Four Horsemen
Page 11
Getting herself back under control, she glowered and grit her teeth as she said, “Why am I tied up, Ophelia?”
Ouch. She called me Ophelia, which she knew I hated. It also meant she considered me a stranger now. Well, she was a stranger to me, so it was fair.
“How could you betray me like that?” I asked, surprised by the slight hissing in my tone.
Shawna’s eyes rounded briefly before she forced her expression to be one of confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I looked at Owen and threw my hands up in exasperation. Owen shook his head. “Just tell her everything you know so she can stop this pathetic innocent act. If I were corporeal, I would have punched her already.”
I rolled my eyes at my brother’s violent thoughts and grabbed the crumpled letter I found in Shawna’s desk. I held it out in front of her and watched her reaction. Shawna’s eyes roamed over it and widened, finally looking at me with a new fear.
“You are part of the Templar Order. An Order which has been hunting me and my friends.”
Shawna opened her mouth to say something, but I kept going.
“An Order that almost killed me yesterday.”
Shawna looked shocked but tried to speak again. My voice rose to cut off whatever she was going to say.
“An Order that killed my brother!”
At that, Shawna’s mouth snapped shut and her scrunched brows told me she had no idea about that.
I felt anger toward her and the Templars. Even though she probably had not been the one to kill Owen, I felt that loss all over again and blamed her. My chest ached with sadness, anger, and fear that it might happen again. I heard Owen calling my name, but it was distant. Without thinking I reached out and touched Shawna’s cheek, wanting her to feel what I felt.
Shawna cried out and tried to roll into a ball, but the restraints prevented her. Tears cascaded down her face and she pleaded in whispers for me to stop. I pushed harder, pouring everything out of me and into her. I wanted her to know what her Order had done to me and Owen.
“Phi!”
My mind snapped out of the grief-stricken haze at Owen’s voice. I realized what I was doing and pulled back from Shawna in horror.
Oh no, what have I done?
I checked over my roommate looking for black patches or boils. When I found none, I sighed in relief. Owen’s wide eyes met mine and after a moment he smiled. Any other time I would have found that weird, but I was sure I had a matching one. Our smiles probably made it look like I enjoyed inflicting that pain, but we were smiling about something else. I had successfully used my talent without killing someone. I think it had to do with the fact that it was a different kind of sickness I felt and extended to her. A sickness caused by grief rather than a virus. It would be interesting to try out my new idea in training but for now I had a Templar to deal with.
Shawna breathed heavily and looked up to me, her eyes still red and tear tracks stained her cheeks, but she was no longer crying. “I never knew,” Shawna whispered, her voice cracking.
Now that I had expunged some of my feelings and made her feel what I felt all the time, I was calmer. Still mad and hurt but calm.
After a few minutes of quiet, Shawna whispered again. “I never had a choice.”
I scowled at her but couldn’t help but ask. “What do you mean?” I probably should have left by now and never come back to that room, but I wanted answers. My mind argued that fact though since she was a Templar, but I felt if Shawna wanted to, she could have harmed me anytime within the past few weeks so a couple more minutes wouldn’t hurt.
“I am a legacy. I never had a choice to join the Templars.” She sounded sad yet resigned.
I looked to Owen, “Legacy?” I asked him, wondering if he knew about legacies within the Templar Order.
He shook his head and shrugged. Shawna followed my line of sight and frowned, not seeing Owen and probably thinking I was as crazy as the Templars probably made me out to be.
“What’s a legacy?” I asked, covering up the fact I had been talking to the air.
“It’s someone who was born into the Order. Both of my parents are important Templars.”
Oh snap, so when she said her parents were schmoozing with the Pope, she was serious. Shawna had said her dad traveled a lot. He was probably a leader of the Templars or something similar. I was suddenly glad I had not met her parents. They were probably the kill-first-ask-questions-later type.
“Why haven’t you killed me yet?” I asked. If she was a legacy and had grown up around all that Templar crap, then her first priority would be to kill me and the others.
Shawna scrunched up her nose. “I never believed in the Horsemen. My parents did not talk about them much since they traveled a lot. The Order is much more than just hunting down some fictional people anyway.” She looked at me hesitantly. “However, now I know the Templars were right.” She didn’t give me a chance to respond. She was probably trying to explain herself quickly before I left or hurt her again. “I was put in here as your roommate because it was suspected you were a Horseman. However, I didn’t believe it. I never told them anything about you or the others.”
I bit my lip thinking about what she said. I glanced at Owen to see what he made of it, but he disappeared. I turned around looking for him, but he was gone. We really had to figure out how the whole ghost thing worked. I focused back on Shawna, thinking about yesterday.
“Did you tell that Templar girl where we would be yesterday?” I attempted to keep my face nonchalant, but my blood simmered underneath. No matter her words, I had been attacked by her people and that was something I would not forget.
“Templar girl? What do you- Oh my God. That’s how she died? You killed her?” Disbelief and fear tinged her words then her eyes widened, and she looked over my body with worry. “Is she the reason you came home all cut up?”
I couldn’t tell if she was angry with me or concerned. I nodded slowly, not saying a word.
“Then she got what she deserved,” Shawna said, holding her chin up defiantly.
My brows drew down at her words. She was okay with her fellow Templar dying yet she feared me a moment before when she figured out I killed her. All of this was causing me to be paranoid and confused. I needed to leave and clear my head. I moved away from her, toward my side of the room to grab my backpack but Shawna made me pause when she spoke again.
“Phi, I don’t believe you are an evil person. I know you. You would never intentionally hurt someone unless they hurt you first. I will not tell them about you. You can trust me.”
I kept my back to her thinking over what she said. She was right. I would never intentionally hurt someone unless they were hurting me or someone I loved. But, could I trust her? My head said no, but my heart tried saying something else. I was too confused and hurt right now. I grabbed my bag and threw some clothes into it.
“Where are you going?” Shawna asked softly.
“I don’t know but I can’t stay here.” I knew where I would go but there was no way I would alert her to my plans or whereabouts.
I paused right before I left and contemplated what I should do with Shawna. She was a Templar so I should leave her here tied up so she couldn’t alert her Order, but she seemed so innocent. Not once had she tried to hurt me or the others. The only thing she had done wrong was lie.
Before I could change my mind, I grabbed a pair of scissors and put them into her hand then walked out, leaving her alone. By the time she freed herself with the scissors I would be long gone.
Now I had to explain to the guys why I suddenly decided to stay at their place.
Chapter 13
I didn’t bother knocking. I walked in and threw my stuff on the kitchen table and rifled through their fridge. I must have made some noise because a moment later, three pairs of footsteps thundered down the stairs.
“Phi? What are you doing here?” Trevor asked when they all came into the kitchen to find me pouring lemonade into a
glass.
Seeing them with looks of concern almost broke me. I turned away and took a deep breath to hold in my tears. When I turned back towards them, it was with a smile and glass of lemonade.
“I ran out of lemonade,” I told them, then moved to sit at the table.
They followed me, taking seats as well, and stared. I sipped my drink slowly, avoiding their eyes and hoping they couldn’t read on my face that something was wrong. I must have failed because Liam grunted and asked, “Did something happen? Tell us,” then grabbed my injured hand, turning it over to check the wound.
I pulled my hand back and set my glass on the table before fiddling with my bracelet. Now was the time to tell them about Shawna. They needed to know yet something held me back. I felt protective of my roommate despite her deceit. I remembered yesterday how Trevor admitted they had killed before and didn’t regret it. I knew if the guys found out about her they would act and by tomorrow, Shawna might be the next missing person. I couldn’t do that to her, so we would call it even. She didn’t tell the Templars about us so I wouldn’t tell the Horsemen about her.
“Phi,” Kaden said softly, reminding me I needed to say something.
I couldn’t just tell them I felt like being around them or I felt unsafe because that would bring about more unwanted questions. They were already alert since it was not normal for me to arrive unannounced especially with a packed bag. I sighed.
“Phi,” Liam said in a low voice.
Where Kaden sounded concerned, Liam sounded almost threatening. I glared at him, letting him know he couldn’t boss me around. Then I thought of the perfect thing to tell them.
“So, I kinda, sorta summoned Owen as a ghost.”
They stared at me with wide eyes. Trevor’s mouth hung open and Kaden glanced from me to Liam wondering if I was joking. Then they all started speaking at once, the volume in the room going up by the second. I held out my hands to stop the voices and they shut up to let me explain.
“It was yesterday at home and again this morning. I called out to him and he appeared. I think I can do it because we are both Death.” I looked at all of them wondering what they thought. It could not be the craziest thing they have heard of.
“You really saw him?” Trevor asked letting out a breath.
“And talked to him?” Kaden added, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.
I nodded, my eyes landing on Liam. He didn’t say anything, just stared at me. I could not pick up what he was thinking or feeling. It made me a bit uncomfortable. I shifted in my seat and looked away.
“That’s amazing!” Kaden shouted, causing me to flinch at the sound. “I’ve gotta research this.” Kaden got up and walked upstairs muttering under his breath excitedly.
Research? This whole time I had been poking through the Bible, yet Kaden had actual research materials. I made a mental note to bug him about using them later.
“What did he say?” Trevor asked, clasping his hands in front of him on the table and leaning forward expectantly.
“We just talked about Horsemen stuff, like how all the people you beat up in High School were Templars.”
“Except Johnny Marks,” Trevor said chuckling.
“Freaking Johnny Marks,” Liam said, crossing his arms, and a small smile played at his lips.
My own lips pulled into a smile at their behavior. They sounded just like Owen. I told them more about seeing Owen and what it was like and what we figured out about my talents. I left out any mention of Shawna, but they did not seem to notice. Eventually, my yawn interrupted our conversation and Trevor called it a night.
“See you in the morning,” Trevor said to us before climbing the stairs to his room.
I shifted in my seat when Liam and I were alone. He stared at me, but I couldn’t tell what was going through his head. His brows drew down a bit and he looked at me thoughtfully. Wanting to escape the intense stare I got up and put my glass in the sink.
“I should probably go to bed too.” I moved toward the stairs and got up a few before footsteps followed me.
I intended to ignore the heat from Liam behind me, but it became impossible when he grabbed me and gently pushed me against the wall, trapping me with his body. My heart beat faster and I stared up at him with wide eyes.
“Liam? What-”
“Are you ok, Phi?”
His question shocked me into silence. How did he know something was wrong? I had covered up my roiling emotions so well, or so I thought.
“I-I’m fine,” I said, my voice catching a little. I chalked it up to a lump in my throat and not the nervousness I felt with him standing so close.
He stepped in a little further and I pressed as far into the wall as I could, not wanting him to see how my body seemed to be affected by his hard muscles and heat. I growled and pushed against his chest, wanting some space to clear my head. I was not going to be one of those girls I had seen around him falling into a puddle just at his proximity.
He gave me a crooked smile at my attempt and caught my hand in one of his. Which only made my heart race faster. Stupid hormones.
“Something else happened today didn’t it?” He asked softly, leaning in.
My breath caught and I looked anywhere but his eyes. His eyes were hypnotizing, and I knew if I looked into them, I might blurt everything out “What makes you say that?” Yes! My voice sounded strong that time. I was totally not affected by him.
His eyes narrowed bringing my focus back to them. “Phi,” he warned.
Suddenly, I was back to myself. Funny how saying my name like I was about to be in trouble if I didn’t comply would do that. “Liam,” I said back.
“You know what I can do,” he said with a smirk.
My mouth gaped open. So that’s how he wanted this to go. He thought he could use his charm to make me spill my secrets and if that didn’t work then he would resort to his talent for fear? I laughed in his face. “Nice try.” I sidled out from between him and the wall and raced up the stairs not giving him a chance to act on his warning.
I thought he would follow but I only heard his chuckle before I closed myself in the guest bedroom. I didn’t move away from the door until my heartbeat slowed then I shook my head, annoyed with him. Man, he was so manipulative, I couldn’t let him get that close again. I almost blurted out Shawna’s secret and that would have been catastrophic. Seriously though, what was his deal? I needed to talk to Owen about him sometime. Kaden and Trevor were easy to be around, but I was always on guard around Liam, wondering how he would react to every little thing. He seemed to be caring once second then he acted as if I should tell him everything because I would regret it otherwise.
He never used to be like that. I actually got along quite well with them all before Owen died. I was one of the only people who could walk up to them and not get punched and get a genuine smile out of them. Ever since I started hanging with them again, Trevor and Kaden had fallen back into our old companionship, but Liam had been on edge whenever he was around me even though he tried to hide it underneath his smirks and superiority complex. I grumbled and decided to put it all out of my mind. I really did not need to be worrying about Liam on top of everything else.
A few days went by and I still refused to go to my dorm unless Shawna was not there. I knew Shawna’s schedule so I made sure to stop by for extra clothes or necessities when she would not be there. Otherwise I was in class or at the house with the guys. Liam never tried to ask me what was wrong again, but I found him watching me when he thought no one noticed.
I was in the guest bedroom, tinkering with a machine for my Engineering class, when my phone gave out a loud siren noise, like those sounds phones get when there is an emergency message. I dove to turn the sound off and could hear other phones in the house making the same noise. I had just pressed okay on my phone to silence the noise so I could read the message when footsteps thundered down the hall and three sets of bodies came crashing into my room, holding up their phones and looking worried.
“Did you kill more people?” Trevor asked.
I stared at them with a slack jaw and wide eyes. Then outrage took over. “What? Of course not!”
“Then what is this?” Kaden asked holding his phone out to me.
I took it and saw the emergency message that I hadn’t had a chance to read on my phone. I murmured to myself as I read then gasped. “Outbreak of a mysterious virus on campus? Three dead? When did this happen?” I asked looking up at them expectantly.
“Today, apparently. And you’re sure that wasn’t you?” Kaden asked.
I bristled and threw his phone at him. He flinched but caught it midair then patted his phone checking to see if I broke it. “Of course I didn’t do this!”
Liam frowned at his friends then stepped forward to get my attention. “I believe you. But it means the Templars will be pointing fingers at you anyway and you will be in even more danger.”
I looked at him relieved to know someone believed me then his other words penetrated my mind. I threw my hands in the air in exasperation. “Of course they will.”
Then I sighed with resignation. There was nothing we could do except lay low and keep an eye on how it progressed.
If it progressed.
And it did progress. Over the next week five more people came down with the mysterious illness, all students from Penn State. A new warning was issued to take precautions and wash our hands and to keep our distance from others. School was still in session but now I was even more worried about being hunted by Templars. There were eight dead now and anyone who knew the Horsemen were real would be pointing to me as the culprit. Maybe I did cause it and I just didn’t realize. I shook my head at the thought. I would have known if I used my power to create an epidemic.