Rage and Ruin | 2

6 | 0

G I G I

Though my throat was already raw, I let out a terrible scream. All the remaining anger that I'd been keeping bottled up since being in the ONNT cell came rushing out as I lashed my limbs out spasmodically. My head hit several times against the dirt wall of the chasm but I hardly noticed. Tears, sweat and blood ran down my hot face.

     I'd let my mother down. I'd let everyone down. Delphinium still lived. And more than that, she was growing in power. The deep hole we were inside was proof of that.

     How could you let my killer slip through your fingers? You're just as bad as her.

     "I'm sorry!" I yelled to the blue sky above. "I'm so sorry!"

      Sorry isn't enough. Nothing is enough until the girl is dead. You are worthless to me if you don't do as I say. What kind of a daughter are you?

     "I'll do better. I'll do better, I promise!"

     "You must do better," Benny urged, still standing in the hole with me. "As long as Delphinium Tesla breathes, you must not rest. You owe your mother that. You owe yourself that."

     He then looked up to the Imperium agent. "Neve, get us out of here."

      For a moment, she simply stared down at us with shiny eyes, like she was contemplating leaving us there. I wondered if she would. She hadn't done anything to kill the others. Even after Delphinium and Jake had left, Kane, Arlo and Finn had peered down at us. I'd done my best to kill them, twist their insides so violently that they'd die, but they quickly got out of my sight. Neve stepped in close to them and said something that neither Benny or I could hear. The three boys left soon after that. I wasn't sure where Jaxon and Riley had gone, but whatever they went, Neve had allowed them to.

     A few moments later, a rope was thrown down. I picked it up from where it leaned against the dirt wall and began to hoist myself up.

     Every inch of my body was on fire. Delphinium had nearly sliced me to shreds when I began to rupture her organs. My back had been sliced open by the blades of the helicopter. I barely had enough energy to climb out of the pit, much less heal my many leaking wounds.

      She'd gotten away this time. But I wasn't dead. No matter what she did, no matter how many blows she dealt me, I was stronger. She wouldn't kill me.

     I didn't look down. My hands were buried in the dirt walls of the chasm she'd buried me inside. I was so close to the top. The blue sky was beckoning me.

     The Imperium girl—Benny had called her Neve—offered me her hand. For a moment, I simply hung there, staring up at her emotionless face. Then I took it. She hauled me up and I tried not to scream when my wounds opened at the odd contortion of my body.

      I stood on the ground above the pit, not bothering to brush off my filthy hands. Blood and dirt was caked underneath my fingernails from the climb back up. My hand raised to touch my throat but it hung inches above the laceration Jake Evans had dealt me. I now had a list of people to kill: first Delphinium and Jake and now Finn for forcing Benny into the chasm after me.

     My teeth gritted as I turned back toward Neve. "They were so close. Why didn't you kill them?"

     "This is not my fight. It's yours." Her voice was soft. I wondered if she didn't want Benny to hear.

     "Aren't you with Imperium? They're trying to kill the whole team."

     She raised an eyebrow. "Are you on Imperium's side?"

    "I'm on my own side." My voice was a snarl. "I make my own rules."

    She gave Benny a hand as he climbed out of the pit. His eyes flashed as they ran over her lithe form. "You're barely scratched." Gone was the lighthearted, mocking voice from before. Now, he was all sharp blades and fury.

     "I fought the fire-wielding boy well."

     "Not well enough. You did nothing as my miserable brother and his friends neared us in the pit." His head tilted as he regarded her. "Careful, Neve, or I might think that your allegiance to our master isn't as real as you claim."

      "That is for him to decide. Not you." She didn't seem very shaken by his threat, her dark eyes fixed on his, chin held high.

      I didn't care about whatever problems they had with Imperium or each other. "What's next?" I asked, impatient.

Both agents broke their staring contest to look at me. "Something..." Benny smiled, "Destructive."