chapter 18
“Jax was right,” Addy said, putting her hand on her forehead. “We’re being attacked!”
“They aren’t humans—they’re Akori,” Gage said. “We’re being attacked by Akori!”
They took off sprinting for the main house. Akori dressed in dark blue combat uniforms were trying to fight their way in. The Mesen were beating down their door—Jax was right about them coming before he could claim the stone.
Bernard was brawling on the terrace and Tanner was standing on a table picking off Akori with arrows, one after another. Some of the attackers Scattered when he hit them and others hit the ground in pain. Gage ran up the stairs two at a time and began helping Bernard.
Addy reached Tanner as his arrows were running out. Dozens were spread around on the ground from Akori he’d Scattered. She quickly began scooping them up with Tanner covering her. She dodged Mesen who took swings at her and dropped the arrows on the table at Tanner’s feet.
The doors opened and Juliette yelled for them to come in. They fought their way to the doors as Tanner continued to take the Mesen out from the tabletop. Once they were inside, Addy started screaming for him. He hopped off the table and made a break for the door. Juliette slid a long bar between the handles once it was pulled closed.
Addy pointed at Tanner. “Where’d that bow come from?”
“We were practicing when the attack started,” Tanner said, slinging the bow over his shoulder. “I need more arrows.”
Juliette turned to Bernard. “Weapons and arrows?”
“Follow me.” They all took off running for the weapons vault, which was located in the lower level of the building.
Addy scanned the group. “Where’s Jax?”
“He’ll be here,” Juliette said.
Bernard stopped and tried to open the door to the weapons vault. “It’s locked.”
“Keys?” Juliette asked.
“My office,” Bernard said, swallowing hard.
Jax came sprinting up. “Problem?”
“It’s locked,” Juliette said, giving Bernard an annoyed look.
“We never lock this door.” Addy snapped at her. “Someone locked it to keep us out.”
Jax motioned to the door. “Help me,” he said to Gage.
They began attempting to kick the door down, but it barely budged. They heard banging and shouting from upstairs.
“They’re in the building,” Stubbs said as he trotted up. “Move out of the way.” He pushed Jax and Gage aside.
Stubbs raised his arms and the symbols on his hands began to glow. Two seconds later the door flew off its hinges.
They all looked shocked, except Juliette. She just grinned and pushed forward.
“Stock up,” she said, running in and jamming knives in every pocket and grabbing a long sword. She and Jax were wearing matching black combat gear.
“How did you do that?” Addy asked, still frozen in place from seeing what he’d done.
“Just an old trick, my dear.” Stubbs motioned for her to arm herself.
Addy grabbed the Akorian Sickle Sword and a dagger, and then tossed Tanner another quiver full of arrows.
“These appear to be Akori, why are they attacking us?” Bernard asked Jax, as he grabbed a mace for himself. He handed Gage throwing knives, which Addy knew was his preferred weapon. “What do they want?”
“Me dead,” Jax said, grabbing two flame-bladed swords.
“That’s a good way to get your wrist cut off,” Bernard said to Jax, looking at the two swords.
Juliette rolled her eyes. “Save your breath, he doesn’t listen.”
“Maybe you should stay here and let us go back up,” Addy said to her brother.
Jax gave her a sinister smile and nodded toward the door. “Let's go.”
“Our people are holding them off,” Juliette said. “We didn’t expect so many so soon. Word must have gotten out you were claiming the stone tonight.”
They all ran for the stairs.
“Where’s Kim?” Addy started to slow down, but Gage pushed her forward.
“She’s locked in the ballroom with the others who can’t defend themselves,” Bernard said from in front of her. “Doris and Molly are with her.”
At the top of the stairs, through the windows, they could see battles going on outside in the garden. Sounds from fighting down the hall echoed around them.
Jax walked briskly, directing traffic in the halls like he’d been preparing for the fight his entire life. He wasn’t kidding when he said most of the new Akori staying at Tremain were his friends. They were sporting the same black combat gear he and Juliette wore and he was shouting orders at them. He yelled and pointed, as groups of the attackers attempted to break a door down from the outside.
“Make your hits count, go for the fatal strike,” Stubbs said. “They cannot be killed, but they’ll Scatter, just like when they drain their powers.”
As they rounded the corner, Patrick LaCroft was waiting for them with a group of about ten Akori.
“How many got in?” Jax asked him.
“Maybe fifty, but we’ve contained them to this end of the estate and the doors have been secured,” Patrick said. “No one else is getting in.”
Jax told Patrick to take his group and keep the library secured. Juliette was told to take Tanner outside where he would be more useful with his bow.
Addy felt panicked as Tanner was being led away. He wasn’t trained for what was happening like the rest of them were. She shouted at him to be careful and he yelled something back over his shoulder, but she couldn’t hear him.
The fighting was getting louder as they approached the dining room. Once it was in sight, Addy couldn’t believe her eyes. She had no time to digest what she saw before a man twice her size knocked her to the floor.
He was only on her seconds before he winced and Scattered, as two knives fell to the floor.
“Pay attention!” Gage scolded her as he pulled her up to her feet. “This isn’t practice—now focus!”
Addy pulled herself together and drew her sword. A woman with bright red hair took a swing at her. She blocked the attack with her forearm, and struck back with her sword across the redhead’s throat and she Scattered.
Red’s friends apparently took exception to her quick takedown and three men converged on Addy. She dodged their attempts to strike her and she swept one of them off his feet. He hit the floor hard and Bernard struck him with his mace. She took a hard hit to her ribs from his buddy, but she jammed her sword into his chest before he could take her down.
Turning to look for the third guy, she spotted Jax dealing with him. He was one-step ahead of his attacker, no matter what the guy did. Jax was dual wielding swords and as fast as his attacker was, Jax was faster. Addy watched him cross his swords and take the Akori’s head right off, which conveniently Scattered with its body.
Gage was fighting exactly as Bernard taught them. He took out two guys at once, throwing a knife at one while snapping the other’s neck, causing them to simultaneously Scatter. Addy didn’t intentionally attack any Mesen, but when they came after her, she struck back, aggressively defending herself.
Matt was approaching them from the hallway, and she was about to call out to him but he saw her first. He said something over his shoulder to Renee who trailed behind him and smiled darkly.
Making a move behind his back, Addy saw the flash of a long dagger. Matt was already in mid-swing for Gage when she realized what was happening and screamed.
That was all she managed to get out before she felt a crushing pain to her throat. Renee had her around the neck. Addy dropped her sword and began trying to fight her way free.
“You know how long I’ve wanted to squeeze the air out of your lungs?” Renee asked, squeezing tighter. “You’ve been a curse since the day you were mistakenly born.”
Renee had her air supply cut off and Addy’s vision blurred as she watched Gage fighting off Matt. With her last bit of energy, Addy dug her nails into Renee’s face. She shrieked in pain and loosened her grip long enough for Addy to break free.
Still gasping for air, she kicked Renee hard in the chest causing her to fall back. Scanning the room, she spotted Gage still dealing with Matt. He was bleeding heavily from his shoulder.
Renee recovered and slammed Addy from behind. Addy sprang to her feet; this time she was the aggressor. She grabbed Renee by the hair and used all of her weight to drag her to the floor, smacking her head against it several times before Jax pried her clenched fingers from Renee’s hair.
“Relax, she’s out,” he said, pulling Addy back. “I promise you, her interrogation will be much worse than being Scattered for the next couple of decades.”
One of his people threw Renee over his shoulder and carried her out.
“We need to find their Uncle Josh,” she said as she whipped around looking for Gage and Matt. “If she and Matt screwed us over, odds are he has too.”
He agreed, and quickly sprinted off shouting directions.
Matt was good and Gage was having a hard time taking him down with his injured shoulder. Addy grabbed for her sword off the floor and ran toward them.
Gage was pinned to the wall with a knife to his throat. Addy knew she couldn’t hurt Matt too badly, or he’d Scatter and she wanted to make sure they were able to get him to talk—she needed to know why he’d betrayed them.
When she reached them, she hit her knees sliding and swung her sword. Her blade opened up a deep gash across the back of Matt’s lower legs. Blood splattered on the floor and across her face.
Matt screamed in pain and collapsed beside her, still gripping the knife. He tried to take a swing at Addy, but Gage met Matt’s face with the bottom of his shoe. His head slammed against the floor and he stopped moving.
Gage hurried to Addy and turned her away from Matt. He grabbed a towel off of a nearby counter and began wiping their friend’s blood from her face. Matt’s unconscious body lay next to where they sat on the floor.
“I don’t understand.” Gage stopped and looked at Matt. “Akori attack us and Matt’s a part of it?”
“Renee was too.” Tears mixed with blood streaked her cheeks. “Jax went off to find Josh,” Addy said as she choked back a sob and trembled. “Our friends…”
He leaned forward and lifted her chin to look at him. “Take a few breaths,” he said, scooting closer and going back to cleaning her face.
“It seems like we should’ve known.” She pulled his hands from her face and turned to look at Matt.
“Don’t start that—there’s nothing you could’ve done,” Bernard said, directing some of Jax’s people to take Matt away. “Elsegood, you need medical attention. You’re bleeding all over.” He reached down and helped Gage get to his feet.
Tanner wasn’t with Juliette when she entered and her face looked tense. Addy felt her heart sink and she held her breath, waiting for the worst.
“He’s fine,” Juliette said, as if she was reading her mind. “He’s in the library. Jax wants you in there too. He’s ready to claim the stone.”
Addy let out a huge sigh of relief that Tanner was alright. She looked at Gage, not wanting to leave him when he was hurt.
“Go, I’ll be alright,” he said.
A sharp pain shot through her left side as she stood up and stepped closer to Gage. She carefully slipped her arms around him. “I’ll come find you as soon as I can.”
Gage headed to the ballroom, where Molly was patching up the injured with Doris and Kim’s help. Addy and Bernard followed Juliette to the library. There was a crowd of Akori dressed in black gear outside the door.
Until then, Addy hadn’t realized how many Akori Jax had brought in. It was overwhelming. They parted to make a path for them to enter the library; some of them even nodded their head at her. Sade LaCroft reached over and patted her on the shoulder as she passed by. It was really odd.
Jax was standing at the head of the table talking to Stubbs when they entered. “We found Josh, but unfortunately it was just in time to see Tanner pop him with an arrow between the eyes.”
Tanner put his hands up. “He was swinging an ax at one of the guys on Team Jax—I thought taking him down was a good thing.”
Beyond relieved to see he was alright, Addy hurried in and threw her arms around Tanner. He hugged her back tightly, clearly relieved to see her too. The pain in her side was sharp and she winced.
He loosened his arms. “You’re hurt.”
Addy shook her head no.
“That wasn’t a question,” he said, tipping her chin to look at him.
“It’s just a few bruises.” Addy let go of him, taking a step back. She looked away because she had tears building again. “I think it’s too late for you to become a roadie.”
“I’m more of a front guy anyway.” Tanner scrunched up his face as he looked down at the blood she’d smeared on his light blue shirt from her clothes. “Oh wow, thanks for sharing, girlie.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, turning to the conversation that was going on without them.
“We have Matt, Renee, and about a dozen others,” Bernard said. “We should be able to get some answers out of them.”
Jax looked up from his conversation with Stubbs. “Addison, I just learned we have a dungeon.”
“What?” Addy lived here her whole life and she’d never heard such a thing.
“Dungeon is a bit of a strong word for it. It’s a jail where we used to house Akori prisoners when necessary, located in the sub-basement,” Stubbs said.
Gage opened the library door and came in. Addy studied him with concern, but he said Molly looked him over and it was really just a flesh wound. He took a seat on the chaise by the fireplace across the room from her.
Addy was dying to ask Stubbs about the way he’d blown the doors off the vault but Bernard started talking before she could get a word out.
“Where’d all the Akori come from who were fighting with us?” Bernard asked Jax.
“Good friends of the West Family.” He nodded his head toward Juliette. ”They’ll help us protect Tremain and the stone.”
“Stubbs, that story you told us in school about the ball where Andrew and Eva were attacked, were those Akori who attacked them, not humans like you told us?” Gage asked him.
“No, they were indeed humans, but they were marked with Akori symbols.” He cut his eyes to Juliette.
Like the ones she read about in the books, Addy realized. It wasn’t just a story like Fate told her.
“It was the same group who attacked us today, they call themselves Mesen,” Juliette said. “They marked humans with our symbols to control them, basically building an army.”
Tanner pulled out a chair motioning for Addy to sit. “An army for what?”
“Overthrowing Eva and Andrew,” Jax said. “Mesen killed my and Addison’s parents, not humans.”
Addy carefully sat in the chair Tanner pulled out and he lightly placed his fingers on her shoulders. “Did they kill the family of Overseers that lived here before us?”
Stubbs looked up at the painting of Andrew and Eva on the wall. “There was no Overseer before Oren Sanders.”
She’d always assumed her family just took over for another family who had the job before the Sanders did. She figured it was possible Andrew and Eva just ran Tremain themselves before Oren Sanders took over though.
“It seems like there’s more to this,” Tanner said, shaking his head. “But I’m just the new guy.”
Stubbs got to his feet. “We best get on with this.”
Jax motioned to Addy. She painfully stood up and walked over to stand next to him at the head of the table in front of the Overseer’s Stone. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do and she glanced back at Gage, who smiled sympathetically. She didn’t really know Jax and she was in too much pain to pretend she did.
Jax leaned down. “Behave while I’m gone.”
Addy simply nodded her head—again not sure how to respond to him.
He scooped her up in his arms, and she sort of hugged him back awkwardly. Her side was killing her and his extra tight hug didn’t help matters.
A few minutes later Jax was laying his hands on the Overseer’s Stone. There was a bright flash of blue light, and when it cleared Jax was on the floor unconscious. For a split second, Addy thought it had killed him. He was taken to his room where he would remain heavily guarded until he regained consciousness.