The Mapmakers Union (The Doorknob Society Saga Book 3) (23 page)

“Hurry up, they’re coming.”

My abilities responded to my call and I was able to hold the Forget Me Not at bay. My powers engulfed my body and my energy reached out for my doorknob, the flow of the universe hovering around me, then I stopped. There was something else, another vessel even more powerful than my doorknob, with me.

The mirror in my bag hummed and my abilities connected to it. A surge of energy shot through me and like thin ice cracking, the hold the Forget Me Not had over me shattered.

“OW!” Faith yelled and my eyes sprang open. The Forget Me Not was smoking in her hand. I snatched it with one hand and brought the other around in a strong right hook. It snapped into Faith’s jaw and knocked her to the ground.

“Bitch.” I stood over her and yanked my doorknob out of my bag. A line of electricity shot out from the mirror in my bag to my Doorknob and it oozed with energy. I snapped out my whip and spun it attacking Ms. True.

She didn’t have time to get her Skeleton Key out. My whip cracked across her chest, sizzling her flesh. She let out a scream before collapsing to the ground, smoke pouring off of her.

I spun around. Edgar was still on the ground, leaving me to face Faith’s team alone. I needed to end this quickly and get Edgar and me out of here. If Darker and his man got here, odds would be decidedly against me.

“Play time is over, Masters.” Jackson laughed and stepped toward me.

I lurched forward cracking my whip back and forth forcing him backward like a caged tiger with no place to go.  Hitch and Mary were forced to step to the side as I advanced. I didn’t let up; I kept moving steadily toward him. He activated his Doorknob and tried to bring up a shield but I flicked my wrist and brought the whip across, slashing his puny effort in half before it fully formed.

The energy that infused my Doorknob intoxicated me with power and I snapped the whip cracking his doorknob from his hand and sending it flying over the edge of the precipice.

“I don’t play games; I play for real.” It was my turn to sneer as I left him standing precariously on the edge trembling.

“You and Edgar are both dead,” he screamed and rushed at me. I dropped and spun bringing my whip around to catch his ankle and yanked, sending him hurdling over the edge.

“You first,” I shouted as he disappeared. I swerved around to face off against Hitch and Mary while Faith struggled to pull herself up and activate her Doorknob.

“You killed him?” Mary’s voice quivered and so did her hand holding her Doorknob. She was frightened and unsure and in a whole lot deeper than she probably thought possible.

“You fight, you face consequences.”

“Let’s get her.” Faith’s voice dripped with venom and this was one fight I was going to relish and definitely going to win.

Hitch came at me but I could feel it was a feint and swung my whip at Mary who jumped backward instead of advancing. Hitch scrambled backwards away from his screw up and I kicked my leg out catching his knee. I heard it snap before he screamed and dropped to the ground clutching at his leg.

I turned to Mary, her eyes wide with fear as she cautiously stepped backwards shaking her head, and then like a frightened rabbit, she bolted. I had saved the best for last, and I could almost taste revenge.

 I turned my head, Faith stood alone facing me. “Your turn.”

“Try me.” Faith leapt forward, her Doorknob generating a dagger.

I stepped to the side dodging the blow, then snapped my whip out and just missed catching her hip. We circled around each other, looking for an opening or the other one’s weakness. Faith had been holding back during training. She was much more polished then she had pretended.

I feigned a move and Faith’s arm shot up to defend. I circled back in the other direction. She sneered at me, as if baiting me and it was obvious that she wanted to drag out the fight long enough for the other bad guys to get here. I ached to take her down but it was more important to get out of here as soon as possible. I moved so that Edgar would be right behind me. If I’d gauged the distance right, he was only four steps from me and the wall with the jetpacks was another five steps after that.

“Scared?” Faith taunted and I chuckled.

“Of you? Not likely.” That did it; she rushed in slicing with downward slashes as she came toward me. I planted my feet firm and transformed my whip into a small shield to protect against the blade. At the last moment Faith twisted, bringing the blade in from the side and bouncing off my shield and slicing through my hoodie into my arm.

 I pivoted away from her, the warm liquid running down my arm a good indication that the cut was deep. Damn it, I was getting cocky. That was dumb, Chloe, I chastised myself as Faith smiled at me. Not only had she cut me, now she blocked my access to Edgar. I watched Faith waiting for an indication of when her next move would come. Her eyes gave her away, focusing behind me for a moment and then shifting her vision back to me. Damn, someone was coming.

I dropped down as soon as I heard the footsteps and swung my whip out catching Jasper as he rushed at me. I yanked hard and he smashed face first into the floor. The sound of his nose cracking brought a smile to my face. I tugged my whip to retract it but I wasn’t fast enough. Faith was on me, her blade coming down so fast that I only had time to bring my arm up to block the blow. I winced as I got another cut for being too slow.

I scrambled backward, my arm covered in blood and dripping down off my hand. My shoulder was starting to sag and my energy drain from the loss of blood. This was going badly quickly. I couldn’t waste another minute. I rushed her, bringing my whip up in a perfect arc while dropping my injured arm as if it were too weak to lift. She took the bait and shifted to my left side avoiding my whip and going after my injured side.

I snapped my left hand out quickly. It hurt but what the hell choice did I have. My fist connected squarely with her face, the unexpected punch stunning her. I twisted my other arm and brought the whip around catching her around the neck and spinning her like a top.   Then I gave a tug, spun her to me, and hit her again square in the jaw. She stumbled and staggered to the side. I used what strength I had left in my injured arm and hit her with a left hook across the cheek that dropped her to the ground.

“Damn it, get her.” Darker was standing at the front of the large crowd that had gathered to watch the battle. His hooded companion whipped out a Skeleton Key and let a blast of energy rip. It tore through the air, my reaction time slow thanks to my wound and the shot of energy caught me in my bad shoulder, spinning me around as I tried to run.

Damn, if that didn’t hurt like hell. I scrambled over to Edgar and brought my Doorknob up and twisted it opening portals all around my attacker. He flipped over the first and caught the edge of the second and started to swing toward us.

I reached Edgar, grabbed his collar, and dragged him to his knees, slapping him across the face to wake him. “Edgar, we need to go.” His eyes fluttered and he stared at me groggily. I didn’t give him any more time to recover. “Move it.” I started dragging him to the wall where the jetpacks rested.

The attacker jumped from the last portal I had opened and shot off three bolts at us. I didn’t bother to block them; I didn’t have time to get into a standoff. The first hit my stomach but I stayed on my feet while the other two flew past me.

He misjudged my response, expecting me to block his blasts, so he was shocked when I let loose with blasts of my own and caught him mid- stride, knocking him clear off his feet.

“Get up damn it and kill her,” Darker screamed at his lackey while he kneeled over Ms. True.

 My attacker obeyed, fighting to get to his feet. We didn’t have much time and a glance at my arm confirmed what I already knew... it was useless. I slapped Edgar again, trying to gain some measure of help.

“What’s going on?” he mumbled.

“Fighting for our lives here, need a hand.” I was attempting to pull a jetpack off the peg on the wall with one hand and it wasn’t going well. Edgar surmised the situation in one quick glance and didn’t hesitate. He reached up and snatched the jetpack.

“What are we doing?”

“Escaping, put it on.” Edgar slung the pack over his shoulder and I pulled it tight.

“He’s up.” Edgar’s face went white with fear.

I spun and let loose a torrent of power, blasting at my foe. He jumped to the side and swung his own wave of energy at us, slamming us into the wall with such force that I lost my breath.

“Chloe?” Edgar’s eyes told me that he was beyond worry and now at hopeless and since I couldn’t talk I just smiled and wrapped my good arm around his neck. I kissed him on the forehead, and then threw us off the ledge.

“Red button. Red button.” I screamed as we freefell to the ground. Edgar punched the button and the jetpack roared to life and we soared back up.

“We did it,” he shouted over the rushing wind.

 I didn’t have the heart to tell him that Darker’s lapdog had just grabbed a jetpack and dove off the ledge after us.

“Give it everything we got,” I whispered in Edgar’s ear as I twisted the knob in my hand letting off energy to slow down our shadow.

“I see the exit,” Edgar yelled and my body jolted as he pushed it full throttle and the jetpack thrust forward.

The crimson blast raced toward us like a missile and I jerked my arm forcing Edgar to turn over just as the energy crackle and slammed into my lower back. I let out a scream and wanted to cry from the pain running through me.

“Hurry,” I urged Edgar through gritted teeth. My left arm felt cold, almost numb and my whole body was starting to tingle.

Our hooded pursuer weaved toward us as the thrust of the jets cut and we landed near the exit. I let go of Edgar’s neck and turned slamming my doorknob into the wall activating a portal. I felt the connection click and turned the knob swinging open the door.

“Go,” I yelled pushing Edgar through the door. The attacker flew up, cutting his jets at the last second. I was backing up through the door, not far to go when he twisted his key and shot a bolt of crimson energy across the short distance, slamming it into me. A moan escaped my lips and I started to fall.

He rushed forward reaching out to stop my escape, but the little energy I had left was fueled with anger and I brought my hands up in time to push him away. My hand hit into his face and I grabbed his hood and twisted it as I fell through the portal. The hood slipped away and my eyes could hardly believe what I was seeing; brown hair and familiar eyes that cut me to the bone. Words caught in my throat as he stared at me with such hatred and anger that I shivered.

I swung my arm out grabbing my doorknob and ripping it off the portal and as I fell and hit the ground I heard the portal slam shut behind me. I laid on the cold floor of the Cape Beanery. Edgar was a few feet away making valiant attempts to stand while I laid there feeling the blood drain from my body and my heart breaking all over again.

“Chloe.” Val rushed toward me skidding to her knees, then she grabbed my head and cradled it.

“It’s going to be okay,” she whispered to me but her worried expression as she glanced over my wounds didn’t have me believing her for a minute. “Someone call for help.”

“Val.” My voice was hoarse, barely a whisper, so she leaned in close to hear me and I barely got out what I needed to tell her before I slipped into total darkness. “It was Nightshade.”

Status: WTF!?!

The yelling was not helping my headache. I turned over and pulled the pillow over my head to try and block it out, but it didn’t do any good. I could still hear raised voices, something was going on. I tried to push myself up and found my left arm wrapped in gauze and something that looked like a massive bracelet attached to it. I blinked trying to get all the sleep out of my eyes and get a better look.

It was an Impossible Engineer device for sure, the gears and buttons being a dead giveaway. I figured it had to have something to do with healing my arm.

Healing, my arm.

That’s right. I’d been injured fighting people at the Tavern at the End of Time. No wait, not just people, Faith and her team and Ms. True also showed up and...

Nightshade.

Holy hell, I had seen Nightshade. How was that possible, he was dead. At least I thought he was dead, could I be wrong? I’d lost a lot of blood maybe I had seen what I wanted to see. That didn’t make sense either, especially recalling the look on his face. The hatred in his eyes for me had been all too real, but why?

I needed to know what the hell was going on and I needed to know
right now
. I pushed myself up and let out a groan. I wasn’t in very good shape not only was my arm a mess but my back and stomach felt like they’d been plowed by a truck.

I examined the room and realized that I had no idea where I was. I wasn’t about to let that stop me. I stood on wobbly legs and grabbed a flannel robe lying on the chair beside the bed. I slid my arms through biting my lip the entire time. I stepped to the door, opened it, and looked out into a well-lit corridor and recognized it as one of the halls in the Reliquary.

“We need your help, is that too much to ask?” Mr. Miller asked with a hint of fear.

“Why the hell should I help any of you?”

I jolted to a stop when I heard Gavin’s voice in the Reliquary. It seemed so out of place, as if some boundary had been crossed.

“Because we need to know if what the girl said is true.” That was Dad and he was surprisingly calm.

“You accused me of being a traitor and now you want my help?”

That was Gavin’s I-don’t-care-what-you ask-I’m-going-to-say-no voice.

“What’s going on?” I demanded as I stepped into the room. Dad was the first up and across the room. He grabbed me hugging me to him and even though it hurt, I didn’t stop him. I rested my head against his chest and closed my eyes for a moment to soak in that feeling of being safe and loved in my dad’s arms.

“You okay?” Gavin leaned forward in his seat and kept his eyes on me.

“I think so.” Dad freed me of his hug, though I used his arm to steady myself until I slid into a chair. “I’m sorry; I thought you were the one who betrayed me.”