Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate Page 21

  Quietly climbing out of the boat, they pushed it under the low-hanging plants and made their way through the growth, forging a trail. Thirty minutes later, near the top of the knoll, Briz pointed to an ancient rope ladder right where Violet had said it should be, hidden in the plants near a weather-beaten sign that read, “DANGER - KEEP OUT - CONTAMINATED: DEADLY - by the authority of Belle Fleur County, Louisiana, U.S.A.”

  The entrance to the cave was plant-free, the ground there too salty for anything to grow. Jaden imagined her grandfather Dekle, Professor Demento, grinning as he hammered the sign into the packed earth, intent on proving himself to the world.

  A cave. Jaden squeezed her hands into fists, the way she had when she was a child and her family had gone to Carlsbad Caverns. She’d cried the entire time. She knew that this would be worse. Her dormant poison ivy sores wriggled beneath her skin at the thought of it.

  Briz untangled the ladder and eased it down so that it hung from its rusting metal stakes into the uncertainty below. Then he took the triplets’ rope that he’d lugged up the hill and fastened it to one of the stakes, just to be on the safe side. As he lowered the rope into the abyss, he pointed out pieces of cracked, brittle cable that poked from the foliage and disappeared into the cave.

  It had already been decided that Jaden would climb down first. Briz had been berating himself all morning for that decision. Yet they both understood that it made the most sense. Even though it was on par with being tossed into a rattlesnake pit, if the Mal Rous were there. She should be relatively safe as long as they thought she was loyal to them. Briz was a different story. The Mal Rous would no doubt tear him apart and demand that Jaden join in. She wondered if she was strong enough to overpower Briz and drag him back to the boat so that the two of them could get out of there.

  But what good would that do? Suppose she managed to talk her mom into leaving town. From what Violet said, the Mal Rous would track them down eventually, even if they were in another state. After all, the little monsters don’t have anything else to do. And what would become of the triplets and Violet?

  Not trusting the Professor’s old ladder, Jaden kept one rubber-gloved hand on the rope they’d brought. Inching her way over the sloped entrance and down into the void, she was engulfed by semidarkness. Her body tightened as her foot searched for another rung that didn’t exist. Holding onto Briz’s rope with both hands, she slid down the remaining distance to the cavern’s floor.

  Her feet met the ground sooner than she expected. She lost her footing. Gripping the rope, her fingers slipped, clammy in the gloves. For a moment she swayed back and forth on the balls of her feet like a bell ringing. Sending out a warning of possible danger.

  Shivers went up her spine as she found her balance. The dark, the dankness, being underground—it had just never seemed right to her. She was fine flying in an airplane thirty-thousand feet above the planet. But graves were in the earth. For Jaden, this felt as alien as landing on Mars. Yet during the last few days, what hadn’t seemed alien and freakishly unreal?

  Above, specks of sunlight snuck past the outcropping of dirt and salt that blocked her view of the opening. Jaden stood listening as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, waiting to hear the Mal Rous prowling behind her. The goal was to find Dekle’s lab and his journals. Not Datura and her pack of genetic mutations. Pulling a small flashlight from her pocket, she quickly scanned the cave. It was the size of a three-car garage. Its walls resembled milky glass, dirty and gray, woven through with blue threads.

  When nothing came charging at her, she signaled with a tug for Briz to begin his descent.

  He was halfway down when a rung of the ladder broke. Before he could grasp the rope, he fell the remaining six feet. Jaden rushed to him. She helped him up, relieved he wasn’t hurt, glad it hadn’t happened to her, and nervous that the thud of his body colliding with the ground would alert their enemies, if they were near.

  Briz placed his hand on the small of her back—even that subtle action caused her to jump—and pointed to where the beam of his flashlight created a halo around two black holes. Tunnels, exactly as Violet had described. Jaden’s shoulders edged up toward her ears at the knowledge that she had to venture deeper into the earth. Leaning closer, Briz’s lips brushed across her cheek, as if inviting her to kiss him. Instead she held her breath while Briz spoke.

  If the monsters are here, they are so going to smell me. Fear and lust pheromones—how potent is that?

  “I’ll go first,” he said. His mouth hovered next to her ear. “When we come to the next chamber, you’ll have to enter it before me, in case the Mal Rous are there.”

  Jaden’s eyebrows knitted together in one tight line as she nodded.

  Briz’s gloved hand took hold of hers and steered her to the tunnel on the right. Once their flashlights clicked off, the darkness and glistening salt wall concealed them. The path sloped steadily downward, leading to more underground chambers. Briz didn’t need to guide Jaden. She could have easily followed the sound of his breathing, it was so loud in the cramped space. Her own breath kept tempo with his in what seemed like a rhythm of potential defeat.

  When the tunnel ended, smooth walls expanded around them. Jaden let go of Briz’s hand and stepped into more blackness. Violet had said the Mal Rous could see well in the dark. Jaden wished she’d already acquired their trait of perfect night vision along with their arrogant homicidal temperament. Both would help a lot right now.

  Cool air chilled her skin as she emerged from the tunnel. Turning on her flashlight, she shone it around. The chamber was the size of a large swimming pool. At the far end, the ceiling was only a couple feet from the floor of the cave, gradually ascending to a height of about twenty feet directly above them.

  No Mal Rous were in sight. Still, Jaden wasn’t convinced that they weren’t here somewhere, hiding in another tunnel, biding their time, waiting. Walking farther into the cavern, she missed the security of Briz’s touch. Before she could speak, he stepped close beside her. At the same time, the beams of light from their flashlights rested on a mound of dirty clothes in the middle of the room.

  They moved nearer. In the same instant both of their minds registered what they were seeing. Bodies.

  Kneeling, Briz held his light over two blank faces. Jaden gasped. Her sister and mother! She’d never expected this. She thought they were both safe back in town. Were they dead? Jaden’s heart banged like a clock ticking. Clicking away the minutes of her life.

  Briz felt Brooke’s wrist for a pulse while Jaden pulled her knife from her pocket and frantically spun in circles. Her jiggling flashlight creating demonic shapes across the walls. She listened to the sound of footsteps. Coming closer. She was determined to keep her family and Briz safe. She’d kill whatever was there. She’d shred it to death with her puny knife before she’d let anything near them. Turning every which way, she heard the sound grow louder. Then cold clammy fingers latched onto her leg. Leaping back, she angled her flashlight down, ready to strike.

  “Jade … Jaden, calm down. It’s just me,” Briz said quietly, squeezing her ankle.

  Hyperventilating, she accepted that what she’d heard was her own rapid heartbeat thumping in her ears. She kneeled next to Briz. He tried to reassure her.

  “They’re both alive.” Gently raising Brooke’s eyelids, he shined his flashlight into her eyes. “Her pupils are reacting to the light. That’s a good sign.” He did the same to Ava, then studied both of their faces. “I doubt they even know we’re here.”

  The two women were bound at the ankles and wrists. Filthy rags were stuffed in their mouths. Jaden couldn’t imagine why. Who on earth would hear their screams out here in the middle of the bayou? The ticking clock in her chest grew louder, like a bomb ready to detonate and implode her world.

  Briz rested Ava’s head against his arm as he removed the rag.

  Jaden pulled the dirty cloth from her mother’s mouth. Then she took hold of Brooke’s shoulders and started to shake her. “W
ake up! Goddammit, wake up.”

  Briz placed his hand on Jaden’s arm, holding it firm until she stopped. Then he pulled the canteen from his pack and handed it to Jaden.

  Bracing her mother’s head, Jaden tried to force her to drink. The liquid pooled up, flowing over Brooke’s cracked lips. When she finally swallowed, Jaden lowered her to the ground. “We’re going to get you out of here, somehow. And get you healed. We’ll take you to the triplets. You’ll be safe there.”

  Both women were listless, too far gone to know that Jaden was there let alone what she was saying.

  Jaden slid next to Ava. Supporting her head, Jaden allowed the water to drip into her sister’s mouth. She wasn’t aware that Briz had left until a clanging echoed through the hollow cavern.

  She could see a flashlight glowing bright from another tunnel. She leaped up, ready to fight. Her eyes felt the size of silver dollars as she watched Briz approach.

  “Come on. I’m sure it’s the lab.”

  He reached for her. Reluctantly she slipped her gloved hand into his and walked away from her mother and sister.

  At the end of the tunnel was an oak door framed with large rustic beams, crusted over with a thin layer of salt.

  “Look.” Briz pointed his flashlight at the ground. “The cable we saw coming out of the bushes runs all the way back here.” The cable wove in and out of layers of salt that had accumulated over the years. Briz had already pried open the lock on a door that had kept intruders out for the past fifty years.

  “That’s it?” Jaden asked. “One measly lock to keep all his secrets safe?”

  “Would you be wandering around a contaminated cave in the middle of the bayou if you didn’t have to?”

  Removing the lock, Briz rubbed his gloved thumb over the scratches. “These scratches aren’t from my knife. It looks like the Mal Rous tried to open it. You can see their claw marks.” Aiming his flashlight down, he added, “And they tried to dig under the door.”

  “Why would they even want to get in there?”

  “Well, they’ve lost the Professor. And their home. This is probably the safest place they could think of.”

  Jaden pushed open the door. Shining their flashlights around the cavern, they stepped inside. The space was larger than the other two caves. It had a domed ceiling. A layer of salt coated everything. Test tubes lay askew on lab tables that were in the process of corroding to the ground. Salt-encrusted light fixtures hung from above like glistening chandeliers. Oak shelves held oversized jugs similar to the ones Jaden had so regrettably found at the shack. She shuddered to think what might lie dormant within them. Next to the jugs were small bottles, blanketed in a white sheen.

  “Have you ever seen the movie Doctor Zhivago?” Briz asked. “You know the scene when Yuri takes Lara to the shimmering ice palace … ?”

  “Yeah, but this place feels like a tomb.”

  The cable reappeared in the room, connecting to an old generator with plugs to power the lights and a small rusted refrigerator.

  “Wow, check it out.” Briz pointed his light at the cable. “It must have provided the chamber with solar energy created from salt. Your grandfather really was brilliant. Crazy, but brilliant. Ahead of his time.”

  Jaden cringed hearing Briz refer to the Professor as her grandfather. In her mind he was some wacko man set on ruining her life from beyond the grave. “How did he get all this stuff down here?”

  “It would have been a lot of work for one person. But if he was young and strong and determined, it probably didn’t take him too long. Who knows, maybe someone helped him.”

  Briz guided Jaden along behind him as they looked around in awe at what Dekle had created. They stopped in front of a desk coated with salt, where a silver box sat buried under a dusting of white. Jaden tightened her hold on Briz’s hand. Right now he was her safety net from insanity and despair.

  “Just like Violet described,” Briz said, glancing around. “I only see one box. The others must be in here somewhere. Do you have Amelia’s key?”

  “Yeah, in my pocket.”

  Jaden brought out the key. This was it. She’d finally have the answers on how to wipe out the Mal Rous. The white beam of Briz’s flashlight struck the metal box as if challenging it to try and keep its secrets from them. Jaden slipped the key into the lock. When it almost disappeared in the keyway, she pulled it back out.

  “It doesn’t fit!”

  Briz took the key from her and slid it back into her pocket. Removing his knife from its sheath, he jammed it into the lock, popping it open.

  For days Jaden had been walking around wearing a layer of guilt like a heavy suit of armor. She exhaled loudly, but her tense muscles didn’t relax. She raised the lid. The shiny interior glared back at them as their flashlights lit up the stack of five journals within. Briz began placing the journals in his pack while Jaden hurried back to her mom and sister in the other cave.

  She was untying the rope from her mother’s ankles when Briz reappeared at her side.

  “I covered the box with salt again,” he whispered. “I didn’t see any other boxes. I tried to make the lock on the door look like it hadn’t been opened. If the Mal Rous try to get in again, maybe they’ll just think they were able to break it this time.”

  Jaden nodded. Right now all that mattered to her was her family. “Come on, we have to wake them and get them out of here.” Sniffling, she removed the rope from her mother’s ankles. “I can’t stand seeing my mom like this. Her last memory of me is of us arguing.”

  “Jade.” Briz touched her shoulder.

  His voice was strained. “We have to leave them here. If we take them away now, the Mal Rous are going to come after all of us. All of us.”

  “What are you talking about?” She recoiled. “I’m not leaving them. I’m not going to let them die!”

  “Jade—”

  “NO!” Jaden picked up the canteen lying next to Ava, ready to hit Briz with it.

  He grabbed it from her. She reached out to swat him, but he stepped back.

  “NO! NO WAY!” Her words bounced off the cavern walls, magnifying her outrage. She didn’t care if the Mal Rous were nearby. She didn’t care if she’d just announced her and Briz’s presence. “We have to get them out of here before those monsters come back.”

  “Your mom and Ava won’t be able to travel for days.” Briz spoke quietly but firmly, his composure upsetting her even more. “By then it could be too late. The Mal Rous would have tracked us down. And what about my family? You know they’ll be targets, too. And Hubs? The triplets? Violet said the Mal Rous would come after all of them.”

  “I DON’T CARE! I DON’T CARE!” Jaden’s head felt as though it was exploding.

  He knelt next to her, still annoyingly calm. “We can’t carry them out of here. And they’re not going to walk out on their own. They should be safe, for now.”

  “Should be safe?” Even without Briz’s flashlight shining on her face, Jaden knew he could feel her rage, sharp as a dagger. “We don’t have to carry them. We can drag them. They’re dehydrated, starving, poisoned, beaten. I’m not leaving without them.”

  “I just saw Ava yesterday. At this point, neither of them is starving.” Briz placed his hand on Jaden’s. “Jade, please. Listen to me. To get them out of Belle Fleur alive, we have to find something the Mal Rous will trade them for.”

  She pulled her hand away. “The only thing Datura would be willing to trade them for would be the Professor, and I really doubt he’s alive.”

  Briz’s breathing was shallow as he forced out his next words. “The Mal Rous may be willing to trade them for you.”

  A spastic huff came out of Jaden. She wanted to spit on him. “Are you trying to make me feel better? Because you so aren’t.”

  “Yeah, I know it’s a crappy answer. But I’m betting they won’t kill them if it means losing you. The Mal Rous have probably figured out that they aren’t going to get the Professor back. In their warped minds, you’re his rep
lacement.”

  “You’re willing to gamble my family’s lives? My life? What’s wrong with you? I thought you cared about me. I thought you—”

  “I do care. That’s why I’m here.”

  Lowering his head, Briz drew in a steady breath. Then he slowly exhaled before looking at her again. “Let’s go back to the triplets and read your grandfather’s notes. We’ll find a solution that will work for everyone. For everyone, Jade—you, me, Violet, our families.” Awkwardly stroking her hair with his rubber-gloved hand, he softly repeated, “For everyone.”

  “Don’t touch me!” Briz’s hand dropped to his knee as Jaden raised her voice. “Are you going to tell me you’d leave your parents and sisters in here to be tortured—”

  “No. Probably not. But I’d hope you would find the right words to convince me that I had to. That I wasn’t abandoning them. That I was finding a way to save them. To save all of us.”

  He reached out to her again, then stopped. “Jade, I feel the same way about my family. And if we don’t put an end to the Mal Rous, they’ll go after my family too. They’ll go after everyone we care about. Everyone they possibly can.”

  Briz was right. Jaden knew it and she hated it. What was worse, it was all her fault that her grandfather’s vile mutations were free. Now it was her ill-fated destiny to try to destroy them.

  For reasons she couldn’t even begin to fathom, Briz was willing to make it his destiny, too.

  She placed the rags back in Ava and Brooke’s mouths. Not as far in as before. Just enough so that the Mal Rous wouldn’t notice any difference. Briz walked toward the tunnel as Jaden tied the rope around her mother’s ankles.

  Slowly rising, she turned toward him. “I don’t want to leave them.”