Chapter 22

Easter didn't question my choice of direction. "You know who it is?"

"I am hoping I'm wrong." I kept my voice low as did she. This was not the time to be shouting about our presence.

I made my way through the semi-darkness with only emergency lights flickering here and there, leading us forward in conjunction with the scent that shouldn't have existed. That fact that the light and the smell were together made my skin crawl on my back.

My siblings were all dead. All of them. So who the fuck was I smelling? Maybe a bastard child of Romano's? I supposed that was possible, but he kept close track of all his dalliances and any children produced from them. I couldn't believe that any would have slipped his leash.

I followed the smell of my sibling—whoever they were—letting it lead me through tunnels that otherwise would have been nearly impossible to navigate. Luck came with being an ascendant. Luck and coincidence to help survive what would kill most others.

Which was why it was so easy for me to follow my feet and the freakishly familiar smell and not lose my mind over the ease of it.

The only sounds were that of water dripping and the click of Ruby's claws on the concrete. Otherwise, we were quiet. Dinah included. The three of us knew that silence was a tool to be used liberally.

Impossible, that was what kept running through my head, and yet there it was, pulling me through the darkness.

The light disappeared and I held up my palm, calling up my fire to pool, red-gold and brilliant enough to give us an easy path. Easter gave a low grunt from behind me, the tension growing.

A few more turns and we were in front of a ladder rising high above our heads. I bent and scooped Ruby up, settling her on my shoulders, then started the climb. She didn't squirm, didn't so much as flinch as I went up. I was breathing hard by the top, and glad she was no bigger.

The end of the ladder had no covering. I popped through and Ruby scrambled off my shoulders.

"Took you long enough to find me."

The words were not fully out of the man's mouth before I had Dinah up and pointed in his direction, even though I was only half out of the tunnel, my feet still on the ladder.

Ruby rumbled a low growl and settled into a crouch beside me, but otherwise didn't move, her one good eye locked on the shadows to my right. The speaker stepped out of the darkness and held up his hand, brilliant blue and green flames lighting it.

"Holy shit, he's like Bear!" Dinah yelled as I finished climbing the last of the ladder and stood across from the abnormal who smelled like family and held flames like me.

The pieces came together quickly, memories from before the facility flashing like intense lights. "You are the third ascendant, the one Mancini couldn't find."

He dipped his head toward me. "I am."

I still didn't lower Dinah. I was no fool to think that just because he had the same power as me, the same blood, that he was safe and not there to kill me or trap me. The flames rolled around his wrist and up his arm, absorbing into his skin. "I wanted to meet you before you came to me. God only knows what my people would do if they knew exactly what I was capable of."

He smiled and I saw a flash of teeth. He was fair-haired, blue-eyed, and taller than most. A sweep up and down and I put him at six foot four. Lean like a swimmer and with just the skim of a beard that was shades darker than his hair, he would turn heads.

He reeked of abnormal, though if he was a true ascendant, he shouldn't have. He smiled, and in that smile, I knew he was not there to kill me. At least not yet. I found myself lowering a spluttering Dinah.

"What the fuck are you doing? He isn't that charming!"

I drew a slow breath and the smell of abnormal faded. "He has my mother's smile."

He grinned. "Very good."

"What is this, fucking family reunion week?" Dinah grumbled from her holster.

Diego grunted. "Disappointed again. I was just hoping to shoot a few more things."

The man in front of me spread his hands wide. "I have been trying to get your attention since you escaped the facility. I did try to break you out once, but they buried you deeper than any other abnormal. Both of you." He gave a nod to Easter as she moved to my left with her gun raised on the ascendant.

"Let me be clear," the man said, "I am very much related to you, Phoenix. Closer than you might expect. Your mother—excuse me—our mother, gave me up for adoption before Romano took her fully. Thank you, by the way, for killing him. It was on my to-do list."

I just stared at him. Seeing the similarities. The differences. "Goddamn it," I muttered. "How the fuck have you stayed hidden so long?"

"I played dumb, same as you." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "But I cannot play dumb now. There are far worse things than Romano and Mancini at our heels."

Dinah wiggled in her holster. "Seriously? You think she's just going to believe you because you're cute? She has a man, you know!"

I didn't roll my eyes, but I felt like it. Sometimes Dinah focused on the wrong aspect and this was one of those times. "He's my brother, Dinah. Which means he's half your brother. Full blooded to me. Yes? And I imagine a couple years older?"

He nodded. "Yes. After our mother got pregnant from Romano the first time, she hid long enough to have me and give me away. But she still checked in on me when she could, and she made sure I had ties to strong abnormals to train me and protect me." He shrugged. "You are looking for Rio, are you not?"

Easter grunted and I nodded. "He was supposed to be the last real powerhouse left."

He held out a hand. "Nice to meet you. My friends know me as Rio. Mario is my name, though."

Mario turned and beckoned for us to follow him. "This way. There are things we need to discuss."

"No shit," Easter muttered.

I let Easter lead this time, wanting a little space between me and this Mario who was most certainly my brother. How I wished Eleanor was still with me and I could give her shit for keeping this little gem of a secret.

Mario led the way through this level of the subway, up to street level via a series of stairs that switchbacked. I thought he'd be silent through the walk, but he picked up a running narrative.

"I have several Hiders working for me which is partly why I've been able to keep things quiet. All along, I thought I'd take down Romano and take over his territory. Set it up for a more stable place to live for abnormals, but you beat me to that punch." He walked to an alley that opened on the docks. Jesus, we'd come a lot farther than I'd realized.

He led us across an empty dock that should have been bustling with people, but if anything, it was eerily silent. Easter glanced at me, her brows drawn down. I didn't blame her, but I knew when to trust and when to run.

It was why I'd survived all these years. It was why I'd known when to break out of the facility, and it was why I knew in that moment, at least in the space of the next hour, we could trust Mario.

"Since the purge, I've been gathering as many abnormals as I can, keeping us all in one place. It sounds dangerous, but the Hiders I have can keep everyone safe. We go out only when we have to. But things are getting tight and we need to find a way to deal with these new monsters." He approached a large brick building. "This is the closest thing to a rebellion headquarters as you're going to find. I've managed to intercept a few deliveries to the different facilities, but it's been difficult. The winged monsters they keep on retainer don't react to any weapon we've come up with. They don't like my fire, but I've been careful with that because if I go down—"

"The last of the abnormal world will sink," Easter said. "You're the last ship standing. That's what you're saying."

He nodded and pushed the wide iron door open. He didn't motion for us to go first, just walked in and Easter followed.

I stood in the threshold of the building, my nose assaulted by the smell of unwashed bodies and abnormals.

My eyes adjusted quickly to the inside of the building and I stared at the number of people there.

Maybe fifty, not what I was expecting. Because I knew how many abnormals there were in New York. Thousands. Tens of thousands. And I was looking at fifty.

Which meant the facilities were only for the strongest of the abnormals and everyone else was just . . .

Peter and Carlos, stood drawing my eyes to them. Carlos gave me a head bob, but Peter hurried over to me. "You made it. I wasn't sure."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "The facility gave up on you, did they?"

He nodded. "One second they were gunning us down, the next they were pulling a U-turn and headed toward New York."

Carlos made his way to me. "Your son is with Anita. She let me know he is safe with her, as is your daughter and their current guardian, a young female abnormal who has survived on her own for some time."

Relief slid through me, but I kept it in check. It would only take me a moment tonight to slide into the mists to be sure Bear and his sister were indeed safe.

"They kill those they deem unworthy of their attention from what I can tell," Mario said with a sweep of his hand.

Which reminded me of Cowboy lying underground, fighting for his life.

"You know Fred? The one who thinks he's Chinese even though he's as white as your ass?"

Mario barely held back a smile. "I do."

"Well, he's currently under the tourist shop on the corner of Third and Rochester," I said. "And he has a friend of mine. Kid can blow an EMP pulse if he pulls through his injuries."

Mario looked at a young woman whose dark brown hair was cut short, shaved along the back. "Lanny, go get him. That could come in handy if we can keep him alive."

Lanny slid on a pair of shades and all but disappeared from sight. Camouflage abnormal. Like a Hider but even rarer.

"I hear you have something for Harden," Mario asked as he led us deeper into the building.

"I do. A tablet from the facility." I pulled the pocket-sized tablet out of my hip pouch and handed it to him. Inside, I could feel the three rocks that Fred had given me to pass on to Rio. I hesitated on them, feeling this wasn't the right time.

He took it and tossed it to another guy who leaned against the wall. He flicked a tongue out and caught a few flies. Mario gave him a nod. "Harden, meet my sister. Can you crack that? Get the files and don't get caught."

"Betcha sweet assssss." He drew out that last S on purpose. I didn't bother looking at him after that. Acting tough was a sure way to show me how weak you were.

There was a tingle along my spine and my grandmother's words came back to me.

Gather your team. This was the place to do it. I looked at Mario, really looked at him. He was ascendant, like me. Like Bear. I had a Magelore, Hiders, and Easter. A kid with an EMP pulse up his sleeve and maybe a few other top-notch abnormals.

Gather my team, and then I would have to do the one thing I dreaded. I would have to call up Bazixal. I was going to invite that fucking demon to my party because he was the strongest one I knew, and because I knew he would want to negotiate with me if he could.

That demon had lost me once. He wouldn't want to lose me again.

"Where are you taking us exactly?" Easter asked and I snapped back to the moment.

"Medical level," Mario said. "We snagged a few off a transport truck but they were pretty roughed up. We've got them sedated, but there is one giving us a real problem. Every time we try to bring him out, he about loses his mind. And if he blows his top, it'll bring every monster down on us."

Easter shook her head. "Seems stupid to keep him then."

He looked over his shoulder, past her to me. "Ah, I don't think my sister would like me much if I killed him. He's shockingly handsome."

Dinah sucked in a sharp breath and I was running before I could think better of it. There was no pretending in this, not for me.

"Take the next left!" Mario called after me as I hit the T intersection. I bounced off the far wall, pushing off with my feet and then pounded down the hall to the double doors at the end. I burst through them to see six beds, three occupied. Catching my entrance, a couple healers cringed back.

He was in the last bed on the right and I strode toward him. Seeing him, truly seeing him. He wasn't dead. He wasn't in a facility.

His face was bruised, and he had a jagged cut on his forehead that would leave a scar, for sure. Across his chest, I could see where the bruises on his ribs were fading, where his body was slowly healing. But none of that mattered. He was alive.

Hands and feet were strapped down tightly at the wrists and ankles, and a blanket was thrown over his lower body. His chest was bare and his skin was dimpled with goose flesh in the cool air, the pulse of his heart beating in the hollow of his throat.

My hand hovered for a moment before I let it slowly drop and rest over his heart.

"Killian."