After Flux (The Flux Series Book 2) Read online

  We stepped out of the tunnel and onto the tiny cove directly below the Golden Gate Bridge. The scent of salt hit my nose, combined with something else, acrid and pungent. At first, I thought it was the burning of the candles that had followed us out, but quickly learned otherwise.

  “Look!” Dixie grabbed my arm and pointed toward the city. A plume of gray smoke rose into the unusually clear sky.

  Hunter frowned. “What the hell?”

  “That looks big,” said Kit, shaking his head.

  My stomach tightened in a knot. I’d seen smoke like that before, though I’d been far closer to it last time.

  “Come on,” I said, turning away from the ocean. “We have to hurry!”

  I broke into a run, scrambling up the barely-there steps cut into the rock face to get up onto the road. Kit kept his car parked there, but I wasn’t sure we were going to get far in it. Even from this distance, I could hear the wailing of sirens, and in the sky, the dot of a helicopter appeared.

  “Do you think that belongs to your father?” I asked Kit.

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Looks like either police or news.”

  Dixie looked between us, worried. “Aw, hell. What’s happening out there?”

  I had an idea, but I didn’t want to give voice to it. My need to find the new guy grew. If he was caught in this, I knew exactly how he was feeling.

  We jumped into the car—us girls in the back, Hunter shotgun, while Kit drove. Kit put his foot down, tearing out of the small parking lot, swinging the car up onto the road to take us across the bridge and into the city. The traffic started to back up, people honking the car horns, winding down their windows to gesture angrily at the traffic.

  Dixie reached across the back seat and took my hand in hers and squeezed. “You still feel him?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah, stronger than ever.”

  “Me, too. This is so weird, having someone else who can sense the newbies. I’ve never had that before.”

  “It’s weird for me, too,” I admitted.

  Hunter twisted around in his seat. “Any chance you’re starting to sense him not being anywhere close to where the smoke is coming from?”

  Dixie released my hand, and we both shook our heads. “No, sorry,” I said.

  “I think we’re going to have to dump the car, guys,” said Kit, as he sat with his hands on the steering wheel, not steering us anywhere. “We could end up in this for hours.”

  “Okay, let’s do it,” Hunter agreed.

  Kit swung the car out of the traffic and turned illegally. He found a place he could pull over, and we all climbed out. “Come on, this way.”

  The others set off at a run, and I inwardly groaned before starting out after them. Running again. I hated running. Within minutes, my chest was on fire, and I sounded like Darth Vader as I heaved breath into my pathetic lungs. I might have super powers, but moving fast on foot certainly wasn’t one of them. The others noticed I was struggling and slowed to a jog.

  “You guys are killing me,” I wheezed.

  Kit laughed. “Think we need to put you in training that doesn’t involve using your abilities.”

  “Thanks!”

  As we grew closer to the origin of the smoke, I wanted to both speed up and slow right down. It was all coming back to me, the confusion of the people around us, strangers clutching each other and crying, others calling out names of loved ones. The police were everywhere, trying to prevent people approaching the site. My heart tripped in my chest, and nausea washed over me. The last time I’d experienced this, I’d been right in the middle of it, and I’d lost my sister. I couldn’t believe it had happened again.

  Kit grabbed someone walking past. “What’s going on?”

  The man stopped, a strange, vacant expression on his face, one I recognized as shock. I noticed a graze across his temple. “An explosion in one of the cable cars. The whole thing’s gone. All those poor people...”

  A choke filled my throat, and I put my hand over my mouth to hold it back, though I couldn’t stop my eyes filling with tears. “They’ve done it again.”

  I felt sick with disbelief and horror. Lightheaded and hot, and not just from running to get here.

  “You okay, Ari?” Hunter asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah, it’s just the shock. I’ll be okay.” I looked to Dixie. “Do you know where he is?”

  “Close,” she said, looking around. “We’re in the right place.”

  Frantic, I scoured the area.

  We couldn’t get near the actual site of the explosion. The police had already cordoned it off. All around us were paramedics helping injured people, the fire service, police. Confusion, people crying. The stench of burning in the air, ash landing on our cheeks like snowflakes.

  “What if he was badly hurt? He might have been taken to the hospital already.”

  I shook my head. “No, he’s here. I can feel it.”

  Dixie nodded. “She’s right.”

  A cop stopped us. “You need to get out of here. It’s not safe.” His words made me shiver. No, it wasn’t safe, and not only because of the bombing. Someone had done this deliberately, and it was too much of a coincidence for it to have revealed another member of the Kin, just as it had me.

  “We’re looking for a friend, sir,” Kit said, his expression stern, his voice level. “We won’t put ourselves in any danger.”

  Though Kit was the same age as us, twenty-two, he had a way of portraying himself as being older. Steadfast, reliable, the kind of person people listened to.

  “Okay, son,” said the officer. “Just be careful, and stay away from the site. If you don’t find your friend, we’ll be putting together a list of all those missing, so come back and add your friend’s name to it.”

  “Thank you. We will.”

  I was relieved the officer hadn’t asked for the name. That could have been awkward.

  Suddenly, I felt like a light had gone on in the corner of my vision. My heart raced. I turned my head, something inside me guiding me, and I started to walk, pushing my way through the crowds. I heard the shout of ‘Ari!’ from behind me, but ignored it. I didn’t want to do anything to risk losing this mental pull.

  I broke through the crowd and drew to a halt. My breath caught. Sitting on a low wall, being tended to by one of the paramedics, was a young man wearing jeans and a t-shirt. His blond hair was a couple of inches in length and swept to one side so it partially covered his left eye. Blood matted it to his forehead. There was a flash of light, and I noticed a silver stud through his lower lip. A black backpack sat at his sneakered feet.

  The others came chasing up behind me.

  “That’s him.”

  I looked to Dixie for confirmation, and she nodded. “Yeah, it’s him.”

  Chapter Three

  It felt strange staring at the new guy. I’d been in his position only a matter of weeks ago, clueless that my life was about to flip upside down. Did he have any idea yet that everything had changed? Had he lost anyone in the bombing? Though I hadn’t yet met this guy, I felt connected to him by a series of events that hadn’t been within either of our control. He was about to become one of the Kin and a part of my life. I felt a strange desire to take care of him in a way I never had with a stranger before.

  “How are we going to get to him?” asked Dixie.

  “We normally wait awhile,” said Hunter. “Let things cool down a bit, see what sort of abilities he’ll have.”

  “Things have stepped up,” said Kit. “I’m not sure we have the luxury of waiting any longer.” His eyes fixed on something, and he frowned, and he reached out, his fingers wrapping around my forearm. “In fact, I don’t think we have the luxury of waiting at all.”

  I followed his line of sight. Two people stepped out from the crowd. They were clearly looking for someone, their heads craning from side to side, just as many people here were. But unlike everyone else, they didn’t appear ruffled in the slightest. A man and a woman, bot
h in black, but not suits like the Myriad. No, these people looked tougher—black leather and black jeans. I was surprised they weren’t wearing sunglasses to finish the look.

  “They look like trouble,” said Hunter.

  Kit’s hand was still around my wrist, and I felt his hold tighten. “We need to get to him before they do.”

  I looked between Kit and Hunter. “You think they might be responsible for this?”

  “I don’t know, but they look like they mean business.”

  A combination of fear and anger rose inside me.

  “We need to create a distraction and get him out of there.”

  Hunter straightened. “Leave it to me.”

  “What are you going to do?” I hated the thought of him putting himself in danger.

  “I can handle myself, Ari. You focus on the reason we’re here, and then getting the hell away.”

  Hunter stood stock-still, concentration on his face. I recognized this expression—I’d seen it many times before. I tried to guess what he had planned, but the area was too busy. My gaze darted back to where we’d seen the two leather-clad people, but they were no longer in that spot. Shit. Where had they gone? Had they realized the blond guy with the lip piercing was the one they were after? Did they already know? Was he the reason they’d set the bomb?

  I spotted a flash of black leather through the crowd. “They’re over there!” I cried, pulling my arm from Kit’s grip and pointing. “Whatever you have planned, Hunter, do it now.”

  On the street, about two hundred yards away, a car that had been parked alongside the curb suddenly lifted into the air with a creak of metal. No one had been near it, something I figured Hunter had been waiting for, but the entire back end flipped up, and the vehicle hovered momentarily on the front grill, before crashing down onto its roof.

  The effect was immediate. People screaming. The cops running over. The paramedics who’d been dealing with the new guy left his side and went over to see what was happening.

  “Now!” shouted Kit.

  I raced over to where the blond guy was still perched on the wall. He was sitting straighter now, craning to try to catch sight of what was going on. The paramedic had dressed his head wound, so his hair now flopped over a white dressing, wrapped by a bandage. The hair looked more pink than blond from the blood.

  I skidded to a crouch before him. He startled back, looking at me as though he thought I was nuts. Dixie was right behind me, though his gaze remained on me.

  My first touch on his leg was like electricity jolting through me. He must have felt it, too, his face whipping toward me, his green-blue eyes wide.

  “You need to listen to me,” I said, launching straight in. There wasn’t any time for formalities. “You’re in danger. People are after you. You need to come with me right now.”

  Confusion filled his face. “What the hell?”

  “We can explain as soon as we get out of here.”

  I looked to Dixie for help. She had the ability to take things out of people’s heads, and though I felt a connection with this new guy, I wasn’t able to do that. Not yet, anyway.

  “Zane,” she said. “His name’s Zane.”

  He looked up to Dixie in surprise. “How’d you know that?”

  “I plucked it out of your head. Now, if you don’t want to end up in the hands of some very bad guys—guys who are more than happy to kill a whole heap of innocent people to get to you—I suggest you move.”

  “They’re coming!” Kit yelled from behind us. He’d left it to us girls to deal with the new guy, knowing we’d seem less threatening than if he and Hunter had approached. Kit put out a hand and swept it to one side. Nearby, an ambulance suddenly rolled forward, blocking the road.

  Zane stared between Kit and the ambulance. “How did you do that?”

  I grabbed Zane’s hand, and the same sparks raced between our skin. He glanced down in astonishment, and then back up at my face. I couldn’t stop to analyze it now. I yanked on his hand. “Come on!”

  I didn’t know which part of the preceding events got him moving, but Zane was on his feet. We moved quickly, but without running, Dixie and Kit leading the way, me with Zane in the middle, and Hunter behind us. People’s attention was still on the car that had overturned, as though thrown by a poltergeist, though I knew the authorities would find a reasonable explanation for it from somehow—a gas pocket, perhaps. We walked fast until we were far enough away from the crowds and then broke into a run. I felt bad Zane was being forced to run when he probably had a thumping headache and God-only knew what other injuries, but we needed to put space between us and whoever it was we’d seen. I kept glancing over my shoulder, but so far Hunter was the only one following us.

  My breathing grew labored, my cheeks hot, sweat popping on my brow. I suddenly realized I was still holding hands with Zane, and quickly released my hold.

  When we’d put the scene of the explosion a good distance behind us, and were happy no one was following, we slowed, each of us panting for breath.

  “I think we lost them,” said Hunter.

  Kit glanced back and frowned “You sure?”

  “Yeah, for the minute, anyway.”

  “Who the hell were those guys?” I managed between gasps. “They weren’t from the Myriad Group. They were something new.”

  Kit chewed on his lower lip. “Yeah, those weren’t my father’s people.”

  “And I bet whoever they are, they’re the same people responsible for the bomb. This one and the one that killed my sister.” A new fire rose inside me. I wanted to find whoever was responsible and tear them limb from limb. “We shouldn’t have been running from them. We should have been the ones who were doing the chasing!”

  I took a step forward, but a hand on my arm caught me. “Ari, stop!”

  I looked at the hand, and then up to Hunter at the end of it. “If we get hold of those guys,” I said, “we can find out who is behind the bombings. This isn’t just about us—the Kin—it’s bigger than that. Our city is under attack, and we don’t know who the hell is responsible. They think they’re hunting us, trying to draw us out, but maybe we need to turn the tables and make them the hunted.”

  “Yes, you’re right, but we need to be prepared.”

  “God damn it, Hunter. We are prepared!”

  “No, he’s right,” Kit interrupted. “We can’t put ourselves in danger like that. You either, Ari.”

  Their lack of willingness to take a risk infuriated me. “You two are worse than my father!”

  “We care about you, Ari,” said Kit. “We don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “And now that son-of-a-bitch is getting away.”

  “If they’re trying to find us, they’ll do something to expose themselves again. Right now, we need to get this guy back to the Cavern.”

  We all looked toward Zane, each having forgotten his presence for the moment.

  Zane glanced between us all, trying to follow our conversation though his expression was pure bafflement. “Who are you people?”

  “We’re members of a group called the Kin,” I told him. “You’re one of us. You just don’t realize it yet.”

  Zane laughed, showing perfect white teeth. “What’s the Kin? Some kind of religious cult?”

  “No. You saw the car flip back there?”

  He frowned and looked between us all suspiciously. “Yeah?”

  “Hunter, here,” I nodded to where my boyfriend was standing, “did that.”

  His eyebrows lifted. “Is this some practical joke? If it is, you need help. People died back there—a lot of people!”

  “It’s not a joke,” I said. “I was caught up in the bomb a few weeks ago down on the pier. My sister died.”

  His expression softened. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

  I waved away his condolences. “I was just like you. I didn’t know anything until Hunter found me, and I was able to convince myself I wasn’t going insane.”

  “Insane about what?”


  “It’s too soon for you, but you’ll find out.”

  “We need to keep moving, guys,” Kit said. “They’re going to catch up with us, otherwise.”

  “Who is?” Zane asked.

  “We don’t actually know the answer to that,” I admitted.

  Perhaps the people we’d seen hadn’t been the ones looking for Zane at all, but they’d moved with such purpose, it was hard to think anything else. I was annoyed we’d let the opportunity to find out who was behind the bombings to slip through our fingers, though I knew getting Zane to safety was more important. We couldn’t risk these people getting their hands on members of the Kin. They obviously wanted us for a reason, and I didn’t think it was a good one.

  Zane looked between us again. “Is this some kind of joke?”

  “No joke. We’ll prove it to you soon. I know we’re asking you to trust a bunch of complete strangers, but please, we wouldn’t be doing this if there wasn’t a good reason.”

  I could see he still didn’t trust us, not that I blamed him. To be fair, with the crazy hairstyle and the pierced lip, he didn’t look like the kind of person who trusted many people. Did he feel different since the bombing? I had the moment I’d woken from the blast, but of course I hadn’t found out the reason why right away.

  “Let’s just keep going,” said Kit.

  We all got moving again, constantly looking over our shoulders. It felt like forever, but finally we reached the place where we’d left the car. The traffic hadn’t eased up heading into the city, but we were going in the opposite direction.

  I wondered where the Myriad Group was during all of this. Were they watching events unfold, or had they taken a step back since I’d been forced to confront Philip Middleton? I suddenly remembered Kit was going to tell us something before I’d thought my head was going to explode and pass out. I made a mental note to ask him what it had been when we got back.