Page 67 of Echo Power

"Whuh—" I swing my head toward the spot where Dax had stood, then veer my attention back to Sefton. "What did you do to him? Is he dead?"

"Does it matter?" Sefton seizes my arms, hauling me into him. "The answer is no. You will do as I say, or you will suffer the consequences. Do you understand?"

The fury in his voice and on his face convinces me that I need to play along, at least until I can figure out what to do. Can I do anything? Well, maybe I should test my theory that sex with Dax amps up my Echo power. If I can open those damn boxes…

Willow. The thought blasts through my mind, and I wrench free of Sefton to race past him and get to the girl's room.

She isn't there.

"Did you honestly think I wouldn't know about the sniveling child you brought here?"

I whirl around, coming face to face with Sefton. "What did you do to her?"

"She is irrelevant."

"Where is she?"

"Forget about Dax and the child. You will never see either of them again."

I want to pound my fists on his chest, slug him in the gut, run him through with a cutlass. But I can't be sure that would kill him, or even hurt him. He has that damn force field or whatever that protects him. He also has those creatures outside.Shit.

As much as I don't want to do it, I know I must placate him. Play along, at least for a while. He'll have to let his shields down if he wants to have sex with me. That might be my only opening, unless I can access those boxes in the cellar.

Without Dax's help? Yes, I can do it. I must do it.

My chest aches when I think about Dax. Sefton wouldn't have killed him, would he? The use of a portal to get rid of him suggests he sent him away. Don't need teleportation to commit murder. I must believe Dax and Willow are alive, somewhere. To believe the opposite… That would destroy me.

"All right," I say. "No more talk of Willow or Dax."

Sefton's entire demeanor softens, though I sense the tension crackling under the surface.

"Did your trip outside the estate go well?" I ask. Might as well engage in inane conversation in the hopes of learning something useful from him.

"The alchemy of worlds is progressing as expected."

"So that's good news. Right?" Not for me or anyone else on earth, except for Sefton and maybe the Echo creatures. I've become a spy, haven't I? Pretending to be something I'm not, pretending to believe in things I don't subscribe to, all to keep a madman from lashing out at innocent people.

"There is no good or bad news," he says. "Only truth and power."

Whatever that means. "I get what the alchemy of worlds is. But I'm confused about the alchemy of souls."

He clasps his hands behind his back. "You will find out soon enough anyway, so I suppose you might as well know now. The alchemy of souls will transmute the Echo version of every human being, merging the Echo soul with the human one to create a hybrid. Since both souls are entangled at the quantum level, the result should be quite interesting. That is how the Echo shall reveal all—as in the true nature of every person on earth."

He's going to jam our souls into the bodies of Echo creatures and force us to become one with those monsters. How that equates to revealing our true nature is a question only the madman can answer. But since I have no response to his statement that won't enrage him, I change the subject. "What will you do now?"

"It's time for our union."

Oh, how I wish he meant we were joining a labor union. No such luck. I'm sure he's talking about our sham wedding and the sex he expects to get afterward. Do I have the power to stop Sefton from transmuting the souls of every human on earth? Even if my sex theory for teleportation is valid, that doesn't guarantee I can save Dax and Willow. If I bring them back here, Sefton might kill them or send them away again. I have no idea how long my power boost might work.

Better save it for opening those boxes.

Hang on, Dax. Hang on, Willow. I will never forget about you.

I shove my hands into my pants pockets. "What now? You must have more important stuff to keep tabs on."

"Yes, I do." He takes a step toward me. "Why did you let my brother shag you?"

There is no way I can answer that question unless I lie. "Dax threatened to give me to the Echo creatures if I didn't have sex with him."

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