoughts away firmly, to be examined another time. Instead, I channeled the energy into the corpse. Nothing happened for a moment. But then the rat twitched. Its tiny heart restarted and beat at a crazy pace under my fingers.

  Carefully, I placed the animal on the ground. Its legs jerked, and soon the rodent stood on all fours, its tail lashing from side to side. In the darkness, its eyes had a red luster, and its teeth were shining from under its pulled back lips.

  A feeling of dread frosted my insides with biting shards of ice. I’d expected the rat to run off, happy to have escaped death’s clutches. Instead, its four legs stiffened, and its fur stood on end, doubling its size.

  And then it attacked with a loud screech, flinging itself against my leg. A scream stuck in my throat, nailing me against the wall behind me. The rat scrambled up my chest with incredible speed, aiming straight for my jugular.

  I barely got my hands on it before its teeth sunk into my neck. What the fuck? I could barely hold the crazed creature back with both hands.

  The screams were deafening. It fought against my grip, its claws drawing blood. I held it at arm’s length. But the minutes passed, and it didn’t stop struggling.

  I waited for the vermin to exhaust itself. Except it didn’t. It continued fighting. I had no doubt if it got to me, it wouldn’t stop tearing my flesh until I bled out. For the first time, panic planted images of my torn jugular in my brain.

  “Stop. Just stop,” I shouted, my voice as frozen with disbelief as my mind was. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t end my cursed life on a naked concrete floor, surrounded by scavengers who’d only be too happy to finish the job their crazed friend had started.

  But it was no good. I’d been holding on for five, six, seven minutes. It felt like an eternity. And still, the animal screamed and fought with no sign of slowing down.

  This wasn’t natural. I nearly laughed at that thought. Of course, it wasn’t. I’d brought it back from the dead, but ther
e was more to it. Any normal animal would have been exhausted at this stage, but not this rat.

  My arms were getting tired. It wasn’t a small rat, either. I couldn’t hold on forever. Yet the rodent was as intent on killing me as it had been when it had first come back to life.

  I had no choice. I pulled the black matter from inside of me and shoved it through my hands. The rat made one desperate squeal before the life went out of it. The sudden silence was deafening.

  In my shock, I continued to hold the corpse, staring at it with wide eyes. Something was happening to the animal. Its dark gray fur turned black and then liquefied. Oh, gross.

  I gagged and dropped the body. It splattered on the floor, spreading into a puddle of stinking liquid. Some of it was stuck on my hand, and I wiped it against the concrete, fighting the urge to puke.

  A spike of adrenaline demanded I get away from the diseased pest, and my hands shook in response. The tremors spread until my entire body was shaking with shock. I pressed my back into the wall behind me, still staring at the goo on the ground.

  What had I done wrong? When I got Macha back, none of this had happened. And then a horrible thought hit me so hard, I threw my head against the wall several times. The pain as my skull bounced off the concrete tethered me to reality.

  Because I had no clue if Macha was okay. Looking at the liquified cadaver, I wondered if my cat friend had also returned with his insides contaminated with that evil residue.

  5

  JULIAN

  I closed my eyes, retreating into myself. What was wrong with my soul? Why was it so easy for me to kill? Yet when I used the flip side of my magic, it didn’t work. Yes, I’d managed to bring the rat back to life. But at what cost? The creature had been different, corrupted. When I’d put down its body, it had melted and lost its integrity.