The Certainty (Book Four in The Illusion of Certainty Series)

The Final Fight

I woke up in a car and looked around. I was so groggy it took me a while to create a solid thought. Everything was hazy, like a film was covering my eyes keeping me from seeing clearly. I took a deep breath, pulling in clean, fresh air. It helped to clear my head but not my vision. I had to blink for that.

When I got everything back, I noticed I was buckled in, the shoulder belt tucked behind me since my hands were bound in front. I looked over at the driver and started to hyperventilate.

Aidan was driving.

“Oh my god…”

He looked over at me and smiled. But the smile was wrong. It stretched in all the wrong places, not matching the real one at all.

“Come now, Georgiana. I thought you’d like this disguise.”

The voice wasn’t Aidan’s. It was Jason’s. I pressed myself against the door and clawed for the handle. A needle poked into my neck and I cried out more in surprise than pain. I looked back and saw Alvus in the back seat. He was holding a needle, looking fairly accomplished.

“What…?”

“It’s a hallucinogenic,” Jason informed me. “Just for you.”

“What? Why?”

“Because we have a tail and I need you to be a little—unhinged.”

I looked at him and I saw the dual layers of his disguise. I blinked and tried to fight it. The sun from the outside became too bright. I looked down, trying to avert my eyes from the light and my hands were dripping with blood from wounds long received and healed. When I blinked the image flickered but came back stronger.

My head filled with panic and fear as I watched my fingers twist and snap, bones breaking. I geared up a scream when Alvus slipped a gag around my mouth.

“This is wonderful. I get the pleasure of your pain without even having to touch you.”

I felt the skin on the bottom of my foot split open and screamed.

“Such a heart warming sound.”

I was in excruciating pain for the next ten minutes. Everywhere I looked I saw blood. Blood poured out of the glove box, out of the CD player. I didn’t dare look out the window afraid I’d see death and destruction on the streets.

I felt my hand shatter and I strained against the bindings. The slices he’d made were more painful then I remembered. I felt the knife go through my abdomen like butter and I doubled over in the seat.

I tried to find the bond in my mind to distract me but that just sent the world around me tumbling.

“She’s trying,” Alvus said.

Jason sighed. “Keep her from connecting. We’re almost there.”

I finally looked out the window and saw New York City on fire. Every building was ablaze and the people walking the streets were screaming and crying, their faces contorted in ghastly ways.  I sobbed, resting my head against the window. I didn’t have enough energy to hold myself up.

Jason pulled off on a random street and sped along, the world outside the window becoming a blur.

“Ah Georgiana. You’ve been a formidable opponent. I’m almost sad I have to kill you.”

I looked at him to give a reply but I shouldn’t have done that. The dual layer was completely gone and all I saw was Aidan with bloody hands steering the car. I lashed out and connected with his face. He jerked the wheel to the side and we crashed into a building. The world slowed down dramatically.