Page 227 of Shadowblood Souls: The Complete Series

Eleven

Riva

I sit up straighter and roll my shoulders. The lines of the map that’s spread on the floor in front of me swim before my eyes even when I close them.

I rub at my eyelids and blink, and the afterimage starts to fade. My uneasiness doesn’t.

Balthazar hasn’t returned to his base in the Carpathians, which isn’t really a surprise. He doesn’t know how much we figured out about his security systems there, but he’s not taking any chances.

Instead, every time I check his location, he seems to be moving between places. I’m not sure he’s stayed at any of his properties for more than an hour or two.

He must be conducting most of his business by private jets and helicopters. Placing calls, making plans, even sleeping while in motion.

Which means we can’t pin him down. I never know where he is for long enough that we could get there before he’s someplace else.

He’s had the younger shadowbloods moved too. The ones I sensed—and then saw—in the Romanian base I now trace to a spot in Poland. Toni confirmed that Balthazar owns a large plot of land there and had been doing construction on it in recent years.

They aren’t all together. I just located Booker off in the middle of Finland. The only one left I know well enough to search out with Griffin’s ability is Ajax.

I lean back on my hands for a moment first, trying to regain my concentration. There are too many other considerations niggling at my mind.

It doesn’t help that I’m far from sure that mapping out the locations of our younger counterparts does us any good. Balthazar wasn’t with Nadia and the others when they left the mountain base. He’d already taken off on his own—he’s directing their movements from afar.

I thought it would comfort me a little to know where they are, but instead it’s only deepened my sense of helplessness.

I don’t know how to get them out. I don’t know what Balthazar is putting them through now that their powers are more useful to him.

He’s certainly been busy.

One of the other niggling thoughts has me pulling out my phone. When I flick to the news app, nausea curdles in my gut.

There’s a hunt for the “monstrous” terrorists going on in Turkey right now, soldiers storming enclaves they’ve identified as suspicious. I’m guessing that Balthazar has used the shadowkind who work for him under duress to get intel.

The army hasn’t been video-recording the assaults, but rumors of smoking carcasses are floating into the news reports. They’re hitting their intended targets.

Shadowkind are dying.

Balthazar has continued to spread his efforts worldwide. A couple of days ago, his shadowbloods destroyed Houston’s city hall building, killing dozens, and now the Americans are up in arms too.

And not just the military. Roaming squads of citizens, their weapons and vests no doubt arranged by Balthazar, have turned vigilante.

I overheard Rollick on the phone yesterday, ordering his Miami hotel shut down. Recommending that all his employees there either join us at the Spanish mansion or disperse into hiding.

He put on a nonchalant front about it, acting like this was just a momentary inconvenience that would blow over, but guilt winds through my chest when I remember the conversation.

Balthazar has been stockpiling money, property, and weapons for so long. Building his economic and political influence. Gathering information to inform his strategies.

But the key to launching this vast war on the shadowkind now was Ursula Engel’s computer. The one we stole from her.

The one I told him how to find.

I inhale deeply and lean over the map again. I’ll check Ajax’s position, and then I’ll search for Balthazar again. If we can pick out one place he’s returning to somewhat frequently, that would at least be another start.

I focus my attention on my memories of the slim boy with the near-black skin and thoughtful eyes. The act of concentration has become almost second nature after so much practice, even though the talent isn’t technically mine.

An image of Ajax forms in my head. I reach my arm over the map, urging my fingers toward him as if by a magnetic pull.

My hand drops. I peer down at the winding lines of country borders.

Balthazar has him stashed someplace in western China now. I haven’t tracked our former captor’s movements to any specific spot there before, but he has crisscrossed Asia more than once. For all I know he’s made a brief stop that I missed.

Or he hasn’t checked in on the shadowbloods there at all since I started monitoring his movements.

As my gaze lingers on the blank territory I touched, more than an inch from any major city, a tingling sensation forms at the top of my skull.

My pulse hitches. I freeze, unsure whether I should try to shake off the feeling or see how it develops.

In the midst of my indecision, a thin but audible voice murmurs through my thoughts as if from right inside my head. Riva? Is that you?

It sounds like Ajax, as well as I can remember the solemn boy’s low voice. I open my mouth and close it again, not sure how to answer him. If I speak out loud, will he hear that?

His talent was a weak version of telepathy. His original talent, anyway. Has Balthazar expanded the fifteen-year-old’s abilities so much that he can project his own thoughts into my head across all this distance?

I think a response as “loudly” as I know how. Yes, it’s me. Are you okay, Ajax?

The voice wavers, momentarily so quiet that I can barely make out the words. Kind of. I’m alive. And I can do this now. I had this… this feeling that you were reaching out to me.

I hesitate. How much should I tell him about what I’ve been doing with Griffin’s powers?

Balthazar couldn’t know about our ability to swap talents yet. Even if Ajax doesn’t want to help the psychopath, I know far too well that he might not have the choice.

I was thinking about you , I settle on as a vague answer. You and the other shadowbloods. Are you alone or with some of the other kids?

Balthazar’s people don’t let us mingle much. There are adults here who have powers too—they get pretty brutal if we don’t listen to them.

My stomach knots. So Balthazar has his new, morally questionable shadowbloods enforcing his rule over the kids when he’s not there.

I can only imagine how badly that situation could go wrong for the younger ones.

I’m sorry, I say. We—the Firsts—managed to get away from him. We’re going to do everything we can to get you all out too.

That promise isn’t giving away anything Balthazar shouldn’t already know. I just can’t share any specific possible strategies with the boy who’s trapped thousands of miles distant.

I get the impression of a sigh. Well, I’m hanging in there. I’m mostly worried about Devon. I haven’t seen him since Clancy’s island.

It doesn’t surprise me that Balthazar has been keeping the two separate. He must have realized they were more than just friends. He split up Nadia and Booker once they left his villa too.

Losing his wife seems to be what sent him right over the deep end. I guess he’s self-aware enough to realize that we shadowbloods will be even more motivated to fight back if we can see the people we love most in peril.

Unfortunately, I can’t offer Ajax much comfort about his boyfriend. I saw him a few days ago. He was still alive then. Have you been able to talk to him like you are with me?

Ajax’s tone turns mournful. No. I’m not sure why this worked. Before, I had to be able to see a person to read their thoughts or send my own. Even with the way my power’s grown, I haven’t been hearing anyone much farther than this building we’re in.

It must be some synchronicity sparked by my use of Griffin’s talent. In a way, I was “seeing” Ajax when I found him on the map.

Has Balthazar amped up Devon’s powers too? he asks into my pause.

I don’t know, I admit, thinking back to our brief confrontation.

Nadia definitely used her light-based talent, and one of the kids I don’t know as well must have been responsible for the wind. Devon was able to project heat with his mind—when I was around him before, he could melt very small bits of metal, but that was about it.

Who knows what he’s capable of now.

I grimace to myself before going on. I’m guessing he’s done it to all of the shadowbloods he can. He’s got a lot of work that he wants done. I assume the other kids with you have had their abilities enhanced too?

Yeah . Ajax goes silent for long enough that I start to worry I’ve lost the psychic connection completely. I hope he’s okay. With the others… It hasn’t just improved their talents.

Something about his tone sends an icy finger down my spine. What do you mean?

There’s this thing we get injected with, and also pills we’re supposed to take…

I’ve been able to skip some of the pills without being noticed, so maybe that’s why I’m okay.

The other kids here have gotten really on edge.

Bad tempers. Yelling and getting violent if they’re even a little upset.

Even their thoughts are all jangly and mean.

It seems like more than them just being frustrated about what he’s doing to us.

My spirits sink. Yes, it does. It could be that effect explains the aggression I sensed in Nadia’s and the others’ stances when I encountered them in the tunnel.

Were they standing in our way only because Balthazar forced them to? Or has he messed with their heads as well as their powers to make them feel they need to fight anyone in front of them?

I don’t like the sound of that , I say. Keep doing what you’re doing if that’s been saving you from the worst effects.

I’ll try. I get the impression of a rough laugh. Some days I actually miss the guardians. Although maybe they’d have done this too if they’d known how.

I know what he means on both points. There’s nothing I can think of to say that would really comfort him, and a throbbing pain has formed at the top of my spine.

I rub my neck, measuring out my last words, wishing I had more I could offer. I’m sorry. We’ll get to you as soon as we can. I don’t think I can keep talking like this for much longer right now. Do you know where you are?

No idea, Ajax says apologetically. We were unconscious when we got here, and there are no windows. Reach out again if you can. I’ll see if I can find out anything else.

Then his voice fades from my head. I rock back on my butt, my mind reeling.

For what might be one minute or several, I stare blankly at the wall across from me. My cheeks cool, and I touch them to find they’re wet.

Tears are leaking from my eyes. I drag in a breath that’s almost a sob and swipe at them.

I’m not going to give in to the hopelessness. We are going to save the shadowblood kids, no matter how hard it is.

Even if some of them aren’t clear anymore on whether they want to be saved.

I insisted to our shadowkind allies that we had to protect all of the younger ones. What are they going to do if those teens outright attack them in a fit of temper or misguided aggression?

How the hell do I make this right?

As I stew in my frustration, Ajax’s words come back to me. Some days I actually miss the guardians .

No kidding.

A bittersweet smile twists my lips—and inspiration sparks in my head.

I leap to my feet, my heart pounding. Could we really— Is it too crazy?

It’s a chance, an angle we haven’t tried yet, and one Balthazar will never be expecting.

I hurry down the hall to the lounge where I can sense most of my guys have gathered. Their quiet conversation falls away completely when I burst into the room.

Jacob’s eyebrows shoot up. “What’s going on, Wildcat?”

I brace myself. “I’ve got an idea. But I don’t think you’re going to like it.”