Return Fire Read online

  TO MAMI AND PAPI, MY CONSTANTS IN LIFE.

  LOS QUIERO … TO THE MOON AND BACK.

  CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE

  DEDICATION

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

  TWENTY-SIX

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  COPYRIGHT

  The sirens behind us wailed, growing louder with every passing second. I tightened my grip on the door handle. The police were closing in, and our old car wasn’t built for a fast getaway.

  “They’re coming for us,” I whispered to Asher. I inched down a little more in the backseat. “My dad said we couldn’t trust anyone, including the police. We should make a run for it.”

  “Not yet.” Asher scanned the streets, checking to see who was out there. “Those sirens might not have anything to do with us.” He leaned forward, between the gap in the front seats, to talk to his old friend Gisak, who was driving us. “Think you can drive a little faster? We really need to get to the Knights of Malta compound quickly. Maybe go a different way?”

  Gisak took a quick glance at the rearview mirror and then at the sea of red brake lights shining in front of us as traffic snarled to a standstill around the Roman Colosseum. “Why the big rush?”

  Neither Asher nor I answered. There was no way we could tell him the truth … He wouldn’t believe it anyway. I could barely believe what had happened.

  A few days ago, I’d been a normal American girl studying in Rome … but now my life was anything but normal. I had discovered that I was actually part of an ancient bloodline, one of the only people left in the world who could use the Spear of Destiny to change the future. Because of this, a secret organization called the Hastati wanted to kill me. Not only did this all sound crazy, but my life depended on making sure no one else found out about any of it.

  “Are you in trouble or something?” Gisak prodded. “I might be able to help you. I’m quite resourceful you know, and I’ve been in my share of … situations.”

  “The less you know the better,” Asher answered. “But we can’t just sit here in traffic. We need to go.”

  “Let’s make a run for it,” I whispered again. I was certain that the Hastati were right on our tail. We needed to be on the move. I knew getting to the Knights of Malta compound might take longer on foot, but at least we wouldn’t be sitting ducks.

  Asher shook his head. I didn’t understand why he was being so stubborn.

  “Asher, we’ve known each other a long time,” Gisak said. “Don’t you trust me?”

  I stared at Asher. Gisak might be Asher’s friend and he may have allowed Asher to use the secret tunnel that ran through his curio shop, but I’d learned the hard way that even friends could betray you.

  My stomach clenched just thinking about how my own best friend, Simone, had betrayed me by stealing the spear away from us and giving it to her power-hungry mother. It was because of her that I now had to track down the spear again. If I didn’t, the horrible vision I’d had of people dying would come true. Getting the spear was my only chance to change the future.

  The sirens outside sounded like they were coming from every direction. We were running out of options, and Gisak wasn’t helping. It was time to make a choice. I’d been told that choices determined destiny, and now I had to choose to take charge of my own fate.

  I thrust open the door. “Let’s go!” I said, darting out of the car.

  BEEEEEP!

  I froze as a police motorcycle came barreling toward me.

  “Cassie!” Asher leaned out of the car and pushed me so hard that I went flying across to the far side of the sidewalk just as the motorcycle cop zoomed past me, blaring his horn.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Asher yelled.

  “But the cops, I thought they were …”

  “Not everyone is after us … not yet anyway. There’s probably an accident or something up ahead.” He lowered his voice and spoke a little softer. “Look, I know you want to get the spear back, but we have to be careful. Think things through.”

  I nodded, realizing that I had to make better choices. I had already messed up once, when I used the spear: I thought that I was saving my father’s life when in reality I had set up a chain of events that would cause thousands of people to die. It was the reason I had to get the spear back and fix everything. The fate of so many rested on it.

  Gisak tapped the passenger seat’s headrest as Asher and I both got back into the car. He studied me for a moment, then sighed. “All right. No more questions. You wanted fast; I’m going to give you fast.”

  Asher slammed the door as the car in front of us moved up a few feet.

  “Hold on tight!” Gisak shouted as he gunned the engine and jumped the curb. Before we could say anything, Gisak maneuvered the car down the sidewalk, forcing a few pedestrians to jump out of the way, before turning onto a narrow, cobblestoned street. From there, he took several backstreets and alleyways until we arrived at the front of the massive door of the Priorato of the Knights of Malta.

  Gisak parked next to a large tour bus. “One more chance to fill me in on what you’re doing.”

  “Cassie has family here,” Asher said, putting a hand on Gisak’s shoulder. “We’ll be fine. But thank you.”

  I watched as a few tourists wandered around the outside courtyard, waiting to take their turn peering through the door’s keyhole. It was a well-known “secret” of Rome that visitors could see the dome of the Vatican perfectly lined up through the tunnel of trees on the other side of the compound’s door.

  They didn’t suspect the truth.

  That as they looked at the pretty view, something was looking at them. A retinal scanner that searched for people like me. A descendant of Saint Longinus, with the mark of the spear.

  A person who could change destiny.

  “Want me to wait for you here?” Gisak asked.

  I opened the car door and shook my head. “No, we’ll be fine once we’re inside the compound.”

  At least I hoped we’d be. We were counting on Dame Elisabeth, the grandmother I had only met the day before, to help keep us safe while we came up with a plan for regaining the spear. She had saved my life once already, so it seemed like our best option.

  “Asher”—Gisak grabbed Asher’s backpack before he got out of the car—“you have to be careful.” He glanced over at me. “Some people aren’t always what they seem.”

  That was something he didn’t need to tell us. We’d already experienced it. A stranger was my grandmother. My best friend was a traitor. I wasn’t even who I thought I was.

  Apparently, in my life, no one was who they appeared to be.

  Gisak was still watching us from his car when I looked through the keyhole of the Priorato. Just like the day before, I was greeted with the blinding flash of light reserved solely for those of us with the correct retinal pattern. Within a few minutes, I heard the clanking sound of someone opening the dead bolts on the door.

  The tourists milling around us stopped to catch a glimpse of what was hidden behind the high walls that surrounded the compound.

  The large door creaked open, revealing Dame Elisabet
h, her gray hair pulled back by an elegant silk scarf. I could tell she was surprised to see us, but she didn’t hesitate. She took a step forward and pulled me inside by the wrist. I turned to reach for Asher, making sure he wasn’t left behind.

  “I was so very worried about you, Cassandra,” she whispered, drawing me close to her and squeezing my hand. Then she stepped away, gave the tourists a polite smile with a brief wave, and closed the door.

  Standing inside the walls of the locked compound, I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. I hadn’t realized how tense I was until that moment, when a wave of relief washed over me. A brief pit stop, enough to gather our thoughts and maybe get some information, was exactly what we needed.

  “We’re just glad you’re here,” Asher said, his shoulders relaxing a little.

  Dame Elisabeth nodded, then looked back at me. “But why did you return? I mean, I’m glad you did, but”—she paused—“why come back here?”

  I glanced over at Asher, unsure how much I should reveal. Should we tell her that we were here because the only other person who could help us was Asher’s uncle, Brother Gregorio, but he had just died, leaving us on our own? What about telling her how we’d hoped Brother Gregorio would barter a peace with the Hastati once we had the spear? How much was too much?

  “We first went to my uncle thinking he might be able to help us, but when we arrived at the monastery, he was … we found that … he had died,” Asher said, his voice catching a little bit on the last word.

  “We thought you might be able to help us instead,” I said.

  “Of course, of course.” Dame Elisabeth nodded. “I’m sorry for your loss, but you said monastery. Your uncle is—?”

  “Brother Gregorio of—”

  Dame Elisabeth cut Asher off. “Gregorio is your uncle … Well, that certainly explains quite a bit.” She sighed and looked out to the horizon. “So now it all begins again.”

  “Begins again?” I asked. “What do you mean?”

  Her eyes narrowed as she evaluated the two of us. “Do you two know about Gregorio’s connection to Tobias, the person who last controlled the spear?”

  Asher nodded. “Yes, my uncle told me. He was Tobias’s Guardian. His life was tied to Tobias’s.”

  Just like Asher and me. I had bound him to my life when I used the spear. He was now my Guardian. If I used the spear and entered the Realm of Possibilities to change destiny, only Asher could bring me back to reality. And if I died, so did he.

  Dame Elisabeth escorted us through one of the gardens. “So you also know that the Hastati were keeping Tobias in a coma to both prevent him from using the spear and keep the spear’s power from going to someone else. They wouldn’t allow him to wake up because of the things he had been doing with the power. He had become irrational. Obsessed with manipulating the future and wanting to bring about some kind of new world order.”

  A chill went down my spine. I didn’t really know all the details about Tobias.

  “My uncle explained all of that to me. He also knew that it wouldn’t be long before Tobias died and that would mean his death, too. He was prepared.” Asher spoke the words as though he’d memorized them but didn’t truly believe them. I knew that no matter how much his uncle had warned him that this would happen, Asher hadn’t been ready to lose the only family he had.

  “Yes, but we are not prepared … not for how this will affect Cassandra.” Dame Elisabeth rolled back her shoulders, her expression changing to what could only be described as soldier-like. “I had heard that Tobias was about to pass away. Gregorio’s death confirms it. Now the power of the spear can once again be claimed by any of the marked descendants.”

  I flinched but kept silent. It was best if no one—not even my grandmother—knew that I had already claimed the power of the spear.

  “The Hastati will be even more desperate to find you,” Dame Elisabeth continued. She stared at me, and then looked around the compound. “Everyone’s gone through an extensive security check here, but I won’t risk putting you in harm’s way. Come with me.” She strode away from the main building toward a small carport, the gravel under her feet crunching with each step.

  “Wait, where are we going?” Asher asked, trotting alongside her. “I thought we’d be able to stay here. That you’d be able to protect Cassie.”

  “I’m not taking any chances.” She gave me a sideways glance. “Not with my granddaughter.”

  “You’re worried about the Knights?” I asked.

  “Oh, no. The true Knights will protect you at all costs. It’s everyone else that concerns me.” We approached a black car parked in the carport, and Dame Elisabeth opened the car’s back door. “With Tobias dead, you’ve become infinitely more valuable. You have a role to play, and that’s why we’re going somewhere only I know about. A safe house.”

  I stopped. “No. I’m not going to run away and hide.” I needed to get the spear back and fix the future. Make sure that the final horrifying vision I’d seen didn’t happen. Staying out of sight might keep me safe, but it wasn’t going to help undo the problems I’d created.

  “My dear, this isn’t running away. It’s more of a regrouping … until we can sort some things out. Now let’s get going.”

  Asher and I exchanged glances. We needed to tell her about Simone’s mother taking the spear. That might alter whatever plan she was concocting. Perhaps she’d change her mind about running away.

  “Dame Elisabeth, before we go, you need to know something,” I said, trying to decide how much to tell her.

  “You can talk to me when we’re on our way.”

  “But it’s about the spear,” I explained. “We know where it is.”

  Dame Elisabeth’s hand dropped from the car door. “What did you say?”

  “The Spear of Destiny,” Asher repeated. “Simone’s mother, Sarah Bimington, has it. She may come after Cassie once she finds out that Tobias is dead and that Cassie is the only one who can use it.”

  “Sarah Bimington the financier?” Dame Elisabeth’s eyes widened, and her gaze bounced back and forth between Asher and me. I could tell she didn’t know whether to believe us or not. “What makes you think she’s involved?”

  “Because she stole it from us,” I blurted.

  “Actually,” Asher corrected me, “Simone stole it, then gave it to her mother.”

  Dame Elisabeth raised her hand as if to slow down the conversation. “Hold on. The two of you had the spear? The actual spear?”

  I nodded, not wanting to get into the details.

  “But how did you get it? It’s been missing for years.”

  All my muscles tightened. How was I supposed to answer this? I couldn’t tell her we’d found the spear in her own garden and taken it without telling her. I hated having secrets from everyone—even the people I relied on. Asher was the only person I trusted.

  As if reading my mind, Asher jumped in. “It involves my uncle,” he lied. I gave him a grateful smile. “But that’s not important right now. We just want you to tell the Hastati and the Knights so they can stop coming after Cassie and go after the spear.”

  “It’s not that simple.” Dame Elisabeth shook her head. “They’ll need proof. I need proof.”

  “But the proof is that she has it!” I exclaimed.

  “Cassandra, I believe that Simone took whatever spear you had in your possession, but that may not have been the real one. There are several replicas—”

  “This wasn’t a copy,” Asher interrupted.

  “How can you be sure?”

  We couldn’t tell her that the only way we knew for sure was that I had used the spear to change destiny. Grandmother or not, I didn’t trust her with that fact.

  “Brother Gregorio said so.” Asher supplied the answer. “He would know the real one from a fake.”

  Dame Elisabeth paused to consider this. “That he would,” she muttered. “Did you touch the spear, Cassandra? Even for a moment?”

  “No,” I said, adding to the lie
s. “Asher was the one who held it.”

  “But you felt its pull, didn’t you? Like a magnet drawing you closer.”

  I nodded. That, at least, was true. I hadn’t known how to explain the sensation, but that was a pretty close description. It was like a chocolate craving, but way more intense. I could still feel it now. I itched to get into action and get the spear back from Sarah Bimington so I could use it again.

  “That’s what I thought.” Her lips tightened. “All right, I’ll make a call as soon as we get to where we’re going.”

  I didn’t have a better plan, so I gave Asher a little nod and we climbed into the backseat of the car. I’d told my father to meet us at the compound, but I could call him, too, once we got to our destination, and update him on our whereabouts.

  Dame Elisabeth slid into the driver’s seat and turned the key, but she kept the car in park as she pressed a button on the sun visor. The entire car began to shake. “Hold on.”

  “Wait! What’s happening? What is this?” I gripped the sides of the seat as the car descended like an elevator, dropping several floors. Once we hit the bottom, a whirring sound filled the cavernous space around us. I looked out the window just as a metal panel closed up the hole we had dropped into, leaving us in total darkness.

  Dame Elisabeth turned on the headlights, revealing a tunnel in front of us. “This, my dear, is our way out.” She revved the engine. “I’m making sure no one can follow us.”

  This cannot be real, I thought.

  Speeding through an underground secret tunnel felt like we were in a spy movie. Except there was no guarantee that the good guys would win. I didn’t even know if we would survive.

  All of a sudden, a pain shot through the right side of my skull, making me wince. It felt like my head was about to explode. I wanted to move or call for help, but I couldn’t. I was paralyzed.

  My heart raced and I couldn’t seem to catch my breath. I saw flashes of different images. At first they seemed random, but then I realized they were all from the vision I’d had when I used this spear. Like a slideshow quickly flipping through pictures, I could barely make out one image before it changed to another. For a split second, I saw myself in a boat sailing by a beautiful town with white and cream-colored buildings that ran down the side of the mountain all the way to the shoreline. Then the image of a man standing by a wide, rounded window appeared. Before I could gather my thoughts, a sharp jolt of electricity ran through my elbow. Just like that, the images vanished.