LAILAH
TWENTY-NINE
Arms wrapped around me, and I knew it was Brayden who pulled me from the Jeep and carried me.
In our hurry to leave, none of us had grabbed our coats, and we certainly were not wearing warm clothes.
The blast of heat told me he’d taken me inside somewhere, and lifting my head, I saw we were in the coffee shop.
Brayden sat in one of the leather chairs with me on his lap; it was the same chairs that we sat in when we went on our first “date” that got crashed by the others.
Now I was surrounded by them all, faced with an impossible choice.
“What are we going to do?” I whispered.
Jay took a tablet from one of the Elementi security guards and started looking something over.
“We need to think where the best place to put a device that would disperse the serum would be. If we can remove that part of the equation, it gives us a lot more ground to work with. I finally got word back from the labs and the employee file on the man who is now Ubel. He was indeed part of the team that helped create the serum, and I think he was a plant all along. His resume would be exactly what your father or the company as a whole would be looking for, making it easy for him to get the job.”
“What is the air system like in the chapel?” Parker asked.
Micah glared at him over his shoulder. “This isn’t some action flick where it would be that obvious. This man is clever and deceitful. Who knows if there really is a way to do what he said—demons lie, remember?”
“Okay ass-munch, at least one of us is coming up with ideas,” Parker snapped back.
Nothing that happened in the circle made this any better.
In fact, I think it made it worse. Micah was acting fine, but I knew I’d hurt him by not being honest and telling him that I’d taken Parker’s Oath.
I’d known in my gut when Parker asked me to keep it quiet that it wasn’t the best choice, but I also understood where Parker was coming from.
Shaking my head, I tossed those thoughts to the wayside—there were bigger things to deal with right now.
“Well, if we take that logic, do we think he even plans to do what he says to those students?” Hudson interjected.
“It’s still winter break, so why are there so many people in the chapel?” Brayden asked, making us all pause.
Jay pulled a paper out of his back pocket and handed it over to us. “A guard found this posted around the school.”
As I skimmed over the flier, it showed that there would be a free movie night with popcorn for those who were still on campus.
“That sick motherfucker planned this. Do we have any idea when these went up?” Micah questioned as he looked over the sheet.
“I can check the campus security feeds real quick, but that doesn’t change the fact that it happened,” Jay pointed out.
Sitting up straighter on Brayden’s lap, I cleared my throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “This is all good information, but it still isn’t helping us figure out how to save them and kill Ubel.”
“What if we just went in guns blazing, so to speak?” Parker suggested. “Look, I know most of you don’t want to even look at me right now, but we have a job to do. We can sort out the personal shit later.”
“It isn’t the worst idea,” Jay contemplated. “If we bust through the front doors, we can make sure that everyone has a chance to get out if he really has set the place up to be a dirty bomb. Then we can take the fight directly to him to keep him busy.”
Hudson leaned forward, adjusting his glasses. “You’re forgetting his ability to transport himself out. We need a ward up to perfect that kind of travel.”
“There is one,” Brayden said. “It’s built into the wards surrounding the school that we recharged.”
“We just saw him use it, though,” Micah countered.
“Then it can only go a short distance. It would keep him trapped in the walls of the school property,” Brayden answered.
Micah groaned and leaned back in his chair. “That still does nothing for us. He could just walk out of the barrier and use his transport skills then. All we have set up is for demons, not nut job humans with demonic powers. God, we are so fucked!”
“What we need is for someone to get a ward or shield around him so that we can keep him in one place long enough to stop or trap his powers. If we can disable them, then he is your average human again,” Brayden reasoned.
I held up a hand, stopping the conversation. “Wait, I think we need to make sure we are all on the same page. Are we trapping him and keeping him alive or killing him?”
“The leadership would like to keep him alive to learn more about the effects of the serum, but if we can’t, then we are allowed to take him out,” Jay answered, holding my gaze so I knew that he didn’t like the order any more than I did.
“Was this another thing you guys were waiting to tell me about?” I demanded, irritation hot under my skin.
“No, Beautiful, we got the text on our way over here to the scene. Just didn’t seem like a good time to tell you until now,” Jay chided, causing me to realize I might have reacted a little too strongly.
Micah stood and started to pace. “I say damn what they want and do what needs to be done. None of us will lose any sleep over the fact this guy will be gone. Now, do we have any other bright ideas, or are we kicking down the door?”
“Oh, so you’re saying that you like my idea?” Parker mused.
“Don’t push it, Parker, or we will finish what I started in the ring, no matter what Lailah says,” Micah growled, his dual swords appearing in his hands. “Let’s get this over with. It’s fucking freezing, and I don’t like that Lailah doesn’t have a coat.”
With grim looks on all their faces, they stood and walked out, but Brayden didn’t move, knowing I needed a moment before we did this.
“You okay, Angel?” Brayden asked, running a hand down my back.
“No, but does that really matter? This is what we have to do, and I have to agree with Micah—the world will be a safer place without that man in it.” I sighed and gave him a peck on the lips before I stood, holding out a hand to him. “Come on, let’s go save some lives and kick some demon ass.”
Back out in the quad, that was now deserted for all but the six of us, we marched towards the chapel.
Micah, in the lead, hit the chapel doors with two powerful blasts of fire, enough to knock the doors off their hinges, and Hudson followed up, putting the fire out before it could take hold.
Jay used his wind to pull what debris he could from the entrance swiftly, leaving a clear path for people to leave by.
When we entered the chapel, it was completely silent and far too dark until the overhead light blazed into existence.
“Oh, you dear, sweet, baby-minded Knights. Did you really think it would be that easy to get the drop on me? Now you have to find your precious students before it’s too late.
I got tired of waiting and started the clock ages ago,” Ubel’s disembodied voice called out.
“Call my name any time, Synergy, and this will all end. Remember, whatever happens is on you.”
Micah punched the stone wall at the same time Jay started to swear silently.
“What? What did we miss?” I pressed.
“The tunnels. They don’t connect to anything anymore, but they are still under the chapel.
This used to be where the Elementi would enter and exit the school for missions, but they are no longer needed with the new system,” Jay muttered as he started knocking on the wood-paneled walls.
“Come on guys, we need to find the entrance down to the tunnels… and fast.”
We branched out, and I tried to remember what I read in those journals I found in the Elementi section of the school library.
Then it hit me, and I raced to the back where the bell tower was.
Ubel had picked that spot to meet us for more than one reason.
Reaching the door to that section of the chapel, I found the handle was broken off and the lock jammed—this was it!
Pulling my power to me, I tried to use my sai to stab around the lock to try and get it to break loose, but even though the wood was old, it was well crafted and maintained.
“Guys, I found it!” I called, hoping they could hear me.
I used my emotional connection to Brayden and Hudson to get them to come find me just in case they couldn’t hear me all the way back here.
When I wasn’t getting anywhere fast, I dropped my sai and tried to create a ball of energy like I had when fighting Tabitha to see if that would work.
When the blast hit the wood, it didn’t damage the door.
It did the opposite, bringing the door back to its original working order.
I let out a whoop of excitement and turned the handle that was now unlocked and let me enter into the room with the spiral staircase leading up to the bells.
On the floor was a trap door that I guessed led down to the tunnels.
I paused, unsure if I should keep going on my own or if waiting would be better.
Then I heard the sound of feet running to me close by, and I knew they were on their way, so I headed for the trap door.
Grasping the old steel ring, I pulled with all my might and got the door to budge but little else.
I wasn’t going to be able to do this on my own.
Moments later, the guys burst in, panting as they paused to catch their breath.
“Look, I found it,” I said with a smile, pointing to the trap door. “Guess being a nerd about the school was helpful this time.”
Hudson walked over to me and kissed my forehead. “Sunshine, you are brilliant. Now, let’s see if we can get this thing open.”
It took three of them lifting and the other two pushing to break the rust on the hinges to get it open.
“Guess he didn’t use this to get them down there,” Brayden said, his chest heaving from the exertion.
“Let’s just make sure we keep it open so we don’t have to fight it getting everyone out,” Hudson reasoned as we all peered down the hole.