Chapter 14 #2
She was right. Ben could feel the pressure easing slightly, the stone walls of the ravine providing some shielding against the weapon’s effects. He was still absorbing most of it, still burning with that terrible vibration, but it was less overwhelming now, more manageable.
Sidney pulled him forward, splashing through the knee-deep water, her grip on his arm the only thing keeping him upright.
Her face was pale in the darkness, her eyes wide with fear, but she didn’t slow down.
Behind them, he could hear the others following — gasping breaths and splashing footsteps and the occasional muttered prayer in languages he didn’t understand.
The ravine twisted and turned, following the path the water had carved over millennia.
Ben lost track of how far they’d gone — a hundred yards, two hundred, more.
The electromagnetic weapon’s effects continued to fade as they put distance between themselves and its source, and gradually, the fire in his scars began to cool from white-hot to merely agonizing.
They rounded a bend and found themselves in a wider section of the ravine, a place where the walls sloped more gently and a cluster of boulders provided some cover. Rebecca called a halt, and Ben let himself collapse against one of the rocks, his legs finally giving out beneath him.
“Ben.” Sidney knelt beside him, her hands on his face, her bioelectric field reaching out to merge with his. “Ben, look at me. Are you okay?”
He wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the question, but all that came out was a groan. “Define ‘okay.’”
“You’re alive. You’re conscious.” Her hands were shaking as they traced the lines of his scars through his soaked shirt. “The burns — they’re different. Deeper.”
He knew. He could feel it, the way the dimensional marks had changed, had expanded their hold on his nervous system.
The phoenix fire had rewritten his bioelectric field once; the electromagnetic weapon had just done it again, burning new pathways into his flesh as it tried to use him as a ground wire.
“Still works, though.” He managed a weak smile. “The conduit thing. I can still feel you.”
“You idiot.” She said it like an endearment. “You absolute idiot. You could have died.”
“Didn’t, though.”
She made a sound that was half sob, half laugh, and pressed her forehead against his. For a moment, they just stayed there, breathing together, their bioelectric fields pulsing in shared rhythm while the rest of the world faded to background noise.
Rebecca’s voice broke the spell. “We can’t stay here long. They’ll figure out where we went and follow.”
Ben opened his eyes to find the former agent crouched at the edge of the boulder cluster, reloading her weapon with quick, practiced movements. Her face was bruised where she’d fallen earlier, and there was blood on her sleeve, but she moved with the same controlled grace she always did.
“How many did you get?” Finn asked. He was sitting against the opposite wall of the ravine, his tablet somehow still clutched in his hands, the screen cracked but apparently functional. Water dripped from his gray-streaked dark hair into his eyes, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Three, maybe four. Enough to slow them down, not enough to stop them.” Rebecca finished reloading and looked up at the rim of the ravine, scanning for movement.
“They’re professionals — they’ll regroup and come at us from multiple angles.
We’ve got maybe ten minutes before they figure out our route and cut off our escape. ”
“So we’ll keep moving.” Sidney pushed herself to her feet, swaying slightly before she found her balance.
She reached down to help Ben up as well, and he took her hand gratefully, letting her pull him upright even though every muscle in his body screamed in protest. “The portal site is half a mile downstream. If we can reach it before they catch up — ”
“The portal site is exactly where they’ll expect us to go,” Rebecca cut in. “Gregory’s not stupid, and neither is whoever’s commanding these mercenaries. They’ll have people waiting there, probably more than the ones chasing us now.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Sidney’s voice was sharp with frustration and exhaustion.
“We can’t go back to the house — that’s where this whole mess started.
We can’t reach Brigid and Kenji in town without crossing open ground.
The portal site is the only place where I have any chance of doing something about that drill before it kills the Dragon and takes all of us with it. ”
Rebecca was quiet for a moment, her dark eyes calculating distances and odds and probabilities in a way that Ben found both impressive and slightly unnerving. When she spoke next, her voice was calm, almost clinical.
“What if we split up?”
“What?”
“Half of us make for the portal site — you, Ben, maybe one or two of the guardians. The rest of us will create a diversion and draw their forces away. That should give you time to do whatever it is you’re planning to do.”
It was a solid tactical plan, Ben had to admit. And it might be their only chance. But the thought of separating from the others, of leaving Rebecca and Finn and the rest of them to face Gregory’s mercenaries alone….
“I’ll lead the diversion team.” This from Finn, his voice steady despite the fear Ben could see in his eyes. “I know this forest better than anyone except Sidney. I can keep them chasing shadows for hours if I have to.”
“Dad — ” Sidney began, but he only shook his head.
“I’ve spent seventeen years protecting you from the shadows.” Finn got to his feet and tucked his tablet into his jacket. “Let me do it from the front lines for once.”
The moment stretched between them, father and daughter, seventeen years of distance and silence compressed into a single exchange of looks.
Ben watched Sidney’s face cycle through what seemed like a dozen emotions — anger, grief, worry, hope, others he couldn’t identify — before settling into a kind of resigned acceptance.
“Don’t get killed,” she said quietly.
“Same to you.”
Rebecca was already organizing the split, dividing the group with quick, decisive gestures.
Finn would lead the diversion team — himself, Rebecca, and Priya’s uncle.
Emily, Josie, and Priya would go with Sidney and Ben to the portal site, their combined power hopefully enough to give Sidney what she needed to reach the ley line.
“The electromagnetic weapon,” Ben said, pushing himself upright with a wince. “They’ll use it again.”
“Then you’ll absorb it again.” Sidney’s hand found his, her bioelectric field wrapping around his battered one with something that felt almost like an apology. “I know it’s too much to ask. I know what it costs you. But if you can keep them off us long enough for me to reach the network — ”
“I’ll do it.” He squeezed her fingers. “However many times it takes.”
The rain had started again, a cold drizzle that plastered his hair to his forehead and made the footing in the ravine even more treacherous. Above them, Ben could hear the mercenaries regrouping, their voices carrying down into the stone channel. They were running out of time.
“Go,” Rebecca said, and checked her weapon one last time. “We’ll give you as much of a head start as we can.”
Sidney hesitated for just a moment, her gaze moving from Rebecca to her father. Something passed between them — not forgiveness, not yet, but possibly the beginning of understanding.
Then she turned and started downstream, pulling Ben with her.
They splashed through the cold water, the guardians following close behind. Above and behind them, Ben heard Rebecca’s voice ring out — a deliberate shout, drawing attention — followed by the crack of gunfire and the answering roar of the mercenaries giving chase.
Ben focused on putting one foot in front of the other, on maintaining his grip on Sidney’s hand and keeping his battered body moving through the pain and exhaustion that threatened to drag him down.
The electromagnetic weapon was still out there, waiting to be deployed again, and when it was, he would have to be ready.
He would have to be the lightning rod once more, no matter what it cost him.
The ravine wound on through the darkness, carrying them toward the portal site and whatever waited there. Behind them, the sounds of battle faded into the rain-soaked night, while ahead, the Dragon’s pain pulsed through the earth like a second heartbeat, growing stronger with every step.
They were almost out of time.
But they weren’t out of fight.