He’s waiting, enjoying this. That much is obvious.
I glance at Taras, then Esther and Toivo, then Elf.
“What’s the purpose?” My voice catches.
Raleigh licks his lips, slowly. Then he clasps his hands together in a way that makes him look like he’s praying. Except he’s not. There’s a lightness to his voice. “You’re going to save the Chosen, Shania, and you’re going to give me all your people. I know you are. You want to know how I know? Because you’re in love with that man. And my life is bonded to his.”
He moves closer. When he speaks again, his voice is a whisper.
“You may be a Seer of Death—you may think you can ignore the darkness in you as you kill your victims, or you may even think you can embrace it and that death does not need to be a bad thing. But there is one person whose death would absolutely destroy you—especially if you cause it.” The corners of his mouth flick up. “Remember this, Shania, because I am guessing you will not want to risk making a mistake. Corin’s life is bonded with mine. If you kill me, Corin Eriksen dies.”
I stare at Raleigh. He smiles again.
“What?” Esther whispers.
Toivo starts wailing.
“Oh, you heard me correctly.” Raleigh grins. “Now, I’m going to walk away, and you’re not going to hurt me now or ever. Because you’re mine—I’ve got control. It doesn’t matter where you are now, you’re still mine. It may take some time to sink in, Shania. But I know you’ll come to me. You’ll willingly give up your people, and that’s the best way for it to happen. I’ll even let you see your beloved dog.”
My dog. My fists tighten.
Raleigh’s smile grows lazier. “I know you, Shania. You’ll ensure I survive so the man you love lives. Because you won’t kill me. You won’t. Not when killing me means you’d have Corin’s death on your hands. Neither of us want that.” He tilts his head to the side for a moment. “And that’s another thing: you’d better tell your wild Untamed creatures not to kill me either, for the same would happen. That’s if you can control them all.” He laughs, and his laugh grows until it’s wrapping around me, squeezing me. “Isn’t it a shame you haven’t got an adequate communications system in place to reach them? Let’s hope your best is good enough. Corin will get better now. Unless, of course, you kill him. Then he won’t.”
My fists grow even tighter.
“You may want to hide yourselves a little better. I’ve put out word that only I am to convert you, my butterfly, but that’s not to say my people wouldn’t love to save your friends.” His eyes go to Toivo. “Babies are always welcome. Very little parasitic influence in them.”
Esther swears at him, but Raleigh bows his head, once, then turns, walks away.
I feel Elf summoning his powers next to me, feel his anger radiating toward me—and his desire to kill. Because it’s what we’ve been taught. We kill the Enhanced. If you’ve got the chance to kill an important one—a leader—then you do it.
“No, don’t.” I grab Elf’s arm. My heart pounds.
“You can’t believe that.” Elf stares at me. “He’s trying to mess with your head. He’s like one of those spirits. Damn, I wish he’d get lost in the Dark Void.”
“It’s true. I felt his soul. Raleigh’s got… It’s the same as Corin’s… The red markers.”
“Why is Raleigh walking away though?” Esther asks. “Letting us go? Letting you go. Seven, he’s been desperate to have you, kidnapped you so many times. The Section is breathing down his neck over this.” She shudders. “Is he trying to mess with us? Do something out of character and then catch us when we’re off guard?”
“No.” I shake my head, my eyes narrowing. “He knows I can Seer-travel—he saw that. He knows he can’t forcibly imprison me—I’d just escape, then he’d lose even more face with the Section. So he’s done this—” I wave my hand in Corin’s direction, “—to try to get me to go to him willingly.” I look at Taras. “What do I do?”
Taras holds his hand up. “Hold on. Let me assess Corin.”
“What? You think this might not be true?” I stare at him. “But I saw it—the red dots and—”
“That is not what I meant.” Taras moves toward Corin, then hovers his hands an inch from Corin’s head. His expression slackens, his eyes half-close.
I shudder as I wait, watch. The air seems to palpitate. Esther glances at me, mouths something, but I can’t make out the words.
At last, Taras pulls back. “I do not think Raleigh has placed a tracker.”
“A tracker?” My eyes widen, and I rub my temples. “On Corin? Oh Gods. I didn’t even think of that.”
“It just appears to be Corin’s life-strings which are affected,” Taras continues. “Aside from their deaths being linked, Raleigh can instigate illness, but it does not appear that he has any control over Corin’s actions. Though I do not read souls like you do, I am certain this is nothing like your soul-binding. Corin has no Promise Marks.”
No Promise Marks. That’s good. It’s just their deaths that are aligned. I take a deep breath. Nothing else. Because Raleigh wouldn’t bind Corin’s soul as well, wouldn’t control him, as that might reduce my feelings for Corin, reduce the effectiveness of his plan in linking their deaths?
Raleigh can’t change Corin’s actions. Though he’s making him ill…even if he did say it will stop soon.
Taras raises his eyebrows. “Still, Raleigh thinks he can force your hand to save his people. You must show him you won’t be used like that. You will still kill all the Enhanced, including Raleigh, and save the Untamed, child. You will.”
“And kill Corin?” I shake my head. “I can’t kill the Enhanced, kill Raleigh, not when—”
“It’s not true,” Elf says. “It’s all a lie. He can’t have bonded Corin’s life to his own.”
“Oh, he has.” I pull at my hair, tug it, as if the movement will make it grow. “He made Corin sick—”
“That was the Stone Seers.”
“No.” I shake my head. “They’re dead—if it was them, Corin would be okay now. And Raleigh confessed to it. He said he’ll wake up soon and—”
Corin stirs.
I rush to his side, push his hair back from his face.
“Doesn’t mean it’s true,” Elf mutters.
“We’re not taking chances,” Esther says. “This is my brother’s life we’re talking about. He’s not dying.”
“And it’s the Untamed’s survival we’re talking about.” Taras looks at me. “Don’t forget that. Everyone has to make sacrifices.”
Sacrifices?
I stare at him, aghast.
“You’re going to die anyway,” Taras says. “You wouldn’t be living without him.”
I take a step back, feel sick.
“Stop it!” Esther yells. “He’s my brother—just because you’ve lost all your people, Taras, doesn’t mean it’s okay for you to advocate killing someone I’ve still got.” Her eyes flash.
“But for Corin to live, it means Raleigh must also live.” Taras pulls on one of his wiry chin-hairs. “It means Corin joins the Enhanced, and the enemy wins. Either the rest of the Untamed die or we all convert. There can only be one side living after the war’s end.”
“Or the war never ends.” My voice is low. “We carry on as we are.”
Taras turns to me slowly. “It has to end. This pain has to end, child. How can you contemplate otherwise? The Last Night has started. The War of Humanity has to end soon, while your powers are strong enough. We cannot let all the deaths we’ve had be for nothing.”
“Well, Corin’s not dying.” Esther sniffs loudly. “And we’re not converting. Any of us.”
Taras shakes his head. “Elongating the war is not an option.”
There’s a shaky silence.
“We’ll think of something,” I say. I look around. No one else is here. The Enhanced and Raleigh have retreated completely.
Just us out here. Have they really gone?
“We ne
ed to get away,” Esther says, holding Toivo tighter. She looks around, eyes narrowed. I know she’s looking for the Enhanced. “Come on, Seven. Seer-travel.”
Taras doesn’t look happy, but what choice do we have? It’s not safe here.
We make a circle, joining hands, with Elf and I supporting Corin between us, and I transport us through the living vortex. A rush of feathers and colors. Images that squeeze around me, through me, through all of us. Layers and layers, until we slip to the side.
“Where are we?” Esther’s the first to speak when we land.
I shake my head, feel winded. “No idea.”
“We need weapons,” Elf says. “In case there are Enhanced here. Weapons are our first priority.”
No, it’s obvious what our first priority is: to save Corin. Find a way to stop it. We have to. What Raleigh’s done, it can’t be permanent. Just can’t. Raleigh has to die.
But Corin’s not going to die.
He’s not.
And I’m not saving the Enhanced. We are not converting.
If Raleigh thinks he can control me like this, he’s got another thing coming.
But, right now, Corin’s in danger. Because if Raleigh does die, I can’t lose Corin. Can’t. I need to get a message to all the other Untamed, but I don’t know how to do that. Or how to save Corin. Yet.
I look at Taras. I need to talk to him. He’s got to know something, and he has to tell me, has to help me. I didn’t mean to kill all the Stone Seers.
But I did mean to kill some. I can’t persuade myself otherwise. Not when I willingly chose to use the very power Raleigh forced me to use. I remember how awful I felt after Elia Jackson’s death.
Yet here I am, and I’ve used it myself. No one forced me to. I could concentrate on how I felt different at the time—like something else was controlling me, like I was a different person—but I know it was still me. Taras is right to hate me. But he has to share with me what he knows. He can’t hide things because he doesn’t trust me now. He’s the Keeper of Marta’s Lore. I am with him for a reason.
Taras doesn’t know how to undo Raleigh’s curse, and I believe him. He wouldn’t lie. He’s not bad.
“We’re in unchartered territory,” he says, as we walk, and I can tell he’s having trouble even being this close to me.
I try to stay calm. We’ve got time—so long as Raleigh isn’t killed by another Untamed.
“But what are the chances of that happening?” Taras says, and I stare at him, didn’t think I’d said it out loud. But the others are nodding. I must’ve. “Minimal, really,” Taras continues. “There are few of us remaining out there, and Raleigh clearly wants to live. He’s got powers to protect himself. He’s not going to let himself be killed.”
I nod, try to breathe easier. “Can you search Marta’s stories again?”
“Child.” Taras slows his pace and looks behind us to where Elf is carrying Corin in a fireman’s lift. “The usual stories, I know. And there may be more out there, just as there are lesser auguries too—messages, predictions, assertions from the Divine Ones. They can cover a wealth of things. But the augury about you is the main one. That is the augury. It is the important one, the one most-known. And Marta’s Lore is the same. I know the main stories—the ones about the usual Seer powers. But searching for specific, more elusive information is not easy. Marta’s Lore is a vortex of knowledge, and if you require specialist knowledge, you have to wait for it to find you.”
“But can’t you try? Please, search for it.”
“It is not easy. There are thousands of stories Marta recorded, but this is a different world now. It is highly probable there is no way to undo it. I have never heard of this happening before. It could be a new power Raleigh has.”
I grit my teeth. No. There has to be a way to undo it. There will be a way. We’re not being played like this.
That’s what I concentrate on as we walk, and I’m still concentrating on it when we stop, when Esther’s rocking and walking Toivo around, trying to get him to quieten, when Corin wakes.
He looks groggy at first, then rubs his head.
“Are you okay?” I hover next to him, my hand on his shoulder. “Elf, go and get Esther.”
Corin nods, and Elf disappears.
Taras updates Corin on the Stone Seers and Jana, and Corin shakes his head a couple of times, then lets out a low laugh. Looks nervous as he wipes the back of his hand across his mouth.
“They’re all dead?” His eyes lock onto mine.
I nod. He knows they are. Taras told him all.
Corin purses his lips for a few moments, then blows a long line of air out. He looks at me. “Are you okay?”
Am I okay? I stare at him. He’s asking me that question. Me, the murderer. I feel my insides wobble, then it’s like I’m about to cave in. The others didn’t ask.
I nod, slowly, can’t help but glance at Taras to see his reaction. His face doesn’t give anything away.
“Have you told him about the run-in with the Enhanced?” Esther asks, returning with Toivo. She lifts Toivo to her chest and starts feeding him. “With Raleigh.”
“Raleigh.” Corin inhales sharply, then looks up at me, one hand shielding his eyes from the weakening sun. “Bloody hell. How much have I missed? Sev, are you okay? Really? Did he hurt you? Shit.”
“I’m fine.” I pull a hand through my hair and—
I frown.
No.
It can’t be.
But it feels longer.
“Seven,” Esther says, and I jolt, look at her. Forget about my hair. Her eyes widen, and Elf moves nearer.
Taras watches me. They’re all waiting for me to tell Corin about Raleigh’s hold over him. They think it has to be me who says it. Because no one wants to, and I’m the powerful Seer who’s betrayed the Untamed so I get that job.
Betrayal. I don’t like the word.
I take a deep breath, then begin. I try to speak faster, as if getting the words out quicker will lessen the severity of it.
“It’s a load of bullshit,” Elf says the moment I’ve finished.
“It’s not,” I say. “He made you ill, Corin, to prove it.”
“What?” Corin squints. “Raleigh’s—”
“It’s not real.” Elf rolls his eyes, looks more like Keelie than ever.
But it also makes him look more like himself—and he is himself now, isn’t he? Was it that he was slipping into the void before, like the Stone Seers thought? Because his powers hadn’t been cleansed? Again, I wonder why we didn’t think of it.
“It’s ridiculous,” Elf continues. “As if he can mirror your death to his or whatever he’s saying. He’s lying, he’s trying to scare Seven into not killing him. That’s all. Then he gets to live, and the only way the war can end is if we’re all Enhanced.”
“Yes, and that’s what he’s relying on.” Taras’s gaze is on me. “He’s assuming your love for one man will condemn the whole of the Untamed. That you’ll do anything to keep Corin alive, even if he loses his humanity, joins the enemy, so that both men can live at the war’s end.” His look gets sterner. “You need to be objective here. You cannot save one person over all our people. In fact—you two need to part ways. It will make it easier for you to kill Raleigh if you’re no longer with Corin.”
“What?” Corin holds his hands up. “Hold on a minute.”
“It’s not real though!” Elf yells. “Look, old man, it’s just a lie.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “It is real. I can feel the difference in Corin’s soul,” I snap at Elf. “There’s no point in arguing. Taras, I’m going to undo it. Corin and I are together, and we’re staying together. We’re not letting this affect us—because I’m going to save every Untamed. Including Corin. I’ll undo what Raleigh’s done. Now, we need to keep moving and find shelter before this rain comes.” I gesture at the moody sky. “Esther, are you ready? Good. Let’s go.”
We walk until the sky has darkened, until night has well set in
, until it’s the early hours and rain falls. Huge drops. I offer to transport us somewhere else—there are obviously no Untamed or spirits around here—but Taras says not to, that Raleigh’s going to try and find us anyway, to keep an eye on our movements—he’s going to want all the intel he can get on my moves, on how close he believes I am to turning us all in—and he’d expect us to be in places with better weather, conditions to make our survival easier. Those places are where he’d look first.
Just because he’s letting me run free, it doesn’t mean he’s not going to be keeping a lookout for where we are.
The wind picks up. It’s the kind of weather that makes me think spirits will be out soon. Thrashing teeth, deadly breaths. But I know they won’t.
“I know you had no choice.” Corin’s whisper drags me back to him and this world—and I hadn’t realized I was so far away. “It’s unfortunate they all died. You weren’t to know they’d keep fuel there.”
I look away, feel every part of my being darken, and I feel heavier. I kick at a particularly wet clump of grass so the water sprays across my jeans. And, just looking at the jeans—the Stone Seers’ jeans—makes me wish I was wearing anything but them.
Corin takes my hand. I look at him. His eyes hold kindness that I don’t deserve.
“We need to find cover,” Esther mutters, but she’s stating the obvious. The storm’s only minutes away. And it’s because none of us will talk about it, about what Raleigh’s done to Corin, that she’s focused on the weather.
There’s anger in me. So much anger, and there shouldn’t be—there really shouldn’t be. I shouldn’t be able to feel guilty and bad, not when I also feel anger at my friends and can so strongly remember how good it felt when I unraveled the Stone Seers’ threads, when I killed them. Deaths by my hand. It shouldn’t feel good. All these emotions shouldn’t go together, but they are, and they’re pressing against each other inside me.
Destroyed Page 13
