He wouldn't infect her with what the demon bestowed upon him.
"Marina never could tolerate us arguing when we were children," Charma said. "Jason felt her blood pressure rise. Our behavior triggered a reaction. Drew left her surrounded by dark magic. Something has to happen deep inside of her to bring her back to us."
Drew looked around the room. All the expectant faces wanting him to be optimistic. Leonardo, the power enhancer and their leader, whom Drew respected despite his role playing earlier, wanted Marina back to bounce ideas off her. They'd been together since childhood and relied on each other as a brother and sister might. Christophe, the Frenchman who could move through space, his soul mate Ruby, able to call any object to her she wished, and Christophe's brother Colin. He could make himself invisible.
They all had other powers, too. A main function and secondary ones. No Outsider could call themselves solid until he controlled all of the magic deep inside of himself.
Drew knew this better than anyone. At last count, he had fifty separate abilities. A small piece of everyone else's stronger doses. The power collector.
He turned to stare at Gabriel and Loraine. She shapeshifted into whatever animal she chose, and Gabriel could fly if he wished, sometimes he could launch others over vast spaces. Drew could make himself a wolf and nothing else. He couldn't fly. But he could move himself when he needed to.
Eden, their prophet—she had seen Marina in a vision days earlier, restored and working for them again. She had been the reason this plan had been finally put into motion. Her soul mate, Samuel, who could alter his appearance, offered to take Drew's place in the room if he couldn't keep it together with his there-in-body-but-not-spirit soul mate. Samuel saw for the blind Eden, any present vision she had came through his eyes. Drew had declined. He could have visions, small ones, and he'd yet to see Marina at all.
He'd expected the healers, Charma and Jason, to refuse to lie. Deception went against their very natures. Yet, they'd agreed. Charma loved Marina as a sister. Everyone needed her back.
"You did well, Drew." Kal caught Drew's attention and he turned to regard the strongest warrior in their midst. He could call lightening, harness electricity, and speak with the moon. The moon speaking wasn't part of Drew's repertoire. Neither were Kal's soul mate's abilities. Isabelle could move through time and borrow powers without injuring the others in the process.
And not one of them—not even all of them combined—were as powerful as Drew's soul mate, Marina. There was simply no way they'd beat the demon and save the universe without her at full power. Plus, the whole bit about the prophecy stating all eighteen mated souls had to be together to defeat demon boy in the first place loomed before them.
Drew missed Marina like a constant ache. She was always there in front of him and yet he couldn't feel her at all.
Sebastian had blasted them with powerful magic in the form of a fire. They'd lived. Drew awakened in captivity being tortured by the incorporeal demon; it was where he'd met Colin for the first time. Suffering had commenced. He'd gladly sign up to be tortured again to have Marina back. When she woke up, she'd simply been…gone. A human in her body left where an Outsider should be.
His Outsider.
The only hope left was if she'd really had her powers taken away, if they were truly gone along with her memory, she'd have died. No Outsider could survive without their powers.
She lived six months and she was still alive. They were in there somewhere.
"You all needed to know something about me. Three years ago when I first showed up I didn't come to you telling the whole truth." Drew could remember the day vividly.
The cold winter on the island in Maine where the Outsiders holed up. Drew had gone with the local sheriff from the mainland to ask some questions. Hell, he'd taken the deputy job to be close to the Outsiders to begin with.
Then the bullets had flown and he'd known instantly whose side he would always be on when it came down to it. Hers.
Leonardo shrugged. "If you think we don't know you have secrets, you're not giving us enough credit. No one runs off as many times as you have during the last three years without having something to hide."
"When I was eight years old…"
The room shook and groaned. Time slowed for Drew as he tried to right himself, and then when he realized he wasn't going to find his balance, he tried to avoid getting toppled into by any other Outsiders or falling furniture.
"This isn't an earthquake," Lorraine said, frightened. "The rats are talking to me. This is magic."
Drew hated vermin but for their information he'd be sure to say thank you the next time he ran into one.
Marina. His mind went alert. He'd left her alone, practically human, in the caves and now they were under attack.
"Where was your vision of this?" he said, shouting at Eden, knowing it was unfair, knowing she had no control over what she saw and how it happened.
"Hey," Samuel said, yelling at him. If they hadn't been separated by a shaking room Sam would throw a punch at him for sure.
Drew concentrated his power. He had to get to Marina and fast. As tough as he knew her to be, she wasn't going to survive a cavern wall coming down on her and she had no defensive skills if Sebastian did manage to break through.
He waited. By now he should be blinking out of the room and landing next to Marina. Only he wasn't. Nothing happened.
What the fuck was going on?
"I'm stuck." He panicked. "I can't blink out. Can anyone use their powers?"
"At first I had the rats," Lorraine said, "now nothing.
Shouts of the same filled the space and Drew cursed in as many ways as he could think of. Marina was out there and he was stuck being power-drained in the room. Screw that. He made for the door. If he couldn't blink, he'd run to her. His legs worked fine. The floor shaking didn't make anything easier.
"Where are you going?" Leonardo asked him when Drew reached the door.
"Marina," he said, loudly, over his shoulder while he yanked the passage open and made it out into the hallway.
The way farther into the cave wasn't shaking any less than the room had been. Sebastian had really outdone himself this time. The six months they'd been in hiding must have increased the demon's power tenfold if he could pull this kind of shit off.
Drew could tell, if he wanted to, how strong the demon had gotten; he had the ability to look deep inside of himself and feel exactly what the demon did any time. Deciding never to do so was a constant struggle. The day he opened the door that let him into Sebastian, he reopened the ability for the demon bastard to do the same damn thing to him.
And it would give Sebastian more of a link to Marina. He would never, ever give her to the demon. He would die first.
Drew had no sooner made it to the second set of doors when the ceiling came down on him. Blackness overtook everything.
Marina…
Chapter Two
Marina gripped the floor of the cave like she might will it to stop moving, as if she had the power to do so. The crazy Outsiders were getting to her. People didn't control natural disasters. A large jolt made her cry out and she realized how vulnerable she was standing in a cave during an earthquake. She closed her eyes while she tried to breathe through her terror. Nothing about this was okay. How long did earthquakes go on before they ended?
The one rattling her seemed to last forever. Were the old cave walls going to survive the shaking?
She lifted her lids and cried out again, jumping backwards. Standing in front of her where he had not been a second earlier was a man she'd never seen before. Tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed and dressed in a seersucker suit, the new individual didn't seem to mind the rattling floor beneath his feet.
"Who are you?"
Blond guy cocked his head to the side. "Can you see me?"
"Of course I can. I'm not blind. You're two feet away from me."
The cave stopped shaking. "Interesting. I was under the impression you wouldn't be
able to see me anymore." He squatted down. "Here. Let me help you up." The stranger extended his hand.
A cold wind shot through the cave and Marina's skin crawled. Yeah, she needed to get out of the cave and away from the dude right away. Reaching out she tried to take the stranger's offering of help, but her hand slipped right through his fingers like she touched nothing but air.
The blond guy laughed, throwing his head back as if her not being about to touch him was the funniest thing ever. Marina gritted her teeth. She had to be hallucinating. Otherwise, what had just happened made no sense.
Reasonable individuals did not see people who were not solid. She didn't know much anymore but that truth she would hold onto. She did not believe in ghosts.
Marina pulled herself to her feet. "Go away, delusion."
The ghost stopped laughing. He put his hands on hips before saying, "For generation after generation I have dealt with you: the Outsiders and their eternal soul mates. None as connected as the eighteen of you. You're always sent after us when we're getting the most powerful. You're the mythical keepers of balance. In this world, humans don't even know who you are. Ask the average Joe and they don't know you exist."
"Stop talking about me like I'm one of them."
She rushed past the phantom into the hallway. Somehow, she had to find her way out via the path Drew brought her. He'd popped away. She had a hard time rationalizing exactly how he'd done such a thing. As she ran, she refused to dwell on the odd. There would be time for it later, while she listened to the water drip.
The image appeared back in front of her. This time he didn't look jovial. His face scrunched in anger, he pointed his incorporeal hand at her.
"You're always the worst. You and your stupid soul mate. The two of you are even worse than the rest. So damn powerful. And full of yourselves. But not in this world, Marina. You and Drew are pathetic. Lost. This time around I'll win and, unlike the last time I won, you won't be poking back to destroy me in another fight. When you die as a human, you don't come back as an Outsider."
She covered her ears. His words made her head pound; his every verbalization rang like a firework exploding inside her brain. "Stop it."
"You want out of here. I heard you talking. You think of them as your kidnappers. I love your description. I can make all of your dreams come true, Marina Moore. You'll never have to face them ever again."
"Move," she said, before she rushed forward. Truth was, she didn't need him to move. He wasn't really there. She'd run straight through him like he didn't exist because, technically, he didn't.
She ran down another corridor. At this rate, she'd make it back to the living quarters in no time. She'd never run so hard in her life. Or maybe she had. How would she know? Her fingers buzzed and she really didn't know why.
Was it normal for her to vibrate when she experienced terror?
The not there man popped before her again. "I'm going to hide you from them where they'll never find you. There is no prophecy if you don't exist. You don't think I'd like to simply kill you? For years now, if I had possessed the ability, I'd have shot you in the head. Every last one of you. Walked up to you on the street and let human means end your pathetic existences. I didn't. I can't. There are rules. And until I win I have to follow them."
She rounded the corner at full speed, her breath slamming in and out of her lungs. The next room was worse. The image of the guy was everywhere, all over the walls, at every exit and entrance. Marina made herself stop. If the thing chased her, running felt pointless.
"Who are you?"
Her delusions should at least have a name. There had to be a logical explanation. Drew filled her head with nonsense, she'd been kidnapped for months, the earthquake rattled her brains, and now she had officially cracked.
"I've had so many of you with me over the years. In no existence have I ever spent so much time surrounded by the infestation of Outsiders as I have this time. Frankly, when the deadline comes, it's going to be a relief. You'll all get your memories back and I can at least speak to you on the level you should be on instead of these pointless, stupid creatures who are less interesting than the humans all around you."
Marina barely understood half of what the guy said. "Apparently you don't want to answer questions. I asked you one."
She didn't know where her backbone came from, only she was glad it decided to show up. Suddenly, and without a reason, her fear was erased. This guy was barely here—if he existed at all—and he couldn't hurt her. Why flee something as annoying as the buzzing of a fly?
"Look. Whoever, whatever you are. You're messing with the wrong person. I don't want what you're selling. So go haunt someone else. Leave me alone. I have enough problems to deal with."
The man grinned. "You all call me Sebastian. I suppose it'll do."
"I don't call you anything. Because you're not real and…"
"Marina!" The vibration of his shout boomed in the corridor. For a hallucination, he certainly had some strength. "I'm going to make all your fondest wishes come true."
"What?"
The room went black.
* * * *
Marina came to all at once. The first thing she became aware of was the sound of the ocean. She hadn't heard it in a while. Her eyes fluttered open. When was the last time she'd heard the sea? She really had no idea. Grabbing her pounding head, she sat up,
Darkness seemed…everywhere.
She blinked and tried to orient herself. Where the hell was she? Sand beneath her fingers and the sound of the ocean meant, unless something weird was going on, she was at the beach. But where? How? And why?
The last thing she remembered was…the hallucination calling himself Sebastian. She rose unsteadily to her feet. Every part of her body ached.
Well. She stretched her arms over her head. I'm out of the caves, which is a good thing, right? So why did her heart race like she still ran from the earthquake?
Or like I've done something terribly wrong…
"Marina."
She whirled around at the sound of a woman's voice to see a dark figure rush in her direction.
"Are you Marina?" the lady said again.
"Um." She didn't know the woman approaching her. Or at least she didn't think she did. "That's me."
"Hi. I'm Alexa. I'm here to save you."
The darkness made it hard to completely see the woman in front of Marina even though Alexa carried a small flash light with her. From what Marina could make out, Alexa stood at about the same height as Marina and also shared her dark hair and dark eyes. The resemblance didn't stop there. They had similar framed faces, high cheekbones, and a similar body shape.
Marina shook her head. Who cared? They weren't twins by any means. Alexa's pixie-like nose didn't have the same slope as her own and Marina's face was slightly rounder. She wouldn't remark on their similarities. Why had she even noted them?
"Uh, save me? From what?" She didn't see anything remotely dangerous around her.
"From the Outsiders," Alexa said, whispering the name. "Sebastian sent me to help you." The other woman wrapped her arm around Marina's and tugged her along. "Let's get out of here. It took everything I had to get here in time and set up in the time parameters Sebastian gave me. I'm so happy to have help in fighting the cult."
"The cult?" Her voice cracked. Had she somehow gotten out of the fire and into the flames? How and why did Alexa know so much about Marina's kidnappers? They'd made her seem like they were unknown to the rest of the world.
Alexa nodded. "They're terrible people. They use their magical abilities to destroy people. They killed Sebastian. He has managed to hang around to help for a while but he's not corporeal anymore."
Marina stared at the woman. While Marina knew she should be agreeing with Alexa about the Outsiders—they'd held her prisoner for six months—something about the way Alexa spoke made her seem…off.
She couldn't exactly put her finger on why. Maybe it was how she went on without really stopping to breat
he or the way her pupils didn't seem to dilate when the stream of light from the flashlight hit her.
With her arm entwined in Alexa's, Marina didn't see an easy way to extract herself, especially because, other than a generic patch of beach, Marina had no earthly idea where she had landed. So where she would go if she did run away?
Better to stay with Alexa until Marina figured things out. Running away would have to happen at another time.
"Tell me more. About yourself," Marina said. "And while we're at it, I'd love to know where we are."
"Oh." Alexa laughed, sounding somewhat hysterical. "I'm sorry. Of course you don't know. They've held you prisoner. Did you see Gabriel when you were there? Did you know we grew up together and he left us? Sebastian and me? To go join the cult? We're in St. Croix. In the American Virgin Islands. It's beautiful isn't it? Have you been here before?"
Marina digested the information as it came to her. She was in St. Croix. The American Virgin Islands. Okay. She'd work with her location.
"Why are we here?" Anywhere in the world she might have woken up, why where she did? Her hands buzzed again and she ignored the feeling. Why did it keep happening?
"Sebastian thought we would be safe here. For whatever reason, the Outsiders seem to like colder climates."
Marina didn't know if was true. But she'd heard them bitching about how cold the caves were for six long months.
"He said we'd be safe here from them to plan our attack."
"Attack?" Marina couldn't stay quiet any longer "What are you talking about?"
"You're going to help me destroy them. You and me, Marina, with Sebastian's help. We're going to destroy them."
Marina gulped. She had not signed on for this. No way, no how was she attacking the Outsiders. They popped in and out of rooms. Who knew what else they were capable of?
The second she found the chance, she was running the hell away from the crazy Alexa.