by Holly Martin
‘I suggest we vote,’ Matthias said, carefully. ‘Nathaniel is right, the majority rules. We will vote first for those who believe Eve should die today, for those who believe that we have made a mistake in creating her, a mistake which now needs to be rectified. Those that do not vote for her death are choosing to pledge to Eve. Gentlemen, please stand if….’
‘I don’t want to interrupt this wonderful democracy you have going here,’ Quinn said, sarcastically. ‘But the vote is a waste of time. Regardless of the outcome, she is not going to die today, today or any other day.’
My Guardians shuffled closer to me.
‘There is no way we will let her be harmed, we will all have to die before you will get anywhere near her,’ said Eli, defiantly.
‘Do you know how many Guardians we have here in the castle? There are a hundred and seventy eight here ready to die for us, the battle would be over very quickly,’ Nathaniel said.
‘There are two hundred and eleven at Fort Naga that are pledged to her, that’s not including the forty six young Guardians. They could all be here in a matter of seconds.’
‘So when you pull your Guardians, you can separate those that are loyal to you, and those that are loyal to us. I understood that pulling your Guardians meant pulling all of them,’ Jonah said, his voice had a note of challenge.
I had never tried pulling all the Guardians before, let alone separating those that were loyal to me and those that weren’t. Jonah was right and he knew it.
‘It doesn’t matter, there are more Guardians that are pledged to her than are not, we will be the victors here today,’ said Eli.
‘I’d like to see her try to pull them,’ Samuel sneered. ‘We have her powers blocked.
I reached for my powers, were they still accessible? As soon as I reached for them I felt my powers course through my veins. I gave a small smile, they were thinking that the fight would only be between my Guardians and theirs, they hadn’t counted for my powers being a factor as well.
‘There’s little point in this discussion until we have voted,’ Matthias insisted. What was his game? ‘We have hid behind doors for long enough, let us declare now who we stand for. Those who seek to destroy Eve, who believe Eve should die, please stand.’
My heart leapt, my fate was to be decided. Was today the day I would die?
Samuel and Nathaniel stood as one. No surprise there. Jonah quickly joined them. He had never made any indication which side of the fence he sat on, but the cards had been dealt now. There was a silence. Was that the final count, I looked around at the remaining people sitting, would all these be prepared to pledge to me today.
Hesitantly Sebastian stood too.
This made me feel sick. He had never been my biggest fan but he had sworn that if the day came where he had to choose between me living or dying he would fight to the death for me. Now he was standing against me.
He caught me staring at him; he looked down at me with disdain. ‘You showed me that the prophecies could be changed, so I’m changing them.’
I looked down at my feet for a moment. I had counted on Sebastian’s support, even if it was a reluctant support. Then I heard the scraping of a chair and the collective gasp from those still seated indicated a fifth member of the Oraculum had now stood up. I stared at Helez in shock.
‘I’m sorry Eve, but the prophecy, the one we spoke about. I’m not about to feed myself to the lions.’
‘But Helez, don’t you see, this path you have chosen today will ensure that it happens, that it is this action that will seal your fate,’ Nereus said, aghast.
‘Not if she’s dead,’ Helez said quietly.
Nereus shook his head, incredulously. ‘Helez what have you done, you know the prophecies can’t be changed. You know she must be there at the end of the world, that only she can save us. You all know that, this is madness,’ Nereus said, fiercely.
Helez looked away, ashamed.
‘This is a pointless argument. The majority has spoken, she will die,’ Samuel said.
‘Let’s even the sides out a bit,’ Nereus said, smiling broadly. He vanished and reappeared in front of Samuel. Clamping his hand to Samuel’s head, he produced a wave of fire that incinerated Samuel, burning his body to dust.
Nereus vaulted over the plinth and came to stand in front of me. ‘Is there anyone else that wishes to stand against her?’
Quinn shuffled closer to me, taking my hand, Persia took the other one.
I couldn’t believe what was happening. The prophecies were unfolding right before my eyes, which meant that the next thing to happen was Nereus was going to die. He stood there grinning broadly, he knew he was going to die, and he was happy to do it.
With a subtle wave of my hand I shielded him. The council stared down at him in shock. Nathaniel was the first to move, as I knew he would, as it had been foreseen, he was fulfilling his prophecy. He leapt over the plinth pulling a knife from his belt.
‘NOOO!’ screamed Helez, vanishing from his plinth and reappearing in front of Nereus. Helez and Nathaniel fought. My attention was so diverted by the fight in front of me that I didn’t see Cain disappear. He reappeared right in front of me, much to the shock and anger of my Guardians. He grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and the chamber vanished, I was back in my bedroom, with Persia and Quinn either side of me.
‘Eve you need to get out of here, quick, they will be coming for you. Take as many of your Guardians with you as you can. I think Persia has a way to block your signal to the Oraculum’s Guardians.’ He looked at her and she nodded. ‘Now I doubt you’ll want to speak to me after what has happened tonight, and I won’t be able to find you once Persia hides you, but if you need me, for anything, I’ll be at my house, here.’
My mind was filled with an image of a large white house on top of a cliff. It was all I would need to slide to him, though I doubted I would ever seek him out.
‘The Oraculum don’t know about it. Take care of yourself,’ Cain said and vanished.
I vowed to myself then that I would never contact him again. He had saved me, but he was still one of them. My head was in my hands, my heart in my mouth. What had just happened, what had I done? Insisting that they all pledge to me. Had I broken the Oraculum? Had I killed Samuel and Nereus?
Quinn pulled me into his arms. ‘None of this was your fault Eve, some of them have had it in for you for years, even before they met you.’
I knew he was right. Ever since Leon shared the prophecy of Nereus killing Samuel because of me, my fate was sealed. So was the fate of those that stood against me.
A soft swishing sound indicated the arrival of my personal guard.
I pulled away from Quinn to face them. Mason moved to stand by the door.
‘Nereus is dead,’ Eli said quietly.
My heart leapt, how many people were going to die for me or because of me before the end came?
‘We need to get out of here. Though there are more Guardians here that are pledged to you than are not, it’s not safe at the moment. The Oraculum want you dead. They’re all in disarray with two of their own murdered, but it will only be a matter of minutes before the order comes through to their Guardians to have you killed. The Oraculum know where you are, they could come themselves.’
I nodded. ‘That’s pretty much what Cain said. Can you round up as many of my Guardians as you can, I’ll take them with me, when I go.’
Eli nodded. ‘Let’s go to the roof, I’ll get them to meet us up there.’
Lucas, Persia and Alexandria ran out the room, presumably to round up a few more Guardians.
I looked around my room in a mild panic. Was there time to pack? What could I take with me? Would I ever be coming back? The only thing I really needed to take was my family and my friends. I grabbed my coat and ran out into the corridor, making for the roof as quick as I could. As we ran along the corridor, I couldn’t help thinking how quiet the fort was. Was it always this quiet, eerie, still, and was I just being paranoid, or was
this quite literally the calm before the storm?
A shout rang out from somewhere in the fort, unrecognisable but my heart leapt, was this it, was this the beginning?
We reached the stairs and a few of my Guardians ran on ahead, to check the roof. I looked back at my bedroom, wistfully, wondering why I seemed to be permanently on the run. That was when I saw Mason, hanging back, looking awkward.
An uneasy feeling settled into the pit of my stomach, as I stopped, turning to face him.
‘Mason, come on, we need to get out of here,’ but as I said it, I already knew, he wasn’t coming with me.
Mason shook his head. ‘I can’t, I’m pledged to the Oraculum.’
I frowned. ‘It doesn’t matter who you are pledged to, you’re part of my personal guard, you belong with me.’
Mason looked away, angry, hurt. ‘It does matter. If the order comes through to kill you, I might not have any choice. I don’t know how tightly I am bound, how tightly the pledge holds me. I would sooner kill myself than kill you, but I might not have any control over it. I don’t want to find out I have no control over the orders when I’m standing next to you.
I stepped towards him, but Eli held me back.
Another shout rang out in the fort, this one closer.
‘Mason, you’re my friend, I trust you with my life.’
He shook his head. ‘Don’t. I will try to find a way out of it, I will try to break my pledge and if I can I will find you and will fight alongside you again, but for now, I need to get as far away from you as possible. I’m sorry.’
‘Mason, please…’
He stiffened. ‘The Oraculum have ordered you to be killed, Eve you have to go now.’
I stood numb as I watched him run as fast as he could down the corridor away from me.
I didn’t even notice Eli pulling me up the stairs at first, until I stumbled. Eli caught my arm to steady me and then I was running by his side, Quinn and Seth following right behind me.
I ran out onto the roof, the heat of the midday sun, beating down on me. Noah moved to guard the door. Somehow they could tell which Guardians were pledged to me and which weren’t.
‘Where are we going to?’ I asked Eli.
Eli shook his head. ‘I don’t know, we just have to get out of here now, we can figure out where to go once we are safe.’
I paced nervously round the roof. I could hear shouting coming from the fort below, some seemingly very close. The door burst open and a handful of Guardians ran onto the roof, a few of them I knew, a few of them I didn’t. A few more suddenly appeared out of the air, having pulled themselves to me. Eli tensed when they appeared and I knew instantly why. If they could pull themselves to me, then so could the Oraculum’s Guardians.
‘As much as it pains me to say this Eve, you need to block us out, shield your mind against us.’
I nodded, closed my eyes and visualized a thick impenetrable wall around my brain. The constant humming I had completely got used to now, went out, the silence making me think I had gone deaf.
A few more Guardians ran on to the roof. Noah made no move to stop them so I presumed they were mine.
Suddenly my personal guard stiffened and Noah and Isaac suddenly ran out the door, disappearing in a fast blur.
I looked at Eli warily.
‘The Oraculum’s Guardians are coming for you, a lot of them, maybe thirty or more. Your Guardians are holding them off, they’re at the entrance to the corridor. Noah and Isaac have gone to help, Lucas and Alexandria are there too,’ Eli explained.
‘Just tell them to come back, as soon as they’re all here, we’ll go.’
Where was Persia?
The door burst open again, maybe twenty Guardians poured through, but still no sign of my best friend.
‘Have any of you seen Persia?’ I asked as they gathered round me.
‘Eve, you have to get out of here, they’re killing each other down there,’ said Ethan, one of the Guardians.
I swallowed. ‘Where’s Persia?’
‘She’s trying to help, trying to hold them off with her powers.’
‘No!’ I roared. ‘She’ll be killed.’ I moved towards the door, but Seth caught my arm and held me back.
‘No Eve, you can’t.’
I reached out for Persia’s mind. ‘Persia get up here now.’
‘Eve just go,’ Persia panted, whatever she was doing was wearing her out.
‘No, I’m not leaving without you.’
‘Don’t be so bloody stubborn, get out of here.’
‘Persia, I’m not going without you. If I get killed because I’m waiting for you, then it’ll be all your fault. Leave the fighting to the Guardians, and get up here now.’
‘Eve…’
‘Persia!’ I growled.
She severed her connection with me. She’d better be coming.
I paced nervously, as much as I could when the roof was nearly filled with my Guardians. Down by the forest I could see someone running away from the fort. I squinted in the sun but it was quite obviously Mason. At least he wasn’t amongst the ones fighting to kill me.
The door opened and Persia appeared, her eyes flashing furiously. ‘Eve we have to go, your Guardians are fighting them off, but it’s chaos down there. They’ve broken into your corridor, and your Guardians are coming from all over the fort but they can’t get into the corridor to fight off the Oraculum’s Guardians that are already here. There’s only Lucas, Alexandria, Noah, Isaac, Jacob and a few others that are standing in between us and them, we have to go.’
Eli nodded. ‘Eve, slide us out of here now.’
‘I have to wait for my personal guard.’
‘They can slide to us once we are out of the fort,’ Ethan suggested.
‘No they won’t. If I lift the shield on my mind, then the Oraculum’s Guardians can feel me as well, and once Persia does whatever she needs to do to hide us from them, my Guardians will never be able to find us.’
The shouting was getting closer, they must be at the bottom of the stairs now. My Guardians tightened around me. If the fight broke out onto the roof, then they’d be ready, but if the fight got as far as the roof, I’d have to go, taking them all with me. I couldn’t let anybody else die for me today.
I reached out for Lucas. ‘Please come up here, I can’t leave without you.’
‘Eve, you can and you will,’ Lucas growled.
My throat tightened, tears smarting my eyes. I had lost Caleb and Mason, I couldn’t lose Lucas and Alexandria too.
‘Lucas I need you, not to fight for me to the death, I just need you with me, please.’
‘Eve, if I leave the fight, it will break on the roof in a matter of seconds, please go,’ he argued. Damn it why was everyone so stubborn.
‘Eve, we have to go now,’ Eli said, his eyes fierce, angry.
‘Lucas, I only need a second, as soon as you are here, I’ll slide.’
‘Evie, please,’ Seth said, softly, in my ear. ‘I can’t lose you.’
I turned to face him, pain and worry etched over his face; he’d be grey by the time he was twenty with the amount of stress I put him under. I turned back to face the door, biting my lip nervously.
‘Eve, damn it, just go, I can’t hold them back.’
Chapter 16
I closed my eyes. I had to go I knew that. I had hoped for more of my Guardians before I slid, but I was risking everything by staying here. I opened my eyes again. ‘Everyone hold on, get as close as you can.’
They all shuffled closer, but as they jostled forward, Quinn was shoved away from me. I reached out for him, over the heads of my Guardians but couldn’t reach him.
‘Quinn,’ I cried. He vanished and I knew he had shifted. I looked round for him in the crowd, but couldn’t see any sign of my dog or a lion as I’d expected. I felt a crawling up my leg, and the next thing, a tiny mouse was scampering over my hoodie, I scooped him up in my hands, looked into the conker brown eyes with a smile and tucked him in my p
ocket.
‘Eve, now!’ shouted Eli, as I heard footsteps on the stairs. I grabbed Persia’s hand, and I took Seth by the other hand, everyone else held my arms or clothes, and those that couldn’t reach me held on to those that could.
I closed my eyes and pulled Lucas, Alexandria, Noah, Isaac and Jacob to me. They landed on top of the other Guardians, as there was no space around me, they immediately grabbed at my clothes, or at the other Guardians.
The door burst open and the Oraculum’s Guardians emptied out on to the roof as I slid my Guardians and my friends to the church, where I had first trained, only a few miles away from my home in England.
The church was silent, a calm sanctuary after the chaos of the fort. But as I looked around, I felt a sickening in my stomach. The church had been scrawled with graffiti, every surface sprayed in thick red or black paint. Words like ‘Die, Eve Die’ and ‘The Sentinel must die’ and ‘The Sentinel will burn in hell’ covered every available space, along with a vast array of swear words about me.
‘Eve, we need to get out of here,’ said Eli. I turned to see what he was staring at, over my head. An effigy had been hung from the tower, its head bent at an awkward angle, with the rope tight around its neck. I didn’t need to see the red converse trainers hanging from the dummy’s feet to know it was supposed to be me. It had obviously been set on fire before it was hung, and there was even a knife sticking out from its back.
The Putarians.
I looked away from the effigy, I couldn’t stay here. I closed my eyes and slid my Guardians to the dells, where Seth had taught me how to ride his motorbike when I was younger. This place at least was quiet and peaceful; we were miles from anywhere here. It was early morning, the sun barely lighting the day as it struggled to break through the thick tree canopy above me.
I bit my lip at what I had just seen. I had known the Putarians wanted me dead, but to see the church like that, the church where me and Seth had played as children, it had unnerved me.
Seth took me in his arms, kissing my forehead. I leaned against him for a moment, but then I pushed gently against him. We couldn’t stay here either, it wasn’t safe, it was too open, too exposed.
