Page 47

Chapter 47

The boats were Zodiacs, made of rubber, open to the elements but with fast engines. They each held eight armed combatants.

Henderson briskly arranged us into a mix of MIB and Portlockians for each boat. I was with an MIB soldier, Connor, Liv and John. Our boat was the least crowded because of Liv’s goat; no one had been sure how the animal would react during the rough ride. Liv had scoffed at that, saying that she had complete control over the animal.

Once we were loaded and briefed, Henderson gave the signal and we headed for Chrome Point. I leaned into Connor and clasped his hand tightly. Neither of us spoke. John watched us with a bittersweet longing on his face. He was happy for us, but the ache of losing his wife was still with him. I thought about his excitement and hoped he wasn’t using this op as suicide by Knight Stalkers. His depression had started to lift now he was working with Connor, and I hoped he’d give himself a chance to recover even more.

I looked into the dark water then sat up straighter as I saw a flash of gold, a flash I’d seen before. A moment later, I saw it again. ‘Connor!’ I hissed, pointing to where the water dragon was pointedly keeping pace with the boats. The huge eel-like creature was gargantuan, far larger than it had been before.

He looked over the side and smiled. ‘Don’t worry, they’re guardians.’ He dipped his fingers into the water then lifted them up; after he’d done that a few times, the water dragon mimicked him by raising its huge head from the waves.

‘Don’t shoot!’ Connor shouted. ‘It’s friendly!’ The MIB soldiers were tense as fuck, but they held their fire.

The water dragon rose a little further, still keeping pace with us. ‘If you’d like to help,’ Connor shouted to it, ‘there’s a submarine in the bay that is threatening Portlock.’

The water dragon opened its mouth and screamed a noise that was almost as painful as a banshee’s wail. Then, with a huge flick of its tail, it dived beneath the surface. ‘What the hell?’ the soldier in our boat said.

‘That’s our water dragon,’ I explained. ‘They look after us.’

The soldier looked at Connor. ‘You think it can really take down a whole submarine?’

Connor smiled grimly. ‘If you don’t ask, you’ll never know. It’s certainly worth a try.’

‘It wasn’t that big last time I saw it,’ I pointed out. ‘Are there two of them?’

‘No, just the one,’ Connor said. ‘They change their size when they want to.’

I stared. ‘How?’

He grinned. ‘Magic, Doe.’ Even after months in the paranormal world, magic still surprised me.

It felt like we reached Chrome Point in an instant – and the journey also felt like a year. Still, I was cold and damp from the ride, and happy to get on solid ground again.

We climbed onto land and the soldiers tied off and secured the boats. We fell into the positions as we’d been instructed and set off at a light jog towards the mine entrance. The plan was that the twelve-man MIB team would go in fast and hard and clear out the Knight Stalkers as quickly as possible while we were their back up.

I wasn’t sure what to think about that. First off, that gave our MIB soldiers all the power – were we even certain they were on our side? Gunnar thought so, and that should have been enough, but I’d had my fill of the MIB and I didn’t trust them. Still, Connor had encountered Henderson before and had begrudgingly admitted that he trusted the guy on this. With both Connor and Gunnar vouching for Henderson, I worked to set my anxieties aside; they had no place here.

But I wasn’t the only one who was worried, because I saw Thomas speaking pointedly to Henderson and the next thing I knew he’d joined the team. Sidnee grabbed my arm hard and I jumped at the sudden contact. ‘Did Thomas just insert himself into the cannon fodder team?’ she asked, her voice shrill with anxiety.

I nodded. Her grip was starting to hurt. I laid my other hand over hers to let her know what she was doing and to offer the little comfort I could.

Her eyes went mer black. ‘No, I won’t let him.’ She let go of me and lurched forward.

I hastily pulled her back. ‘No, Sidnee. You have to let him do what he feels is right if you want a future with him.’ I thought of Hayleigh and Jacob. ‘You can’t dictate to your other half what they do and don’t do. It has to be a partnership, a meeting of equals,’ I insisted.

‘We can’t have any sort of future – equal or not – if he’s dead!’ She tugged against my hand.

‘Either way, you would lose him,’ I said firmly. ‘This is who he is. Let him see that you can handle this – that you know he can handle himself. ’

She stopped and her shoulders drooped. ‘I need something to do. I can’t sit around and wait.’

‘Believe me, when we’re into it we’ll wish we were still outside waiting. Besides, we aren’t going to sit around. We’re surrounding the other entrances to make sure no one escapes.’

Despite my words, Sidnee’s eyes were still mer black and I knew she was using the darker side of herself to stop herself plunging into the mine after Thomas.

Connor and I took our positions and kept our guns aimed at our spots while Sidnee partnered with John to do the same. Once everyone was in place, Henderson and his team – including Thomas – headed in.

It was totally silent except for the sound of waves in the distance – but then the pop of suppressed gunfire erupted from inside the mine, together with shouts and screams that were impossible not to hear.

We held our positions as we heard screams and gunfire for the next few minutes. One of our soldiers came stumbling out of the mine; he’d been shot in several places but his vest had saved his life. He gave the signal for us to step up before he collapsed on the ground and the MIB medic started administering aid. We were up.

Henderson had impressed on us that we were the last resort, but now the friends and family I’d found in Portlock were being called into battle. Things obviously weren’t going well. Well, here goes nothing, then.

‘Don’t use your fire,’ Connor murmured to me. ‘We can’t risk anyone finding out the truth about you. If anyone sees you using fire, I’ll have to kill them to protect us.’

I swallowed hard and nodded. I knew he was right: we needed to keep my hybrid status under wraps. When we’d stormed the bunker I’d been with friends who knew I had fire magic, even if they didn’t fully appreciate what that meant for me. But today was different; today I was surrounded by council members and MIB soldiers, and though I trusted the council with my life I didn’t trust them with my secrets. Evidently, neither did Connor.

I took a deep breath then, as if someone had flipped a switch somewhere, Connor was moving forward and I was on his flank. John and Sidnee were on our six. Stan and Mads had already shifted and were galloping ahead. The bears were moving fast and they’d be inside without us as backup if they didn’t slow down. Connor came to the same conclusion and we upped our pace.

Calliope and Soapy had their tridents extended to full length and currents of live electricity skittered over the tips of the tines. Calliope looked at me and gave a half-grin – like John, she was enjoying herself. She held up her pearlescent shell and a twisting opalescent light emanated from it, weaving around her and Soapy. What was it? A shield? I’d have to wait to see.

The one that surprised me the most was the mayor. He was bare chested, in a Polynesian style kilt with only a short thick staff as protection, but as I watched his bare skin morphed into something that looked like tree bark and he grew in size. The staff extended and a billow of fog came over to conceal him. Totally cool.

Gunnar was next to us, his shotgun in one hand and his handgun in the other. He never used magic as a first line of defence, mainly because it took a lot out of him. Or maybe he trusted the old-fashioned combination of lead and gunpowder more.

Liv had found a spot on the hill above the mine. Her hair was free, her afro loose and blowing in the wind, and her colourful kaftan was a focal point. She looked like a goddess of death. Goddess or not, she was utterly nuts because she’d made herself a target. Part of me wanted to yell at her to come down but I knew she’d scoff at me and there was no time for arguing.

Her goat was by her side. With a quick swipe of her athame, the goat’s lifeblood started to pool into the copper bowl she was holding. The goat sank to its knees then toppled over as the blood drained and Liv took its very lifeforce into her being. I felt the now-familiar pull of her magic and wondered what she was about to do.

Her laughter accompanied me into the mine, sending an additional skitter of ice down my spine. Something big was happening.

And I wasn’t sure if it was a good big or a bad big.