Collide (Entangled Teen) (The Taking Book 3) by Melissa West Page A

Kelvin opens his mouth, but I cut him off. “Jackson personally trained every RES on Loge. He is an expert in militant strategies. He can be an asset if you will allow him to be. And he is half human. He doesn’t want to hurt human life. He wants to help it. Together, he and I can train all of your bases to function better than the RESs ever could.”
    Kelvin’s head tilts, like he’s considering this, when we hear a knock at the door. “What?” Kelvin shouts.
    The door opens and an Op steps in. “We have a problem.”
    Kelvin eyes the Op, then me. “Can it wait?”
    “No sir. It’s on the Mainland. There’s—”
    “Not here,” Kelvin says, cutting him off. “You will stay and watch her,” he says to Law, then he darts from the room.
    My gaze drifts over to Jackson to find him watching me, his blue-green eyes no longer beaten, but strong.
    Alive.
    Raging.
    I walk over and press my hands to the glass, my eyes never leaving his. In them I see everything he’s thinking and feeling. His anger at Kelvin. His sadness at losing Mami. His love for me, an unwavering fire inside him. And then I see his determination, so clear it’s as though I’m thinking it myself—he’s going to kill Zeus.
    It’s time to begin.
    Jackson nods once to me, and I grip the glass tighter, feeling its composition, and then the glass vibrates, harder and harder. Law goes still. I draw a breath, my focus on the boy I love and his raging eyes, and then a tiny crack splits out from my right pinky finger like a spider web across the glass, splitting again and again. Another starts from my left hand and I lean farther into the glass, imagining Jackson and me back on Loge, Emmy and Mami, and then the window bursts, the glass shooting out in a thousand directions.
    Jackson stands slowly, effort etched into his face, the muscles in his arms flexing. The door to his room starts to open, and my gaze flashes over, every fiber in me focused on keeping it shut. “They’re coming,” I say.
    “It doesn’t matter,” Jackson replies, his voice like a warm blanket over my heart, soothing the ache that’s been there since he disappeared. The ache I feared would never go away. “They can’t contain us. They will never contain us.” I see a new resolve in his eyes, and then I’m counting the Ops outside the door, feeling their emotions—some fear, some determination. Four in total. We can take them, but then what? I have no idea where we are or what we will face even if we can get outside the Underground. And then there’s Law, but he hasn’t moved since the glass broke. Maybe he wasn’t lying after all.
    “We have nowhere to go,” I whisper.
    “No, you don’t.”
    I turn at the hard voice behind me. I’d been so distracted I hadn’t noticed the door to my room opening, or Kelvin Lancaster returning. I spin around, prepared to fight, and then stop, remembering that Kelvin needs us. We are his only valuable resources. We know Zeus. We know Loge. We know Earth. We’re Ancient, powerful and strong, but we’re also human. I shake my head, a small smile replacing the frown. “You won’t kill us.”
    Kelvin’s mouth sets into a hard line. “Do not assume that you are an ally here.”
    “Oh, trust me, when it comes to you, I assume nothing.” I take a step toward him, then two. “But you are going to release us both. Right now. We will provide any information we can, as often as you need, but you will no longer treat us as though we are the enemy. You and I share a commonality—we both want Zeus dead.”
    Kelvin studies me, as though searching for a hint that I could be lying, then seemingly satisfied, walks to the remains of the window. I watch him go, confused by how easily he gave in. Something isn’t right. “How did you do this?”
    “Honestly? I’m not sure.”
    “Do all Ancients possess this power? Does Zeus?”
    “There are only two people who know what Zeus is capable of. One is dead. And the other is surrounded by