Crimson Dahlia (Book #3 of the Svatura Series) Read online

  “Yes. Close your eyes and follow me through if you can,” she answered.

  Once again, Ramsey was left waiting and watching as the te’sorthene pair didn’t move or speak while they tried to reach Lila.

  This time took even longer. But eventually they opened their eyes, and Ramsey’s heart dropped at their twin expressions of frustration.

  “No luck?”

  Griffin rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I think I was able to nudge her a little bit. I can’t quite reach her, but I tried to plant a thought in her mind. I tried to make her think of Lucy.”

  “And?”

  “She did mutter the word Mom,” Selene replied.

  “But then it was like she forgot it the second she thought it,” Griffin added.

  “Okay. Well, at the very least we can tell everyone that she’s alive,” Ramsey said.

  Griffin nodded. “I’d hoped for more, but it’s a start.”

  “Me too,” Ramsey muttered.

  “We’ll keep trying,” Selene assured him softly. “We’ll figure out a way to reach her. I know we will.”

  Ramsey gave her a halfhearted grin. “If sheer stubbornness were a successful strategy, no one would ever mess with this family. Especially our women.”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” Griffin muttered. Selene jabbed him with her elbow and then leaned back to give him a kiss.

  “Remember what I told you about mixed messages?” Griffin teased her.

  Selene ignored him. “We’ll stay here with you the rest of the night.”

  “Won’t that be exhausting for you?” Ramsey frowned.

  Selene shook her head. “Because it’s a dream, our bodies are still getting the rest we need. All three of us will just feel a little tired in the morning, because it’s not the best sleep.”

  “It’s more important that we be here if Lila pulls you into her own dream,” Griffin said. “And we can keep trying to reach her.”

  “Do you think we’ll get through to her?” Ramsey asked Selene.

  She gave him a direct look. “Well, I was never able to reach Talia,” she said. “But even though you can’t feel it, I’d think that your special connection to her gives us a better chance.”

  Ramsey nodded. “We’ll reach her,” he said with more conviction than he felt.

  …God, please let us reach her.

  Chapter 10

  Ramsey? Gosh that name sounds familiar.

  Lila roused herself enough to look around. She lifted a lazy hand and swirled patterns in the thick grey mist surrounding her. Ramsey. Ramsey. Ramsey…

  That name meant something to her.

  Lila’s brow furrowed as the image of a tall boy with dark red hair and serious green eyes flashed through her mind.

  Ramsey.

  “Lila,” she heard a voice echo through the clouds surrounding her. A familiar one. The deep timbre of that voice skittered down her spine.

  Who was he? The answer to the question was just on the tip of her brain. Just out of her reach. Her lids drifted shut again.

  “Lila, can you hear us?” A female voice this time. Another familiar feeling. A pulling sensation ran through her. As if she were a kite on a string being reeled back to her owner.

  With a gasp, Lila’s eyes shot back open. The fog had drifted away, and she was standing in a clearing surrounded by trees and mountains. Was this a dream? Or a memory?

  She looked around and felt that she knew this place. A memory then?

  A group of people stood on either side of her, but she didn’t know who they were. She tried to look more closely, but their faces and forms were blurred images. She then focused on two other people standing across from her in the clearing, a boy with red hair and a girl with black. The boy… what was his name?

  Ramsey?

  “We’ll need Lila,” the girl called.

  Lila started to walk across the field toward them. As she drew near, the boy shook his head vehemently. “I don’t want her anywhere near me!”

  Devastation ripped through Lila. He didn’t want her. The pain of that knowledge was almost overwhelming. But Ellie— that was the girl’s name. This was a memory!

  It was all starting to come back to her. Ellie was able to manipulate other people’s powers when she was touching them.

  Lila managed to control the painful feelings ricocheting inside her. Ellie murmured something to Ramsey, and he turned to see Lila standing right behind him. With a grim expression on his face, he said nothing and turned back to Ellie.

  Lila took a deep breath, trying to collect herself. “You wanted me to come over?” she asked Ellie, refusing to even look at Ramsey.

  “Lila, I think you may have an untapped power,” Ellie stated.

  Lila was mildly surprised but nodded. She was aware of a vague feeling of déjà vu. She knew just what she was going to say, although she didn’t know why. “Does it have something to do with my Dad’s healing ability?”

  “Good guess. I think you have the ability to heal people’s emotions.”

  Lila felt Ramsey flinch. He turned to Ellie. “Do you think that’s why I have better control around them than by myself?” he asked her softly.

  “Yes. I think once Lila masters her skill, she can help you learn to master your emotions. Eventually, you won’t need her help. Until then, though, she can at least give you some unconscious help.”

  Lila wasn’t quite sure what to think about that. Would that mean having to spend time together? Ramsey clearly wouldn’t like that. She could feel the tension rolling off him in waves.

  Ellie looked directly at Lila. “I’d like to try something just with you for a second, and if my guess is right, then we can work with Ramsey together.”

  “Sure.” Lila immediately held out her hand to Ellie.

  “Don’t go away,” Ellie directed Ramsey and then let go of his hands to take Lila’s.

  Lila stood very still as Ellie did…well… whatever it was that Ellie did.

  “Woo! Lila, you will have some fun mastering these skills,” Ellie assured her with a conspiratorial grin.

  Lila’s heart sped up. For whatever reason, that meant something positive to her in this memory.

  After another second Ellie said “Oh!” and looked up. Lila glanced over her shoulder to see that all the other people were walking toward them. She still couldn’t quite place them but realized she should know them. She watched in confusion as they talked to Ellie for a second.

  A tall boy with dark hair whispered something in Ellie’s ear that made her face light up. And then a boy with golden hair moved to stand beside her. He took Ellie’s and Lila’s hands and made a little circle.

  Lila gasped. She did remember this. This was a memory. Griffin. That was the boy’s name. Griffin and Ellie worked together to show her how to use her gift to heal people’s emotions.

  “Do you know where you are?” Ellie asked in a voice that didn’t quite sound like hers.

  Lila frowned. That wasn’t what happened next. More memories flooded her mind. They were supposed to work with Ramsey next. Right? She remembered… she looked around at the other people standing around them. Their faces now clear and recognizable. Tears filled her eyes.

  How could I have forgotten my parents? My sister?

  She lifted her hands to her mouth. “Oh my God. Oh my God. What’s happening to me?”

  Suddenly all of the figures around her dissolved. “Don’t go!” she cried and reached out her hand.

  “Lila?” a female voice called her name. “Lila, can you hear me?”

  “Selene?” she called back. Confusion overwhelmed her. What was happening?

  “Yes. I’m here. You’re caught in some kind of perpetual dream. Can you relax? Picture me standing there beside you? Picture me with Ramsey and Griffin? Can you do that?”

  “I’ll try,” Lila called back. She was afraid to close her eyes. The last time she’d done that the grey fog had taken over.

  “We’re here, Lila,” Ramsey
said. She turned at the sound of his voice. She had to stop herself from running to him. He wouldn’t want that.

  He approached her slowly, as though he thought she’d be frightened. But he’d never scared her. Even when he’d gotten really angry and flames had jumped from his hands, she’d known he’d never hurt her. Griffin and Selene appeared on either side of him.

  Then something occurred to her. “Wait. Why are you in my dreams? How do I know you’re even you?”

  Ramsey stepped toward her. “Not long after we moved to Estes Park, you wrote a note on my bathroom mirror in lipstick. Do you remember?”

  “You were so mad,” Lila whispered. She looked up at him sharply. “What did it say?”

  Ramsey shifted, his mouth compressed. “It said, ‘This is the last kiss you’ll ever get from me.’ And it had lips drawn.”

  Griffin choked back a chuckle.

  “Laugh, Aubrey,” Ramsey snapped, “and I’ll send a fireball up your—”

  “Enough of that now,” Selene said, trying to hide her own amusement.

  Lila frowned. “What if you’re just a really good telepath that pulled that memory from my mind? What if you’re all a figment of my imagination?”

  Ramsey shrugged. “Selene?”

  Lila’s gaze shifted to her friend. “Dream control,” she muttered as it all started to come together. “You brought them in?”

  Selene nodded. “Sort of. You are connected with Ramsey in an interesting way. So we’re here by way of your connection, my dream control, and Griffin’s telepathy.”

  “And where is here?” Lila asked.

  “We were hoping you could tell us,” Ramsey said. “We’ve been trying to track you down.”

  Lila frowned again. “Why would you need to track me—?” More images and memories flashed through her mind. “Maddox.”

  “Yes. He’s got you somewhere, and we can’t find you.” Ramsey said. “Can you tell us where you are?”

  Lila shook her head, confused by the angry tone in Ramsey’s voice. “I don’t know much. They kept us in cells. Underground I think. The walls were rock, and I was always cold.”

  “Are you still there?” Griffin asked.

  Lila struggled to find her memories. She closed her eyes to better picture things. “I think so. They dragged me through hallways and up an elevator, but never out of the area. I’m in a separate room now, strapped to a table.”

  “Griffin, did you catch any of that?” Ramsey asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Selene rolled her eyes at her fiancé’s brief answer. “Is it enough to find her?”

  “No. Once we get to where they’re holding her, we probably could find her. But she doesn’t know exactly where that is,” Griffin said.

  “Underground,” Ramsey muttered. Everyone turned to look at him.

  “What about it?” Lila prompted.

  Ramsey eyed her as though anticipating her reaction to what he was about to say. “I feel a link with you.”

  Lila snorted. “Since when.”

  Ramsey frowned and stepped right up to her, within inches of touching. But she couldn’t feel his warmth, though this close up she should be able to. “Since you decided to go off on your own adventures. I’ve known every second where you were and how you were.”

  Lila paled. “How?” she asked in a shaky voice.

  “I don’t know. I started feeling it around the time of Maddox’s attack on the Vyusher castle.” Ramsey took a deep breath and backed away to give them both space to breathe. “But it disappeared just recently. I was using it to try to find you.”

  “Do you think you know where she is?”

  Lila caught her breath at the hope she could suddenly see in Ramsey’s eyes. It was a desperate sort of hope. Wild.

  “I think so,” he said, his eyes never wavering from hers. “She’s underground. Right where I stopped feeling her is my bet. It’s why I could feel her in those woods so constantly but never find her. She was under my feet.”

  “Jeez,” Griffin muttered. “All this time.”

  “So how do we get her out?” Selene asked. “What’s the plan?”

  Griffin turned to Lila. “Do you know how many of Maddox’s people are down there?”

  Lila shook her head.

  “Then we’d better gather a hefty group to go,” Griffin said. “Just in case we face a lot of resistance.”

  “I’ll just wait here then, I guess,” Lila said.

  “I think Griffin needs to stay with you, to keep that line of communication open until we can get to you,” Ramsey said.

  Lila glanced at Ramsey’s determined expression and then looked back to Selene. “Why?”

  “If we all leave, then you could disappear back into that fog again. I’m fairly certain it’s the same stasis Talia was in.”

  Lila gave her a confused look, “Uh… who’s Talia?”

  “Oh!” Selene made a face. “Talia is that sleeping girl. She woke up just recently.”

  “Sheesh. I get myself just a little bit captured, and all sorts of interesting things happen.”

  “Not funny,” Ramsey muttered to Lila.

  She shrugged. “Yeah, it was. You just don’t have any sense of humor.”

  Ramsey turned to face her, “Griffin’s telepathy can keep him here with you. Selene will need to organize the Vyusher coming with us. We’ll be as fast as we can. A few hours maybe.”

  “O—”

  Ramsey and Selene disappeared.

  “—kay,” Lila finished on a drawn out breath.

  She glanced at Griffin who just shrugged. “It’s good to see you, Lila.”

  She sent him a halfhearted smile, but her eyes remained on where Ramsey had just been standing.

  And she hated that it felt like a little piece of her had left when he did.

  Chapter 11

  Ramsey entered the Great Hall to the cacophony of fifty Vyusher preparing for battle. He quickly found the rest of his family and went to join them. Selene stepped up onto the dais at the front, and the Hall fell silent.

  “Every man and woman here has volunteered,” she began. “I thank you for your noble service. I know that Oren has gone over the plan with everyone. Once we are in the complex, find and free any prisoners. If you can take any of Maddox’s forces alive, do so, but not at the expense of any of our own people. Understood?”

  “Yes, My Queen,” resounded through the Hall.

  With a nod, Selene turned to Charlotte. Ramsey clasped the hands of the people nearest him, and with a single thought, they were all instantly standing in the Sierra Mountains surrounded by the piney woods and slabs of granite rock.

  “Darius?” Selene called.

  Ramsey knew the guy. He’d watched him fight Marcus’s Louisiana clan before the truce last year. Darius was a Vyusher with a very unique ability—he could move the ground. He could rip great seams in it, move rocks, and create tunnels… basically anything he wanted to do that concerned solid earth.

  “Do you sense anything?” Selene asked him.

  Darius concentrated for a moment. “I can feel that there are empty spaces underground. Many of them. But beyond that I can’t sense much.”

  “Why do you look worried?” Ramsey asked.

  Darius gave him a thoughtful look. “There’s a blank space in what I can sense. It’s like a barrier I can’t see through.”

  Ramsey and Selene glanced at each other. “The blocker?” Ramsey muttered.

  Selene nodded her agreement. “That’s where the prisoners will be.”

  “We need Charlotte to check where the tunnels are. But what if she teleports right into the middle of the blocker’s reach?” Selene asked.

  “I’ll go.” Ellie stepped forward. “If I tap in to both Charlotte and Darius, I’ll be able to see where I need to go. Remember that as long as I’m touching them, or anyone, I can control their powers. That could help us. And with Griffin lying not far from here, I can use his telepathy if I need to.”

  Selene no
dded. “Do it.”

  Ellie stepped back and took Charlotte’s and Darius’s hands. The three of them vanished into thin air and then reappeared a moment later.

  The light of excitement in Ellie’s eyes filled Selene with hope.

  “There are tunnels?” she asked.

  “Yes. A long tunnel carved into rocklike caves and many doors. I didn’t see anyone, but obviously I didn’t stick around that long.”

  Selene nodded. “All right. Everyone get ready. You all know what to do once we’re down there. Keep silent and secret for as long as you can. Free as many prisoners as you can. Bring them to Charlotte or call for Ellie if you can’t find Charlotte. But be careful. The blocker is active down there.” She turned to Ellie. “Can you show us where you sense the blocker?”

  Ellie nodded.

  They all joined their hands again. Charlotte had them down inside the caves before anyone could blink.

  “Go,” whispered Selene.

  They moved as silently as ghosts.

  Per the plan they’d all discussed, Ellie stayed with the Vyusher. Selene followed Ramsey as he walked them through the memory Griffin had pulled from Lila’s mind. It helped that Lila had thought to count doors and turns. They found the old elevator – still without encountering another soul - and rode up five levels. They entered the sterile-looking hallway and followed the series of turns from Lila’s head until they came to what they thought was the correct one.

  Ramsey reached for the knob, but the door was locked. He looked at Selene. “We need Nate.” Nate was their superman with his colossal strength and speed.

  “What if it’s a trap?”

  “I know she’s in there. We’ve gotta risk it.”

  “Okay. I’ll call Ellie and have her send Nate up here.”

  A few moments later Charlotte and Nate popped into the hallway.

  “Need you to break a door, Nate,” Ramsey said.

  Nate gave a thumbs up. “You got it.”

  “Careful, in case it’s rigged,” Selene warned.

  Nate grinned and rubbed his hands together. “No worries, boss lady.”

  With a kick that seemed to be barely a tap, the door slammed inward, the top half snapping off the hinges to lean at a funky angle. There, in the middle of the room, strapped to a stainless steel table, was Lila. Out cold. Nate stepped over the door, which stood askew, and rushed to her side. He snapped Lila’s restraints with a flick of his fingers.