Soul Slam, Soul Warriors Book 1

Chapter Eleven B

My ears didn't have to strain to hear.

"Sefu, call a few loyal members and have them search the city." Jeb's voice continued to carry into the bedroom even though I could tell he'd walked further down the hall. "Get a hold of the captain."

"Quick." Xander shuffled away from the door and opened a closet. "We'll hide in here until they leave the mansion."

"Do they realize we're here?" I scurried inside, not liking being enclosed in a closet. Although this closet was bigger than some bedrooms.

He followed and snapped the door shut. "Didn't sound like it."

The walk-in closet had one wall of shelves, mostly empty, and two walls with rods filled with clothes. Suits, dress shirts, casual shirts, jackets and pants hung on hangars. If I could afford a closet this size, it would've been filled with the latest designer dresses. Unfortunately, I owned a small fraction of the clothes here and none of mine were designer anything.

Jealousy reared its ugly head again until I noticed several white tunics hanging next to the regular clothes. He might've had a huge bedroom and a ton of clothes but he had nothing else. No family, no friends, no life.

"This way." He pushed the hanging clothes out of the way. A two-foot by three-foot panel recessed into the wall. He stuck his fingers in the grooves and took the panel off.

I froze. The dark spaced loomed behind the open panel. "I-I'm sure they won't look in the closet. I'll stay here."

"A closet is one of the first places Jeb would look if they realize were in the house." Xander waved at the open panel. "Get inside."

My heart pounded so loud Jeb could probably hear it through the closet and bedroom doors. I swallowed the lump in my throat and got to my knees. Crawling inside, my knees and palms began to sweat. I hated this fear. I turned to make sure Xander was right behind me.

He wasn't. Instead, he grabbed a backpack and shoved jeans, sweatshirt and gym shoes inside the bag. Then, he arranged the hanging clothes to cover the opening, crawled in beside me, and set the panel over the hole.

The dark room gave no hint of size. My entire body warmed. Perspiration broke out on my upper lip. "Now what?"

"We wait." He flicked a switch.

The light hanging from the ceiling blinded me for a second. The room was the size of a cave. And just as scary. About four feet high, the space was tall enough to move around but not stand. The ceiling seemed to swoop down in the center. The room itself was bigger than a twin bed, but not by much.

He appeared so calm, so at-home, in this claustrophobic space, while the walls closed in on me. I tried to distract myself by reading the titles of the books on the shelf. Spy and adventure novels with folded corners and crinkled spines, obviously read several times.

A torn Giants pennant with a large black signature across the top hung on another wall above photos of past teams. A small soccer ball and a baseball lay in the corner.

"What is this place?" And how soon could I get out?

Blurred visions of locked basement closets swam in front of my eyes. Imagined and remembered sharp bites from spiders and beetles and ants crawling around beside me. The pitch black nothingness of darkness. The difficulty of breathing as the small quantity of air was used up. Hours and hours, possibly days, of enforced isolation. I couldn't remember. I tried not to remember. A shaky breath escaped my chest adding more carbon dioxide to the small room. My lungs tightened.

"This is my real room." Pride oozed from his words. He shoved the backpack into the corner. The backpack that took up more precious space.

Keep the conversation going. Must not let him know about my fear. "Did you build it?"

The plastered walls were painted an eerie white. Carpeting so loose on the floor it could smother you. Not nice Oriental carpeting. Old carpeting with stains and ragged edges. Kind of like the carpeting we had at Fitch's, stuff we'd found lying by the garbage and brought home.

"I found it."

"Found it?"

"I was," he stared at his feet, "hiding in the closet when I was little and noticed the panel. It took several tries but I finally figured out how to open it."

"And you found all this?" I gestured with my hands encompassing all the stuff that had been crammed into the miniscule space.

"I added things a little at a time. Made it so I was comfortable. Made it my own." Again, pride sounded in his tone.

Way too small to be anything close to comfortable. Obviously size didn't matter to him. He liked this space better than his bedroom. Maybe because he'd done this on his own. This place showed his personality.

"What does Jeb think about it?" Cause the cubby certainly didn't go with the rest of the mansion's décor.

"Jeb doesn't know the space exists." A smirk lit Xander's face with the knowledge he'd gotten away with it. "Days when I didn't want to train or was angry at him I'd hide in here and he'd never find me." He laughed with a touch of boastful glee. "Jeb would search the bedroom looking under the bed and even in the closet but he never moved the clothes or found the panel."

So, Xander had found a way to rebel. Maybe there'd been hope if he'd inherited Tut's soul. Once Xander realized what the Society's evil plans were he would've stood up to them.

"What do you do in here?" Keep asking questions, keep your mind occupied. I didn't want to think about how close the walls were, how very little air must be in here, how if the light went out we'd be in complete blackness.

He scrutinized the room as if looking at it from a stranger's point of view. "Read, play games, think, sleep." He said it like he enjoyed being here.

I rolled my eyes and spotted the orange pennant. "You a Giants fan?" I needed conversation to take my mind off of things.

"Yeah." He pointed at the pennant. "Signed by Willie McCovey."

"Wow." I pointed at myself. "A's fan."

"How can you be?" He shook his head and frowned. "Haven't you lived in San Francisco your entire life?"

"The Oakland A's are my kind of people." Hard, street smart, and a bit glitzy. "Their last season was phenomenal."

"Been to any games?"

"Nope." The cheapest tickets were way too expensive.

"Me, either." His voice lowered.

Another thing we had in common.

We looked at each other. The green of his gaze pierced like a laser, poking holes in my heart. If he continued looking at me like that I'd forget all about my claustrophobia. My knees trembled and I hugged them to my chest.

He'd stayed in Jeb's office when he could've run. He'd worked with me to escape the Society and the homeless in the park. He'd strategized and given me knowledge. He'd helped me.

Xander leaned toward me. The golden flecks in his eyes flashed. Sparks arced between us like the arches on the Golden GateBridge. My body was still warm, but not from my fear.

Was he about to kiss me? I'd never been kissed before. Never wanted a kiss from anyone else. Definitely a good distraction.

A strand of hair fell over his face, blocking my view of his incredible eyes. He jerked his head back to swing the hair out of the way and his gaze pierced deeper. He watched me, waiting for me to do or say something.

I caught my breath. My heart leapt. I licked my suddenly dry lips.

His lips moved closer.

My body went limp. My heart beat so loud I was sure he heard it. My lips parted.

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