by Holly Martin
I smiled, slightly.
‘What happened down by the pool yesterday, you saw something else?’
Knowing now that I had seen a prophecy the night before of Seth’s death made what I had seen in the pool marginally easier to deal with. It wasn’t insanity, it was a prophecy too.
‘I saw myself drown in the pool.’
Seth tensed underneath me, which made me smile slightly. I tell him he’s going to die, possibly by my hand and he doesn’t bat an eyelid, telling him I was going to die was a whole different matter.
‘A hallucination maybe, you’d been out in the sun for a few hours, you were tired…’
‘Seth.’
‘No. That wasn’t a prophecy. There is no way that’s going to happen.’
‘It was a prophecy.’
I understood that he was only denying it because he simply couldn’t accept the fact that I was going to die. I had never told him that saving the world was the thing that was going to kill me, if I made it that long. He had no idea that the long, happy future he so desperately wanted was never going to happen.
Seth shook his head. ‘I think we should get you checked out by Cassidy, just in case these hallucinations are something to worry about.’
He got out of bed and the argument dried on my tongue as I devoured his muscly body. He normally wore a t-shirt in bed and although I had seen him without a top several times before, it was still a delicious treat. The scraps of the t-shirt lay in the bed beside me, where I had literally torn it from his chest.
He leaned back over the bed towards me and a delicious thrill ran through me of rekindling that amazing kiss from the night before when I caught the look in his eye.
‘Get dressed. We’re going right now.’
I sighed as I leaned back and stared at the ceiling. I was damned sure we were going to revisit that kiss later. Life was short and if my prophecies were correct both me and Seth would be killed or die at some point, probably in the not too distant future. We had to enjoy what little time we had left now.
‘Eve!’
Although apparently right now, I was to be checked for insanity.
*
‘She’s not insane,’ Cassidy said as she released her healing power from flowing through me.
‘Everything is normal?’ asked Alexandria, from amongst the crowd of guardians around my bed. When Seth had announced he was taking me to be checked out by Cassidy, my personal guard had clearly seen it as a day trip out and all of them had duly followed me down to the infirmary. The only person missing from this little party was Quinn but that was probably only because my guard had neglected to tell him. I sighed at the drama that I had unwittingly caused.
Cassidy sighed. ‘I’ve checked her visual cortex, the frontal and temporal lobe where most hallucinations come from. I’ve checked the part of her brain responsible for dreams, I’ve checked the rest of the brain; there is no sign of tumours or any kind of sickness. She’s perfectly healthy.’
There was a small collective sigh of relief from my audience.
‘But is she normal? Far from it. She is made from Zeki, Donum, Guardian, Oraculum and Shapeshifter DNA which has never been done before. The blood flow to her brain is much faster than the average human or Donum, the area of the brain responsible for memory is larger, the part responsible for fear and emotion is very active and her neural pathways and the synapses responsible for the transfer of information are firing at an incredible rate.’
I stared at her for a second with the onslaught of information. There was a silence from my Guardians too.
Eli cleared his throat. ‘Her cerebellum had always been more active than most too, that’s why she was able to pick up the martial arts so quickly and efficiently.’
I felt my mouth fall open. It was one thing for a Zeki with some knowledge of the human body to spout all that stuff but for one of my Guardians who was trained in combat to know it was ridiculous. Maybe I was hallucinating.
Cassidy nodded. ‘Yes that area is very densely populated with neural pathways.’ She looked around at our blank faces. ‘She’s perfectly healthy, but whether what she is seeing are hallucinations brought on by exhaustion, or actually premonitions or prophecies remains to be seen. The Oraculum have the gift of foresight and with that DNA in her it wouldn’t be too hard to believe she has that gift too.’
There was silence for a moment. I swung myself off the bed. ‘So I’m normal. Well as normal as I possibly can be and the premonitions, prophecies whatever you want to call them are just another manifestation of my freakish powers. Can I go now?’
Cassidy shrugged and I looked round at my Guardians to see if they had any further protests but they had none.
‘Lucas, I’m going for a run.’
He nodded and moved to accompany me just as Quinn burst through the infirmary doors.
I sighed. ‘I’m fine. You coming for a run, we were just about to leave?’
Quinn looked around at my Guardians to see if there was any explanation but as there was none forthcoming he followed me out.
I liked running at this time. Not only was the fort nearly deserted, so I wouldn’t run into my adoring fan club, but it gave me time to think, to plan for the day ahead. We reached the doors and went outside into the cold air. The days had been getting warmer lately, especially as we were well into spring now, but this time of the morning, before the sun had had a chance to warm up the day, it was still quite nippy. Still, running always warmed me up. We set off at a gentle jog, but as soon as I broke the trees at the bottom of the hill, I increased my speed, running as fast as I could, Quinn and Lucas loyally by my side. I was faster than Quinn, as a human anyway, so I pushed myself to run faster than him and soon he was trailing in my wake. I ran on, through the trees, the rays of sunlight finding it hard to penetrate through the dense canopy above. Suddenly a cheetah burst from the trees behind me, easily keeping pace with me for a while, before disappearing in a golden blur through the trees ahead.
‘Show off,’ I muttered, after Quinn’s disappearing tail.
I slowed down to a jog and then came to a stop, where there was a gap in the trees above. Lucas stopped as well, automatically checking the immediate area for any potential threat. We were standing next to an old statue, it was faded and most of it had crumbled away, but it was unmistakably a cloaked lady, her hand held out in front of her.
I breathed deeply for a few minutes. Lucas didn’t even seem out of breath.
‘How do the prophecies work, the prophecies of the Oraculum, are they dreams?’ I asked, thinking of my own dream the night before.
Lucas frowned, still not looking at me. ‘I’m not sure really, the Deus are not a species that has prophecies. I think some of it comes in dreams,’ he shrugged.
I sighed. I was such an unknown quantity. Animal experts, having studied the lives of different animals for years, knew how long a dog would live, what age they started breeding, how many puppies each litter would produce, what size they would grow to. No one knew anything about me. Would I ever be able to shape shift like my brother? Would I really have the gift of foresight? I had flown for the first time a few months before, whilst I thought I was dreaming, but I hadn’t been able to do it since. Apparently, some members of the Oraculum could fly, including Nathaniel, my Dad. Though it was another thing that was an unexpected acquisition, along with the ability to slide anywhere in the world at will.
Lucas suddenly stiffened, holding up a hand to silence me. Not that I had any words in my head at the moment. I looked at him with confusion. His eyes cast to the bush behind me and I felt myself go cold with the horror of what might be lurking there.
Suddenly Lucas threw me to the ground, landing on top of me with such force that I felt my collar bone snap. I screamed out in pain, as I watched something big and grey leap over our heads. With a snarl, the thing landed lightly on its feet and turned towards us, teeth bared, ready to pounce. I looked at it, clenching my fist with the pain that surged through m
y shoulder. It was a creature I had never seen before. My first thought was that it was some kind of mountain lion, with grey fur, and huge, razor sharp teeth. Long claws stuck out from its huge, powerful paws. There was something very feline about its face. But protruding from his head was two horns, one great sharp one right above his nose, and a smaller one behind it.
‘What the hell is that?’ I hissed, trying to ignore the pain ripping through my body.
‘A Rhion, half lion, half rhino, it escaped from the fort a few months ago,’ Lucas whispered. ‘One of the animal hybrids that was created up here.’
‘It doesn’t look very happy,’ I muttered.
‘No, can you slide back to the fort?’
I looked at the creature, but shining from his eyes was not a look of anger or even hunger, it was one of pure fear. I reached out for its mind.
‘It’s ok, we won’t hurt you.’
The fear in his eyes lessened the tiniest of fractions, and he stopped snarling, though his attack stance didn’t lessen any.
‘I’m not going back, you can’t make me go back,’ he panted, anxiously.
I gently pushed Lucas off me, and sat up gingerly, being careful not to jar my shoulder. Lucas stayed between me and the creature.
‘It’s ok, you don’t have to go back. I’d really appreciate it though if you didn’t kill me, or my friends.’ I smiled, wryly. Lucas was incredibly strong, but I wouldn’t like to see how he fared in a fight with this creature.
The Rhion relaxed his stance a bit, though looked round him anxiously. ‘You’re her aren’t you?’ he asked.
I pulled a face, but then nodded, reluctantly.
He sighed. ‘If you want me to go back, I’ll go back, for you.’ Fear flickered across his face again. It pained him to offer that.
‘What’s your name?’ I asked.
‘Thor.’ The Rhion replied.
I smiled, the God of Thunder, how apt. ‘Thor, I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do. Is there a reason, you don’t want to go back? Did they treat you badly?’
Thor sighed, then shook his head. ‘No, it’s just… I’m a wild animal, I shouldn’t be left locked in a cage. I should be running with my kind.’
I swallowed, sadly. Did he know he was a one of a kind, a freak of nature just like me?
‘Then run Thor, run as far away from here as you can.’
‘Thank you,’ he bowed his great head.
Suddenly, a growling came from the bushes to my left. Thor leapt back in alarm as a great Grizzly Bear, slowly walked out of the shrubs between me and Thor. Thor sniffed the air, between him and the bear, and flinched.
‘Quinn?’ I asked. It had better be Quinn, or my day had just got a whole lot weirder.
The bear looked towards me and nodded, then returned its gaze on Thor.
‘Quinn, it’s ok, we’ve had a chat. Thor was just leaving.’
Quinn didn’t relax, he just moved closer to the Rhion, threateningly. I sighed.
‘Thor, go on, it’s ok. He won’t hurt you, go and enjoy yourself.’
Thor nodded towards me and then took off in a sprint, disappearing through the trees.
I heard Lucas breathe a sigh of relief as he watched him go, then he returned his attention back to me. He knelt by my side and gently ran his fingers over my collar bone. He pulled a face as he touched the part that was almost protruding out of my skin.
‘Come on, we should get you back to the infirmary,’ Lucas, looked away with embarrassment. My Guardian, pledged to protect me from harm, had just inadvertently broken that oath.
Quinn whirled round to look at me, angrily. He melted into a dog and came to sniff me, to find out what was wrong, whimpering slightly. I stroked his ears. ‘It’s ok Quinn, just a little broken bone, nothing to worry about.’ Lucas carefully helped me to my feet.
Quinn’s eyes slid to Lucas, accusingly.
‘Quinn leave it,’ I tutted.
We walked slowly back up the hill. Even though Thor had been bred in captivity, it didn’t get rid of his natural instinct to run free. In some ways, he was like me. He had been brought up to believe he was something he wasn’t. Maybe he was even told he was a lion, rather than a freak. I was told I was normal as well, then one day they dropped the bombshell: ‘By the way Eve, you’re a freak, you have great power, you’re going to save the world, oh and there are people out there who want to kill you’. Ok Seth hadn’t put it like that exactly, but close enough. But whereas Thor was running away from what the Oraculum wanted him to be, I was running towards my destiny, like a lamb to the slaughter.
‘Tell me more about the animal hybrids.’ I needed something to distract from the pain and my forthcoming fate.
‘There were lots of them up here at one point, all manner of weird and wonderful creatures. I don’t know what the Oraculum or the scientists intended to do with them, I just think they wanted to see if it worked, if it could be done. But with the shape shifting gene being the glue that held them all together, almost anything was possible. We had flying horses, fish that could walk on land, it was a proper little freak show.’
And I was the biggest freak of them all.
‘What happened to them?’
‘Most of them died very early on, the combinations of DNA being too much for their bodies to take. Some escaped. Some went completely insane and we had to kill them.’
The Guardians’ answer to everything was to kill first and ask questions later. It wouldn’t have even crossed their minds to try to preserve and nurture the life they had created.’
‘There was nothing anyone could do, these monsters wouldn’t let anyone near them. Several of the scientists got killed or badly injured just trying to feed them.’
My brain suddenly caught onto what else he had said. ‘Some escaped?’
‘Hmm yes. Some were very small and managed to escape the cages they were put in.’
‘So we could be out for a run one day and bump in to a creature half giraffe and half bear.’ I laughed at the image.
‘It’s doubtful, as I said most of them died after a few months anyway. It’s been sixteen years since the last one was made. I’m sure we would have seen something like that wandering around before now.’
‘Thor has been in captivity for sixteen years.’ That was enough to make anyone insane.
‘He was the only one that survived. He was tamed though, the Guardlings used to take him out of his cage and take him for walks on a regular basis. That’s how he escaped.’
We broke the trees and Fort Naga loomed over us, silhouetted against the morning sky. It looked almost foreboding.
I flexed my shoulder, trying to relieve the pain of my broken bone. My body seemed to cope with this kind of pain much better than it should. I clearly had a higher pain threshold than most, another freakish thing that stood me apart from the others. Either that or I was getting stronger. I spotted the Guardlings in training as we walked back up to the fort but I knew visiting Cassidy later on for the third time in one day would not be looked on favourably by her or my Guardians so I guessed I’d have to save my rematch with Zach for another day.
Suddenly I had a flash of Aurelia, Persia’s tiny niece screaming and crying and I stopped. Lucas and Quinn looked at me in concern. She was a baby, that’s what babies did, though why the flash had suddenly come to me I didn’t know. Was something wrong?
I reached out for Persia’s mind and as soon as I connected with her, I could feel she was happy and contented.
‘Persia is everything ok?’ I carried on walking up the hill towards the fort, safe in the knowledge that there was nothing to worry about.
‘Hey, Eve, I’m fine, are you ok?’
I smiled that she had turned the conversation so quickly round to me. ‘Are Clementine and Aurelia ok?’
‘Yes, I’m with them now, Aurelia’s fast asleep. Why?’
‘I just saw her crying that’s all.’
Persia went very quiet and when she spoke all traces
of laughter had gone from her voice. ‘You had a prophecy of Aurelia crying?’
‘I don’t know if it was that, maybe it was, I just saw her crying.’
‘Where was she, who was she with?’
‘I think she was in your Mum’s front room, she appeared to be alone. I’m sorry I didn’t see anything more than that, it was just a flash.’
Persia was still silent.
‘Persia, it was probably nothing. You know I’m connected to Lucas. Maybe you’ve spoken to him whilst Aurelia was crying and he was thinking about it…’ I trailed off, it sounded lame to my ears. ‘If I get anything else, I’ll let you know straight away.’
‘Thank you. I’ll erm… speak to you soon.’
I severed the connection, immediately regretting that I had spoiled her fun with my silly prophecy.
‘You had to tell her,’ Lucas said softly. ‘Something could be wrong. At least they are a bit more prepared for it now.’
I nodded still wishing I had something a bit more substantial to report than a crying baby.
*
In my dreams I sat on my beach for a while, the palm trees stirring in the breeze, watching the waves lap gently onto the shore. With concerns over my hallucinations or prophecies, I had been ordered to rest for a few days. And to placate me Seth had insisted that he gave me a massage as I had missed out on one in Cyprus. He had been incredibly good with his hands and fingers, but I’d only experienced a few minutes of it before I’d ended up here. I really was a lot more tired than I thought. Here, everything was calm, nothing was real, which was why it surprised me when I heard the screams and desperate pleas for help getting louder and louder. It wasn’t just one scream I could hear, it was hundreds.
I leapt to my feet, frantically and looked around, but my beach remained undisturbed, a calm, tranquil haven whilst somewhere, judging by the torturous screams and cries for help, people were dying.
I closed my eyes and let the screaming absorb me. I concentrated on one of the cries. ‘Save my baby, please, if I’m going to die, please let him live.’
I focussed on that voice, blocking out all the other voices, and I stepped through to its source.
