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Everything happened within seconds

Oneroom, the next Darius tackled her fro her facedown They landed on top of her couch, and the is As she struggled to breathe, he flipped her over and locked her wrists above her head A favorite position of his, obviously She didn&039;t have tis to aze clashed with hers, ice-blue calculation with turquoise uncertainty The rims of his eyes were red and swollen, but as she watched, all hint of the toxic spray vanished

"What are you doing?" she gasped, growing increasingly light-headed

"Bound we shall be," he continued, "from this moon to another, then set free"

Her blood whirled inside her veins as a strange, dark and oddly cohts flashed through her, es of a child&039;s terror, hurt, and search for a love never found Ies of desolation and an ultimate withdrawal from emotion

The child was Darius

She was poised on the periphery of a vision, gazing down at a bloodymotionless in pools of their own blood The boy-Darius-knelt over one of the children A little girl Long black hair for with the blood dripping from her neck She wore a sapphire-colored dress that was bunched around her waist Her eyes were closed, but there was a promise of beauty in every line of her softly rounded features

Gently Darius fitted the he her exposed flesh He reazed up to the crystal dome He slammed a fist into the dirt and howled, the sound more animal than human, more tortured than any child should ever have to endure

Grace wanted to sob She found herself reaching out, hoping to wrap the boy in her arms But even as she moved, she hisked back to reality Darius still hovered above her

"What did you do to ht away His eyes were closed, as if he were lost in a vision of his own When he finally opened his eyelids, he said, "I have bound us together" He looked s "For one day, you "

"That isn&039;t possible"

"Isn&039;t it? Can you not speak e? Did I not travel here-Gracie Lacie?" he added softly

She gasped "How do you know that name?"

"Your father called you that"

"Yes, but how do you know?"

"I saw inside your mind," he said simply He pushed to his feet, and she scooted backward to the edge of the couch "Go to your roo that covers you from neck to toe We have "

His gaze slitted "Then I will change youin her ears, Grace jumped up and scurried around him When she reached her bedroom, she quickly shut and locked the door, then raced to the nearestShe unlatched the fastener, raised the glass and atte over

An invisible wall stopped anywith frustration, she kicked and pounded at the wall but couldn&039;t break past it Finally, panting, she gave up How dare Darius do this! she seethed What had he said? A binding spell How dare he cast a binding spell, locking her within his grasp

A hard knock sounded at her door "You have fivein"

He&039;d do it, too, she thought Even if he had to kick in the door Even if he had to take the apart apart brick by brick With a hue and rested her head on the wooden frarown into such an unco man?

She didn&039;t want to believe those flashes of his life were real, but he&039;d known her father&039;s nickname for her And she hadn&039;t shared that infors she&039;d seen, had happened She didn&039;t like knowing he&039;d once had a fa about the pain he had endured at their deaths Knowingto comfort him, to protect hie while you&039;re inside my house," she called "I don&039;t trust you"

"That matters not You will do as I have commanded"

Or he&039;d do it for her , she ed her feet to her dresser and tore off her ripped tank She quickly jerked on her largest, plainest turtle-neck sweater and a pair of plain gray sweatpants He didn&039;t want to see her skin, and she didn&039;t want to show it to hi, she donned socks and tennis shoes-better to kick him with

When she was coo out there, Grace decided, and she would be civilized She would answer his questions honestly Afterward, he would leave her, just as he&039;d found her The boy he&039;d been would allow nothing less She hoped He&039;d certainly had the opportunity to hurt her: while she slept, while they kissed A shiver of reh her, and she scowled How could she still desire hi her scattered wits, she unlocked the door and pulled it open Darius towered a few feet away, his shoulder propped on the opposite wall His expression was as cold and merciless as ever; his eyes could have been chipped fro her clothing

"Let&039;s go into the living room," she said She didn&039;t want a bed anywhere near the for his reply, she swept around him She settled on the recliner-so he couldn&039;t sit next to her-and said the first thing that popped into her rowled, half gasped He settled onto the couch, as far away from her as possible

Was he just as leery of her as she was of hiht shouldn&039;t have bothered her, but it did She had done nothing, by word or deed, to earn his dislike

"Your friends," she said "They&039;re cannibals and wanted to eat me" She shuddered at the memory

His lips curled in what could either have been amusement or fury "They will never do so That I can promise you" He schooled his features until they were as blank as a brand-new chalkboard "Where is the medallion, Grace?"

Confession ti to his feet

"I lost it?" she offered more as a question than a statement

He sank back into his seat and rubbed a hand down his face "Explain"

"While I was inside the ed "I tried to get it back, but failed"

His gaze pierced her with its intensity "If you are saying this in an attempt to keep the medallion for yourself, I will-"

"Search ed his teers and continued to stare over at her Then he nodded as though he&039;d just co to take a soing to the cave We will not stay long"

Heat drained fro her cold and pale Did he hope to send her back into Atlantis? To lock her up? To either kill/torture/molest her-okay, the last one appealed to her in a way it shouldn&039;t have-in his own surroundings?

"Do not think to protest," he said, as if reading her thoughts "I ether"

"Atlantis is-"

"Not where I&039; you I wish only to visit the cave"

She relaxed, soothed by the ring of truth in his tone Another trip to Brazilthe postcard Alex had sent her She could take his picture with her, soh town, asking people if they had seen hi her change of desires, "will you help me find my brother?"

"You do not knohere he is?"

"No And I&039;ve looked His co-workers haven&039;t seen him He hasn&039;t been home He hasn&039;t even called our mother, and he usually does Someone sent me an e-mail supposedly from him, but I knoasn&039;t because I found a postcard Alex had written telling h Darius&039;s eyes "I cannot stay here long, but you have my word of honor that while I am here, I will help you find him"

"Thank you," she told him softly

He stood and held out his hand, pal now ?"

"Now"

"But I need to call the airline I need to-"

"You need only takeup at him in confusion, she sed, then forced herself to stand "Give e closet "One " She withdrew a photo album "Second" She peeled Alex&039;s picture from the slot, folded it and shoved it into her pocket She raced back to Darius and, with a half smile, placed her hand in his "I&039;m ready"

"Close your eyes" The deep baritone of his voice was hypnotic

"Why?"

"Just do what I say"

"First tell me why"

He frowned "What I&039;"

"There That wasn&039;t so bad, was it?" She closed her eyelids, total darkness enco happened What was going on? "Can I look now?"

"Not yet" His voice was strained, and his hand clenched around hers "I do not have full use of er than usual"

Trip? And why didn&039;t he have full use of his powers?

"You otten, she fluttered open her eyelids and gasped Bleak, rocky walls surrounded her Water dripped in a constant procession, the sound ghostly A thick, s everything it touched with chill She was suddenly grateful for her sweatpants

The only light calowed bright enough to light a football stadium

"How did you do that?" she asked, awed "How did you bring us here so quickly, without walking a single step?"

"I aods," he said, as if that explained everything "Do not move from that spot"

Since that suited her desires perfectly, she nodded She wasn&039;t going near the , he stalked around the cavern, hisbeneath his clothes with every th and sinew felt beneath her fingertips Her mouth watered, and she shifted from one foot to the other No er and excite, far too unpredictable, and far too powerful He&039;d promised to help her while he ith her, and she believed he would

If anyone could find Alex, it was this e branch out of his way, but his hands ghosted through it As she watched, her eyes widened She turned toward the wall and ran her own hand over the jagged surface Shockingly her fingers disappeared inside the rock "We&039;re ghosts," she croaked out, spinning to face Darius

"Only while we are here," he assured her

Knowing she was not a permanent phantom eased her worry, and she relaxed She was used to new experiences Most times she went out of her way to have thes she could not possibly prepare for He was excite for thesilence fell between them Obviously he didn&039;t want to answer

"Well?" she persisted

"I must find it"

What was it about that chain? Even she had fought to possess it, had felt its strange, unquestionable draw "You want it, Alex wanted it and so your bedrooon medallions are handcrafted by Hephaestus, the blacksods, and each one holds a special power for its owner, like time travel or invisibility What&039;s on palace-as you saw for yourself," he added dryly

"If I&039;d known it offered special powers, I htly," she said Time travel How cool was that? "My favorite novels are tiht it would be cool to visit the Middle Ages"

"If you had known of the h to travel through tis in perspective, didn&039;t it? "I guess that means I shouldn&039;t ask what yours can do"