The War of Elevens| Book 1 of the Space Thief Chronicles

Chapter 28| Crescendo

Lilly saw the world through a curtain of her hair and the blurry rush of rage that seared her as the man carrying her over his shoulder marched through the melee of monsters and soldiers, out of Elliott Way's entrance doors, over a bridge, and onto the crest of one of the facility's many hilly, unkempt lawns. 

When the man's arms released her, Lilly tumbled face-first to the ground. 

The rain was rugged, destructive, falling so hard every fat raindrop caused minute craters in the ground. Everything smelled like citrus and saltpeter, a zest-smoke combination that sent Lilly into a coughing fit. As her coughs died down to mere sputters, she flipped onto her back and looked up—and up and up—to study the man who had kidnapped her in Treasurer's Place. 

He was tall. His hair was cropped into a buzzcut, a lazy smile sat like an unkind gash on his face, and his eyes were the bright, unnatural green of neon signs or sodas. His right eyebrow was slashed through the middle with a dark line of ink, and that line slithered from his eyebrow and down the edge of his face before snaking around the bottom of his ear. He wore black army fatigues, thick and bulky and dark, perfect for concealing weapons. 

Oh crap.

Storm. It was Storm.

Lilly had seen him raise his hands in Treasurer's Place. She'd seen his wicked twin bolts of lightning explode before everything crescendoed into chaos. Lightning and sudden storms and the kidnapping of a space thief. It clicked. 

Lilly scooted back a little, unable to stand. Absolute, all-encompassing dread made her limbs heavy. 

"Your mother really screwed up by keeping you alive. She should've just sent an asteroid to flatten your skull," Storm said over the torrent of the howling wind and rain. He crouched down so that he was closer to eye-level with Lilly. "We need to talk."

Stupidly, Lilly replied, "You're not as ugly as I thought you'd be."

"I tried to go for the handsome army look," Storm replied, that lazy grin sharpening into a sneer. "You look exactly like the scared little girl I was expecting."

Lilly swallowed down the nausea that threatened to spew out of her mouth. The last thing she needed was to vomit all over Storm.

Actually, that wouldn't be terrible.

"Mm," Lilly mused. She could feel her heartbeat all over her body, pounding frantic and chaotic, like thousands of butterflies trying to escape a too-small tank. "I've been looking forward to having a conversation with you, actually."

"Really?" 

"Yeah. You're the only one who can give me a straight answer. What's up with my mother?" As she spoke, she tried to get a read on the magical current, but she couldn't feel it. Her fear made her so unfocused that she couldn't zero in on it. 

Calm down. Calm down. You have to calm down if you want to fight him. 

The rain softened to a drizzle; the wind descended from a roar to a whisper. From behind Lilly and Storm, thirty yards away, an explosion came from deep inside Elliott Way. Lilly jerked her head around to see the facility—merely a silhouette of spires, high rises, and gables—erupt into flames from within the Northern Wing. 

Lilly pressed a hand to her mouth and turned back to Storm. 

"Don't look so shocked," said Storm. "What did you expect? Monsters offering nice warm hugs and hot chocolate?" 

Lilly clenched her fists, took several deep breaths so that she could calm herself down. If she didn't get her fear under control—

Storm crossed his arms. "I'm going to tell you how smart I am. I simply dug into family secrets and found a bored psychic with a grudge who told me you were alive. I tracked down records of Shifters moving to Earthens from eleven years ago. Your cousin moved there. I thought that if you were alive, you'd be with her. Emma really did think she killed you, and when she found out what your cousin did, she was ecstatic. I planned my monsters, then I sent giant wasps to Belle Village to get your scent so that when you were in Elliott Way one of my other beasts could grab you. Emma and your cousin really didn't think about Lydia Cannassa."